We recently connected with Jonathan Herod and have shared our conversation below.

Jonathan, appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your professional career?

Years ago, I was promoted to Sergeant in the US Army and had to start being in charge of soldiers. The norm is that you know it all and can do all, reason why you have been promoted. Well, I had a very good idea about a project and was then instructed another way by a junior enlisted soldier, not only in front of my peers, but, my subordinates as well. As respectful as the soldier stated, I still took it as an insult to my knowledge of said project. Nevertheless, I humbled myself in the eyes of my peers and my subordinates and listened to what was stated. There were many lessons learned in just this short project. One, just because you’re senior to most, you don’t know it all. Sometimes what we learn in books is not the best practice and what this soldier presented was actually the BEST practice and most efficient. Second lesson learned, pride and ego will destroy many relationships if not handled correctly. Yes, he crapped on my pride and then my ego, because I was the newly appointed Sergeant and I was picked due to my knowledge of the area, but I shut up, let the soldier explain and perform said task and continued to run the task as he stated. The third thing that I learned is, keep learning your craft and master it. Someone has done the research to better it, so always keep an open study to get better.

With that being said, fitness is an EVER evolving lifestyle and mindset. For me to get better, understand my clients and be at the for front of all of there fitness and nutritional needs.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a Retired Veteran of 21 years of service from the Army. Been to nine different countries and four tours to Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan. My job was Nutrition and Diet Therapy and also being a Master Fitness Trainer in several Units. I retired in April of 2017 and opened a gym after obtaining a franchise from Fit Body Boot Camp. I started in Donelson, TN on April 1st, 2017 and then had to close the doors to that location on February 28th due to the building of the new library where I was located. 42 days later I reopened in Hermitage in April 2018 and continued to provide exceptional service and Boot camps to our neighboring communities. Before I opened I wanted to personally affect 20,000 people in the Nashville area in person or through social media and I am sitting close to 3500 so far. Laying a map down for people to intrust their health and fitness goals to you in simply incredible to me and Love the challenge. Of course you’re not going to satisfy them all and some will NOT achieve the results they came to you for, but the commitment that I give to them just blows my mind.

We do 30 minute High Intensity Interval Training(HIIT) that stimulates and afterburner affect, meaning that the body still burns calories 24-48 hours after a workout. Our workouts are fun and we cater to ALL fitness levels. For those who have moderate to serious injuries, we are still able to provide effective workouts to obtain fitness goals. We are a one stop shop for workouts, personal training, and supplements. We carry the highest quality of supplements and at a good price.

I am most proud of the ones who have made this gym a family. People can point the finger at me, but it takes all of them to make this into fruition. We have members who have been together since I’ve open in 2017 and are still here battling it out with there workout buddies.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My advice to those who are managing a team would be to FULLY transparent in what the mission or job is. Everyone needs to know their role and to also know their teammates role if the job extends to those who can allow that. Humble yourself to know that YOU will make a mistake and your team will make one. Just take that as a lesson learn and to also eliminate what caused that mistake. Advise your team that mistakes are learning curves and without them, you can’t get better. Keep the team a team by building relationships with all. A team that plays together, stays together. Have outings where the team can let their hair down and expose their talents, i.e. sports, dancing, etc. Last thing to remember, you can manage each team member differently, but treat everyone the same, by being fair and impartial.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The culture. My culture for my clientele has been formed by my military values. The culture we have at our gym is about family, love, positivity, determination, and the ability to self motivate from those that motivate us all. No one is a stranger at our gym. Relationships have been formed and definitely friends for life have been made. I’ve also been most effective by establishing a team to represent the culture. They have ben the ones to not only promote the culture, but have exceeded my expectations in instilling them into our clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: sergeantshredfitness.com
• Instagram: sergeantshredfit
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sergeantshredfit
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jonathanherod10armyfit
• Twitter: sgtshedfitness