THE Difference Makers

Subtle Differences Make The Difference

When it comes to your workouts, what are you focused on?  Are you there to train or to socialize?  Are you watching the clock or are you perfecting your form?  Are you going through the motions or are you engaging the movement? Are you thinking about the weekend or are you focused on the muscles being worked?  When you’re tired, do you quit or do you push yourself for more?


Do you have a “FAILING” attitude, or a “WINNING,” attitude?

Do you “DESERVE” or do you “SACRIFICE”?

Do you Eat for PLEASURE or Eat for PERFORMANCE?

Do you make EXCUSES or make DECISIONS?

Do you REST or do you SLEEP?

Do you GET BY or do you STRIVE?

Do you IGNORE or do you LEARN?

Do you CHEAT or do you COMMIT?

The subtle Differences Make THE DIFFERENCE between seeing results or wasting your time.

They're your ACTIONS...

MAKE THEM COUNT EVERY SINGLE TIME!



Sean "Mayhem" Murphy

Legacy Of Mayhem - Part 4

The Bear

For one reason or another, I have always been very partial to the Bear as a trademark and representative to various sports teams and childhood memories.

In fact, my first team I ever picked as my favorite were the Chicago Bears (I was born into a UNC Tarheel family which is truly my first favorite team :D)

I decided to do a google search on animals and find out if they represented any meaning. I was ecstatic to learn that the Bear represents Strength and Adaptability.

How perfect is that?

As our members adapt to the training, they get faster, leaner and STRONGER!

The Bear was most definitely to be used in our Logo.

I also wanted MXT (standing for Mayhem Cross Training) to be used in some way.

I was working with someone to help design a new website (which never got produced) and they found a design artist to work on our logo.

Knowing we wanted a Bear and MXT to be used they sent us this first draft.

Ok, not horrible right. In fact the black and yellow was a nice Boston Bruins kind of theme but wasn’t anything of what I was looking for.

So I submitted my objection - “I would like for the Bear to be more aggressive. Lets scrap the red one altogether.”

And here is what I received next...

Well, the friendly polar bear now has his teeth showing and the black and yellow, he’s a bit more fierce, still not the image I’m going for though.

I want a little more chaos to be represented, maybe claws out, coming at you.

In which we then received...

Ohhhhhh, yeahhhh. Now I am digging this!

But, I don’t really like the yellow... and the red, well... I had to ask my members...

“Does that look like blood to you?”

A little too vicious maybe.

So, I had to write back, “I love the design, can it come in maybe Blue?” (which just happens to be my favorite color :D)

Their reply... Something like this?

Now we’re in business!

I sent these to my members to cast their vote for their absolute favorite.

It was a toss up between the top and middle.

And after some final editing we received our new logo...

Don’t you just LOVE it!!

Legacy Of Mayhem - Part 3

MXT Emerges

Through the use of the Fit Body coaches I was introduced to the world of other fitness marketers and business coaches. I be-friended these guys and invested in some of their products. What I was learning with each course excited me so much more each and every day.

These weren’t sly marketing tactics; these were systems to make sure that the experiences my members received were the best in the Richmond area.

There truly is something to be said about succeeding through your own personal growth.

As I became better, my coaching become better, my clients became better and results, both in and out of the gym were rapidly increasing.

My members were (and still are) so excited to come into the gym each and every day to work on getting results!

My passion and excitement continued to develop as I got louder and more rambunctious during the workouts.

Somewhere along the way, the coined phrase “Mayhem” was born.

I was leading the charge of “Unleashing the Mayhem,” as our members got more fierce with their workouts.

The boot camp model was changing in some regard.

As we were able to bring in new equipment our classes evolved from your typical cardiovascular and body weight exercises into more traditional lifting and cross training with sports applied plyometrics, speed and agility movements.

I knew we were heading into a whole new dimension and that the Fit Body Boot Camp model was no longer needed after a year operating with the assumed name.

