The Show Up Fitness Podcast

Oakland SUF Seminar w/ Coach Camilo | From Burnout To Building A Gym in Oakland

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 3 • Episode 308

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SPEAKER_01:

And I remember how I had conversations with him, and he was treating me like an OG. And I'm like, bro, I've been, I just got started when I was 20, dog. Don't trip. You're gonna be fine. And I remember having that conversation with him. I remember connecting with him. And I've been following his story. And I mean, I'll let you go ahead and tell the folks how well he's doing for himself right now, three years later, you know. And I am not as clear as to everybody else that attended and where they're at, but that's the one person that I know I've been following his story, and he is just absolutely crushing as a personal trainer, but also leading other trainers towards the same place that he is currently at, which is a testament, in my opinion, to how incredible of a product and of an idea you've built because the shit works, bro. Like it's one of the best certifications that I'm aware of that exists for trainers. And I'll say it worldwide. I've hadn't been all over the world to get exposed to other things, but I do use social media pretty intentionally to try to find dope shit in fitness. And you've got something that is going to impact our world for generations, bro. Like you are popping out incredible personal trainers every weekend. And that was my biggest takeaway, was just how how well put together of an of a training experience you had got you had gotten for these guys, man. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitness.com. Also make sure to check out my book, How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy, y'all. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we have this young hunk, Mr. Camillo. How are we doing, sir?

SPEAKER_01:

Man, what's cracking, everybody? I'm doing really great, man. I'm blessed and I'm I'm super excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00:

