Last Updated on April 22, 2016 by Jeff
Jake and Josh are the co-founders of TooFitUSA.com, hosts of the Too Fit Podcast, and creators of the carefully crafted workout supplements “Moxie” and “Rally”. We love that they’re pushing the boundaries of health and quality nutrition in transparent and inspirational ways. These guys are the epitome of committed to fitness and we’re happy that they agreed to interview with us.
TFM: Tell us a bit about your background(s) as far as fitness and nutrition. What do your training regimens generally look like these days?
Jake: Well, nothing out of the usual. I grew up playing baseball and football pretty competitively and continued through high school. During high school play, I sustained a couple injuries that led to a handful of procedures and derailed any further plans of playing. However, it was during those surgeries and long hours of rehab that my passion for health and fitness was truly refined. I went on to graduate from Texas A&M University with a degree in Biomedical Science, pursuing a career in medicine. After a few years I realized medicine was not in the cards for me, but the years of study and preparation set me up for success in the world I’m in now. It feels as though Too Fit was waiting for me all along, I just couldn’t see it at the time.
Josh: I was very fortunate in that my parents instilled the importance of health and fitness in me at a young age. I grew up playing the typical sports such as baseball, basketball, and football. My parents were and still are very health conscious people. I realized early on how food affected my performance on and off the field of play. I began diving in to sports nutrition and supplements in high school and quickly realized the lack of quality in the marketplace. I began to geek out on nutrition and soon began making my own supplements. I continued to play sports through high-school and ended up playing golf in college where I majored in entrepreneurship and marketing. After college, I played professionally on the mini tours for a few years while still educating myself and learning the science and intricacies of sports nutrition. I quit touring once my wife entered a post-graduate program and I began figuring out how I could combine my love of business with my knowledge of nutrition. Once I met Jake it was clear that our shared knowledge and desire to enhance the way people viewed and consumed supplements would lead us down an exciting and life altering path.
We make an effort to schedule our days where we can work out together and hold each other accountable. This mainly consists of working in the morning hours, leaving our workout time as a treat once the work is done. We focus on the core lifts that improve overall strength and power: power cleans, deadlifts, variations of the squat, bench press, and the Olympic lifts. The work is distributed across 4 days per week, with a push-pull, upper body-lower body, split routine in mind (ex: lower body push: squat, upper body pull: weighted pull-ups). These days are normally followed by a 5-10 minute Crossfit style metcon.
In addition, we incorporate as much diversity in our training as possible. We strive to run at least 2 miles at a high-intensity pace three days per week, yoga as active recovery 1 day per week, tennis, softball, as well as swimming on occasion. We love using training devices such as the Elevation Training Mask, weighted vests, and sleds for resistance running, rope climbs, and various odd object training. Have to keep it entertaining! We tend to get bored easily!
We are currently training for our first 70.3 Ironman in Galveston, TX on April 10. We have been incorporating some more time on the bike and in the pool to get prepared. We also have a decent amount of Spartan races scheduled this year. We are always looking for ways to stay competitive and keep it fun.
TFM: What has been your biggest struggle/failure as far as fitness and/or business? How did you get through it?
Jake: At this stage in my life, the 2 shoulder surgeries and 1 knee surgery have been the biggest obstacles as far as sport and fitness are concerned. The only way I worked through them was creating the mindset and craving to play again and be better than I was before. Of course you need a great team of support around you, and a healthy dose of mom’s cooking doesn’t hurt! As far as business, the biggest struggle has been having an idea in your head and trying to turn that idea into reality. Having reality match the depiction in your head is sometimes an unfair judgement, but Too Fit is now something even greater than I could have imagined.
Josh: Luckily, I have able to stay relatively healthy through my entire sports journey. However, I had plenty of struggles while traveling and playing professional golf. It can be quite frustrating to go from the top 5 after day 1 to missing the cut by a shot after day 2. The thing I love about golf over other sports is that it is all on you. There is no one to return the ball, no team on which to rely, no do over’s. The adversity I faced on the golf course has helped me tremendously in business. The journey has made me realize that a sport or a business does not, and should not, be your identity. Although people may identify you with that sport or business, how you carry yourself and how you treat others is your true identity. Sorry to get kind of deep there but I think it is something that can help others. I really believe in the power of meditation and mindfulness, not the woo woo kind, just focusing on the breath and practicing detachment. It is very easy to become emotional in business, especially when you have poured everything you have mentally and physically into creating something new. The practice of reflection, journaling, and mindfulness has really been a foundation for me.
We also have some really awesome mentors. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by some incredible people and we would highly recommend anyone venturing into a business of any kind to find a great mentor or mentors.
