Business Spotlight: Action Fitness

Lisa French and her husband Greg started Action Fitness in 2008. Greg has been a registered dietition for years and has been working as a personal trainer since he was 16. Lisa became a certified trainer after losing her engineering job. Together the pair works to bring nutrition and physical fitness to their clients. I recently sat down with Lisa to talk about their business.

Patch: What is the best aspect of owning Action Fitness?

Lisa: When you connect with a client and make a difference in their life. When you see them make a change it's a very emotional experience. I've had clients that have sat and cried because they've done something for the first time in their lives. For me it's about helping people. A lot of people come to us because now health has become part of their lifestyle and they can't go without it. Others come because they really want to make a change and a difference, and helping someone cross that threshhold physically and mentally is very rewarding.

Patch: What is the most challenging aspect of owning a personal training business?

Lisa: If someone leaves a class and wants to reward themselves and goes to Burger King and out-eats their workout. It becomes a challenge to make them understand how much a part of their lifestyle that fitness and nutrition play into their goals. You can't come to class and work out for an hour and expect that your whole life will change and you're going to be fabulous and watch Biggest Loser and drop 20 pounds a week. You have to work hard when you're not here as well as when you're here.

Patch: What makes Action Fitness unique?

Lisa: I'm not a typical trainer. I'm not a size two and I'm not muscular. I'm about getting people healthy not necessarily getting people thin. So I think that makes me a little more relatable than some other trainers. People look at me and they go, 'oh, she's a real person'. Also my husband is a registered licensed dietition. I'm not just a trainer that says go eat boiled chicken and rice and you're going to lose all of this weight. We're going to take the time to invest in our clients to find out what works best for them as well as what their specific needs are.

Patch: What makes the Lilburn community special?

Lisa: Lilburn has been my home for 14 years. We've got kids who are in the school system here and we're active in the schools, in the parks and in different sports. Lilburn is a community. I can walk through the grocery store and see people that I know from all different walks of life. People don't stick to themselves. I'm very invested in Lilburn and that's why we decided to open our business here. We wanted to see these people on a daily basis. It's a lot of fun and we've made a lot of bonds here.

Action Fitness offers open classes multiple times a week as well as private and closed group classes. For an appointment call 404-921-4366 or email lisa@fitness-n-action.com. For more information visit the Action Fitness website at www.fitness-n-action.com

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