A lifelong martial artist and former schoolteacher, Andy’s deeply concerned with autonomy and fitness education. As CEO of GMB Fitness, he’s dedicated to providing an open, accessible culture for both clients and staff to enjoy exploring more of what they’re truly capable of.
Andy Fossett, GMB Cofounder and CEO
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Background: Martial Arts, Education
- Contact: Personal Website
- Interview on Mixergy about how we grew and run GMB
- Fixing the missing links in your development
- Getting Paid, Getting Laid, and Not Dying
- Andy’s website about Taido
- Highlights:
General Bio
Conceived at a Barry Manilow concert in ’76, Andy was raised in a remote mountain village where he tamed wild beasts and learned the secrets of the ninja arts. OK, so that’s BS.
It was a Neil Diamond concert.
Since then he’s been busy teaching school, copywriting for several online marketing firms, playing exciting live drum and bass music, teaching martial arts in Japan for several years, and founding a company that has taught thousands of people to enjoy exercise and live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
Yeah, that’s kind of a big deal.
Personal Statement
The biggest thing is just that I’ve always been drawn to teaching. I started helping my sensei when I was about ten or eleven, and it got me hooked on trying to find the most important detail in something that would connect with the student. I loved seeing the improvements they made when I did my job right.
Learning about physical conditioning was just something I thought I had to do to teach better. I’d see my students getting stuck in their techniques because they needed more strength or more flexibility, and I thought it was my responsibility to help them improve those things. So I got into fitness from a more academic perspective than most people – studying it more than actually working out. What workouts I did were always a means to an end so I could be better at my martial art and training my students.
Teaching and training took me to Japan, and I eventually found a job teaching English in public schools so I could live there full-time and practice Taido.
Luckily, while I was there, I met this dude named Ryan, and we became friends and started training together. Since we started GMB, I’ve have more opportunities than ever to become a better teacher and find the most efficient ways to help our students move better in their chosen activities.
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