Docuseries
Onnit Stories
Everyone loves to hear a good story. A well-told tale is entertaining, appeals to our values, and inspires us to do something that's worth other people telling stories about.
We believe storytelling is the best way to convey how Onnit can help its community on their path to Total Human Optimization.
That's why we created Onnit Stories, a live-interview series introducing real people who have made amazing and positive life changes since discovering our brand. Many of the storytellers are members of the Onnit Tribe—a private Facebook group of Onnit fans who support one another’s every move, in and out of the gym—and they'll tell you in their own words exactly how they've achieved incredible health, performance, career, and personal goals.
We hope you'll connect with these stories and be moved… to tears, laughter, empathy, and, ultimately, to action.
Action that helps you reach your potential, and write your own story.
Daniel Fajardo’s Onnit Story
Exercise isn’t just something we do because we need another appointment in our day. It’s supposed to add something to our life, making us feel better and do better at the other things we try. So what happens if your workouts actually subtract something from your quality of life, making it harder, even painful, to do what you love?
That’s the question Daniel Fajardo—a doctor, husband, and father in St. Simons Island, Georgia—found himself asking a few years ago, after years of heavy lifting left him too sore and stiff to play with his kids. The answer he found was Onnit. The Onnit 6 programs’ focus on mobility and longevity helped Fajardo reframe what fitness means, and restore the body he thought had given out on him.
Fajardo tells his tale to Shane Heins, Onnit’s Director of Community Engagement, in this week’s Onnit Story—part of our ongoing series of live video interviews with people who have made great life improvements with Onnit’s help. See the video below, along with an edited transcript of the highlights, time-stamped so you can easily find them in the video. Stay up to date with Onnit Stories by following Onnit’s Instagram TV (IGTV). (IGTV).
You can stay up to date with Onnit Stories by following Onnit's Instagram TV (IGTV), where a new one appears every other week.
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![Eric Leija](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 345 145"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Eric Leija's Onnit Story
If you have an Instagram account and you’re even mildly interested in kettlebells, you already know Eric Leija, aka @Primal.Swoledier. The perennially ripped and never out of energy Onnit-certified kettlebell coach has been associated with our brand from its infancy, and continues to do us proud as a rising fitness influencer with a massive following (nearly one million followers on IG alone). But for all his accomplishments and glory, he’d rather talk about what YOU are up to. Leija still makes himself available for workshops where he can connect with other coaches and fans alike, not just to spread his own philosophy but to learn theirs as well.
The Primal Swoledier recently gave an interview to Onnit Chief Fitness Officer John Wolf (who also happens to be one of Leija’s earliest mentors) for our Onnit Stories series, where we talk to people on camera about how they changed their lives with Onnit’s help. See Leija’s interview below, along with an edited transcript of the highlights, time-stamped so you can find those moments in the video. You can stay up to date with Onnit Stories by following Onnit’s Instagram TV (IGTV).
The Primal Swoledier recently gave an interview to Onnit Chief Fitness Officer John Wolf (who also happens to be one of Leija’s earliest mentors) for our Onnit Stories series, where we talk to people on camera about how they changed their lives with Onnit’s help. See Leija’s interview below, along with an edited transcript of the highlights, time-stamped so you can find those moments in the video. You can stay up to date with Onnit Stories by following Onnit’s Instagram TV (IGTV).
Matt Vincent's Onnit Story
Working your whole life to be the best at one thing is a noble effort, but it comes with an inherent risk: what if, quite suddenly, you can't do that thing anymore? What are you supposed to do then?
When injury forced Matt Vincent to retire from his athletic career, he had to start viewing it not as “the end” but rather the end of a chapter of life. Like any good story, one chapter leads into another, and the main character moves forward. To paraphrase Vincent, most adventure stories don’t peak in Chapter 3.
Vincent tells his tale, to Shane Heins, Onnit's Director of Community Engagement, in this week’s Onnit Story—our ongoing series of interviews with people who have changed their lives with Onnit's assistance.
When injury forced Matt Vincent to retire from his athletic career, he had to start viewing it not as “the end” but rather the end of a chapter of life. Like any good story, one chapter leads into another, and the main character moves forward. To paraphrase Vincent, most adventure stories don’t peak in Chapter 3.
Vincent tells his tale, to Shane Heins, Onnit's Director of Community Engagement, in this week’s Onnit Story—our ongoing series of interviews with people who have changed their lives with Onnit's assistance.
Mariana Fuentes-Smith's Onnit Story
When you meet someone on social media, you can't help but be skeptical. Is the person really who they portray themself to be, or a troll trying to lure you into a trap under his bridge? When Mariana Fuentes-Smith discovered Onnit, she not only uncovered a fitness system that changed her body, she gained access to a community of people that changed her life—REAL people, online, with no agenda other than to help one another get fitter and to make friends doing it. This community, of course, is the Onnit Tribe, our private support group on Facebook and Discord which primarily serves the contestants in our Onnit 6 transformation Challenges.
