I worked out with Camp Gladiator. Now I work there!

I'm sitting here in a room full of happy people during what is the most exciting day of each year for Camp Gladiator, our birthday! And this is our 10th birthday, and so it's a BIG one!

Music playing, people excitingly watching dashboards of new "campers" signing up for our big deal. Marketing doing all of their cool stuff. Tech doing all of their serious stuff. Almost everyone else working in our camper support department for the day.

The story, for me, started just a few years ago. About five years ago I realized that my wife -- a person who historically never would have been described as a morning person by herself or by any who knew her best -- was consistently getting up before 5 a.m. to work out with a group several mornings a week. She loved it!

In my mid-thirties at the time, I wondered what might happen if I started doing the same, nudged on by her to consider something like that.

If you are a guy like this, or know a guy like this, keep reading.

My background was not exactly one of an athlete. My first memories of sports? If we can be liberal about that definition, then it was around 5 years old. No, I wasn't a rising star in the local tee-ball team; I was hitting large whiffle softballs with a large pink bat in the grassy area behind English Village, the apartment complex we lived in on Raleigh LaGrange Road in Memphis, Tennessee -- within earshot of the railroad tracks. My dad's pitching of those balls to me was as good as it got in my earliest years, with my only other "athletic" memory around those times being when I took an accidental swim in the creek, also behind English Village, that primarily served as a local dumping grounds for the DIY vehicle oil change crowd. And I'm sure that my slow process of learning to swim was impacted by my smelly swim there followed by a soaked, sobbing run back to our apartment at the age of 4 or 5.

I eventually upgraded from my pink bat and played a year or so of baseball as a middle schooler, following a year of soccer earlier during elementary-- not to mention a handful of years of watching St. Louis Cardinals games and memorizing stats off the back of baseball cards. But my part in pick-up basketball games on the playground decreased, as the years past and as my friends' height and athletic participation increased relative to my own.

A move to North Carolina, and a high school filled with increasing interest in computers/technology, as well as a part-time restaurant job in the evenings, took me away from most of my adolescent sports interests.

By the time college was behind me and I was well into my professional career, physical activity was not really a part of my life. During the day I sat at a desk, and in the evenings I largely sat again -- in MBA classes in the evening, or in front of the TV, or computer, or whatever.

Fast forward a few years, I had met my wife and we were living in Austin, she had started her early morning workout routine I described earlier, and separately I had gotten to know several of the team at the Camp Gladiator headquarters, including the co-CEO team of Ally and Jeff Davidson.

Occasional lunches with Jeff learning about the business ultimately turned into me joining the company in its CFO role in September 2016.

Camp Gladiator is growing across the company, from its roots in Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and other TX cities) to Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Tampa, Orlando, and Denver. We now have 4,000 locations and over 1,000 trainers, and have found ourselves on the Inc. 5000 list six years in a row now.

So, it's been a great ride so far... both from a challenging-and-fun work perspective, and also in seeing how much our group fitness approach is changing lives !

The program is designed for all fitness levels--as I can attest! Working out alongside people who have not worked out in years-- or ever-- as well as former college athletes, and seeing all of them challenged and getting stronger, is an amazing thing.

But there is more to life than physical fitness... which is why it has been so fun to see and hear all of the stories of how CG's workouts, the trainers that lead them, and of course the participants, have collectively fostered a community that provides real encouragement and support, with "campers" becoming friends and extended family in a way. The focus on relationships is very hard to find in our industry.

Ultimately, Camp Gladiator is the company that has convinced me of the value of working out. And it has shown me how to be a better friend and co-worker!

I would love to hear stories of how some of my friends have been inspired by their employer or another company they have been a part of as a customer, partner, or employee. Share them below!

(And, do consider checking out our fitness program!)

Camp Gladiator is celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a true Deal-of-the-Decade, a 36 hour flash sale where you can buy $10 for 4 weeks of workouts!!! www.campgladiator.com !