DeMarcus Ware’s life looked quite different a few years ago. The outside linebacker played for the Dallas Cowboys before moving to the Denver Broncos and winning a Super Bowl ring. Playing in nine Pro Bowls, earning the First-Team All-Pro title four times and competing on season 27 of “Dancing With The Stars,” DeMarcus was always on the move.
While he’s living out his NFL retirement in Southlake, DeMarcus isn’t slowing down. In July, he teamed up with his partner Angela Daniel and manager Randi Chapman to open 3Volt Fitness in Trophy Club. And last month, DeMarcus launched Driven To Win, a fitness app that provides another avenue showcasing his love of fitness.
Whether it’s through his classes in the gym or his app’s content, DeMarcus is channeling his NFL experience and athleticism to bring people together. Even the new mayor of Trophy Club can be found at 3Volt working out. With a great team of people beside him and his drive keeping him going, DeMarcus Ware is creating a fitness empire in and around Southlake.
A STAR IN THE MAKING
Born in Auburn, Alabama, DeMarcus didn’t even step foot on a football field until his junior year of high school. But it wasn’t long before the 196-pound, 6’4” athlete shined, making 55 tackles, seven sacks and becoming MVP by the end of his senior season.
His physical talent helped him forge ahead. Heading to Troy University after high school at 255 pounds, DeMarcus played in his first college game in 2001.
“The guy who was starting in front of him got hurt,” Osi Umenyiora, DeMarcus’ high school teammate, says via his website. “They put him in on the very first play, and he ran 50 yards to chase somebody down from the other side of the football field...That’s when I knew he was going to be something.”
In his final two college seasons, he earned All-Sun Belt Conference honors, was the Defensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Hendricks Award, which is given yearly to college football’s top defensive end. DeMarcus was also the first member of his family to graduate college.
In 2005, the NFL came calling. DeMarcus was picked 11th overall by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2005 NFL Draft. And just 15 years later, he is likely to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible in 2022.
Retiring from the NFL in 2016, DeMarcus did what nearly every retired professional athlete attempts to do — broadcasting. But what set him apart was his experience, presence and jovial nature.
“That was fun,” DeMarcus says. “But I knew that I had a higher calling, which is still being a captain like I was 12 years in the NFL, but doing it in a way to where I’m helping people, motivating them to live healthier lives, but also motivating them to have a positive outlook on things each day.”
THE ROAD TO 3VOLT
Before opening the gym, the pro-bowler was like everyone else — working out in his garage. But DeMarcus began entertaining the idea of starting a gym two years before 3Volt opened.
There, DeMarcus says he set out to “teach people the way that I train in a way to where it’s approachable but it has a methodology where you want to get the right results that you want.”
At first, DeMarcus pondered the idea of establishing his gym in Southlake Town Square, in his own backyard.
“There were a lot of hoops and everything I had to go through to try and get it into Southlake Town Square, and I heard there was a new development in Trophy Club,” DeMarcus says. “And I said, ‘Well I see that a lot of businesses are going out there. Why not put something in the center of all of that that can really electrify the community?’”
The development, dubbed Trophy Club Town Center, places 3Volt in the heart of the action, surrounded by retail spaces, apartments, townhomes and the Aloft Hotel.
With a plan in place, DeMarcus, Angela and Randi came up with the name for their gym: 3Volt Fitness. The name is inspired by both the trio of owners and the style of their gym — 3Volt offers three different 45-minute classes, each offering a different style of working out.
Getting closer to their goal of opening a gym, it was time to look for their talent. Angela and Randi sought out 3Volt’s current general manager Kay Vargas after taking a few of her classes.
“That’s how I met them and then they called me and asked me if I was interested in changing because they were opening up a studio here in Trophy Club,” Kay says. “[I joined] because...we had three different formats that we could teach and I taught all three already, and I could do it all in one place. And then I also had the opportunity to be the general manager here.”
DeMarcus, Angela and Randi also took future manager Pierre Brown’s classes at a gym in Dallas.
“They started off by just coming to my class. And after the pandemic came, everybody was off for a while,” Pierre says. “DeMarcus reached out to me and had some ideas, and I met up with him and talked and that’s how 3Volt came about.”
DeMarcus says opening 3Volt was quite the feat due to construction, planning and getting the word out, but through it all (plus a pandemic), the 3Volt team kept pushing forward.
“I told myself, I’ve always been a person that [will] accept a challenge. The pandemic was here, I don’t know who’s going to come to the gym, I don’t know how I’m actually going to open it up,” DeMarcus says. “But it was at a time where everybody was like, ‘We don’t know what’s going on. Let’s just see what works. Let’s just throw it out there.’”
Introducing 3Volt Fitness to the community during a pandemic was a risk. But it was a risk that paid off. A little more than six months after opening, 3Volt Fitness has more than 100 members. While it is a large group, everyone can participate safely because the gym has strict cleaning protocols in place and an airPHX — a system that disinfects the air and surfaces.
“I wanted to be an oasis away from your home, 45 minutes to an hour,” DeMarcus says. “Where you can come in, you have fun but you get the results you want and you never have to worry about — like we said in college, the Freshman 15 — the COVID 15.”
