“For me, the 4 AM crew at Old School Gym Pataskala, OH, is more than just a group of crazy workout partners. It’s a family, it’s a culture, and it’s a lifestyle. For most people, I think, it’s hard to at least find one training partner and even then it’s hard to schedule workout times and where to workout. With the 4 AM crew we have 10+ guys that are in the gym from 4-6 AM Monday through Friday, whether it’s 10 degrees below 0 or even 100 degrees. Cory Gregory and Dustin Myers have created not just a gym and a place to work out, they have created a culture that is unmatched. I am honored to call this place my home and to call the 4 AM crew my brothers.”

-Jake Sanders, Age 21.

Training with the 4 AM crew is more than just lifting weights with a group of guys. For me personally, I’ve learned so much more than just being able to lift heavy things from this group of people. The group is special because you have so many different types of people. Young and old, different jobs, different backgrounds but we all have the same things in common, and that is we work hard no matter what. The atmosphere at 4 AM in Old School Gym is something you won’t find anywhere else and it is an honor to not only train with the crew, but to call them family as well.

-Mitchell Lohr, Age 19.

Let me introduce you to the 4 AM crew. The 4 AM crew is a group of guys that wake up, drive to the gym, and train harder every day than most people do in a lifetime. Some guys drive an hour every day to workout while some drive 15 minutes. Either way, no matter how far away they live, continually giving this much effort requires a vast amount of dedication.

I had the opportunity to experience a small bit of the 4 AM crew during my winter break. These guys are crazy, in a good way, an astonishing way. While being at Old School I was more driven to succeed than I have been in a long time. Though I can’t quite “hang” with the crew because they lift much more weight than I am able to (currently at this time, don’t worry guys, I will get there). I was still honored to see the type of community Cory and the 4 AM crew have built. It is something like I have never seen or been a part of. The atmosphere in the gym at 4 AM is full of energy, diligence, and extreme effort. While witnessing the 4 AM crew throughout their workout I was in awe of how close these guys have grown. They push each other and each and every one of them wants the other to succeed. In the type world that we live in today that is hard to come by.

Now let me introduce to you the man who started it all, Cory Gregory. Cory Gregory, a bodybuilder, a powerlifter, an Olympic lifter, a business owner, a motivator, a father, and a husband. This man started his business from the ground up. Cory Gregory came up with this crazy idea to “Wake your ass up” at 3 AM to train. He is the heart and soul of the 4 AM crew.

Cory Gregory started in the coal mining industry but he knew from the start that was not the life he wanted to live. I had the chance to speak with Cory and when asked how he got into this crazy profession informed me “He wanted to lift weights and help people.” He wanted to take something so simple and turn it into a lifestyle. That is exactly what he did. Cory Gregory created a world that people want to be a part of. A world in which he can inspire and motivate people to wake their ass up at 3 am to be at the gym by 4. I have not met many people that have the ability to do what he does. Cory has taken fitness and weight lifting and has made it into something greater than picking heavy things up and putting them down. He has made his life, his business, and his gym into something people feel honored to be a part of, a community and a family.

Not only has Cory been able to create lifelong relationships with the guys in the 4 AM crew but from that he has built an organization that in my opinion cannot be matched. He has grown from being a personal trainer in a small gym in 1999 to being a co-founder at Muscle Pharm that he built for eight years. Now he has his own supplement company, Max Effort Muscle, which with the help of his co-founder, John Fosco, has grown into a unique and flourishing business. Cory’s discipline, creativity, and hard work have a spillover effect in his life. His discipline and hard work are not only present when he is working out but they are also present outside of the gym through his business.

"Max Effort Muscle is a supplement company started by managing partners Cory Gregory and John Fosco other equity owners include well-known conditioning coach Dustin Myers, UFC stars Clay Guida and Travis Browne and powerlifting superstar Zach Homol. These men have turned this company into an experience that cannot be met."

I have tried a lot of different brands of supplements and after using Max Effort Muscle I won’t go back. These supplements have formulas and flavors that are unmatched by others. If you order supplements through Max Effort Muscle, not only does Cory personally take the time to package a lot of the items himself, but you also receive you package in a inscribed burlap sack. Cory has taken this idea and turned it into an easy way to market his company on social media by making his selling hashtag #Whatsinyoursack? This hashtag along with pictures of the burlap sack have made a splash on sites like Instagram and Twitter showing that this company isn’t the run of the mill corporate business. Cory and his partners have worked endlessly to produce a product that customers can buy knowing that they are getting what they pay for. Max Effort Muscle was not built overnight. A lot of thought and planning went into every detail of this company. Cory’s creativity and dedication made Max Effort into the unique business it has become and will continue to grow.

Max Effort Muscle, the 4 AM Crew and Old School Gym are all apart of Cory Gregory’s life. They each individually show a different part of who Cory wanted to be while coming together to show the greater picture of who Cory has become. I can honestly say that it has been an honor learning more about the crazy life of Cory Gregory, his gym, and his company. He has come to show that with a little bit of crazy, a lot of hard work, and a few sleepless nights, you can make your dreams into a reality. Now as Cory would say, “WAKE YOUR ASS UP!”