Special Strong - An Adaptive Fitness Culture That Builds Abundant Life In Christ

Department(s): Church Fitness, Faith and Fitness Culture, Family Fitness

Read time: 7 minutes

Updated: February 15th, 2024

Every person has a story to tell. – even if he or she can’t actually tell it. Every family wants to be a strong family – even if that takes some special effort. What is Special Strong? It’s extravagant love!

FEATURED IMAGE ABOVE: Family – Eduardo, Jose, and Lucy (Loya), provided by Fran Poloni, Special Strong, West Valley, Arizona.

ARE YOU ADAPTIVE?

Can the fitness culture at your gym, training studio, church fitness ministry, school, group class or even your own home workout be adaptive? Specifically, if you were to intentionally exercise with someone who has special needs could YOU “adapt”: adjust what you do, how you think and behave and become suitable and useful for that particular relationship? Could you get beyond it being a 1-time special experience and instead build it into a consistent and ongoing passion to nurture, in both you and that other person, abundant life in Christ?

Special Strong is a nationally recognized innovator and industry leader for changing lives through adaptive fitness. They help people with mental, physical and cognitive challenges including Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, rare genetic conditions and many more conditions.

This story is meant to inspire you, call you to pray, seek God and use your fitness lifestyle to BE LIFE to others. That could ultimately be you making a difference in your community with a rewarding Special Strong gym franchise or it might simply be you following God’s Spirit to be the influence someone needs. Whatever it may be, the time is ripe for you to adapt to what God wants.

We all have life and that’s a great gift to have. The person who is active and fit AND has experienced and knows the strength of God has an even greater gift. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities! Go beyond your routine and what you think your agenda is and respond to the special call of being faithful to God by being strong with someone else.

This Faith & Fitness Magazine video is a conversation with Daniel Stein, Founder of Special Strong.

THE BEGINNING, THE MISSION AND NOW

Daniel Stein will be the first to tell you a spiritual truth: We’re all born with a void that only God can fill. You’ve likely heard people who love to workout share how fitness saved their life from drug or alcohol addiction or more. That was the story for Daniel too until he realized that fitness was not enough. It left him empty still. It wasn’t until he fully gave his life to Jesus Christ that he was able to experience the richest kind of life that God intended for him – true fulfillment found only in Christ. That was the beginning of Special Strong.

Early in the formation of Special Strong, Daniel realized that God wanted him to found the business on a Biblical anchor. The specific Bible verse, John 10:10, speaking first of Satan and then of Christ says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (more and better life than they ever dreamed of, more abundantly).” Stein explains, “[that] really is a focal point to filter everything we do.”

Now, with more than a dozen Special Strong locations throughout the U.S. people with mental, physical and cognitive challenges are receiving fitness training – and something more. While the fitness training is what people see, Daniel offers this insight, “We’re creating opportunities for people who don’t have many opportunities, to live an abundant life.”

THIS is the distinct value that a Christ-centered fitness ministry/business can deliver: Good quality training and services PLUS the motive and direction to not just do good but anticipate the Spirit of God to deliver over and above abundance. Daniel and his team look for it and find it.

He says, “There’s nothing more powerful to anchor into than the Word of God. There are a lot of successful companies that are not Christian… and they still have a lot of success. For any Christian who is truly surrendered to Jesus on a daily basis we actually have very divine and distinct advantages in the marketplace. No matter how good their mission is they don’t have that kind of access. If Christians want to have an eternal mindset, we can’t just come up with this stuff on our own and put God’s name on it. He wants us to seek him first. If I had just picked a mission I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to draw closer to God. That’s the thing about business: You’re either doing business by yourself or you’re doing it with God. There’s a big difference between the two.”

EVERY PERSON HAS A STORY TO TELL – EVEN IF HE CAN’T TELL IT

Eli was my first Special Strong athlete. He was born with Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy which makes his muscles weak and floppy, his flexibility excessive, and makes stability challenging. He is also unable to communicate verbally. We’ve gotten to know each other as we meet to train, and learn how to communicate overcoming verbal barriers. When stretching, Eli will let me know that I can continue extending a muscle with a ‘thumbs up’ and when at full extension will give me an open palm with five fingers out to stop and hold the stretch. This non-verbal communication has been noticed by other gym goers, who now encourage and motivate Eli with high-fives, fist bumps, and smiles when they see him at the gym. When Eli overcomes challenges, he always has a smile on his face! -Fran Poloni, Owner & Adaptive Fitness Trainer, Special Strong West Valley, Arizona

THE DIFFERENCE GOD MAKES THROUGH SPECIAL STRONG IS VERY BIG

All of us, beyond the real biological need to be physically active, need to find purpose, be productive and bring value to others. Whether someone believes in God or not, that is spiritually hardwired into everyone.

People with disabilities as Stein says, “Have significantly greater challenges than most people will ever face. [When they] don’t get services the enemy comes after them very hard. He gets them in isolation, where they don’t have any community and they feel like they have no hope.”

This is THE huge calling that the church (every individual who follows Christ) has: to bring the hope of Christ to others. So, the muscle to exercise, the skill to develop, the strength to gain and then flex in daily living is to be an obedient and eager tool for God to use to give hope and life to others.

Daniel sees (and you can too) the incredible change in lives when that happens. He describes it this way, “They were just breathing in the air. That’s all they did. They get into these fitness services and God breathes life over them. Suddenly, they’re contributing to society. They’re getting jobs for the first time. They’re replacing the victim mentality with a victor mentality. I know they’ve got a tough life but God did not design life to be that way. He has designed us to live like a victor… to live an empowered, abundant life.”