5 minute read
Personalized Approach to Fitness
Nick Bolton—the other Nick Bolton—has spent years building his fitness brand and team.
By Bob Luder
Photos by Kevin Anderson
Sharing a name with a local celebrity can be tricky, especially when it comes to marketing and promoting a small business. But Nick Bolton doesn’t seem to mind. Given the reputation he’s established in the Leawood area over the last quarter century, it might even be conceivable that a certain veteran NFL linebacker with the same name could be mistaken for one of the area’s finest fitness trainers.
“I’ve been a personal trainer for 26 years around here,” says Bolton, former director of a Lifetime Fitness location in Overland Park. “I’ve worked hard on building a brand to reach more people, positively affect more clientele. I’ve worked on building a team to work with my brand, and now we’re putting the pedal down and reaching more people.”
In early 2021, as the world began to emerge from the worst of the pandemic, Nick Bolton Fitness opened in a 3,000-plus-square-foot brick-and-mortar manifestation of Bolton’s long-held vision of personalized training and wellness lifestyle.
“I really want (Nick Bolton Fitness) to be client-centric,” says Bolton. “We strive to provide the best experience with fitness. We want to empower people to take control of their lives through fitness.
“We want to change people’s lives.”
Personalized Training
Bolton has a team of five trainers working with around 100 clients. Each client receives a customized training action plan, expert coaching, and a supportive community aimed at optimizing results specific to their age, body type and fitness goals. Bolton’s team guides each client every step of the way.
Clients can choose from one-on-one, semi-private, or small-group personal training. The gym also provides online personal training, nutrition coaching, and fitness testing. Corporate wellness programs are available for local businesses, and a wide range of recovery technology and equipment is offered.
“Nick is knowledgeable about physiology and the ways people can work and really build muscle around an injury so that they can achieve their fitness goals,” says Alana Muller, who began working with Bolton following a knee injury. “He’s helped me continue to build my fitness protocol and feel great about myself.”
Another client, Dee Ann Solorzano, says, “As a trainer, Nick reads the client. He knows just how far he can push you, so whatever your goal is, he can come up with a workout routine that’s going to be just what you need.”
Bolton’s nearly three decades of work as a fitness trainer in the area made Leawood an easy choice for Nick Bolton Fitness. “I’m very familiar with the area and demographics,” he says. “We’re not after heavy muscle-building here. Our clients are generally 40 to 65 and are looking for help to get the most out of life. And I love the family orientation of this area. There are a lot of residential areas and a lot of activities. I can’t imagine a better location for what we’re doing.”
Another client, former Kansas lieutenant governor Gary Sherrer, says he signed up with Bolton after some encouragement from his daughter.
“I’m 84 years old, play tennis three days a week, and walk five miles two or three days a week,” Sherrer says, “and it’s in part because I’ve been seeing Nick. I have flexibility and strength. I have so much confidence that he knows what he’s doing and have had a great experience.”
A Unique, Hybrid Facility
Nick Bolton Fitness is a training facility and a 24-hour gym complete with state-of-the-art equipment. In addition to weight equipment, cardio machines, and the like, the gym offers an infrared sauna, cold plunge therapy, and a mild hyperbaric oxygen chamber, all geared toward slowing the aging process and boosting immune systems.
“I like for my tool shop to have all my tools,” Bolton says.
Pricing varies, depending on the type of instruction—one-on-one or small-group—and the client’s desired level of training. Memberships for the 24-hour gym run $55 per month, and there are no contracts.
Perhaps someday, maybe even the other Nick Bolton will pop in for a workout. Bolton says he’s reached out to the Kansas City linebacker to ask if he’d like to come in, sign some autographs, or even get in a good workout, but so far he hasn’t heard back.
“The con (of sharing a name with a famous football player) is, if you Google ‘Nick Bolton,’ his name comes up at the top of the front page,” Bolton says. “But the name recognition is great. I’m enjoying it. It’s all fun.
“I have confidence in my team. We’ve all been doing this for a long time. And we love doing it.”
FOR MORE
Nick Bolton Fitness
4833 W. 135th St.
Leawood, KS 66224
913-890-3212