We met in 2022. We did a seminar. Mr. Mike, he was one of my first students when I was teaching at MPTI, and we were lucky to connect. And he had a seminar there. And I was able to meet Mr. Camillo. And so it's pretty cool to see the growth and evolution and the mindset for this young hunk because now he's the owner of Providence Athletic Club. He took it over from Mike. Mike is doing big things elsewhere. And it's just really neat to hear this guy's story because not only how to build your business, but just the evolution of from where you started. So why don't we just start from the get-go? How did you get into this? And then we'll talk about your gym and then also the seminar that we're going to be out there in March. Get it. Let's get it, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm so so honored to be on this platform, man. Thank you for the opportunity. Um, my journey in fitness is really, really interesting because it really happened accidentally. I totally stumbled into this career path, and I'm so grateful for that. I played soccer growing up my whole life. Uh, was a very competitive, very athletic, very, very gifted soccer player. But I wasn't a very disciplined athlete, um, especially off the field when I needed to do the things that I had to do to improve better than everybody else. So eventually the sport caught up to me. And, you know, I was able to realize when I was 19 that, you know, I wasn't going to take it to a professional level. Um, I was not excited to go to school. I had no clue what I wanted to do with school. You know, when I was in high school, I wanted to be a journalist, and I didn't want to do that financially as an adult. So I was very, very lost in college when I was playing junior college soccer. And it just wasn't for me. I didn't want to go through the path of playing more seasons, redshirting, going to school just to play more soccer. I needed income. And, you know, I worked a few odd jobs, landed at a sales role at a gym. Uh, you probably remember the brand, the brand Valley's Total Fitness. Absolutely. And I landed at that gym in San Leandro. If you lived out here in this area, you remember that location too, probably. Um, got a job there during the summer, and I was actually in the process of enlisting in the Marines, bro, because I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. And I knew I needed discipline, but I didn't know where to where to go out and attain it. So I figured, you know, Marine Boot Camp was probably one of the best places that I could find that discipline that I was yearning for. And so I had that job at that gym and I started learning sales at that gym, or I started learning fitness sales because I'd already done sales before, but learning how to sell gym memberships and learning how to sell personal training was going really well for me. Um, the Marine situation did not work out. I had some injuries to my knees in high school. That wasn't gonna, that wasn't gonna fly for me for boot camp. And uh it was wild, man. It was like I started selling gym memberships, I started earning commission, I started liking the idea of working in the industry of fitness. Um, and I was making really good money at first, but I started getting burnt out. It was way too much like revolving door of sell, sell, sell. Like I wanted to actually deliver on the promise that I was, you know, pitching to all these people. And I started to get really burnt out with just constantly selling. And it was like right when my soul was craving becoming a trainer, because I would remember, I remember being in an office, kind of like position the way I am right now, where I would be looking out onto the gym floor and I'd be making call calls, and I would just be dreaming about wanting to train clients. I'm like, bro, that looks so much fun. Like, I hate doing this call, call, call, sell, sell, sell. I'd rather be on the floor training people. Even if the money wasn't as great as a trainer for balies as I was getting as a salesperson at Bally's, I still wanted to explore it. And then next thing you know, 24-hour fitness bought ballet's and slash commission for salespeople. And I was already working as a sales manager over at the Bally's. I was the assistant GM. I'd gotten promoted pretty fast. And at the time, I didn't want to do the whole demo to becoming a trainer in the company. And I was, you know, very, very unsure what to do. My cousin at the time actually owned a private training facility just like the one I operate right now. And I had gone through my own personal transformation with him as my personal trainer. I discovered that I could do literally whatever I set my mind to if I just want it bad enough and stick to it long enough. And so, knowing that I could do that physically, I had a pretty good sense of confidence that, you know, I'm 20 years old. What do I have to lose? You know, even if it doesn't work out, fuck it. I tried, you know what, let me try this whole personal trainer thing out and see how it goes. And that was in 2015. In April of 2015, I said, fuck it, quit my job. I made a whole Instagram caption about it. I was like, ah, you know, don't know how this is gonna go, but it's gonna go better than what I do here. I hate it here. So I quit my job. And uh that that's how I got started as a personal trainer. And it's so crazy because when I discovered your brand, when I discovered your certification, I actually came across your material like eight years after I got started with my personal training career. But I I love every time I see your content, bro, every time I see your post about 90% of trainers quit. And you know, I am literally the walking example of the trainer that you speak about. Trainer that makes the mistakes, the trainer that gets the NASM, the trainer that doesn't know what he's doing, the trainer that doesn't have a clue how to succeed, the trainer that is by all intents and purposes supposed to fail quickly. And it happened to me, bro. I experienced it. Like my career, my clients, my business, it died on me on my third Christmas. You know, like my third Christmas season, my third holiday season. I had my last client that was like, yo, uh, you know, told me some whatever excuse he gave me. But basically, long story short, he wasn't gonna keep paying me. Uh, he was my last client to tell me that I had no more income, no more nothing. I was I was actually exploring bartending. I was like, man, I could be a bartender. I was 22, so I had learned so much during those years that I failed, right? During those three years that I just failed, failed, failed. I learned all the things that I read in your book that a personal trainer should do, right? It's so crazy. I remember reading your book and I was like, oh my God, I should have done all this. Like, why didn't I do all this stuff? Like, damn. But either way, I came across an opportunity to work at Orange Theory and lead group fitness classes at Orange Theory. Um, this was in 2018. So Orange Theory here in California hadn't really popped off like that yet. And, you know, by the grace of God, man, I was able to find the opportunity to launch a studio right in downtown San Mateo. It was one of the first studios in the peninsula, it's right there on the intersection of B Street and some other really busy, busy street in downtown San Mateo. So it was like a perfect location right next to us, uh Phil's Phil's coffee. Like it couldn't have been a better location. And at Orange Theory, if you know how to strength train, if you know how to be a personal trainer, you stand out as a coach right away. People know that they want to take your class because they feel safe in the weight room part of the workout. And so I just, man, it was such a crazy opportunity for me to excel at because I just knew how to personally train. And that was able to extend my life as a practitioner in the wellness space for you know five, six years. Um, the pandemic really, really threw a wrench in my comfort as a instructor for Orange Theory. And that that was when I had to like re relaunch my efforts as a you know private self um self-owned personal trainer, whatever you want to call it, privately controlled personal trainer. And I started at started coaching at Lake Merritt during the pandemic, right here in Oakland. And that turned into, you know, when when we got rehired by Orange Theory after the after the state opened up, I was able to, you know, keep those clients on the side, find new clients. I found a gym to train at, uh, pay rent at. Because I'd already done this whole thing before. I just found a place, paid rent. Um, eventually, when they tried to sell the company or they try to sell their gym to a powerlifting brand or company, I didn't want to spend time there because I didn't want to, I don't, I'm not a powerlifting coach. I work with gen pop. I help humans get healthy. I don't worry about competitions. It's not my cup of tea. Um, and that was bro, that was that was when I was looking for a new spot. I'm over here living in West Oakland, driving over to Richmond. And further, just Mike had actually moved from his old location over on San Pablo to this new location right here on Market Street in West Oakland during the like the fall of 2019, anticipating that during 2020 he was gonna go crazy with this new building, a bigger building for him and everything, and that didn't work out the way he wanted it to. But man, when I was looking for a new spot, I the algorithm, bro, I saw a random story on Instagram from a football player that was training with one of the coaches that was training for Mike, and I recognized the color green of the freaking racks. I was like, those are Mike's racks. What are they doing in West Oakland? Like, that's they're right by my apartment. And I drove to the location and I happened to just literally see Mike standing outside of his van hanging out, talking to somebody. And I was like, like I knew Mike from uh I had met Mike at a calisthenics certification, you know, similar to Show of Fitness, but it was like by the World Calisthenics Organization, and there was a level one certification for being a calisthenics certified instructor. And so I met Mike at that, like six years before 2021. I actually met him when I first got started training because it was one of the first that was actually the first cert that I took as a trainer. I was like, fuck, I don't know anything. Uh let me learn how to become a calisthenics instructor. And it was great, it was great because I learned bodyweight training and how to how to train people simply with body weight. And that was really helpful for me at the at the beginning. It was a foundational piece of information for me to train. And then I talked to Mike and things worked out. And I started coaching right here in 2021 in this building. And then in October of 2023, Mike sold us the facility. Uh, he sold us the facility as it was, right? The skeleton, the equipment that was here, uh, the members that were training out of here, the coaches that were training out of here. He basically passed it on to me and said, Hey, take over the lease. Um, we we you know, we settled on terms for the sale of the business. And I've been, you know, running running the ship ever since with my business partner, Danielle Noel. She was a trainer uh here as well when Mike offered us the spot. I didn't really think I could succeed on this on my own. I offered her the chance to partner with me on the idea, and we've been you know doing it ever since.

