ANTIGONISH, N.S. — Seven years in the planning, and motivated by seeing his father’s quick end to a robust and active lifestyle, Marco Wood has opened RFT Fitness Training.
Wood describes RFT as a “new look at fitness,” adding he can do sessions at a person’s home or office, at his home-based studio on Xavier Drive.
“Since my father passed away; he was the inspiration behind it,” Wood said of his two-month-old business, in talking to the Casket Oct. 11. “Because of his fitness journey and what happened to him; he coached rugby and played squash at 55 but at 56, he was almost immobile.
“Things happen, change, and you have to be ready to deal with them. So I’ve been planning it and seeing a need for it,” Wood said, noting he left a good job at Ron MacGillvray Chev Buick GMC to follow the new career path.
“I decided it was time,” he said. “I had the resources, the plan ready, did all the research, so I wanted to get out and do this. I left a good job, so it was a little scary to be honest.”
Approach
Wood went into detail about his approach to personal fitness, using the words “balance” and “moderation” often.
“The biggest key to this company; merging and balancing fitness into a lifestyle somebody already has,” Wood said.
“Because most of the people I deal with don’t have a fitness background; they don’t like it, don’t enjoy it. They like their habits and don’t want to give them up. They’ve gone to personal trainers in the past and have been told, ‘you can eat pizza,’ ‘can’t drink beer,’ ‘we’ll replace that pizza with salad and chicken, and beer with sparkling water , chips with nuts and dried fruit’ … that’s just a recipe for failure. No one is going to be able to get through that and the best exercise program in the world will fail, if you don’t do it.
“So that’s the whole point of this company; creating something people can actually do.”
Wood also talked about people being highly motivated to start programs and maybe for the first few sessions, but then that motivation can start to wane.
“Motivation is finite,” Wood said.
“People get motivated but they can burn that out in the first couple of days and it takes a while to regenerate. Most of the time, motivation comes from an [negative] experience; a doctor’s report, looks in a mirror where you turn a certain way [and are unhappy with the reflection], or people realizing they can’t keep up with their kids anymore.
“The best testimonial for me was a lady who said, ‘before I met you, I couldn’t pick up my grandson, and now I can. I only have three or four months because he is going to grow, but every time I see him now he is up and swinging around … you bought me months of that.’
“That’s what I want to bring to people.”
While the options for in-home/office or at studio are there for clients, Wood said he prefers to go to the person, noting their comfort level is number one.
He talked about the lunch hour at someone’s office trending as being a popular time-slot and location.
“We never do more than a 30-minute session as far as exercise; you don’t need to,” he said. “It’s a recipe for injury if you push yourself too far.
“Again, moderation and balance; if you try too hard and give up all the things you love, you’ll eventually want to go back to the things you love … there is a lot of stress in the world.
“You have to give yourself rewards and understand most people over 50 are never going to have ripped abs and be magazine models, so why try. Get your circulation up, be able to stand up and sit down without grunting, do some sports without pain every time you go … that’s what real life is, that’s what I think a fitness lifestyle is. It’s not being ripped, having abs and doing flex-downs, it’s being able to extend your life and have a better quality of life.”
Wood can be reached at 902-318-7399 or via email at [email protected].
The business has a website (realfitnessathome.com) and Facebook page (RFT Fitness).
