September 9, 2025 • 18 mins
What makes Steven Mchone with Mchone Performance Training a good neighbor?
When Hurricane Helene ravaged his newly expanded gym with nine feet of toxic floodwaters on his 40th birthday, Steven Mchone faced a devastating choice: surrender to circumstances or find a way forward. The founder of Mchone Performance Training—"where local legends train"—chose resilience, a quality he instills in his mountain athlete clients daily.
Mchone Performance Training stands apart in the fitness landscape by focusing exclusively on adventure athletes in Western North Carolina and throughout the Appalachian region. Steven's journey into specialized outdoor fitness was deeply personal, watching his park ranger father lose his ability to enjoy wilderness due to neglected physical health. This powerful motivation drives his mission to help hikers, climbers, mountain bikers, and trail runners maintain the strength and mobility needed for lifelong outdoor adventures.
The podcast reveals fascinating insights about strength training myths that hold outdoor athletes back. Many fear weightlifting will make them bulky or slow, but Steven—a former competitive bodybuilder—explains how properly designed strength training actually enhances performance and prevents injury. His clients range from high schoolers to 74-year-old downhill mountain bikers, proving adventure has no age limit when supported by appropriate physical preparation.
Perhaps most compelling is Stephen's resilience story. After pivoting through COVID restrictions by moving equipment outdoors daily, he faced the catastrophic flooding of his Biltmore Village facility. With financial resources depleted from recent expansion, the business survived through community support—members cleaning equipment with toothbrushes, contractors donating time, and unexpected grants appearing when hope seemed lost. Today, Mchone Performance Training operates stronger than before, with a vision to expand to ten mountain towns.
Ready to elevate your outdoor adventures through specialized strength training? Discover how Mchone Performance Training helps mountain athletes reach new heights at MchonePerformanceTraining.com and join a community that embodies their founder's philosophy: never stop adventuring.
To learn more about Mchone Performance Training go to:
https://mchoneperformancetraining.com/
Mchone Performance Training
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast of the Tri-Cities inWestern North Carolina.
So today I am very excited tohave an interesting guest in our
studio for the first time, andI'm sure you'll be just as
excited as I am because today Ihave the pleasure of introducing
your good neighbor, mr StephenMcCone, who is the owner
(00:32):
operator of McCone PerformanceTraining.
Stephen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, good morning, skip, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Absolutely.
We're glad to have you, like Isaid, very interested to learn
all about what you do.
Why don't you kick us off bytelling us about what you do?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, so owner, owner , founder of McCone Performance
Training.
Tagline is where local legendstrain.
So we we're a performancestudio for mountain athletes and
adventurers, for mountainathletes and adventurers.
So we're a little bitnon-traditional athletes.
So we focus on helping peoplewho get out into Western North
(01:14):
Carolina and the Appalachianregion and try to keep them fit
and well for mountain life andadventuring.
So it could be hiking,backpacking, mountain biking,
trail running, climbing.
We try to keep all of ouradventure sports folks healthy
so they can stay out there andkeep adventuring.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Wow.
Well, how, stephen?
How did you get into thisbusiness?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I grew up in Western North Carolina and I had a
father who was a park ranger.
A father who was a park rangerand unfortunately I, you know,
as I was growing up, kind of sawwhat happens when you don't
take care of your health andwellness.
So to see my father go from anavid outdoorsman and adventure
lover to being someone who wasstuck in home and, you know, due
(02:03):
to his physical limitations hekind of lost the ability to be
outside and be in wilderness.
So early age I decided I wantedto try to be more fit and
healthy, just so I couldcontinue doing those kinds of
things.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So what are some myths or misconceptions in the
performance training business?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I feel like people think that not everyone needs to
strength train, or themisconceptions that strength
training will make you ArnoldSchwarzenegger or you're going
to have these big.
