Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee McLaren.
Lee, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My fitness journey started the summer before my freshman year of High School. I played football but was never the “genetically” gifted athlete along with lacking size and strength of your typical football player. I spent every day of that summer in the weight room and began to see immediate changes to my body and performance. I made the B team my freshman year but was able to start on defense and played on all special teams. I continued to train and work hard on and off the field; by my junior year I was starting varsity linebacker. That was when I realized that HARDWORK will always prevail! I took this mentality along with my passion and found my life’s calling; to help people through health and fitness.
Has it been a smooth road?
The fitness industry is very unique in a sense that we are a society that is constantly trying to find the “easy” way. The reality is that our society is surrounded by misinformation (crash diets, magic pills and especially pharmaceuticals) that simply make people unhealthier and having to deal with side effects. Allow me to elaborate; Fitness is a Lifestyle and not something you do a few hours a week or when you “feel” like it. It has to be something that is sustainable over long term. Caloric restrictions and eating a very limited type of food (chicken breast, rice and broccoli) 5 times a day for every meal is something anyone can do but the reality is that it’s not realistic to think it’s something you can do forever. Magic pills tend to give you some results but the user often builds a tolerance for it or becomes reliant on them and once again not being something that is sustainable over a long period of time.
Pharmaceuticals are the worst; don’t get me wrong as I’m a believer in modern medicine. However pharmaceuticals often treat the symptoms and not the problem. For example; John has high blood pressure so his Doctor prescribes him BP medication to control it and it’s effective enough to get John’s blood pressure in line. The medication treated the symptom (High BP) but the reality is WHY is John’s BP high?? John has a bad diet, high stress job, sleeps terribly and does next to no physical activity. The reality is that the medication helped treat the symptoms but never addressed the “cause” of the issues head on and giving John a false sense of control over his health. The simple fact remains that when most people are faced with the option to either: Option A-change your diet, start working out, start sleeping better and controlling your stress or Option B-take this pill…Our society takes the “easy” way.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fitness Depot Houston story. Tell us more about the business.
Fitness Depot Houston was created to bring quality fitness equipment at affordable price to the Houston Area. Most fitness products are bought online and you really never know what you are going to get until you get it. Fitness Depot Houston has a 6,000+ sq. ft. functioning showroom with over 1,000 products at the best prices in North America! You can try before you buy so you know exactly what you are getting. Our knowledgeable staff can assist you with your purchase by qualifying your training goals and putting you in the right equipment based on these goals and your budget.
Our philosophy is simple; we sell a lifestyle and not equipment. If you adopt the fitness lifestyle you will be a customer for life. If you buy a piece of equipment we may never see you again.
This sets us apart from the rest. We do not want to simply sell you a bunch of fitness equipment but we want to put you in a position to maintain the fitness lifestyle over a long period of time!
Everyone else sells equipment…
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
HUGE changes coming! The fitness industry has recently shifted from a “luxury” to a “necessity.” Our world today is surrounded with technology that can allow you to never have to get off the couch…Want to eat? Order food; Uber eats will be there within minutes. Need groceries? Curb-side pick up so you do not even have to enter the store. Need to turn off the lights? Alexa; turn lights off…Manual labor is now being replaced with machines and we are becoming a more sedentary society with every technological advancement. The reality is the human body was designed to FUNCTION; if you do not use these functions you will LOOSE them!
The way I see it; every home needs a garage or home gym just like they have a bathroom to maintain a fitness lifestyle. Our careers no longer require the physical output it once required and we are surrounded by technology that will continue to take make society sedentary. With this being said we have a huge task of bring this lifestyle back into people’s lives.
Contact Info:
- Address: 9881 Tanner Rd
Houston, TX - Website: www.fitnessdepothouston.com
- Phone: 713-690-2230
- Email: LeeM@fitnessdepot.ca
- Instagram: FDHTX
- Facebook: Fitness Depot Houston
- Twitter: FDHTX
- Yelp: Fitness Depot Houston
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmT-JRQpv_ged1ItVSGeZfA
Image Credit:
Fitness Depot Houston
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