Fitness: Making it Personal

Personal fitness is big business. 

The U.S. health club industry serves more than 71.5 million consumers, and about one in five Americans belong to at least one health club or studio, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. Customers made more than 6 billion visits to those clubs and gyms in 2018. Bentley alumni are part of this still-growing trend. Meet three who have made the field their own. 

KELSIE TIDMAN: PRODUCT MANAGER TB12

No, Kelsie Tidman ’13 doesn't play football. No, she isn't part of the New England Patriots organization. But when she talks about working with a certain legendary quarterback, that's the honest-to-GOAT truth. Tidman is a product manager for TB12, the health, wellness and fitness company that Tom Brady and Alex Guerrero started in 2013.

“We focus on developing our own products that support performance, recovery, nutrition and hydration,” says Tidman, noting there are partnership opportunities for others who can hit a high bar. “Everything has to be innovative, cutting edge, top of the line. It’s a cool position to be in.” 

The road to cool started after graduation from Bentley, where Tidman majored in Marketing and Liberal Studies (Health and Industry), with a minor in Law. Her first job was with what is now Compass Health Brands. She worked in the health care industry retail space, with products such as electrotherapy pain management devices. 

Unlike many fellow millennials, who bounced from job to job, she stayed there, for nearly six years.

“I was able to dive deeply with my craft,” she says. “I moved up in the company and was thrown into some pretty big projects at a very early point in my career.”

Her move, when it came, was a big one. 

TB12 has three areas of focus: branded apparel and gear, nutrition and functional equipment. Tidman works primarily in the last category, which includes looped resistance bands, handle bands, medicine balls, and pliability rollers and spheres used for workout recovery, performance and injury prevention. She does market research on a constant basis. 

“I need to know what's new in the industry, see what competitors are doing, and stay up-to-date on consumer trends and interests,” she explains. Tidman also serves as the point of contact for the company's vendors and partners, and manages the development of a product from start to launch.

She has met Brady multiple times, and he’s not your everyday kind of leader. “It’s always invigorating to have your boss give the company a pump-up speech. But when your boss is Tom Brady, it’s truly next-level motivational."  

ELISE CAIRA: FOUNDER, SWEAT FIXX

The hustle that Elise Caira ’11, MBA ’12 brought to Falcon basketball only intensified after graduation. 

“I'd wake up at 4:30 a.m. and take any certification and teach anything I could — yoga, spin, boot camp,” she says. Then it was off to her full-time job as an auditor at KPMG. “It’s crazy but I made it work.”

Caira called fitness her “side hobby” as she rose to senior auditor at the firm (and, coincidentally, was part of the KPMG team that worked on the Planet Fitness IPO). The idea of opening her own studio was always in the back of her mind. 

In 2016, upon learning about rentable space near home, she quit her job, signed the lease and, four weeks later, opened Sweat Fixx in Wakefield, Mass. This was January 2017. The boutique fitness studio now has five locations in the Boston area and a staff of 45. 

“I love creating and being able to grow studios and give other people who love fitness the chance to leave their corporate job. I liked accounting but sitting at a desk wasn't for me.”

She credits the success in part to unique workouts. For example, Sweat Fixx uses water rowers for cardio workouts; they are low impact and scalable to each person's fitness level. Then there's what she learned at Bentley — in classes and on the basketball court.

“The competitiveness in that group with those coaches and with those trainers,” says Caira, a five-year member of the women’s basketball team. “It was an experience like no other.’

That was especially true when she tore her ACL. Her teammates lifted her up to power through the rehab and get back in the game. And the forced timeout changed Caira’s view of what fitness means — not just competing but strengthening the body. 

As she puts it: “I went from being someone who wanted to get through the team lift session as fast as possible to someone who wanted to educate and listen.” 

Now, her job is different every day. She’s usually up at 4:15 a.m. to teach a 5:30 a.m. class. She’ll typically do some personal training with a client, and her own workout, too. Then it’s down to business. 

“What's done at Sweat Fixx is not in studio. It’s sitting in a coffee shop, and meeting people and getting on the phone,” she says of wanting each studio to be part of its local community. 

Giving back to the community is part of her business philosophy. 

“Every month we host ‘Karma Fixx’ classes that are free and donation-based,” she says. “All the money goes to causes or foundations that mean something to that studio’s community.” 

So far, they have raised upward of $15,000 for 20 different causes.  

ED MAZZUCHELLI: OWNER AND CO-FOUNDER, TRAIN4LIFE

Ed Mazzuchelli ’97, MBA ’98 learned a lot being a personal trainer for the PGA. He worked with a range of athletes, from World Golf Hall of Fame member Vijay Sing to junior and masters PGA tour players. He knew that not every athlete was the same, which also meant that no two training styles would be the same.
    
So when he was ready to start his own fitness and lifestyle company, he made that a core tenant. 
    
“There’s no one formula that fits everybody,” he says.
    
Mazzuchelli played football at Bentley and earned both his undergraduate degree and MBA here. He got his personal trainer certification while working in sales, then jumped to the PGA, where he worked for five years. In 2006, he opened what was then called Evolution Fitness. The now-rebranded company —Train4Life — includes a 10,000-square-foot gym, personal training and a customizable program. The latter educates people on workout styles and nutrition programs that match their fitness goals.
    
Mazzuchelli says that he wears a lot of different hats, and even though surrounded by a good team, tries to keep an overall view of every part of the business. He still does personal training, but focuses on those who are recovering from injuries or need other specialized work.  
    
He learned the nuts and bolts of starting a company in Bentley business courses, but also draws on his Sociology minor. 
    
“A lot of those courses were understanding personal relations,” he says. He has learned to be empathetic but also forceful in working with clients to help them reach their goals. “Trust that most people will appreciate your being respectful of how difficult their journey might be, but sympathy can derail a client.”