From Birth
I was born in a gym. My dad started a gym in the mid 80’s in a small 700 square foot shack on our small horse farm in Mt. Carmel Ohio, a town 20 minutes east of downtown Cincinnati. It had the basics, a waterfall squat rack, olympic bench, cable crossover, several machines, a dip rack and pull up bar, all of which was painted gold. I can remember running through the gym with my little brother while the area’s strongest guys lifted with my dad. We thought is was normal for guys to bench and squat with stacks of 45lb Yorks on each side of the bar.
High School to College
It was January 1994, I was not quite 14 yet, my dad’s friend Billy Hall took me to the local gym owned by Vince Shannon. While I had been around strong dudes and a hardcore atmosphere, this was another level. The record boards filled with 500lb benchers, 600lb squatters and had the privilege to see Mike Loos pull an 800lb raw deadlift. I wanted to be just like those guys. I was in the gym 6 days a week, listening to every word Billy and Vince said. They took me in and treated me like family, trained me for free, let me work at the gym, answer phones, clean, whatever, I just wanted to be around those guys. In 1996, Vince had a supplement company powerhousesupplements.com, it was a fast rising supplement company that was growing quickly. Vince let me package orders, take calls, and work local deliveries. In return, Vince got me a supplement sponsorship with Schwartz Labs in Silverton Ohio. Protein powders and creatine were my first introduction into the supplement game and taking my diet serious became my main focus. Vince then introduced me to a training program I had never heard of. It was the “westside method” by Louie Simmons, a dynamic and max effort program of power movements.
The Gym Building Journey
The unanticipated gym equipment business started May 1st 2013. I met Nick Giglia through a sales call for the high school I was coaching at. He then introduced me to founder Matt Purdy, from there the rest is history. The first items acquired to be re-sold were an old Barry Barbell half-rack, adjustable bench, some weights and stall mats. I didn’t know what they would be sold for, I just knew there was a niche in the business for used equipment to be repurposed to a private buyer.