Wilmette Park District Trainer to Bike Across U.S. With Message: Exercise Is for Everyone (VIDEO)

A trainer with the Wilmette Parks District will be putting his money where his mouth is—or more accurately, his money where his feet are—when it comes to spreading the word that you don't need fancy exercise equipment or a high-priced health club membership to stay physically fit.

Starting Thursday, July 7, Tom Schneider will be pedaling his bike on a 33-day trip from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. as part of the second annual TRUE Fit Bicycle Tour. Along the way, Schneider will be conducting clinics at Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs and other facilities to get TRUE Fit's message across. (In case you're wondering, the "TRUE" in TRUE Fit stands for: The Resourceful Use of Exercise.)

"The mission of TRUE Fit is to create a more accessible form of health and fitness for people," the organization's website states. "We accomplish this objective by introducing practical ways to engage in exercise and nutrition with whatever resources are available. Our focus is on education to empower people to have the wherewithal on how to live a healthy lifestyle."

Schneider, who lives in Chicago, founded TRUE Fit to show how easy—and important—it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle through regular exercise and good nutrition. The purpose of the clinics he'll be conducting in the 11 states he's biking through will be aimed at showing kids ways to accomplish that.

During last year's inaugural bike tour, Schneider trekked from Chicago to Boston, holding six clinics and reaching around 400 children. This year, he will be holding 12 clinics and hopes to reach even more kids.

"The mission of this bike ride is to bring TRUE Fit to different parts of the country from one coast to the other," Schneider wrote on his GoFundMe page, which he set up to help offset the cost of the tour. His goal is $8,000, and he's currently raised more than $5,000. "We will fill the aforementioned void by introducing youth to the understanding of how to live a healthy lifestyle with practical means and not having to rely on an expenisve gym membership, or the guidance of a costly personal trainer."

Schneider knows a thing or two about fitness. Along with working as a trainer for the Wilmette Park District, he has worked as strength and conditioning trainer at Harvard University, University of South Carolina and Northwestern University, where he also was on the men’s basketball staff as a graduate assistant.

Although Schneider's bike tour begins in Los Angeles, he will be back in the area later this month to hold a TRUE Fit clinic. That event will be July 25 at Chicago's Breakthrough Ministries, 3330 W. Carol Ave. Schneider's final clinic on the tour will be Aug. 4 at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater D.C. in Washington, D.C.

For more information about the bike tour and TRUE Fit, go to the program's website and its Facebook page. To donate to help finance Schneider's tour, go to his GoFundMe page.

PHOTO: Tom Schneider (center), a trainer with the Wilmette Park District, will start his second annual TRUE Fit Bicycle Tour from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 7. During the tour, he will hold clinics aimed at kids and showing how exercise can be done anywhere.

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