SPEAKER_00:

Here I am. Such an amazing avatar. Bring me back to memory lane because that's where I started in Alameda. And I'll go back and forth between Alameda and Walnut Creek. You said Lake Merritt. I'd always run around that. I remember vividly one time I was running around it. I'll try to do it three times, which was 10 miles. And I looked down and I had all this blood on my shirt because I ran my nipples raw. Bye, guys. But see you later. It's just it's so cool to see that avatar because in my book I talk about help Nick, and what you mentioned was that your grit and your hunger. And yeah, most trainers, as you've seen, you can attest to they they can't make it, they can't stomach it, but you had that passion, that drive, but you were able to get through it. And the really cool thing is we talk about it all the time how important hands-on learning is. So, a seed that you planted six years ago with Mike, he went to a seminar, hands-on learning, and then that seed sprouted up and gave you an opportunity. Where now imagine if if I would have met you at that time at that seminar and like, hey, let me you know, survey you real quick. Where do you see yourself in six to eight years? No way would you have imagined that I'm gonna buy a gym from someone at this seminar. And so it's just so cool to see that you're being proactive and you learn the sales skills, the business stuff, and that's where most trainers struggle. You have the people skills, but you fine-tune those when you're doing the the group training at Orange Theory, getting a ton of reps with that general pop. And and now you're just fine-tuning your your business side of the owning your own gym, because as you know, it's way different versus way different training gen pop.

SPEAKER_01:

Way different, man. Way different.

SPEAKER_00:

