Student runs online nutrition, fitness consulting company

A typical day for junior Jordan Syatt involves online consultation with his many clients, helping with the university powerlifting team, working out to maintain his physique, updating his own business and studying for his health behavior classes.

Syatt, 21, runs an online personal training company called Syatt Fitness and majors in health behavior sciences with a minor in strength and conditioning. He takes on clients for a 12-week period and helps them reach their individual personal fitness goals, he says.

Clients find him online and send an email or video discussing their fitness goals, he says. He sends them a questionnaire and creates an individual profile and three-month training program based on all the information. Although he ends up doing more business work than school work, Syatt says they go hand in hand.

“The cool thing about my business is it fits in with my major, health behavior sciences, and I minor in strength and conditioning,” Syatt says. “Many of the things I do actually help me out in my classes.”

While in high school in Massachusetts, he first became interested in training and would advice of this nature for a small fee, he says. Now he advises friends in his dorm as well as his clients through his company. Syatt says he was always athletic and first learned how to cut weight while still maintaining strength on as a starter on his high school varsity wrestling team.

This experience, as well as his jobs and internships in local gyms, helped give Syatt the knowledge and finance he needed on his path towards his own personal fitness company, he says.

Syatt started his business when he was 19. Since then, he has published two e-books on nutrition and fitness and co-founded and writes the training program for the university powerlifting team.

The excellent coaching he received when he was younger influenced his decision to start his business, he says, and the bottom line is all about helping others achieve their goals.

“I was always told to pay it forward, so having a website and articles that help people out and dispel common myths seems like the right thing to do,” Syatt says.

Joe Anderson, 21, attended the same high school as Syatt but heard of his program through reviews on Facebook. A client for almost two years, Anderson says that Syatt’s young age is not a concern because he receives the support he wants out of a training program.

After the first 12-week program, Anderson achieved his desired results, he says. A student at the University of South Carolina, Anderson says Syatt’s online consulting fits into his schedule perfectly. Syatt calls every week to see how he is doing and asks about workouts, nutrition and bad habits all through the phone or Skype. Anderson is in the middle of another three-month program and says the personalized experience is what keeps him coming back.

“With gyms, I just kind of go,” says Anderson. “Syatt picks out the level of intensity per client, and he knew that with me, he would have to stay on me every day. With him, I’ve definitely improved 100 percent.”

Syatt favors maintaining a healthy lifestyle that should not get in the way of living a full life, he says. He likes nutrition and strength-training-based programs, and says people should find their own program preference and see themselves following this likable routine for a long time.

Kimberly Smith, a junior dietetics major, says although she personally would not consider getting a personal trainer, she can see why there would be an appeal for others. She says she has never heard of a personal trainer working online before but thinks that although the method is different, it can still yield results as long as long as the trainer sticks with his clients.

“I think that an online trainer can be as effective as one in person,” Smith says. “Especially in a college setting, where a student wouldn’t really have time to sit and consult in someone’s office.”

Joe Ratteni helped found the university powerlifting club with Syatt two years ago and says his commitment and energy have helped push the team to success. Ratteni, who placed first in his own weight competition in November 2012, says Syatt is a great leader and coach who can answer any question that the team has with regards to nutrition or a particular lift.

According to Syatt, though, it’s not hard finding the time if he’s doing what he loves to do. He says he hopes to continue his work and eventually move back to Israel, where he volunteered and traveled for a year before college, which he identifies as the best year of his life.

“I love it, I love what I do, love working with clients and helping them out and seeing their results,” Syatt says. “I love traveling, having my business on my computer, and would love to be sitting in Israel and doing what I love to do, helping people from my computer.”