Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Sutaria.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I began my journey in the field of Performance Training in 2008. While attending the University of Houston & pursuing a degree in Exercise Science, I concurrently enrolled in a 500-hour, hands-on Personal Training Program at the National Personal Training Institute. During this 6-month program, I learned in immense detail the most fundamental concepts of anatomy & physiology, as well as how to train everybody from expecting mothers to professional athletes.
Upon earning a diploma in Personal Training, I quickly became a top-tier trainer at the University of Houston. While I was still pursuing my Bachelor’s degree, I also was offered a position to be an instructor for the National Personal Training Institute, which is a title I held for over four years while helping more than 100 students of all ages earn their very own Personal Training diplomas.
Once I graduated from the University of Houston in 2012, I set out to create a team of the best personal trainers in Houston. Having been an instructor for 4 years, I sought out a couple of my top students to join me on this mission.
Today, ST&F stands as Houston’s top one-on-one personal training company specializing in pain-free performance. We have helped countless general population professionals suffering from knee, back, hip, and shoulder pain. We have also had the opportunity to help a number of professional athletes such as Dwight Howard (NBA), Emmanuel Sanders (NFL), D.J. Augustin (NBA), T.J. Ford (NBA), Festus Ezeli (NBA), James Casey (NFL), Kevin Walter (NFL), John Lucas III (NBA), Shawn Long (NBA), and many others.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Building a business from the ground up is never an easy road. It requires a lot of willpower to take something that was never even in existence & grow it into a company that we hope will eventually become a household name. One word I have always preached is ‘integrity’. I’ve always believed that if you do things with the right intention & with high quality, your business will flourish. We made it a point to never look at a client as a dollar sign, but rather to help every single person that we can with the knowledge that we have obtained.
My father always expected me to become a Physical Therapist, largely due to the fact that I always told him I wanted to attend Physical Therapy school. When I was teaching for the National Personal Training Institute, we had a student that was a practicing Physical Therapist wanting to know more about fitness & personal training. It was through working with this student that I decided I did not want to be so one-track minded on the rehabilitative side of things, but rather wanted to know a lot about many different areas. This is a large reason ST&F has become an alternative method to conventional physical therapy, as well as a team of high-end pain-free performance trainers.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sutaria Training & Fitness (ST&F) story. Tell us more about the business.
The biggest thing that sets us apart from other fitness/health & wellness companies is our attention to detail. We are asked all the time who our largest competitors are, and our answer is the same every time. We don’t believe that we have any competitors because we do things that are completely different from the other fitness service providers. We don’t believe there’s a right and wrong way to provide these services, rather just a different way of going about it that works better for most people.
We are a team of trainers that provide solely one-on-one services to everybody that comes through the door. Your hour is YOUR hour, and is not shared with anybody else. If we are looking at a client from a pain management perspective, the best way to get results is to be completely attentive to the issue at hand.
We specialize in knee, back, neck, and shoulder pain management. We have had clients walk through our doors that were trying to avoid knee replacements – and years later have kept these same clients free from surgery. We have had clients walk through our doors because they didn’t want to share their physical therapy time with 3 other people, and have seen an enormous amount of success – whether they were recovering from an ACL injury, lower back disc issue, or general mobility issues causing shoulder pain.
We are known as a team of trainers that can take a client from barely being able to walk to hiking their favorite trails in a matter of months. We are known as the team that can take an NBA player that suffered a sprain in a knee ligament from being afraid to step onto the court to winning dunk contests at NBA All-Star weekend.
Our clients put it bests – its physical therapy & personal training combined into one detailed program.
Overall, I’m most proud of the team environment we have built over the past 8 years. All of our trainers work together to help each other out, and there is always a sense of camaraderie amongst us. In a field that is full of egos & individuals that think of personal training as a competition, we’ve managed to put all egos aside and come together to do what we set out to do – help any and every body that needs help.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I always say that luck has more to do with a company’s success than people credit.
I have personally been lucky to have lived in the same city since I was 7 years old. I believe that has helped spread the word amongst my childhood friends that come across their own injuries or have friends & family that they can refer over to us. Of course, going through my childhood years as a humble and caring person allowed me to not make many enemies & maintain my integrity as I launched my own business.
A lot of it is being in the right place at the right time. We have gained numerous clients over the years just by showing face at clients’ events or giving our complimentary first sessions to those who need help, but also happen to know many others who could use our services. But again, if we didn’t do a great job with these individuals in the first place, our clients may not have invited us to their galas, and we may have never had the opportunity to stand face-to-face with the many friends of men & women that were cured of their own aches & pains.
My definition of luck is this – when persistence meets opportunity.
Our persistence in striving to be the best team in Houston and doing so with integrity results in countless opportunities to work with people of all ages & backgrounds.
I told the team from day one – you never know which client has the ability to bring you 10 more, so we treat all clients with the utmost respect & give the best application we can with the knowledge we have.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3811 Law St
Houston, TX 77005 - Website: www.stfhouston.com
- Phone: 832-236-7564
- Email: info@s-tf.com
- Instagram: @stfhouston
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/stfhouston
Image Credit:
Blake Hobson
Sarah Hobson
Nida Haq
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