Today we’d like to introduce you to Dontae Smiley.
Dontae, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My name is Dontae Smiley. I am a Professional wrestler and trainer, CPT, CF LVL-1, and gospel rapper (look me up on your music platform of choice or google me and all that stuff will come up!!! I got my first national training certification with NCSF (National Council of Strength and Fitness) and attained multiple specialty certifications with them as well! I have worked at Texas Family Fitness as a CPT, which was my first training job about six years ago. From there, I was blessed with the opportunity to become a fitness director at an LA Fitness, which I accepted and immediately hated—finding out grass ain’t always greener on the other side with this. From there, I went back to training for UBF in Fitness Connection and loved working for this company! Became one of the top trainers in the state burning 240 plus sessions one month (roughly eight plus sessions trained a day. Some less some more) but quickly realized the pay wasn’t matching the work.
One day when I was sitting in my car eating lunch, I got a call from a friend named Jonathon Norman, who is part owner of NRich Fitness. I also was the person who gave me my first training job at TFF asking me to have a meeting with him about the gym he was helping open up with Brian Rich who was a higher up at TFF at once also. I loved the place. I loved them and respected them for getting me into the business years prior. They offered me a training position with a lot of growth potential of being able to have equity in the business at some point, and I accepted.
I was there for about a year and a half before I started doing CrossFit for myself at another gym called CrossFit Templum and was posting about how much I loved it and so on. Brian caught wind of my posts and called me into his office one day and was stating that he was not keen to the fact I was posting about Crossfit and another gym and realized I had got distant a little bit and was just wondering what was on my mind and if I was invested into building NRich or not.
Well, me being the honest person I am, I told him I loved CrossFit and also told him I wanted to go on my own for training and start my private training program and so on. So he understood and asked I take a day to think about what I really wanted to do and so on and get back to him because respectfully, he wanted people that were invested into growing the company that was his baby and wanted his trainers all in which I understood and wasn’t.
I went home and talked to my wife and prayed on it and came to the realization that if I wasn’t going to make the jump now, I was never going to make it go on my own. I called Eric Wrona m the owner of CrossFit Templum, asking about renting space from him and so on to start my private training business. He is a mentor of mine in store and at church and my CrossFit coach. Prayed over me, blessed my business start-up, we worked out the details and on May 1, 2018 I took the leap of faith and was officially on my own as a private trainer starting Prime Time Fitness Training. A jump that took me three years to make. After falling in love with CrossFit, my training program is based on functional fitness training. In February of 2019, I got my official CrossFit Level 1 and started helping Eric out as a coach for CrossFit Templum outside of my personal Prime Time Fitness Training Clients!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being on your own, especially in the training world, always has its ups in down! What has helped is the supporting cast of family and friends and also mentors! Between people like my wife, and my mentor friends like Eric Wrona, Marc Zalmanoff, Ryan Stewman, and my pastors Keith Craft, Josh Craft and Jeremy Baker I have a lot of very smart and accomplished people to meet with/listen to be it in person or podcast/video or going to their mastermind to learn from and it has helped me a lot!
Please tell us about your business.
So what I do is a program workout and meal guides for individuals I train. I offer online training for those that may not be able to afford to see me in person, but what’s me to program their work and two people small group training for those that want a cost-efficient way to train more for less and also straight-up private training one on one sessions. My programming is based off high-intensity functional fitness. We do it all. Strength, metabolic conditioning, some gymnastic work such as pull-ups, T2B and more. I do rehab work with people. I’ve had clients go from doing 1/4 squats to doing a full on “but to ground” squats.
If you want to lose weight, we can train for that to happen. If you’re going to gain weight, we can train for that to happen. If you want to tone, we can train for that to happen. If you are on board with your gym routine and need something a little bit more varied, we can do that!!!!
What I’m most proud of is my client’s ability to see more of themselves. The majority to come for one goal, which is to lose weight. All grow to want to do so much more than that. Losing weight is cool. Gaining weight is cool. Enjoying the journey. Enjoying the small wins to get to the big is what brings joy to it all! So I motivate and inspire them to understand the process and enjoy it and fall in love with fitness!!! My greatest joy and what melts my heart the most is when a client gets a PR (personal record) on something and the glow they have after they do. I think what separates Prime Time Fitness Training from others is my want for what they want and getting there in a way that works for both people finding that happy medium. Also the genuine love I have for my clients to grow physically, spiritually and mentally!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
My love and compassion for people wanting to be healthier spiritually, mentally and obviously physically!
Contact Info:
- Email: dontae@primetimefitnesstraining.info
- Instagram: Instagram.com/primetimeliving
- Facebook: Facebook.com/primetimefitnesstrainingDS
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
