Leaders Spotlight : Cory Arth
In our 10th year of sweating and connecting we are sharing stories from our dedicated and passionate volunteers.
Introducing Cory Arth: Not only a volunteer leader of FitFam Shanghai and FitFam virtual since 2017, Cory Arth is co-director of FitFam China, he wears many hats within the FitFam community, keeps the community safe with leader education and training and resident MC. Cory shares his experience and thoughts about his journey of 8+ years within the FitFam community.
Tell us about yourself
I’m originally from a small ski bum liberal redneck town near Lake Tahoe in northern California. We’re famous for two things… the Winter Olympics (1960) and the most famous account of cannibalism in the USA! It’s a gorgeous and mountainous outdoor playground with blue skies and more trees than people, so essentially the antithesis of Shanghai. I combined being inspired professionally by my father as a physician with my loves of sport and travel to pursue a career in sports medicine, which has led me to working with casual and professional athletes all over the world in places like Qatar, Brazil and China. My passion is to help keep people moving and to be more autonomous with their physical health, and in 2013 when I made my first trip to southern China to work with national-level athletes it was very apparent to me that this region had so much to benefit from learning about movement as a form of medicine. I made my formal return in 2017 to Shanghai thinking it would be another 2-3 year adventure and I’ve been here ever since as the co-founder of a chain of outpatient sports orthopedic and physical therapy clinics, still with the same vision and mission of keeping people moving while needing pills and scalpels as little as possible.
Your first FitFam workout
The first time I ever heard mention of FitFam was from my buddy and colleague Roger who introduced the community as: “A bunch of amateurs who go out to the public stadiums and lead bootcamp-style workouts for free at 6am in the morning.” To be honest, my initial reaction was fairly simple… “F&%K that.” However, I knew I needed to get out and meet people in the community that I was trying to serve and I had only been in Shanghai for a month or two at the time, so I put it near the bottom of my to-do list.
That all changed when I met Katrina. She had somehow found me as a patient, and after about 2-3 sessions she 100% forced me to come to Jing’an Stadium where she was leading workouts as one of FitFam’s tireless volunteer leaders. I had no choice. I made the commitment, hopped on an Ofo bike at 5am because I didn’t want to be late and aimlessly biked over from Jiaotong University getting lost several times along the way because I still had no idea where I was. It would have been nice if I had known that I could’ve walked over to Jiatong University to join FitFam instead, but then again my first session might have been death by Igor so I suppose it all worked out as it should.
As soon as I stepped on the field, I had an epiphany. Despite whatever I was expecting, what I saw was a community of people using public space and free will to celebrate movement as a fundamental human need and right. I saw maximum inclusivity that extended well beyond language barriers. I saw high fives and sweaty smiles everywhere. I also saw a ton of burpees and lunges and squat jumps in high volumes with questionable movement quality, so I knew immediately that I could share some of my professional knowledge to help keep people moving well and moving safely. However, I had to earn that right as a member of the community, and so my FitFam journey officially began and really became official with the Summer Challenge of 2017.
The FitFam Impact
Oh boy. This one is hard to quantify. I mean… I met my wife at a FitFam workout. Our officiant at the wedding was a Leader on Empty Streets which is the location I manage. I met one of my best friends in the world (the infamous Edouard) who dragged me out for a new 5am Thursday morning workout idea of combining running around the city with burpees and pushups, and he became one of the groomsmen at the wedding. We even had a FitFam workout at our wedding! I think you get the idea lol. It’s become an integral part of my life, more than anything because of the caliber and diversity of people I’ve met through the community. So many stories and so many backgrounds with a similar goal of staying active and enjoying life to the fullest. It’s honestly been my favorite aspect of living in Shanghai and is absolutely what has kept me here so long.
