Jason’s Fitness In The Beginning!
Jason Shawn Greene lifted his first weights at the age of 8-years old while living in Prichard, Al. They
were a set of Orbitron barbells that had been purchased for his father for Christmas from Sears. These
were those cement filled weights that made Fob James and Diversified Products rich. Jason was hooked
from the beginning, but the real deal started at age 13. Two factors came into sharp focus. Number
one was the fear of getting killed on the football field (Jason was painfully skinny 5’9” and 123lb.’s.)
and two of course was girls. Let’s face it even football was for the girls.
Jason: “I had gone to the beach with four girls that were all 3 or 4 years older than me. I had a major
crush on at least two of them. On the way home one of them laid her head on my shoulder to take a
nap and made the comment that I needed to put some meat on my bones. The rest is history.” Now he
was hooked. He trained hard from day one, but not only trained studied. Jason: “I will never forget my
parents buying me Schwarzenegger’s first book Education Of A Bodybuilder. I was fourteen or fifteen. I
nearly wore the pages out.”
Through high school Jason’s training revolved around the goal of playing college football. The skinny
kid wound up being all state and all conference playing middle line backer and running back and
weighing nearly 200lb’s by the end of his senior year. Jason was finally offered a full scholarship to
USM, but it was only after having walked on at Troy State and making the decision that the getting
ready for football was way more important than the football itself.
Jason enrolled at the University of South Alabama and was working toward a degree in the growing field
of Exercise Physiology. Becoming bored with History of Civilization and other courses that had nothing
to do with his field of study he began working part time at a health spa. There he made the decision
that what he wanted to do was open a real health club. No chrome, no steam, no whirlpool. A club
dedicated to the serious lifter. One true turning point was when he landed in the class entitled Motor
Learning 101 taught by his advisor Dr. Farris. Jason: “I was answering the questions before he could ask
them. I was beyond enthusiastic. After a few classes he held me back after class and said I didn’t have
to come back I had and A. I replied that is was the only class that ever came close to hitting on what I
wanted to learn. He asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to open my own health club.
He looked at me and said go do it they can’t teach you that here. It changed my life forever!”
Jason went home with the daunting task of convincing his parents to allow him to drop out of college
and open a health club. He was now working part time for General Nutrition Center, going to school
and planning his club. After a lot of convincing his parents agreed to get a loan to start the club.
Port City Health Club opened in the spring of 1981. The total investment to open the club was less than
$8,000 and that included all of the equipment, first months rent, and building improvements which
were done by Jason and friends. The first location was only 2,800 square feet. It was a former pool
hall and far from chic. The floor was ugly green grocery store tile that was completely worn out in
places from people walking around the pool tables. The rubber that was placed under the free weights
was actually used conveyor belt that had been dug out of the dirt at the state docks by Jason and best
friend Jerry Weaver. It literally took a couple of months of scrubbing the rubber with comet to clean
the rubber. Some of the belt had been used to transport grain and some to transport coal, but it was all
disgusting. For the record most of the original conveyer belt was still in use for over 25-years! The first
location was sparse and Spartan, but for a nineteen-year old weight lifter it was a dream come true!
Jason: “In the beginning the staff consisted of me and my Mom with my dad and most of the initial club
members pitching in to make minor improvements as money allowed.” Jason and his Mom did not
receive a salary for the first year, but the club sustained it self making all of the payments on the initial
loan and even purchasing a brand new shiny 7-station Sports Trainer by Paramount at the end of the
year.
Jason: “Somewhere around the middle of the first year my Dad begging me to shut it down and go back
to school. He hated seeing me work and worry so hard.” Jason was working thirteen hours a day and
his Mom had gone from a stay at home Mom and housewife to spending as much as 35-hours a week at
the gym, but there was no turning back now. Jason: “I was exhausted, scared, and more determined
than ever. This was no longer a business it had become a mission. I didn’t want to make it. I had to
make it!” It was somewhere around the middle of the first year when Port City Health Club got a name
update. Due to the fact that Jason practically lived at the club everyone called the club “Jason’s”.
The name morphed into Jason’s Port City Health Club. The original logo featuring a male weightlifter
and bodybuilder. With the updated name came an updated logo. The new logo added a female
bodybuilder. Shortly after a whole new logo was adopted by combining an image of Jason into the
name itself. The idea came from Jim Enger a friend and top bodybuilder and architect. It just so
happened that Clayton Ryan, one of the top commercial artists in the entire southeast was working out
at the club and did both of the above mentioned logos at no charge! Jason: “This is one of those times
when the planets lined up and God smiled on the poor struggling kid with a health club. Jim Enger
inspired the logo by explaining that the name should be the logo and the logo should be the name. He
used Coke and Pepsi as two examples. I had the idea on how to put it together, but absolutely no
artistic talent. Clayton Ryan, using the photos I took with a Kodak instamatic camera and my very
crude sketch of how I wanted it to look, created our logo. If that’s not God I don’t know what is! Jim
and Clayton are just two of the many people that God put in my path to help me along my way.”
In the spring 1984 with the club showing signs of success Jason got bold enough to try his hand
at another business and opened a tanning salon at University Blvd. and Cottage Hill. The combination
of growing out of the health club location and the space coming available next to the new tanning salon
created the opportunity to combine the club and the tanning salon expanding the health club from its
original 2,800 square feet to 4,500 square feet including the tanning salon which took up only about 200
square feet. It was considered a huge expansion especially for a 23-year old entrepreneur who was
never supposed to make it in the first place. Jason: “I will never forget moving all of the equipment
from the Cottage Hill and Azalea location to the Cottage Hill at University location. I couldn’t afford to
hire anyone so like so many other times I turned to my members for help. My manager (Matt McLeod)
had the brilliant idea of bribing them with beer. Unfortunately they started on it almost immediately.
Fortunately due to the rental agreement I was the only one allowed to drive and I have never drank.
Unfortunately it was a big open flat bed with standard shift transmission and I really don’t know how to
drive a standard shift transmission. The entire trip was less than two miles and we didn’t have that
much equipment to begin with, but by the second load this motley crew that had so graciously
volunteered to help with this historic move were already getting crazy. The guys were mooning people
through the rails of the truck and breaking into spontaneous posedowns for all of the passing females. I
still count myself lucky that I didn’t get arrested for transporting bodybuilders under the influence, a
BUI!
More to come…
A little history...
Everything you need to look and feel your very best!
24-Hour Access, 1-on-1 Personal Training,
Home Fitness Equipment & Supplement Sales.
www.jasonsfitness.com
Jason’s Fitness 3724 Cottage Hill Rd. Mobile, Alabama (251) 661-4615
Jason’s Fitness 120 W. Berry Ave. Foley, Al 36535 (251) 943-5591
