FNS Training Center

The FNS Story

14 years ago I came to a crossroads in my journey and purpose.  For the longest time I thought my path was to become a firefighter once I was done with college.  I always wanted to help people and I thought that would be the best way for me to serve others.  As I was finishing up college at SJSU and EMT school I got a job as a personal trainer.  I figured since I enjoyed training myself, it would be something that I would enjoy as a part time job to get me through school.  What I didn’t know at the time was that I would find my true passion and purpose as a coach.

Before the Brick and Mortar

Once I knew that being a coach was the passion I wanted to pursue full time there was no looking back. I invested all of time and energy to coaching people all day long. I worked non-stop, 12-hour days 7 days a week, training as many people as I could. As a former sports athlete my entire life, most people thought I only wanted to train sports athletes. It was the exact opposite. My focus was working with the everyday person who I could empower to see themselves as the athletes they were. It was the most fulfilling thing to witness someone who never saw himself or herself as an athlete, unlock their potential. What I knew best starting out as a coach was how build a strong team. I had played sports my entire life and knew that success came from a collective effort and support of each individual. I wanted to everyone to experience that feeling of being part of a team, a team that supported everyone and inspired teammates to grow. When I took over the commercial club as the Fitness Director my goal was to completely change the culture of the gym environment to that of a team. After 2 years of being a director we were the number one performing club in the company and had completely transformed the connection and engagement among the members of the gym. The connection transformation of that gym inspired to me to create a space where I could share this experience with everyone.

The Vision of FNS Training Center

As I was passionately creating local impact and planning my next move I was searching all over the bay area to find the home of the future FNS Training Center. After I found the right location and was excited to start planning my move, word was starting to get out and people were getting excited about what was to come. Then, as I should have expected at the time I was fired from the gym I was working at because I was going to leave and start my own gym. Shocked, pissed off, and to be

honest scared about not having a job I had no choice but to take action on building my dream. I will never forget what the regional manager told me on my last day, “Brian, it’s a hard business that few make it, no offense but I hope you fail because we would love to have you back in the future as a trainer here.” From that moment on, I became relentless to succeed. Three months before I could open the doors of FNS with no job, no place to train my clients, put me in a position to sink or swim. At the time, I was nervous not knowing if I could pull it off. I didn’t know much about starting a business. Although I had about a thousand obstacles in front of me I focused on my strengths each day and my ability to keep my vision strong. At the end of every day, I would stand in the training center and visualize what was to come. I could see the high fives, smiling faces, hear the music playing, and feel the positive vibes of bringing people together. I didn’t always know what I needed to next, but I kept that vision strong which inspired my faith each day. After all of meetings with the city, the construction, set backs, the equipment assembly, more set backs, the countless hours of friends and family investing their time and energy getting FNS set up, we were finally ready to open our doors in December of 2011.

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The Opening of FNS Training Center

I will never forget the day we finally opened our doors. There weren’t many of us in there, but it always felt like 1,000 people with the energy. I knew it was the start of something big. This was going to be a safe haven for people. FNS was always meant to be more than just a gym, it was bigger than that, FNS was a team. It was team of everyday athletes supporting one another on their respective journeys to greatness. It didn’t matter if you were a pro athlete, mother, father, student or just getting started, when you walked through those doors you we were all the same. This was the success we had before we opened. Before we had nicer equipment and training tools, our success was because we connected people. We connected people to their passion, purpose, potential and other like-minded people.

The Expansion

As we began to grow in number of athletes and coaches, so did the fitness market in the Bay Area. Many people and investors wanted to take FNS all over and franchise. After 2 years in, I wanted to go deeper and not wider with FNS. When the warehouse next door became vacant I knew it was then or never for us to take that spot. We were closing in on our max capacity in our current space and knew that we would soon out grow our current location. So before I was expecting to make a move, we took another leap of faith and more than tripled our location size. I knew this would have not only a big impact on our current athletes but our staff and culture as well.

The biggest challenge I face everyday as an owner is protecting our culture. The bigger your growth in numbers and size, the harder that challenge becomes. We opened up FNS 2.0 in September of 2013. We worked tirelessly as a team to keep our culture strong and not be “All things to all people”. We are a humble, supportive, goal oriented, and positive environment where everyone is equally important. These growth tests throughout our journey challenged our values and beliefs systems, and because of that we grew stronger as a team.

The FNS Training Center Today

Over the last 6 years we have been fortunate enough to serve thousands of people in the bay area. Thousands of pounds lost and lives inspired, FNS Training is one the best places to train in the bay area. Voted as one of the top training centers in the bay area 2015, 2016, and 2017, what was once a parking lot, then warehouse, is now home to over 600 humble, growth-minded, supportive athletes living their most fit lives. With a full time staff, over 55 classes a week, and serving the local community through our philanthropy, FNS continues to make massive impact. The power of one has always been a major focus of mine in business and in life. Macro change is a bi-product the micro focus everyday. We strive to be great in the micro of the micro. In every moment, every experience, and every engagement with our athletes and community. Throughout this experience I’ve learned to enjoy the ride, embrace change, and know who you are and what you stand for. No matter what life throws at you, those three principles will continue to guide our journey. The best part is, we are just getting started. We are relentlessly pursuing our vision of empowering millions of people all over the world to live free.

For more information about FNS Training Center visit | www.FNS360.com