On a personal level, FitFam gave me a sense of accountability that I really struggled to curate on my own. By habitually committing to participate in workouts and to lead others while building the consistency that maintaining a routine demands, I’ve realized benefits that have carried over into all aspects of my life. I’ve built and maintained healthy habits. I used to stay up between 12-2am every night looking at pictures of other people’s lives on my phone. Now I’m in bed by 9pm and I’m up at 5am, starting each day with movement and connection. My mental health turned a full 180 degrees less than a year after joining. I’m much more organized and regimented in my professional life. I stick to commitments because in the old days if you didn’t show up to a workout you would be mercilessly shamed in the group chats. I didn’t know how much I needed the extrinsic motivation and doing things for a greater purpose to stay consistent, but at the end of the day it’s all result-based judgement.
FitFam helped me strengthen my voice in public settings (I swear to you that I used to identify as an introvert). It helped me create momentum in life by not letting perfection be the enemy of progress. It helped me find confidence within myself and to understand that I have so much to give to others, especially when done for all the right reasons. It was always the perfect environment for creativity and trial and error, in the sense that because you’re volunteering you couldn’t ask for a better environment to try new things and get constructive feedback from your peers. Especially in a place like Shanghai and anywhere that might be far away from home, it helped me understand that community is everything. You never know when life might throw you lemons, and every time I’ve needed support I could always count on the amazing group of people in FitFam to be there for me with no judgement whatsoever. There is no discrimination in the workouts. We’re all there for the same reasons. We all motivate each other to keep going. Most importantly, FitFam really showed me with real life experience that we are all much more similar than we are different as proven by just how many walks of life are a part of the community. It’s the best.
Becoming a FitFam leader
My experience of becoming a Leader was genuine and organic, mainly because I was encouraged and inspired by others to do so. Back when I joined, the expectation was that you should join at least 50 sessions before becoming a volunteer Leader. I still think that’s so important so you can really become comfortable with the structure of the sessions and the essence of what the community really is. Before you become a Leader, you should really understand the culture and become an ambassador for the community by participating consistently. When you first join, you’re simply just trying to survive the sessions (at least, that’s how it was for me). After about 20 sessions, you know basically what to expect and what most of the movements are (but not always). After 40 sessions, you really start to become more critical of how things could be done differently or how you might do things differently yourself. You can start to visualize yourself as the Leader. That’s when you know you’re ready… as soon as you find yourself saying, “If it were me, I would do this a little differently because I think it would be more challenging or more inclusive or more fun.” Or, you might simply be learning and inspired by the creativity of other volunteers and want to learn more yourself about how to do the same thing. You might even find yourself asking the Leaders questions about how and why they do certain things (as I did with Igor and Katie). You might just want control of the music so you can workout to your favorite songs and provide more energy to the group that way.
However it comes about, as soon as you feel the capacity to give something back to the community, no matter how big or small, presumably because the community has already given so much to you, that’s when you’re ready to become a FitFam Leader. For me, because of my professional background and experience, it was easy for me to see how I could give back. What I needed was the encouragement of the other Leaders and volunteers to take action instead of just talking about it. Once again, that extrinsic motivation did wonders for me. I decided to commit, I gave a presentation to the Leaders group on how to use periodization and movement variety to keep workouts safe and fun and effective. I had to walk the walk to back up the talk. Before I knew it, I was hooked, and now I’ve been helping create and deliver educational content for the community for over 8 years. I love it. The more I give, the more I get back.
Why become a FitFam leader?
Yes. If it’s even remotely on your mind, just do it. Try it. Never try, never know. The worst thing that will happen is you decide it’s not for you and you stick to actively participating. Either way, you will feel a sense of gratitude for putting yourself out there, and there really aren’t any consequences.
This community is honestly one of the most accepting, patient and non-judgmental groups I’ve ever encountered. Everyone understands that you’re volunteering. Everyone understands that you’re out of your comfort zone, and because of this, you will have help, guidance and support every step of the way.
I can’t emphasize enough that what makes becoming a FitFam Leader successful is to find a mentor that you would like to emulate. Find someone you feel inspired by. You may envy the way they can project their voice to a group of people. You might be impressed by the way they try to combine and create new movement ideas. You might be touched by the way they give their attention and focus to those who need some help during the sessions. You might be amazed by the way they can remember everyone’s name and make a point of high-fiving absolutely every person in the workout (as it was for me with Vy). You might wish to be respected and admired by the group for selflessly donating your time and energy to others (even though you’ll likely be getting even more energy and motivation back in return). Whatever the reason, find that person you admire and ask them for help. They will say yes, because we can never have enough of our incredible volunteer Leaders, and every single one of them started out in the same position you’re in as a participant.
