Travis literally saved my life…read more
Not because of some acute act of heroism, or because he helped rack the bar just in time before I fatigued on a bench press that otherwise would've sandwiched me between the bench and the bar.
He saved my life by providing a service that is essential, IMO, to a healthy being; and he provided it at a time in my life where I needed it more than ever.
I was a bodybuilding and personal trainer myself for over a decade, and worked side-by-side with Travis in the gym that I first got hired at. He was a huge inspiration to me in my early years, and I had a long and fruitful career as a personal trainer and competitive bodybuilder. In my early 30s I switched careers (from personal training to real estate related work) and my wife and I welcomed our son into the world. I was slowly creating new lifestyle habits that were not conducive to a healthy life, and this was exacerbated by these habits being in such stark contrast to the life I used to live. I went from being in the gym all day with my clients, walking around, racking weights, and working out personally in between clients, to sitting for the majority of the day and only working out 1-2 times a week. This slowly worsened, and before I knew it I didn't have any gym memberships and only worked out a few times a month in my garage gym.
Now, I take full responsibility for these changes, and they were more or less a requirement for me to continue building the life my wife and I wanted with a family. I truly couldn't have spent as much time on myself in the gym after my son, and I wouldn't trade my son for anything in the world so it was an easy choice to make
But then I started to find myself feeling the long term affects of the lifestyle changes; my confidence, my body image issues, my overall drive, and my happiness. So I started trying to find other ways to mitigate things, and even hopped on Adderall in hopes that it would provide me with a bit of a boost. Nothing seemed to be working, and my mental state was continuing to worsen.
As a former bodybuilder and personal trainer, I KNEW I needed more physical activity and I KNEW I needed to be held accountable by someone, because clearly I was failing at holding myself accountable. It was hard enough to admit that to myself, but we all have to look in the mirror at times.
I knew, first hand, that Travis was the best in the business because I had worked side by side with him for years, and saw his loyal clientele stay with him through multiple location changes as well. The reason people stay with him isn't because he is a top-tier personal trainer; his knowledge and experience (since he has been a bodybuilder his entire life) puts him at the top of that category IMO, but people stay with him because of his energy and the way he makes you feel. He makes you feel cared for, tended to, important, and overall happier by the time you are done working out with him. As a personal trainer myself, I know this is VERY difficult to do day after day after day after day.
So I reached out to him, told him about how I was feeling and my situation, and started working out with him once or twice a week since March of 2023. While training with him, I started to feel better, feel happier, engage more with my family and work, and started to rebuild the good habits that I knew I needed. I started working out at a gym down the street from me on the days I wasn't training with Travis, since Travis's gym was about 40 minutes from my house (worth the drive, but I knew I couldn't do it forever). At this point, as of June 2024, I no longer make the trek to Travis's gym to train with him (I miss it), but I workout regularly 4-5x per week at the gym down the street from me, and more importantly my workouts have the intense energy and focus that they used to have back when I was a bodybuilder.
I knew I wouldn't be able to train with Travis indefinitely, but I knew that it was exactly what I needed at the time, and I'm thankful that I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and my situation, picked up the phone and called Travis, and got back on track with my life
So yes, Travis saved my life, and if you think that is an overstatement - you're wrong