Timothy Weaver took a leap of faith.

Earlier this year, Timothy left his full-time, salaried sales job to pursue his dream. He now serves as the owner and chief revenue officer of YourLife Gym, a 24/7 membership-based West Hempfield Township gym located at 2301 Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster.

He had worked his way up in the car sales world, starting as a sales professional before becoming a finance director and eventually a general manager. He had the status and the salary, but, as he put it, something was still missing.

"I'm a firm believer that money only buys you a certain amount of things after a certain point," he said. "I was able to take a step back. Obviously, I'm making less money, but I 100% feel more fulfilled in my view of life."

Timothy, an avid bodybuilder, has been lifting weights since he was 18 years old. He said that he always admired the physiques of Arnold Schwarzenegger and other contemporaries but didn't start consistently going to the gym until he was in college. He started working with a coach in 2016 and started bodybuilding and performing at shows soon after.

Nowadays, Timothy spends most of his time at the gym or coaching himself. One of his clients is his wife, Andrea, who competed at her first show last month. She won the show and was awarded an Organization of Competition Bodies (OCB) professional card, which subjects her to year-round drug testing. OCB professionals are completely natural and cannot use many of the common recovery supplements.

The couple has two kids, Noah and Uriah. Andrea only started bodybuilding after having kids, and she now serves as the gym's general manager.

"Because we were so invested in the gym, we needed transformations," Andrea said. "Why I did it initially was to help him launch this online coaching, so that he could transition to doing this full time."

Many people see the images posted on social media from competitions and think that bodybuilding is a glamourous sport. What they do not see, Timothy said, is the months or even years of prep work that go into each and every show.

Getting into shape for a show requires months of discipline and strict planning, eating the same meals repeatedly, skipping family events for rest, and hitting the gym every day at a specific time.

Both Weavers said that those getting into the sport need to know why they are doing it. It is not a sport that is easy to stay motivated in.

"The show's done, no one cares," Timothy said. "Let's be real. It's cool for you, but it's not a team sport. ... It really just has to be something for you."

Timothy spoke highly of what bodybuilding has done for his life, outside of being in physical shape. He said that the sport gave him the confidence that made him so successful in his sales career and beyond.

YourLife Gym was founded in November 2020 by Jake Luhrs, who is also the vocalist of Lancaster-based metal band "August Burns Red," which has been nominated for two Grammys. The gym is still Luhrs' vision, but the Weavers run the day-to-day operations while Luhrs is on the road with August Burns Red.

Along with the typical physical equipment, the gym offers semi-private training and one-on-one training and has dedicated therapists on staff. Members always have access to the gym, excluding from 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sundays, when building mate Reality Church is in session. The gym has around 400 members.

"(Jake) has such a good heart for people," Timothy said. "He really wants people to walk through this door; even if someone walked out and didn't lose weight or look better, they walked out feeling connected to our members."