Marc Megna has played in the NFL, made his name as one of the most revered coaches in Miami, Florida, and founded Anatomy at 1220, the 2017 Miami New Times Reader's Choice for Best Miami Gym. His accomplishments are many and impressive to all, but his story doesn't start with a silver spoon or generational talent. In this video from the Strong(er) Business: elitefts Fitness Professional Summit, Megna gives the first part of his presentation, focusing on the experiences that led him to where he is today.
After explaining his inspirational first encounter with Dave Tate and thanking him for his guidance, Megna begins his presentation by telling the story of where he came from and how his life led him to the fitness industry. Growing up in a blue collar community by the name of Fall River, Megna's story begins in a place where few people avoided alcohol and substance abuse and even fewer made it out of the city. After his father suddenly abandoned the family, Megna's mother worked double and eventually triple jobs merely to be able to provide for her two sons. Describing her as a relentless, tireless worker, Megna praises his mother as the person who instilled in him an understanding of hard work and sacrifice.
Megna then talks about his experience as an unathletic child playing youth football in a community where football mattered more than anything. Every man in his family respected sports and, despite having no clue what he was doing on the field, a young, insecure Marc Megna wanted nothing more than to be a part of it. At this same time he was a constant victim of bullying at school and had no male figure in his life to direct him. That's when he met Vincent Fitzgerald. As the vice principal of Megna's high school, every time Fitzgerald saw the teenager hanging out with a particular group of young miscreants, he'd pull him into his office and make him stay there. Without Fitzgerald, Megna says his life would have likely taken a very different path.
It was close to this time that Megna received an enormous collection of sports magazines from a neighbor. Taking pages from the stacks of magazines, Megna plastered the walls of his bedroom with pictures of the best athletes in the world. He started looking up to them and his admiration quickly turned into an obsession. By then, a growth spurt had turned Megna from a short, chubby child to a tall, thin teenager. Too skinny for high school football, his mom took him to a local gym and signed him up. Every day after school Megna would walk to the gym to train. The people in the gym quickly became fond of him and the older guys in the gym started looking out for him, directing him, and telling him how to train smarter.
Through this process and the relationship he had with his football coach, Megna learned his place as a high school athlete: he didn't have the skills, which meant the only way for him to succeed was to go all-out, all the time. The message was clear that Megna's success depended on giving every ounce of effort his body could give. If he wanted to achieve his goal of making the NFL, it was going to require everything he had.
By the minute:
- (1:24) The community of Fall River
- (2:47) Supermom and your first coach in life
- (4:20) Youth football as a chubby child
- (6:12) Vincent Fitzgerald
- (9:25) High school football, the first gym, and constant effort
