Professional Bodybuilder Set to Start New Gym in Greenwood
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As a professional bodybuilder and personal training coach, Nathan Epler is all about inspiring others to be the best version of themselves.
“I love motivating other people,” Epler says. “I love getting on stage and not only showcasing what I was capable of doing, but also motivating other people. Even if they aren’t bodybuilders, I really just try to be an advocate for people to get healthy and push themselves to be the best they can be, whether it’s physically, mentally, in business or whatever.”
A graduate of Greenwood Community High School, Epler first got into weightlifting while wrestling throughout middle school and high school.
“I started weightlifting and I really enjoyed it,” Epler says. “It was a good outlet for me, plus it helped me train for wrestling.”
Always a smaller guy throughout grade school, Epler competed in the 132 weight class of wrestling during his senior year. After graduating, his coach challenged him to start bulking up.
“After my senior season of wrestling, my wrestling coach looked at me and said, ‘Are you ready to get big?’” he says. “That was the first real moment where I was like, ‘Alright. I want to put some weight on now.’ I just really started hitting the gym and gaining weight pretty quickly. I really enjoyed the process.”
Epler eventually found himself competing in amateur, local-level bodybuilding competitions, which quickly progressed to traveling the country for higher-level competitions.
“When you win a local show, you get your qualification for a national-level show,” Epler says. “There are only really three national-level shows that you can turn professional in, and then you have to win one of those. That was the USA Championships for me.”
Upon winning at the USA Championships, Epler entered his debut season as a professional bodybuilder in 2021, competing in three marquee events including the prestigious Mr. Olympia competition, in which he finished fifth.
“Bodybuilding has been around since the ‘40s or ‘50s, and there have only been five people in the history of bodybuilding to place top-five in the world at their rookie Olympia,” Epler says. “It was a really, really good season.”
While finding success in his bodybuilding career, Epler has also managed to make another fitness dream come true – starting his own gym with longtime friend Tyler Whitlow. With an anticipated opening in March or April, American Muscle Factory will look to fill a gap in the Indianapolis fitness landscape.
“We mainly have a lot of corporate-style, commercial gyms, and we have studios, with studios being small, privately owned, and pretty expensive with usually not a lot of equipment,” Epler says. “We didn’t really have anything in this market that was kind of in the middle of a studio and a corporate gym.”
Although he may be known as a professional bodybuilder, Epler wants residents in central Indiana to know that American Muscle Factory will be a gym for anyone and everyone looking to live a happier, healthier life. By working with a company that can provide Community Organization Awareness, he is able to promote this healthy lifestyle and let the local community know they have a welcoming environment in which to get started.
“I want to give people a different experience in a gym setting,” Epler says. “I want them to feel motivated to exercise but also welcomed into American Muscle Factory. I just want to give people the best opportunity to reach their true potential.”
The 23,000-square-foot American Muscle Factory facility will be located at 7747 South Shelby Street in Indianapolis. Learn more about the gym and their membership offerings by visiting amfindy.com.
