Staying grounded as a career soars [Interview]

Personal trainer. Magazine columnist. Celebrity health and wellness expert. Best-selling author. Award-winning TV host.

Los Angeles County resident, Obi Obadike, is proud of his widespread success in the fitness industry, and he's poised for even greater success in the future. Through it all, he works every day to distinguish between making it big and "going Hollywood."

"I never want to get to the point where people say I'm not accessible," Obadike said. "No matter what I'm doing, I'm always going to be the same person. You have to stay humble. When it comes down to it, people have to like you, they have to want to work with you."

No problem there. In 2014, Dr. Oz named Obadike one of the six most influential fitness experts on the web. As a fitness professional, Obadike has appeared on the cover of 50 fitness magazines and has written over 150 articles. At one point, he was a columnist for eight different fitness magazines around the world. He also had a regular column on bodybuilding.com called, "Ask the Ripped Dude."

Obadike, an ISSA certified trainer has been honing his craft as a fitness trainer since first credentialed in 2001. Because of his expertise, he recently was named ISSA's Director of Health and Wellness and is on the ISSA president's advisory board.

While he focused his career on the fitness and bodybuilding industry early on, Obadike said things really started to take off when he turned his attention to the mainstream fitness consumer.

"That really created a lot of mainstream opportunities for me," Obadike said. "I also did a fitness reality show for Spike TV with Jillian Michaels called ‘Sweat Inc.' Now I am one of four hosts on a nationally syndicated TV show called "Lifestyle Magazine,' where we cover the gamut of health issues."

Obadike does not do as much one-on-one training as he once did, and that is by design.

"The whole objective once I became a professional was to transition everything to digital," he said. "Training takes a lot of time out of the day, and I have other entrepreneurial things that I juggle. So the most efficient way for a fitness professional to grow a business is by transitioning to digital, where you can be anywhere in the world and still have access to help someone get in shape."

While acknowledging that nothing beats face-to-face time with a client, Obadike said digital is the next wave of fitness, health, and wellness, and he wants to be a part of it.

"I never wanted to have anyone pigeonhole me as just a trainer," Obadike said. "I also use the term ‘health and wellness professional.' Rather than just training people, a health and wellness professional is an educator, someone who creates content to help people, whether it's writing articles, producing videos, or authoring books. I can motivate people in so many different ways."

One such way is to simply use his own sculpted body to inspire others. After seeing Obadike's picture on the cover of a fitness magazine, Hollywood actor Morris Chestnut hired Obadike to help him shed some weight and get into top shape for a movie role. The results were dramatic. Chestnut went from 220 pounds to 187 pounds in 12 weeks. The two decided to chronicle their work in a book, and "The Cut" was published in 2017 and became a #1 best seller on Amazon. Chestnut and Obadike have become friends and business partners.

While making the rounds to various TV and radio shows with Chestnut to promote the book, Obadike appeared on Steve Harvey's TV show. Harvey was so impressed with Chestnut's transformation that he asked Obadike to train him. Obadike went on to be a featured health expert on Harvey's radio show.

Obadike admits that he sometimes is amazed about the level of success he has achieved in the fitness industry. He grew up in the Los Angeles area and was a standout track athlete at Cal State Fullerton. He took a job in telecommunications after graduation, and began doing some personal training on the side.

"I did it as a hobby, and I didn't really know how to go about it as a career," Obadike said. "I didn't know how to make money as a fitness professional. It just got to the point where I decided it was what I wanted to do. But when you give up that secure job to do something where there are no guarantees, it can be a scary thing.

"There was some risk in doing that, but I'm glad I did it. I made mistakes, but I learned. And I'm still learning now.''

Obadike said he is currently in discussion regarding a couple of major media projects. While he said he is not in position to offer specifics, we know he is one to watch.