I’m honestly not sure how it started, but I have two very distinct memories.
The first was a small piece of graph paper with a meticulous outline drawn in pencil.
The four squat racks sat on one wall. Dumbbells directly across. I don’t recall turf or rowers or skiergs or anything else, really. But I do remember Kyle showing it to me in the trainer’s room. Asking for feedback. His idea for a new concept in fitness.
The other was breakfast at the Hollywood Diner.
As we sat at a table and chomped on western omelets, Kyle and I laid out the blueprint. Hour long training sessions, four person groups, periodized programs, a real focus on strength training.
It was designed to mimic the training we did ourselves. When the clients from the private, high-end personal training gym left to go to their day jobs in finance and law firms, and we, the group of dedicated trainers who loved to work out, would get together in small groups, follow a program and push each other to our absolute limits.
Personally, I was extremely honored to be let into the fold. These guys were tremendous athletes, often former collegiate standouts, and I was an absolute ham and egger. The only inspiration I could provide to the group was how serious I took it all and how I refused to quit. It reminded me of my basketball days in high school. First one to practice. Last one to leave. No real talent but will not be outworked.
I wanted to bring the feeling of this training to our clients. And I believed I was the one closest to their situation and had the most empathy for how they felt in the gym. These people never played college athletics. They were never MVPs. But for one hour at a time we could make them train as if they were.
One-on-one is coddling by its very nature. Large group fitness classes are more of a show. Sort of like high school prom. Who could show up in the most dazzling outfit? Who would be the wall flower hiding in the back? Who was to rise to the occasion and be deemed the king and the queen?
But this new idea, splitting the difference between large and small, could deliver the best of both worlds.
You absolutely needed a team of people surrounding you. Kyle learned it playing college athletics and I learned it in those lunch-time training sessions. But it couldn’t be too big. You needed teammates but not an audience. We thought four people was the perfect number. We still think that’s true.
We had a lot of false starts in the beginning. But it feels so long ago that we never even talk about them. That first, almost disastrous lease we nearly signed on 26th street. The two other training partners from our group that were originally all-in but found reasons to fade out.
But as we start our gulp 10th year of The Fort, it’s actually more amazing how little has changed. The groups, the programming, the training philosophy all remain. Kyle and I still remain.
I don’t want to turn this into an Academy Award speech where I try to rattle off the names of people we need to thank before the music plays us off. Horrified by the one or two people we forgot to mention.
Because there is no shortage of people who have helped us get to where we are now.
From Alec, our first hire, who helped us build out the gym - I can still remember him sitting cross-legged on Christnas eve, scraping off glue from the floor tiles we had mislaid for the third time - to the dozens of coaches who have been with us since. Not to mention the incredible leaders and managers who make sure that every session is faithfully executed to that same standard of making our clients feel like serious athletes.
And of course there are the hundreds of clients, some who have been with us from the beginning, who have given over the responsibility of their fitness to us. Something that we hold very sacred.
Every origin story needs a compelling moment of transformation. When the radioactive spider turns Peter Parker into a superhero or when Arthur Fleck becomes The Joker.
And I’ve been trying to think of ours.
Was it that diner breakfast? Sitting at a plastic table in an empty gym after signing a lease and wondering how to make it all work? Putting together the squat racks on a late December night so we could take advantage of the new year rush?
For me, I actually think it came when Lauren Nowerski walked through our door. She had emailed me a few days earlier asking about training. We set up a time to meet. I showed her around and when I asked her if she wanted to sign up she surprisingly said “yes”. The first “stranger” to actually pay us money to train them. It was mind-boggling.
Lauren now lives in Oregon now with her husband and two french bulldogs. I haven’t heard from her in quite some time. But I’ll never forget the faith that she gave me in that moment.
But in case you read this, thanks Lauren. And thank all of you. Honestly, a thank you doesn’t seem like enough but it’s all I’ve got.
Thank you all for having faith in us.