BUILDING A FAMILY THROUGH FITNESS
Unlike traditional gyms, 3Volt offers only a few ways of working out. The Lagree room focuses on stability and core strength, the Burn room focuses on cardio training and the HIIT room focuses on building strength and power.
“We want to continuously provide adapting stimulus that touches and addresses every aspect of training if you were training with a personal trainer,” Angela says. “Most people can’t afford to go pay $100 an hour with a personal trainer, but here you have the guidance and all the ability to achieve the same results at a fraction of the cost.”
Members immediately noticed the intensity 3Volt provided.
“That honestly was the biggest draw,” member Chasidy Murphy says. “Really what [they’ve] done is brilliant... Most of the time you worry about plateauing in your workout. You’re not going to plateau because you can constantly move between those different [styles] and just upset your body and keep yourself going.”
Chasidy, who owns a State Farm agency in Trophy Club, has been a member of 3Volt since it opened.
“I think for me the key thing is it’s like having a personal trainer at your disposal in every single class that you’re in,” Chasidy says. “It’s like a family there. You get to know everyone, including DeMarcus. They care about your fitness, your ability to do things well, your ability to stay healthy in everything you’re doing. So to have someone with that level of care about your strength and ability is not something you get in a typical gym.”
DeMarcus prioritizes that familial vibe.
“I think an atmosphere is totally what you always try to do, is make sure that the people that come in, they feel like they’re part of a team,” he says. “Not just someone that just came to work out. They’re there having fun, and they actually get to know all the trainers but also everyone else that’s working out.”
Whoever works out at 3Volt Fitness is part of the family, including Trophy Club Mayor Alicia Fleury.
“Between the three styles of class workouts offered, there's something for everyone,” Alicia says. “Personally, I love alternating between all of them...What’s really great is not only does each instructor have their own style, but they make each class different, so it never gets boring. There was a workout challenge in September...I attended 31 classes in 29 days and can honestly say no class was exactly the same.”
And you never know who you will be working out alongside — like DeMarcus himself.
“It’s 5 o’clock in the morning, and I’m next to DeMarcus in class,” Chasidy says. “And then you see him sweaty and suffering and you’re like, ‘OK, well if this Super Bowl winner next to me is suffering, I don’t feel so bad. I feel like I’m doing pretty good.’ So it’s very motivating to have him in the class as well.”
When DeMarcus first attended a class Alicia was in, she says she didn’t even notice him at first.
“He’s very unimposing,” Alicia says. “Just a really nice and happy guy.”
At 3Volt, DeMarcus could show up in any class at any time. The former Dallas Cowboy loves to keep people guessing.
“I usually come in last in the class, because they never know which class I’m taking,” DeMarcus says. “I’ll come in last, and they’re like, ‘Is he gonna work out with us or train us?’ And I’ll come into the class… and I’m there and we’re getting it and we’re having fun. That’s why they like it too, because I’m like, ‘Oh my God...you’re killing us, like come on.’ Or I’m the ra-ra guy that’s rooting them on.”
DRIVEN TO WIN
As if a gym wasn’t enough on his plate, DeMarcus also launched a fitness app in early December called Driven To Win. The app, separate from 3Volt Fitness, offers NFL-caliber workouts alongside the players themselves.
“I’ve spent my whole life training my body to perform on the highest level,” DeMarcus says in the app’s introduction video. “Now I want to give back and help you reach your fitness goals.”
With his passion for fitness driving him, Driven To Win has been two-and-a-half years in the making for DeMarcus.
“It’s been a passion project filled with long nights and early mornings, 15 months of filming exercises and working closely with the development team,” DeMarcus says. “All knowing that at the end of the day, this will change lives.”
Augmented reality and 3D technology allow trainers to appear right in users’ living rooms. Von Miller, Leighton Vander Esch and Tyron Smith will be among the NFL players on the app.
“My goal for this app is to shake up the fitness world. With cutting edge technology and features unique to Driven To Win, you will have the tools you need to become the best version of yourself,” DeMarcus says in the introduction video. “And I’ll be with you along the way.”
With Driven To Win and 3Volt Fitness, DeMarcus is paving a path to help everyone reach their fitness goals.
“Everything is coming to fruition,” DeMarcus says. “And it’s working out.”
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
While the pandemic may have slowed things down, DeMarcus, Angela and Randi have big plans for 3Volt Fitness.
“We’d absolutely love to expand. We’ve got a lot of people already reaching out to us asking for opportunities to expand with us,” Angela says. “We just want to make sure before we do that, that we’re ready for the growth.”
Angela says they’d love to potentially open locations in Dallas and in Denver, where she and DeMarcus used to live. But that comes after the first location sees sustained success.
“Right now we just want to focus on the current business that we have and making sure that that’s running as smoothly and that gets the love and attention that it needs,” Angela says. “I think a lot of times you see people so eager for growth that they stop nurturing what they have.”
Like Angela, DeMarcus sees expansion in 3Volt’s future.
“This isn’t the only one. I want to do like 10 of these and find certain areas in great communities that want to gravitate to this type of atmosphere that this gym brings,” he says. “I’m really happy with the success that’s been going on in the gym right now.”