story by Nicholas Hetterich | art by Alexandra Fernholz

With little to do during this pandemic, Dan McCallister is challenging the community to get in better shape. McCallister is the father of Lakota East sophomore DJ McCallister and professional trainer since 2014. Dan has taken his knowledge of fitness and health to create at home exercise videos that everyone can do. 

“I started the [Youtube] channel in 2019 in hopes of reaching more people,” Dan told Spark. “I had to put it on hold due to my busy schedule helping my loyal clientele.” 

Altering his way of getting to past, present and future clients has helped Dan reach a larger audience than just his usual clients. With 143 subscribers on Youtube and his views for each video ranging between 50-100, Dan says the channel has been a success. 

“Initially the videos were intended to help all my past, present and future clients,”  Dan says. “Now my hope is that they are used as a tool to help people all over who struggle with motivation, knowledge and a sense of accountability to focus on their own fitness.” 

According to Dan, no matter what point someone is at in getting into shape, his videos are the right fit for those in all different places of  their lives. With no exact date of when gyms and workout facilities will be reopening, this trainer wants to keep those waiting ready to go back.

“I started doing the videos during quarantine,”  Dan says. “But when quarantine is over, I will still do videos in some capacity to continue helping people.”