About Jake Boly, Founder of That Fit Friend
Jake Boly is That Fit Friend. That’s it. That’s all there is to know. Jokes aside.
Jake Boly is the Founder of That Fit Friend, a training shoe and apparel review site and YouTube channel. He’s also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) based in Austin, Texas, and holds a Masters in Sports Science and a Bachelors in Exercise Science.
In the strength sports and training gear review communities, Boly has built his name and community around his authentic and first-hand reviews. With over 400 shoe reviews under his belt, he’s often referred to as one of the go-to resources for honest, in-depth reviews.
Stats In the Industry
BS Exercise Science and MS Sports Science from Hofstra University
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Pre-Sript L-1
2,500+ Published Articles On Training and Gear Reviews
400+ Published YouTube Videos About Training and Gear Reviews
100+ Clients Trained Both In-Person and Remote
4 Competitive Powerlifting Competitions, 181/183 lb weight class
Spoke At 2 New Jersey NSCA State Conferences
Ramblings About That Fit Friend
First off, it’s great to have you here. In the context of my formal review background, I’ve been reviewing training shoes and gear for over 7 years now (where has the time gone?!) and have published content on over 400 shoes.
When it comes to training shoes and weightlifting shoes, I’ve pretty much tested and worn every shoe in the game at this point.
On top of my gear reviews, I’ve been a personal trainer for over 12 years. When reviewing shoes, I take an approach similar to how I train and coach athletes and lifters.
I think about the nuance and context that separates shoes from one another, then cross-reference that with the goals of the shoes and the individuals wearing them.
I like to think my strength coaching background gives me an edge over other product reviewers because it can help me identify things like how a shoe is going to influence your biomechanics when training.
Plus, coaching athletes from all different disciplines, I’ve gotten the opportunity to see how different types of athletes move and what they look for most in the shoes for their training modality.
My Promise to You, the Readers
On my site (That Fit Friend), I make sure every review is packed and loaded with media highlighting the REAL-LIFE testing going on. I also buy all of the gear tested on this site. You will never find gifted products or pay-for-play reviews here.
Plus, for pretty much every shoe review, I try to build a YouTube video to accompany the content and to highlight how exactly I’m wearing, experiencing, and testing the shoes and gear in question.
This gives you more visuals and insights into WHAT I’m doing and HOW I’m testing products. For every author on That Fit Friend, you’ll find the same level of quality and standard for their work. That’s another one of my promises to you.
My Educational Background
I’ve been in the fitness and gear review space for quite some time now. From starting a quite tumultuous and stressful career to landing as the Editor-In-Chief at That Fit Friend, it’s been a ride.
2012/2013 | Becoming a Personal Trainer
My background in fitness and personal training dates back to late 2012 and early 2013. It was at this time that I fell in love with training clients and became a certified personal trainer.
2014 | Graduating and Persuing a Full-Time Job
I graduated from college with my Bachelors in Exercise Science, took a job as a content writer at Vitamin Shoppe, and continued to train clients on the side. In late 2014, I decided to go back to school to pursue my Masters in Sports Science at Hofstra University.
For context, while in college, I was a personal trainer full-time and worked with a wide range of clients. My specialties revolved around working with athletes, strength athletes, and those with goals of building strength and losing body fat.
This is where I started to create my training ideology which has evolved a ton over the years.
2016 | Earning My Masters, Training, and Starting At BarBend
2016 was a big year and there were a lot of life milestones met. I finished my Masters in Sports Science, became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and continued training clients on the side while working full-time.
I wanted to finish my Masters in Sports Science and my CSCS so I could take my education and training to the next level. Plus, I wanted to get a leg up when writing about various topics in the world of fitness.
In my Masters program, I made a point to learn more about reading and interpreting studies and research so I could better contextualize this type of info into the content I was writing and publishing.
Outside of improving my research reading skills, I took an emphasis on an advanced strength and conditioning program with my Masters. This opened my eyes to a wide range of different training ideologies which has been amazing for helping simplify complex topics within my content.
After finishing my Masters in late 2016, I switched full-time roles from Vitamin Shoppe to BarBend, a start-up website that covers strength sports.
At BarBend, I helped build their fitness vertical and in four years I wrote over 2,000 articles about strength and conditioning, published 300 YouTube videos, and helped build their “Expert Network” amongst other projects.
It was at BarBend where I also got to foster my love for shoe reviews and my internal desire and love for building products to boost performance. I’ve always been interested in the design elements of products that can influence our biomechanics and performance output.
2020 into 2021 | Taking a Leap of Faith to Start My Own Thing
I left BarBend in August 2020 to pursue my own ventures and start That Fit Friend eventually in 2021.
Since starting That Fit Friend, I’ve continued to expand my knowledge of strength and conditioning and have taken multiple certifications to further my education.
For example, I’ve completed additional certifications like the Pre-Script L-1 Course. As someone who reviews performance-focused shoes, I think it’s imperative that you have a background in Exercise Science so you can know how a shoe influences movement patterns and biomechanics..
