ABOUT MAKI PERFORMANCE TRAINING

"A workout should be an obstacle that becomes manageable through hard work, movement learning, proper technique and physical adaptation… then we move onto another obstacles." - Gray Cook

Maki is a strength and conditioning trainer who has worked in the fitness industry for over 13 years. He has worked extensively throughout the Richmond area, and parts of Vancouver in a number of gyms. He is the strength and conditioning coach for the Sunset, Connaught, and Killarney Figure Skating clubs. He also trains a number of martial artists ranging from Judo, Ju Jitsu, Karate, Takwendo, Muay Thai to MMA fighters. He is presently one of the trainers for Morganti Ju Jitsu in Canada.  Maki also runs a popular boot camp www.fitnessbootcamp.ca  and offers a wide array of fitness classes at his studio.

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Getting To Know Maki - My Story

I have been working in the fitness industry since I was 20. I’m Japanese (Mom’s side includes a Samurai connection) and Anglo Saxon (Dad’s side includes a Nottingham Forest connection).

At age 5, I began playing soccer and continued until I was 20. I stopped because I felt burnt out, but according to my parents, I had a very special skill for the sport. Unfortunately I simply didn’t apply myself. Otherwise, I like to think I might be off somewhere playing professional soccer. This is a lesson I try to share with teens and youths who are specializing early in a sport. You really need to want it, to have that heart’s desire and to not let go. It’s not easy!

I have trained in Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Muay Thai. Currently I train in boxing and Judo. My two true passions. I enjoy the combative nature of fighting, as it is all about pushing oneself to physical extremes and testing the mind’s ability to push the body to its limits. I’ve always wanted to play a physically demanding sport such as football or rugby. but I lacked the size until I reached my twenties. It was then that I started training in martial arts, and found I didn’t have to share the glory of winning. The challenge was presented to me as an individual. All the emphasis is on my own effort. If I win I win, but if I I lose, no one else is to blame.

Being bullied by a group in high school got me into the fitness industry. It spurred me to work out relentlessly in the gym.  Very simply, I became stronger and more muscular so I could fight back. After several years of working out, I thought it would be a really cool idea if I could go to school and get paid to workout. At the time I worked long hours at warehouse jobs and washing dishes, and was not getting anywhere. One night while driving home after visiting my parents in Victoria I got into a car accident. As a result, I was unable to work for a period of time. So my parents asked me to come stay with them, and to take some fitness certification courses that would get me started in a new job possibility.

I enrolled in two different courses that ran for 6 weeks. Once I had finished, I moved back to Vancouver to work at another warehouse job. I re-injured myself during work due to complications from the car accident,so I had to quit. With time on my hands, I decided to start rehabbing myself, and began hard, daily workouts at a local community centre.

I introduced myself to the weight room supervisor, and offered to volunteer my time there so I could gain experience. He told me, however, that he didn’t really need the assistance. So I got to know him by talking with him every day. One day he approached me while I was working out and offered me some shifts. These were not the best time slots, but I was excited and eager to start. From that point it snowballed into working more shifts, applying at other community centers and holding 3-4 jobs at once. The idea of getting paid to do something I loved doing was a difficult concept to wrap my head around at the time.

During the two years that followed, I worked hard running free workshops and training all types of individuals. If somebody needed help I was the go-to guy. I read many books, took lots of workshops and explored the Internet daily. The next step was getting certified as a personal trainer. Once I had completed the course and taken the test it was a matter of waiting to get the test results. When they came back, I remember opening the letter and jumping up and down, shouting. I was so proud of myself for taking the next step and becoming qualified for something I had wanted to do for so long.

At this point I started actually getting clients referred to from the community centre where I worked the majority of hours. As my base grew, one client would refer me to another who would refer two more and so on.

I continued training clients, and the number of workshops began to increase. Then came the idea to run a Boot Camp. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was the first person working for the City of Richmond to run a boot camp and keep it going successfully. At this point I was outgrowing my space at the community centers, and it was time for me to move on. The community centre was very gracious in providing me an opportunity to train, to develop my skills, and to keep a program going for a good period of time.

Moving to a private studio, I created a group workout called Maki Fit. This was for the Boot Campers who trained during the summer time who wanted to continue working out with me during the rest of the year. It was a success in my eyes as 3 classes a week grew, within 6 months, to 8 classes a week. Currently I run 12 Maki Fit boot camp classes a week.

Then came an offer to run the largest (47,000 square feet) gym in Richmond. I accepted and made the move thinking it would be a big step in the direction I was looking to go. That year proved to be a very stressful, but very important year. The learning curve was quite steep, but I was grateful for the experience since these tough times enabled me to start up the SAMPA studio.

And now, two years later, I’m at the new studio built by my partner and myself. Every morning I come to work I’m still amazed that it is something we built from scratch, and is the cumulative result of over a decade of hard work and countless hours of training/ learning.

Today I continue to move forward with the goal of creating a community of people who look to develop a high level of fitness in an environment that is fun, challenging and progressive.