Former football pro opens new business

Business Name: Trucks Training Inc. Sports Performance and Fitness Professionals

Type of business: Sports performance, personal training

Owner: Anthony Trucks with co-founders Brandon McMullen and Robert Henriquez

Founded: October 2008

Address: 3658 Lone Tree Way, Antioch; www.truckstraining.com

Phone number: 925-756-7321

Hours: Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Earlier and later by appointment.)

Number of employees: five

Products, services: Individual and group sports performance and personal training, academics, massage therapy, adult fitness boot camps and gym memberships.

How did you get into the business? "We all have extensive backgrounds in the sports and fitness world," Anthony Trucks said.

Trucks played high school football at Antioch high before receiving a full football scholarship to the University of Oregon in 2002, where he started for three years and graduated with a bachelor in biology, anatomy and human physiology. He then progressed on to play in the NFL with the Buccaneers, Redskins and Steelers.

"I have always wanted to train and at all stops of my career I found myself training young athletes at different companies to become better mentally and physically at whatever sports they played," Trucks said.

He went on to explain that all three men have such a passion for what they do. "It was a no-brainer to create a company where we can share our knowledge, experience and passion with others. We range from NFL athletes, master trainers, professional level coaches, and Antioch's own 2008 trainer of the year," Trucks said. "We specifically chose to stay home because everyone kept telling us to chase the money over the hill into the Concord/Walnut Creek area, but we specifically wanted to stay home to help our local athletes who seem to get left behind in this area when everyone chooses to go out that way instead of staying to help build our community."

Best thing about the business: Trucks said that there is nothing better than seeing people come back and say how much you have helped them or their children improve their ability to get in shape or play their chosen sport.

"We are also very passionate about our academic support system. We have an academic center run by Robert Henriquez and Christina Trucks, who has a master's in special education. The center has computers that are Internet capable and have all the software for scholastic needs, tutor services for any subject, and seminars to cover SAT, ACT, Clearinghouse, A-G, and much more," he said. "We want everyone who is capable to make it to college. We feel that there are a lot of companies that will try to get your child to become a better athlete, but none that will truly strive to make your child a better student athlete. Someday sports will no longer be in the picture, but your education will never leave you.

Worst thing about it: "Nothing," Trucks said. "Where else can you go to work and help people fall in love with themselves all over again. You get to witness people reach their goals and exude confidence in ways that they either never have, or have not since they were a teenager. You can buy lots of nice clothes and expensive material objects that last only a little while, but the one thing you cannot buy is a new body, so why not do what you can to take care of the one thing you most definitely are going to have for the rest of you life."

Keys to success: "The keys to our success are to offer top-of-the-line knowledge and training for years and years to come. The one thing that some trainers in our profession lack is the humbleness to admit they do not know everything; truth is we don't, no one does," Trucks said. "What we do promise is that we are, and always will be, very diligent in researching all the new studies, methods and information that we implement now and in the future to make sure we are consistently ahead of the game when it comes to training every single one of our clients."

Trucks also believes their success will also be because their facility will be the best in the area because it houses not only a great academic center, but an indoor artificial grass field, top-of-the-line strength training equipment, sauna, spa, massage therapy, and soon physical therapy for rehab.

"This allows our members to have access to the same tools that every college athlete is using at a much earlier stage in life, which makes the transition that much smoother. Beyond that you are going to get trained by some of the most knowledgeable trainers in the profession, so you can feel comfortable in knowing you're getting what you pay for," he said.

Biggest misperception about the business: "We do NOT train truck drivers," he said.

Other than that, the biggest misperception about their line of work, Trucks said, is that anyone can do it.

"In all honesty someone can easily look up drills on the Internet and start doing them. The problem is that if you are unclear on the proper technique of the specific movements, or the way to design a workout to progress yourself along a path to your goal, you can either damage your body or simply never achieve the results you desire."

Future plans: At this point the only future plans are to continue to do what they do best, and enjoy doing it for a long time.

"I guess you can say our future plans are to be as successful as possible," he said.