Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Weiner.
Hi Jake, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey began around 2011 when I graduated from the University of Arizona. I graduated with a degree in psychology and a minor in marketing but was unsure about my future path. I heard about a cool opportunity to work at a summer camp in Ojai, CA working with young adults with developmental disabilities. Camp Ramah supports young adults with developmental disabilities in achieving independence through a 4 or 8-week vocational training program. I signed up to be one of several coordinators for the summer, and it changed my life forever. I learned how to lead vocational programs, life skills classes, social skills workshops, etc., and got to interact with and learn from some amazing individuals throughout the summer.
After this transformative summer, I traveled to Israel to work in hotel management, which I thought could be a possible career path for me. Turns out I was destined for something else!
When I got back to Los Angeles, I still had this incredible passion and desire to work with and support individuals with developmental disabilities. So over the next five years, I found as many opportunities as possible to do so — working in public schools, private schools, non-profit, and respite, all in pursuit of finding the right fit that aligned with my skillset and passion.
Throughout those five years, I noticed a consistent challenge that most of my clientele/students faced: MOVEMENT — more specifically exercise! No matter the job, no matter the city, no matter the organization, I realized that there were a very limited number of movement-related opportunities specifically geared for individuals with disabilities. I kept wondering WHY this might be the case.
Side note: I should quickly share that I grew up very active. I played many sports and competed nationally in the Martial Arts of Judo. So I have always loved sports, exercise, and anything movement-related.
So once I hit upon this big WHY, I knew I could and had to do something about it. This was the spark that led me to create ZOOZ Fitness. My goal was to create an inclusive gym that would empower individuals with developmental and other disabilities to lead more physically active lifestyles.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I would say that from day one, the road to realizing my dream of creating ZOOZ Fitness was filled with small roadblocks that often made me pause and reassess but NEVER fully stopped me. When I first decided that I wanted to create opportunities and empower individuals with developmental and other disabilities to lead healthier lives, I was often met with skepticism and questions. How do you work with someone with a disability? What kind of exercises do you offer? How will you motivate my son/daughter? All of these questions were valid, and even if I didn’t have all the answers right away, I knew that the bottom line was that these opportunities were not out there, and I needed to create and offer what I could for an incredible community of people wanting to be healthier.
Another hurdle that set my goals back a bit came when looking for gym space. After years of training at parks, community centers, and local gyms I knew the next step was to open a brick-and-mortar location that we all could call home! I spent nearly a year and a half searching all over Los Angeles for the right space. It wasn’t that I was especially picky, I just knew I needed to practice what I preach and ensure that this space was truly accessible to anyone and everyone that came into our gym. a few key things to make this work, which I was not finding. After that year and a half search, I basically knew every possible location across the greater Los Angeles area so when I finally found a potential fit – I jumped at the opportunity. I am grateful that we found a beautiful space in Encino, CA, and are now celebrating our 2nd year there.
More recently, along with fellow business owners of all kinds, we needed to close our doors due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns throughout Los Angeles. My first gut reaction was one of fear and anxiety of the unknown. What is going to happen with my gym? I spent years saving money, equipment, building this incredible community of families, and now it’s all come to a halt? While these feelings and thoughts were running through my mind, my wife gave birth to our baby boy in April of 2020. Wow, what a ride! Trying to manage and completely rethink how we train/coach/teach our athletes and try to navigate being a new parent was a bit overwhelming (ok maybe VERY overwhelming). Throughout the first few weeks of the lockdown, I got to spend time with my family, learning, staying up all hours of the night, reading baby books, and just figuring out how to do this thing called parenting. I would not take those moments back for anything! I got to truly be in the moment and be present with my wife and new child.
After those first few weeks, it was back to thinking about the gym. How do I and the ZOOZ team continue to provide fitness services to our community? Obviously, I knew that online training was very popular pre-pandemic, but I did not think that it would work for our community. I had no previous experience with online coaching/training and did not even know where to begin. This is when I enlisted the help of friends and family to try and figure it out. I opened a Zoom account and sent an email to our ZOOZ families basically saying that I was not really sure if and how it would work but I was going to try to host a virtual group class on Zoom. Our first-class had 40 athletes join! I was absolutely blown away. I immediately knew that this was the road to the future. We currently offer four virtual group classes every week — circuit training, Zumba, and yoga — and run about 40 private virtual sessions in addition to our in-person training.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
ZOOZ Fitness empowers individuals with developmental and other disabilities to become more physically active and live healthy and balanced lifestyles. We believe that everyone, regardless of ability level, deserves the opportunity to learn, experience, and benefit from exercise through adaptive, inclusive, and active fitness routines. We work with individuals of all abilities and are a fully inclusive and accessible gym. We pride ourselves on creating an atmosphere that inspires, motivates, encourages, and educates on the benefits and possibilities of what movement could look like.
We currently offer in-person private training at our Encino location, virtual private training, and virtual group training. We offer four group virtual classes every week. We will soon be opening our in-person group classes so stay tuned.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We are always looking for amazing coaches and trainers as well as volunteers for our future in-person group classes. Feel free to reach out to Jake Weiner to learn more and find out how you can support. You can find us at www.zoozfitness.com or through social media @zoozfitness.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.zoozfitness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoozfitness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoozfitness
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/zoozfitness
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC47HaGiAZNkZDG7Un9nU_9A
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/zooz-fitness-los-angeles?osq=zooz+fitness
