Meet Studio City Personal Trainer: Chris Hodges

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Hodges.

We are incredibly impressed with him – not just as a trainer, but as an creative and entrepreneurial visionary.  Below we’ve included an edited excerpt of our interview with him:

Chris, please tell us about how you got started. 

My story as a personal trainer began in 2009. I was newly certified, anxious to train but inexperienced. I remember fighting for an interview at 24 Hour Fitness’ brand new fitness facility in Fort Worth, TX. They called me “persistent”, looking back I think that meant “annoying”. Either way, in my last interview with them, I told them that if they hired me, it would be the best decision they could make for their new facility. From the moment they said “we’ll give you a shot”, I hit the ground running. I learned as much as possible, trained as much as possible and quickly became one of the top trainers in the area. I had the pleasure of helping active adult’s lower blood pressure, increase balance and stability but also helped hundreds of people lose thousands of pounds that changed their lives forever. I knew I stumbled on an amazing opportunity. I quickly moved up at 24 Hour Fitness, transferring to Los Angeles I climbed the corporate ladder taking on Fitness Manager, Membership Manager and multi Club Manager roles over the next 4 years with amazing success. The corporate climb was eye opening. The higher I went the less the focus was on helping people, and the more pressure our bosses stressed over hitting arbitrary sales goals and budgets. I quickly noticed that this high pressure sales world that they called fitness was only a house of cards sure to implode at any moment. I wanted to develop a product that treated people like individuals, not numbers. Something that would focus on results through accountability, not quantity. I needed to make it affordable and globally accessible for everyone, but local enough to stay connected. I left my corporate job last year, enlisted the help of now COO Jacob Hoffman, and together we have taken Go TRIBE from concept with 3 paying members in January 2015, to over 120 members as of March 2016 and growing.

Congrats on all the success so far.  What would you say were some of the significant challenges and milestones along the way?

When you are trying to create something from the ground up, it seems like everything is against you. Early in we were threatened with a lawsuit regarding a name we had before Go TRIBE. We made a few very expensive mistakes allowing the wrong people to be a part of what we were trying to build. There have been a few instances where people that posed as reputable businessmen tried to con us out of money or attempted to steal our business model. The problem with that is that even if someone stole our ideas, we are the only ones that can execute the way we do. No one can steal our hearts.

So you are a pretty visionary guy, what are your plans for the future?

We want Go TRIBE to become a global household name. This business model allows us to build sleek, modern low cost studios for the in-person experience and we can provide the convenience of actually training our members online in there households! This gives people options and it opens the door for us to grow on a global level. The fun part of this is brainstorming with Jacob (COO, Co-Owner) on how to create a better and more meaningful experience using the latest breakthroughs in technology and after visiting NAB in Vegas this past week, we got a lot of answers to some of our biggest questions to further personalize our programs for people. The virtual world is coming to fitness and we are going to be on the front end of this wave!

Can we go a little deeper into your story?  In particular can you tell me about the hardest time in your career (or life) – why it was hard, how you found yourself in that spot and how you got through it. 

I remember just getting my trainer certification. I was desperate to get out of my dead end construction job but I wasn’t confident enough to jump in full time in that carrier. I remember putting a bunch of flyers together and handing them out to people but getting rejected one after another. I was really happy when a friend recommended his buddy to me for weight loss, I was really nervous because I had never done an assessment on anyone much less training someone for major weight loss. When we got to the end of the session I showed him my prices that I put together, and he laughed at me and walked out. I remember thinking “I know I’m young and inexperienced, but you’re overweight and pre-diabetic. Who’s going to put more effort into helping you more than me?” I decided at that moment to use that experience to fuel my desire to be successful in this industry. Ever since then when I witness one of our members drop 60+ lbs. or come off of medication completely, I think about that very first opportunity that walked out the door laughing at me. I wonder if he realizes what he walked out on.

Can you also share a little more detail about any moments/experiences where you realized you had made it (or if too humble for that) a moment when you felt wow – my career is really starting to work out that way I dreamt it would?

Any time one of my trainers comes to me with a success story of how their member overcame an obstacle, made a good food choice, built up the confidence to ask out that guy/girl, booked that movie roll or anything like that, I feel like I’ve made it. To me, I see success as what our members accomplish outside of the workout. And what they accomplish on the outside is directly related to what they’ve accomplished on the inside.

Pricing:

• No Contracts, No Initiation Fees, No Gym Memberships Personal and Online Training: 1x a week – $399 a month 2x a week – $699 a month 3x a week – $899 a month 4x a week – $999 a month Small Group Training: Limited 2x a week – $255 a month Unlimited – $299 a month

Contact Info:

• Tel: 323 457 9467
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: gotribefit
• Facebook: gotribefit
• gotribefit.com 

Check out his work below: