A (Really) Strong Sense of Family

"Discipline Equals Power" is the motto the Mendelson family lives and works by in their lifestyle—and in their training regime. Meet what could be the world’s strongest family: Scot and Maricelle Mendelson and their three children. 

This family of five is a force to be reckoned with. Scot Mendelson owns several world powerlifting records and bench presses over a 1,000 pounds earning him the reputation of being one of the strongest men in the world.

With international and American bench press records and championships under their collective belts, Maricelle Garcia Mendelson brought the family business to Chatsworth. “It was a more convenient commute to our residence, school and athletic functions for our three children,” she said.

A professional occupational therapist, she said, “I recently broke a record in bench press and am a three-time world champion powerlifter. I started training clients out of our home first, and Scot soon followed as we branched out on our own as, FIT-Fitness Individualized Training." 

"At our new Chatsworth facility, we ourselves train and also train other professional world-class athletes—and people from all walks of life, covering health conditions, injuries and health issues to improve performance, power, focus, endurance or overall health and well being."

The Mendelsons first took their home-based business to Sherman Oaks. “Since then, we’ve created our own method and philosophy of training called  Mendelsons FITsystems and also operate a lifestyle-changing and nutrition company called Xert Nutrition," said Maricelle. You'll find them located at 9180 Kelvin Ave. in Chatsworth.

When the busy family is not working, schooling, training or competing, Maricelle leads the kids in F-7, their rock band with a Christian flavor. Mom plays bass, and daughter Jade, 15, is lead singer and guitarist. Son Troy, 11, plays drums. The youngest Mendelson, daughter Jasmine, 9, sings backup and plays a mean tambourine.

"My children and I write all the lyrics and music to all of our songs," Maricelle said proudly.

“Scot was working as a personal trainer at a private fitness studio while I was attending Mount St. Mary's College. While finishing my degree as an occupational therapist, I learned about Berta and Karel Bobath, a husband and wife, who were both physical therapists and created a system in therapy under their own name. 

"We at first wanted to open a gym with other partners, which never panned out," she said. "Then came the plan of starting our own private training studio out of our home from studying the therapeutic rehabilitation model created by the Bobaths. They had started their rehabilitation services originally out of their home, and it became so well-known as a therapeutic model, I thought it would be a great concept to follow."

Scot Mendelson started breaking world records after the couple were married and started their own gym. Maricelle coached him throughout his career,  traveling all over the world as he went on to break world records.

"I am originally a fighter, I am a two-time martial arts champion," Maricelle said.  "I have a black belt in kung-fu and have won numerous awards in martial arts. I was also an Olympic hopeful in female boxing but unfortunately it was not—and still is not—an accepted sport for females in the Olympics.

"If I had known that at the time, I would have pursued my boxing career as a professional boxer," she said. "I am now currently training in MMA [mixed martial arts] and training to break more world records in the bench press."

Jade holds two records in the bench press, "raw" (without equipment) and equipped, and is training in MMA and ju-jitsu. Soon she will be competing in all three powerlifting events: the bench press, deadlift and squat. Troy Mendelson  is a level-7 competitive gymnast and is on a boys gymnastics team.

With those credits to their names, it's no wonder the family Mendelson is known as the strongest family around town—and perhaps the world.