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

Alright, Timothy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Purpose. That’s what I live for now. From surviving addiction, loss and trauma to earning an IFBB Pro-card, publishing a memoir of my experiences and a building a unique thriving gym business, My story is that regardless of what you have been through, when or where you start or when it all finally makes sense to you, if you stay in the game, keep pushing forward, there is nothing you can’t accomplish.

Timothy , 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 Timothy Durning I own Steelyard Gym and I am an IFBB Professional bodybuilder. I made my living as an executive chef for almost 40 years but after a couple of very personal tragedies i found the need to be there for my son and gave up the long hours of the food business to spend time with my kid and to heal and rebuild my personal life. While still working in food and beverage, I turned to weight training to help me turn my life around. I had dealt with addiction issues from the time I was 13. It would not be overstating to say that, at the time, bodybuilding helped me save my life. When I stepped away from cooking it was an easy transition to becoming a coach and personal trainer, learning how to help others change their lives. In Steelyard we have an anvil which was cast in the 1800’s. That anvil is the touchstone for Steelyard. Just as that anvil was used to forge works of beauty, tools of use and weapons of war we challenge our member to forge themselves into the image they see in their mind’s eye.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After suffering the tragic loss of a girlfriend, I lived in a hotel room for almost two years trying to expand a food business to another city. I was not ok. I needed help but didn’t even know how to ask. After my son suffered a brain hemorrhage, I moved back to be closer to him and in doing so lost my business. I had no resources, I stayed with my son and his mother. I trained hard and eventually was able to earn my IFBB pro-card. I was trying to build my training business but it was going slow. My son’s condition continued to degrade and he developed a grave brain condition. In a reckless attempt to help my son I got in serious trouble with the law. A year later my apartment was completely destroyed in a fire. While I escaped with my life I lost a very beloved dog. Covid hit hard and with all of this I ended up relapsing, it was bad. At one point, with no place to live, I was sleeping in my car in a parking garage. I was done, I felt it was over, but, as Lori, my girlfriend likes to say, I choose life, again and again. Not willing to throw in the towel, and having rekindled a high school relationship, with her help, I came back, yet again. We built Steelyard as a hardcore, no frills, open air gym. It took off, people just got it, our membership bought in to the whole concept. It was amazing. A year after addiction, being traumatized, homeless, hopeless, we opened Steelyard and have never looked back. Six months ago we bought a lake house, our sanctuary.
I don’t have the words but if pressed the one word that would best describe this journey would be
Grace.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Trust your instincts. If you have a firm belief in your concept Don’t allow others to alter your vision. I have, in several businesses, I allowed partners to make me change my original idea. In every case the dilution of my vision ultimately ruined the business. If you theme a business, as we have with Steelyard, you need to completely buy in to the concept. That is the only way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.steelyardgym.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steelyardgym/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steelyardgym