Yeah, my earlier career I was acompetitive bodybuilder and I
can assure you that it takes alot more than showing up to the
(02:44):
gym a couple of days a week tobecome a bodybuilder.
So one of the misconceptions isyou know, if you lift weights,
you're going to be big and bulky.
We work with a lot of athletesand their misconception is that
strength training will make themslow.
And I like to people to knowyou know, if you're more fit and
you're stronger, you're notgoing to be slower.
(03:04):
So that's one of themisconceptions that strength
will slow you down.
But it's quite the opposite.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, you mentioned you know you're trying to keep
people healthy so that they canstay outdoors and do their
adventures.
Who are your target clients andhow do you reach them?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So our target market is just typically the adult
adventure athlete.
So we kind of find that aroundage 30, our bodies, you can't
heal it with beer and tacosanymore, so you got to start
adding something into the mix.
And so we teach people not onlylike strength training but
self-care, stretching, rollingtechniques and things they can
(03:49):
do to help them, you know, stayfit and healthy with their
endeavors.
So it's, you know, a majorityof our folks are kind of mid-30s
to mid-60s.
We have some of our outlierswhere we have a couple of high
school athletes and then we haveone of my favorite athletes is
Bonnie Bonnie's, 74, and sheloves downhill mountain biking.
(04:10):
So wide range.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Wow, wow.
And how do you reach thosefolks?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
A lot of it is being at the places that they're going
to be at, um, being out at theraces.
We sponsor races, we'reinvolved in the races.
Uh, you know, our, our coachesare also athletes, so they're
out there in the community and,uh, you know, we volunteer,
whether it's, you know, trailbuilding, uh, you know, handing
out food, things like that.
Um, so we just try to beinvolved in directly helping out
(04:42):
with the events and the members.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Very cool, very cool.
Well, outside of work, Iimagine I know what do you like
to do for fun.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Jumping waterfalls, mountain bike, trail run, you
know, just trying to live thethings I want to do.
And, yeah, my goal is to neverstop adventuring and trying to
always learn something new.
So this year I'm getting alittle bit more into the
whitewater sports and this fallI hope to play around a little
(05:15):
bit more with climbing.
So I'm getting on some big rockstuff.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Wow, have you done mountain climbing before?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
No, but we also train several of the local guide
companies to help them stay fit.
For you know being out thereand taking folks up, so, uh,
I've been telling them for awhile I'm gonna get out there
with them.
So there you go you know, it'sgood to be out there.
So it lets me feel like whatothers feel like when they come
into the gym the first time andthey're nervous.
That's that's going to be me onthe on looking glass rock this
(05:49):
year.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
There you go, there you go.
Well, let's switch gears forjust a second.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you've
overcome and how it made youstronger in the end?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, I mean life, just you know it comes at you.
You know the rock you say yeah,I mean life, just you know it
comes at you.
You know the Rocky say you knowlife's going to come at you and
(06:21):
it's going to beat you down andyou, just you have to keep
getting back up and that's.
You know, covid happened.
So we had a year where we'relike, wow, like this is going to
, this is going to be something.
We, you know we had grown andwe'd start off the second year
of our business and then we gotshut down.
We live in a state, in an areawhere the lockdown lasted a bit
longer than some areas.
(06:42):
You know, my gym was in acomplex where I'm worried about
my neighbor, you know, sendingan email that they saw me
talking to someone without amask and we just had to pivot.
So we, you know, we startedmoving all of our equipment
outdoors every day.
So behind my, my original gym,we had a big outdoor space.
(07:03):
So I had bought a two tonrolling rack, like a big
industrial rolling rack, and wewould put all the equipment on
the rolling rack and roll itoutside and we'd work out, and
any of you guys that live herein you know the mountain region.
It rains in the summer orspring, you know almost every
day.
This summer particularly, it'sbeen a big thing.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's been insane.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, so yeah, we would be outside working out and
all of a sudden you'd see theclouds rolling up and, all right
, load everything on the cart,push it back inside.
