A conversation with Adam Rice, Founder and President of ISI Elite Training

ISI Elite Training is a Charlotte-based boutique fitness concept that is driving more people who want community and accountability to the gym for that “sports team camaraderie” feel.  Optimize your physical capacity, regardless of your fitness level and age. The proven ISI® method of burning up to 1,000 calories per workout combined with clean eating habits ensures the results you deserve! Sessions are systematically programmed so that 50 minutes is all you need to get a heart pumping session. Find an ISI near you.

A STRONG AND SHARP PLATFORM

We don’t want to be an exclusive club. We want to be an open platform for everybody. We use the Gospel in the platform we are creating in the decisions that we make. It is leaning on the Gospel and what it says for how to run our business and how to lead. Through their experience with our company we want them to see what it looks like to love people and to experience what our company is founded on, which is [the Bible passage] Proverbs 27:17, “iron sharpens iron”.

The name [for our business] came about because I was at church and heard a sermon based on iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another. It was [about] this level of accountability. Essentially you are equal to the 5 people you hang around the most. Where most people don’t look through the lens of that Proverb is that to sharpen iron it requires friction. Most people when they read that they’re going to tend to go toward the accountability piece – the feel good piece. The reality is if we want to go to the next level in life then ultimately there’s going to be friction. I knew this is what we want in our community and in our environment.

GO AS DEEP AS YOU WANT – 4 AND MORE

We hold our members accountable. When people sign up, we communicate that our expectation, for you to get the results you want, is that you are here 4 times per week. I call it, “The Gap”. When people come to us, when they start a fitness journey, their relationship with fitness is poor. They don’t have any energy. They lack self-confidence for the most part. They have started over a million times. They don’t view fitness as a “get to” they view it through the lens of,“I have to do this”. So most people are coming to us in some sort of pain; emotional, mental, physical – whatever it is. Our job is to get them into a relationship with fitness that says, “I get to do this”. By doing that it all comes through usage.

If we can just simply focus on holding them accountable and getting them through the door then they’re coming 4 days a week, getting results, finding value, staying longer, creating friends and community, sharing on social media — It just makes sense.

YOU GET A COACH – A REAL GOOD COACH

Any [member] that has 2 or less visits [in a] prior week is going to get reached out to by email, Facebook, Instagram, or text. [We do that] to encourage them and remind them of their vision and their goals. Sometimes they need a kick in the butt. But it is also teaching our coaches to have enough emotional intelligence to understand how each person is intrinsically motivated.

Our head coaches come through a week long training here at Iron U. in Charlotte. For all other coaches there is a full virtual training pathway. [In the typical training of a personal trainer] the exercise and kinesiology component, in my opinion, is always over utilized and the social component is under utilized. So, we actually flip that upside down. All of our coaches are nationally certified. So they understand the kinesiology aspect of this [vocation].

But really what we’re focused on is the social element because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. [We focus on] that piece and how to motivate people to go from A to B because everybody’s different. That plays into impact and results and that goes back to accountability and usage.

FAITH WITHOUT FEAR IS DEAD

We’ve grown into a national company. So, every decision is a big decision. When I look back at the pivotal moments in this business thus far it is really understanding what the vision is that God has given me. It is not knowing how it’s going to happen but trusting that I am going to sew and plant and going to do the work that is required. I think a lot of times people maybe don’t know how and then they just pray about it and they don’t follow that up with the work that is required.

God wants us to go and move in a healthy way. [Along the way] we check the status and ask, “Does this bring us closer to our vision of where we see God utilizing ISI”? If it does then fundamentally we move forward and we have faith. Is it scary? Yes! But, without fear there is no faith. I think the bigger the fear the more faith that is going to be required.

BUT THERE’S MORE…

People go to a gym because they want to escape the chaos of what our world is right now. It’s refreshing for them to be in an atmosphere that is family friendly with high values.

The ripple effect of what is happening is unbelievable. That is probably the best part of the brand is seeing the stories that we get to hear. One example of that is down in St. Pete. I was doing training about how if we don’t get a person signed up [to be a member] then we don’t have the ability to impact their life.

Then I went on to share the story of how Tim Johnson [who is now] one of our franchise owners was an immigrant to the U.S. about 20 years ago. He was obese and diabetic when he joined our St. Pete facility as a founding member along with his wife and three kids. Now, their lives are radically changed to where health is at the forefront. It inspired and impacted their lives so much that now he is almost off of all of his medication for diabetes and he is opening his own ISI location. There will be stories like that coming out of his location.

WHAT ELSE YOU GET

When I founded ISI Elite Training I asked, “How do I take the camaraderie of an athletic team – the getting to the field early, getting in the weight room with your team, being on the bus with team mates, and bring that to the general population?” You’ll see different components of that inside our sessions. So for example we always end with Team on 3.Everyone comes to the middle, hands up, and the coach brings us out, “Team on 3, Team on 3 — 1,2,3, Team!”

We call it high five fives. We’re high fiving people as much as we can during the workouts. When you walk into the facility you’re like, “Man, these people high five a lot!” It’s part of our culture. It’s part of our identity. We do a ton of stuff outside of the facility. It’s about creating a space that is more than a gym. People will quit a gym but they won’t quit people.

Members serve their community by pitching in together for a food drive, working with Habitat For Humanity, and during hurricanes I can’t tell you how many times we’ve got together to cut down trees. It’s who we are. We see it first hand – This is where people come for fellowship and connection.

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MAKE IT A WEEKEND IN CHARLOTTE, NC

Plan a trip and travel to Charlotte for a great weekend of faith and fitness. Charlotte is not only a vibrant city that offers great food and accommodations it is the headquarters to ISI Elite Training. That means you can go to one of their original facilities to get in your 50 minute session (perhaps with Adam Rice!) and discover for yourself the higher five experience of iron sharpens iron.

Charlotte is home to great parks, NASCAR and the U.S. National Whitewater Center so you’ll find there’s plenty of outdoor fun to be had while you’re there. Plan to do it all over the weekend so you can be sure to be part of the fellowship at a service at Elevation Church where Adam attends.

BONUS MUSIC – PUBLISHER’S PICK

This song from the band Glad has a distinctive early 80’s vibe. The music is driving and good for your workout and the lyrics do a great job of helping you expand your understanding of what God means by Iron Sharpens Iron.

This story is in our Intense Intents department. Find more feature stories about intense forms of exercise with an intentional faith component in Faith & Fitness Magazine’s INTENSE INTENTS department.