Movie prequels seem to
be the ‘in thing’ in Hollywood at the moment, so I thought I would follow suit.
Being involved in some
form of coaching for professional fighters was a goal of mine since I was
sixteen. I followed two things religiously from a relatively early age: MMA and
Fitness Training. My global awareness was poor and I had limited general
knowledge, but I did know fitness. Every bit of free time I had was invested
into training, reading about training or thinking about training.
When I reached the age
of twenty, I decided to open the door of the fitness industry and take my first
step. I had adopted a training philosophy focused on objective results. I was
interested in developing specific fitness parameters, rather than focusing on my
physical appearance. This eventually became the backbone of RT: ‘Athletics, Not
Aesthetics’.
I remember talking with
a gym junkie friend, and explained the slogan I had planned to use: ‘Athletics,
Not Aesthetics’. He wasn’t impressed. He insisted that the majority of people
want to train to look better, and aren’t concerned with their physical ability.
He predicted our RT jingle would be a deterrent.
Aware that I was
targeting a niche market, I was willing to do whatever it took to make it work.
Those who trained in the ‘shed era’ can vouch that equipment we had was far
from sophisticated, but we still made great strides. Had I modified RT’s philosophy
and settled for a training system to build the ultimate beach body, things
would be a lot different.
Some clarification… we
don’t want our athletes to look like Roy Nelson - a good physique is great for
self-confidence, attracting the opposite sex, etc. We are simply guiding our clients in unleashing their
athletic ability (enhanced aesthetics are typically a by-product). We don’t
want our clients to just look like athletes. We want to make them athletes.