So you know, we pivoted on theCOVID stuff.
When we were allowed to comeback indoors we had to go with a
lot of restrictions but youknow, our members and our
community continued to show upand you know, whatever we had to
(07:49):
do to keep moving and stayhealthy and support our
community, we just pivoted onthat and we got through it,
built a really strong community.
And then, you know, we got hitwith a lean.
I moved my studio last yearabout this time into the
(08:12):
Biltmore Village and that's kindof one of the ground rules.
So I got to move into a biggerstudio space and built more
village and invested in newequipment and it was our big
(08:34):
chance.
And then, six months into that,complete devastation from
Hurricane Colleen, which alsowas my 40th birthday.
So I got to spend my 40thbirthday pushing sludge,
essentially out of my gym.
So while a disaster touristcame and took pictures of me and
(08:58):
talked about how sad it was, Iwas spending my 40th birthday,
you know, sweeping away mydreams.
But you show up when you gethit and you just keep showing up
.
So I showed up every day, youknow, cleaned off a little more
sludge, took all my metalequipment, took my dumbbells,
(09:19):
kettlebells, anything that Icould salvage, and we took it up
to my house.
My house looked like a backyardgym.
It just has all my squat rack,my parking area, my dumbbells
and kettlebells and anythingmetal that we could keep.
We were out there.
We didn't have water for, Ithink, at least three weeks, um,
(09:50):
so I had friends that were werecoming by and helping us refill
my, my, uh, my tubs so that wecould bring water down and spray
off the equipment.
So, uh, so that was a littlefun hiccup.
Uh, I had an amazing uh have anamazing team and amazing staff
who who stuck through throughthis one with me and, uh, you
know, they were out there withtoothbrushes and spray bottles
and helping get all the grimeoff of it and making things
(10:11):
happen.
So that was our scenario.
We, you know, got everythingcleaned off and we said, all
right, well, we still havepeople to keep fit.
So we took our kettlebells anddumbbells to a park and five
days a week, we had workouts inthe morning and in the evening
and continued to do that whileour space got renovated and took
(10:33):
about three months for them tocompletely renovate the space
and make it safe.
I think we were the secondbusiness back in Biltmore
Village after the storm.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Wow, and and your birthday, september 26th.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Oh, it's the 28th, so the storm happened.
Yeah, it's the 28th, so ithappened that you know, the 27th
was the biggest part of thestorm and then the first.
You know, the water was still.
On the 27th, when I went downto look at the gym, there was
probably still five feet ofwater.
We had roughly nine feet ofwater in there at the height of
(11:09):
it.
Wow, so all our treadmills, ourbikes, our rowers, and then it
wasn't just mud and water, itwas a lot of toxic chemicals and
pollutants and things like thatin there.
So a lot of stuff we just hadto get rid of because it became
a biohazard.
And then, yeah, I looked at mybank account and I said I don't
(11:30):
have any money.
So this is going to beinteresting, because we had
spent our money to get into thenew space and outfit it.
So that's that's when, like,blessings just started happening
.
During COVID, I had written forgrants and we didn't get any
grants because we were such asmall new business.
(11:50):
So this time around, when Istarted writing out for grants,
every time I click submit, Iexpected nothing back.
So I would submit another grantand I'm like well, I just
wasted two hours of telling mysob story again on an email and
I'm like.
Well, I just wasted two hoursof telling my sob story again on
an email and then, all of asudden, grants started showing
up.
(12:11):
Wow no-transcript change thetrajectory.
One of our coaches also has setup a GoFundMe account and our
GoFundMe hit, I think, rightaround $35,000.
So between the grant andGoFundMe yeah, yeah, I was
(12:33):
telling people it was, you know,just a lot of emotions.
During that time I would hear ading on my phone, I'd get an
alert that we'd had anotherdonation and I would just, you
know, someone I hadn't talked tosince high school, you know,
you know, donated you know athousand dollars and said we
want to see you open.
