Lance grew up in Fairfax, VA, and was a self-proclaimed “overweight kid” with big dreams. At age 8, he wrote a paper in school stating that he wanted to grow up and run his own company, and be an actor like Tom Cruise. One of those dreams came true! Lance credits his mother, Rene, who now works for Foundation Fitness as an executive assistant, with encouraging him to get into fitness and start weight-training.
He wrestled for four years at Robinson High School and also competed in Olympic weightlifting. After working with personal trainers throughout the area for several years, he saw a huge benefit in having someone there to push him harder than he pushed himself. From there, Lance developed a passion for fitness and truly fell in love with the gym environment; everyone who stepped foot in the gym is aiming to improve themselves.
While in college, Lance ran a collegiate painting business, which made him realize that he loved business but wanted to apply the skills he learned to something more meaningful to him. After some personal reflection, Lance realized that he could make a career out of his true passion, improving people’s lives through fitness.
His first personal training client was an Olympic lifter who competed nationally, and his second client was a woman who lost 30lb over the course of six months and improved her health drastically. She told Lance, “I want to let you know, this has totally changed my life.” He realized from those experiences that there was no better combination for a career than doing something that you love, while at the same time, clearly having a positive impact on peoples’ lives.
When Lance wanted to grow his business, he realized to impact more people he needed to build a strong team around him. In order to help more people, he hired additional trainers, and trained them to work with their clients using his same methods.
He surrounded himself with trainers that are personally invested in their clients’ success; if clients have questions, need support or accountability outside of the session, Foundation Fitness trainers go above and beyond to support them and help them achieve their goals. As the company has grown, Lance has continued to lead with the mentality of encouraging the entire Foundation Fitness team and all of its members to strive to be the best version of themselves.
In his free time, Lance enjoys listening to books on tape, mountaineering, scuba diving, disc golf and pretty much anything else outdoors, from his background as an Eagle Scout. He realizes that he would not be able to participate in the physical activities he enjoys if he didn’t maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle. He now wants to spread that message and help as many people as possible be able to enjoy the activities they love. As he regularly puts it, fitness is the true fountain of youth and the baseline for the rest of your life; being in shape can make your life a whole lot easier, and being out of shape can make your life a whole lot harder.
Lance currently works in support of all of the Foundation Fitness locations, always looking for opportunities to expand, purchase or partner with other gyms. His focus is on continually improving the member experience and spreading the positive #BeYourBest message of Foundation Fitness to more areas.