Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Mendez.
Anthony, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My whole life I had always been in sports and enjoyed training. During my last season of high school football right after it was over, I got my first job as a personal trainer at Ballys Total Fitness. I worked with them for only one year and then LA Fitness for three years and a half.
From there, I started realizing I wanted more and wanted to grow as a trainer. So I left Miami and went to New York and lived there for almost half a year. I studied through Equinox Academy which then brought me back to work at the Equinox Gym in Coral Gables. At Equinox I really got to learn a lot of what I know today. They were like a university for trainers and take education seriously.
As I grew through the ranks and learned new styles of training my foundation became strong. A lot of what I do in training originated from equinox. I was at Equinox for about three years. But during my time at Equinox I was also building a sportswear company with a good buddy of mine Kevin Rivera.
The company we had was called Motive Sportswear. This was right after my first year as equinox, and it was exciting to bring on this project. Why is this important! Well even though we no longer have this sportswear company a lot of my Instagram growth started through there. For a long time when I was in LA Fitness, I would post health tips everyday which helped me build my page up.
When I moved to New York, everything stopped there because of how focused I was with the Equinox Academy. Fast forward through the process of building the sportswear company I learned a lot from Kevin Rivera who was a marketing and social media expert. He thought me a lot! So my page was running hard again, but with great quality.
At that same time, one of my good friends and co-workers from Equinox Luis Medal asked me to join him in filming workout videos. From there, we began doing that which then really got my Instagram page going hard! We would do a lot of outdoor unconventional style training which attracted a lot of people to our pages.
Around my 3rd year at Equinox, things were changing around that environment, and my friend Luis had just left equinox because of how big his Instagram got. About two-three months after he left, it was my time to make that jump too. Things at equinox weren’t the same anymore, and I felt confident about making that jump! And just like that, I did!
I continued doing videos with Luis together, the sportswear company, and collaborating with a lot of Instagram influencers. While doing that I paid rent at Jaguar Therapeutics to train some of my clients out of.
There were three friends of mine working there who were co-workers back in equinox and had left to. Also around this time, I had started working with Jenny Ho who found me through Instagram. I had trained her 2x’s in Ballys years back, and the years later she found me.
Working together for a while and creating cool fitness videos. After only being at Jaguar Therapeutics for few months all three of us Frankie, Alex, and Monica decided to sublease a spot of our own and run our own gym. It was called MSP Athletics.
It was our first gym we ever had, I learned a lot from my business partners. During this time, Jenny Ho and I kept working together, and things got even more serious. We started dating, then boyfriend and girlfriend, and finally as of today we are waiting for our baby girl to be born. A few weeks left and counting!
Going back to now MSP Athletics everything was going great for about one year until the owner of the building decided to sell it which then moved us out. We all parted ways and did our own things.
For me, I kept hitting the Instagram game strong and moved all my clients to my apartment gym. Unfortunately, around this time my friend and business partner for Motive Sports Wear had been going through some tough personal stuff. I myself as well had been too which lead us to shut down the business.
My passion for these training methods I had been practicing for about two-three years consistently:
Body weight training, animal flow, kettlebell training, ViPR, and more unconventional style training had grown extremely. A lot of how I trained was catching attention through my social media platform which kept helping it grow.
A few months passed, and my Instagram was very strong for me at this point. I am generating business, clients, my girlfriend as I am shooting advertisement videos for companies and was then contacted by PUMA and ONNIT to sign as an Athlete with them. Truly a great moment. I then went on to doing health and fitness articles, more Instagram collabs with big companies, and started doing big fitness events!
Throughout this time Instagram and my clients have been a strong force of my business. Through Instagram I also got to meet other great trainers, fitness teachers, take many workshops and find a community of other like-minded trainers.
I’ve continued to train many of my clients from my two apartment gyms and use Instagram as my biggest tool to connect and network. Ive also flown out to many places since this past summer to the end beginning of December. I got to go to Onnit in Texas, Denver Colorado, Las Vegas networking event, and Miami Puma Summit! All great experiences.
About seven-eight months ago, I also met Angie Sanchez through my girlfriend who had been working with her, and let me say its truly been a blessing. Shes really helped our relationship become stronger, and she has helped me focus, connect the dots, and scale my business. I’ve been working with her for quite a while now and will continue to do so.
As of present-day today, I’ve decided to take things to the next level with my social media, fitness, health, and business all tied in together. I continue to do multiple events around Miami, train clients and work as a social media fitness influencer.
My good friend Kevin Rivera and I reunited as a team again to now create amazing content, and value for my social media platforms. I have a YouTube show on the way, Vlog, and many other cool projects in the works. So stay tuned!
I continue to learn, grow and explore my passion of unconventional style training alongside giving the value of mindset, self-development, positivity, and well being to my audience through social media.
I’ve been a personal trainer for nine+ years now and social media has given me the opportunity to turn this profession into many different things.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
For sure not a smooth road.
Hit many obstacles along the way:
1. I was scared to become a trainer at first because I didn’t feel prepared.
2. My first year at Bally’s I was close to losing my job because I didn’t hit quota 2x.
3. College was tough for me especially trying to balance it with full-time work
4. Bally’s went out of business and got bought by LA Fitness, almost lost my job again. They decided to keep me.
5. LA Fitness became Master Trainer, but with all that our gym was always swapping managers in and out, I probably saw 25 different managers in my three and half years there.
6. My first year with LA Fitness I wasn’t happy with my body and health the way I should have been treating it, especially being a trainer, so I changed it and made a drastic difference.
7. I realized school wasn’t for me at the time and I struggled a lot with my family and other people telling me I’ll be a nobody if I don’t finish School and a failure.