So, wow, you know things likethat, um, so we, uh, we we were
blessed, um, to be able to comeback and we were actually able
(12:56):
to rebuy all of our equipmentand and upgrade some of the
equipment, um, so we were ableto come back, you know, bigger
and better than before the storm.
So we're back up and going.
So that was a little bit of,you know, a hardship we went
through there and now we're, youknow, we're thriving, we're
(13:17):
busier than we were before thisstorm and looking forward to
what we can continue to do.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Wow, so you're back in Biltmore Village.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's hard for businesses these days.
If you're a small business,especially in an area like
Asheville, there's a lot ofcompetition and the prices are
not there for the small businessentrepreneur.
So, yeah, the options you getpresented are either or you're
(13:46):
either in a floodplain or you'reyou're in a less desirable area
.
So we're we're making the mostof it.
We have four years left on ourlease there and you know we now
we have action plans.
So you know we're even on ahigh alert during this, this
next hurricane season.
We have local, the folks thatlive in the neighborhoods that
have trucks.
(14:06):
We all have a list now that ifit looks like it's going to go
this way next time around, we'regoing to pull the trucks down,
we're going to put thetreadmills and all the equipment
that we're worried about in thetrucks, take them to higher
ground, and that's about all wecan do.
So we have a plan and you knowyou never expect something to go
(14:26):
so wrong.
There's a lot, of, a lot ofconnections around here with you
know the surrounding areas andthe mountain communities.
You know our guides.
You know they.
They work in the Nolichucky,they work in Tennessee, they
work in Kentucky.
You know the climbers, therafters, the mountain bike
guides, and we were all likehitting a real widespread way
(14:47):
for that one.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Well, I'll tell you what it's been a you know
horrible situation but storieslike yours and I've talked to so
many people in Western NorthCarolina about you know very
similar stories where neighborscame out helping neighbors.
You know people showing up,very resilient community, uh,
coming together.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
It's been a been a real blessing, I think, from my
perspective yeah, one of the themoments that we had was, uh, we
basically got given, uh, 24hours to remove all the the
equipment out of the facilityafter not hearing a whole lot of
communication to that point,and we were given 24 hours to
get all of our equipment outuntil they were going to start
the out of the facility afternot hearing a whole lot of
communication to that point.
(15:26):
And we were given 24 hours toget all of our equipment out
until they were going to startthe remodel demo project the
next day at five o'clock.
So we sent a message out to ourmembers and a big shout out to
Zen Contracting, One of ourmembers, Zen.
He brought his contract companyin and in 50 minutes, with the
help of him and our members, wehad we had pulled everything out
(15:47):
, cleaned up shop and we weredone.
So, yeah, you know, seeing thosemoments where the community
shows up, you know having havingthe folks help us clean, having
folks help us pull things out,you know, and it's you know all
walks of life.
You got CEOs in the backparking lot with full eight.
You know hats, you know.
You know the hazmat suit on andthey're going out there and
getting on a zoom call inbetween helping us clean up and
(16:10):
things like that.
So, uh, it really gave us thehope and inspiration to continue
.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Awesome story, awesome story.
Well, stephen, if you couldthink of one thing that you'd
like our listeners to rememberabout you and about the cone
performance training, what wouldthat be?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Oh that if you, if you live in the Appalachian, is
getting to the tops of thehighest peaks.
Continue to move your body andlook into the possibility of
strength training if you feellike you're not capable to do
things that you love, and try tonever stop adventuring.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Awesome.
And if any of our listeners areintrigued you know, intrigued,
interested and want to want totry to improve their strength so
that they can get out and dosome, do some wild stuff in the
in the wild, what?
How can we learn more?
Speaker 3 (17:12):
You can go to MacombPerformanceTrainingcom and
reach out to us on our contactlink.
We do do some remote training.
We are hoping to expand intoother mountain towns.
