Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick DellaPace.
Hi Patrick, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in South Florida where I spent the majority of my waking hours outside- fishing, surfing, climbing trees, running, swimming, playing basketball, and exploring nature as much as possible. Both of my parents were (and continue to be) very active and their example has always encouraged me to live a very movement-oriented lifestyle. In high school, I earned a basketball scholarship to a college in Nebraska (which felt like the other end of the universe) and I quickly learned to have an appreciation for long fields of corn and a slower pace of life. After two years of playing ball, I decided to hang up the jersey and transfer to a university in Arkansas. It was there where I began to do a lot of camping, hiking, trail running, as well as my first marathon. I became so enamored with being on the trail that after I graduated college, I ran my first 50 Mile ultramarathon in California with my dad! I loved the area so much that I decided to pack up and move there the following month. During that time, I began working at Fleet Feet Sports in Sacramento and pretty much spent most of my free time exploring new trails and running races in the mountains up to the 100 Mile Distance. After moving around CA, a bit, I eventually met my lovely wife (a native Floridian as well) where we have since spent most of our time living in various places here on the east coast. In 2016, we were living in Connecticut and that’s when I left the running industry to work as a full-time Fitness Director at WIP Fitness. During this time, I began gaining a broad knowledge and experience in various fitness modalities as well as honing in on my coaching/teaching skills. Although we loved our time in New England, my wife and I (along with our daughter) decided to move to Raleigh to be closer to our family and say “goodbye” to all those brutal northern winters. When I moved to Raleigh I worked as a Health and Wellness Director until COVID hit, which challenged me to venture out on my own and begin training clients independently.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No, it has not exactly been a smooth road, but it has been good!
Some people have known exactly what they wanted to do or become in life since they were a kid. I, on the other hand, had no clue. Post-college I did my fair share of nomadic wandering from place to place trying to figure out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. Fortunately, I was blessed to have grown up in a loving, God-centered home, which provided me a solid moral compass and a strong personal identity but deciding which direction to pursue as a career was never an easy thing. One challenge I had early on was watching how many of my friends who I went to college with immediately graduate, earned a “real job” with a nice salary, and started a traditional stable life for themselves. Meanwhile, I was spending my time pursuing recreational activities and just trying to make ends meet. I mean, there were times when I was living in an apartment where the bathroom was larger than the rest of my living space and I’d occasionally ask myself “what am I doing with my life?” But the moment I would stop and think about working crazy long hours behind a desk for more money, or just living to work, I quickly realized that I’d rather be living a simpler life with less stuff and enjoying wherever it is I was working.
A more recent challenge of mine has been adapting to life and job changes due to COVID. In 2020, I was let go from my job as a Health and Wellness Director, as many people were, due to my position being considered non-essential. At the same time, my wife’s wedding photography business was put on hold and all her work was rescheduled for a year later. Going from a stable income to an uncertain one was definitely a strange life moment. There were some great things that came out of the transition but it certainly had its obstacles.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Outside of co-owning a photography business with my wife, I also travel around the Raleigh area training clients in-person as well as remotely. I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) by the NSCA and I love working with both athletes and non-athletes alike. While I have had the opportunity to work with people in a number of different ways, I ultimately love helping people understand and realize that doing the simple things repeatedly are often the best ways to achieve success in living a healthy and fit lifestyle. In today’s mainstream culture we are often bombarded by so many “healthy choices” that it becomes incredibly difficult to navigate what is truth and what is not. From the number of exercise contraptions in the gym to all the social media hacks on “how to lose 10 lbs. in 10 days,” combined with the idea that you just aren’t healthy enough if you can’t see your abs, makes everything way too confusing and false. I believe that when you reduce your options and consistently focus on making simple choices that truly “move the needle” then you will actually see progress and realize that living a healthy life does not have to be as hard as everyone makes it out to be. This is the way I approach my own lifestyle as well as when training others.
For myself, I believe that moving out in nature is one of the most important things we can do for our health and well-being so I try and encourage training sessions to be done outdoors as much as possible. I love to climb, carry rocks/logs, crawl, swim, surf, hike, jump and run on various natural surfaces. These types of play activities are tremendously therapeutic for our overall physical and mental health as they build usable strength, skill, concentration, self-awareness, self-esteem, high levels of physical capacity, and just pure enjoyment.
While I prefer training outdoors, I often train clients at their homes and online as well. I focus a lot of my client programming around progressive bodyweight exercises, balance, posture, mobility, and building power, strength, and stability using unstable objects. I feel that many people have a tendency to head straight to the weight rack to slay “Arm Day” or do endless amounts of cardio on the elliptical when all the while they struggle to safely and efficiently do the most basic, but very important, life movements such as a lunging, crawling, picking up something awkward off the ground and carrying it or simply just getting up off the floor. Understanding how to move your own body in ways beneficial to life’s tasks should be foundational to everyone’s fitness program no matter who you are. Once you develop a strong and stable foundation of moving well with your own body weight then you can begin incorporating a variety of other tools. No matter what stage of fitness my clients may be in I still tend to utilize the most simple of tools to get the job done whether it’s with sandbags, gymnastic rings, a box, chair, furniture sliders, resistance bands, and/or a pull-up bar.
What sets me apart from others is my background in athletic training, my passion for living an active lifestyle outside of the gym, and my unconventional approach to fitness.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
The best way to work with me or collaborate is to contact me by email
Contact Info:
- Email: patrick.dellapace@gmail.com
- Instagram: patrickdellapace
Image Credits
Lacey Gabrielle Photography
