We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Frank Dimeo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Frank, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

Many fitness enthusiasts are familiar with treadmills and weight machines
While I am thrilled to see people moving their bodies in any way, but there are better ways to train than most people know of.
Mace & club training has been around about 3,000 years, but it only started to get some traction in America in the last few years. LIke many innovative fitness trends, this started in California.
A whole sub culture has now opted to swings clubs and maces instead of going to the gym.
Some different styles have evolved as a result.
In January 2016 I created a training system called Mace Fit using steel maces and clubs.
From my “old school” warehouse gym in Sarasota, Florida Mace Fit has grown.
We are thrilled to be part of this subculture and helping it grow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I served as a Rapid Deployment Paratrooper for 4 years at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
This was a great fit since I had many years of martial arts experience.
From there I served in Hawaii as a Combat Engineer for a couple of years.
I did not live on the base but was able to move to the North Shore, not far from Waimea Bay.
After getting out of the military I went to school in Orlando, Florida to become a Certified Harley-Davidson mechanic. Upon graduating returned to Sarasota, Florida.
For several different reasons I left the Harley-Davidson world and pursued other types of work.
I started a tree service business and ran it for several years.
Crazy as it sounds, I have always loved hard physical work, it toughened me up and kept me strong.
One day my wife said to me, “You’re strong, why don’t you teach others to be strong?”
So for the last 23 plus years I have been doing just that.
I owned my own gym for almost 12 years.
It was a very hardcore gym where we focused on heavy lifting and hard bodyweight training.
The results followed the work. Now I work with an older population.
One of the group classes I run for is seniors all the way up to their mid-90’s.
They have made incredible progress

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had plenty of experience in martial arts, but I was new to fitness training, A fellow veteran brought me on as a 1099 Independent Contractor at his private gym in 2001. I “got my feet wet” there and learned the basics of fitness training and coaching. In 2005 I affiliated with CrossFit and started learning that system. Unfortunately, our building was being sold so they could build another bank there.
A buddy of mine owned a Physical Therapy clinic in Sarasota, FL so I registered my business as a sole proprietorship and rented floor space from him.
The rent went up a few times, so I started looking for a new place. Another friend of mine owned a boxing gym and told me there was a warehouse space for rent almost next door to his place.
So, I moved again in 2010 and registered my business as an LLC. Now I had my own place and started buying used equipment to get the place rolling. I named it the Cave and ran in true hardcore fashion. We added Powerlifting, Strongman training, and eventually added steel mace & club training to the mix. The synergy of these systems was powerful
Things went well until Covid hit and all the gyms in Florida had to close. So I packed up all my maces and clubs. I continued to train people outdoors until the gyms were allowed to reopen.
The people got consistent, measurable results.
Over the years are best athletes left for universities or better job opportunities.
The Cave started to struggle financially until I had to shut it down after almost 12 years. It was like my second how,
“To everything there is a season and a purpose to everything under heaven.”
I sold off all my heavy barbells, kettlebells, tires, Atlas stones, sleds, kegs, etc.
Once again, I loaded my maces & clubs in my van, along with some other small pieces of equipment.
I started training people at other people’s gyms and some private clients at a local park.
Over the months I got several calls to train people in some very unexpected places, A 55+ condominium asked me to run their senior fitness classes, an upscale golf community called to work at their fitness center, followed by the local yacht club to train their members.
It’s been quite a journey so far and I have pivoted several times. Things have gone very well with all the twists and turns.
Now more than 23 years later I still love coaching people, seeing them get healthier and more fit.
It pays to be flexible and adaptable in how you serve other people.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Living in a small studio apartment in Sarasota, Florida. I was a sworn bachelor enjoying living near the beach.
One day a beautiful young college student moved into the apartment next to mine.
Since Sarasota is a beach town, pretty girls are everywhere.
But there was something very different about this one.
She was very disciplined in her studies and was constantly reading.
I worked hard, drank beer and partied a lot.
Basically we ignored each other for a few months
We did eventually start dating.
I remember talking with her on our shared balcony. I just didn’t get why she was so wrapped up in her studies.
She saw something in me and told me I could do so much more with my life.
The next year I was off to the military I was stationed t Fort Bragg, NC She moved to Greenville, NC to finish college.
We continued to date each other when I went to my next duty station in Hawaii.
One day when I was home on leave, and we went to Key West for a few days. When we got back we went to the county courthouse and got married.
We had each been on different spiritual paths. Sue was into the bhagavad gita.
I had neen inteterested in Zen Bddhism and Taoism during my martial arts years.
Later I became an atheist.
Eventually we both found our peace with God through Christ.
Fast forward to today we are co-owners of Mace Fit. Our steel mace & club business is growing. We decided to add Pilates to our business since Sue is now a Pilates Instructor. She is now in the process of leaving her lengthy medical career to teach Pilates. Ww were probably the two of the most unlikely people to ever do this kind of thing, but we love it. We are still madly in love with each other. We are very blessed.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://macefit.com
• Instagram: 2slingsteeel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/219471028819340
• Youtube: @originalmacefit

Image Credits

Coringa Conway, George Wiggins, Sue DiMeo, Diane Riley, “Lyonel Lumarque, Jazmyn Egle-Wolf