My vision with MacombPerformance Training is to have
10 mountain gyms and 10 mountaintowns, one of those being
(17:34):
Johnson City, tennessee, is kindof a part of my vision.
So I want to give mountainathletes a place, and mountain
folks in general a place thatfeels more welcoming to them, uh
, and a place that can keep them, keep them fit.
So look us up and, uh, keep aneye out.
Uh, hopefully we'll come to amountain town near you.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, we'll definitely bewatching for that, steven.
Thank you so much, appreciateyou taking time out of your busy
schedule, uh, between clientsto clients, to uh tell us all
about your story and yourjourney and and all the great
things you're doing at uh mccombperformance training, and wish
you and your family and your,your clients, your business, all
(18:14):
the best, moving forward.
Awesome thanks, skip.
Appreciate you, appreciate youand maybe we can have you back
sometime, maybe when you opensome of those in other mountain
towns.
Sounds good.
All right, man, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423 3, 7, 1, 9, 5, 8, 7, 3.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast of the Tri-Cities inWestern North Carolina.
So today I am very excited tohave an interesting guest in our
studio for the first time, andI'm sure you'll be just as
excited as I am because today Ihave the pleasure of introducing
your good neighbor, mr StephenMcCone, who is the owner
(00:32):
operator of McCone PerformanceTraining.
Stephen, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, good morning, skip, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Absolutely.
We're glad to have you, like Isaid, very interested to learn
all about what you do.
Why don't you kick us off bytelling us about what you do?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, so owner, owner , founder of McCone Performance
Training.
Tagline is where local legendstrain.
So we we're a performancestudio for mountain athletes and
adventurers, for mountainathletes and adventurers.
So we're a little bitnon-traditional athletes.
So we focus on helping peoplewho get out into Western North
(01:14):
Carolina and the Appalachianregion and try to keep them fit
and well for mountain life andadventuring.
So it could be hiking,backpacking, mountain biking,
trail running, climbing.
We try to keep all of ouradventure sports folks healthy
so they can stay out there andkeep adventuring.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Wow.
Well, how, stephen?
How did you get into thisbusiness?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I grew up in Western North Carolina and I had a
father who was a park ranger.
A father who was a park rangerand unfortunately I, you know,
as I was growing up, kind of sawwhat happens when you don't
take care of your health andwellness.
So to see my father go from anavid outdoorsman and adventure
lover to being someone who wasstuck in home and, you know, due
(02:03):
to his physical limitations hekind of lost the ability to be
outside and be in wilderness.
So early age I decided I wantedto try to be more fit and
healthy, just so I couldcontinue doing those kinds of
things.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So what are some myths or misconceptions in the
performance training business?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I feel like people think that not everyone needs to
strength train, or themisconceptions that strength
training will make you ArnoldSchwarzenegger or you're going
to have these big.
Yeah, my earlier career I was acompetitive bodybuilder and I
can assure you that it takes alot more than showing up to the
(02:44):
gym a couple of days a week tobecome a bodybuilder.
So one of the misconceptions isyou know, if you lift weights,
you're going to be big and bulky.
We work with a lot of athletesand their misconception is that
strength training will make themslow.
And I like to people to knowyou know, if you're more fit and
you're stronger, you're notgoing to be slower.
(03:04):
So that's one of themisconceptions that strength
will slow you down.
But it's quite the opposite.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, you mentioned you know you're trying to keep
people healthy so that they canstay outdoors and do their
adventures.
Who are your target clients andhow do you reach them?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So our target market is just typically the adult
adventure athlete.
So we kind of find that aroundage 30, our bodies, you can't
heal it with beer and tacosanymore, so you got to start
adding something into the mix.
And so we teach people not onlylike strength training but
self-care, stretching, rollingtechniques and things they can
(03:49):
do to help them, you know, stayfit and healthy with their
endeavors.
So it's, you know, a majorityof our folks are kind of mid-30s
to mid-60s.
