Meet Zack Bartell. At 23 years old, Zack is a college graduate, a competitive powerlifter, and owner and founder of his own gym, SoCal Powerlifting, which houses hundreds of members. He’s nothing less than an inspiration — any of his clients will tell you that — and his story is one of dedication, hard work, serious guts and ultimately great success. Zack sat down with Irvine Weekly to tell us how his weight-loss journey led to him founding and owning Irvine and Orange County’s premier powerlifting gym. 

What was your childhood like in Irvine?

Growing up in Irvine, I did what most youth do. I went to school, participated in sports and lived a pretty normal childhood. There was definitely a high standard for education, and while I excelled in some ways, I definitely struggled to some extent. I was an ADHD kid that could not sit still for the life of me. I even got held back in kindergarten because my teachers and parents didn’t feel I was ready to go to 1st grade. 

Not only did I struggle with ADHD, but I also had a weight problem. Food for me was comfort, so I would often find myself excessively snacking and eating. My parents were very helpful, and did absolutely everything they could to help. The weight struggles led to bullying, and more woes in school. When thinking about my childhood, this definitely clouds my mind quite a bit. From being picked last for sports teams, to always being “it” when playing tag, I definitely struggled. 

I never felt I had a “place.” I was not good at sports, I was not extremely studious, I was just in this limbo, middle-of-the-pack area. It wasn’t until playing football at Woodbridge High School, did that change. Football was the first activity that I had ever done where being “big” was sometimes positive. It gave me an outlet to get better, and get in better shape. It gave me a group of friends that would support me — many I still talk to weekly. It led me to finding my love for strength and fitness.

How and when did you find your passion for fitness?

It all started in the Woodbridge weightroom. I was going into my junior year and at my heaviest weight. It came to the point where even some of my football coaches were concerned. This was really eye-opening, and I did not want to let them down. I spent the spring and summer of 2013 losing 60 pounds, and falling in love with lifting weights. With my newfound confidence and strength, I found myself starting on the offensive line that year and never looked back. 

While I had fallen in love with lifting, I still did not know if it was what I wanted to do for my career. The idea of being a collegiate strength coach definitely enticed me, but I knew it would involve quite a bit of school to get there, and I was not sure if it was my passion yet. 

SoCal Powerlifting (Courtesy of Zack Bartell)

How did your passion for fitness lead you to owning your own gym?

It was one of the first things I found that I was really good at, teaching people how to lift weights. It was the first thing I was really passionate about. I really enjoyed bringing people that same happiness that I found when I lost weight. Seeing that I could help others get stronger and be confident in the way they look; I think that played a big role in me finding my passion for strength training.

So what happened was, I was coaching a group of lifters at a different gym and I was getting really into it. I cared about my people and they meant a lot to me. The gym was ultimately closing and I just felt this pull within me; I didn’t want to lose my people. I took some money that I had saved up from working like four jobs, I found a space, and bought some gym equipment. I wanted to give them a home and a place to train. 

I didn’t see further than that, which is kind of funny. I didn’t think it would be what it’s become, I thought it would just be a passion or a side thing. 

(Courtesy of Zack Bartell)

How did you balance finishing school and building a gym?

I used to work at another gym, so I was going to school in the morning and by noon, I was driving down to Laguna Niguel to coach at this other gym. It was like, school, gym, workout, do fulfillment and take care of customer service, and then I’d get back to campus at like 9 p.m. after the dining halls had already closed (laughs). It sucked but I loved it at the same time. Once I opened the gym, it was really, really difficult because my grades started to slip. It was hard to balance both things. I was doing [workout] programming for clients in class, I was responding to emails in class, I was working on marketing materials in class. It was hard for me to actually focus in school, so that started to tank my grades. I opened in August 2017 and by spring 2018 I was failing multiple classes. I had to decide; do I take advantage of this momentum because my business is growing or do I pull back on the business and finish my degree. I did a little bit of both. I decided I would still finish my degree and I would just have to transfer schools. I transfered to Cal Baptist and my classes were all online, which allowed me to have more freedom in my schedule to focus on the gym. 

What do you attribute to the success of SoCal Powerlifting?

I think, at first, a lot of it was charisma. I just loved this so much, that I attracted good people and good clientele who wanted to share about me and spread the word. Then the other thing is, I think that I found a niche in powerlifting and strength where people who have been following a workout program at LA Fitness or another gym, wanted to take it to the next step. They don’t want to pay for a personal trainer, but they do want some guidance, so we kind of bridged that gap. I think we really captured the market in the sense that there’s not other gyms that do what we do.

In fact, there’s starting to be gyms, I could name one, that are starting to look at us and try to copy our model a little bit, but they’re not us.

What made you want the gym to be in Irvine?

Irvine, I could go all day on Irvine. Irvine is freaking awesome because it’s centrally located in Orange County so we are able to get a lot of clientele from both northern O.C. and southern O.C. Our location in Skypark Circle is super close to the freeways: the 405, the 73, the 55 and close enough to the 5. We get a lot of people who work in Irvine and want to wait out traffic and go train with their coaches after work; then they don’t have to sit in hours of traffic as they head home. That’s been huge, just having a place where people can come after work and train. Actually, since moving to Irvine from Newport, we have more than doubled in size in less than a year, and I equate that to the location being in Irvine.

SoCal Powerlifting is always accepting new members, find their contact info below!

SoCal Powerlifting, 17795 Sky Park Circle #5G, Irvine; (949) 697-1641, socalpowerlifting.net.

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