The Business of Helping People Thrive Through Personal Training: Better Living Fitness Founder Mark Thiesmeyer

By Better Living Staff Writer Dawn Wolfe

Not quite twenty years ago, Mark Thiesmeyer had the idea that led him to completely change his life and career. Back then, Mark was a business consultant focused on helping corporations contain health care costs.

Now, of course, he's a personal trainer and the owner and founder of both Ann Arbor's Better Living Fitness and the Better Living Fitness Center.

Why the career change?

“As a consultant, I heard too many stories that came down to one thing: too many people were suffering from preventable health issues. At the same time, it was clear back then that health care costs were about to skyrocket.”

“I had a sense back then that effective exercise and appropriate nutrition would keep people healthy. I remember reading an article that showed protein timing could be key to making Parkinson’s medications work. That seemed so cool and made me want to learn more."

With this realization, Mark decided to do something different. First he went back to school, earning two personal training certifications and two Master's degrees – one in the Science of Exercise Physiology, and one in Public Health Nutrition.

He also got to work as a personal trainer. Mark met his first client, Ann Marie Kotre, in 1999. Ann Marie still trains with Mark today.

Mark may have been immersed in the world of health and fitness, but he didn't forget his business training and experience. Eventually, he became successful enough as a personal trainer that he had to turn down prospective clients.

Being a businessman, Mark rose to the challenge by expanding and hiring additional personal trainers.

“That turned out to be a great decision!,” Mark says. “For one thing, by hiring trainers as my employees, I could insure that any client trained by 'my people' would receive the benefit of all of my education and experience. Each of the trainers we hire generally compete against 20 other applicants to get their position. Then we ask Better Living personal trainers to spend months learning the progressions, exercises and stretches that have been effective in helping keep our clients healthy for the past two decades.

“But that's not the only benefit. Working as a personal trainer can be lonely. Once I hired my first associate trainer, I had someone to share stories with and bounce ideas off of. Even today, we have weekly staff meetings to consult with each other about our clients. If a client is having a problem reaching a goal or has a persistent injury, my team and I brainstorm solutions together.”

“Better Living clients may work with one personal trainer, but they also benefit from this team approach.”

Most people would feel pretty settled after changing careers and getting so successfully established in their new occupation. Mark, on the other hand, decided to take things another step by opening the Better Living Fitness Center in January of 2016.

 “I wanted to make personal training more cost-effective for clients,” he says. “Having a fitness center of my own means that I can give clients more options to help their budget as well as their health.”

Today, Mark still works with clients one-on-one. He also trains new Better Living staff members, plays a major role in running the fitness center, and teaches Full-Body Fit sessions.

But he also makes time for his personal life and for his husband, Matt. Mark and Matt have been together for sixteen years, and were married as soon as federal law changed to recognize their relationship.

In addition to tennis and movies, Mark and Matt love to travel – in fact, they take turns planning a surprise anniversary trip for each other every six months.

“It's a way to keep our relationship fresh, and we also see a lot of value in experiencing other cultures. There's a lot to be gained by going to different places and experiencing how other people live and how they feel about their lives.”

So far, the couple has been all over Europe, Australia and Japan. Most recently, it was Mark's turn to plan their trip and he surprised Matt with something different: a vacation in the United Arab Emirates. 

“Matt didn't see Dubai coming, but it was a great time,” Mark says. “We didn't do a lot of the touristy things – instead we visited a couple of mosques, and made a point of talking to all of our cab drivers to get a sense of what life is like there.”