We have some of our outlierswhere we have a couple of high
school athletes and then we haveone of my favorite athletes is
Bonnie Bonnie's, 74, and sheloves downhill mountain biking.
(04:10):
So wide range.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Wow, wow.
And how do you reach thosefolks?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
A lot of it is being at the places that they're going
to be at, um, being out at theraces.
We sponsor races, we'reinvolved in the races.
Uh, you know, our, our coachesare also athletes, so they're
out there in the community and,uh, you know, we volunteer,
whether it's, you know, trailbuilding, uh, you know, handing
out food, things like that.
Um, so we just try to beinvolved in directly helping out
(04:42):
with the events and the members.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Very cool, very cool.
Well, outside of work, Iimagine I know what do you like
to do for fun.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Jumping waterfalls, mountain bike, trail run, you
know, just trying to live thethings I want to do.
And, yeah, my goal is to neverstop adventuring and trying to
always learn something new.
So this year I'm getting alittle bit more into the
whitewater sports and this fallI hope to play around a little
(05:15):
bit more with climbing.
So I'm getting on some big rockstuff.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Wow, have you done mountain climbing before?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
No, but we also train several of the local guide
companies to help them stay fit.
For you know being out thereand taking folks up, so, uh,
I've been telling them for awhile I'm gonna get out there
with them.
So there you go you know, it'sgood to be out there.
So it lets me feel like whatothers feel like when they come
into the gym the first time andthey're nervous.
That's that's going to be me onthe on looking glass rock this
(05:49):
year.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
There you go, there you go.
Well, let's switch gears forjust a second.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you've
overcome and how it made youstronger in the end?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah, I mean life, just you know it comes at you.
You know the rock you say yeah,I mean life, just you know it
comes at you.
You know the Rocky say you knowlife's going to come at you and
(06:21):
it's going to beat you down andyou, just you have to keep
getting back up and that's.
You know, covid happened.
So we had a year where we'relike, wow, like this is going to
, this is going to be something.
We, you know we had grown andwe'd start off the second year
of our business and then we gotshut down.
We live in a state, in an areawhere the lockdown lasted a bit
longer than some areas.
(06:42):
You know, my gym was in acomplex where I'm worried about
my neighbor, you know, sendingan email that they saw me
talking to someone without amask and we just had to pivot.
So we, you know, we startedmoving all of our equipment
outdoors every day.
So behind my, my original gym,we had a big outdoor space.
(07:03):
So I had bought a two tonrolling rack, like a big
industrial rolling rack, and wewould put all the equipment on
the rolling rack and roll itoutside and we'd work out, and
any of you guys that live herein you know the mountain region.
It rains in the summer orspring, you know almost every
day.
This summer particularly, it'sbeen a big thing.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's been insane.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Yeah, so yeah, we would be outside working out and
all of a sudden you'd see theclouds rolling up and, all right
, load everything on the cart,push it back inside.
So you know, we pivoted on theCOVID stuff.
When we were allowed to comeback indoors we had to go with a
lot of restrictions but youknow, our members and our
community continued to show upand you know, whatever we had to
(07:49):
do to keep moving and stayhealthy and support our
community, we just pivoted onthat and we got through it,
built a really strong community.
And then, you know, we got hitwith a lean.
I moved my studio last yearabout this time into the
(08:12):
Biltmore Village and that's kindof one of the ground rules.
So I got to move into a biggerstudio space and built more
village and invested in newequipment and it was our big
(08:34):
chance.
And then, six months into that,complete devastation from
Hurricane Colleen, which alsowas my 40th birthday.
So I got to spend my 40thbirthday pushing sludge,
essentially out of my gym.
So while a disaster touristcame and took pictures of me and
(08:58):
talked about how sad it was, Iwas spending my 40th birthday,
you know, sweeping away mydreams.
But you show up when you gethit and you just keep showing up
.
