14 | Exceptional People Magazine | September-October 2009 2009

John BasedowJohn Basedow

America’s Fitness GuruAmerica’s Fitness Guru

people Extraordinary Profiles

This is exactly how This is exactly how This is exactly how This is exactly how John Basedow be-John Basedow be-John Basedow be-John Basedow be-came known as came known as came known as came known as one of America’s one of America’s one of America’s one of America’s biggest fitness ex-biggest fitness ex-biggest fitness ex-biggest fitness ex-perts. Basedow's perts. Basedow's perts. Basedow's perts. Basedow's journey is truly an journey is truly an journey is truly an journey is truly an American dream American dream American dream American dream come true.come true.come true.come true.

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a winnera winnera winnera winner.

people Extraordinary Profiles

He change his way of thinking and believed in his ability

to succeed despite the challenges he faced. Of course,

success comes with a price – hard work and commitment.

Basedow’s journey to becoming America’s fitness expert

didn’t happen overnight. His interest in fitness began

with him producing and syndicating a television show

from the basement of his parent’s home. The show, Im-

ages, focused on health and medical topics. By the seat of

his pants he learned how to produce and distribute the

show and became very successful at it for three years. As

this chapter of his life ended, another began, but not be-

fore he experienced a downward spiral in his life.

He always had a dream of appearing in a fitness maga-

zine and as he puts it, “I was nowhere near in the shape I

needed to be in to appear in a fitness magazine. I was

like a bowling pin on legs.” Being a person dedicated to

achieving his dreams, Basedow decided to try various

diet and fitness programs, none of which worked.

He quickly became aware that life can throw you a curve

ball at any moment and if you’re not prepared to catch it,

then you’d better be ready to accept the challenge it will

take to get back into the ball game. After the success of

his show, Basedow found himself in a place and time

where no money was coming in. “I was frustrated, I was

broke, and I was out of shape. I felt like there was noth-

ing going on and nothing to look forward to,” he recalled.

He was at the lowest point he had ever been in his life. “I

couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage. I wanted to throw

up my hands and quit”.

But he didn’t give up and decided to take stock of his life

to figure out what he was doing wrong. Why was he not

reaching his fitness goal? Was it the food he was eating

or the exercise plans he tried? Sometimes when you

can’t find a solution, you create your own. With a back-

ground in biology and a lot of trial and error, Basedow

created his own fitness program. Within eight weeks he

created a breakthrough in his appearance, fitness level

and most importantly his attitude. He achieved his goal

of appearing in numerous fitness magazines. Just think,

ten weeks prior he thought there was no hope of accom-

plishing his dream, but with a change in mindset, he be-

came empowered to turn his life into a success.

The very same fitness program he developed for himself

has created an entrepreneurial success for him over the

years. ”Fitness has a ripple effect,” Basedow stated. “It

improves everything physically, mentally and emotion-

ally.” He has since created other fitness programs and is

now producing his own fitness reality television show.

Basedow also believed that if the program could work for

him, a guy who used to look like a bowling pin on legs,

then it could possibly work for everyone else who tried

everything but obtained no results. Hence, the Fitness

Made Simple, Unlock Your Potential video he made on a

shoe string budget. It became one of the most popular ex-

ercise videos on the market. Don’t be misled; a high level

of dedication is necessary to achieve anything worthwhile.

Basedow has graced the cover of many magazines and is

also a widely respected columnist for various publications.

For the past three years, he’s lead the annual heart walk for

the American Heart Association and also received two

awards for his work with the American Diabetes Associa-

tion.

Basedow’s passion has always been fitness and television,

and he has found a way to marry the two to create unlim-

ited possibilities. Within four short months of creating his

first television commercial, he was able to get completely

out of debt. Today he manages his fitness empire while

simultaneously helping thousands of people get into shape.

His advice to those who think they can’t be successful is:

“No matter how low you are today, that has no bearing on

where you’re going to be a week later, a month later or a

year later, so don’t ever quit. Don’t ever give up on your

dreams, because if you believe in yourself, anything is pos-

sible. I am living proof of that.”

Here’s what he calls his business model, “Start small, build

big, and always keep control along the way.” Basedow’s

success did not happen without hard work. In the early

stages of building his business, he did everything, from

packing shipping boxes with his videos, to answering

phones and handling customer service calls, to working

until three o’clock in the morning. Basedow has achieved

success over the years by following his own advice.

As a television fitness personality, author and motivational

speaker, Basedow is inspiring people worldwide to improve

their health. �

November-December 2009 | Exceptional People Magazine | 17