Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan Aylward.
Brendan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started volunteering with Special Olympics when I was a sophomore in High School. It sparked an interest in the intersection of athletics and working with individuals with various intellectual and physical disabilities. This led me to be involved with other programs such as Best Buddies and Team Hoyt New England. While I initially thought I wanted to be a special education teacher, during my time in college I decided that I wanted to pursue something a little more unique; to create an inclusive fitness environment where “typical” athletes seamlessly coexisted with “adaptive” athletes (terms only really necessary to create a distinction for readers). I continued to immerse myself in the world of disability services and had an opportunity to run strength and conditioning for high school basketball and hockey programs.
In July of 2016, I opened Unified Health and Performance in Lancaster, MA; a fitness center that trains both athletes with and without disabilities for performance. The environment has been mutually beneficial for all of my members. To train alongside the “star athletes” from the high school is an unmatched social experience for some of these kids and a real confidence booster. On the other end, I am proud of the fact that many of my high school athletes have become involved with Special Olympics and Best Buddies. Thanks to them, the philosophy of my gym has extended to the middle and high school.
The gym has steadily grown over the course of the last 2 years and because of this success there are plans to upgrade to a substantially larger facility in the coming months.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest challenge is the need to juggle so many responsibilities. While larger businesses are able to delegate these tasks to people that specialize in these various areas (accounting, marketing, etc), as the only employee, I’ve had to do my best to handle all of these responsibilities. The way my schedule is structured, clients communicate directly with me to schedule sessions. As the number of members has grown, so has the amount of emails/texts I receive a day for scheduling.
Unified Health and Performance – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Unified Health and Performance is an inclusive strength and conditioning facility. While we’re known for our work with adaptive athletes, at the forefront of the business is a specialty in strength and conditioning as a whole. We are unique in that it is an environment that has brought together athletes of all ages and abilities but we are normal in the sense that the priority of the business is to offer the highest quality level of strength and conditioning services possible. My mission is to bring legitimacy to athletics and training for adaptive athletes. I have very high expectations for all of my athletes and I think that approach is the only way that their full potential is attainable.
I am most proud of the community that we’ve created at Unified Health and Performance and how it has extended beyond the four walls of the gym. I strongly believe that our members aren’t only becoming better athletes, but also better people. Personally, as a gym owner, I pride myself on organization, preparation, and work ethic. The type of service I offer requires me to have programs written for dozens of athletes at a time; and finishing up month-long programs at different times requires me to constantly be aware of when they need updating while getting feedback and assessing the efficacy of the training.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
In my situation, success is not only defined by athletic performance and metrics of strength and conditioning but in qualities that are developed in the process; qualities that can be extrapolated into other facets of life. Patience, work ethic, communication, reliability, and kindness are all traits that I try to instill in my middle school, high school, and collegiate athletes. I feel that these are some of the most important qualities for success in school and work. For me, success is the number of lives that I can bring value to.
Contact Info:
- Address: 121 Mill Street, Lancaster, MA 01523
- Website: www.unifiedhp.com
- Phone: 978-855-9141
- Email: unifiedhp@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unified.hp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unifiedhp/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/unifiedhp
Image Credit:
I bought the headshot and group picture (that includes the athlete in a wheelchair) from the photographer. The picture from the Baystate Half Marathon should be credited to them.
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