The Chicago Journal

How Luke Wade Overcame Adversity Through Fitness

Image Internally Provided
Image Internally Provided

For many people who want to lose weight, all they want is someone to motivate and empathize with them through their lifestyle changes and fitness journey. Based in Texas but serving internationally, Luke Wade, MBA, CPT, PN1, is a fitness consultant who has experience working with a multitude of clients with all kinds of needs and goals. Luke is equipped with formal psychology and nutrition university education as well as more than three years of experience in physical therapy.

Thanks to his diverse experiences, Luke can work with almost any type of client and enhance their results holistically through physical exercise, personalized dietary recommendations, and emotional support. His range of experiences also allows him to work with post-rehab clients recovering from injury.

As a young boy, Luke quickly fell in love with fitness as a way of overcoming adversity. Prior to entering 6th grade, Luke transferred to private school from public school. Feeling lonely and isolated, young Luke ate his feelings and, as a result, quickly put on pounds. At his heaviest, it took him nearly fourteen minutes to finish a mile.

Taking inspiration from his sporty older brother, Luke Wade joined a summer strength and conditioning camp programmed for high school athletes. It was challenging for him because of his overweight state, but he soon shed the pounds and was running faster than ever before. By 7th grade he managed to basically half his mile time.

A few years later, in 2008, a different kind of disaster struck; Luke suffered a crushing shattered elbow in the second varsity football game. What followed was depression, anxiety, and self-isolation like he had never felt before.

Not knowing what else to do, Luke once again channeled all his emotions into fitness. Just one year later he managed to outscore the varsity quarterback and alpha male of his junior class—both Division 1 college athletes in the making—in athletic testing Fall 2009.

Almost a decade later, another unexpected world-rocking ensued. In 2018, Luke Wade dropped out of physical therapy school. On his Dallas-bound train ride to finalize the formal withdrawal process, he called his boss at his former PT clinic workplace, who graciously gave him his old job back. Luke was at work the next day.

Following a few days of figuring out where in the world to go next, Luke decided to return to his true love for personal training. “I struck out pretty bad as a personal trainer entrepreneur at 22. Made awful judgement calls, and marketing was embarrassingly bad. Hell, I practically got laughed out of my old high school gym for posting my flyers. So I wanted a second shot. I could not go out like that.”

On January 11, 2019, Luke Wade left his full-time job as a physical therapy tech and took the leap back into personal training while going to school for his MBA full-time. He also served as a geriatrics group exercise and water aerobics instructor. But just when his business was booming in early 2020, two-thirds of his client base abandoned ship upon the COVID-19 pandemic.

So Luke set his sights on the online market.

In the beginning, his attempts to attract clients were haphazard. He later connected with a few mentors who helped him use the art of authenticity to attract clients. Today, he is seeing his highest grossing months amid the pandemic.

Luke hopes to leave a legacy of resilience and hope. More than health and fitness, he wants to be known as someone who helped unite people globally through his values of hope, redemption, and triumph, which he instills in his coaching.

Learn more about Luke on his website. Feel free to connect with him on Facebook.

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