Today we’d like to introduce you to Ahmad Jones.
Hi Ahmad, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Professional fitness and wellness is a unique industry in that there are so many different decisions, paths, and levels that eventually lead you to where you are today; my journey starts in high school. During my senior year of high school, my brothers and I decided to start making workout videos. Imagine an On-Demand workout video like P90x, but filmed in the basement of my parent’s house! We filmed a 20-minute ab workout that we created ourselves and even had different camera angles using our phones. We put it up on YouTube and soon our friends started sending us screenshots and pictures of them doing our workouts. Of course, we garnered a few haters, but our supporters drowned out the negativity. From there, we ran with it. We hosted our first free group bootcamp the summer after we graduated high school and advertised it using Facebook and physical flyers. It wasn’t the best bootcamp ever, but everyone starts somewhere! The following fall, my brothers and I decided to go to school together at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Our sophomore year of college, we hosted our first free bootcamp on campus with the goal of creating a healthy, social, and stress-free space for students to get their sweat on. Students loved it, and with the support of our on-campus dorm providing food, space and compensation, the University of Pennsylvania became our first big client and we continued to host bootcamps for students until we graduated from college.
After graduation, the three of us decided to go into business full-time together, branding ourselves as “Triyo Fitness” and hosting bootcamps around the city of Philadelphia, doing personal training, and eventually working at the top fitness studios in the city. By the time we collectively moved out of Philadelphia, we had been named “Best of Philly” trainers for 2020 which was a huge accomplishment for us. The three of us subsequently moved to Dallas, Texas, and a year later I moved to Atlanta by myself to take a position as an Instructor Talent Lead for Barry’s in Buckhead. Now I’m here in Atlanta and I’m loving it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Entrepreneurship is, almost by definition, a challenging path to take. My biggest struggles have come from doubt, both internal and external, as well as delayed gratification. Entrepreneurship is hard because nobody believes in you until you do it, and because you have to set your sights on long-term reward, not short-term gain. In high school, my brothers and I decided we would all attend an Ivy League school after graduation, but our classmates and even the parents of our classmates were skeptical at best and disparaging at worst when we told them about our plans. But, as entrepreneurs often have to do, we blocked out the noise and continued to grind for the grades and accolades that would put us where we wanted to be. Eventually, college decisions came back and we all accepted spots at the University of Pennsylvania.
At Penn, it was the same. Upon graduation, the skepticism and oftentimes disapproving reactions to my decision to go into fitness full-time became the norm. One professor even said, “You went to Penn to become a personal trainer??” The typical path out of the University of Pennsylvania usually leads to a well-paying office job in finance or consulting, and most graduates don’t choose to take the road less traveled. People couldn’t fathom the thought of “wasting an Ivy-League education” in order to become a personal trainer. But I had passion, motivation, and a team of two other brothers that would move through it with me, and that’s all I needed.
One of the hardest parts about entrepreneurship is living in the dirt while dreaming about the clouds. I knew I could be successful and get where I wanted to be, but living in the trenches is tough. In fitness, you’re getting up early, staying up late, and working on the weekends is usual. You’re “waking up in grind mode and sleeping in the grindhouse” and it feels endless. The most important part is just showing up every day and trusting the process. Forging a new path and building something on your own is challenging, but for me it’s always been worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a health and wellness expert, specializing in group fitness that motivates, inspires, and leads participants to become the best versions of themselves both physically and mentally! I am most known for creating large-scale group fitness experiences as well as being a Barry’s fitness instructor. I am currently working full-time as the lead instructor at Barry’s Buckhead. As the instructor team lead, I teach 15 classes per week, manage the instructor team, and work with the instructors to help develop their skills and fine-tune their craft.
The thing I love most about my work is creating the best client experience possible. Leading a workout is easy, but curating an experience is where the magic happens. I lead my clients with energizing positivity and motivating accountability, and the reason my clients come back to me is because it doesn’t matter if there are 5 people or 50 people in a session, you’ll feel individually seen and motivated to give your best effort every single time.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’m an identical triplet! My brothers’ names are Malik and Khalil, and those are my guys. As a team, we’re unstoppable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://profiles.barrys.com/ahmad-jones?fbclid=PAAaboOyXDoaHlBwvITVWIc7N7ShiMzhocFz43TQWQwabnRTcXQ_K0m3csFI0
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahmadjawns/
Image Credits
McKenzie M. Nugent
