Spotlight on Functionality for Foundation Fitness of Alexandria at Ribbon-Cutting Grand Opening

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Functional bodies in motion – a common goal most everyone shares. Life takes over at times, though, and we find ourselves having a setback and dealing with pain and limited mobility. Foundation Fitness understands this concept so much that Owner/General Manager C.J. Wesby has opened his second fitness center in the area.

On Saturday, October 22nd, Wesby cut the Grand Opening red ribbon alongside Lance LeTellier (founder/CEO), Patrick Bresley (COO), Mayor Justin Wilson, and Wayne Gooden (Partner). “Be Your Best” summarizes the mission of Foundation Fitness of Alexandria as well as Wesby’s first location in Del Ray.

Wesby has a 20+ year background in fitness and has seen trends and fads come and go. His Foundation Fitness takes a different approach to living your best life.

“We have stuck to foundational movement work on making clients more stable and functionally sound so that they are able to function much better in life. So we don’t want you to get accustomed to using linear machines that only have one path of motion. We want you to be able to stabilize yourself when you are twisting and turning and bending down to the side to pick something up (in order to) maintain your mobility as we all age,” said Wesby.

Foundation Fitness is for “folks who are looking for maintaining or gaining optimal health,” according to Wesby. “We do have some nutritional coaching and do full in-body scanning. We do a full assessment in the intake process to give a snapshot of where a client is at the beginning, then consult, have a two-session intake before being paired with a trainer,” said Wesby. 

This procedure allows them (the trainers) to have full knowledge of any injuries or problems people are experiencing. It is all about “giving people what they want and also giving people what they need,” for optimal fitness.

They offer four, six, and 12-month contracts where clients train once, twice or three times a week. Since the area has a lot of contract and government workers for short stints of time, it is the Foundation’s goal to help people in the time frame they have available.

Wesby was formerly a PT aide and a speed/conditioning coach for a women’s national football league team, the NY Sharks.His trainers have background experience which includes exercise science, sports, conditioning, PT aide, even competitive powerlifters and competitive strong men. The owner stresses that trainers continue in their education and constantly further their knowledge by learning and doing new things.

The company works extensively with people who have suffered sports injuries. They speak with physical therapists, and orthopedic surgeons, as well as chiropractors about their clients injuries. Not only do they work on the injury but also on all-over body health for strength, stability, and mobility. As Wesby said, it is about aiming toward the goal of  “a well-rounded, stronger human being across life.”

Pre-hab is another area in which the professional trainers focus, a concept traditionally overlooked as people prepare for an operation.

“If someone knows they are going to have surgery, we make sure we stabilize above and below that particular joint or area so they can shorten recovery time,” said Wesby. 

Foundation Fitness was founded by CEO Lance LeTellier in 2009 in Annandale. The second fitness center opened in Georgetown, before expanding into NOVA. LeTellier currently oversees his eight locations – five in NOVA, two in DC and one in Annapolis. LeTellier was formerly in acquisitions and then became a trainer, finding the work fulfilling.

He created the Foundation with a mission to inspire others to be their best, and not just inside the gym. 

“When you feel better, you do more good things, you’re in a better mood, you interact with other people better, you are able to spend more quality time with your family (which is) very rewarding  to start seeing the fruits of that,” LeTellier said, whose goal went from focusing on individual clients to now working with over 50 trainers to have that same impact to build his leaders.

How has the pandemic affected the fitness world?  

“Incredibly difficult,” said LeTellier, “but at the same time the way our community rallied, and I was able to see what we had put into our customers, and they paid us back. We went into the pandemic with seven locations and came out with seven. As soon as things opened we came roaring back stronger than ever before, 25-30% better than pre-Covid. The response was incredible,” LeTellier said gratefully. 

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