Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Valdez.
Hi Eric, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m Eric Valdez, 34 years of age, the youngest of four boys. Born and raised in the north side of Houston by my aunt after the passing of my mother and the incarceration of my father at the early age of five. My Aunt, Lucinda Martinez at the age of 24 took us in and raised 8 kids as a single mother. At the age of 10, I moved to North Carolina with my oldest brother Javier where he was stationed at time in United States Marine Corps (USMC).
As a young troubled teen; I was expelled from school in the 8th grade and was forced redo my 8th grade year again where I was intruded to wrestling by my math teacher. Wrestling gave me an outlet to force my anger and frustrations, and was the first thing that gave me guidance and discipline through hard work. Through all the grueling practices, wrestling was a crucial part in my character development as it gave me a great sense of hard work ethic, discipline, and commitment to one another. Coming from a broken home, being a part of a team where everyone is counting on each other to push yourself to become the best version of yourself for the greater good of the team was something I really loved and it helped focus all around in life itself to continue to have good grades in school and stay out trouble for fear that I was not going be able to be on the team if I didn’t.
After graduating high school in 2006, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at age of 18 where I served two tours overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. During my enlistment, I received my Marine Corps Martial Art Program (MCMAP) Instructor belt and was introduced too Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). After I was done with my enlistment in 2010 I moved back to Houston at the age of 21 and immediately found an MMA school and continued training in boxing, muay thai, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu under the guidance of Saul Soliz. Within 5-6 years of religious training morning and night, I was able to compete at a high level professionally for four years until a serious knee injury took me away from the sport and training altogether.
With very little income and jumping from friends and families home to sleep at I was finally able to find a stable job after my MMA career was ended. Working a full time warehouse job I started to training private clients out of my apartment gym after work to make ends meet. After being laid off in 2017 I made the decision that I was going to taking being a personal training serious and ended starting up what is today 365 Fitness & MMA.
In 2019, during the middle of the covid pandemic, I found out that my MMA coach was closing his doors and moving locations due to the crisis the pandemic cause on many small businesses. With the success of my personal training and other business ventures, I took the opportunity and bought out my coach to keep the doors open to a building that was home to many hard working individuals. Knowing the risk of going into business during such a global crisis has been a very big struggle but now I’m on my 2nd year running my first gym were not I only am I am doing personal training but have also expanded to group training in boxing, muay thai, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, strength and conditioning boot camps for adults and kids. With the many hats I wear as a business owner, if I’m not coaching my students in a tournament or helping them get ready to start their own career path down MMA, I still make it a priority to train and compete at the highest level under my jiu-jitsu coach Pablo Silva where I continue to work on my craft as an instructor now but a forever student always.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, not at all, I can truly say that its been and still is a long road that I’m on. One of the biggest things along the different phases of my life is that I’ve always struggled to find right guidance or even better a mentor through the unknowns that life brings you. There are many important facets of life such as finances, taxes, investing, commercial leasing, home owning, etc. that now as an adult I can see the public school system has severely failed us.
As you know, we’re big fans of 365 Fitness & MMA. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Here at 365 Fitness & MMA we have a state of the art gym facility and Mix Martial Arts (MMA) program for kids and adults. If you’re looking to lose stubborn body fat and building lean muscle for whatever passion drives you, we have all the essential weight training equipment for beginners and experience lifters of any skill set. For all the weekend worries or aspiring fighters, we offer everything from Boxing, Muay Thai (kickboxing), Jiu-Jitsu, and Wrestling for your extracurricular activities. With a fully loaded locker room we know you’ll be able enjoy a great workout in and then jump in the shower and back on road in no time for any event afterwards.
Pricing:
- Memberships start at $55
Contact Info:
- Email: 365fitnessmma@gmail.com
- Website: https://365fitnessmma.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/365fitmma/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/365fitmma/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/365-fitness-and-mma-houston