And so let's transition into talking a little bit more about that. How did you come across Providence Athletic Club and the naming for it? And let's go from there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, man. Um, that's a great question. You know, my business partner, Danielle Noel, her last name is Providence. Um, we always talked about how cool the word sounded, how cool it looked. Um, when we were talking about names, I had my ideas. She brought up Providence, and I was like, you know, it's a cool name, but I don't know why I would be excited to like name it after your last name. She was like, Yeah, but it looks cool. It's a cool name, it sounds cool. It's easy to create merch for it and brand it. And I was like, Man, I don't know. I looked up the definition though, right? And this gym, bro, I tell you, this is like, I don't know, in my in my personal interpretation of the reality that I exist in, this gym was basically God reaching down to me during the middle of a really difficult year. Like when Mike offered to sell me this gym, I had actually gotten fired from Orange Theory just because the management there was very unhappy with the fact that I was very independently minded. Like I was doing my thing, personal training. I hadn't my schedule at the studio. So I was working literally only on the busy days, only the busy hours, making as much money per hour as I had potential the potential to earn. The rest of my time I was building my own business. They didn't like that. They wanted me to work five days and make little money. And, you know, I get it. Like they have a business model, and I wasn't really fitting into the business model as easily for them as they want their coaches to. So they took this opportunity when a member complained about something when she, you know, this lady came in projecting her BS onto me. I didn't let her. Then she went outside and cried about the fact that I like made her feel less than intelligent. And then they used that as a as a reason to get the, you know, fire me. Um, I had been very complacent at the time with where I was at in life because I had personal training clients. I had a great little income from Orange Theory. I was cool, paid rent, I had my expenses covered, I was chilling. And I I actually recognized that I didn't like that place because I was there was nothing forcing me to grow, but I was stuck in that space of comfort. So, you know, now in hindsight, this actually was one of the greatest things that could have happened to me getting fired. But during that summer, I went through a very deep depression, uh, really because I lost my sense of identity, man. I I I've I've struggled throughout my career with different, you know, uh crazy ex-girlfriend ruined my life one time, the pandemic ruined my life another time. This thing again was another thing that was like, man, as soon as I'm getting back to the peak and feeling like I'm doing shit with my life, all of a sudden I get knocked down again. And and I had I had a really, really dark summer. Um explored the idea of suicide, not because I was actually looking to do it, but because my life just seemed so miserable and I had no hope for the future. And I had a very, very deep sense of fuck, I'm 29 years old, and what do I have to show for it? Like, I don't have a college degree, I don't have a, you know, human personal training business. I have clients that are here, but it's not growing the way I want it to grow. Like, uh man, I I really felt like I'd had very little, very little hope to live for. And then Mike, the next thing you know, Mike's like, yo, you want to buy my gym? And I'm like, fuck. Like, if I say yes to this, all of a sudden, I can't even say I'm having a bad year. I'm having the best year of my life. I'm about to turn 30 years old and I own a gym in freaking Oakland. Like, fuck, like all of a sudden, it was like at the time, you know, I would I would have said like the universe was just dropping this on my lap, and and all I had to do was say yes. And and that's what I did, right? And when we were thinking about naming things, I had gotten a real sense of clarity somewhere spiritually, where I was like, this is this is this is something, this is something metaphysical that's occurring in my life right now, and I'm not gonna disrespect it by pretending like I'm responsible for this happening. You know, and I looked at the definition of the word providence, and it's literally defined as the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual force or power. And I was like, Oh, I didn't even know that's providence means. I want that name for my gym. That just it reminded me of Emperor Constantine back when he was uh fighting for Constantinople and he had that dream about you know painting the cross on his shields, and if he did it, he would win, and then he won. And he was like, Fuck it, we're all Catholic. And I was like, I don't know. I for me, it just it um this gym and the way that God rescued me from that death, it only happened because I leaned on faith and I was like, fuck it, we'll see where it goes. Let's see where it takes me. And the gym itself, I mean, I was very self-aware that who Camilo was and and how Camilo operated and how Camilo did life would not have led to a successful outcome for this ownership situation. I needed to make some drastic changes in my own way of living. And um, it was a very spiritual experience for me taking this on because it really, it really, it really saved my life, for lack of a better way to put it. I I was in a very, very dark place. I took this on, and all of a sudden it's like, well, I'm doing really well for myself and I gotta make it go. I can't let it die. And you know, this almost like opened the floodgates for me from a I don't know, from a spiritual standpoint, started pouring a lot more time and energy, a lot more intent behind my relationship with God. And you know, the name Providence Athletic Club for me is just representative of God's divine providence throughout my life. Bro, I'm a I'm a I'm an immigrant to this country. My mom brought me to the you know to the Bay Area when I was six years old. I did not choose to be here. My mom brought me here. And when she was thinking about bringing us here, she was thinking Texas or California, and had a random conversation with a friend who told her the education system in California was better than Texas for her kids. So like we could have totally been in Texas and I could have totally not had any of this experience for the last, I don't know, 29 years of my life. No, 20, what is it? I'm 30, 26 years of my life. But here I am. And it's all I give the glory to God. I don't want to take credit for it for myself. I've done my part and been obedient, but like for the most part, this to me is um an experience that I'm living through where I'm like, man, like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm living within my purpose, and things are just falling in place. And that's what the word providence means to me. That's how I came into the name.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so deep and beautifully said because it's a testament to your character. You were given battles and you had no other option. You had to push through it. And you could have just put the cards on the table and said, Poor me, I'm a victim. This isn't fair. Why? And just rolled over. But you kept on pushing through it. And even though I think it's so cool to hear, because we all have highs and lows, and it's easy to portray the highs on social media or put a front on. I'm sure your clients didn't know a lot of the stuff, or your coworkers and friends, you know, we're battling with that stuff inside, and you're able to just keep on pushing through it because there is a meaning. And at the time, it's it's hard to realize like this is there's a purpose behind this, but you kept on showing up and you kept on pushing through it. And now it's not like it's all over where it's like, okay, I got my gym, I'm set, and it's now there's there's other obstacles, and those other obstacles are going to be more challenging because of what you built and the calluses that you developed in the past that are preparing you for now. And so, you know, training is one thing, and you're a great trainer, but a business is a whole other side of the equation. And you know, we had a great conversation about some of the things that you're doing to get more opportunities within your gym. And I want to talk about that more because I think as a gym owner, kind of like trainers in juxtaposition, we just think that people are gonna be lining up outside, like, oh my god, there's this best gym in the world, everyone's outside. But no, you have to get in the trenches and start now marketing and talking to people and trying to meet with the mayor. And you so you're doing some really cool stuff with charities. So let's talk about that and how you're bringing some business in. Man, yeah, let me just close this.