OUR STORY
ACCESSIBLE FITNESS FOR EVERYONE
Fit To Give is the brainchild of Ricky Martin Owner of Fit To Go. Our program comes as a natural progression from the Sportsbackers Fitness Warriors program for which Mr. Martin spearheaded, co-created and operates as the lead trainer and part of the Command team.
The Fitness Warriors program trains volunteers to become group exercise instructors who lead Free group classes throughout the greater Richmond area. This program has run since 2014 and has read thousands of happy participants. Now Mr. Martin would like to offer Free personal training to those who need it but do not have the means to pay for it.
Having seen first-hand the need for health and wellness information through fitness by working for many years in our area as a health professional. Rick saw that many are not being active, not eating well, and do not have access to health education and programming. He worked as a Community Health Outreach Worker for 5 years at the Fan Free Clinic, while working part time as a personal trainer for the YMCA. He would later go on to serve as a Wellness Director for the YMCA.
Working in the nonprofit arena gave Rick a taste for serving the community and seeing need on a grassroots level. He has seen the nomenclature of the nonprofit world change in many ways, but the need is always there.
One of Rick's saying is, " We have the "at risk" folk, and we also have those who have "no risk". We have the "disadvantaged”, and we also have the "advantaged". We have the "underprivileged" and the overprivileged. We have the "underserved" and we also have the "overserved."
When we were all quarantined due to Covid, Rick took time to plan and implement this new initiative. With the help of Jeff Hayes and an awesome Board of community-minded individuals who see the vision and want to work to see it fulfilled, Rick is setting out to improve the health of many, just like the Fitness Warriors program.