Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP 348: We Change Lives For A Living, Not Just Bodies

• Sophia Yvette

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What Makes Jesse James Leyva with Outlaw Fit Camp a Good Neighbor?

Looking for a fitness story that trades shortcuts for substance? We sit down with Jesse James Leyva, founder of Outlaw Fit Camp, to unpack how decades of coaching—from box gyms to bikini competitions to NFL athletes—evolved into a mission to change lives through habits, community, and family. The conversation moves fast and stays grounded: why weight loss drugs can spark momentum but can’t replace daily routines, how late-night drinks sabotage your joints and energy, and what it takes to build a studio where coaches know your name and your spouse or kid can train with you at no extra cost.

We walk through the real wins: 100-, 200-, and 350-pound losses, the client who walked again after double knee replacements, and the reason Outlaw Fit Camp caps membership around 300 to 400 instead of chasing 1,000. Jesse shares who they serve best—adults 40 to 70 who want strength, mobility, and confidence—and how the brand keeps marketing local with partnerships, events, and neighbor-to-neighbor trust. You’ll also hear a candid origin story: losing the gym and the house, living in a car, borrowing $6,000, and rebuilding with faith in God, belief in people, and relentless consistency. That resilience shows up in every program choice, from boutique studios to group training that actually supports your life.

We also preview what’s next: a new Frisco location in the Rail District with founders who share the mission, plus how Outlaw defines “Outlaw” as being an outlier—classy spaces, strong service, and zero tolerance for gimmicks. If you’ve been searching for a community-first approach to weight loss, strength training, and sustainable health, this conversation is your blueprint: wake up at the same time, eat simple foods that work, show up to the same place, and let a supportive team keep you honest.

Subscribe for more local stories that elevate real people and real progress, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Your next small step starts today.

To learn more about Outlaw Fit Camp, go to:
 👉 https://outlawfitcamp.com

Outlaw Fit Camp
📞 (972) 355-2639

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a personal trainer and gym franchise? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Jesse James Leva with Outlaw Fit Camp. Jesse, how are you today?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me on today. I appreciate it, Sophia.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's great to be here today with you too. Now we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Can you start off by telling our listeners just a little bit about how you got started with this company?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, um, I founded the Outlaw Brand. I've been in fitness close to 28 years, started with box gym personal training, bikini coaching, bodybuilding coaching, women in men's physique, then went into extreme weight loss and NFL athletes. Loved that, and I did that for a long time, had two gyms, and then fell in love with the journey of lifestyle management and just helping change lives right around 2015, 1415, and that range there. And we focused on overall wellness, lifestyle management, and uh just make it more of a boutique experience, a fitness experience.

SPEAKER_01:

That's amazing. And where does your heart for this company really come from for you?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, it's there's a lot of things. You know, when you didn't when you've done this this long, you find a lot of whys. That's kind of a really heavily used word. What's your purpose, what's your why? I have a lot of them. And it was giving people something back that they either once never had. It could have been a woman in her 40s and 50s that maybe never felt beautiful and never felt good about herself, or a man that never was an athlete and never was built and muscular and strong. And then being able to give them that physique that they had in mind, along with the self-confidence after six months to a year and a half of training. Something kind of clicked in my head that wow, this is awesome. Instead of chasing trophies, I have trophies in my studio the whole time, and it was right in front of me, and then it was people. So that kind of dictated the course and the change in my brand to being more about lifestyle. So we, for instance, we have a Bonnie and Clyde membership where we don't charge any extra money for your daughter or son to work out with you as a personal trainer or your husband or wife, because we're big on building family up. And how do you change the dynamic of a healthy family and help kids not become obese? You change how mom and dad think about food and lifestyle and training.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Well, I really love that approach. And I always think it's so important to teach people to embrace the beauty within. That's what really counts at the end of the day. Yes. Now, getting into things a little bit deeper here, what is the most common myth or misconception you come across in your industry? I am sure there's a few.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, there's a ton of them. You know, some people think you can get a magical pill, or, you know, there's a lot of weight loss drugs, and those things are great to maybe start people off. But at the end of the day, it's all about habits. It's all about consistency and habits. You can try every kind of workout in the world, but if you're still eating a donut and drinking a Dr. Pepper and drinking five margaritas at night, you're not going to lose weight, you're not going to feel good, you're going to have sore joints. So when it comes to fitness, and this is all all of our competition, any brand, it's all about consistency, waking up at a certain time every day, eating certain foods every day, and then going to that same place. Hopefully, it's an outlaw location, conveniently located in DFW. But if uh again, just being consistent with your lifestyle, that's that would be the biggest thing I would say to do, and misconceptions is thinking that this is easy and there's a pill or something you can take just to get there. It'll be a short term, but it won't teach you anything long term or change your life.

