Contributed by Cam Dupre
In the last three years, Grunt Style has quickly gained momentum as the country’s top apparel company for veterans and patriots for many reasons; breaking nearly 100M in sales, employing hundreds of veterans and supporters, and holding “GruntFest” events across the country, to name a few. Over an eight year period, Daniel Alarik has taken Grunt Style from a t-shirt company operating out the back of his trunk to a seven digit lifestyle brand. Grunt Style reaches far beyond the bounds of just a t-shirt company.
“PRIDE IN SELF, IN MILITARY, AND IN COUNTRY”
These are the core values of this organization. It is emblazoned on it’s website, and it’s no surprise to see the CEO, an Army veteran, running an organization that practices what it preaches.
Over the years of growth, Grunt Style has spawned off-shoots from it’s main brand that carry out it’s mission in specific markets: a wilderness and survival gear company, Alpha Outpost. American Grit for web-media, ‘Merica Bourbon, and Grunt Style MotorSports are a few of those off-shoots.
Enter Grunt Fit; the newest edition to the Grunt Style empire.
But Grunt Fit is rolling out something that has not been seen in any of it’s past ventures. Grunt Style CEO, Dan Alarik, wanted to use his past experiences to give back to the community in a different way.
“When I was a personal trainer, I noticed that there is a mathematical formula to nutrition and fitness success,” said Alarik. “When I was a Drill Sergeant I saw how with direct instructions people can be much more successful.”
Grunt Fit is a mobile application that approaches the user’s fitness in a way that is very similar to that of a military drill sergeant. Unlike other fitness apps that may have you track, and record, and input many variables, Grunt Fit delivers the user with a whole fitness experience that includes everything from a workout regimen to a custom meal plan and will tell you what to do and how to do it based on what direction you want to take your fitness.
At the helm of the Grunt Fit ship is Tiffany Hampton. A warrant officer that served 14 years with the Army. She explained that the app differentiates itself from other fitness apps currently on the market because, “It is going to tell you what to do in order to be successful. We take out the guess work so you’re not trying to figure out how to make this work or how to eat this food. We are going to tell you exactly what it takes.”
Time, effort, energy, and thought has been sacrificed to ensure Grunt Fit and it’s users are set up for success. A large effort behind the scenes is coming from a team of industry professionals that consult, guide, and construct the meal plans and workout regimen.
Tiffany explains, “We are working side by side with a personal trainer and fitness nutrition expert to make sure what we are putting out there has had some documented success.”
Daniel Alarik added, “We're working with a lot of our partners, celebs and social reach to get a lot of feed back on the product.”
One of those industry professionals and celebrities is Linda Steele, a Chicago-based model and top ranked national fitness trainer. Lately she’s been making appearances on the Grunt Fit’s Facebook live feed to promote the app as well as broadcast updates on a user who is currently on the Grunt Fit program. Viewers are given the chance to peer into the window of what this experience will be like via these live Facebook updates.
“No matter who you are or what physical fitness background you have; If you set your goals with us and follow the program we guarantee you success,” said David Ehle, Marine veteran and director of marketing for Grunt Fit. “The benefits from this app will be clear and distinct. If you follow the program that we set forth, you will see the results that you want. Whether it is gaining weight, losing weight, or just toning up and maintaining.”
At the heart, the ability to choose your fitness destination and have Grunt Fit give you directions, Google Maps style, on how to get there is Grunt Fit’s achievement over other applications. “Most people are crippled or mislead because of the unknown and fear,” said Alarik. “Education is the opposite and resolves both these issues. You may know where you want to go but with a map and directions you can actually get there, not just wander in the wilderness.”
It’s a long road to the top of the charts but despite the nerves, excitement, and exhaustion that the Grunt Fit team is feeling prior to the release the CEO and former Drill Instructor knows, “Doing something this different and life-changing is not easy, but like running a long distance race, it's worth it in the end.”
The beta version of Grunt Fit will be available for Apple and Android devices in August. The full version, which will contain no significant differences, will be available 2-3 weeks later. For more information check out www.gruntfit.com.
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Landmark Life Coaching’s (www.landmarklifecoaching.com) Mission is to honorably and respectfully serve courageous groundbreakers and transitioning veterans to persevere in defining and executing their future by providing an atmosphere of comradery and trust that honors their dedication and commitment. This will empower our clients to feel whole, honored, respected and fulfilled in defining and living their life purpose.
Charlie Mike Podcast (www.charliemikepodcast.com) is where our Nations Combat Veteranpreneur’s talk about how they transformed their combat experience into a groundbreaking entrepreneurial success. We will discuss their experience in relation to what I have defined as their VisualReality; their personal vision of building a successful business leveraging their combat experience to bring the core strengths of a combat veteran into the entrepreneurial realm.
Dwayne Paro - Veterans Coach/Podcaster/Blogger/Speaker