Rob Jones

On July 22nd 2010, Sergeant Rob Jones lost his legs when struck by an IED serving his country in Afghanistan.

His full story is here and is something you need to watch.

I was fortunate enough to meet Rob because of our “Salvation” project. We began exchanging emails but it wasn’t until he attended our location in December 2011 that I learned his full story. He had asked to come to the gym to get some help with the conditioning portion of his rowing program so we invited him to work with us. His goal was to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics in Rowing.

When I met Rob I was overwhelmed with his attitude and his will to succeed. He is as hard a working man as I have met and in my eyes he is a living example of the type of person that Gym Jones was created for in the first place. During his time here I was fortunate enough to create a friendship with and I’ve been fortunate enough to maintain that friendship with him ever since.

Since he left the gym to go pursue his goal I have tried my best to help him by writing his conditioning programming. To be honest it has been a nerve wracking experience. If you met Rob and knew how passionate he was you’d immediately know how important this rowing goal of his was. Because of this I wanted to make sure that every single session in his program was ‘perfect’. I’d also never worked with an athlete in his situation or his specific sport (adaptive rowing). All that said he made working with him easy. He never once complained or missed a session regardless of what I threw at him. He simply put his head down and got to work and did every single thing required of him. He is one of the most committed athletes I have ever had the privilege of working with.

Just this weekend he won the Mixed Double Sculls Truck & Arm in the 2012 World Rowing Cup in Belgrade with his partner Oksana Masters. Here is the full story. By winning he has achieved his goal and qualified for the 2012 Paralympics.

Today we spoke on the phone and he thanked me for helping him achieve his goal. To be clear Rob Jones never needs to thank me for a single thing. In fact it is quite the opposite. I should be thanking him for allowing me the opportunity to work with him. I should be thanking him for trusting me and for trusting our small project enough to work with us and to visit us. I should be thanking him for allowing me the privilege and honour of calling him my friend. I should be thanking him for reminding me what true dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice look life.

Thank you my friend.

Bobby Maximus Big Guy Club

Training has been going really well and it is about to be taken to another level. I have never been healthier, stronger, or happier and now it’s really time to push. My NFL guys are back in the gym and their offseason prep started today. It will be a long, hard offseason but it will also be a lot of fun. I’m grateful to have the privilege and opportunity to train with such a dedicated group of high level athletes. You become who you hang around and when you are surrounded by excellence every single day there is no choice but to improve. I will be chronicling the training on my twitter account (@bobbymaximus) and also in full detail on the Gym Jones member’s site which you can find at www.members.gymjones.com

Gym Jones Preaches the Cult of Physicality

Click on the photo above for an article on the gym that was featured in the September 11th, 2011 edition of the New York Times. Thank you to each and every one of you for your support.

The original website launched in 2006. There have been a lot of changes since then and they have all led me to this point. Like everyone I have had some “ups” and “downs” but thankfully I’ve seen a lot more of the good than the bad. I truly feel blessed to be in the position that I am now.

This new site is more representative of who I am at this moment in time. The person I have become. The person I plan to become in the future. Rebecca Clayton, who designed the site captured that sentiment completely. I am extremely grateful to her for her hard work on this. She is damn good at what she does.

In the next few weeks I will be fully updating the site. It will just take some time. From this point forward I will also be more dedicated to keeping the site current which is something I have not been good at in the past.

I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of my true friends and my family. I can’t list or thank everyone but those of you who are close to me know exactly who you are. Thank you for supporting me in good times and in bad. Nothing I have accomplished was on my own. You have all played a great part in all of this.

Thank you…

I will be fighting again June 5th/2010 as part of a “Fight Night MMA” charity fight to support the fight against human trafficking. It looks like a great card. Thank you again for all of your support.

I would like to thank my friend Jack Rego and the Street Soldier Team for all the gear. Jack is a friend and a great guy so please support his project. For more details on “Street Soldier” click on the graphic above. Thank you, Rob.

I am officially on Twitter. I will be providing updates on upcoming fights, training at Gym Jones and various personal interests. To follow visit: http://twitter.com/bobbymaximus or click on the banner above. Thank you for all of your continued support. Rob

The fight on February 20th didn’t go as planned. The bottom line is that I got caught with an elbow and a few knees and got KTFO’d. I refuse to offer any excuses for my poor performance. These things happen sometimes and my opponent got the better of me on that night. There is nothing else to say except that I need to use this loss as an experience to learn from and continue to progress as a fighter and as an athlete. All I can do is strive to get better and work harder than ever. Thank you to everyone who supported me in this and all my other endeavors. Know that it is appreciated.

Tonight was the official Weigh In for the Victory Fighting Championships. The champion Chuck “The Reverend” Grigsby and the challenger Rob “Maximus” MacDonald both made weight and it should be a great show tomorrow. Thank you to Esther Lin and Combat Lifestyle for the photo.