Last week we lost one of the best trainers in the country. Jason Hadeed of E.A.T.S. in Germantown Maryland was senselessly murdered in his apartment complex. His killer turned himself in to police an hour later.

Jason leaves behind 2 children, the many people whose lives he’s improved through fitness, and the numerous others that he’s influenced by the human being he was.

I had the chance to speak to Jason on January 18^th in an interview for Super-Trainer. It may have been his last interview, and you can find it at the end of this post.

Here is the introduction to this post which I’ve recorded recently, highlighting the important points from the interview:[youtube YkTCAmsRt9M nolink]

Jason was an accomplished trainer and an even better man with a genuine interest and desire to help other people. I can’t claim to have known him personally, but I did follow his career – how could you not?

As a professional fitness coach in the NFL, running E.A.T.S., working on the Olympic level, and holding his own series of training conferences, he was on the short list of the most experienced trainers in the country. But in the few times I had the chance to speak and interact with him I learned a great deal about his character and professionalism.

I remember I initially contacted him for an interview last July. He sounded eager to do it, but when the time came, he missed it. I’m a busy professional myself so I can understand if someone with his responsiblities happens to get too busy to do a free interview. He was hosting a major fitness conference the next day and probably got caught-up with that – no hard feelings.

But this wasn’t acceptable to Jason. He called me back the next week and apologized profusely; he let me know that this wasn’t how he treated people and was sincerely sorry. I realized then the type of man he was.

The story of our actual interview also showed me his commitment and character. I didn’t have a chance to reschedule the interview until last month.I contacted Jason and he was happy I got back to him, and wanted to set it up for as soon as possible. I remember over the summer Jason telling me that he took Fridays off, so we set it up for the next Friday morning at 10 AM.

When I called Jason at that time, he was actually pulling in to his home office, where he felt he would get the best phone reception for our recording. It turns out this wasn’t his day off anymore: he had to leave the practice field where he was training his athletes to come all the way back home to do our interview. He wanted to make sure he honored our commitment and gave the finest interview possible. That tells you a little bit about the man – about how much he was into service and doing his best. It’s no surprise though: he was twice named one of men’s journal top 100 trainers in America and has been running his own successful training business since he was 20 years old.

You’ll here about his career, how he got started and unfortunately, his plans for the future that were so tragically cut short in this interview:

[youtube 3S6JZPZuaE8 nolink]

Here’s Part 2:

[youtube dur687Jxj6I&feature=related nolink]

It’s amazing how much he had been able to accomplish in this business at such a young age: he was only 33. What a shame. Having spoke to him so recently, his death really impacted me, but I’m just happy I had the chance to speak to him and can testify to the type of man he was.

The main thing that comes across is in our conversation is his integrity to this profession, similar to the other big names I’ve spoken to as part of this series. Many times we see the glitz and hype associated with prominent people but don’t realize the hard work and integrity that got them there. That’s one of the many lessons we can learn from Jason’s life.
RIP Jason – you will be missed.