iAM Stories » James Fitzgerald, Founder of MVP Fitness

 Purpose and Philosophy

“”No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” Calvin Coolidge

James Fitzgerald is a fitness instructor and personal trainer with a unique purpose and philosophy. Unlike most fitness trainers whose focus is helping their clients lose weight, James purpose is to “help people improve the quality of their lives.” After nine years of “mindlessly moving heavy objects” he realized there has to be another level that makes the “mind-body” connection. His training philosophy emerged from combining the “power of beliefs” with the “science of how body works.” He applied it to his “personal life, exercise, and nutrition” and found that it was “beyond losing ten pounds.”   By changing his beliefs he not only improved his fitness, but he feels that it “networks out” and has “integrated into every aspect” of his life. It has made him a “better teacher, a better friend, a better father, everything.” And this is what he motivates his clients to do – to believe, make a small commitment, and the results in their fitness levels ripple over into other aspects of their lives as well.
In addition to emphasizing the “balance between mind, body, and spirit,” James recognizes the importance of making the program “relevant” to his clients. This means that the exercises are designed to “mimic their lifestyles.” He has his clients answer a thirty-two pages long questionnaire to “understand their lifestyle, what they like about their work, what they don’t like about their work” and other questions to get to know them. He also “taps into different resources” to help his clients and if he cannot help the client he “will find a way to help and if it means sending them to another trainer,” he will.

Dealing with Challenges

“In order to believe, you must first believe.” Martha Graham

When James left his full time job to follow his purpose full time, he “was out of money for a long time.” But what kept him going was his “desire to make a difference” and his “beliefs.”  James recollects,  “For weeks and weeks I would sit in the gym and just wait. I would go at the same time every day even though there was no client – go at eight and sit there till 4. Until someone finally said I need a personal trainer and that’s where it began.” When asked how did he go through that period James replies, “Just the belief that I needed to do this. I was broke, got evicted, lost my car, but I knew there was something there and decided to not give up.”

The new business paradigm in the fitness industry

According to James the new paradigm is “fusion of body and mind.” There has been a division between yoga/pilates and old school. But he strongly feels that “someone has to crossover and extend hand to other side.” James is inspired by instructors who are emphasizing the “balance between mind, body, and spirit.” James is also working to make the paradigms interchangeable so “people who aren’t athletes can say I can move like an athlete and people who are athletes can say I can be spiritual.”

Meaning of Authenticity in Business

For James, authenticity in business means, “believing in what you are doing and every aspect of business focus should be on improving quality of customers life.”

Meaning of Mindfulness in Business

Mindful business “means the same thing – if I cannot help someone then to try to find a way to help.” James makes two important points here. One, he feels that “many business people go beyond their scope of practice to get business share,” but he realizes that a whole community of practitioners is needed to support his clients’ well being and James is committed to finding the right resources for his customers.
Second, he speaks about collaborating with other instructors instead of seeing them as “competition.” He explains, “especially with the way economy is, we need more people to get together, not how I can make more money than this personal trainer, but got together and be better business people.” He points to a survey in 2002, which shows that more than 80% people don’t get any physical activity. He emphasizes that if they all worked together they “can get more people into this - go into the community to promote not business but fitness.”

Meaning of Innovation in Business

James describes innovation is business as “being open, to reach, extend, cross the line and cross over to other areas of practice.” He doesn’t think that he is “reinventing” but “putting together to recreate or design the product” so it is relevant to the customer. He conveys a flexible and dynamic approach because different customers have different needs, which requires “different areas of development and applying it, and that’s what makes it different for everybody.”