When you first start, make sure you co-lead with a veteran Leader, and take baby steps. You can start by being the DJ. You can start by leading the warmup or the cooldown. You can start by creating a single 8-minute exercise block of four simple movements just to get the hang of it. You can start by helping to check-in participants, or you can simply walk around the workout looking for others who need support and assistance while the other Leader is guiding the workout. You can start by posting the workout in the group chat, encouraging people to sign up and making a point of welcoming new participants. Every little bit counts, especially when you’re working as a part of a team, and that team will have your back. Trust me, they’ll be grateful for whatever energy and support you’re willing to offer to the community. The energy we can all create and share is greater than the sum of our parts.
Oh….and did I mention we have hours of online education content (in both English and Chinese) that is specifically designed to help any person from any background find their voice and successfully become a Leader with FitFam? Shameless plug here….but really, we have an entire movement library with demonstration videos, we have a three-part training series that breaks down all the fundamentals and essentials of how to program a balanced workout, we have “Tried and True” workouts and formats from some of the OG Leaders (shoutout to Igor and Katie) that anyone can use from day one… all for free!! So yes, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, if you want to become a Leader and help make an impact in your community by helping people move more confidently and consistently just by doing the simple things at a higher level, then we’re here to help empower you.
Are you ready to take the next step?
Favorite Sweat and Connect moments
Oh my goodness, yes! There are too many, but the first one that pops into my head was when Steven proposed to Yaro at the Jing’an Workers Stadium. Both are Leaders, and I believe Yaro was leading the workout when Steven, who was supposed to be there, just disappeared and was nowhere to be seen. Yaro wasn’t happy about his no-show but she carried on with the workout regardless. Little did she know that the oddly curious janitor that was sweeping the stadium and creeping around the edges of our workout was her future husband-to-be in disguise. Of course, some of us were in on it, so at the end of the workout the janitor revealed himself, he dropped onto one knee, there was music and cake and a drone and some celebratory jump squats… It was just such a genuine full-circle moment for these two beautiful people from different countries and different backgrounds to be getting engaged as FitFam Leaders at a FitFam workout surrounded by so many of their workout buddies. There were also regular participants there who had no idea what was happening, but they jumped right into the celebration seamlessly. Sweaty smiles and high-fives are contagious, and they’re all around if you’re in the right environment with the right people. As phenomenal as that day was, the fact that they weren’t even the first popular Leader couple from Jing’an Stadium or even the first FitFam couple to get engaged at a FitFam workout (I did that myself by freezing my partner in the middle of partner face-to-face lunges) speaks volumes to the amount of connectivity within the community. Who needs Tinder or Bumble?! If you’re looking for true love and trying to find like-minded and highly motivated people, join FitFam!!
Anything else you would like to share?
I am so incredibly grateful to have found this community, and for the way I was welcomed into it. It was not (thankfully) as advertised when it was first described to me. I’m grateful for the positive peer pressure and motivation. Even to this day, more than 8 years after I joined the community, I still have people like Amy getting me to do stupid things that I don’t want to do like the 4x4x48 Goggins run challenge, but I know that once I’ve done it I’ll yet again have done something that I never would’ve dreamt possible had it not been for FitFam. FitFam empowered me to lose 20kg and complete my first full-length Iron Man. That wouldn’t have happened if FitFam hadn’t also pushed me to help lead workouts for marathoners in 2017 in preparation for the Shanghai Marathon. That somehow led to me doing my first marathon ever that year, and of course right beside me were Ed and Olivia, two people I will hold near and dear to my heart forever. I’ve met some of the best people in my life through FitFam, not the least of which is my wife Lauren. I have dozens of forever friends because of this community… so what else can I say?
I’m either really bad at saying “No,” or FitFam is exceptionally good at getting people to say “Yes!”