L.E.A.N. Fitness Systems

L.E.A.N. Fitness Systems

Well today I announced our soft grand opening for our new facility.  I can’t really believe that it is here.  Chris Mason and I have talked about this moment since we were slinging weights together at Appalachian State University.  Neither one of us could imagine a life outside of the gym.  Both of us loved everything about it.  Look I am not just talking about lifting big weights.  Yeah both of us have been known to do a lot of that.  I have coached some of the best strength athletes in the world, but lifting heavy weights isn’t the real thing that drives me.

There are three of us that are in this together.  Crystal McCullough will be the one doing the day-to-day and watching lives change.  She loves the gym as much or more than both of us.  She loves the community, and she loves being a part of people reaching their goals.

That brings me to the real driving force behind this project.  It really doesn’t matter to me whether someone is trying to break a World Record or whether he or she are trying to get their first pull-up.  It never has mattered to me.  There has always been one driving force that made me love everything about the gym.

The gym is a place where someone can transform his or her life.  If they want to lose 100lb, they can do that.  If they want to get stronger, they can do that.  It’s a place where people that have been in an out of control life can take back some of that control.  It was that very place for me when I was a young man.  I was a young guy with a life that was spiraling out of control.  The gym was a place that I could count on.  If I put in the work, the results would come.  It was the fairest place that I had ever experienced.

When we learned that we had actually gotten our new spot, I cried like I was that eleven-year-old boy working out in the gym again.  My dream had come true.  I can’t believe that we have a 5,500 square foot gym with Men and Women’s locker room and showers.  That might seem trivial to all of you, but to a boy from the deep mountains of North Carolina, it’s like winning the lottery. 

We will have some of the best functional equipment in the state complete with:

·      Aerodyne Bikes

·      Concept 2 Rowers

·      Indoor and Outdoor Turf

·      2 Vertimaxes

·      Kettlebells

·      Dumbbells

·      Intek Powerlifting and Weightlifting Needle Bearing Bars

·      Eleiko, Werksan, and other needle bearing weightlifting bars

·      Texas Powerlifting Bars, Squat Bars, and Deadlift Bars

·      Beautiful Intek Urethane Bumper Plates

·      MuscleDriver USA Racking System

·      Soft Plyometric Boxes

·      Lasers for timing speed

·      Body Tempering

·      Belt Squat Machine

·      Reverse Hyperextension

·      Glute Ham Raises

·      4 Way Neck Machine

·      TRX’s

·      Two Power Racks

·      IPF Approved Combo Rack

·      Two competition bench presses

·      Bands and chains of course

·      Wall Balls, Hurdles, Ladders, and Cones.

·      Sprint Bungees and parachutes

I am sure that I am forgetting something, but you get the idea.  So what services will be offer:

·      Training for Warriors General Fitness

·      Bootcamps

·      Mash Elite Olympic weightlifting

·      Mash Elite Athletic Performance

·      Mash Elite Powerlifting

·      Personal Training

We have the equipment and coaching to service anyone from the most elite athlete in the United States (and we already do) all the way to a 68-year-old retired doctor (and we already do).  We don’t really care as long as we are servicing people that really want to reach their goals.  We want a culture filled with members that are focused on getting better.   Do you know what I mean?  I am talking about a culture filled with people that simply want to be better today that they were yesterday. 

I’ve had the pleasure of coaching athletes all the way until their first Division I scholarship offer.  I’ve coached a lady that lost over 100lb at the age of 62.  I have three athletes on Team USA right training for the IWF Weightlifting World Championships that take place in two weeks.  Coach Chris recently helped a high school student go from a couch potato teenager to a young man in love with fitness.

I hope you guys get it.  We love watching lives changed.  I am not talking about changing for a season.  I am talking about changing lives for the long-haul.  We have that chance now.  Chris, Crystal, and I have a facility that meets the needs of all the populations that are use to working with us.  We have a facility that we can be proud of.  We have a facility that our members will be proud of.  I am very thankful for this moment.  When I told my wife that we had actually gotten the facility, she started crying.  I asked her why she was crying, and she told me because she was so happy for me.  She knew that it was my dream coming true right before her eyes.  At that moment, I realized that it was real.  I can’t wait to serve you all.

Last thing, in case you are wondering what L.E.A.N. stands for:

L- Lifestyle

E- Exercise

A- Attitude (I’ve always had a little extra of this one.)

N- Nutrition

I will tell you more about this next time!

Sola Gratia,

Coach Travis Mash

USAW Senior International Coach