ActiveLife Activist: Justin Nucum

Justin Nucum
Obstacle Course Race Enthusiast, Coach and ActiveLife Activist

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your fitness background.

I was born and raised in Guam so I love tropical weather and being outdoors.

Growing up, I was into playing basketball and volleyball. 

After high school, I started venturing off into different sports: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Crossfit and Olympic Weight Lifting. 

During college, I was so intrigued by Ninja Warrior, which was originally from Japan, and I wanted to try these obstacles for myself.

However, at that time, I could not find a gym or a place where I would be able to train for such events.

The options that I found were to either: build my own obstacles or become a member of multiple gyms that had different types of equipment.

As my college senior project, I used this idea of putting all of these workouts and sports into one place creating a hybrid type of training for hybrid athletes.

Today, it is now known as Hardkour Performance.

2) What has been your biggest client success story? Why do you think it was a success?

My biggest client success story would have to be Annaliese A., who is originally from Colorado.

She dropped into one of my intro classes at a rock climbing gym and was determined to do an obstacle course race.

Her dedication, hard work and ability to absorb and just learn everything from scratch is amazing.

With 4 months of training and trusting the process, she competed on her first ever Spartan Race and ranked in the top 10 at one of the hardest venues nationally.

Now, she will be competing at North American Championships in West Virginia in August (which is only her second race!) 

3) Talk about the biggest failure you've had. What did you learn from it?

Biggest failure would have to be losing friends in the process of growing the business.

Everyday I learn something new and it is a rollercoaster of emotions day in and day out. 

My biggest take away from this is that you start to learn who really supports you and who doesn't.

There always have been people wanting to simply benefit from either me or the business. 

4) What would you do differently if you were starting in your industry now?

If I were starting in my industry now, I would start smaller than I did.

I would do as much as I can on my own and then expand out.

But even knowing what I know now, I would probably do the same process and learn from it.

5) Which people or books have had the most influence on in your life and why?

My mentors and listening to podcasts' of Gary Vaynerchuk and Andy Frisella have been very influential in my entrepreneurial life.

Like I mentioned in the earlier questions, it is a rollercoaster of emotions each day. You never know what will happen.

You can have 2 new clients one day and 5 clients cancel their memberships the next. 

Gary and Andy keep it raw with the realities of having your own business and I am able to relate.

Being able to apply their experiences with mine has been so valuable and it has taught me more than I have learned from anyone else or schooling. 

6) What weekend hobbies do you enjoy? 

My newest found hobby is trail running with my clients. 

Waking up before the sun comes up (instead of sleeping in) and then climbing up to highest point of the trail with the amazing views. 

AND then being able to eat a filling breakfast with some coffee.

A weekend well spent!

7) Whats your favorite movie?

Ah! Can't name just one but I love fighting/action movies: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, James Bond.

8) Whats your favorite food?

Sushi!

9) What would people be surprised to know about you?

I am a HUGE foodie! Created my own food blog before I started Hardkour Performance.

My Camera Eats First #FEEDYOURCAMERA 

 
10) What's your favorite part about being an ActiveLife Activist? 

Functional and high quality product that I can get behind and promote to my clients as well as use for myself.

I have tried and used plenty of products similar to what ActiveLife offers but none come close!

11) Tell us your favorite AL product and why you enjoy it so much.

I have so many but my ABSOLUTE favorite is the HIGHBALLER.

SO unique and functional. I use it all the time and recommend it to my clients.

I even bring it to class and trainings so clients can use mine.

It gets all these hard to reach places that a regular foam roller just cannot reach or dig in.