About the Instructor Training Program

Since the doors first opened in 1998 as a full-fledged military inspired fitness program, START Fitness® has helped thousands of people reach their fitness goals and now we're helping instructors around the world reach their career goals. We've been training and certifying instructors since 2005. We look forward to continuing to inspire instructors to think beyond the box and grow in to their fullest potential!

The Mission of START Fitness®

START Fitness®, the fitness industry’s leading boot camp fitness certification company provides live and online, interactive, boot camp fitness certifications as well as courses in business development and marketing to enable and equip the fitness instructor to grow their program and their personal brand.

About the founder, SGT Ken®

Ken Weichert (aka SGT Ken®) is an award-winning international speaker, six-time US Army Soldier of the Year, Master Fitness Trainer, Master Resilience Trainer, Counterintelligence Agent and highly decorated combat veteran. Ken has trained over 500,000 Service Members and civilians through Operation Fit to Fight, has written over 100 articles for GX®, Backpacker®, Outside®, Health®, and created the Operation Family Fit video series and ?tness kits for the Air National Guard. Ken founded the longest-running Boot Camp Ftness program in the United States, START Fitness®, and has starred in several best-selling ?tness videos. Ken is the recipient of the Canadian Fitness Professionals 2011 “Best New Presenter of the Year” award, the EMPOWER 2013 “Male Presenter of the Year” award, and has been featured numerous times on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox news, and continues to serve as a host for the Fit for Duty show on the Pentagon Channel. Ken is a continuing education provider through the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) for the Tactical Fitness Trainer (aka “Boot Camp Instructor”) course. Ken’s mission is to provide safe and effective fitness and resilience training to help people turn stress into strength and obstacles into opportunities.