founder

The heart and soul of Emery Fit is Dr. Bret Emery. People who have spent time here have probably heard the story about why he created this special place. He was working out at another facility, which will remain anonymous. Starting to feel creepy crawly he brushed an ant off his skin. Continuing to stretch he scratched another spot and another ant. Looking to see where the ants were coming from, he noticed the speckles on the floor were in motion. Those speckles were not part of the texture of the floor they were hundreds of ants! Oh no! This was not acceptable and needed to be dealt with. Tired of working out in unappealing, unsanitary and undisciplined gyms he set out to develop what became Emery Fit.

This journey started long before the ant incident of 2001. From a young age sport was an integral part of life. His first passion was tennis and he competed successfully in many tournaments. Around the time high school started he began cycling. Not yet old enough to drive he entered his first road race at 15 and won even though he was the only juvenile competitor. That was it! He was hooked. 

Training and competing in races for the next couple of years got him noticed. He was invited to train in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center his senior year of high school. He left Ohio and at the center he learned the art of weightlifting and the importance of nutrition. He also learned it was best to stay behind the pace van during cold weather as it kept the back doors open and provided some heat to anyone who could keep up. Bret kept up! He had the opportunity to train and compete all over the United States and Europe. The 1992 Barcelona summer Olympics were about to begin when unfortunately, an illness just prior to the Olympics took him out of competition.

Weighing his options of continuing his cycling career or going to school he knew it was time to pursue higher education. The path was clear. He wanted to learn the psychology behind what drove people to compete and be healthy through fitness and nutrition. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology in 1996 at Ohio State University. After this he wanted to hone is interests and received his master’s degree at Argosy University and his Doctor of Psychology at Georgia School of Professional Psychology. His focus was behavioral medicine which is the treatment and prevention of disease through behavioral means. During residency at Florida International University Bret discovered that treating people after they were diagnosed with a disease was not for him. He believed strongly that helping people develop good practices surrounding nutrition and fitness would have a greater impact.

Bret was “antsy” to start helping people be healthier and fitter versions of themselves. After completing his residency, he found a space to start his dream in Weston, FL and opened Emery Behavioral Medicine. He ran this for 10 years and decided to expand into Milton, GA where Emery Fit has successfully taught countless people how to transform their lives to healthier and fitter versions of themselves.