Serving a personalized recipe for fitness.
Thomas Hamm does the heavy lifting so his clients can get strong. From personalized meals and massages to customized workouts and yoga, the founder and CEO of concierge wellness and fitness business Smash transforms affluent clients into whatever “strong” means to them.
“It doesn’t have to be skinny, large, muscular, not muscular; strong is strong,” says Hamm, 43, who lives in North Fulton with wife Katherine and 5-year-old son Miles and operates from a Sandy Springs studio as well as customers’ homes.
Hamm is a European-trained chef and a fitness instructor certified in personal and group training, yoga and specialties from kettlebells and battle ropes to body weight movement and Viking Ninja training. He designs exactly what his clients need and boasts of having such a deep database of custom routines that a client could work out with him four or five days a week for three years without repeating a regimen.
Among Hamm’s successes are obese clients who are unrecognizable after 90 days, pain sufferers who kick pills, and cancer patients who regain strength, stamina and mobility. One woman shrank from size 18 to size 8 in 2.5 years, gaining energy, eliminating mood swings— and never losing an ounce, while replacing fat with muscle. “There’s more to life than a scale number,” Hamm says. “I don’t ask you, ‘What’s your BMI? What’s your resting heart rate?’ The question I ask you when I first meet you is ‘What do you love to do?’” Then he creates a program targeting that goal.
Hamm’s beard is one sign of his dedication. Normally clean-shaven, he made a pact with a client who lost her hair while battling breast cancer: She wouldn’t cut her hair, and he wouldn’t shave while they and other Smash clients train for an 11-mile trail run this October.
He has a long history of embracing opportunities. Inspired by the food of Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, he left college to grab the last spot in a culinary program in Switzerland that led to cooking jobs around the world then back home in Florida. He trained as a sommelier, which brought him to Atlanta for a position with Buckhead’s Seasons 52 in the late 2000s.
Hamm began lifting weights in college but didn’t become serious about fitness until about 15 years ago. People wanted to join his workouts because he inspired them to better performance, and a few years after coming to Atlanta, he made a career change to be a personal trainer at a gym.
Hamm launched Atlanta Fitness Chef with a single client in 2015. A few years ago he rebranded to Smash, a word he unconsciously was using to urge clients to find workout success, to reflect the range of services he provides on a one-on-one basis.
Hamm launched the iStrong virtual program in February. Through Zoom, he or one of his coaches leads three to five people in a workout and still provides individual feedback. He’s also launched iStrong Companion, in which two friends or family members anywhere in the world can train with him online, thus supporting each other and sharing the cost.
He’s hiring and training more coaches and thinks Smash can become a global brand, including merchandise, apparel, food and online training. But he says Smash is already achieving its primary goal, which won’t change no matter how large it grows: “My clients are being transformed.”
THOMAS’ CITY CENTER
Hamm cites Chops and Seasons 52 among the Buckhead restaurants he enjoys, but his go-to area for work and play is downtown Sandy Springs. It’s convenient for clients from Buckhead to Alpharetta and anywhere close to I-285.
