LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – On Veterans Day the classes at Branded One Fitness were busy.
With members and veterans doing their annual Veterans Day workout called ‘Chad’ named after a veteran who died by suicide in 2018. This workout consists of 1000 box step ups.
During class there were members of all different walks of life, including several veterans who also stepped up to honor those they served with and lost.
“It is not as bad as you think it is,” Jimmy Hardy said.
Hardy is an army veteran who first joined Branded One six years ago when he was having a hard time adjusting to civilian life and finding employment.
“I thought I’m a soldier, who doesn’t want to employ a soldier who doesn’t want me,” Hardy said. “I just thought that nobody knew me for my worth,”
Around this time, Hardy also had just lost his leg in a motorcycle crash but decided to give CrossFit a try.
“I thought the typical stigma that CrossFit for big burly men that want to destroy things,” Hardy said.
Instead, he tells FOX5 he found acceptance and confidence.
Coach Nick McCombs, owner of Branded One Fitness, tells FOX5 that when he first opened his gym in 2016, he had no military background but had friends and family who served.
“They don’t know if they belong,” McCombs said.
His love for CrossFit led him to open his gym with the mission of helping disabled service men and women with a free membership.
“I wanted to blend them back into the community get them feeling like they are a normal person again,” McCombs said.
McCombs also wanted to remind them they are not alone, his gym has flags for every branch of the military group.
“There just wasn’t somewhere they could come to day in and day out to be able to release the physical angst inside. I don’t know where they would go as for getting a free membership,” McCombs said.
For Hardy, the sense of belonging means so much more than a free membership.
“We all push each other, we crack those military jokes and really kind of help keep it alive even though its a different version of ourselves,” Hardy shared.
Branded One Fitness offers memberships to disabled veterans and first responders.
Currently, they have about 50 service men and women.
If you want to learn more, or to donate you can visit Branded One Fitness online.
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