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, uh, a lot of it has been, you know, you get creative when you're desperate, you know, you're fighting for your life, you start coming up with good ideas. And I I I want to take a second just to just to share that in this podcast, you know, because I feel like there's gonna be people that are watching this that are young or early on in their career. Um, and I think one of the biggest things that I can personally speak to from my own experience in life is that the fun in life doesn't start until you have no clue what's gonna happen, man. And I think that a lot of people cling on to the security and safety of comfort and of knowing the outcome. But in my personal reality that I'm living through right now, I am wandering around feeling lost. Obviously, I don't feel lost because I know that God is guiding me and I'm listening to his instructions, but I'm just constantly stumbling into great ideas. And it's these great ideas are just happening because I have no choice but to survive. You know what I'm saying? And so um I, you know, I'm living through cleaning up a lot of my personal disorganization um from a financial standpoint. Uh the pandemic really affected my personal credit. My business partners uh personal credit had some issues on it as well. Like getting the business funding for the LLC has not been easy for me. So up until this point, these two years and some change, everything that we've done with this business has been self-funded. You know, all my money has been training clients to the gym, training clients to the gym. I don't have loans or things to give me the wiggle room to pour into marketing and any of that kind of stuff. And so I've had to learn. You know, I've I've hired some coaches. Um, sure you've heard of Gym Launch, the company. So I've worked with Gym Launch and they've given me great ideas. And um basically for me, I've realized that the only way that I'm going to survive in business is by really just heading deep into philanthropy and really just pouring into my community. Here in West Oakland, we're in such a we're in such a unique place because this community, in my eyes, this community is so beautiful. Um, there's so many incredible people all over this place, but to the world, it looks like a rough place and it looks like a difficult space to operate. The thing is, as an entrepreneur, I'm able to see the beauty in the chaos. You know what I'm saying? I'm able to see the opportunity in the lack of opportunity that some other people might see. And so for me, you know, I'm very passionate about education. Um, I'm very, very grateful to all my educators, all my teachers growing up. My little sister, shout out to Valentina. You know, I love her to death. And she's a she's a school teacher in Stockton. You know what I'm saying? So, like the way that God is using us in our lives is crazy, bro. Like, she's a bilingual um teacher. She teaches kids in Spanish and English at the early childhood development level, you know, from kindergarten. Right now she's teaching fifth graders. But I wish that my teacher had the that my that my little sister had the capacity to earn more income as a teacher. You know, I see the way that she lives her life and she's choosing to live her life away because she loves helping children so much. But I don't think it's fair. And I don't think that complaining about how much how unfair I think it is is gonna do anything about it. And so I literally connected with this kid here in Oakland after the Oakland Ballers, who, you know, I'm wearing their jersey right now. For anybody that doesn't know who the Oakland Ballers is, you should Google the Oakland Ballers and check out their story. But we won a championship with the Oakland Ballers. I'm their strength coach um last September. We won a professional baseball championship for the city of Oakland for the first time since the 1890s, the since the 1989 A's did it for the town. Um, during the celebration, I came across, I'm sure you've heard of that uh streamer, i Show Speed. He's like the super big streamer. So he actually literally came to the Bay Area right after we had won the championship because there's a restaurant right next to my gym. Um, it's called Hyphi Burger. And he came to visit California and came to the Bay Area. And for whatever reason, again, I'll give the credit to God. He ended up connecting with the people that run that restaurant, and he ended up stopping at that restaurant to check out Oakland. And this literally, I could see the restaurant right here. I could probably throw a rock at the restaurant. And I show speed brought the whole world's attention to this corner right here in West Oakland. It was one of the craziest nights, and I was just, it was a wild night, and I connected with the gentleman who was touring him around Oakland, who's a gentleman by the name of Maximus Simmons. He's a 17-year-old, like stud student leader in the community. He's the director of the Student Youth Advisory Council, which is basically like the organization that represents students in Oakland to the city and to the mayor. So this kid works hand in hand with the mayor. And I remember reaching out to him and I was just telling him, like, yo, bro, I own a gym. I love teachers, I want to support teachers. Through my experience at Orange Theory, I had participated in fundraiser workouts, you know, where people come in, we burn a certain number of, you know, get a certain number of splat points or burn a certain number of calories, and we all donate money. And I'd I've seen how lucrative of a fundraising vehicle these workouts can be. Last year in 2025, when the LA fires occurred at the beginning of the year, my team and I we did a fundraiser workout for victims of the LA fire, and in an hour we raised$500 and sent it down there and did our best to try to support people that were affected by those fires. So we had done that before. And it just seemed to me like, hey, why don't we do a workout for teachers? Like, let's, you know, see how we can support teachers. Like, I need clients. Teachers would be great clients. Like, I'm I'm thinking, let me get people in my building. How can I get strangers in my building? I don't have money to spend on ads. How can I get strangers in my building? Oh, let's do a workout and you know, raise funds, whatever. I connected with that kid and I didn't know he was who he was, but he was like, yo, I'm all in because it was a great thing for him and his role with the city. So then we connected, and it just turns out that he literally is like mentored by Barbara Lee, who's the mayor of Oakland right now. And so we came up with this idea of doing a workout. The team, the city of Oakland has a program actually called Help a Teacher Out, which is an initiative to raise funds for one classroom a month in the city of Oakland, and they just do a whole month of fundraising to buy school supplies for that classroom. When he told me that, I was like, bro, it's good. Like, let's let's run the workout. We ran the workout and Chris, we raised a thousand dollars for that, like for that initiative. And it was like, I when we set the goal for the for the workout, we're like, what should we do? What's the goal? I was like, let's try to raise a thousand dollars. Can I? And I'm over here thinking lucrative. I'm like, man, there's no way we're hitting a thousand dollars. We hit a thousand dollars by Monday. We we we threw up the link on Friday, and on Monday we had already raised a thousand dollars. My mind was blown, obviously. And the mayor had come out to that workout. Uh, players from the Oakland ballers came out to that workout. It was a really, really cool event, and a hundred percent of the proceeds went to Mike's daughter's middle school here in Oakland on just some crazy synchronicity. I remember telling Mike about the event, and he's like, What school are you guys giving the money to? And I'm like, Oh, it's Ralph Bunchie Middle School. I don't know anybody that goes to that school. He was like, Get out of here, bro. My daughter goes to that school. I was like, No freaking way. He's like, Yeah, I'm like, dude, well, let's go. Let's we just gave her a thousand, we just gave her school a thousand dollars. And um that was one opportunity. I had done a I had I'd just been doing a bunch of different fundraiser workouts. I did something in collaboration with a girl at my church, um, a gospel fitness workout where we basically get together, we read from scripture, we pray, we listen to worship music, and we themed the workout actually. Um, you know, the scripture from Ephesians 6:10 where it talks about equipping yourself with the armor of God. We did a whole workout, a strength training workout revolving around every element of the armor of God, which was again incredible that I came up with these ideas. Like, I'm not sure if you've heard of uh rope flow as a movement practice. It's a I love rope flow and its cognitive benefits. That for me was like the uh the helmet of salvation, it was like training the brain was rope flow. We did some like neck training, you know, that was like the helmet of salvation. Then it was like the breastplate of righteousness. I'm like, oh, that sounds to me like some push and pull. If I've ever heard push and pull, a breastplate that's that covers your back and your front. Oh, yeah, that's back and chest. Okay, I like where I was going. I was like, the shoes of peace. Oh, that's legs. We just gotta train some legs. Let's push this leg, let's do some RDLs, let's do some squats. Oh, that's yeah, that's let's do some ankle, some calf raises. I'm like, shoes of peace. We gotta do some calf