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The Forged Life

Bret Lurz

This is for people who aren't interested in simply getting older, they want to keep getting better. I'm 50, a longtime gym owner, coach, competitive athlete, husband and dad, and I'm still figuring plenty of things out. I'm interested in what it takes to stay strong, capable, healthy and driven through the second half of life, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually too. Subscribe if you're interested in fitness, longevity, doing hard things, personal growth, faith, business, fatherhood, adventure, and figuring out what you're still capable of. I'll share what I'm learning from nearly two decades of coaching and owning a gym, along with what I'm experiencing firsthand as I take on some new challenges over the next year. Expect real experiences, useful lessons, occasional strong opinions, wins, failures, things I'm testing, and probably a few ideas that don't work at all. No pretending I've got everything figured out. No endless sales emails. Just the pursuit of becoming stronger, more capable and more purposeful and hopefully helping a few other people do the same. Let's see what we're still capable of.

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Featured Post

Put me in, Coach

Bret Lurz THE FORGED LIFE COACH EVERLASTING FITNESS Yesterday I got to attend a rededication ceremony for the track at Perry Hall High School, named in honor of my high school cross country and track coach, Jerry Martin. Coach passed away in 2009. The track had previously been dedicated to him, but years of school and community use had taken their toll. Through state and county funding, it was resurfaced and brought back to life. The school can hold events there again, athletes have a quality...

23 days ago • 5 min read

Bret Lurz FORGED FOR MORE COACH EVERLASTING FITNESS Comparison Is the Thief of Joy What do you think when you hear that statement? Does it trigger an immediate response? “Absolutely. Stop comparing yourself to other people.” I agree. Mostly. But like a lot of popular sayings, I think there’s more to it. Let’s start in a place I know pretty well: the gym. I own Everlasting Fitness. We’re a community gym, and one of the things we want every person who walks through our doors to understand is...

about 1 month ago • 4 min read

Bret Lurz A Forged Life The Lost Art of Brotherhood Growing up, I didn’t have many strong male role models. The ones I had did the best they could with the tools they were given and the situations they were in. I can’t blame them. Looking back, they probably didn’t have many strong role models themselves. We have a tendency to repeat what we’re exposed to. I’m 50 years old. The generation of men before mine grew up with a very different set of expectations. Men provided. Men worked. Men...

4 months ago • 3 min read

Bret Lurz A FORGED LIFE The Human Connection Deficit The more people I talk to, especially men, the more I’m noticing the same thing. We’re connected to everything and connected to nothing. We’re told to be tougher. Work harder. Keep your head down. Keep grinding. Wake up and do it again tomorrow. We’re told that if we just keep pushing long enough, eventually we’ll arrive. So we chase. We chase fitness goals. Career goals. Financial goals. Status. Recognition. The next thing. And for a...

4 months ago • 3 min read

Bret Lurz A FORGED LIFE Maybe I’m Not an Introvert For most of my life, I labeled myself an introvert. Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. When I was a kid, I could always occupy myself. I was perfectly content playing alone for hours. My mom tells me that when I woke up in my crib, I wouldn’t cry or scream. I’d just lay there and wait until someone came to get me. Being alone never bothered me. At the same time, being around people didn’t bother me either. I had friends. I made friends easily. I...

4 months ago • 2 min read

Bret Lurz The Forged Life The Season I Didn’t Expect On April 13th, 2026, I turned 50 years old. Honestly, that number hit me harder than I expected. How did it happen so fast? I can still remember high school like it was yesterday. College. Marriage. Divorce. Raising kids. Building a business. Finding the Love of My Life. Another Kid :). Competing. Coaching. Learning. Failing. Growing. Life moves quickly when you spend most of it focused on the next thing in front of you. For a long time, I...

5 months ago • 3 min read

Bret Lurz FORGED FOR MORE COACH EVERLASTING FITNESS We don’t get away often. Life is full. Business is busy. Stress is real. So when my wife, Morgan, surprised me with a trip to Sedona, Arizona, just the two of us, I knew it wasn’t just a vacation. It was a reset. We stayed at an incredible hotel. Everything felt intentional, elevated. But the real value was time. Just us, no distractions. Then came Bear Mountain. We were told it was hard. Good. We don’t avoid hard. What that meant was...

6 months ago • 1 min read

Bret Lurz FORGED FOR MORE COACH EVERLASTING FITNESS Consistency Beats Performance I’m headed to Semifinals. And if I’m being honest… I didn’t think I did enough. Not because I didn’t prepare. Not because I didn’t give effort. But because nothing felt like a standout performance. No event where I walked away thinking, “that’s the one.” No big lift. No highlight moment. Just… consistent. And at first, that didn’t feel like enough. The Trap Most People Fall Into We chase performances. We want...

6 months ago • 2 min read

Bret Lurz FORGED FOR MORE COACH EVERLASTING FITNESS There’s a moment that stops a lot of people. It shows up right when things start to get real. You qualify for something. You sign up for something. You think about starting something. And then the thoughts hit. “I’m not ready.” “I can’t do all the movements.” “I’m not good at that yet.” “What if I look bad?” “What will people think?” So you hesitate. You look for an out. You convince yourself to wait until you’re “better.” Let’s call it what...

7 months ago • 2 min read

Bret Lurz FORGED FOR MORE COACH EVERLASTING FITNESS Lately I’ve had conversations with several people who feel stretched thin. Work schedules are changing. Hours are increasing. Stress is high. And the first thing getting cut? The gym. “I’ll come back when work slows down.” “I just don’t have time right now.” Let’s have the honest conversation. Work rarely slows down. And when we sacrifice our health for our job, what are we actually gaining? More money? More responsibility? More stress? You...

7 months ago • 2 min read