The Story

Hey, I’m Yuri Elkaim. But I guess you probably know that already.

What I’d like to share with you on this page is the amazing journey – or story – of Fitter U Fitness. If you’ll sit tight for just a few minutes I’ll show you exactly why the program was created and how it has helped thousands of people just like get in the best shape of their lives!

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ONCE UPON A TIME…

There was a little boy (me) who started playing soccer at the tender age of just 4 years old! I immediately fell in love with the sport, played it everyday, and, fast-forward several years, realized my dream of playing at the professional level!

That’s a very quick synopsis of my playing career. However, what I didn’t tell you is that for about 15 of those years, I trained like a mad man to become the best athlete I could possibly be.

And how did I do it?

Well, keep reading and I’ll tell you…

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I WAS NEVER INTO BODYBUILDING

That’s right. I never had a passion for “bulking up” or competing in bodybuilding competitions. Not that there’s anything wrong with those endeavours but they just never resonated with me. Instead, I was focused on engineering my body into a well oiled machine that could outperform my competitors (on and off the pitch) and create the best health possible for years to come.

For me, it was all about sport-specific training. I mean, what good would having bulky muscles do for me on the field? Not much. Year in and year out, I trained my body, consumed the latest training methods like a kid with candy at halloween, and began experiencing phenomenal physical and performance results.

It was no surprise that I later had an interest in pursuing university studies in physical health and kinesiology (the study of human movement and performance). So that’s what I did.

And I loved it. I worked hard, learned tons, and began applying what I was learning with others. At the University of Toronto I studied under some of the best doctors and professors in the business, including Dr. Doug Richards (former sport med doctor of the Toronto Raptors), Tim Taha, Dr. Jack Goodman, the late Dr. Bob Goode, and many others. I was truly blessed for being surrounded and inspired by so many great minds.

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MY VENTURE INTO FITNESS TRAINING

I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to share what I was learning with people who were in need of getting in better shape. First, it would obviously serve as tremendous practical application for what I was learning (truly the best way to consolidate any kind of learning) and, second, I would be able to help tons of people.

Thus, in my 2nd year of university I went out and secured my first job as a personal trainer. It was definitely a learning experience for me and I got to see first hand how my clients could transform using the fitness programs I had put together for them.

Within a very short period of time, I was the busiest trainer in my gym and already had a waiting list of clients who wanted to train with me. The downside to one-on-one training is that there are only so many hours you can work in a day and thus you’re limited to how many people you can help. At least that was my dilemma.

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THEN MY LIFE-LONG DREAM CAME TRUE!

Throughout my 4 years at the University of Toronto I was fortunate to have played with the school’s varsity soccer team where I was named team captain, MVP, and an All-Canadian in my last 2 years. I helped our team overcome years of underachievement to win our provincial championship and place 4th at Nationals.

At the same time, I was also playing pro soccer (although signed as an amateur to maintain eligibility with U of T) with the Toronto Lynx and getting tons of valuable training and game experience at a much higher level.

But my real dream came true when, upon my graduation, I was invited to play soccer in France with Lille OSC. “Le LOSC” as they are known to supporters were (and still are) one the top teams in France! My life-long dream of playing pro soccer in Europe had finally come true. It wasn’t an easy journey but it was definitely worth it.

During my time in France, I learned a huge amount about how the top soccer players (and athletes) were training. It was far beyond anything I had been exposed to with soccer in Canada. In fact, our conditioning coach was also the sprint coach for the a number of sprinters on the French olympic team. Besides his often brutal fitness sessions, I did learn a lot from Didier and how to take my training to the next level.

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THEN IT ALL FELL APART…OR DID IT?

At the end of my first year with Lille I was supposed to sign a contract with a different club (Amiens FC). However, due to some weird circumstances it all fell through. Initially I was pretty pissed but I now know it was for the best.

The reason is that I know that what I’m doing right now is my real calling!!!

Sometimes not achieving your initial goal is your destiny – something better is always around the corner.

So I came back to Toronto and started right back up where I left off – working with my clients. But now I was armed with new training methods from the “pros” as well as my years of athletic conditioning education.

But after training clients up to 14 hours a day I hit my breaking point. I need to find another way to reach more people and allow me to get my life back.

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THEN ONE DAY, ONE OF MY CLIENTS…

Suggested that I put my voice tape. I wasn’t sure what he was babbling about as he was huffing and puffing and tearing up a sweat doing some crazy step-up exercises. But then he repeated himself, “Honestly Yuri, I think you should put your voice on tape! That way, even those clients who can’t work with you can still work with you – if you know what I mean.”

I totally knew what he meant. It was brilliant and I had jumped at the opportunity right away!

I did my research and soon found that no one else was doing this. There was no other provider of downloadable mp3 workouts anywhere. At least at that time there wasn’t.

And so, with that opportunity and my desire to share my unique training programs with people all around the world I created the original 12-week Fitter U mp3 fitness program. It was an instant success and our clients loved how innovative it was and how helpful the audio-guided workouts truly were. Not only was the MP3 audio component of Fitter U great, but also these time-efficient workouts were also based on many of my most effective circuit training and interval training programs. The results truly spoke (and still do speak) for themselves.

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BUT JUST A SHORT WHILE LATER SOMETHING ELSE CAME UP!

Fitter U was a 12-week program. The inherent problem with that is that when the 12 weeks were up our clients were left with nothing to do. So, initially I suggested repeating the 2nd half of the program until I developed a “sequel”.

After about 2 years I finally launched the “sequel”. It was called Fitter U Fitness and this new system was (and is) truly my “bread and butter”, featuring the most incredible workouts I’ve ever developed, daily social support through our Locker Room forum, and incredible fitness results.

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FITTER U FITNESS IS THE CLOSEST THING TO ACTUALLY TRAINING LIKE AN ATHLETE

That was the goal with this new training program. As it is a membership-based program, each of our “team members” have access to new time-efficient and portable athletic workout each month. These new workouts last an average of 25 minutes and for the most part can be done anywhere as they require minimal equipment.

We’ve really tried to create a “team atmosphere” inside the members area and our goal is have each one of our members feel like they are an integral part of a team. They are not just doing workouts on their won but they have the support of everyone else (including myself) throughout their journey!

And because one of my goals is to produce the most effective fitness programs in a unique and innovative way, we’ve added to feature of making all of the workouts available in video format as well. So members get video and MP3 versions of the workouts, 4-week training plans to organize the workouts, and PDF workout trackers (and pics) for each workout!

Fitter U Fitness is allowing people from all over the planet to enjoy the benefits of pro athlete training. No matter your fitness level, you too can be part of our team and experience these fun, challenging, and constantly evolving workouts.

So as of July 2009, that’s where we’re at. That’s the Fitter U Fitness story and I hope you see something in what we’re doing that can help you out as well.

If you’d like to join our Fitter U Fitness team you can do so by taking a completely FREE 30-day trial. You can experience the entire first of Fitter U Fitness totally free and then you can decide if you want to stay on as a member. But I have to warn you…about 93% of people do! That’s how awesome it is. Why not see for yourself?

I’ll see you in the workouts!

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Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
Creator, Fitter U Fitness