I remember being on vacation down in Shallotte NC with my family for the 4th of July when my new plans were being created.

What we needed first was a new name for our gym.

I sent many of my most loyal members a message to cast their vote on some names that I had come up with.

The name that won hands down was Mayhem Fitness & Cross Training.

“After all”, said one member, “You ARE Mayhem!”

And so, without even a debate, Fit Body Boot Camp became known as Mayhem Fitness & Cross Training (MXT).

What we needed now was a new Logo.

Oh, this is truly a FUNNY process.

Legacy Of Mayhem - Part 2

The Birth of Fit Body Boot Camp In Richmond VA

To try and save (or at least help) my personal training facility I decided to start up Boot Camps. A lot of people started using this type of training instead of private personal training due to its affordability and fun factor that it provides - plus, it produces results - fast results!

I didn’t want to go into this business model blindly so I enlisted the help of two business coaches who specialized in boot camps in California called Fit Body Boot Camp. Their model was simple, work with the Capital you have, find a local martial arts, gymnastics or cheer facility and get to work!

Side Note: What I invested with these guys was far minimal to what I had before in the franchise but the out of the box marketing and information they provided was bar none superior to anything I had read about or seen before.

I came across USA Cheer and from my first visit knew it was going to be a solid fit for what I had planned. Many factors influenced my decision to use this location but number one was Tim and Gina Morgan, who were so gracious to work with me from the very beginning.

I started my new venture 3 days per week in the early morning before heading back over to my personal training facility to work with my personal training clients. I was truly loving it and despite some long days I was motivated to make it work which never affected my energy levels - plus I had my secret weapon, Spark 

Well, as you already know, despite my best efforts, the personal training facility came to its end and that hit me hard.

Real hard.

In fact, I never felt more defeated and scared in my life. You can read about my thoughts in this blog post.

Despite the closing of that gym I continued to run the boot camp classes 3 days per week once per day. During my off time for the first couple of weeks I fought serious depression and lack of self worth.

Here was my thought process...

• “I’m in way too much debt. I’ll never get out of it.”
• “I don’t have any working capital. I’m broke.”
• “I can’t afford my bills. Living with a roommate just to make ends meet sucks.”
• “Should I even be doing fitness as a business?”
• “What if this fails too?”
• “Maybe I should get a job.”
• “I should just give up.”

After two weeks of this something inside of me snapped.

“I can continue to this road of self defeat and lose everything, including this new opportunity with these boot camps, OR, I can re-invent myself and fight back!”

My new thought process was this...

• “I’ve got debts to pay off. I don’t know how but I won’t worry about how, I will work towards that goal.”
• “I’ll be creative with the workouts and marketing until I have the money to buy new equipment and be able to spend money on marketing.” - By the way, to this date, I still don’t spend hardly ANY money on marketing.
• “I’ll grow this business and my bills WILL be paid. I ALREADY HAVE everything I need to be successful.”
• “So what if this fails, I’m going for it and I won’t be able to say it failed because I gave up.”
• “THIS IS MY PASSION, I don’t want a job!”
• “There is NO GIVING UP!”

Well, as sure as you’re reading this today, my decision to fight back was worth it!

Fast forward 2 years, I have managed to create something pretty spectacular and truly unique here in the Richmond area known as Mayhem Fitness & Cross Training and it was all done by firmly BELIEVING that it CAN BE DONE no matter what the circumstances!

And you know what, I’ve done this on a strictly cash only business model. No borrowing, no credit, no excuses! And it gets so much better!

Special Birthday Blitz

Hey Gang!

Guess what?

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!

So, I have a special GIFT for you!

It's your very own Birthday Boot Camp Blitz!!

Its FREE and right here for you!

Take advantage of the beautiful weather and take this workout outdoors and have some FUN!

This is my way of saying THANK YOU for all the texts, emails, phone calls and Facebook Posts wishing me a Happy Birthday!!

