ABOUT HPF
01
HPF ESSENTIALS
FITNESS
With a staff pulling experience from competitive CrossFit, triathlons, gymnastics, weightlifting, marathons, and bodybuilding, HPF workouts will incorporate all the good things we found to be effective with these various styles of fitness. We believe in creating a fitness solution that can be applied to people who are advanced in their fitness journey as well as those who are just getting started. Movements are hand selected with purpose to create a certain challenge and stimulus for our members to progress towards their goals. Regardless of your fitness level, age, shape, size... or any other variable for that matter... you can feel confident that our coaches and community will see you through each and every workout.
02
COMMUNITY
HPF is here... there... everywhere! Whether it's serving cold brew in our local communities, hosting a party in our fitness studio, or leading a free workout at the Mercedes Benz Arena, we LOVE being present for our communities. Bringing people together and experiencing something unique through fitness is what we live for. The HPF community, both coaches and members alike, thrive in showing up POWERfully time and time again.
03
QUALITY
Quality or nothing. HPF seeks to provide only high quality products and experiences from our workouts, to staff, to apparel, to cold brew. Requiring coach certifications and continuing education of our staff, partnering with lululemon, working with local coffee roasters to brew a mind blowing cold brew, fresh towels in the showers... all contribute to our mission to bring the highest quality experience to our communities.
2018
STORY (SO FAR)
THE GARAGE
December 2018, HPF 1.0 is born. After working in the fitness industry for several years, Chris saves up $10,000 to invest in his dream of opening HORSEPOWER FITNESS in his garage. While small, HPF 1.0 was legit. It had top tier equipment, a whiteboard for writing client workouts, towel service, a scheduling and billing platform, a refrigerator stacked with drinks, and was featured on Rogue Fitness's instagram! The garage would make many awesome memories for about 1.5 years until Chris would decide to take HPF to the next level. After all, it was just a matter of time before the HOA would have a problem with the amount of cars parked on the street.
2020
FORSYTH OPENS & A PANDEMIC
By 2020, HPF 1.0 is outgrowing its garage space and is ready for the next phase. An office space is found outside of downtown Cumming GA and the gutting/construction begins. About halfway through construction, Covid-19 begins creating many challenges such as economic uncertainty, scarce fitness equipment, and minimal construction workers. Chris was still confident in the HPF vision and construction pressed forward with himself and his dad doing the lots of the work themselves. Chris recalls trimming rubber flooring while watching the covid and protest news on his iPhone... wild times. Fast forward to today and HPF Forsyth remains a fitness staple for many locals and visitors making fitness a priority in their daily routines.
2023
HPF COMES TO CRABAPPLE
HPF had been hungry for a second location for quite some time... but nothing felt right. If you know us, you know gut feeling is everything. That is, until one day when Chris & Alexa were having lunch in Crabapple Market. Having been a trainer in Crabapple in years past, Chris couldn't help but see Crabapple as an ideal spot for location #2. Long story short, a spot was becoming available just steps away from where they were having lunch that day. How convenient. They walked over and peeked in the window and... it was darn near perfect. Fast forward and on October 28th, HPF Crabapple opens its doors.
HI, MY NAME'S CHRIS
MEET THE FOUNDER
CHRIS SEXTON - OWNER
YOU'RE PROBABLY EXPECTING ME TO SAY THAT I WAS A FORMER ATHLETE ALL THROUGH SCHOOL AND FITNESS HAS ALWAYS BEEN APART OF MY LIFE... SOUNDS LIKE A LIKLY GYM OWNERS STORY... BUT THAT WOULD BE A LIE.
GROWING UP IN FORSYTH COUNTY GA IN THE 90'S, FITNESS AND HEALTH WASN'T REALLY A BIG THING. I THINK WE MAYBE HAD ONE GYM OPTION AND THE HEALTHIEST PLACE AROUND WAS WAFFLE HOUSE. WE HAD THE DESIRE TO EXERCISE, ESPECIALLY MOM AND I, BUT REALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE DOING. WE LIVED ON A HORSE FARM THAT COMPETED WITH SADDLEBREDS AND WALKING HORSES (HENCE THE NAME HORSEPOWER FITNESS) AND I REMEMBER US RUNNING 11 LAPS AROUND THE RIDING RING WHICH EQUALED A MILE. YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT WE JUST RAN A MARATHON! DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON OUR NUTRITION... ANYONE ELSE KEEP A CONTAINER OF CHOCOLATE ICING IN THEIR FRIDGE SO YOU COULD SNAG A SPOONFUL AS A SNACK? THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL, I FINALLY STARTED TAKING LARGE GROUP FITNESS CLASSES AT OUR LOCAL GYM (I WAS WAY TOO SHY TO GO ON THE WEIGHT FLOOR ALONE) AND RUNNING. THIS WAS THE ACTUAL START OF MY FITNESS JOURNEY.
