Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Meyer.
Hi Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am born and raised in Buffalo, MN, a small town about an hour west of Minneapolis. We lived on a lake growing up and my life was split into two distinct seasons, Wakeboarding and Hockey season. I loved being on the water as much as I could, no matter if it was liquid or frozen. I excelled in both activities, playing and competing at a high level in my teenage years. As a path for a future in hockey began to appear, my focus shifted and my career progressed through college hockey in Minnesota, playing minor league professional hockey in the United States, playing in Finland’s professional league and finally culminating in 3 seasons playing hockey in Dubai, UAE.
Throughout my career and still today, I felt an intense sense of gratitude and acknowledged my good fortune of being able to play a game that I loved into my late 20’s and having travelled the world while making many lifelong friends and memories. During my last season in Dubai, one of my teammates opened an F45 Training studio in Dubai. I had never heard of the F45 concept and had not done much group fitness in my years of training for hockey. I was immediately impressed by the use of technology and intelligent workout programming accompanied by enthusiastic coaches in a group setting. It felt very familiar to the teams I had been a part of in the past. There was a sense of accountability and collective accomplishment with the community within the studio.
When I returned to Minnesota in 2016, F45 Training hadn’t come to MN yet and I knew I wanted to open one. The first studio, F45 Training Southwest Minneapolis opened in August of 2017 and now we have grown to a community of 4 studios throughout the Twin Cities. It has been an incredibly rewarding journey to be able to play a role in so many people’s lives and build an inclusive community of people that support each other and celebrate each other’s success and growth.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Over the past 4+ years, there have been quite a few challenges along the way. Obviously, the pandemic was an incredibly difficult time for us as a business and for the mental health of our community. There was so much uncertainty and constant pivoting and trying to find a way to continue serving our community.
Before opening F45, I had never worked in the fitness business or had any experience running fitness studios. Everything was brand new and we had to learn as we go. My main goal was to hire the best people I could and create an inclusive environment for our members and coaches. By doing that, our members would be very understanding and always give us the benefit of the doubt when we made mistakes.
There is one specific example of a challenge I faced, that I can look back and laugh at now. I was scheduled to do my first live News interview in the studio during our 5:30am class. I was really excited to get the word out about our new studio. The day before the interview was schedule, at 5pm, a driver lost control of their car and crashed into our building, knocked over a power pole and ripped the power lines out of our building. I quickly started scrambling to get the power company to come out ASAP to fix the pole and get power back to my building before 5am. I spent all night at the studio, pressuring Xcel energy to get the job done, even convincing them to get extra guys to the job site at 3am to help in the final push to finish. We got power back to the building at about 4:50am and classes went on as usual and the News interview was a success. I was exhausted but excited about pulling it off.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
F45 Training is a global fitness franchise that is backed by some big names like Mark Wahlberg and David Beckham. It is 45 minute, group training for up to 36 people. The F stands for Functional and the 45 stands for 45 minutes. All of our workouts are programmed using functional movement patterns that are designed to help our members move better in their daily lives and improve their overall strength, cardio, stability and mobility. We are really proud to be accessible to a very wide range of people from all different fitness levels. We have members from the ages of 16-75 years old. We have some professional athletes that train with us and we have people that are brand new to fitness. Everything we do can be modified or adjusted to meet our members where they are at and accommodate any limitations they might have. Our weekly schedule alternates between cardio focused days, strength focused days and hybrid workouts that are a full body mix of both cardio and strength.
On a global brand level, it has been great to see the F45 HQ leadership team grow our brand from a small Australian brand to one of the world’s fastest growing fitness franchises that is now a publicly listed company. They have really poured a lot of heart and soul into creating an incredible product and supporting the franchisees that are delivering that product to their communities.
One of the things that impressed me the most when I was doing F45 workouts in Dubai, was how inclusive and accepting the community was. Dubai has people from all over the world, with different backgrounds, religions, cultures, fitness experience, etc. It was so cool to see everyone in the same studio, workout out together, supporting each other and feeling a sense of collective accomplishment. That inclusiveness was one of the core values I wanted to create at our studios. I wanted every person that comes through our doors to feel welcome, supported and a part of our community from Day 1. I think my team of Managers and Coaches have done an amazing job of making that vision a reality. I believe we have one of the best fitness communities in Minnesota and one of our biggest strengths is our inclusiveness.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Finding a mentor is really important. One thing I have done when I am looking for a mentor to connect with is to search out someone that is successful at whatever your goals and ambitions are. Don’t be shy, reach out to them, be honest, tell them who you are, why you are passionate about what you are doing and why you would appreciate the opportunity to learn from them. If they respond and are open to it, be prepared to ask good questions and LISTEN. If they don’t respond, don’t get discouraged, find someone else, it may take a little time to find the right person but it will be worth it.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.f45mpls.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/f45_adam/
