I'm James Baldwin and the owner of Flip the Switch Fitness.

My passion is helping people achieve their best inside and out of the gym.

The Flip The Switch Fitness Origin Story

In 2014 I graduated from Mississippi State University and started working for Yokohama. I was trained for my new job in Thailand and the Philippines.

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In 2015 I moved back to Mississippi. I was unsure of the next steps for my future. 

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After playing college football and traveling the world I was concerned that my life had peaked at the early age of 23. 

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A lot of changes were underway in my life as I was trying to figure out my purpose. 

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My father, owner of Deep South Bodies and lifelong fitness trainer, suggested I compete in physique bodybuilding competitions and represent him. 

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Little did I know that fitness competition would be just the catalyst I needed to jump-start my fitness and training career. 

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I spent the summer of 2015 training and competing in bodybuilding competitions throughout the South. I enjoyed being on stage, grinding in the gym, and the mental discipline I developed. 

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While training for competitions, I began to gain experience with designing workout plans to change my body composition. I also learned how to create nutrition plans that were easy to follow while working my full time job at Yokohama. 

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In July of 2015, I was asked by a friend to  train her for the Miss Mississippi USA pageant.  

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I was familiar with training friends in college, but this was the first time I was responsible for getting someone competition ready. 

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This was different - this wasn’t training for football or bodybuilding like I had experience with.

I was nervous at first but loved the challenge. 

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During our training I began to watch her get stronger, gain confidence, and build the exact body that we had planned just 3 months before. 

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Now let's fast forward to the competition where she took center stage...

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As I sat in the crowd with her family, they began to compliment me on how great she looked. I felt as if I was on stage with her. 

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I was having flashbacks to the 5 am hill sprints, the reps to failure on the hack squat machine, ALL that was sacrificed and gained throughout our time training. 

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I was a part of something greater than myself because I was able to help someone reach their own goals. It inspired me to make a change in my life. 

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The following year I moved to Dallas, TX to start a different journey for myself.

I stopped competing in bodybuilding competitions and began pursuing more education with different exercise physiologists. 

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In spring of 2018, I was asked to train my first client in Dallas.

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For two years she had been working out and was not able to lose any weight. She had actually gained weight during this time.

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We started training in mid-April and by Memorial Day she had lost 10 pounds.

She started to cry tears of joy because she thought she was going to be forever stuck in the previous rut she was in. 

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At this point I knew I had found my calling. I knew I wanted to train to help others achieve their personal goals. 

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I started to gain more in-person clients and was happy with what I was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. 

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But all of a sudden… something happened unexpectedly. 

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My friends and social media followers started to contact me about creating custom workout programs. 

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And by the end of 2018 I had 4 in-person clients and over 15 online clients in various states. 

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In January 2019 Flip the Switch Fitness was born! 

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Since then, I’ve expanded to 47 in-person clients and over 150 online clients in 12 states and 3 countries. 

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Part of my slogan is that I can “help you find your look”, but I guess my clients have helped me find my purpose!