May 1, 2017

Meet Juan Guadarrama of JG Strength in Venice

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Guadarrama.

Juan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As I finished my time at Loyola Marymount, it came time to decide what kind of career path I was going to pursue. I studied Entrepreneurship and have been spending lots of time at the gym. At that point, I didn’t really plan to become a trainer. I briefly played soccer in college, graduated USMC Officer school, and even had become an EMT. Whatever the experience, all roads lead back to fitness. I kept finding that I most enjoyed helping people get stronger and faster. There were certain principles and characteristics that I had learned from my previous experiences that I wanted to pass on.

I started my fitness journey at a boutique gym in Santa Monica. There I was, fortunate enough to have experienced trainers take me under their wing. Once I established myself ,I moved into a private facility to work with my clients. Then one day I drove by DEUCE Gym and was captivated immediately. This was the start to my transition to become a strength coach. I started off learning CrossFit’s definition of fitness and how to implement different strength and conditioning principles. I committed myself to do whatever it took to be part of the staff and accomplished that mission. I am now a DEUCE Gym coach and run my personal training clients (JG Strength) through their facility. I train a wide range of demographics from athletes to emergency response personnel.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The journey in becoming a strength coach or fitness instructor is not an easy one. My own experience has been a long one. When you first get certified you think, oh great people are going to be wanting to train with me immediately. That was definitely not the case. I was a nobody. It took time to make myself part of the community. I had to spend numerous hours at the gym practicing my craft. In the beginning, I was willing to train anyone, even if it meant at a cost.

It also took time to figure out what part of the fitness spectrum I was part of. Sometimes fitness get clumped into one big pie, but there are so many different niches. I found that traditional strength and conditioning was mine.

There was also the figuring out the business side of how to acquire clients, billing, marketing, and retention. Thankfully business school kicked in and helped with the building my website, presence, and operations.

Some key things that have kept me sharp is continuous education, networking, and the demonstration of my own life.

JG Strength – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I train 1-1 or small group settings of up to 3 people. I specialize in traditional strength and conditioning with an emphasize on transferring those skills to whatever the client may need. I use the Westside Barbell Conjugate method to get people strong with squatting, deadlifts, and pressing variations. Depending on their needs conditioning is customized by energy systems. This means either general fitness, sports specific, or job specific (firemen, police officers). The gym allows me the opportunity to use specialized bars (cambered, safety bar, football bar, etc.), odd object equipment (stones, tired, and sandbags), and chains to create different environments for my trainings.

I am most proud of how engaging and long term I can keep athletes motivated. This thing is long term, it takes time to build strength. What makes me so excited is the buy in from everyone to accept and understand the process. The training we do in the yard is simple yet effective.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success by the quality of relationships that I have. I like to surrounds myself with likeminded, motivated individuals. I am fortunate to have people around me who challenge me and are willing to give me criticism. I don’t ever want to get to the point where I am not growing or getting better.

For a day to be successful I ask myself, did I get to make meaningful impact and do what I enjoy. Did I learn or teach something new? Mental development is more important than any financial gain.

I am very fortunate to be doing something I wake up super excited for. I enjoy every minute of every day.

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