“Community Spotlight” interview with Joey Bellus, owner of Optimal Performance Training.Joey Bellus is the owner of Optimal Performance Training Studio in Gilbert, Arizona. Joey’s studio concept is founded on passion, research and commitment to help each individual meet their fitness goals. Joey’s positivity is a powerful tool in connecting with his clients, and he selects other trainers that also exude this motivation energy! Joey’s clients do not hold back sharing their amazing experiences, including: post-pregnancy weight loss, better athletic performance, getting past training stagnation, gaining lean muscle and more! If you have a goal, they will help you achieve it!
1. At what age did you start getting passionate about fitness?“I have played sports since I was in elementary school. When I was 19 is when I became a trainer at a gym and from that day forward I knew there was nothing else I wanted to do with my life. Watching people accomplish things they never thought possible with their body is such an amazing feeling, it never gets old…EVER!!!”
2. Besides being fit and healthy, what other benefits have you seen in your life by regularly exercising?
“I could go on for days about this question!!! Keeping my body strong and healthy ties directly into how my way of thinking is. I know that when I feel weakest in my mind my body carries me thought what needs to be done and when my body feels weak…my mind takes over and makes sure my body does what it needs too in order to be productive. The health benefits of being physically fit will ALWAYS outweigh the looks of being fit. I haven’t been sick in over 12 years!! And that is not a joke. The body is nothing more than a vessel for our soul and when you take care of your vessel your able to make much more powerful connections with your soul, be more in tune to your inner energy and make connections with yourself which can unlock ways of being and thinking that you never thought would be possible.”
3. What response do you have for someone that says, “I don’t need personal training, I know how to lift weights?”
“I find it funny when people say things like this. I always say “did you know the best athletes in the world have trainers to show them how to lift weights, eat properly, stretch, run, and take their bodies to their highest potential?” “If the world’s BEST athletes have trainers…why wouldn’t you??”
4. What outlook have you maintained to push through any challenges as an entrepreneur?
“There have been so many times throughout the 5 year life of O.P.T. that I wanted to quit. And the one thing that has kept me strong is my outlook on life. I have chosen to build my dream, my passion and have the opportunity to help transform many lives throughout the course of my life and just because it’s hard doesn’t give me the right to quit. I have to understand that “greatness isn’t given…its earned” and sometimes I lose sight of that I want to quit everything and realize that I want to live a great life, I want to leave a great message behind when I’m gone and that only way to do that is through hard work, dedication and commitment. I have one life to live, and it goes by so fast and I will be damned if I don’t live my life the way I want to…building my dream and spreading my passion with whoever I come in contact with.”
5. What is different about Optimal Performance Training?
“Again, I could talk about this question for hours. But I think the number one thing that separates Optimal Performance Training apart from every studio, program, and training systems out there…is who we are as people and what we want to do in this lifetime. And that’s to help people transform their lives into something bigger than they thought would be possible. Health and fitness is just a platform for us, a starting point and we really try and tap into helping people perform at the highest level in all areas of life…optimal performance in LIFE. It has definitely been a lot more challenging taking this approach with how we train our clients, but the rewards are much greater and the results are life lasting…and the more lives we can help transform the better chance we have at transforming an entire community and from there we can really start to make impacts and leave our mark on this world.”