Former U.S. Navy SEAL Randy Hetrick has turned his passion for fitness into two successful fitness companies, TRX and OutFit Training, and credits his entrepreneurial success in part to his time in the service.
Hetrick became interested in serving the country on the heels of the “Reagan Revolution” during his junior year at USC.
“As a high school wrestler and college rower, I was also a bit of a masochist in search of the biggest “man-test” that I could find,” he said. “The combination of those two inspirations led me in search of the program within US Special Operations with the highest attrition in selection. I found that pot of gold at the doorstep of Naval Special Warfare.”
Hetrick graduated from Navy Officer Candidate School in the spring of 1988 ad attended BUD/S Class 157. During his 14-year SEAL career, he served as a platoon officer at SEAL Team One and as both a troop commander and squadron commander at the SEAL special missions unit. Hetrick also attended the Naval Post Graduate School and represented USSOCOM as the legislative liaison officer on Capitol Hill.
Hetrick said his time as a SEAL had a profound impact on his fitness journey.
“As a Navy SEAL, maintaining peak physical condition is simply part of the job,” he explained. “Group PT is the way you kick off each morning and was always one of my favorite parts of the day. Being assigned to a Tier One special ops unit takes it up another notch. It is basically like being a professional athlete in uniform, with access to all the best equipment, coaching, and exercise science available anywhere. That inspired a passion for fitness that continued with me into my civilian career.”
Hetrick came up with the idea for a bodyweight-based training harness made of webbing during one of his tours at the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
“My teammates loved the simple device and each wanted one to take on deployments. After leaving service, I decided to try my hand at building a training business around my whacky invention,” he said.
That effort ultimately blossomed into TRX. After building and leading TRX for 16 years, Hetrick then saw an opportunity for a business that would take everything that TRX did inside gyms and transport it into the great outdoors. That led him to create OutFit Training, a technology-enabled mobile outdoor fitness franchise.
“Our fleet of world-class gyms on wheels is controlled by an “Uber-like” technology stack that puts the vehicle, the coach, and a big group of members all in the same place at the appointed hour to experience a great outdoor workout together,” he said.
OutFit delivers large outdoor boot camps in public spaces like parks, beachfront parking lots, schools, and other scenic locations – along with personal training to individual driveways or curbside.
“And we provide custom fitness services to organizations, schools, club sports teams, and events,” Hetrick added.
Hetrick said most of what he knows about business leadership actually came from SEAL Teams.
“The military experience is steeped in the principles of service, integrity, and accountability – the three horsemen of business success,” he said. “In my view, military service sits among the very best preparatory paths to entrepreneurship. You become expert at team building, putting the mission first, defining a performance culture, and overcoming whatever obstacle befalls you.”
Hetrick said military service also teaches you how to suffer stoically – which is another hallmark of most successful entrepreneurs.
“Fellow vets who want to become entrepreneurs should read up on the vocabulary of business, should leverage the many great veteran transition support networks, and should seek out good mentors to help them succeed on the new battlefield of business,” he said.
OutFit Training provides free family memberships to municipal first responders. It also provides veteran and active-duty first responders, military personnel and their spouses a preferred discount to its initial franchise fee.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.