8. I stopped school and hit LA Fitness hard for my last six months there and made the jump to Equinox Academy in New York I was so scared to do that. I knew I had to just become better at my craft and stick to it.
9. In New York, I wasn’t working, but I had saved up a lot of money. As I saw my money go down I was struggling mentally but stayed focused to finish strong through the academy.
10. I came back to, and at equinox coral gables I struggled at first because I was intimidated by the knowledge and skills all these trainers had.
11. It was tough having to do 2-4 floor shifts a day which were like three or three and a half hours long, training clients, trainer meetings and mandatory education classes in different equinox in Miami. It was a lot to take in at first.
12. After going through all this, I hit a bump in the summer of the first year I was there. I was unhappy with certain ways management would handle there leads and play favorites. A lot of the veteran trainers would get the best leads and the most. The younger trainers were fed not so good leads and very little. My numbers weren’t that high, and I was getting backlash from managers.
13. During this hard time, I almost decided to quit equinox and leave because of its unfairness. Many trainers would drop like fly’s there cause they couldn’t take it anymore. Trust me I could see why! But one good friend/trainer there told me even if the management is unfair, not right, and plays favorites have you exhausted every possible way to find new clients?
That got me thinking for a bit. He also said let’s say you do leave and you go to another gym, yea for the first three-six months it’s nice and new, but then the same crap starts to happen again and again. So now you’re going to jump from gym to gym every year? I realized what he was saying and made a lot of sense.
14. At this time, I decided to hit my floor shifts event harder and even asked to cover other people’s floor shifts, set up my own fitness events, stayed till late talking to everyone, handing out towels, giving stretches, and spotting them. Through all this work I built my full-time training business and was in the Top Five Trainers our 28 that were there. I kept this going for two more years.
15. Close to my last year at Equinox, I was experiencing a toxic environment there, and many of the top trainers started to leave. It was a struggle because management got on everyone’s assesses to hit higher numbers and be there longer.
16. Managers saw my Instagram and my friends Instagram growing, and they got scared. My friend left, and they felt scared about me leaving too. They would get on my case every day, ask me where I’m going and didn’t like I was growing my Instagram.
17. It got to the point where I decided to leave because of the way they were being and trying to force me to stop my Instagram.
18. Making that jump was scary as well because I was making really good money.
19. My first year being independent I only made half the pay of my old salary and was so scared because It was hard to pay for things.
20. The new gym I had with my partners fell through because the owner sold it.
21. Sportswear company closed down.
22. I had lost two clients who had moved out of states.
23. Family issues began.
24. My dad was diagnosed with Lymphoma (Cancer) over a year ago but now has beaten it about three-four months ago. Really drove my mind downward.
25. Issues between Jenny and I were not too good in our relationships. Leading to many obstacles and battles with not being able to concentrate on my work.
26. I wasn’t sure and to clear with how I wanted to continue my work and how to expand in it.
27. I was under a lot of stress and anxiety it was affecting me.
28. Been looking for a new facility, but battling with many Miami Dade county regulations to get certain things approved.
29. About six months ago my grandpa was diagnosed with stage four (cancer) he is not doing well at all. Really hit me hard. He is said only to have one-two months left.
30. My mom and aunt highly stressed from my grandpa’s health its now affecting my aunt’s health who had a liver transplant years ago, and they’re saying her levels have risen up and possibly the liver disease is kicking in again. Recently all this has affected me.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the MFPRO story. Tell us more about the business.
As far as my work goes, I specialize in unconventional style training, postural work, trigger point, corrective exercise’s, recovery, and HITT training. I love unloaded 3D movement training and 3D loaded movement training.
Unloaded Movement Training:
-Body weight training and animal flow (animalistic movement training)
-Loaded 3D Movement Training:
-ViPR, Steel Mace, Kettlebell, Ropes, and Sandbag
What I’m most proud of as a brand and what sets me apart from the rest:
Quality over quantity, training for the long term, shifting the mindset, self-developing, being able to help people move better, and perform higher. Also getting people out of pain, breaking bad lifestyle habits and conquering new habits that are formed.
I’m all about the movement of the mind, the body, and soul. I believe in moving your body as much as possible, training on the floor with your hands and feet to feel the energy and feedback the floor gives you.
Getting you strong with your own body weight first. I believe you must master your own body weight before loading it up with any kind of weight right away, also depends on your fitness level, history, and where you are at currently. I always say the movement is medicine, the more you move, the quicker you heal and the longer you live.
Recovery is huge: foam rolling, mobility work, light movement training, cold therapy, recovery boots, deep tissue work, breath work, and quality sleep.
I approach my clients looking at there whole lifestyle, not just the training aspect. I like to coach them in becoming better people overall through: mindset, behavioral change, creating new habits, accountability, creating a stress-free environment, and giving them tools to use that can better them throughout the day.
What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
Playing sports basketball and football especially. Doing constant pranks with my friends and brother. Prank is calling people on the weekends with my brother and step sis till late at night. Yes, I was one of those lmao.
Taking vacations was always fun for me I loved traveling to new places.
Pricing:
- $175 – Single Session
- $160 a session – 12 Sessions Package Total – $1,920
- $150 a session – 24 Sessions Package Total – $3,600
- $140 a session – 36 Sessions Package Total – $5,040
Contact Info:
- Website: mendezfitness.com
- Phone: 786-247-4787
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mendezfitness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anthony.mendez.10420321
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3vm4pKNK-2aOIe-XlJJJVA?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
Kevin Rivera, Jon Shupert, Ed Vogt, James Woodley, and Rodrigo Valdez
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