So, here you go!!

OH!  I forgot to include in the video - if you don't have something to jump up onto - that's ok... Just Jump Up as high in the air as you can and be sure to land in a soft squat!

Enjoy this FUN HIIT Full Body Workout and tell me all about on Facebook!!

That would be an awesome gift you can give back to me 

Sean "Mayhem" Murphy

Toys For Tots FREE Boot Camp

The gauntlet was laid down and over 30 men and women (including one lil tyke - Easton) jumped on the challenge.  It was our FIRST EVER Toys For Tots Boot Camp drive and it was a HUGE Success!

Words simply cannot express my gratitude to everyone who came out today but I am going to try here...

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who came out today for our Toys For Tots FREE Boot Camp!

You came out and got a serious Military style workout in and graciously gave from your hearts!

I think this picture says it all!!

For all of you who were new and braved our workout today, I want to say HOOAH!! You did a GREAT JOB!

And as a token of my appreciation you will be receiving our daily motivations and weekly Newsletter, "Champions Drive On."

Again, I am truly humbled and honored to be your Coach and to see this wonderful event be such a HUGE success!!

And I have a special HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in the cooking of the healthy meal and contributed so much of their time to ensure today was a success!

Stephanie "Rock Star" Ward, Ron "The Beast" Cooper, (yep, I just came up with that because you are a beast in class AND in the kitchen!!), Christine Taylor, Lori Willis, Brianna Baldwin and Barb Swett who was absolutely amazing once again with her time with us.

Thank you once again to everybody who made today so special to us here at Mayhem Fitness & Cross Training!

You Can See More Photos of The Event at Our Main Website By Clicking Here!

The Legacy Of Mayhem - Part 1

Hey friends, Sean “Mayhem” Murphy here and I have something really cool that I want to share with you.

Yesterday (November 1st, 2012), Stephanie “Rock Star” Ward shared a very nice message on Facebook about her two year mark with us.

If you missed it, here is what she said along with the many of the comments she received.

Now, I LOVE all of these comments that Stephanie received but I’m particularly fond of the comment left by Stefanie O’Brien because many people don’t realize the journey we have gone through... and honestly are STILL going through.

We most certainly HAVE come a long way and both Stephanie and I are VERY proud of what we have accomplished AND what we offer to all of our members at MXT!

Each day seems to conjure up a new adventure for us and it always seems that yesterday was the easiest day yet! I’d like to share with you some of that journey as we still get questions of how we ended up where we are and what’s next for us at MXT.

So join me as I take you through a little history in which I’ll refer to as, “The Legacy of Mayhem!”

It all started back in 1999 when a back injury left a very active and motivated guy in a state of depression and obesity. (You can read my full bio by clicking this link here!)

From that spawned a decision, a simple yet life changing decision to lose the weight, get healthy again and strengthen my lower back not knowing this would then cause a new career path in Personal Training.

And yes friends... I will argue to the point of death that ONE simple decision in an INSTANT can be life changing! Too often, people dwell on the “what ifs” but everything and anything can change in an instant, just by making a decision and ACT on it. Another topic for another day!

Long story short, I lost the weight, strengthened up my lower back and was now a certified personal trainer and working for a local gym in Fredericksburg VA starting in 2001. This was definitely a fun time for me. I learned so much from other trainers and was truly having the time of my life. I was still a rookie and made some rookie mistakes which are totally embarrassing and laughable today.

Like when I had a barbell loaded up with a bunch of 10 and 5 pound plates on either side so I could do a Drop Set but yet lost the balance of the bar and next thing you know I’m filling up the gym with thunderous clank clank clank clank clank as the barbell teetered in my hands side to side and offloaded each plate from left to right and back again... yeah, that was THIS guy!! LOL!!

But its where I learned so much and got to experience helping my first clients achieve results with their health and fitness goals. I practically lived in that gym and found myself there even on my days off, just to hang out with my new friends and be a part of the gym atmosphere. I was loving every day but something inside me was burning do more... to be more.

