As you work with resistance, it makes you stronger. And I think life is like that.
–Sam Akoidu, owner & head personal trainer of Iron Bird Fitness, Fresno, California.
Before they touch a weight or shed a drop of sweat, personal trainer Sam Akoidu demands one thing of new clients at IronBird Fitness: their why. What are they there for? What will keep them fighting to achieve their transformations?
Akoidu knows the power of why. Without it, he might never have opened his gym, or made it through one of the darkest periods of his life several years ago.
Back then, Akoidu was a fitness enthusiast studying to be a personal trainer, taking college courses and training clients on the side, just getting by—until he wasn’t. In a difficult spot financially, Akoidu made one bad choice that got him a year in prison and potentially worse consequences.
While incarcerated, a visit from someone very important to Akoidu provided the wakeup call—the why—he needed.
“I’d never cared about anything other than myself,” he said. “After that, I knew I had to figure things out and get serious.”
(Akoidu shared more details of his eye-opening experience in prison with host, Taylor Burke, on Vagaro’s On Point Podcast.)
Akoidu turned to structure, routine and, of course, fitness to get him through. He read voraciously and continued to fine-tune his workouts. He created the five core values that would ground his life and provide the foundation for his personal training style, which are emblazoned on the walls of his gym:
- Have the action habit: Don’t talk about it—be about it
- Positive self-talk: How you speak is how you live
- Move in silence: Goals are like family; don’t share them with just anybody
- Keep moving forward: Even if you’re crawling, keep going
- Fight for it like your life depends on it: Whatever change you want to make will probably change your life
Akoidu’s bunkmate took notice of his discipline and devotion, and he asked Akoidu to train him. Akoidu obliged, creating for the man a detailed strength & conditioning routine, and even a diet plan. His bunkmate’s results were so dramatic that Akoidu soon found himself training a growing number of fellow inmates.
“There were so many of us at one point that the guards had to break our sessions up,” said Akoidu. “I could only work with maybe 2–3 people at a time after that.”
A Fresh Start/From Trainer to Gym Owner/Choosing Vagaro
When Akoidu was released, his criminal record made finding a job difficult, despite his expertise and educational background. Then, an opportunity arose during a chance workout at a big-box gym. A friend vouched for Akoidu to the gym’s management, and he was soon hired as a trainer.
For the next few years, training became Akoidu’s life. His clients’ results spoke volumes and Akoidu soon became a highly sought-after trainer. However, mounting differences with his employers over his training methods and values finally pushed him to go independent.
“For them, it was about getting people to sign contracts; for me, it was about getting results and changing lives,” he said.
Akoidu purchased the location that would become his gym in 2020. Opening a gym during the pandemic, when gyms & health clubs were ordered closed, represented a big financial risk, but one that he was willing to take.
“I’d taken risks in my life already. One thing I learned in jail is that you can get money back, but you can’t get time back.”
Akoidu took the plunge and opened IronBird Fitness in 2020. Business ownership put him up against new kinds of challenges, like managing his coaches’ training schedules & booking, keeping track of clients & marketing his new gym. It was the kind of heavy lifting he’d need the right partner to help manage, which he found in the Vagaro fitness software.
I'm a trainer, not an app expert. I looked for the most user-friendly app out there, and it kept coming back to Vagaro.
Vagaro gave Akoidu all the tools he needed in one place. He could easily tend to his coaches & clients, track his membership sales and make business decisions based on a variety of data-driven reports. It enabled him to devote much of his time and energy to training people, and developing the methods that IronBird Fit would become known for.
The IronBird Focus: Mind & Muscle
Clients seek Akoidu out when they want real change in their lives, and not just in how they look or how strong they are. Even fit people can lack control & focus, he says, and exercise isn’t the only tool for honing those characteristics.
“You can go online and find exercises,” Akoidu said. "You need a level of understanding that goes deeper than that.”
