For U.S. Army major and fitness coach Dewayne Webb, fitness encompasses balancing many dimensions of our lives.
Webb, founder of the Christian-based nonprofit All About Fitness (AAF), leads free bootcamp-style workouts nine days a week to inspire others to live physically fit lives, but his participants are receiving more than just a workout.
Since 2014, Webb has been encouraging members of his fitness bootcamps to practice wellness in every aspect of their lives — mental, legal, financial, relationships, and, most of all, spiritual.
“I originally formed AAF as a fitness club while stationed in South Korea in 2012 because I hated working out in the cold and wanted others to workout with,” he said. “When I moved from South Korea to North Carolina in 2014, I decided to change the club to a family environment where fitness is a lifestyle mentality versus just a gym or somewhere to go to sweat.”
Surrounded by traditional gyms in North Carolina, Webb said he tapped into the need for a one-stop-shop for lifestyle wellness by recruiting a financial planner, lawyer, and psychologist to led in-person workshops and webinars to educate people in these areas in addition to offering his fitness workouts.
“We came together to empower our community to be totally fit in their life,” said Webb, who is an Aerobics & Fitness Association of America (AFAA) certified personal trainer. “We’re educating the community in fitness and all of these areas.”
Today, AAF’s fitness bootcamps, seminars and workshops are offered in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and the Washington, D.C area, Webb said.
“These are places where I have been stationed over my 25-year military career and where people are supporting AAF and contributing to our community outreach programs,” he said.
Fit for success
Headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, AAF continues to evolve the ways it reaches people and impacts communities, but maintains its Christian foundation, Webb said.
“I’m a Christian so I started AAF as a healing place and a place of comfort for others,” he said. “We start every bootcamp, workshop, seminar or event with a prayer.”
Along with bringing his faith into his fitness bootcamps, Webb also relies on his military background to teach bootcamp participants about fitness. An active-duty Army major at Fort Moore in Columbus, Webb balances his duties as a public affairs officer for the 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade with running AAF.
“My military experience has allowed me to incorporate some of the rigorous exercise techniques that are used to also train soldiers into AAF fitness bootcamp workouts,” he said. “People enjoy them, and they are getting results.”
AAF’s bootcamps are offered free to the public along with its workshops and webinars, which together attracted more than 10,000 attendees last year.
“All of our bootcamps, workshops and webinars are free,” Webb said. “We are able to offer our services for free because of the funding support AAF receives from local donors. We use this funding to buy mats and other exercise equipment, hand wipes, paper for handouts and to pay for certifications (CPR/AED & group fitness) for the instructors.”
AAF’s presence in Georgia and communities across the U.S. has grown over the years also thanks to the nonprofit’s outreach initiatives, Webb said. AAF partners with cities, schools, local Girl Scouts troops to provide educational seminars, mentor programs, back-to-school supply drives, hygiene kit drives and a Haiti Scholarship Program, which has raised more than $50,000 in education funding for kids in Haiti since 2014.
“Our most urgent needs are getting the word out about AAF so others will support us and the work we’re doing,” Webb said. “The Going All In grant will help AAF communicate to others exactly what AAF does for our communities stateside and globally.”
As he approaches his May 31 retirement as an active-duty Army officer, Webb said he hopes to expand AAF in the next three to five years to all 50 states.
“We’re taking steps to achieve this and other goals by refining our brand and creatively advertising and marketing,” he said. “It will also be important for AAF to mobilize others around our mission by first inspiring current bootcamp attendees to pursue total fitness then motivating those attendees to go inspire others in their influence circles, thus forming a ripple effect throughout the community.”
Start an All About Fitness chapter
If you are interested in starting an All About Fitness (AAF) chapter in your state, email aafitnessclubtrainer@gmail.com or call 706-940-2079. Follow AAF on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or TikTok @allaboutfitnessfamily.
Each week, inCity Magazine is featuring a “Going All In” grant awardee to spotlight how nonprofits are making an impact in our communities.
About “Going All In”
Each week, inCity Magazine is featuring a “Going All In” grant awardee to spotlight how nonprofits are making an impact in our communities. Apply online for this in-kind grant valued up to $600 for marketing and productivity services for your nonprofit.