Meet Kirk Myers, the founder and CEO of The Dogpound.
Kirk Myers, CEO and founder of The Dogpound, told Business Insider he was "chunky" when he was growing up. In High School, he weighed nearly 300 pounds.
His life changed forever when he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure at the age of 21-years old.
"I realized I had to change my life if I wanted to avoid further health complications, so I went to the gym," he said."In two years I lost 130 pounds."
That wasn't the end of his fitness journey, however. Kirk started to help his friends achieve their fitness goals and ultimately he discovered that helping people "get fit" was his passion.
When he moved to New York he started working as a personal trainer. Before he opened up The Dogpound last March, he trained his clients at other New York gyms.
"It started out with 4 people, then 8, then 16," he said."And after I paired up with my friend Brey, and his brother Dawin, it became 31, and it just kept getting bigger."
Ultimately his crew got so big, he decided he would just open up his own gym.
You can thank Hugh Jackman for the name.
Before The Dogpound was an official gym located in Manhattan's West Village, it was basically a men's club, a group of 14 guy-friends who would get together at 5:45am every day except Sunday to workout.
Some of the original Dogpounders included actor Hugh Jackman, Tom Farley, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, and former America’s Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker.
Hugh Jackman's french bulldog precided over all of these workouts, and that's how the group got their name.
Here's a video of Jackman working out in the early days of The Dogpound, before it was an actual gym.
In May 2015, Hugh Jackman joined what is known in the fitness world as the "1000 club" after he successfully completed a 355 pound squat, bench pressed 235 pounds, and dead lifted 410 pounds.
Tom Farley, the president of the iconic New York Stock Exchange, is one of the original members of The Dogpound, and still attends regularly.
Some pretty impressive athletes also call The Dogpound home.
Conor Dwyer is one of the most acclaimed athletes to call The Dogpound home. According to Dwyer's profile on USA Swimming, the 23-year old has a long list of accolades:
"Bronze medalist in the 200m free and earned gold in the 800m free at the 2016 Olympic Games ... Runner-up in the 200m and 400m free at 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials to make his second Olympic Team ... National champion in the 200m and 400m free at 2015 AT&T Winter Nationals ... Won silver in the 800m free relay at the 2015 FINA World Championships ... Won gold as part of the 800m free relay and finished."
You'll find your fair share of people boxing at the Dogpound.
Here's Brazilian model Marianne Fonseca sporting her boxing gloves outside The Dogpound.
Boxing has been an integral component of The Dogpound since it opened up. According to Well and Good:
"Classes, which max out at 12 and are usually much smaller, focus on breaking down proper technique before you start throwing punches. As you learn good form, you increase your shadowboxing speed, and then practice punching pads with the trainer or a partner. (You’ll be required to take off all jewelry, by the way, “in case you get punched in the face,” Pena told me, with a smirk.) And between punch combos, there’s typical boxing class conditioning work, like jumping rope, burpees, and jump squats, so you’ll be pushed to your physical limits by the end of the session."
You'll also find your fair share of Angels.
The DogPound is known as the "favorite gym" of Victoria's Secret Models.
According to an article penned by Harper Bazaar's Chrissy Rutherfords, the Victoria Secret models who are regulars at The DogPound leave no stone unturned during their work outs, especially when they are preparing for their annual fashion show.
Some of The Dogpound's most famous angels include Elsa Hosk, Adriana Lima, Josephine Skriver, and Lais Ribeiro.
A couple of months ago, model Lais Ribeiro made sure to get in her workout at The Dogpound before heading off to Paris.
After an intense workout, Brazilian-native and Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima paused for a selfie.
The 35-year old Brazilian-native has been a Victoria's Secret model since 1999 and she is also a spokeswoman for Maybelline Cosmetics.
Swedish-born model Elsa Hosk is a regular at The Dogpound. Here's a compilation of one of her workouts.
Here's how the Dogpound became the unofficial gym of Victoria's Secret models.
According to Myers, The Dogpound's association with Victoria's Secret models can be traced back to when he had just started out as a personal trainer in New York City.
"Basically what happened was a few years back, before I even met Brey, I was training this pretty well-connected hair stylist Marty Christopher Harper," he said.
"I helped him lose about 40 pounds and he was a super nice guy," Myers added. "He would always brag to his clients and say 'you got to try this guy.'"
When Myers opened the gym, Harper sent 26-year old Victoria's Secret model Jasmine Tookes to try it out.
"And so she came and she really liked it. And then she brought her friend. And that friend brought a friend, and it just kept mushrooming," Myers said.
Out of the 14 "headliners" in the the last Victoria's Secret fashion show, 11 train at The Dogpound.