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Omaha Magazine

Brains and Brawn

Jul 25, 2014 09:57AM ● By Kristen Hoffman
His wife loves his charming smile, but Chet Fortune, a certified personal trainer and owner of Warrior Fitness, also has a physique that many would envy and maybe even drool over. But looking this good isn’t easy. Fortune works hard to keep his muscled body in shape.

“My workouts are high intense strength conditioning,” says Fortune. “Pull ups [he does over 100 a day] and dips are staples.”

He tries to focus on a couple different muscle groups every day and work the cardio training into the resistance training with such exercises as frog leaps, box jumps, prints, and burpees of some sort.

And this writer isn’t the only one who’s noticed his physique. Fortune was recently named by Shape Magazine as one of the 50 Hottest Male Trainers in America for 2014.

It all started simply enough. Fortune had posted profile pics on bodybuilding.com, photos that quickly went viral and were viewed, he says, by a couple hundred thousand people. Based on his popularity on that website and on a whim, Fortune decided to send pictures to Shape late last year. Crickets chirped. Nothing happened.

“Fifteen minutes before it [the magazine’s promo] went live online, they sent me an email to let me know I placed,” he says. “It was a total shock, honestly, but it was also awesome.”

Fortune says the newfound celebrity he has achieved thanks to the competition has translated into an increase in his business. His personal training sessions are pretty well booked up, and he says classes are filling up as well.

“I’ve always had a huge interest in health, fitness and exercise,” he says. “I was going to the gym four to five days a week and I loved it.”

Before starting Warrior Fitness, he was in the banking profession. And he says that he had to eventually ask himself if he wanted to do that for the rest of his life. Fortune’s thought was you only get one go-around, so why not live it by following your passion?

Fortune started his first business, a janitorial service, four years ago. In addition to an undergraduate degree and an MBA, Fortune has an entrepreneurial spirit.

Though it was a success, he says he discovered that he hated confronting toilets and cleaning up after people. All the while, Fortune was learning about what it took to run his own business. “I knew if I was going to sustain a business for a long time, it would have to be something I was passionate about,” he says.

He had always enjoyed helping other people with their personal fitness goals…and Warrior Fitness was born. He says he wanted to build a personal training facility where people could have some privacy while working out. Fortune caps the group sessions at 20 people. That way, everyone still gets some one-on-one attention from the trainers.

“My wife and I started with everything we had in our checking and savings account,” he adds. “I’m proud of the fact we didn’t take out any loans, even when we bought our equipment. Our overhead is extremely low and, two years later, we are going strong.”

He says one simple thing everyone can do to improve their health is to eat real foods and cook everything themselves. Fortune advises people to stay away from the inside lanes of the grocery store and avoid processed or fast food.

“Nutrition is 80% of the battle,” he says. “You can train as hard as you want, but you will never get the body you want if your nutrition is off.”

He explained cooking everything with real ingredients takes the processing and chemicals out of your food (for the most part). That means your organs can work to break down fat rather than chemicals.

Fortune’s favorite go-to snack is Quest Protein Bars. He says his favorite breakfast is three scrambled eggs, three pieces of turkey bacon, and a Clementine with black coffee. But just eating the same way Fortune eats will not give you the same body.

Whether it’s good nutrition or exercise, Fortune knows that consistency is the most important thing. “If I stop working out today, my body will start depleting tomorrow,” he says. “It’s just being consistent and knowing that trying to get in shape or staying in shape is an everyday battle. Every decision you make, whether it’s nutrition or exercise, affects that.”

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