Health and fitness has always played a major role in Byron Bloodworth’s life, past and present. From fighting professionally to personal training clients, Byron has done it all. He is the head Athletic Trainer at X3 Sports: North Marietta, teaching fitness and cardio classes such as Fast Track, Power Track, and Kickboxing.
Byron wrestled when he was younger and it wasn’t until his freshman year of high school that he decided to study Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, Muay Thai and kickboxing. Graduating from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a degree in Health and Fitness Science, Byron knew he wanted to train people and focus on doing it the right way.
“While I was a student, I was training for fighting and got my personal training certification. I was planning on teaching high school; I had a little bit of student teaching, but I started to focus more on fighting and being a professional fighter.”
Moving to Atlanta in 2007, Byron wanted to focus more on fighting professionally. He competed quite a bit and won several competitions such as small grappling tournaments, NAGA, and many more. Finally, in 2009, he turned pro and got a chance to fight in the undercard for UFC 155 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.
“It was a pinch myself moment, I had fought at some big places, but Vegas is like the mecca for combat sports, to fight where there is so much history was one of my biggest accomplishments and favorite memory. And being able to share that with my brother who had been there from the start of the journey was really cool.”
In 2007, while training for fights, Byron was also teaching group-fitness bootcamp classes and personal training sessions with clients in Atlanta, Ga. Eventually, Byron decided that he wanted to spend more time with his family, all while still being able to teach classes and train clients. Byron started out with LA Boxing, which was later bought out by Iron Clutch and then eventually transitioned to X3 Sports and has been teaching and training in this area for over 12 years.
Byron teaches our fitness based classes at X3 Sports. Classes like Fast Track, Power Track, and Kickboxing provide a great way to change your workout routine up while still moving and learning the correct technique.
“Our Fast Track classes focus on speed, agility, and muscular endurance, as well as conditioning in some of the circuit training that we do. Power Track is more of a focus on strength training and muscle building through resistance training.”
Being a trainer and working with clients whether they are working out just to stay fit and healthy, or train for competition, seeing them achieve their goals and become healthier and more confident is such a great reward.
“Seeing it finally click for people, finding their own fitness path, is the greatest reward of this job. We offer so much at X3 Sports so that you don’t get bored with fitness. I feel like a lot of people come to us not even necessarily for the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) side to compete but to use the MMA to stay fit and healthy. Then they find that we also offer other things like weight training and circuit training via Fast Track and Power Track so it provides a lot for people to find something to stay heathy not just for the short term but for the long term as well.”
While teaching multiple classes a day and personal training sessions, working six to eight hour days and making time to spend with his wife and children, Byron’s personal goals have X3 Sports in mind.
“I want to see X3 Sports succeed and grow, especially with the new location opening in Athens, Ga. and I would like to see us continuing to branch out as far as our franchising and then eventually be an owner of one or run one myself.”
Trust the process. It can be difficult and frustrating to not see results right away and sometimes it can be discouraging. But DO NOT QUIT! Keep going and push yourself because in the end, it will all be worth it.
“It’s always an ongoing process but trust the process, stick with it.”
See what X3 Sports is all about. Sign up today for a free class at one of our four locations throughout Atlanta, Ga!