Meet James Wheeler of Locomotion Athletics in Mission Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Wheeler.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Originally from South Jersey, my fitness career started while attending East Carolina University and graduating in 2010 with a Bachelors in Science as a Health and Fitness Specialist. During my years at ECU, I was fortunate to visit my brother Chuck who resided in San Diego and finally made the decision that this was where I wanted to plant my flag.

During that process, I was able to land an internship and eventually my first coaching position at the Fitness Quest ten located in Scripps Ranch. Under the tutelage of world-renown trainer Todd Durkin, I was able to hone in my skills as a strength and conditioning coach working with athletes of all ages and skill levels.

This includes athletes featured in the National Football Leauge, Major League Baseball, Rugby, as well as typical Joe’s and Jane in all walks of life. During this period of time, I cannot overstate how important it was to have great mentors. Coaches like Brett Klika, Ryan Burgess, Jeffery King, Doug Balzarini, and many others really helped develop me into the coach I am today.

I am forever thankful to them and plan on doing the same for any future coaches that work at Locomotion Athletics. In 2014, I decided it was time for a change and accepted an administrative position as a Head Coach with a startup boutique fitness company Fitwall.

During this time, I was able to see things from the business side by managing the Solana Beach studio while helping them build and develop their training program. Over the next two years, I was able to step back from a business perspective and get a better understanding of the “do’s and don’ts” of the industry.

After two years and a half years, it was time to piece it all together and venture out on my own. In this instance, Locomotion Athletics was born. During 2016, I decided to take on the challenge of starting my own fitness business. With the help of my business partner Darrick Troung, we decided to start Locomotion Athletics.

In the beginning, we started with two outdoor boot camps located at East Mission Bay and Ski Beach. This mobile platform allowed us to run our business with low expenses while we built a clientele base. After about a year and a half of hustling with nothing but a car and equipment, we were able to finally land a physical location we call home.

In January of 2018, Locomotion Athletics took the next step in its evolution and developed into a brick and mortar business located right off the Old Town Exit in Mission Hills.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As a first time, the business owner there are always going to struggles in the beginning. Many issues arise that no formal education or experience can prepare you for.

Fortunately, over time you learn from your miscues and just keep plugging along. My advice for any first-time business owner would be to keep your head high and follow your passion. Ultimately it’s your passion that’s going to lead you to longterm success.

The passion of helping others kept me going during the times of struggle. Who likes to dragging freezing cold equipment out of a Honda Element at 6 AM in the dark? Its times like these that required a little soul searching to keep me going.

Overall, much of my previous experience prepared me for getting the business started. I knew things were important and not important based on my previous experience in the fitness industry. I can thank my mentors and former supervisors for that.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
At Locomotion Athletics, our mission is to empower you to be your best through optimal human movement. Not only do we aim to get you strong and fit, but we also strive to promote your athleticism, longevity, and overall well-being through attentive coaching, alternative and refined coaching programs, and lifestyle guidance.

So whether you are looking to get stronger, improve body composition, prepare for an important event, or if you just want to look and feel better, we are here to provide you the tools to help you reach your goals and operate at a high level. While traditional strength and conditioning programs are geared towards helping athletes achieve performance goals.

Locomotion Athletics considers each of its members an “everyday athlete,” whose goals range from athletic performance to simply feeling great and pain-free daily. We’re passionate about helping people become great movers, creating mastery over foundational human movements to help them improve at whatever they want to do.

Weight-loss, strength, and cardiovascular fitness goals also get crushed as a result! We use a unique blend of body-weight training, TRX and resistance band training, medicine balls, dumbbells, and kettlebells to teach foundations. The backbone of all of our workouts is functional training. Functional Training is a training style that aims to help people improve activities of daily life.

It is also used to describe training that improves athletic performance at a sport or another function of interest. In addition to the common fitness goals of weight-loss, muscle-gain, or cardiovascular health, functional training has a goal of its own: to improve the execution of movement without pain or compensations.

With an emphasis on foundational human movements – squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, rotating, carrying, and locomotion, functional training is a full-spectrum training approach that prioritizes the balance and integration of most, if not all, of the body’s systems.

I am most proud of our community and approach of HEALTH first. I think sometimes in the fitness industry, health fall at the wayside of aesthetic goals. I am proud to say at Locomotion Athletics we developed a proprietary system of training and nutrition that will get you feeling and looking you’re very best.

What were you like growing up?
I was born and raised in southern New Jersey and grew in a small town called Crosswicks. My father was an electrical engineer, and my mother was an elementary art teacher and my brother Chuck, who also lives in San Diego, works in Real Estate. So you can see the apples tend to fall FAR from the tree! Our family is well traveled and consider ourselves BIG scuba divers!

As a child, I was always into sports. I loved playing outside and just running around with my friends. Football, basketball, baseball, track, and golf were all staples of mine during high school. As I got into college, I developed a large interest in music as well as art which allowed me to develop and find greater outlets of creativity. I feel it is important to have dynamic interests in life which is why I love reading and learning as much as possible.

Personality wise, I would describe myself as an extrovert who loves his alone time. I tend to live my life at 110% and lay it all out on the line for my friends, family, and clients. Having said that, I appreciate spending alone time to recharge the batteries.

I’m a huge Seinfeld fan and struggle connecting with those we aren’t although it’s possible. Seriously, it’s the best show ever made. Although it describes my favorite movie but if I had to choose one, it would be The Big Lebowski because you know its like my opinion, man.

Pricing:

• #GetInMotion Group Training Kickstarter (1st Month) – $75
• Unlimited Group Training – $140 (Month to Month)
• Unlimited Group Training – $120 (6 Month Commitment)
• Personal Training Starter Pack (10 Sessions) – $350

Contact Info:

• Address: 2163 Hancock Street San Diego CA, 92109
• Website: www.locomotionathletics.com
• Phone: 6095327211
• Email: Locomotionathletics@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locomotionathletics/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocomotionAthletics/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/locomotion-athletics-san-diego

Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.