So I showed up every day, youknow, cleaned off a little more
sludge, took all my metalequipment, took my dumbbells,
(09:19):
kettlebells, anything that Icould salvage, and we took it up
to my house.
My house looked like a backyardgym.
It just has all my squat rack,my parking area, my dumbbells
and kettlebells and anythingmetal that we could keep.
We were out there.
We didn't have water for, Ithink, at least three weeks, um,
(09:50):
so I had friends that were werecoming by and helping us refill
my, my, uh, my tubs so that wecould bring water down and spray
off the equipment.
So, uh, so that was a littlefun hiccup.
Uh, I had an amazing uh have anamazing team and amazing staff
who who stuck through throughthis one with me and, uh, you
know, they were out there withtoothbrushes and spray bottles
and helping get all the grimeoff of it and making things
(10:11):
happen.
So that was our scenario.
We, you know, got everythingcleaned off and we said, all
right, well, we still havepeople to keep fit.
So we took our kettlebells anddumbbells to a park and five
days a week, we had workouts inthe morning and in the evening
and continued to do that whileour space got renovated and took
(10:33):
about three months for them tocompletely renovate the space
and make it safe.
I think we were the secondbusiness back in Biltmore
Village after the storm.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Wow, and and your birthday, september 26th.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Oh, it's the 28th, so the storm happened.
Yeah, it's the 28th, so ithappened that you know, the 27th
was the biggest part of thestorm and then the first.
You know, the water was still.
On the 27th, when I went downto look at the gym, there was
probably still five feet ofwater.
We had roughly nine feet ofwater in there at the height of
(11:09):
it.
Wow, so all our treadmills, ourbikes, our rowers, and then it
wasn't just mud and water, itwas a lot of toxic chemicals and
pollutants and things like thatin there.
So a lot of stuff we just hadto get rid of because it became
a biohazard.
And then, yeah, I looked at mybank account and I said I don't
(11:30):
have any money.
So this is going to beinteresting, because we had
spent our money to get into thenew space and outfit it.
So that's that's when, like,blessings just started happening
.
During COVID, I had written forgrants and we didn't get any
grants because we were such asmall new business.
(11:50):
So this time around, when Istarted writing out for grants,
every time I click submit, Iexpected nothing back.
So I would submit another grantand I'm like well, I just
wasted two hours of telling mysob story again on an email and
I'm like.
Well, I just wasted two hoursof telling my sob story again on
an email and then, all of asudden, grants started showing
up.
(12:11):
Wow no-transcript change thetrajectory.
One of our coaches also has setup a GoFundMe account and our
GoFundMe hit, I think, rightaround $35,000.
So between the grant andGoFundMe yeah, yeah, I was
(12:33):
telling people it was, you know,just a lot of emotions.
During that time I would hear ading on my phone, I'd get an
alert that we'd had anotherdonation and I would just, you
know, someone I hadn't talked tosince high school, you know,
you know, donated you know athousand dollars and said we
want to see you open.
So, wow, you know things likethat, um, so we, uh, we we were
blessed, um, to be able to comeback and we were actually able
(12:56):
to rebuy all of our equipmentand and upgrade some of the
equipment, um, so we were ableto come back, you know, bigger
and better than before the storm.
So we're back up and going.
So that was a little bit of,you know, a hardship we went
through there and now we're, youknow, we're thriving, we're
(13:17):
busier than we were before thisstorm and looking forward to
what we can continue to do.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Wow, so you're back in Biltmore Village.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's hard for businesses these days.
If you're a small business,especially in an area like
Asheville, there's a lot ofcompetition and the prices are
not there for the small businessentrepreneur.
So, yeah, the options you getpresented are either or you're
(13:46):
either in a floodplain or you'reyou're in a less desirable area
.
So we're we're making the mostof it.
We have four years left on ourlease there and you know we now
we have action plans.
So you know we're even on ahigh alert during this, this
next hurricane season.