I WANT TO BE A PHYSICAL THERAPIST WHEN I GROW UP
IN 2009, I HEADED OFF TO COLLEGE NOT REALLY KNOWING WHAT I WANTED TO DO AS A CAREER BUT PHYSICAL THERAPY WAS AN OPTION I DIDN'T HATE. TO GO INTO PHYSICAL THERAPY, THIS MEANT I WOULD HAVE TO MAJOR IN EXERCISE SCIENCE... WHEN MEANT I WOULD HAVE TO DO FITNESS-Y THINGS... IN A GYM... WHICH WAS TERRIFYING. MY FIRST REQUIRED CLASS WAS CALLED "EXERCISE LEADERSHIP" WHERE I WOULD HAVE TO CHOREOGRAPH A WORKOUT ROUTINE TO MUSIC AND TEACH TO THE CLASS. KILL ME NOW PLEASE! MY OPTIONS WERE TO EITHER QUIT OR TO TURN OVER A NEW LEAF AND LEAN INTO THE DISCOMFORT. NOBODY KNEW WHO I WAS AT THIS SCHOOL ANYWAY SO I DECIDED, "LETS FREAKIN GO". AS YOU PROBABLY FIGURED OUT, I DISCOVERED OVER TIME THAT I ACTUALLY KINDA LIKED FITNESS, THE GYM ENVIRONMENT, AND IT WASN'T SO SCARY AFTER ALL. WHILE PURSUING MY EXERCISE SCIENCE DEGREE AT KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY & UGA, I DECIDED TO GET CERTIFIED AS A PERSONAL TRAINER IN 2013 AND STARTED WORKING WITH CLIENTS. I LOVED BEING A PERSONAL TRAINER AND KNEW IT WAS SOMETHING I WANTED TO DO LONG TERM... GOOD BYE PHYSICAL THERAPY.
"I DON'T WANT TO BE GOOD, I WANT TO BE DAMN GOOD"
I REMEMBER TEACHING MY FIRST CLASS AS A TRAINER... WELL CO-TEACHING MY FIRST CLASS... I WASN'T CAPABLE OF LEADING A CLASS AT THE BEGINNING. I DIDN'T SLEEP A WINK THE NIGHT BEFORE AS I WAS SO NERVOUS TO SPEAK IN FRONT OF A GROUP. IT DIDN'T GO WELL. IT WAS BORDERLINE HORRENDOUS. AFTER THIS TRAUMATIZING EXPERIENCE, I MADE IT A MISSION TO KEEP FACING THIS FEAR OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL I WASN'T ONLY "GOOD"... I WANTED TO BE "DAMN GOOD".
OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS, I WORKED AT 7 DIFFERENT GYMS (COUNTING HPF) WITH A MISSION OF LEARNING AND EXPERIENCING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, GETTING OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE, AND SEEING WHAT PRODUCED THE BEST RESULTS FOR CLIENTS. I ALSO WANTED TO FEEL DIFFERENT KINDS OF FITNESS, NOT JUST WORK IN THE FIELDS. WITH THIS MSSION OF WALKING THE TALK, I'VE DONE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF FITNESS OVER THE YEARS. MARATHONS, IRONMAN, COMPETITIVE CROSSFIT, OBSTACLE COURSE RACING... TO NAME A FEW. I ALSO TOOK MY CONTINUING EDUCATION VERY SERIOUSLY AND MADE AN EFFORT TO VARY THE STLE OF FITNESS I COULD LEARN. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER WHEN COACHING A NEW SKILL TO CLIENTS! A FEW OF MY FAVORITE CERTIFICATIONS I'VE FOUND TO BE IMPACTFUL ARE:
-NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SPORTS MEDICINE PERSONAL TRAINER
-CROSSFIT L1 & L2
-USA WEIGHTLIFTING
-BERGENER STRENGTH
-SENIOR FITNESS SPECIALIST
THE LIST GOES ON AND ON AND THERE IS NO END IN SIGHT WHEN IT COMES TO LEARNING.
TO COME FULL CIRLCE, THE FITNESS PRODUCT WE HAVE CREATED AT HORSEPOWER IS A COLLECTION OF WHAT I HAVE FOUND TO BE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FOR CLIENTS FROM ALL THE VARIOUS TYPES OF FITNESS I HAVE WORKED IN AND EXPERIENCED OVER MY YEARS IN THE FITNESS INDUSTRY. I LOVED THE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS FROM CROSSFIT BUT NOT THE ARGUABLY DANGEROUS MOVEMENTS SUCH AS HANDSTAND PUSHUPS, KIPPING MOVEMENTS, AND OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING... SO I KEPT THE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS I LIKED AND REMOVED THE ONES I DIDN'T. I LIKED THE HIGH INTENSITY ASPECT OF HIIT BUT NOT THE AMOUNT OF JUMPING... SO I TOOK MOST OF THE BOUNCING OUT WHILE KEEPING THE INTENSITY HIGH. I LOVED THE AESTHETIC BENEFITS OF BODYBUILDING BUT IT NEEDED MORE INTENSITY... SO I ADDED THAT IN. I SAW HUGE VALUE IN POWERLIFTING BUT FELT THEY WERE MISSING ACCESSORY MOVEMENTS... YOU GET THE IDEA.
IF YOU'VE MADE IT THIS FAR READING, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR YOU INTEREST IN MY PASSION PROJECT THAT IS HORSEPOWER FITNESS. I'M SO EXCITED TO SHARE MY VISION AND MISSION WITH YOU AND THIS AWESOME FITNESS COMMUNITY WE ARE BUILDING!