SPEAKER_01:

I can't tell you enough how much I agree with that mindset. Now, we know marketing is the heart of every business. Who are your target customers, um, audience, and in terms of marketing today, how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, our avatar has is our ideal client has changed over the years. I mean, we can train a seven-year-old on up to our oldest is Charles at our flower mount location. He's 90. Um, we could change, we could train anybody, which I which I love, but our primary demographic is going to be, I would say that 40 and up, 45 and up client up to about 65. We're we're booked with people that are 65, 70 in here. Um, that's our primary demographic. And we we we advertise everywhere. We have local community partnerships. We do obviously all the social media platforms. Facebook's good for a lot of our clients, 50 and up, um, and obviously every other aspect there, but really community partnerships, sponsoring events, being a part of a local community, I think is the most important thing, not just being at your business, but sponsoring things, donating raffles, um, being at events, and then being good partners to other businesses and helping them be busy.

SPEAKER_01:

Most definitely. It's all about that good stewardship. Now, have you ever thought of having your own podcasts?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, yes, I have. Uh, haven't done it yet, but I've thought about it and would love it. You know, doing this 30 years and having my probably hundreds of trainers work for me, thousands of customers. We got a lot of stories, positive stories. We've had some ups and downs. There's always craziness to uh anybody's level of success, but a lot of good positive things. 100-pound losses, 200-pound losses, a 350-pound loss from a wheelchair, and our studio paid for a woman that walked again with double knee replacements. We've done a lot of really cool things that would impact a lot of people, and that's what I love sharing.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, outside of work, what do you and your family like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Man, me and my awesome wife Tiffany, she's the CEO of a franchise company. We uh we don't have any kids, unfortunately, but we have three dogs that are our kids, and I love them. So any minute we get a chance to, I mean, it's funny. We're active, love going out, love hanging out with friends, but I'd rather stay at home with a campfire in our backyard with our dogs than almost anything else. So that would be something fun. I love doing. I love lifting and working out. I love mountain biking. But uh, I think our biggest joy is honestly between concerts and hanging out with our dogs in our backyard.

SPEAKER_01:

Jesse, why don't you bring your wife on today's podcast along with you?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, this is kind of cool. She's actually finishing up, we're onboarding our Frisco franchisees. We're opening a Frisco location in February, and they're actually in my comfort room right behind me, finishing up their onboarding. And it finishes Friday, but we're doing all their onboarding. Taj and Lydia Yancey, incredible family in Frisco. So that's where she's at right now, unfortunately. But fortunately.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. That's really cool. I feel like you read my mind on my next question for you. I was just gonna ask you what you like our listeners to remember about Outlaw Fit Camp? It sounds like you have some amazing things coming up.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, one, we're growing it throughout DFW. We are our goal is we change lives for a living. When people ask us what we do, we don't personal training, we change lives for a living. You know, we love family, and I think that's a missing piece in a lot of um businesses nowadays. It's her place, his place. No, it's if you're married, it's your place. If you want a strong bond and anything strong with you, with your kids, your family, try working out together consistently. There's something special about that, and that's what we wanted to build. We have four locations in DFW. We're bringing one to Frisco, which we're excited about in the uh rail district, where it's Patty at the Rails, and that'll be opening soon. And a beautiful family bought five units, and that's a that's gonna be their first one. So just remember that you know Outlaw, it sounds like a harsh, hardcore name, but it's really about just being an outlier, being something a little bit different in the community with fitness. We do personal training and group fitness, very boutique, classy studio, a very sexy look inside, but big on customer service, knowing your name, and uh not focusing on a ton of people. We want about 300 to 400 people per location versus 800 to 1,000. We build community that way a little bit better.

SPEAKER_01:

So wow. Amen to all of that, Jesse. You really are preaching to the choir today.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, where can our listeners go to learn more about Outlaw FitCamp?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they can uh follow us on Facebook and just look up Outlaw Fit Camp. You'll see a number of our locations. And then outlawfitcamp.com is our website. You do a forward slash Frisco, and that website just went up recently, and they're starting their pre-sales, I think, in about two weeks for their founder rates. And I think the link is on that page now to their founder rates. So you can find out everything about us there, and then uh YouTube as well. We got plenty of videos on weight loss stories and just cool things, transformations we've done, which is the heart and fuel of our brand. It's our people and our trainers. We've had trainers 20 years, 11 years. That says a lot about the brand, just how much we love people and our employees and our team.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Jesse, I truly can't say enough how much I believe in the cause that you're fighting for. I believe it's so important. You know, every year we're supposed to be 1% better at least than the year before. And it's all about building yourself up from within and letting those results show on the outside. So thank you for what you do for the community.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much. You know, I'll mention um something. 20, I think it was 20 years ago, this next month, I lost everything. Lost my gym, lost my home, lived in a car, took a$6,000 loan from friends and family, and I invested in myself one last time, and uh we took it from there and just blew it up into a million dollar studio and now a franchise company. But the one thing that pushed me was people, you know, and faith. Just having faith in yourself, having faith in God, and having faith in people. So I appreciate the time on the uh podcast today. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen, amen. You're welcome, and I wish your wife could have been here with you today.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, the next one. And we want to move to the best location. I'd love to have you at Frisco for our grand opening.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, that would be awesome. Well, Jesse, I really appreciate you being on the show today. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_02:

Sophia, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gmpfrisco.com. That's gmpfrisco.com or call four six nine two two one nine three four five.