raises. Um these ideas started coming to me. I'm like, how do I how do I do the shield of peace? And I'm like, oh, like if I were to hold a shield, I'm like, that's a bicep curl. Okay, okay, the shield of peace is arms. All right, arms, got it. And then I think uh the the sword of uh the sword of the spirit, uh landmine presses was like, oh, landmine presses, that's the sword of the spirit right there. Um, and for the belt of truth, it was like rotationally driven core exercises. Boom! All of a sudden we got a whole strength training workout to glorify God and to train the armor of God. And it was like the coolest concept that I could have ever come up with. Everybody loved it. We raised four, uh, we raised, I think,$350. And that was actually what kicked off my fundraising desire was actually saying yes to this God workout or to this uh to this uh gospel workout with this girl from my church. We when she when she recommended that we do this from um, because she didn't know how to price it, she was like, should we just make it donation-based? I was like, Yeah, we should make it donation-based. I did not feel like morally okay with doing, you know, taking donations in the name of God and then pocketing them for myself. I didn't feel right. So there's actually a high school right next to my gym called McLiman's High School. And I was like, well, why don't we donate, why don't we donate the funds that we raised from this workout to the art department? You know, I know that fitness and art, I don't know. When I was in high school, it was like Jocks and like um, what is it, theater geeks, right? Like, no, I don't want to have that separation. Like, why can't we just like why can't we use fitness to support the arts? I thought about it. I said, fuck it. I walked into the school, they were so excited to, you know, get$350 for their art department from nowhere. Oh, you know, and it just created a it created a relationship for me within that school. Um, that led to me having the the awareness that I could do workouts fundraisers, which then led to me doing the workout fundraiser for the city of Oakland, which brought the mayor into this into the building. And uh we've just been doing it like last year in total, we raised$3,500 over fundraiser workouts for different initiatives here in Oakland. Um, we did two workouts for that same high school, two gospel workouts. We did the high school workout with the city. Um, we did a couple of workouts with athletic programs from different high schools here in Oakland. And again, because I'm fighting for my life, trying to make sure that I don't die in business at the moment. I'm not gonna sit here and act like my life is great right now. I'm I'm still very on in the early stages of figuring it out as a brick and mortar gym owner. Um, but it clicked to me. I'm like, oh man, high schools in Oakland are underfunded. Sports departments or athletic programs in height in Oakland are underfunded. I want parents, I need athletes. Let me just hold a fundraiser for schools and their programs. We can raise$1,000 and we just get if we get 50 adults to come out and everybody puts$20 down towards a free workout and we put that all towards the athletic program. We can raise$1,000 on a Saturday and we can raise$1,000 on a Sunday if we just do it right. And that's a thousand dollars for the athletic program that did not have that thousand dollars the weekend before. Like now all of a sudden there's six, oh there's six high schools in Oakland. Each high school has a bunch of programs. I'm like, okay, that's the play. Like, I just got to do a fundraiser for each program. I got to connect with each athletic director, talk to them, and this and then, and so that's literally what I've been working on since the end of last year, uh, up until this year. That you know, this whole month of January is almost over. I've been working nonstop. Uh, I've connected with the athletic commissioner, with the commissioner of the Oakland Athletic League, who I'm working on on getting in front of the athletic departments or the athletic directors uh all at once so I could tell them what my plan is so that we can work on connecting for like the spring semester or the spring season, you know, baseball, track and field, all those spring sports that are coming up. Um, and and yeah, that's like my goal now is to really use these sports-specific fundraisers to lure the parents of these kids into the gym to then have uh an offer that makes, you know, um, I'm a big fan of Alex Hormozi. So, like, I want to have such a good offer that they feel stupid saying no. They sign up for the gym at least for a month to give it a try, and then hopefully we convert them into long-term members down the road. It's gonna take some work. We're gonna give, you know, have to give in order to receive it first. But um honestly, it seems like the most practical approach for me right now, while I get myself situated financially and operationally and stuff like that. And it just fills my spirit with so much joy to be able to take on this role of like philanthropist, community organizer, like in my city. And it's all literally again happened like accidentally, bro. Like, I did not sit here and plan out, like, oh, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that, and it's gonna go this way. Um, I've just been too stubborn to quit. And one of my biggest, one of my, one of my one of the mantras that drives me the most in life is just gotta keep asking myself, like, how bad do I want it? How bad do I want it, man? And I I didn't come to this country to see my parents struggle getting life started as immigrants to just fuck off and not do shit with my life. You know what I'm saying? And I I still have both of my parents in my life, which is an incredible blessing. And the driving thing that wakes me up every morning is like being able to succeed enough in this space and have access to enough resources that I can take over the mortgage for my parents, that I can help my parents just retire peacefully. You know, my parents have been working their ass off. So my mom's got a you know, cool little retirement that she's getting ready to lean on. My dad's doing great for himself. But I just want to be able to experience the moment when I can tell my parents, like, yo, guys, like I'll take care of the rent this month, don't trip. I'll take care of the rent, I'll take care of the mortgage this month. And moving forward, you guys don't got to worry about paying off for this house. I got it. You guys just take that money and start planning trips. You guys deserve it. Go out and live, explore the world. Um that that drives me. That's what wakes me up, and that's what keeps me going. And when I feel like life is kicking my ass and I have no other reason to keep going, it's it's that, you know, and I feel like as long as I keep using that as motivation and fuel, um there's no way I'm quitting. You gotta you gotta kill me first.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I think we're we're speaking to the future mayor of Oakland right now. I love everything that you're you're doing right now, and your mind is what's helping you get to where you want to be, that growth mindset. Because I think that's one of the big things trainers are missing is that drive, that that passion for what they're what they really want, and they don't have it. And so you see on Reddit and Facebook people just bitching all the time. It's so hard to be a trainer. Everything's hard, that's just life. It's not just gonna be handed to you. And if it is, that's not your path. That comfort is just gonna destroy you later on. You're gonna have regrets, and it's like this is all a part of the fun. Like you said, it wakes you up in the morning and you want to go see what you're capable of. You want to prove to yourself, you want to prove to your community, you want to prove to your parents, you can do this. You are capable. And so it's like, yeah, this is a great podcast, just hearing you talk because the passion is just flowing from your voice, and and there's hurdles, and that's just life. But you're figuring out a way and you're you're meeting people and and you're coming up with opportunities. And every time you have one of these events, people are now familiar with you, and your energy is contagious. So they're like, you know what? I want to start working out with you, and it's gonna connect you to someone else, someone else, someone else. And that's how you network and grow. And who knows what the future has. It could be more gyms, it could be leadership, it could be getting into school districts, it could be getting into the mayor, you know. Who knows? That's the great thing about life is don't put a cap on it. The future is definitely yours in control, and that's why we're gonna be in your spot in Oakland on the 27th, 28th of March. Tell them, man. Tell them. That's right. We're excited to come down there and and host it again. Now, this is your spot, and so Providence is gonna be hosting us, and we'll do our two-day seminar there. We're really excited to get there. And what were some things that when you did it two and a half years ago, it's significantly different. But what were some things that stood out at you at that seminar and maybe some things that you're looking forward to on this next one?

