He could not figure out how loans worked, so the gym went on a credit card
Tom DeGiuli came on the podcast to talk about six years of building DeGiuli's Gym. Backyard kettlebells, a credit card, a rebrand, and a first kid all in the same stretch.
Tom DeGiuli opened his own spot in 2022 and put everything on a credit card. Not by choice. He could not get a loan and he could not figure out how loans worked, so he stopped waiting and used what he had.
Before that it was his parents' backyard. COVID hit, he lost both of his jobs, went to EMT school, graduated, and worked as an EMT for six months in 2021 because 2020 was a hiring freeze. In between all of that he was swinging kettlebells in the backyard because he had to do something. Then he rented space at Head House in Garden City, owned by Miguel and Tony. Then Baldwin for three years. Now a bigger space with rent he could actually afford.
Six years. Backyard to his own building. No loan, no investor, a credit card.
8:08
I found him through a video
I met Tom around four years ago and I did not meet him at an event or through a friend. One of his videos popped up. I was interested in kettlebells, we had a conversation about what unconventional training actually means, and then I went to one of his classes. After that I did one on ones with him for about a year.
East Rockaway is not a place people in my feed think about. Before that video he was invisible to me. The footage of him training is what made the introduction, and it is still what brings people in. His most watched reel has around 798 thousand views.
0:43
Post the work you actually do, not the version you think looks professional. That is what puts you in front of someone who has never heard of your town.
I turn people into savages
That line is on his page and he means it for everybody, not just people who have never trained. He wants the coaches and the advanced people too. His point is that most strong people live in the same three lifts. Bench, squat, deadlift, or a bodybuilding split. He takes that strength and adds technique, form and skills they have never done, so they can sprint, shoulder heavy sandbags, and still bench, squat and deadlift.
Okay, you are strong. Let's add to that.
People see the kettlebells and the 700 pound deadlift in his gym and assume he is strong but slow. Then he puts out a vertical box jump.
On Hyrox, and having an opinion you earned
Tom did Hyrox this year and he does not run. He did it with his client Tim, who has been with him two years, lost a lot of weight and never thought he could do something like that. Tom did not care about the time. They had fun and he would do it again with a client or a friend.
The reason he did it at all is the part worth keeping. Hyrox is a sensitive subject for a lot of people and he was not going to talk about it without doing it. He is not knocking the event either. Great energy, great people, a good challenge, and he encourages people to do it. His question is why you are signing up. Because you want the training, or because everybody is doing it, or because your friends and the girl you like are doing it.
4:52
I am the same way. I want to experience it before I say anything about it. I ran it this year and I gassed out from the heat. Cramps about ten minutes in. I had planned the whole race and the heat still got me. Fun event, and I still think a lot of people fall into the trend.
6:00
Pick the thing you keep having opinions about and sign up for it once.
Be honest about why you want it. Your reason, or everyone else's.
Bring a client or a friend so the day is fun instead of a number on a board.
The hardest year
This year has been the hardest one for him. New dad, new business owner, a full rebrand, and being a husband who is home. Theo was born, he and his wife got married, and the new space came up at the same time. The rent was affordable and it was bigger, so he took it.
Life just pushes you into the next phase and it works itself out.
9:08
Stop waiting for the clean season to make the move. The move and the chaos usually show up in the same year.
The part he lit up about
His wife went through breast cancer and she does not quit. She trains, she runs her business, she watches their son. When he is down and asking himself if this is working, she is the one who picks him up.
On marriage he was direct. Dating when you are younger teaches you what you like and what you do not. Marriage is a commitment for the rest of your life, and once children are involved there will be moments that are not perfect. You choose each other anyway. You do not go to bed angry. If one person is heated, take a breath and talk later, but sit down and have the conversation.
People have too many options now. Are you actually content with that?
He knows that sounds controversial today. He believes the old school way, a household, a marriage, being a dad and a husband, is where people are most happy. That is his opinion and he has lived it.
01
The video is the introduction. If you are not posting the work, you are invisible to the people looking for you.
02
Earn the opinion. Do the thing first, then say what you think about it.
03
The hardest year and the biggest move tend to arrive together. Take the space anyway.
Sitting on unused footage?
If you run a gym or a business and nobody can see the work you actually do, send me a text and tell me what you have already filmed.
Send me a text