About Coach Rico | Elite Fit by Rico

The Blueprint for Resilience

Coach Rico

As a former athlete who conquered paralysis and nerve damage after surviving gun violence, I now share the definitive plan for your comeback.

I’m Gary D. Quinn II, better known as Coach Rico, founder of Elite Fit by Rico.

Fitness to me is bigger than looking good. It’s about building confidence, developing discipline, and proving to yourself that you can become stronger than the person you were yesterday.

My coaching philosophy is built around three principles: Dedication. Determination. Discipline. Those three things have shaped my own fitness journey, and they’re what I bring to every person I coach.

ISSA Certified Personal Trainer
Online Fitness Coach
CPR/AED Certified

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What I was told

I was told I wouldn’t walk. I walk.

Ten years ago I was shot. It left me with drop foot in my right leg, partial paralysis, and nerve damage I still live with — sciatica included. What I was told to expect was a limp, an arch in that foot, and a brace for the rest of my life.

I still train that leg. Ten years on, it is still putting on muscle. The nerve damage didn’t go away and I don’t pretend it did. But walking on a leg and building a leg are two different things, and I assumed for a long time I’d be stuck with the skinny one. I wasn’t. It came back because it got loaded, over and over, for years after everyone had stopped watching.

That’s the part I want you to hear. Don’t let anybody else decide what you can and can’t do. I’ve been discouraged plenty of times. What kept me going was measuring in 60-day stretches and seeing the number move. There are six of those in a year. Most people quit before the first one is finished.

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How I coach

As an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer, Online Fitness Coach, and CPR/AED-certified trainer, I help everyday people lose body fat, build muscle, increase strength, and develop healthier habits without making fitness unnecessarily complicated.

I understand that people have jobs, families, responsibilities, setbacks, and real lives. That’s why Elite Fit isn’t about perfection. We build a program around your goals, your fitness level, your schedule, and your lifestyle—and then we stay accountable to it.

Whether you’re stepping into the gym for the first time, getting back into fitness, or ready to take your physique to another level, I’ll meet you where you are and help you move forward.

My goal isn’t just to change what you see in the mirror. It’s to help you build the confidence that comes from knowing you showed up, stayed consistent, and earned your progress.

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Where it led

Standing in my own gym

Paralysis and nerve damage were the starting point, not the ending. Everything I ask of a client is something I had to do myself first — slowly, in order, on the days it would have been easier to stop.

See how I coach it

Dedication. Determination. Discipline.

The three principles behind every program I write.

Dedication

Showing up on the days it would be easier not to — which is most of them.

Determination

Setbacks change the plan, not the destination. We adjust and keep going.

Discipline

Confidence is the by-product. It comes from having earned the progress.