Today we’d like to introduce you to Kurt Elder.
Hi Kurt, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In many ways you could say I’m an example of the old cliché, you’ve probably been doing what you’re doing a lot longer than you’ve been getting paid for it.
Thanks to my parents, I’ve been active in some type of sport or activity since childhood. My younger brother and I had the opportunity to play soccer, swimming lessons, baseball, and wrestling provided we participated in the public library book club during the summer. Around high school, like many guys, I started lifting weights because I thought having bigger muscles on the outside would help me feel stronger on the inside. I spent countless hours in the gym, working to build my muscles and eventually started competing in Powerlifting in the late 80’s. I actually had been doing pretty well in competition. Friends began asking my advice on getting in shape, what should they eat, is pizza bad for you, the usual stuff. Then in 1990, while working at the local airport to help pay for college, I was run over while loading baggage onto a plane. At that time I was told I would never squat again, and would probably walk with a limp for the rest of my life. It felt like the end of the world, I had finally found something I was good at, had just won the state championships, and now I’m being told it was over. I was completely out of sorts, but not accepting that it was over. So I did what I could with what I had. I started reading everything I could get my hands on and rehabbed my leg myself. Just under a year later I competed, and at that time, set the state squat record for my weight class. Little did I know that was a strong taste of things to come.
I continued competition through my first year of post graduate studies and into my job as a psychotherapist. It’s hard to believe that it’s just over 25 years ago I was a practicing psychotherapist, working at a private non-profit facility in South Central Los Angeles. Slowly finding myself burning out from a job I was originally completely in love with. To be honest, the first 6 years of my psychotherapy career I couldn’t have been happier, I felt like I had won the lotto. I was doing something I was seriously passionate about, was performing well according to my mentors, and actually felt like I was making a difference in the lives of the people I had the opportunity to work with. Then life happened, as it does to all of us at some point in our careers. In my case it was the rolling out of the Managed Health Care System. Which basically meant I was now asked to complete quadruple the paperwork that was previously required, and consequently spent less time with each patient. Slowly but surely it got to me. The career I had loved, was becoming drudgery. The new system seemed more preoccupied with the exact sentence structure of my notes, than the positive changes I was facilitating in my patients. Having previously turned a blind eye, I now found myself starting to listen to all of those friends who had been telling me for years that I should become a personal trainer. I can’t tell you exactly which straw broke the camel, but eventually I called it quits and completely moved into the personal training profession in the late 90’s.
I began training clients at that time largely based on my success as a lifter and word of mouth. The physique I had built up over the years was a definite help. Interestingly enough about 2 years into my personal training career I was approached to work with what was then called Pro Camp. A company that trained professional athletes on the off-season. I had the opportunity to work with professional athletes in Hockey, Football, Baseball, MMA, Tennis, and A-list actors. It was also during that time that I became certified through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). The experience was extremely interesting, educational, and helped solidify many of my perspectives on health, fitness, and wellness.
However, after about 4 years I resigned and went back to training clients on my own. At this point in my career, after working with professional athletes, I realized all the muscle and strength I had built up over the years had come at a significant price. I had given up so much of my previous flexibility, conditioning, and athleticism it had begun to affect my quality of life. Sure I could squat tons of weight, but sadly it had gotten to the point where it was difficult to sit for longer than 30 minutes without my legs going numb. Life is kind of odd like that. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was starting to see my new profession was also becoming a journey into my own healing from previously misguided energy and excitement. While I didn’t realize at the time it had in fact provided me the opportunity to up level my knowledge base. You see before it had always been about developing solid well rounded programs for my clientele to ensure that we achieved their goals. Yet what I was coming to realize now, as I worked to heal my own mind and body, was that my business was also deepening. The funny thing is I started, oddly enough, meeting potential clients that were dealing with issues I had recently fixed on myself. In the moment I hadn’t put it all together. I guess you could say that my growth as a person and a business owner, went from the book knowledge – how to apply the appropriate techniques to get the appropriate outcome, to a sort of wisdom. Because I had been through such a client type experience in healing myself, I was thus much more connected to the frustrations my clients were experiencing in their journey to improve.
