"Meet Austin Dotson of Dotty Fitness in Carson" VoyageLA Feature

Austin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

All my life I’ve been the athletic kid. I grew up doing martial arts (Tae Kwon Do). I did martial arts for five years until I fell in love with football. I started playing football as a sophomore in high school. After playing ball, I really didn’t know what I want to do. I was torn between going to the Navy or going back to school. Ultimately I went to Golden West Community college in Huntington Beach, California. I played football there and was awarded a full ride scholarship to Sacramento State University. Teaching myself everything along the way, I played two years at Sacramento. After graduating with my bachelors in communication studies, my goal was to pursue the NFL.

Unfortunately, God didn’t have those plans for me but I was blessed enough to sign three professional football contracts playing indoor football. After retiring from football, I was lost. I got a 9-5 desk job working for a Mortgage company called Impact. My life started spiraling downhill, I wasted my time and money drinking, eating bad, partying, etc. No matter you’re genetic makeup, consuming the wrong foods, and drinking sugary drinks/alcohol will take a toll on your body. It all caught up to me. December 25th, 2016 (Christmas Day) I was arrested for DUI. It changed my life forever, shortly after that I was laid off my job because it was “slow season”. Not to mention I had a 1-year-old daughter and her mother was battling complications from Chrons Disease. I was hurt, lost, depressed. I had a Dui to pay for, a daughter to raise and pay for, I had no money, no job, football was over for me, my daughter’s mother was really sick and didn’t know if she was going to make it or not. I was forced to look deep inside myself and figure out what I was going to do, sink or swim? I looked at myself in the Mirror in disgust, looking at an out of shape, chubby Austin (which I’ve never seen before). Right then and thereafter praying, I made the decision to straighten my life out and do the right thing. I quit drinking and I made the effort to detox my body of all chemicals and consume the healthiest foods.

Within three weeks, I had a six-pack. In five months after hard work and consistency, trials and errors, I seen my body a way I never thought I could. I was absolutely shredded. I started off at 18% body fat and within five months I was 8%. From there, I knew I had something special. Fast forwarding to now, I am still under 10% body fat. I have been shown in USA Today 5 times, have been shown on men’s health magazine two times. During the day, I train numerous amounts of clients, during the night, I am a behavioral therapist. My life is a hustle, a constant grind but I will never quit. Things happen in our life to see how we will respond to it. So next time you’re feeling depressed and down… ask yourself, am I going to sink or swim?

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

The struggles building my business, my brand was believing in myself. It’s hard to start something when you don’t even know if what you have works. Trials and errors trying to figure out what food works and what doesn’t. Trying to figure out what exercises are beneficial to the body and not just because it looks cool. How can I help myself and have someone believe in my product, believe in my abilities and I can’t look the part. So it was a long, tough But consistently progressive road!

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Dotty Fitness – what should we know?

My business is personal training. I specialize in guiding an individual to a healthier lifestyle. I am known for my insane workouts and unnatural abilities. I am proud to say that what I know, what I’ve done works. Starting something from scratch and able to apply it to someone else and get the results they were hoping for. What sets me apart from others is my Versatility. I am able to adapt to many people and their styles. Also, my training style is very unique as I combine all genres of fitness into one, making my talents a complete package.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?

Humility, able to understand, connect and relate to other people’s problems. I don’t care about money, I only care about changing lives. In my opinion, I believe that life isn’t about what we can do, but what we can do for others. Also being able to learn. Life is a constant professor, we must willing to learn and adapt to new things everyday.