TFM: Why did you guys decide to create Moxie Natural Pre-Workout and Rally Natural Post-Workout?
We have both been avid supplement users since our teenage years and were always looking to gain an edge in our performance. However, we both went down a couple different paths. Jake used to be a supplement junkie of sorts, willing to try anything under the sun. When one of the products ended up leaving 3 athletes dead that he was currently taking, Jake actually put down supplements all together and the research began.
Josh on the other hand, carefully and meticulously studied and experimented with individual supplements for years. Countless times his kitchen has been covered in bulk-ordered ingredients, all in attempt to create the preeminent, most complete products not currently available on the market. Jake soon joined in the fun.
After a workout and over a beer on Josh’s back porch, we vented about our common craving for products that specifically fit our needs and ones that we could trust wholeheartedly. We were also constantly asked what products we would recommend or what we were currently taking by friends and family; we knew they longed for the same thing. Most of the supplement marketplace has been saturated with marketing machines, not health companies putting the consumer first. Simply put, people deserved better.
Coupled with our knowledge and backgrounds, we felt it was our duty to create these products that are complete, high-quality formulas, lacking nothing in the way of ingredients or dosages, and make them available for every active individual.
TFM: What were some of the manufacturing hurdles you had to jump to create this kind of product?
One of the biggest hurdles in this area was finding a manufacturer that provided us with a level of confidence and comfort. We needed to find someone that would be able to deliver the exact product we had in mind. When all of your formulas are 100% unique, like ours, it is a much longer process than running a product that has been made before, which is known as private labeling. Everything must be triple checked. This process took several months of conversation, pricing, visiting the facilities, and finally sampling. We would recommend anyone who is thinking of entering the world of supplements, please vet out your suppliers and do your due-diligence. It will pay off greatly and save you a lot of potential headaches in the end.
TFM: What do you envision for the future of your products? Would you like to see them in stores? Or are you just focusing online? Do you have more products in mind?
As of right now, our efforts are split roughly 50/50 between online sales and wholesale accounts. In the last two months, we have hit the road on average 2-3 days per week, pounding the pavement, knocking on gyms’ and clinics’ doors, spreading our message, and sampling our first two products, Moxie and Rally. We firmly believe in playing the long game. In doing so, we focus on quality over quantity. We want to truly have an impact on people with our products and want to build a community with our customers. Having said all that, retail is definitely a goal as long as it is the right opportunity. The last thing we want to do is grow to big too fast.
Long-term we will absolutely be creating more products in the 
sports nutrition space and potentially products in other categories. Between the two of us, we have new product ideas nearly daily. Now, that doesn’t mean they’re all good! We do have some real game-changers in the works, but we’re keeping those close to the vest at the moment!
TFM: What does the future hold for you guys? Where would you like to take Too Fit USA?
We are currently located in College Station, Texas, but have plans to move ourselves and Too Fit Headquarters to Fort Worth, Texas this coming summer. Josh’s wife, Caroline, received an offer for a management position for Baylor-Scott and White All Saints, so he has to go! As for Jake, he is third-wheeling it as usual!
Jokes aside, we envision our office space in Fort Worth as a full human optimization pad, set inside a rebuilt downtown building with exposed red brick throughout. Our offices will have standing treadmill desks, places to hang upside and decompress the spine at any time, a full mobility and recovery area with hot-and-cold contrast pools, Normatec boots, etc. Jeff, you and Top Fit Mag are welcome anytime! (TFM: Thanks!)
Now…Our big, hairy, audacious goal for ourselves and Too Fit is a continuation of what we’re all about: the highest quality products, with proven and sound ingredients, made with transparency and trust, that lead to results people cannot deny. This will eventually lead to a day where people pick up a product off the shelf, and are forced to put it down because it’s not a Too Fit product; they feel like they cannot trust it. It may take 5 years, it may take 10 years, it may take our lifetime, but that’s our mission and it is the driving factor behind every move and decision we make.
TFM: Great stuff. To wrap up, what is the best way to see what you guys are up to and to get in contact?
You can find us through any one of our social media accounts. We have pages with a more personal touch, where we provide a glimpse into our daily lives. Then we have accounts where you can follow the company itself.
Our personal account handles (Instagram and Twitter) are @TheTooFitGuys.
Our business account handles (Instagram and Twitter) are @TooFitUSA.
Facebook is a mix of both business and our personal lives and you can find us at www.Facebook.com/TooFitUSA.
We love connecting with people via social media, however, the easiest way to get in touch with us and have a conversation is through email at Info@TooFitUSA.com.
TFM