Slowly but surely, client by client, I actually built a business that was doing well and finding its balance. I honestly was thankful and proud of it. I didn’t have any desire to own my own large or small gym. I was genuinely satisfied with what I had been able to create. Equally satisfying to me was that I had healed/improved the functioning of my body to the point where I took up practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
And so it went for quite a while.
At least up until COVID-19 hit and everything grinded to halt for everyone. We all know the story, each of us trying to find out what was true, what wasn’t true, in addition to trying to keep some type of finances coming in. Who was an essential business, who wasn’t? What were the rules for re-opening? And so the list went on for a while. Watching all of the chaos and confusion happen.
After several months into the pandemic I formulated a plan. Not because I’m so strong and insightful, but because I was freaking out. I had to do something other than sit around with the few clients I had on Zoom. I literally drew it out on paper and decided to start building a gym here at home in my garage. I’d spent way too much time in a wait and see panic. I needed some sort of buoy for my business in the meantime. As we all know finding anything during that time was difficult. I kept hearing the term “supply chain issues”. Thankfully I had a couple of contacts that had contacts and I slowly built a solid gym I’m actually proud of here at my home. Unfortunately as I started to contacting clients to let them know via pictures, email, and phone calls, to let them know we could begin our sessions with plenty of ventilation and safety, clients were still too scared to leave their homes. Some of the clientele had someone living with them that was at risk, others had decided to leave California all together. Consistent with the times, it was mixed bag of disappointment.
Slowly, minus a significant portion of my clientele I began rebuilding. Similar to what is still happening today in many sectors, I am continuing to work towards growing my business. Working to help as many people as possible get out pain, feel and function better in their body’s, and just help those interested in improving their quality of life.
If there is anything I’d really love to communicate to those who will listen is this, the quality of your life is directly proportional to how well your body functions. It doesn’t mean you have to spend hours at the gym, but it does mean you can’t spend your days glued to a chair. You’ll have to get up, get out, and do some solid movement. Your body will thank you.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
When you’re in the service business there are always struggles along the way. The first important hurdle was to get my initial clients to see personal training as a sincere business, not just 2 friends hanging out. That meant making sure to have some sort of legal paperwork created, policy and procedures, informed consents, etc. I found that had a significant positive impact on my clients and business in general. Next would be the usual keeping up with the trends in the protein powders, weight loss supplements, basic misunderstanding about nutrition, and the merit of certain exercises to work magic. The personal training/fitness coach industry has definitely evolved since then. The truth is most of the above are par for the course. It’s what any reputable business goes through as it evolves.
The real kicker, struggle, has been adjusting to the change in behavior that COVID has created.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Energy F/X Fitness Consultants is committed to helping people feel and function better in their body. At some point we all end up facing the fact that we can’t sit at a desk all day, sit in our cars to get home, and park ourselves on the couch. That’s a recipe for serious physical problems. I’ve had the opportunity to work with professional athletes, successful business owners, and people both young and old trying to break free from the cycle of daily nagging aches and pains. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, or what excuses you have, or what you used to do . . . if you don’t make time for your health and wellness regularly, you’ll be forced to take down time for illness and or pain. I realize it’s cliche, but it’s true.
I like to believe the thing that sets me apart from others and that I am most proud of, is that I have a very unique way of putting movements/exercises together that allow my clientele to see results quickly in how they feel and function in their body. For me it’s not about lifting weights, intense bouts of cardio, or hours of stretching, it’s about finding an effective blend of movements that gets you to your goal faster. Personalizing a program for a client is about teaching them how to take better care of themselves in a way that is efficient and sustainable.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory is spending the entire day fishing with my brother, from digging for worms in the early morning to often times catching more fish than we knew what to do with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.energyfxfitness.com/
- Instagram: energyfx
- Facebook: Energy F/X Fitness Consultants
- LinkedIn: Energy F/X Fitness Consultants
- Twitter: @energyfxfitness
- Youtube: @energyfxfitness
- Yelp: Energy FX Fitness
Image Credits
Images owned by Kurt Elder
