Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Hsieh.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in South Africa but always felt that I needed to go somewhere else. When I turned 23, I left South Africa for good with $5000 in my pocket and flew to the USA, started in New York, to Miami, LA, and finally settling in San Jose. Found a Job as a Trainer at 24 fitness and quickly worked my way up to Assistant fitness manager. After a couple years, I decided to try out another company Equinox. Also worked my way up really quickly and became one of the busiest trainers in the company.
Most of my clients suffered from some sort of pain, from daily aches and pains from sitting too much, or from past injuries that rehab was still not able to alleviate etc. And I got really curious about how to help them even when they have been to many specialists that were not able to alleviate their pain. So I attended every workshop available to me, all the money I made I put to continuing education so I can have a better understanding of how to help my clients get out of pain, move better and get fit at the same time. From Functional Movement Systems, Trigger point therapy, Original strength, animal flow, kettlebells, Olympic lifting. all of these were great tools for me to have but they did not give me the full answer to why people were in pain. Then I came across Neurokinetic Therapy by David Weinstock. A fantastic tool that helps me pinpoint exactly what muscle or system that is not working that causes pain. and results were phenomenal. So I integrated Neurokinetic Therapy into my assessments and training sessions to help people really figure out the root cause of their pain, attacking that first then the rest just seemed to fall in line. So I became to go-to guy when people had pain, I always seemed to have an answer, or knew someone who does.
But over time, felt something was missing from large corporate facilities. I saw so many trainers come and go in the corporate environment, every year, an average of 30-40 trainers come and go. Very few were able to make a career out of it. And on average, only about 10-20% of members are actually consistent with working out at least 2x per week. The others 80-90% are just paying membership fees without coming in.
This really frustrated me. And is unacceptable in my opinion. So I dedicated my life to finding out why and how to fix this worldwide epidemic of inactivity and pain.
And it came down to two things: Community and Education
Community: I realized that people needed someplace to look forward to, feel safe, no judgment or feel left out, confused or lost. the 80-90% or people who walk into a corporate setting feel the opposite, they feel intimidated, judged, lost and confused. Join a class and are left behind with minimal coaching. This is one of the largest factors why people quit. Not because they are not motivated, but it’s because they are not supported.
Education: People come into a gym with workouts from a website, or jump into a class. Promised to get “results in 6 weeks” etc. Only to get injured, or not get results in that amount of time and lost motivation. We blame the program and say we “tried everything” but it comes down to not knowing the fundamentals. And not understanding that there is no quick fix. But once you have the right fundamentals, results come really quickly, and pain-free. We should not push past pain etc. We need to address it first.
So I quit the corporate fitness environment, moved to San Diego and decided that I needed to do something different so that people will be able to continue progressing, move better, more often, for the rest of their life.
That became my primary goal. Which is why I opened up my facility. To educate and give everyone the tools they need to succeed, and the environment for them to want to continue.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, I came with $5000 in my pocket and was very close to having no place to stay, which is what pushed me to succeed really quickly at 24 fitness.
Once my income became stable. It took me a lot of trial and error to figure out why people were in pain or were not getting results, even after rehab. Many of my initial clients didn’t get results, which pushed me to become a better trainer so that would not happen. So I spend over $5000-$8000 a year in education and networking with the top health and fitness professionals across the world to keep finding out why. But every penny is worth it, and I’m always still constantly learning. Every day.
The biggest obstacle was opening the facility. Really pinpointing what I wanted the place to be, fighting contractors, getting the financing and permits was a nightmare. Took over 8 months to finally lock this place down and make it to what it is today.
Please tell us about Movement Reborn.
We are a Fitness and Rehab facility. Basically, we help people get healthier, fitter and stronger just like any gym.
But where we are completely different is that we have a system where we Integrate Neurokinetic Therapy (NKT), along with many other tools into our assessment and training regime. Using this we first address where people have pain, find the root cause, alleviating that first. then re-training the body to remember how it is supposed to be without pain. Then get them healthier, fitter and stronger from there.
I see too many people jump straight into a fitness class or program only to get injured shortly after because they did not have the right fundamentals, to begin with. The problem is we don’t know that we don’t know the fundamentals. So through a very thorough initial assessment, we can help figure out what fundamentals need to be taught for each individual client. Then we can progress from there. and if you come in with pain, we find out why, fix it, then get you fitter and stronger after that.
I’m most proud that I have a great network of Therapists, Rehab specialists in San Diego. And there will be two joining my facility in the future. So if I don’t know the answer or there is something out of my scope of practice, we have a quick referral system right in my facility so we can help you get out of pain as quickly as possible. I’ve seen too many people need a referral but the trainer doesn’t know who is good or not, taking too long to set an appointment and many times they come back with minimal results. So we found a solution to that.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Probably learning martial arts as a kid, I practiced kung fu from 8-13 years old. It was the best feeling learning how to move the body and be able to move and kick like Jet Lee, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan did. They are my Idols still. A lot of the movements and philosophies I implement in resetting the body come from martial arts.
Pricing:
- 6 Week introductory to Movement Mastery program ($550), You get 3 personal training sessions to figure out the perfect plan for you, then join a small group training setting up to 4 people per group so we work on our goals together as a team. Where we reset the fundamentals and get you fitter at the same time! ($1125 Value)
- After the 6-week intro, your fundamentals are set. So the price drops to a monthly fee ($360 or $480 depending of frequency per month), where you can join any of the small group training sessions and keep progressing to your fitness goals.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5830 Oberlin Dr. Suite 100
San Diego, CA
92121 - Website: www.movementreborn.com
- Phone: 9173556138
- Email: andy@movementreborn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/movementreborn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MovementReborn/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/movement-reborn-san-diego-2
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