Cameron Martin of The Martin Method

From Vision to Victory

How Cameron Martin is Redefining Wellness

We sat down with local fitness influencer and trainer, Cameron Martin of The Martin Method to talk about his approach to achieving optimal health and wellness through fitness, nutrition, and mindset. With years of experience as a coach, athlete, and wellness advocate, Cameron Martin developed this method to empower individuals of all levels to unlock their full potential. Whether your goal is to build strength, enhance athletic performance, or lead a healthier lifestyle, his expertise and results-driven approach set the foundation for long-term success and transformation.

What was the turning point in your personal fitness journey that led you to develop The Martin Method?

I am someone who has always enjoyed fitness, but I was frustrated with my inability to stick to it. For 12 years, I would work out consistently for a few months, and then completely fall off.

I mentioned to my wife, Leanna, that I was considering starting a personal health and fitness journey and documenting it on Instagram to hold myself accountable. I was scared of the judgment for being “that guy who is posting his workouts online”, but she reminded me to not worry about what anyone else thought. I would have never had the confidence to do this without her. From there, I just started posting, and I didn’t stop.

All of my workouts were done from home, so when COVID hit in 2020, people began using my page as a resource while gyms were closed. At the end of 2020, Leanna and I had our first daughter (we have 3 now). I continued to document my journey as a young father staying fit, while I was working fulltime as a VP of Operations for Marucci Sports in Baton Rouge, commuting an hour each way. As my page continued to grow, people began reaching out to me for guidance. That is when I realized I could help people like myself. This was the start of The Martin Method Training.

What inspired you to create The Martin Method, and how has the mission evolved over time?

This generation understands how critical health and fitness are, but they are busier than ever. For this reason, I began offering 25-minute follow-along workouts on Patreon. While helpful, I realized there is so much more to this: nutrition, sleep, recovery, programming, hydration, and accountability.

This is where The Martin Method really took shape. I began working with clients 1:1, providing them with custom workout plans, nutritional guidance and direct support tailored to the client’s specific goals, schedule and equipment access. This is where my team and I are today.

How has your personal fitness journey influenced the design of The Martin Method?

Originally, my personal fitness journey was the lens by which I coached and designed the majority of my programming. As I grew as a coach and took on more clients, I realized that my clients would be much better served by a team of coaches rather than just myself.

Currently, there are 7 coaches on staff, including myself. Sydnie Sandwell is the head coach, and she is a strength trainer with a specialization in pelvic floor rehab. My wife, who has given birth to our 3 daughters between 2020-2024, began working with Sydnie and has fallen in love with the process. (Don’t tell her I told you that. She still tries to claim she doesn’t like working out). She is now fitting into clothes that she wore before her first pregnancy, and I have never seen her so confident in her body. It is a truly inspiring thing.

We also have specialists in mobility, hybrid training, nutrition coaching, traditional and unconventional strength training, as well as mindset and healthy habit experts. I believe that health and fitness success is best accomplished by a personalized approach, and our goal is to deliver that with a qualified team across various disciplines.

How does your training approach differ from other fitness programs?

There will always be a functional aspect to the programming that we design for clients. This means that we include exercises that not only build muscle and strength, but also place an emphasis on balance, core stability, mobility, and power. These are the training components that lead to people walking around feeling strong and capable in real-life situations.

How has being a parent influenced your approach to fitness coaching?

As a parent, we are thrown curveballs daily, and we need to be flexible and adapt. We also need to realize that we will not be perfect in our efforts to adhere to a fitness program. I talk about it all the time, but one of the major pitfalls I coach my clients to avoid is the “All or Nothing” mindset. Some people get discouraged when life is not allowing them to adhere to their plan 100%. When we can accept that setbacks are just part of the process, everything changes. Sometimes it’s okay to only get 50% of your workout done. This mindset is progress, not perfection. Your only goal is not to give up on yourself.

How do you structure your program to cater to busy professionals and parents?

Once we bring a client on board, we get to know their schedule and fitness level through a series of questions. From there, we work with them on designing a plan that allows fitness to seamlessly integrate into their lives. This means that length of workout sessions, frequency per week, and equipment used are all modified for each client.

