Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Bond.
Jonathan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started training at the early age of eight years old doing martial arts like Karate and Judo but I very quickly fell in love with boxing. I also played soccer, at the age of 14 I started lifting weights which I also fell in love with, when I left school I became a motor vehicle mechanic following in my dad’s footsteps, at the age of 19 I got sick with Cancer so after a six months recovery I decided I wanted to do something in fitness as a career, I didn’t enjoy being a mechanic and I loved anything physical and after having Cancer, I decided life was too short to not follow my passion for physical fitness.
I got my first job as a fitness instructor aged 20 so (27 years ago now) and haven’t looked back since, throughout the years I’ve covered almost every position there is in the fitness industry from fitness instructor, fitness manager, gym manager, ops manager, general manager, personal trainer, personal training manager, head of education to name a few.
I`ve worked on five different continents UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the US managing and training 100’s of coaches to coach 1000’s of clients for one of the best regarded personal training companies in the world.
Four years ago myself and my two business partners co-founded The Hybrid Gym Group in Hong Kong. We deliver high-level personal training, Group Training and Mixed Martial Arts at our three facilities two in Hong Kong and one in Los Angeles.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Most definitely not, I would say the three main challenges in my fitness career have been firstly making the decision to become more money focused/minded, I always just loved being a coach and as long as I had enough money to survive, I was happy what I loved about coaching was the people but also the freedom it gave me to control my own schedule and training I was doing a lot out of an MMA gym which was like home to me spent most of my weekends traveling up and down the country cornering fighters, coaching for very little money but I didn’t care I loved it that much that said I was approaching 40 with no savings and no real future plan when it came to money, I had to make the very tough decision to go back into management and get a stable salary and a clear career path, this was like leaving my family which I found very difficult.
That decision led me to Hong Kong and the start of a very successful career managing personal training gyms around the globe.
Second biggest challenge I would say was leaving my previous company to set up Hybrid which was very exciting but nerve-racking leaving the comfort of a steady income to do my own thing.
I’d say the third biggest challenge was building Hybrid Gym LA through the pandemic.
We’ve been impressed with Hybrid Gym LA, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We specialize in Personal Training, Group Training, Boxing, Muay Thai and BJJ, we are known for creating a super energetic and supportive environment, we pride ourselves on our community-driven spirit, we take a holistic approach to helping our clients achieve their weight loss, body composition and fitness goals we evaluate everything from training and nutritional habits to recovery protocols and mental health.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Being a Brit, I absolutely love the weather, I love the laid back vibe of LA, I have to say its probably the most unique place I’ve ever lived, never a dull moment, I wouldn’t say there is anything I dislike maybe the traffic would be an obvious one.
Contact Info:
- Email: jon@hybridmmafit.com
- Website: https://hybridgymgroup.com/la/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonbondcoaching/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hybridgymla
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hybrid-gym-los-angeles-los-angeles