I remember one Thanksgiving year as I was back “home” in Shallotte NC and saying to my cousin, “I’m loving this personal training thing I’m doing. I would love to move down here and open my own gym. Hey, I have an idea, start spreading a rumor that Gold’s Gym is going to open up around here and see what kind of attention that brings.”

I then started researching opening up a Gold’s Gym and other gym franchises and even started interviewing at some of these gyms in the local area from Wilmington on down to Myrtle Beach. I actually got one of the jobs with a World Gym in Myrtle Beach but after much discussion with my family, we decided against the move and starting over. The main factor was my son who was only 3 at the time. We had good jobs in Fredericksburg and didn’t want to take the risk of staring over.

So, I turned down that job opportunity but that passion of becoming MORE and doing something great was still in me. When we got back home from that family trip I had a letter in my mailbox. It was from a National Franchise who talked about opening up a private personal training facility. A spark went off and I immediately started investigating it.

About a week went by when I received a second letter from the same company. It was at that moment I decided to call to see what it was all about. I was VERY impressed when the President of the company was the one who answered the phone!

It wasn’t a personal assistant or an automated system, but the man himself. He presented a couple of options to me in which I could check out their franchise and I chose to fly out across the country to see what this was all about. To say I was impressed is an understatement. This company was top notch and I was hooked. I loved the idea of having a place where clients could come to me and train in complete privacy. So, I bought in. That was in the fall of 2003.

Now, let me be very candid and clear here, this was not a cheap investment. Here I was, barely a high school graduate with no college degree taking on this enormous challenge of business ownership. What I lacked in education however I made up for with passion!!

I had God, I had a supportive family, I had a corporate franchise, I had a vision, I had a plan and I had determination and with all that I took a HUGE RISK! NOTHING was going to stop me! And so the journey began and I learned immediately what small business owners sacrifice and put into their days each and every day.

I worked very long hours but that was nothing new to me. I’ve always worked hard but now I am doing this for myself!  And even though I truly loved what I was doing, I quickly learned that Richmond VA is a very tough market to break into - especially if you’re an outsider coming in!

In fact, just about every networking event I attended or small business owner I talked to told me this.... “If you can make it here in Richmond, you can make it anywhere else in America.” You may want to remember that if you’re considering opening up a business here.

I also quickly learned that people in Richmond don’t really like driving very far. I remember one of the first clients who joined my personal training facility complained it was an 8 minute drive. I laughed, figured he was joking but no, 8 minutes was a BIG deal. Really???

Now, when I first opened here in Richmond I really didn’t think I would have that much of a struggle. After all, I was a great personal trainer, I had great trainers working for me. We knew our stuff, we delivered results but my lack of business knowledge and experience quickly caught up with me.

I can honestly say, if I didn’t have a franchise helping me out in those beginning years, I would of never have made it past my first 2 years, maybe not even the first year.

Now, that business model did make it, in one location for 5 years. But not without a lot of fighting, high stress, high debt (YIKES!!), very long hours and good friends, both as clients AND other entrepreneurs who were always willing to give good advice and a helping hand. Here is my mad props to you Mark D!

Now, even though I had the heart, the drive, the help and even a good solid base of clients, this first business NEVER got to the point that I truly needed it to financially. Debt was getting higher and I was sinking lower.

Then, we all remember what happened in September of 2008. The end of the economic boom and the announcement that we are in a recession. Stocks plummeted, 401Ks were gone, the housing market crashed! And where did that leave some of us small business owners? Either fighting for our lives or closing up shop!

I fought for 2 more years, even moving my location in a final attempt to save a sinking ship. Alas, that chapter of my life came to a close without ever making it one full year in the new location.

However, as you’ll soon discover, not the end of good things to come!

I’ll reveal much more in Part 2, coming soon!