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Ever wonder what, as a kid, an IFBB pro bodybuilder wants to be when they grow up? Adam Cayce’s answer: A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. He achieved the second closest thing: a professional bodybuilder and multi-sport athlete with an extensive background in martial arts. By the time he was 13 years old he had 3 karate world championship titles under his belt.
Adam was used to winning, and moving up the ranks. In his professional life, the logical next step to move up in his fitness career was to become the owner and CEO of his own gym. Quickly, he realized the skill set to create a wildly profitable business was different from the skill set it took to become a real life Ninja Turtle.
We sat down with Adam to discuss the transition from rocky youth, to athlete, to business owner, and how he was able to turn a struggling gym into a wildly successful business. If you’ve been dealt a tough hand in life, this is a must read story of triumph…
Where did your drive to become a highly successful person come from?
My dad worked at Ford his entire life. His dad left him when he was 13, he was an alcoholic, so his [my dad’s] emotional intelligence wasn’t very high. When he became upset his reaction was always anger. So I used a lot of aggression in sports. I eventually got good at karate, and then just started winning, and that became the new expectation. My life was school, and practice, that was it.
[Alex] Hormozi talks about the three qualities that make a highly successful person: You think you deserve more than most people, you have a crippling insecurity, and you have delayed gratification. My dad instilled in me that I always deserved first place. I had a crippling insecurity that my dad’s pride was always just out of reach. I knew if I worked hard, showed up at practice and killed it, I would get that starting position, championship, or first place. So I credit a lot of my success to that childhood.
How did you know you wanted to get into a career of helping people?
College was my first taste of freedom. Sophomore year, I wasn’t doing great in school and I was drinking. One night I had a party at my house, and during this night I fell down a flight of stairs. A nail I had hung to hang umbrellas had cut right through the side of my face. I hit my head on the concrete. Three days later I woke up choking on the tube that was keeping me alive. I had been in a coma. I had to relearn how to talk, how to walk, how to be social. I found out my dad had to sign a waiver to drill into my cranium to relieve the pressure. There was a nurse that was by my side for 5 days.
I realized from her that this is what I want to do– I want to help people.
How did you get your start working in the gym/fitness industry?
After the accident, I had to move back home, back under the control, back under the discipline. I hit a new low. I got a job at a fast food restaurant, Rallys on the southside of Indianapolis. After a month of working at Rallys I said screw this, I need to do something about this. The first place I applied was a gym right down the street. I walked in and applied, got the job, and was working at the front desk.
There I fell in love with the gym. I had the endorphins, but I also had this community that knew nothing about my past. I quickly rose up in the gym and became the assistant manager. An opening came up as a personal trainer and I just knew I could do a better job than the previous trainer. I got my personal trainer certification, and eventually became the fitness director of this gym. Then I became the General Manager.
Eventually that gym sold to LA Fitness so I took all of my clients to a new gym to train out of and bartended on the side. I had a few clients, but I wasn’t getting more clients. I realized that all of the successful personal trainers I was seeing were bodybuilders.
I hired a coach, and told my dad I was going to be a bodybuilder. He laughed at me and I’ll never forget what he said, “You don’t have the body for that son”. I used that over and over, went all in, and became a bodybuilder.
How did you come to own your own gym?
In 2015, I had a team of clients and trainers, but I was so burnt out from personal training. I had saved enough from bartending and training that in 2018 I found a spot, invested in some equipment, and started my own gym. I also decided I was done using bodybuilding as just a way to get more clients– I wanted to go all in on it. I went all in on my training, looked the best I ever looked, and won the overall. The next year I competed at Nationals and got 4th. 3 weeks later, I won my pro card.
I was doing it for me. I wasn’t doing it to please somebody.
What struggles did you face as a gym owner?
The most I could ever get the gym to was $30,000 in monthly revenue, and I was still on the floor training. One of my clients was a super successful online trainer, and he was telling me how much he was spending per year on mentorship. I knew I needed a mentor.
I met Cale [CEO of Gym Launch] at another fitness industry event. I shook his hand and told him I was going to be his next million dollar gym owner.
How did Gym Launch change and improve your gym?
We switched from private training to the semi-private model and started doing ads. Before I really didn’t have the framework to be successful. The first year with Gym Launch we went from doing $360,000/year in revenue, to $545,000/year. The following year, the first full year with Gym Launch, we did $750,000. This year we’re on path to do our first $1,000,000 year.
My life looks completely different. I’m more focused on pushing the gym forward, and getting us to an even better level. We’re able to operate our business better. The most growth I’ve had has come from conversations with the Gym Launch team and other gyms.
It takes a man who knows his own potential is stifled from decisions he’s made in the past to say ‘help me work through this’. Adam absolutely deserves to be a million dollar gym owner. – R.E, Adam’s Gym Launch Coach
What would you say to your younger self if you could go back?
Hire mentors. Someone who has done what you want to do. For years I didn’t expand my knowledge, I just repeated and got burnt out. I wasn’t gaining new skills. I would say to my younger self: get more skills and go all in on business. Personal training is the low skill position, business is where your focus should be.
Some of my best memories come from when someone else was going above and beyond by investing in me and talking to me. If I can do that for someone else then I know I’m putting out into the world what I want in return. That’s what ARC Fitness stands for.
Before you go…
Special thank you to Adam Cayce of Arc Fitness in Indianapolis, IN for participating in this spotlight! Make sure to pay Adam and his team a visit for a lift next time you’re in Indianapolis. Their team loves to meet new faces.