We have local, the folks thatlive in the neighborhoods that
have trucks.
(14:06):
We all have a list now that ifit looks like it's going to go
this way next time around, we'regoing to pull the trucks down,
we're going to put thetreadmills and all the equipment
that we're worried about in thetrucks, take them to higher
ground, and that's about all wecan do.
So we have a plan and you knowyou never expect something to go
(14:26):
so wrong.
There's a lot, of, a lot ofconnections around here with you
know the surrounding areas andthe mountain communities.
You know our guides.
You know they.
They work in the Nolichucky,they work in Tennessee, they
work in Kentucky.
You know the climbers, therafters, the mountain bike
guides, and we were all likehitting a real widespread way
(14:47):
for that one.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Well, I'll tell you what it's been a you know
horrible situation but storieslike yours and I've talked to so
many people in Western NorthCarolina about you know very
similar stories where neighborscame out helping neighbors.
You know people showing up,very resilient community, uh,
coming together.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
It's been a been a real blessing, I think, from my
perspective yeah, one of the themoments that we had was, uh, we
basically got given, uh, 24hours to remove all the the
equipment out of the facilityafter not hearing a whole lot of
communication to that point,and we were given 24 hours to
get all of our equipment outuntil they were going to start
the out of the facility afternot hearing a whole lot of
communication to that point.
(15:26):
And we were given 24 hours toget all of our equipment out
until they were going to startthe remodel demo project the
next day at five o'clock.
So we sent a message out to ourmembers and a big shout out to
Zen Contracting, One of ourmembers, Zen.
He brought his contract companyin and in 50 minutes, with the
help of him and our members, wehad we had pulled everything out
(15:47):
, cleaned up shop and we weredone.
So, yeah, you know, seeing thosemoments where the community
shows up, you know having havingthe folks help us clean, having
folks help us pull things out,you know, and it's you know all
walks of life.
You got CEOs in the backparking lot with full eight.
You know hats, you know.
You know the hazmat suit on andthey're going out there and
getting on a zoom call inbetween helping us clean up and
(16:10):
things like that.
So, uh, it really gave us thehope and inspiration to continue
.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Awesome story, awesome story.
Well, stephen, if you couldthink of one thing that you'd
like our listeners to rememberabout you and about the cone
performance training, what wouldthat be?
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Oh that if you, if you live in the Appalachian, is
getting to the tops of thehighest peaks.
Continue to move your body andlook into the possibility of
strength training if you feellike you're not capable to do
things that you love, and try tonever stop adventuring.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Awesome.
And if any of our listeners areintrigued you know, intrigued,
interested and want to want totry to improve their strength so
that they can get out and dosome, do some wild stuff in the
in the wild, what?
How can we learn more?
Speaker 3 (17:12):
You can go to MacombPerformanceTrainingcom and
reach out to us on our contactlink.
We do do some remote training.
We are hoping to expand intoother mountain towns.
My vision with MacombPerformance Training is to have
10 mountain gyms and 10 mountaintowns, one of those being
(17:34):
Johnson City, tennessee, is kindof a part of my vision.
So I want to give mountainathletes a place, and mountain
folks in general a place thatfeels more welcoming to them, uh
, and a place that can keep them, keep them fit.
So look us up and, uh, keep aneye out.
Uh, hopefully we'll come to amountain town near you.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, we'll definitely bewatching for that, steven.
Thank you so much, appreciateyou taking time out of your busy
schedule, uh, between clientsto clients, to uh tell us all
about your story and yourjourney and and all the great
things you're doing at uh mccombperformance training, and wish
you and your family and your,your clients, your business, all
(18:14):
the best, moving forward.
Awesome thanks, skip.
Appreciate you, appreciate youand maybe we can have you back
sometime, maybe when you opensome of those in other mountain
towns.
Sounds good.
All right, man, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423 3, 7, 1, 9, 5, 8, 7, 3.
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