Tom Nelson became a fitness trainer because working out came natural to him and his desire to help others and knowledge for nutrition gave him the opportunity to change his career and positively affect people’s lives. Working as an auto mechanic and wanting a change, Tom took a job at a supplement store while working on his personal training certification and building his client base. After five years as a fitness trainer, he opened his own gym, appropriately named: Muscle Mechanics.
Working with clients whose lives he’s affected in positive ways inspires him to keep doing what he’s doing. Being a “good man” is what keeps Tom going and his desire to help people feel good about themselves is what drives him every day. One of his first clients was a young woman who contracted polio from the polio vaccine as a child. Later her mother died from Thyroid cancer and several years afterwards she received the same diagnosis. After surviving her treatment and beating the illness she trained with Tom for a year and was awarded the Lance Armstrong Spirit of Survivorship Award. Soon after, her friend and mother of three passed away, so she moved to Mississippi to raise her friend’s kids. “To me, this was one of the most selfless acts anyone could take on,” Tom said with obvious admiration for his former client. He continued, “She is the kind of person who inspires me to give more of myself and try to help as many people as I can, however I can.”
Tom has worked with celebrity trainers, led championship bodybuilders to win competitions and has trained himself to levels most people wish they might achieve. Anyone who knows him will attest to the fact that his heart is far bigger than his massive guns. This “old school” inked-up bodybuilder may appear tough on the outside – and, in a lot of ways he is - but one thing is certain, his kindness and empathy far exceeds his rough and rugged exterior.
Nelson takes a genuine interest in the clients and people he works with and his compassion becomes quickly evident when he speaks about any of the members of his gym or people he’s trained. He believes his work is much more than just a business relationship and goes beyond what most people might expect from a trainer. He’s sat in on therapy sessions at the request of his clients, taken late night calls to offer support and reaches out to people in his community who are in need and receptive of his help. Sometimes offering six weeks of training and nutritional counseling for free to “kick start their lives”, Tom has a deep desire to be of service to the people in his life and his community. Nelson has been working on expanding his gym into the immaculate, 5200 square foot facility it is for the past five years, but his ambitions go far beyond that of brick and mortar or the bottom line. His long term goals are to expand his services beyond personal training and nutrition to develop a program that helps those in need change their lives in positive ways. He hopes to build a wellness ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley and build his “Kick Start” program where he can bring in groups of people and help them improve their lives.
For more information on Tom Nelson and Muscle Mechanics, please visit www.musclemechanicsLA.com