Magnus Palmer's Onnit Story
Proving that Onnit is becoming a force throughout the globe, this week's Onnit Story comes to you from Europe. Magnus Palmer, an Onnit Tribe member for more than a year, has the distinction of being the first overseas subject in our ongoing series of interviews with inspirational guests. Speaking to Onnit's Director of Community Engagement, Shane Heins, Palmer told his story from his native Sweden, including advice on how to find motivation in trying times, and clarifying once and for all whether you really have to be able to assemble an IKEA chair in order to work for the company (Palmer formerly served as a data engineer for the notoriously complex furniture brand!).
Jennifer Cruz's Onnit Story
If there’s one thing that practically all people on their deathbeds agree on, it’s this: when you look back on your life, it’s not the failures you regret, but rather the times when you didn’t even try. So ask your crush out for coffee, write that screenplay you’ve been mulling over in your head, and, if you’re like Jennifer Cruz, walk into Onnit Gym and enroll in a fitness class.
Cruz, one of our Austin, TX, gym’s earliest members, didn’t know if she could handle Onnit’s workouts, especially coming off an injury, but she had the guts to try… and now we can’t get her to stop! Hear her story, as told to our Chief Fitness Officer, John Wolf, in the newest installment of our ongoing Onnit Stories series—interviews with people who have made inspiring life changes with Onnit’s support.
Cruz, one of our Austin, TX, gym’s earliest members, didn’t know if she could handle Onnit’s workouts, especially coming off an injury, but she had the guts to try… and now we can’t get her to stop! Hear her story, as told to our Chief Fitness Officer, John Wolf, in the newest installment of our ongoing Onnit Stories series—interviews with people who have made inspiring life changes with Onnit’s support.
AJ & Georgie's Onnit Story
For some of us, school was no place to learn. (As Adam Sandler said in Billy Madison, "Chlorophyll? More like BORE-ophyll!") Fortunately, some schools today are changing, due to an understanding that we don't all learn the same way. And in the fitness world, personal trainers are changing too, in an effort to help clients understand what they're doing in training and find ways to enjoy the process more.
AJ Londono and Georgie Boynton, a couple with a fitness business in south Florida, know this all too well, and train their clients—which have included children—with different techniques that not only make working out more effective, but also not something you can sleep through like a junior high biology class. They speak to Onnit's Director of Community Engagement, Shane Heins, for this week's Onnit Story.
AJ Londono and Georgie Boynton, a couple with a fitness business in south Florida, know this all too well, and train their clients—which have included children—with different techniques that not only make working out more effective, but also not something you can sleep through like a junior high biology class. They speak to Onnit's Director of Community Engagement, Shane Heins, for this week's Onnit Story.
Sean Hyson's Onnit Story
There's an old expression that all roads lead to Rome, meaning that there's no one path to reaching a goal. And while it implies that you can get what you want by many different means, when you think about it, the saying also serves as a clear set of travel directions. In the context of one's fitness journey, you can never optimize strength, body composition, health, or any other single quality without paying attention to all the others. And if you ignore the others, you're sure to go off track. This philosophy is Onnit's mission of Total Human Optimization in a nutshell, and it's also a theme in this week's Onnit Story.
Sean Hyson, Editor-in-Chief of Onnit, speaks to Onnit Chief Fitness Officer John Wolf about how he integrated unconventional training with old-school strength work for greater longevity.
Sean Hyson, Editor-in-Chief of Onnit, speaks to Onnit Chief Fitness Officer John Wolf about how he integrated unconventional training with old-school strength work for greater longevity.
Kaysee Brooks' Onnit Story
Whether you're facing a sink full of dirty dishes or riding out the winds of a hurricane, it pays to see every challenge in your life in a positive light. Onnit Tribe member and O6 Challenge veteran Kaysee Brooks has faced both extremes with the same attitude: "It's not going to last forever, and we'll be just fine." Now she's teaching her daughter to do the same, and it starts with smiling back at what you see in the bathroom mirror.
Kaysee spoke to Shane Heins, Onnit's Director of Education, to tell her Onnit Story—part of our ongoing series of interviews with people who have made inspiring life changes with Onnit's support.
Kaysee spoke to Shane Heins, Onnit's Director of Education, to tell her Onnit Story—part of our ongoing series of interviews with people who have made inspiring life changes with Onnit's support.
Justin Wren's Onnit Story
There are plenty of pro athletes who are happy to cash in on their talents, endorse causes that improve their public image, and pose with disenfranchised people for a photo op. And then there's Justin Wren, a successful, American-born MMA fighter who was so rankled by the plight of Africa's Pygmy tribes that he moved to the rainforest to help them.
Wren sat down with Shane Heins, Onnit's Director of Education, to discuss his humanitarian efforts, struggle with substance abuse, and return to the MMA ring in this edition of Onnit Stories—an ongoing series of live interviews with people who have made inspiring life changes with Onnit's support.
Wren sat down with Shane Heins, Onnit's Director of Education, to discuss his humanitarian efforts, struggle with substance abuse, and return to the MMA ring in this edition of Onnit Stories—an ongoing series of live interviews with people who have made inspiring life changes with Onnit's support.