Meet the Owners: Adam Tenny!

Get to know one of our owners - Adam Tenny!

In case you didn’t already know, Adam was a faithful Creed member for many years before he was an owner at our Creed Athens location!

We recently sat down with him to hear more about how he first ended up at Creed, what his experience was like as a new member himself and how it changed his life enough to make him want to open a gym himself.

So tell us, what was going through your head before you came to your first Creed class about 6 years ago?

“I had a lot of friends that went to Creed but I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of coming in. I grew up playing sports most of my life and I always thought that that was going to be my form of fitness. As I was getting older and I was doing sports less, I eventually caved and came to my first class which was actually one of our big event workouts. Needless to say, I was pretty sore the next day but I made it through and made it back for another workout after that. It took a year of my friends telling me that I should come before I actually walked through the door. I was definitely nervous. I hate feeling like the new guy whether that’s at work or in any aspect of life and not knowing what you're doing but it was a really important decision that I made because it’s really changed my life since then. I still remember those first couple of years being pretty tough and like it didn’t immediately get any easier for me. But with consistency and small changes over 18+ months, I did start to see the results I came in looking for.”

What have been some of the biggest benefits you’ve seen from the group classes over the past 6 years?

“I have noticed a lifestyle switch from never really working out to having it become a consistent part of my life. I’ll never forget Clint, founder of Creed, telling me that I needed to switch my thinking to view fitness as a part of my life moving forward. Thinking this way has helped me to understand that there are going to be seasons where I am going to be able to give more to the gym and seasons where I am going to give less to the gym. It has helped me be more okay with that and understand that the gym is just going to be a part of my life regardless. For example, we just had our second kid and it’s been one of those seasons where I haven’t been able to get to the gym as much. This would have been disheartening for me earlier on in my fitness journey when I was developing the habit but now that I’ve been here longer it’s easier for me to know that I’m going to go back. It’s not going to be a season that’s going to last forever. This mindset shift has been huge for me. 

I’ve also just noticed things with the nature of my work in construction. I’m able to have more output for longer and the work is easier on the body. I’ve even noticed a lot of the functional fitness movements from the gym specifically in my daily work of building decks. I’m able to protect myself a little bit better when I’m lifting heavy lumber, pushing something overhead or carrying things long distance and my grip strength is better. All those kinds of things are very practical for me and I’ve noticed a huge change in that.”