Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Reid.
Adam, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After falling in love with the iron game in my late teens, I struggled to find a way to make a career out of exercise. The industry as a whole felt seedy – health clubs are notoriously ‘unhealthy’ – and most exercise application seemed haphazard, a combination of ‘anything goes’ and whatever might have been the latest fad.
Introduced to an ‘intellectual’ bodybuilder in my early twenties, many of my fears were vanquished. Whether or not anyone chose to ignore them, there were principles guiding how people exercised, and a theory subsuming said principles. In short, it was possible to understand exercise from a theoretical standpoint, and put this understanding into practice, essentially ‘prescribing’ exercise in appropriate doses relative to an individual.
By my late twenties, I had built up a successful personal training business in a health club setting. But an idea sprung up: what if it were possible to bring the gold standard in spinal strengthening – MedX – to the general public? In 2006, my business partner and I did just that, opening Back 2 Health: Total Fitness and combining elite personal training services with lower back and neck pain relief.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Every business has its issues. For us, the personal training aspect has been well received; people appreciate the brevity of their workouts and the overall efficiency regardless of goals. However, the spinal fitness end of our business has been a harder sell. As well as the MedX machines work to strengthen the spinal muscles and relieve pain, this modality is still not nearly as established in the public eye as allopathic or even most alternative medicine (chiropractic, etc.).
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Back 2 Health – what should we know?
Back 2 Health consists of my business partner and I, and we specialize in high-intensity strength training (HIT) supervision. While there is no definition of HIT, most proponents agree on certain aspects: workouts should be brief, intense, and performed on average 2-3 times per week.
Our clientele is not the typical gym crowd, as those people usually think they must visit the gym nearly every day of the week. The fact that people succeed in their fitness goals using HIT based programs – be it bodybuilding or simply feeling better than prior to starting – demonstrate that such a schedule is not necessary.
Most of the fitness industry consists of questionable activities, and both industry insiders and outsiders think that all types/forms of exercise have equal value. When one considers the cost to benefit ratio of various exercise approaches, this is clearly not the case. OUR focus is first on safety, and THEN results, and this very much sets us apart from others.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
All of our clients, be it long standing or short term yet enthusiastic, deserve some degree of credit. Firstly, they allow us to make a living performing our hobby. Secondly, they’ve referred additional enthusiastic clients. And thirdly, they are ok with us bringing our dogs to work.
The certification organization I’ve belonged to since 1999 (IART) has been of assistance as well, particularly the former president who was always available via phone or email when I was starting out. The current president is just as helpful, but as we’re more established at this point, I find that I have fewer instances where I’ve had to lean on him.
Others in the HIT community have been available to discuss different aspects of training/business, and we’ve noticed the roles being reversed during the past few years as budding entrepreneurs contact US for our advice on all aspects of working in the fitness industry.
Contact Info:
- Address: 15 Columbia Road #9
- Website: www.b2htotalfitness.com
- Phone: 781.829.0800
- Email: info@b2htotalfitness.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Back2Health-17680369231/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/back2healthadam
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