BE FIT Ambassador Roy Montez Helps Fort Leonard Wood Shoppers Jump-Start Healthy Lifestyles
Exchange BE FIT Marketing Manager and Brand Ambassador Roy Montez brought his virtual efforts to help military shoppers lead a BE FIT lifestyle into the real world June 26 at the Fort Leonard Wood Exchange.
The Fort Leonard Wood Exchange hosted an in-store BE FIT live event on June 26 featuring BE FIT Marketing Manager and Brand Ambassador Roy Montez. During the event, Montez led Soldiers and families in guided, cardio-based workout sessions and offered shoppers his personal workout and nutrition advice.
Montez, who has provided fitness and nutrition tips at the Exchange’s online BE FIT Community Hub since 2018 and led weekly guided Facebook Live workouts for the past year, started the day of BE FIT-themed events with a guided, cardio-based workout session for nine Soldiers in Advanced Individual Training (AIT) with Bravo Company, 58th Transportation Battalion, along with their drill sergeant.
“I first started with the Exchange at the store level 13 years ago, so I always feel like the store environment is just a great touchpoint,” Montez said. “I like to engage with and make connections with our customers to see where our BE FIT program is resonating. This past year has been difficult for a lot of people, so this is a great way to highlight the Exchange and all the ways we support a BE FIT lifestyle, whether it be in the PX, Express or food court.”
Spc. Kyle Sullivan, one of the Soldiers in training who joined Montez for the morning workout, said the session demonstrated that one can get just as good of a workout using body movement as they could using weights.
“Bringing fitness into everyday life is good for your physical, mental and overall health,” he said. “Fitness should definitely be a requirement for anything Army related, but also in life in general.”
BE FIT Marketing Manager and Brand Ambassador Roy Montez leads a cardio-based workout session for nine Soldiers in Advanced Individual Training (AIT) with Bravo Company, 58th Transportation Battalion, and their drill sergeant, June 26 at the Fort Leonard Wood Exchange.
After the session for Soldiers in training, Montez led a public cardio-based workout session, which was broadcast on Facebook Live; held a push-up challenge; and took photos with and gave his personal workout and nutritional advice to shoppers attending the event. Main store foot traffic and sales easily surpassed that of 2020 and even edged out 2019’s by 50% and 47% respectively, indicating the increase in shopper interest was driven by more than just a post-2020 rebound.
“A solid foundation of health and fitness is critical to the readiness of tomorrow’s Army,” said Fort Leonard Wood Garrison Commander Col. Jeff Paine. “The Exchange is a valued partner in helping Soldiers build this foundation from the very beginning, and we are honored to have Mr. Montez come and share his expertise with our trainees. We hope the lessons they learn today will help keep them on track for a BE FIT lifestyle throughout their Army careers and beyond.”
The event was conceived and coordinated by Fort Leonard Wood Main Store Manager Stacy Firemoon, Sales and Merchandising Manager David Jimenez, and Supervisory Customer Experience Associate Cheyenne Bargas, who reached out to Montez to ask if he’d like to bring his expertise to Fort Leonard Wood.
“Being a training post, we thought that Fort Leonard Wood would be a really good place to bring the BE FIT program to the attention of Soldiers in training who are maybe just now having their first experiences with the Exchange,” Jimenez said. “We want them to know that the Exchange will be there for them and actively support their health and wellness—no matter where their mission takes them.”
