We were lucky to catch up with Mark Fleming recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

I’ll actually share two of my favorite success stories of clients I have worked with. The first was a young teen client diagnosed with knock-knee, pre-diabetes, slight scoliosis, and autistic. I worked with him in conjunction with his occupational therapist and his chiropractor (to ensure we all stayed in our scope of practice) for a little over two years. Having weaknesses in certain muscles it was a long process with constant adjustments being made. By the time I finished with him, I was told he would no longer need surgery for his knock-knee. That he was no longer considered pre-diabetic. And that his scoliosis improved to a point that the doctor did not need to monitor it. All these conditions were fixed by a simple exercise program and drastically improved his quality of life.
The second was over the pandemic. Due to the closure of gyms, I had to shift my model to work with clients virtually. One of my clients, who was quite obese, only had textbooks to use as weights. Having to adjust to this situation, I successfully made a program that fit for him and the situation. Due to it being virtual, I had very little way to know if this program made an effect on his weight. During his first session back in the studio, my jaw dropped because he looked so different. Turns out he dropped over 100 pounds on this very simple workout program adjusted to use textbooks as weight.

Mark, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Mark Fleming. I am an autistic adult and entrepreneur in the fitness industry that works primarily with individuals with disabilities. I created my business after finishing grad school for my master’s in Human Performance from The University of Alabama and spent time in the Applied Behavior Analysis field and saw a need for the disability community needing this resource. I conduct mainly one-to-one exercise sessions both in the studio and virtually. I recently started online training to further the reach of the business and hopefully help more disabled individuals become more physically active. I completely love what I do and how with a little guidance my clients become healthier and happier through exercise. I am currently in school for my Ph.D. in Kinesiology to hopefully be able to conduct research in the future to further guide the narrative that fitness is truly for everyone.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

In this industry, especially with this clientele, word of mouth seems to be the best marketing I have. With all these new tools via social media, word of mouth still stands the test of time.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think my reputation has been built in two ways. The first is word of mouth from my clientele and the successes they have with me. The second comes from all the news stories I was fortunate to be a part of due to the uniqueness of my story. I believe if you do great work and stay true to yourself, your reputation will reflect that and you will not have to go out of your way to build it up yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.equallyfit.com
• Instagram: equallfitfl
• Facebook: equallyfittampa