At 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds with shoulders like boulders, biceps like bowling balls and a thick, gray-speckled beard, Mr. Edmond’s presence belies the easy-going upbeat nature of the founder of the Athletic Trauma Unit. With his workouts, he creates a real community that sometimes attracts hundreds of people. But they only started with him and two others.
In 2006 he played for a number of years with the Cincinnati Bengals and for some time in the NFL Europe. Then the 29-year-old put on his helmet.
“I felt good walking away with my knees, shoulders, and head intact,” he said. “I wanted to get on with different endeavors in life – something that was mine, something that I could say, ‘I did that. ‘
“I planned to come back again and again. I was committed to the Woodland Hills Community. “
He worked as a juvenile correctional officer until June 2014. At another crossroads, he was engaged in his true passion – fitness – but also with a specific mission: to give people advice on how to get in shape when they don’t have a gym or the means to pay to do it.
“I didn’t want people to have to pay me. I felt like within the community they didn’t want to go to the gym because they were far away – in Monroeville, Murrysville, or downtown. “
The concept of food deserts – areas with low-income, limited-mobility residents who have limited access to affordable and nutritious food – has become increasingly important in recent years. So also “fitness deserts”. Neighborhoods like Braddock, Rankin, and Turtle Creek are like the overlapping part of a Venn diagram for both types of deserts.
Edmonds became a certified personal trainer and then eliminated the need for a gym. His training was developed on the principles of body resistance movements so that all participants need themselves and gravity. No weights, no machines, no ropes, no kettlebells or box jumps.
In 2014 he held his first training session in the Wolvarena.
“Two people showed up on the first day. In a few weeks it was 10. By the end of summer we would have 50 to 100 people. It really got stuck. “
Anyone from children to the elderly can participate and proceed at their own pace, though Edmonds will certainly urge them. After training, a friend commented, “Man, this is traumatic. We faced a real trauma – an athletic trauma. “
The name Athletic Trauma Unit – ATU for short – was born.
Edmonds does private sports training as a stand-alone business, but to continue the mission of free training, he started a 501c3 nonprofit that is donated. He’s also started a food truck to promote healthy eating.
“I’m not a nutritionist, but the whole purpose of the food truck is to teach people about healthy eating by showing them that it tastes good. I’ll give you the recipe and you can make it at home without a lot of salt and sauce. You can help your family be healthier so we can build a healthier community. “
He has run turkey rides for Thanksgiving and his Athletic Trauma Unit participates in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Goodfellows fund, which helps Toys for Tots provide toys to families in need during the holiday season.
Edmonds has not let the pandemic stand in the way of its mission, even if it means mandatory masks, temperature checks, limiting students and planning more frequent workouts with fewer people. He started a YouTube channel for workouts and was postponing his classes in response to recent government restrictions on Zoom.
“I don’t care if it’s one person or 100, we’re going to train,” he said. “This person may have mental or family problems, so I approach them all in the same way. I fight too, just like everyone else. Removing some of these various barriers can help someone save their own life.
“I’ve seen people in these classes meet, get married, and have kids. One person met another and eventually donated their kidney to them. A friend lost 250 pounds and got a scholarship to have excess skin removed because he did it naturally. A woman with a prosthesis received a running leg scholarship. We have a 93 year old woman who comes here. “
Candace Foster, a Homewood accountant, came from the start. The 53-year-old single mother of three has little time to exercise and gyms weren’t for her. With ATU, she found not only a way to get fit, but also a real community of friends who train, have dinner and socialize together.
“I knew from the first training session that it was. They were all levels, age groups, men and women, all in different places in life, with one thing in common: We wanted to get or stay fit and maintain health and well-being.
“Now it’s this big whole network,” she said. “We’re just normal people. Nobody comes out to think that they can’t keep up. We all finish together making sure no one is left behind. He really is an influence and it helps in these dark times. “
These dark times make training difficult, especially if you add snow to the mix. Edmonds says what you do isn’t that important right now, but like the Nike tagline says, just do it. Every day.
Find something you enjoy doing, even if it’s just a small video class or a stationary bike or a skipping rope, he said. Just do something. If you are going for a walk with your pets, go a little longer. Take the steps in your house. All you can do to get exercise and get your heart rate pumping.
“We are all human. It’s like everything. It’s a habit. When you break away from the things you do every day, it can lead to different problems. “
He also said, “Nobody wants to get COVID handles.”
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Woodland High School graduate Chris Edmonds and former NFL player teaches fitness classes to a chronically underserved population in Braddock, Pennsylvania, Thursday, December 10, 2020. (Steve Mellon / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Photo credit: Steve Mellon
Photo credit: Steve Mellon
Woodland High School graduate Chris Edmonds and former NFL player teaches fitness classes to a chronically underserved population in Braddock, Pennsylvania, Thursday, December 10, 2020. (Steve Mellon / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Photo credit: Steve Mellon
Photo credit: Steve Mellon
Woodland High School graduate Chris Edmonds and former NFL player poses in Braddock, Pennsylvania on Thursday, December 10, 2020. He teaches fitness classes for a chronically underserved population. (Steve Mellon / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Photo credit: Steve Mellon
Photo credit: Steve Mellon
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