SPEAKER_01:

Man, right off the top, it was just really interesting to me when I because Mike told me about the seminar. Mike told me about you, Mike gave you so much credit for his success. So I was excited because it again at the time. when he was when you were coming, I was still, and I still am. I'm I'm never gonna be satisfied with what I know, but I was very desperate for more information. When I sat in on the seminar to start, started looking around and I was like, man, these are a bunch of people that are not trainers right now. I was like, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm in for a seminar where I'm about to absorb a lot of the same information that I know. I was like, this is interesting. Huh? And I was looking at it, give me one second. And I alright, I'll see you soon, girl. Have a good one, okay? Enjoy your day and don't forget to eat well. See you tomorrow. Yeah, it's a pull. You can pull that take care. But um I was sitting there and I wasn't judging. I wasn't I was just observing. I was like okay I wonder what I'm in for and bro the the the way that I felt when I sat on that seminar it was almost like I could I was I was able to imagine who I was when I got started as a trainer and how excited I would have been to have sat in on that seminar. That was what my biggest takeaway was when I first sat in there it was just like man this is really good fucking information like like I am I am literally doing all the shit that he is telling these guys to do and he's literally telling them that if they don't do this shit they will not survive and he's right like I can like my shit died because I didn't do all the stuff I'm doing right now. Like and this guy's teaching all these people and they don't even know how to train oh my oh these guys are set up what the fuck and and it's crazy bro because you look at that uh um the gentleman that was in that that that that weekend uh Joseph Bolton right I think that's his next last bro like that's the example that validates exactly what I'm talking about like this guy came in literally was quitting his job had no clue what he was gonna do was terrified was like fuck it I'm gonna do it anyway he was like I don't know in his mid-30s early 40s I I feel like he was very much trying to restart his professional approach in life he was already a successful dude by all means but like he was unhappy and unfulfilled and I remember how I had conversations with him and he was treating me like an OG and I'm like bro I've been I just got started when I was 20 dog don't trip you're gonna be fine and I remember having that conversation with him I remember connecting with him and I've been following his story and I mean I'll let you go ahead and tell the folks how well he's doing for himself right now three years later you know and I am not as clear as to everybody else that attended and where they're at but that's the one person that I know I've been following his story and he is just absolutely not only crushing as um not only crushing as a personal trainer but also leading other trainers towards the same place that he is currently at which is a testament in my opinion to how incredible of a of a product and of an idea you've built because the shit works bro like it's it's one of the best certifications that I'm aware of that exists for trainers.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'll say it worldwide I've hadn't been all over the world to get exposed to other things but I do use social media pretty intentionally to try to find dope shit in fitness and you've got something that is going to impact our world for generations bro like you are popping out incredible personal trainers every weekend and and that was my biggest takeaway was just how how well put together of an of a training experience you had got you had gotten for these guys man it's incredible I think it's just the the the serendipity of it all because you and I very similar we had to learn the hard way and then it's almost like out of jealousy you look at these people coming in you're like oh shit you have it really set up if you follow this you're gonna do well and some people choose not to which is fine they think that you know a textbook's gonna get them where they want to be and then they have to waste five sometimes 10 years like oh maybe I will circle back to this but you can absolutely turn this into a career and you're a testament to that Joe's a testament to that. And when you listen and you surround yourself with other people you're like wow follow these steps you're gonna be all right you're gonna have highs you're gonna have lows but just keep on pushing keep on moving and it's gonna work out I mean he's leading a lifetime gym and it will usually take people anywhere from like five years working at a lifetime to get that opportunity and from start to finish he's doing it in two and a half three years.

