Zele Community Table: Altitude With Josh Landis

June 30th, 2008 at 02:12pm Zele Community Table 117

May 6, 2008

Zele Community Table

Joshua Landis

Owner

Altitude Body Performance Center

With Michael Conniff

 

Michael Conniff: How did you get started?

Josh Landis: Altitude started in 2002. Before that I spent five years at the Aspen Club. I’ve been in Aspen since 1992.

MC: What did you do in Aspen in the early years?

JL: My first couple years I started in construction, then I worked in guest services at the Ritz. I raft-guided, did mountain bike tours. I bartended at the Ute City Bank and one winter at The Tippler.

MC: I know you’re from Denver. How did you end up in Aspen?

JL: I went to CU Boulder and was actually was on my way in spring of 1992 to one of the Dead shows in Las Vegas. Someone in the car said: “I have a house in Aspen, we should live here.” His name was Sonny McBride and he’s still here. We’re the only two that stayed in Aspen from that group. We got back to our summer jobs in Denver and realized that sucked. We packed up and moved back here. I was on Mountain Rescue too for two of the years. I was exploring my outdoor life. Growing up in Denver, Aspen is the one place you don’t want to go. Until I came here—and realized it was the best part of the state.

MC: How did you end up as a personal trainer?

JL: I had to find a way to actually make a living. I didn’t like the late nights, I didn’t want to schlep people’s luggage. I figured it was aligned at my interests. It took off for me right away.

MC: What did you like about it?

JL: I liked the freedom of setting my own hours. Working for the club was like working for myself. It enabled me to finish school. I had to finish it up at Regis University and finished through their online program. But I definitely found my niche. I was driven to learn, I had passion for the knowledge I was gaining, particularly the study of physiology. I really liked the clients. I like the relationships I was developing. I really enjoyed it. I was sure I’d be passionate about it, though working with people might ruin me liking the exercise thing. But that ended up not being the case. Working with really athletic people is absolutely an advantage to being in Aspen. You’re dealing with performance and not obesity, and it’s one of the better places to be.

MC: Have things changed much in personal training since you started here?

JL: That’s a long time ago in fitness terms but I wouldn’t say it’s changed that much. Things have gotten better. There’s more intercommunications, medical, strength and conditioning, personal training, more shared knowledge. More emphasis on injury prevention. The bigger changes over the last 25 years ago is away from body-building. You had a coach putting something together for a sport, or body building, or an aerobics class. Now there’s yoga, Pilates, and metabolic. There’s more knowledge now. It’s more holistic.

MC: Is that like what you’re doing with Aspen Metabolics?

JL: Yes. We now have an ability to see how people’s bodies function and get actual data on that and show people how their body works, rather than some generic formula. It’s more quantitative.

MC: What was your progression at The Aspen Club?

JL: By my third year I was head trainer. I did all the training. I raised the standards, I would say. I adopted the same philosophy as now. I would look at education, certification, and experience when I was hiring. If you were short on one, you had to be long on the other two. I would hire a really good trainer without a degree but with education, certification, and experience. Or they had a master’s degree.

MC: You got some national recognition, didn’t you?

JL: I was selected runner-up as Personal Trainer of the Year from American Council on Exercise. It’s become a big competition. I also am a CSCS Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist since 1999.

MC: Why did you stay here?

JL: By the end of 2001, I was pretty committed to being in this town. It actually was not really “a dream” to do Altitude, but I was getting to the point where I needed a change. I had a revolving door of managers above me, and then I just found an opportunity and took it. I saw the opportunity.

MC: How did it happen?

JL: I was exploring all options. The space had come open at the Mountain Chalet and I found the space would suit my purposes. It was dusty was down there with a 1970 universal gym and cardio pieces. There was Grandma wallpaper and fluorescent lights. A good space but totally under-utilized.

MC: What was your vision for Altitude?

JL: I wanted to create a real integrated fitness facility. At the time we were hosting national certification and continuing education. I was running symposiums and doing continuing education, bringing in martial arts and tai chi. I wanted to be an educational facility as well as a training facility. We ran nationally accredited symposium. But I just got burned out.

MC: You do martial arts as well.

JL: My martial art is Soo Bahk Do. For about fourteen years. Kind of like a vehicle for self-actualization through movement and through intense training.

MC: What does that mean?

JL: Self-actualization means—you could equate it to having the discipline to go deep into any practice. You can get to deeper levels of understanding of things. You can’t necessarily articulate it. A real structured, disciplined way for me to carry things over into other areas of my life. A transfer of skills.

MC: Such as?

JL: Physical skills definitely—you learn about your center and your breath and how to maximize your movement. From a mental standpoint—the ability to have extreme focus to stick through things when they’re difficult.

MC: East meets West?

JL: I would like to make it more of a blend of East-West than it is. The Eastern part of things requires an openness of minds to get to the deep levels of understanding. That’s more than most people have. I would say I am able to incorporate a lot of that. They would have to take up disciplines, martial arts, gyrotonics, to reach there. People need to be able to shut down their mind and tune into their body. Most people want simple physical performance, so I spend more time with the Western.

MC: How do you incorporate both?

