Meet Jesse DuPlesys

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jesse DuPlesys. Jesse was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Greg Orosz.

Jesse, can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in 1999 in the small town of Rifle, Colorado and grew up to a town east called Silt. Growing up here was a real pleasure because we have mountains all around us and are right on the Colorado river. I spent a lot of my childhood outdoors hunting and fishing with my two brothers and my Dad. Our father always took us to do fun things. By second grade I was playing pee-wee football with my Dad as the head coach. I instantly loved it. I always had to watch my brothers play football but now it was finally my time to play. I played football all the way to my senior year in high school and it helped shape my life and taught me a lot of good lessons. I always tried to do side jobs either for my family or with my friend’s dad doing some construction. In high school I tried to do as many extra curricular activities as I could between choir, plays, art and track and field which is where I met Greg. I was always into the weight room but Greg really helped me push it harder in there and taught me what to do to get better. I don’t think I would love the gym as much as I do today if it wasn’t for him.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
Once I graduated High School I started doing landscaping for a couple years of my life then I switched over to work for a moving company. I would still do construction work on the side as well and did work for a construction company for a bit. All these jobs instilled a great work ethic on me and really showed me what hard work is especially moving furniture. In 2020 I broke my foot and had to stop doing manual labor for a while. While out of work I would just go to the gym as much as I could and eventually started talking to the owner and now my boss Steve Reynolds. I asked him if I could work at the gym, figuring it would be easy since my foot was broken and I couldn’t return to my old line of work yet. He told me that to work at the gym that I would have to become a certified personal trainer. I have always thought about this but now I really had the push to get certified. Shortly after I got certified I was hired and finally got to work in my dream job. Which I have been doing for a little over three years now. Once I started the gym was in a rough patch (this is during covid) There were equipment problems and staffing problems. A lot of trainers only know training and not much more and I had my experience from previous jobs and my hobbies. I just started fixing and cleaning what I could in the gym and taking clients as they came. Month after month we dug the gym out of a hole and got it running as a smooth ship. Within the past year we have moved one of our locations and bought new equipment for it which has been a big role in changing the culture of our gyms. I always thought when I started working at the gyms I wouldn’t be using my hands anymore but that’s not the case at all. If I see something wrong I go to fix it no matter what it is and if I can’t then we get someone who can. That’s what I love about working here. Also seeing progress that all the members make is really rewarding knowing that I have helped them with that.

Greg Orosz and Work Harder Fitness have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Greg Orosz and Work Harder Fitness and your experience with them.
I met Greg my sophomore year of high school after I had transferred from another school. It wasn’t hard but it wasn’t easy being a new kid on the block. It definitely didn’t help that I was a metal head with a footlong mohawk. I got a lot of weird looks from students and some of the faculty. One day after school I was walking by the weight room and heard some metal music playing. Being interested in both I walked in and saw Greg towering in there lifting some massive weight and instantly gravitated toward him. Greg was welcoming to me from the first moment and we got to talking and he told me I can come workout with him after school. It wasn’t long before I realized that he knew his stuff and I was getting stronger every workout we had together. Not only was Greg an awesome coach. He became one of my best friends and would be there for me to talk about home life and emotional problems. He is a real person and states how it is he won’t beat around the bush with you. I knew this was how he is because he wasn’t just like this with me he did this with all of the students and athletes he couldn’t help himself but to help people. Even when Greg is competing in a strongman competition he will help his opponents with events just because he cares about people getting better. Greg was the person that got me into strongman as well.

Image Credits
Sarah Phillips