Can you share some success stories from clients and how your program impacted their lives?

We have coached hundreds of clients and delivered countless physical transformations. However, the most meaningful success stories come from the quality of life improvements. Many of our clients join the program to be active and present with their children. My goal is to help them create a body that never holds them back from making a memory–whether it is hiking, swimming or biking with their kids.

One story in particular that comes to mind is from a client who goes on an annual mountain trip with his family. He loves the trip, but he always dreaded the thought of the long mountain hike they take every year. He dreaded it because of how difficult it was, and he always was the last to finish. After working with us for 6 months, he set off on his annual vacation, and sent me some photos at the end of the hike. Not only did he enjoy it, but he ended up getting to the top of the hill first. He was so proud of himself. That was an awesome moment.

How do you manage to keep clients engaged and committed long-term?

This is something that we address with short-term goals and progress tracking. By breaking big goals into actionable steps–like replacing water or calorie-dense snacks with protein-packed ones–clients see progress without becoming overwhelmed. Will we win every day? No, but that’s not the goal.

Weekly check-ins track performance and celebrate “non-scale victories” like better sleep, increased energy, and improved confidence. As progress compounds, motivation grows.

What are the most rewarding aspects of your work?

I absolutely love seeing people surprise themselves with how capable they are. There is a lot of uncertainty when beginning a journey of self-improvement. We are capable of so much more than we know, and I love seeing that realization happen in real time with my clients.

Who or what inspires you to keep pushing your own fitness boundaries?

I had a football coach growing up who pushed my teammates and me harder than we would have ever pushed ourselves. It was in these summers leading up to football season that I realized we have more in the tank than we thought. This meant so much to me because it was proof that my limit is always further than I originally thought, and this is something I take with me into any endeavor.

I hired someone to coach me as well. This is how much I believe in having a coach. I think a lot of us get stuck in a maintenance phase of life and forget that we need to keep striving to get better. A coach is a teammate whose job it is to bring out what you are truly capable of, and I think we can all benefit from one. Not only does this lead to physical change, but I have noticed that as I continue to push myself, I am finding that taking on new challenges is becoming easier in all areas of life.

What are you listening to during your own personal sessions to keep yourself motivated?

I have done so many workouts that I have listened to everything! When I’m really needing a push though, I always fall back to 2000’s Lil Wayne.

If you could give your younger self one piece of fitness or life advice, what would it be?

I often remind myself that I am on my own journey, and I can go at my own pace. At times, I used to find myself comparing my fitness progress to others and wondering why I was not progressing as quickly as them. If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be “Learn from others, but focus on you”.

How do you unwind or recharge after a long day of coaching and training?

We are kept extremely busy by our 3 wonderful daughters, Eva (4), Ella (3), and Olivia (1). We love unwinding by spending time with both sets of grandparents who live in Mandeville. We also love visiting with my two younger brothers as well, one of which has 2 daughters! I also love to hang out with friends and play golf.

As much as training is my job, it is also my passion. What has been really cool lately is that my wife is joining me in the garage and working out with me. This has brought a whole new level to our connection as we are both working hard at something and trying to improve. To me, it honestly means everything as she is sharing my passion with me.

What advice do you give clients for mainting long-term healthy habits in a fast-paced, busy lifestyle?

I often see clients who are very successful in other areas of their life want to immediately bring that same level of success into their health and fitness journey. Theseare what I call my “high achievers”. My first piece of advice to them is to set realistic expectations based on the amount of control we have over our environment and situation. For example, when you are at home, you have a lot of control. You control what is being cooked for dinner. You control the fitness equipment you have access to or the gym you belong to. You control whattime you go to sleep. You control how active you are.For this reason, we can expect ourselves to find some success when we are at home in control, but as we all know, this is not always the case. We have to learn how to navigate social gatherings, vacations, family/friends coming over, kids’ sporting events, etc. These are situations that we do not have total control over, and this can become very frustrating for the high achiever, as this is a tough situation to find a win. This is when we need to re-align our expectations and remember that balance is our key to sustainability. When we are faced with situations outside of our control, we enjoy them and do the best we can. Over time, you will start to find that when you continue to find wins at home and practice balance everywhere else, progress continues to be made.