The Founder Pushing Mental Health Awareness In Your Fitness Goals
Meet the personal trainer putting people on the path to peace of mind
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Who is Quan Bailey?
Quan Bailey is a personal trainer, life coach, and founder of Train With Quan. At only age 27, he has made a name for himself helping rehabilitate victims of trauma and was selected to attend Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in Boston and Detroit.
More Powerful than You Know
Quan is disrupting the fitness industry by pushing mental health awareness in personal training. Whereas most coaches use their platforms to promote products, he connects with clients on an emotional level by disclosing his own personal struggles with mental health. He wants the world to know there is more to life than looking good on the outside. It is perfectly acceptable to discuss feelings like loneliness and depression. In his own words, the mental battle is just as important as the physical.
By launching his own online training app, it’s now possible for Quan to reach people all across the world. He provides clients with 16 weeks of personalized workouts, 24/7 text communication, Skype sessions, and more. He helps people who have faced trauma discover the ability to overcome their situations by getting them to open up to new experiences. “If you want something you’ve never had before, you’ve got to be willing to do something you’ve never done before. You’re more powerful than you know.”
Not Just One Dimensional
Looking through his Instagram reel, Quan admits it’s easy for people to peg him as a one dimensional body builder. However, this is not the case. Quan was born in San Diego and has lived all over the United States. Because his father was in the military, his family moved every 3–4 years to places like Maine, Virginia, and Hawaii. As a result of constant traveling, Quan found it difficult to connect with other people growing up. When he was eight, his father left, forcing his mother to work harder to provide for them. His father’s sudden departure caused Quan to blame himself, leading to feelings of loneliness, abandonment, and low self-esteem.
Those negative feelings followed him all the way through college, which culminated in a failed suicide attempt. After losing focus in school, Quan was kicked out and began working at a gym full-time. As soon as he started exercising, a switch inside him flipped. He felt happier, more energized, and better mentally overall. From then on, Quan began working as a personal trainer. He later obtained a position as rehabilitation coach for 360 Optimal Health, helping clients recovering from injuries achieve their fitness goals.
Eventually, the desire to run his own business led to a collaboration with Trainerize, a software for personal trainers. Thus, the Train With Quan app was born. One of Quan’s most proudest achievements is helping a client struggling to lose weight at 400lbs. With his guidance, Quan’s client dropped 170lbs and started on journey of better mental health that led him to meet his eventual wife.
Strength in the City
Last year, Quan was asked to participate in Strength in the City, an annual fitness event held in Chicago, Denver, and San Diego. Their goal is to provide fun workouts with top trainers for people of all ages and fitness levels. Inspired by their honorable work ethic and love of community, Quan is overjoyed to collaborate with them again this year. The Denver event is held on August 18th and the Chicago event is on September 14th.
According to Quan, being selected to attend Forbes’ Under 30 summit was also an incredible experience because it showed him what was possible and allowed him to connect with other entrepreneurs from different cities. Most recently, Quan was selected to be on Cameo, which allows him to reach even more people across the world. In the future, Quan hopes to continue raising mental health awareness through public speaking events and is working to build a team of therapists with the right credentials to aid him in his cause.
What Keeps Him Up at Night?
“Feeling like I’m not doing enough. I was not motivated as a child, so there is the fear of letting time pass.”
This article originally published on GREY Journal.
