LANCASTER — Personal trainer Hondre McNeil always played sports growing up, including college football at Wofford College in South Carolina.
“Once I decided the football career wasn’t going to go past the college years I still worked out and had a passion for fitness,” he said.
He played linebacker on the Wofford football team and later went to professional tryout combines.
He then got certified as a fitness trainer and became a professional in 2003 after majoring in computer science and math at Wofford.
McNeil, who is also a bodybuilder, owns his own company, S.W.E.T. Fitness. He launched an energy recovery drink last year called S.W.E.T. Energy and said a lot of his focus is on that now.
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“We’re still trying to get people healthy and still doing sports performance,” McNeil said. “I encompass all that together. So the personal training, the sports performance, and the energy drink are all together. But the energy drink is new, so you could say that’s been the main focus lately.”
McNeil also works full-time in information technology at Fairfield Medical Center and works his fitness business in the evening. He also promotes his energy drink on the weekends and sometimes in the evening.
“We’ve got about 13 retailers of the drink right now, locally,” McNeil said.
He has also tapped into the Cleveland and Logan markets and is looking to expand further. McNeil would also like to sell his energy drink in his native South Carolina.
In addition to meeting his personal training clients face-to-face, he also conducts virtual classes. Virtual fitness classes exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, but McNeil has been doing them since around 2011.
“They go on my website (www.myswetfitness.com) and they fill out what their goals are and what they have access to,” he said. “Then we get into their fitness history. Basically, I personalize the workout based on what you have access to. So I can even write a workout if you don’t have any equipment. I’ll just a write a strictly body weight workout plan.”
McNeil has about 20 virtual clients.
As part of building healthy bodies, he is also into spirituality. For example, there is a bible verse on the cans of his energy drink.
“It’s one of those verses that I love because it tells you to basically not compare yourself to others and to focus on your own goals,” McNeil said. “I thought that was important. Especially with social media like Facebook, Instagram.
“Especially young kids looking at other people’s goals and what other people are doing. It kind of depresses them and it prevents them from going after their goals. So that bible verse basically says to carry your own load and not to compare yourself to others.”
Away from work and his fitness business, McNeil enjoys working out, spending time with his family, reading business books and vacationing.
He is married to wife, Jennifer, and is the father of two children.
jbarron@gannett.com
740-681-4340
Twitter: @JeffDBarron