Daily Inspiration: Meet John Janecek

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Janecek.

Hi John, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been a strength coach my entire career. I worked on fhe college level for ten years at University or Nebraska, Vanderbilt, Tennessee State, UAlbany and SMU. When I moved to DFW in 1999 to work at SMU as an assistant strength coach my daughter was ready to go into kindergarten and I felt like I needed to settle down. We moved to fhe Hurst Euless Bedford area a year later and I started teaching along with strength coaching. I always enjoyed working with athletes and directed two very successful football strength programs in Euless Trinity and Longview HS from 2000-17. During our six year stay in Longview I became more and more interested in how strength training affected me personally as I closed in on age 50 vs a high school or college athlete. I had always worked with older coaches , there spouses and some administrators on each campus designing strength programs and preaching that a simple strength training routine would help them with daily life more than anything else. In 2016 my wife and I started planning to move from Longview back to the Bedford area and open a small semi private gym for people 40 and over. I train on the average around 35-40 clients each month in small groups of 2-3 per hour session. We opened im June of 2016 and I had a three people sign up the first month and we slowly grew as word of mouth spread. We have been open 8 years now and have several clients that have been with me 6-8 years. My clients range from mid 30’s to mid 80’s and everyone comes in doing basic barbell lifts to get them stronger so they can do life better.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Getting started was a little slow as word spread about us as a specialty type gym that worked with older clients trying to gain back their independence and get back to activities they use to do when they were younger. I started having clients that were in their 60’s to 80’s start coming in excited because all the sudden they could do simple things like gardening, carry their own groceries, walk better without falling or not use a cane or walker anymore.

Another concern I had starting up was how would this age group respond to doing some basic barbell exercises and working hard enough to cause a little discomfort to create a stength adaptation then telling their doctor about it. I have been pleasantly surprised as my clients have given great effort, are very coachable and rhe most surprising part is I haven’t received one negative comment from the medical community when my clients return from a medical appointment. I’ve been told over and over “my Dr is so excited that I’m strength training and to keep it up!”

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve known since my days in high school back in the 80’s in Nebraska I wanted to teach people how to lift weights but I wasn’t sure what path that involved. I was recruited to play football at the University of Nebraska in 1984 as well as several small colleges for football and wrestling and went on a handful of recruiting visits. Its safe to say my attitude towards strength training was so the driving factor in my visits and after seeing the stength complex at the University of Nebraska it was an easy decision that’s where I wanted to be. I played my freshman year there in 1985 but had a couple concussions that ended ny career. I honestly wasn’t that sad about not playing football anymore and had a scholarship offer to a smaller in Nebraska setup to go wrestle. On my last visit to the Nebraska weight room I asked one of the stength coaches what they did for a living and they replied “what do you mean? I’m full-time here I get paid to work in this weight room with you guys’. Strngrh training back in the early 80’s was still a hew profession and as a 18 year old kid I had no idea about it. I transferred to the smaller college and finished up four years of college in three and a half years while wrestling and completing a bachelor’s degree in Fitness Mgt. This started my ten year career in strength training on the college level as well as a constant desire to learn what makes a person stronger to do________better? My early years were more performance based for athletics but as I wen from my 20’s to 40’s I noticed you can’t keep doing what the kid’s are how do you change it to stay strong? I’m very proud that I’ve been able to be employed as a college strength coach, high school strength coach and even strength coaching at the middle school level as well as opening my own facility now that works with the older population. Along with my four year degree abd certifications from several different organizations the thing I’m most proud of now and what gains the trust of clients is im closer to their age vs a younger trainer in a large health club. I’ll be 60 in August and have had a hip and knee replaced while barely missing any down time at the gym. My clients tell me I’m a walking advertisement for what strength training can do for us as we age. The fact that I have their trust and they know I understand when they tell me something aches and it’s age related means the world to me.

How do you define success?
Opening a small business and walking away from a teaching/stength coaching career where I was 7-8 years away from retirement in my 50’s means you’re going to succeed no matter how long it takes us to get this gym going. Obviously having clients come in and like what you’re doing makes me feel great but I can’t make them keep coming back or tell others. The fact that I’ve kept a majority of my clients for 7-8 years and they are the ones going in their neighborhoods and communities and spreading the word overwhelms me and makes me so thankful.

Pricing:

• I haven’t raised my rates in the eight years ove been open. I train small groups of 2-3 people per hour session and charge $45 per hour. Everyone comes in twice a week either on M-TH or T-F

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: #Janecekstrength
• Facebook: Janecekstrength

Image Credits
First pic is my wife and I, we run the gym together. I do all the coaching she runs the business side of it. The other pics are various client training photos I’ve posted before on social media.