Matt Hitzhusen

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

I’m Matt Hitzhusen, originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, and now based in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m the owner of HITZ Fitness, a private strength and conditioning gym I’ve been building since 2012.

My path here wasn’t exactly linear. I went to law school and practiced as an attorney, but I kept finding that the work I loved most was coaching people. I’ve always been drawn to the mix of science, problem solving, and human connection that good training requires. At HITZ, we get to put all three to work every day: helping people get stronger, build capacity, and do things they may have thought were behind them or beyond their reach.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now.

The sun. I grew up in Massachusetts, so I don’t take it for granted that I can walk outside on a random January afternoon and feel the warmth on my face. Phoenix summers can be intense, obviously, but I’ll take that trade. The light and the weather make it easier for me to get outside, move, and feel energized throughout the year.

Tell us a little more about what your company does and how it started. How does it help your customers?

HITZ Fitness is a private strength and conditioning gym in Phoenix. We coach people one on one, with training built around their goals, their history, and what their body can do today. That might mean getting stronger, returning to something they love after an injury, or building the confidence to take on a challenge that once felt out of reach. The common thread is thoughtful coaching and a plan that can grow with the person.

HITZ started in 2012 with an empty space and a pretty stubborn belief that I could build the kind of gym I wanted to train in. I remember sleeping there while I worked out the layout with AutoCAD and graph paper, trying to make every square foot count. It was exciting and terrifying in roughly equal measure.

The space has changed a lot since then, but the idea behind it hasn’t: pay close attention, do the work well, and help people see what they’re capable of when they put the work in.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

Get close to the actual work and the people you hope to serve. It’s easy to fall in love with the idea of owning a business. You learn a lot more by doing the work, listening to customers, and finding out which problems they’ll trust you to solve.

Then learn your numbers. When I opened HITZ, I had energy and conviction in abundance. I also learned quickly that passion doesn’t pay the rent on its own. You need to know what it costs to deliver your service well, what you need to charge, and how you’ll keep improving it. Pay attention, make adjustments, and keep showing up. A business gets built through a lot of ordinary days done well.

What is one piece of feedback from a happy customer or client that you won't forget?

The feedback that stays with me usually isn’t about a number on a barbell. It’s when a client tells me they did something in their life that they’d quietly stopped expecting to do again—and realized afterward that they hadn’t even thought twice about it.

We call those moments Little Big Wins. They might look small from the outside, but to the person experiencing one, they can change what feels possible. We even have a Little Big Wins section on the HITZ Fitness website where we share those stories.

Where do you see your company in the future?

I see HITZ growing into a place where more people can get the kind of coaching we’re known for, in the format that fits them best.

One-on-one personal training will remain a core part of what we do. I want to keep raising the standard there: close attention, thoughtful programming, and outcomes that matter to the person doing the work. Alongside it, we’re expanding Performance Blocks: scheduled training built around professionally designed HITZ programs, with a coach actively involved. Performance Blocks+ brings individualized programming into that same environment. HITZ EATS adds nutrition coaching, and we’re growing our remote coaching, return-to-play and recovery work, and mentorship.

The goal is to give people more ways into HITZ while holding onto what made it work in the first place: know the person in front of you, build the right plan, and coach the hell out of it.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

That a good workout has to leave you exhausted and sore.

Making someone tired is easy. Soreness can happen, especially when you introduce something new, but it isn’t a required outcome for improvement. Good coaching means understanding what someone is working toward, what they can tolerate today, and how to progress the work over time. Some days that means pushing hard. Other days it means making an adjustment that lets them keep training.

Exercise should never be a punishment, and progression shouldn’t feel like one either. The opportunity to move, get stronger, and build more capacity is a reward of health. My job is to help people keep earning and enjoying that opportunity for a long time.

What has been one of your biggest struggles building your business, and how did you deal with it?

One of my biggest challenges has been figuring out how to grow HITZ without losing the close attention that made it work in the first place. When you’re the person doing the coaching, you can hold a lot of decisions in your head. As you bring other coaches in and build new services, you have to get much clearer about what good coaching looks like and how you deliver it consistently.

That will always be a work in progress. I spend a lot of time thinking through our programming, talking with the team, and paying attention to the experience clients actually have—not just the one I intended to create. Growth is exciting, but I want people to feel the same care and thought behind their training regardless of which HITZ coach they work with or which training option they choose.

What was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

Wu-Tang Clan and Michael Jordan. Growing up in the ’90s, Jordan was appointment viewing for me—the competitiveness, the skill, his presence on and off the court. The shoe section of my closet makes it pretty clear I never outgrew that one. And Wu-Tang? Wu-Tang is for the children. 👐

Any shoutouts you want to make?

Absolutely. Claire, my partner, brings so much care and thought to the nutrition side of HITZ and to my life outside the gym. Adam, Santiago, and Olivia help make this place what it is every day. And to our clients: thank you for trusting us with your goals, showing up, and putting in the work. Getting to be part of your Little Big Wins is the best part of this job.

And, of course, our gym dogs, Cash and Peanut. No HITZ shoutout list is complete without them.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

You can learn more about us at hitzfitness.com and follow along on Instagram at @hitzfitness. If you’re in the Phoenix metro area and curious about training with us, reach out. I’d love to hear what you’re working toward.