SPEAKER_01:

He's crushing bro every time he's always getting some new promotion new keys to the it's insane bro I love watching him win man that's just so cool and so we're gonna be out there the 27th and 28th Oakland in March really excited to break bread with you my my buddy and uh where can people find you on social media man um so you guys can find me under two separate accounts the first one is my personal page coach underscore underscore camilo c a m i l o the two underscores are very important because you won't find me if you only put one underscore the second account is my gyms account and that's Providence P-R-O-V-I D-E-N-C-E dot athletic club spelled traditionally nothing special to it but that's my gyms page and the other one is my personal IG and this is a a weekend where you're gonna get so much energy from this young hunk over here but the business skills people skills we'll get into the soft tissue and it's really excited to reconnect and uh looking forward to that weekend my man anything else you want to add before we call our day man I just you know I I'm grateful for you bro I'm I'm really excited and and and really thankful that you have done everything that you've done with your life because I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if you hadn't you know lived and worked in those trenches and spent as much time as you did building out see you later Matt have a good one building out what you've built out and and I'm really grateful for you for that I'm excited to support what you have going on and I'm I'm excited to blend my intellect and my creativity I have a I think I mentioned to you a little bit I have a pipeline for interns that I am currently working on developing here in Oakland for the community you know I'm excited because I'm gonna talk to 16, 17, 18 year olds and I want to let them know like there are millions of dollars to earn in the wellness space. If you have passion for helping humans get healthy, there are very, very lucrative avenues for generating income and generating generational wealth for you and for your family if you just do it correctly. And there is so much information so much support so many people in front that want to help the people coming up behind us because the world is very sick and there are way too many unhealthy humans for me as a 32 year old to be afraid of some 16 year old taking food off my plate. If anything if that 16 year old can help 150 people in his social circle get healthy then those 150 people are probably going to have five or six friends or family who are like fuck I got to get healthy too and then we're just gonna have way too much work and we're gonna need another batch of personal trainers in another generation to continue to do what we're trying to do. So for me I don't have any reason to gatekeep any of the stuff that you built if anything I'm excited to create this pipeline where I can find other 16, 17, 18 year old student athletes, people that don't know that they people that don't want to go to college and get in debt, but people that love working out that have been living as athletes their whole life and I want to give them a chance to intern here at this gym, learn what it's like to have janitorial responsibilities, learn what it's like to clean a bathroom to vacuum the turf, to mop the floor, to dust the dumbbells, to put things away, learn what it's like to show up and show up on time, brush your teeth, like greet people with a smile, leave your bullshit at home. And once these kids start to show me that I can trust them with answering phone calls and calling appointments and setting things and stuff like that like I want to teach them sales. And once they graduate from that sales role once they are like yo bro like I really I know everything but the training I'm like well I got this I got this uh I got the certification you need to take bro this is the this is how we this is how I graduate people from my program is by passing them onto the show up fitness vehicle you know what I'm saying because I what you've already done bro I don't need to I don't need to do my own version of that I just need to funnel them into your spot and as I funnel them into your spot now I have the gym and I have the community where like if people not let me not say if but when people graduate through show up fitness and they need practice now it's like well shit bro we could do a free we could do a free fitness giveaway and let's see if we can find you 10 people that you can train for free. Let's see if you can you train anybody for free and not lose them as a client because if you can't keep them as a client for free I don't know how you're gonna keep them as a client when they're paying you. So let's get started there. Let's get some reps in there and then let's figure it out and honestly you know they don't have to work at my gym they can just get the experience to then go to Equinox. They could get the experience to go to lifetime I just want to support trainers with having the capacity to start and save themselves those two to three years that I didn't. Again because I feel like the health of our planet is on the line and it's like we need more humans helping humans discover what it's like to be a human again because we all forgot what it's like to have the freedom to do whatever we want physically the confidence to go out and do whatever we want. Most humans don't even know how to hunt and that's not like a like like like real hunting but like most humans don't even know that they can go out and set their eyes on a target and achieve it. Because most humans live scared lives because they know they're incapable physically of fucking walking a mile without having to take a break.

SPEAKER_00:

You know what I'm saying? So that's beautiful my man that's so beautiful and it's the right of passage they got to earn and we can 100% back that cause and I'm excited to get more involved with that have some some beers and some burgers and talk about business life and really excited about that my man well again thank you for your time today this is awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Looking forward to seeing you in person and remember keep showing up yes sir you guys got to keep showing up man day in and day out how bad do you want it that question will answer exactly where you're headed in life and Chris from the bottom of my heart man thank you for the opportunity to be on this podcast um shout out to everybody that watches this whether it's in 2026 or in 2036 I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys do with this information. And if you guys ever need any help from me in Oakland California pull up man I'm in the West come get right that's it my man thank