Akoidu utilizes a holistic approach to training that incorporates, among other things, mental health. He helps his clients to cut unhealthy habits, master their anxiety & turn self-doubt into self-love. Central to it all is unlocking a client’s why—their impetus for changing their bodies and their lives.
Akoidu also steers his clients clear of fad diets and workout programs that promise instant gratification. He believes that seriously changing your life takes a full year. If it’s real, he says, it takes time.
“If it took you your whole life to get you to where you are now, how can it possibly take only 60 or 90 days to get to a different place?”
What IronBird’s clients sign up for is a long-term investment in themselves, and they come to do work. Akoidu’s goal, however, isn’t to break them down or run them ragged. His average client begins with a 15–20-minute workout. He has them do as much as they can handle and compounds it over time.
Routines vary, but his ideal workout lasts about an hour, and consists of:
- 5–10-minute warmup
- 35 minutes of strength & conditioning
- 10 minutes of cardio
- 5 minutes of stretching
Strength and conditioning are central, no matter what a person’s fitness goals are, especially for women. Many women focus on cardio and burning calories but eschew intentional muscle-building for any number of reasons. Some don’t want to get “bulky.” Others simply want to trim down and get toned.
This is a mistake, Akoidu said, especially considering lean muscle’s positive effects on the metabolism. Weights build muscle, which, in turn, burns calories. It is commonly thought that every pound of muscle burns 500 calories/day. Multiplied by 7 days, this is 3,500 calories, which is the equivalent of one pound of fat.
There are nuances that can affect this equation and it isn’t quite the same for everyone. For simplicity, Akoidu boils it down to one simple statement for clients:
“The more muscle you develop the more fat you can burn,” Akoidu said.
(Akoidu shared his favorite exercises, as well as the ideal workout frequencies when starting, for maintenance and for creating noticeable change, on Vagaro’s On Point podcast.)
The Nutrition Connection
Alongside strength-training and cardio, nutrition is the third pillar in the trinity of fitness. Akoidu doesn’t raise one above the others in terms of importance, but notes that nutrition is a more encompassing element in people’s lives.
“You’re in the gym for an hour, and in your life for the other 23,” he said.
Nutrition is a science, and eating right can be difficult to navigate. Akoidu’s simple advice is to eat real food. Generally, that means staying away from food that didn’t come off a tree or walk on the ground at some point. Avoid processed food. Cut out, or significantly limit, your sugar intake.
He also emphasizes drinking at least half your body weight in fluid ounces of water every day.
(To learn what Akoidu’s ideal breakfast, lunch & dinner are, as well as his favorite pre- & post-workout foods, check out Episode 22 of Vagaro’s On Point podcast!)
Mistakes, Self-Judgement & The Future of IronBird
Akoidu expects his clients to slip up now and again. They may reach for (not-so-healthy) takeout options out of convenience or are just too tired to make their training sessions. Mistakes, Akoidu knows, help us get to where we are going. Getting back on track, constantly moving forward—even at a slow crawl—is the key. That can only happen with one simple rule: Never judge yourself.
Like IronBird’s clients, Akoidu, himself, is a work in progress. The last several years have seen a transformation for Akoidu, going from incarcerated to personal trainer, then business owner in the midst of a pandemic.
“This whole thing has been a real journey for me and I’m just thankful,” he said.
There is a new chapter to his journey on the horizon. Akoidu is laser-focused on growing his business and moving IronBird into a larger space. Success brings new challenges and new layers of resistance to push against. Be it more staff to hire, more clients to keep track of, or a larger facility to manage. He approaches this with the same mindset he approaches training:
Lean into the resistance, and you’ll be stronger for it.
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Vagaro has helped many personal trainers and fitness coaches start, run & grow their own businesses. Beyond easy, one-touch booking, Vagaro’s gym membership software includes essential tools for marketing, selling packages & memberships, managing schedules, improving client retention rates and running a facility. If you’re ready to take your fitness business to the next level, sign up for a FREE 30-day trial and discover everything Vagaro can do for you!
