Adam Merritt is a personal trainer at Factor X Fitness, a professionally-run 24-hour fitness center in Thomasville, Georgia. Their 12,000-square-foot gym is filled with weight machines, free weights, and cardio equipment such as treadmills, elliptical machines, exercise bikes, and a Stair Master. Factor X Fitness also offers group exercise classes in addition to personal training.

We spoke with Merritt to learn more about his life and experiences as a personal trainer. His thoughts will be interesting to anyone who has considered becoming a personal training client, is generally curious about the world of personal training, or is even considering personal training as a potential career for themselves.

Merritt has been a personal trainer for three years and has spent the last two of those years at Factor X Fitness. When asked why he pursued personal training, his passion for working out and personal training became evident.

“I’ve loved working out since I was a kid,” Merritt said. “[I] started [at] about 12 years old and continued through today, so personal training was really a no-brainer for me.”
Merritt enjoys working for Factor X Fitness in particular and helping change people’s lives through the work he does there.

“When I got the opportunity to work for Factor X, I just kind of ran with it,” he said. “It’s turned out to be a really good decision that has let me be a part of a lot of transformations.”
There isn’t any one type of client that Merritt tends to work with.

“I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with a variety of different clients,” he said. “They range anywhere from football players and event athletes to your basic gym-goer just looking to start a healthier lifestyle.”

You don’t have to be an athlete or have any familiarity with weight lifting to train with Merritt. If you’re curious about exploring personal training as an avenue to help you begin working out for the first time or to improve upon your existing fitness plan, know that Merritt is available to help you work toward healthier living at any stage of your journey.

Merritt enjoys helping people make changes and achieve their fitness goals.
“Anybody that is motivated enough to make a change has my respect from the start,” he said.
Merritt works a flexible schedule to cater to his training clients.

“I wake up around 4:30 [a.m.] to get ready and meet clients at 5:30 every morning,” he said. “Then it’s usually one after the other until lunch.”

He still makes time to keep himself in shape.

“I’ll eat, get a workout in of my own, and then get back to it for my afternoon clients,” Merritt said. “I try to be available as often as possible, and clients seem to really appreciate that, as many of them have very demanding jobs.”

We asked Merritt to give general fitness advice we could share with our readers, and he kindly obliged. The first piece of advice is that working out is only one part of the puzzle.

“If I could give one piece of advice to the general public, it is to make sure you are monitoring what you put in your body,” he said. “Working out will always help, but without proper nutrition, it’s almost impossible to see dramatic changes in your physique.”

Merritt’s second piece of advice is to move beyond what you’re used to doing.

“Some common mistakes I see in the gym on a day-to-day basis are really just people being in their comfort zone,” he said. “Most people, myself included, tend to do what they are good at and like doing rather than focus on weaknesses that need to improve. My advice is to always step outside of your comfort zone. It’s the only way to improve your build, as well as build up some confidence!”

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Written by: Jay Summer
Photography by: Jesse Taylor