Fit and Smart an interview with Forma Gym's Robert Jackson
Fit and Smart:
An Interview with Forma Gym’s Robert Jackson
by Nancy Wilson
Forma Gym in downtown Walnut Creek brands itself with a new trend in fitness based on motivation. Fun and education are as important as success. Its membership, from high-school age to senior years, couldn’t be happier. They think Forma Gym is reshaping the fitness industry.
Forma is the brainchild of local entrepreneur Robert Jackson, who was born and raised in the East Bay. Recently he talked about coming home to lay the foundation for his creation, Forma’s recent expansion, and his hopes and dreams.
NW: Robert, please tell us a little about yourself and how you started in the fitness industry.
RJ: I was an athlete from the time I was five years old. At sixteen, I got my first job working as a sales representative for a small gym in Dublin. At eighteen, I was promoted to general manager. Then I decided to move to San Diego to attend college. I worked in sales at a large, well-known fitness facility. After that, I went abroad to Italy for almost a year. In Italy I worked at a gym as a trainer.
NW: How did you come up with the name Forma Gym?
RJ: Forma means shape in Italian. My initial business partner and I chose the name because both of us are second-generation Italian Americans. The way the name sounded and the way it looked on paper really grabbed me. It just stuck.
NW: It is sticky. How did you get started realizing your dream?
RJ: I returned from Italy and was managing six clubs in San Diego when I realized that was not what I want to do the rest of my life. I quit, moved back here, and went to San Francisco State to study kinesiology. I became a trainer at a fitness chain and got my certification. I did really well, but didn’t stay there long. I started my own business as an independent personal trainer. In the midst of this, I changed my major to international business, but I loved personal training, so after graduation I developed into a trainer working eight hours a day out of people’s houses and independent clubs.
About that time, innovators came up with the successful idea to have multiple personal trainers use an independent club. The club owners basically rented out. I thought, “Wow! This is being done, but it’s not being done right.” Forma would have had the biggest and best place in San Francisco, but we would have taken lots of business from the club owners. That didn’t feel right to me.
NW: You have a conscience.
RJ: I have a conscience. I looked all over the Bay Area. Walnut Creek stuck out. My parents already lived here and the demographics were great. Interesting how your life travels like that. It brought me right back to Walnut Creek.
NW: Forma is different from other facilities. Talk about the major elements that create the synergy.
RJ: In developing this facility, I considered what motivates people to want to come to a gym. Based on my experience and observations, I honed the basis for Forma Gym to provide a facility that motivates members to work out and inspires the trainers to create amazing programs for their clients.
From the turf, to the equipment, to the placement of the locker rooms, I wanted it all in the circuit fashion. Ninety percent of our members need to lose weight. Circuit training is one of the most efficient ways to accomplish that—going from exercise to exercise, getting cardio, and getting weight training, all in the same session. And the other thing is that it can’t be boring. A few people like doing sets with weights, but what’s fun to most is doing multiple and different things and discovering new activities. We also have enough open space for people to do ground-based exercises.
I wanted the equipment to be functional, meaning that it’s not only for building shapely muscles, it’s also for everyday activities. Every piece of equipment was selected by me because it mimicked regular motions you do in everyday life. How often do you sit on a bench and push two hundred pounds straight ahead of you? You never do, right? So why would you do it at the gym? I believe it’s where the entire fitness industry is headed. You’ll see that the non-functional equipment will slowly fade away.
I wanted to educate people on the proper ways to use this friendly equipment. When members start here, they get a free session of personal training. At Forma it’s not a sales gimmick. We want members to use our facility correctly and intelligently.
I didn’t want the percentages game and outmoded equipment to be Forma Gym. Pulling in members is not my goal. I don’t want to make money off of people not using the facility, because guess what, I don’t want to lock you into a big contract, hope you don’t use it, and one day cancel. I’d rather educate you on the proper way of exercising so you get results, love your routine, and love your gym.
NW: There’s a lot of smiling and laughing in addition to sweating. Is fun part of creating an exerciser?
RJ: It is really great to see the life this place has taken on all on its own. It’s due to the people that come here and the environment we’ve provided for them. Everything works together to motivate people. For example, you have somebody over there who has never punched anything in her life before and is now beating the tar out of our dummy, Bob, on a weekly basis. Everybody here really wants results. We’re a results-based gym.
NW: Do some people really love to beat up Bob?
RJ: Yes! And to see Bob beaten up! Things like that, they just don’t happen at other gyms where there are too many people and nobody’s motivating anybody else. At our gym, people really do see, because everybody’s going through the same thing or has been there, and they want you to succeed.
NW: Tell us about your personal trainers.
RJ: The trainers we’ve got are the best in the area.
We accept three certifications here: the National Academy of Sports Medicine, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and the American College of Sports Medicine. Trainers need to be properly educated.
Personal trainers at Forma have a three-pronged role: part coach, part motivator, and part accountability expert.
They create efficiency. In an hour-long workout, lots of people at other gyms are not getting even ten percent out of their workout. With a trainer here, you’re going to get one hundred percent out of your workout every single time. You can get a lot out of the education of a personal trainer.
One of the most difficult things to do in life is to lose a large amount of weight. Trainers create diet and exercise as a lifestyle change. You have to work it into your lifestyle and you have to flip that switch in your brain that says, “I’m going to be somebody who loves to go to the gym.” Trainers help you locate that switch and turn it on.
Accountability enters into the relationship because trainers have to watch their clients closely. Are you coming in to the gym? Are you following your diet? That’s what gets a person results.
NW: Forma has recently expanded. What fitness facilities and services does the ground floor have?
RJ: The goal of downstairs is to create an extension of our upstairs philosophy. We have the Real Room, with RealRyder cycles and a projector that plays Lance Armstrong’s rides. We have a rock-climbing wall! And we have all kinds of group classes every day that are innovative.
My big idea, the Cardio Movie Theater, is a success with people. If you just want to come in and get your hour run in or get half an hour’s bike ride in, then why not do it while you watch a movie or feature. We’re building a community here.
NW: What is your hope for Forma Gym?
RJ: My hope for Forma Gym is that we can help to motivate people in additional locations in California. That’s the goal over the next five years. We want to make some noise and change the way the fitness industry currently works. Plans are focusing on expansion to San Diego, Los Angeles, Menlo Park, and San Mateo in the near future.
NW: And your plans and dreams for yourself?
RJ: To retire at a young age and go to Italy! I want to travel as much as possible. In the end, I just want to be healthy, I want to be fit, and I want to help people. Those have always been my goals for my entire life.
For more information, go to Forma Gym’s website at www.formagym.com. You are encouraged to stop by for a visit and make yourself at home.
Nancy Wilson is a writer and editor of business and marketing communications. Contact her at nw.writer.editor@gmail.com.
