Today we’d like to introduce you to Harcourt Husbands.
Harcourt, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m an immigrant…
I moved to the U.S from Barbados when I was four years old. I still have vague memories of the Pan Am flight from Barbados to New York. I was a skinny little thing back then.
My parents worked hard. My father worked in shipping and receiving at Manufacturers Hanover Trust bank in Manhattan. My mother worked nights as a nurse’s aide at hospital. They would often work second jobs to make ends meet or to accomplish big goals like purchasing a home. This left me on my own frequently.
They weren’t comfortable with me going outside at such a young when they weren’t around to watch me. I lived the standard life of a latch key kid of that era when I grew responsible enough to ride the bus to school. As I was in private school, this meant city transit and not a school bus. My typical day would end with homework, snacks and PBS. Before too long, the inevitable happened. That lifestyle turned skinny me into… “the fat kid”.
I didn’t enjoy being the fat kid. I recall trips to Manhattan to buy clothing in the “stout” section. My parents were concerned as well. The sought the assistance of a registered dietician in order to rectify my weight gain. Unfortunately, the combination of rich Caribbean food lack of activity made these attempts unsuccessful. My motivation for change would be simple. Girls and puberty.
Freshman year in is high school is sufficiently challenging without being the fat kid. Even more so when the school is full of attractive young ladies. It was a heartbreaking time, but it set the stage for things to come.
I asked my parents if I could join the school football team my sophomore year. Thanks to football, I was able to obtain the physical activity that I was lacking. This is where I also discovered resistance training, and learned about the direct relationship between muscle mass and consumption. I joined the team at four foot eleven inches tall tipping the scales well over 200 pounds. As a senior, I stood five foot seven and weighed 176 pounds. Definitely not big enough for a collegiate ball, but I had no intention of pursuing that. I really just wanted to be healthy and happily achieved that.
My focus now was on getting into college and figuring out what career I was going to pursue. I loved technology and viewed the impending revolution with fascination. This became my academic focus, but I wasn’t listening to cues around me. I continued to workout. It was now my lifestyle and I understood that I had the potential to return to “the fat kid” should I stray too far. The workout also provided my mind with valuable downtime so I could give my studies my best. However, they also had an interesting side effect. People started asking me how to train. How to get into the kind of shape I was in. How to be better at what they wanted to do. Before long, I had a dedicated workout crew and several other people I was advising. Awesome right? I didn’t pay any attention to what the universe was saying. I just saw people who were like me and wanted to change things so I helped. Training people just became a normal part of my everyday. Unfortunately, you have to graduate eventually and figure out your next steps.
That was graduate school for me. My undergraduate journey saw me change majors, learn Russian, and study abroad as the former Soviet Union crumbled. I left undergrad as an economics major with a Russian studies minor. I sought to add a business degree to this skill set in hopes of a career in international business. The program was intense and provided little time for my workouts. I gained weight and feared a return to the girth of my youth. I focused on completing the program with the intention of finding a gym the moment I obtained my first employment position. This happened 18 months and 2 master’s degrees later.
The corporate world absorbed me as a technology consultant. My true calling kept slapping me in the face while I cluelessly ignored it. A few months after starting my career, I was back in a fitness facility with a new crew and had others asking questions. This would continue through multiple relocations until I changed employers. Three years after I started my career, I joined my first start up and join a Gold Gym. This is where my training knowledge would grow significantly. This is where I met the female bodybuilder I dated.
This relationship provided me with a gateway into the world of competitive fitness. While dating her, I assisted with the nutritional phases of both bulking and cutting learning about this in depth from the ground up. I then applied these techniques to myself by preparing for a contest so I could fine tune and solidify this knowledge. Knowledge which I used solely to continue progressing in my healthy lifestyle. However, another life event would finally convince me to utilize the knowledge and experience I had amassed.
Marriage would bring me to central Florida and change my life in many ways. It saw the birth of my only child and a career change that would give me the ability to be more involved. I studied to obtain a certification and started my training people for a living.
I taught a group class at a local fitness facility and worked with a few people. While there, I had the privilege of training two ladies for their first competitive fitness contest. This was a great environment that permitted me to get the feel for doing what I did just because it was important to me as a profession. However, I wanted more flexibility to attend events in my child’s life as needed. That would require going it on my own.
My first facility was the great outdoors. I conducted my sessions at local parks utilizing pavilions and the proximity of the water. Alas, Florida is way to brutal for that in the summer. I switched to garage training with fans to cool the space. My neighbors, unfortunately, didn’t enjoy sounds of sandbags being slammed into the ground and some potential clients thought it was sketchy until they met me. I needed to find a space. Fortunately, I was able to locate one with the help of a friend. It’s modest but suits my coaching style perfectly as I focus heavily on my client’s form and mobility.
Speaking of coaching… After a few years of working with clients in a dedicated fashion, I started to discover a trend. The biggest challenge that people seem to have is letting go of the tendency to use food as an emotional support tool. Nutrition is essential and this sabotages progress. I studied and obtained a certification in health and nutrition coaching to help my client population better devise strategies to deal with this scenario.
The rest is a daily work in progress.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to success is seldom smooth. I was an unknown quantity and had to prove myself. I am in a small town so I had to my worth. Then, just when things were starting to stabilize, the pandemic hit and shut me down. I was fortunate enough to find temporary employment in an essential industry. Additionally, I was able to procure a small business loan to catch up on the business debt that accrued while I was closed. I felt very fortunate because many other small businesses have closed their doors permanently.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a health and nutrition coach who specializes in the correction of biomechanical issues and body composition change. I heavily focus on educating my clients so that they can continue using the knowledge I have acquired over 4 decades to maintain and continue to improve their wellness.
From a brand perspective, I am most proud of the reputation I have for results. My clients get what they pay for and more.
If there is one takeaway that I want your readers to have, it would definitely be my passion for delivering on my client’s goal requests.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I have a client who has been with me for over 5 years now. However, I want to credit her mother for sending her to me when she wanted to improve her fitness. They both train with me currently and are walking billboards for my skills. Team Harvey have definitely been crucial to my success.
The Murphys, now Murphy and Dalmeter, another mother and daughter. Betty, mom, told her daughter Jessica about me and they have both been with me for years. Mom is getting ready to move out of the area and feels very confident that the skills I passed along will permit her to build her own personal training facility to continue her fitness journey. Jessica, who recently got married, comes to see me every other week. She lives about 45 minutes away and is currently working with her husband to build a home gym so they can take advantage of my remote training. Jessica was also one of the first people to tell me that what I offer is worth far more than what I charge for it.
Sami Rose and Kayla who as friends also know darn near everybody. They both sing my praises to anyone and everyone.
Chris Prouty, an internet market guru, has helped me in the shaping of some of my social media messaging. He also give me some credit for his fitness success. I was simply his cheerleader.
Contact Info:
- Email: harry@321coachharry.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/321CoachHarry