 

JL: Probably start and end with some real mind-body connecting, like meditation. Easy in martial arts compared to a gym with extraneous things happening.  That’s almost better done outside. Outside I do a lot of cross-country, outdoor hikes, trail running, and that type of stuff. More outdoor martial arts. Then we use Pilates, massage, rehabilitation, metabolic assessments.

 

MC: Do you have to talk people into it?

 

JL: Most people in Aspen are already there. What makes us different at Altitude is people don’t come to us to be pampered. We’re not going to give you a moist toilette. We’re performance-oriented. I’d put our credentials and our dedication up against facility. We have all the tools we need and the best practitioners around. Also we work together. A therapist can walk over to their trainer and say: “We’re working on this.” Other places I’ve worked, you have your teams all over the building and rarely any real communication. Our building is very small. I can see my clients come in and out. If something’s going on, I’ll see what’s going on. Being in the same room makes a big difference.

 

MC: Are people there because they want to work out or need to?

 

JL: We have a pretty connected population. I’d say it’s 50-50. They want to perform better, to take away aches and pains. They’re connected to need when the need limits performance or when pain is involved. People here are not normal. I would say doing what we do in Aspen would be like a population of people who are self-motivated, athletic, fun-loving people you could work with. There are people like Aspenites in cities but they’re hard to find. Here’s it the norm but not the exception.

 

MC: Would you call Altitude a “boutique”?

 

JL: Yeah definitely a boutique. We’re 95 percent word of mouth. Most people don’t we’re down there but people are starting to know.  We don’t spend the advertising dollars because we don’t need much more business. There’s definitely a large population in Aspen who wouldn’t be interested in the Mountain Chalet because they want a fancy place. We cater to the local. We have year-round business. We couldn’t handle the business.

 

MC: Has it been a struggle?

 

JL: There’s been plenty of times I’ve struggled. I have a great staff now but I’ve burned through a bunch of dysfunctional trainers. Next I’d like to own a facility or the space, and I wouldn’t mind having more high-end type of facility. The numbers just don’t work here. There’s a lot of competition and it’s important to keep our costs low. We won’t have the huge revenue. We don’t have room to have a lot of members. So the revenue is from one-on-one training. Ultimately I’d like to own a space in a prime location but it hasn’t happened so far. A lot of people would like that same thing. We would kick butt in the city. We would kick butt because we’d have a large population and we could do high-volume. You have to do high-end because you can’t do high-volume.

 

MC: I know you’re also working with Challenge Aspen.

 

JL: The Challenge Aspen ski team. Mostly double-amputees or paraplegics, some with spina bifida. We’re working with their coaches, acting as their strength and conditioning camps, doing one-on-one sessions to try to find their strengths and weaknesses to help them perform better.

 

MC: How is it different working with disabled athletes?

 

JL: They don’t have to pay us, for one. In terms of training, it’s the same thing. We’re looking at the individual and looking at their strengths and goals. What will optimize that or hinder that. Bringing up their weaknesses to a higher level. It’s really no different than training anyone else. Their mindset sets them apart. Our client base doesn’t need hand-holding. They’re highly motivated and very grateful. They’re non-complainers, non- quitters, real quality individuals. They’re mostly veterans—probably half.

 

MC: And, like everyone else in Aspen, you’ve jumped into real estate.

 

JL: You’re going to call me out on my selling out?

 

MC: Might as well.

 

JL: Although I’d like to own my own facility, I don’t consider that a realistic goal in this town. I got my license and then realized I have the right skill set. I have connections, people trust me, they’ve seen my work ethic. I have degrees in business and health and wellness. I found real estate was a real natural thing for me and I enjoyed it. It seemed like a natural fit. Also, not being one of the privileged in life, I have to do more than one thing to secure my future. Were I to lose my training facility, don’t want to be a 50-year-old competing with the 25-year-olds. I needed diversification. I wouldn’t want to find myself back on the training floor of the Aspen Club. The two careers blend well together. And I want to train other people to train and take more of a general manager’s role at Altitude, seeing three clients a day instead of eight. Keeping a crew together is more what I’m interested in doing. And it leaves me the flexibility. And variety is the spice of life.

 

MC: I can’t let you go without asking about Aspen Man Camp. That’s how I heard about you.

 

JL: I made that up on the spot for an interview. I’ve gotten calls from Hollywood, Europe, been in 15 magazines, approached by ten TV producers. I signed a letter of intent once but none of it’s gone anywhere. Now producers call me and I’m hesitant to talk to them.

 

MC: What’s the idea in a nutshell?

 

JL: A business adventure camp for men—the idea came from the yoga boot camps for women where I would always feel sorry for the man in the group. It started when I was approached by a magazine writer from the Robb Report asking about it. I pulled the concept out of my butt. Once I mention the concept, I needed a web site. It was a cult classic and it got spread around. I was in Yahoo picks. We are the original Man Camp.

MC: What do you do at Man Camp?

JL: The idea is cigars, motorcycles, mostly just outdoor adventure activities.

It’s hilarious. I love the whole concept. I tend to take on as much as I can and some things have to be on the back burner.

Entry Filed under: Health, Fitness, Aspen, Colorado, The West, Aspen Club & Spa, United Post