Todd Mason is a Bowling Green native and played football at Bowling Green High School, graduating in 1992. He met his business partner Robert Dukes at the University of Kentucky, where they each earned master’s degrees in physical therapy in 1998. They founded Total Fitness Connection in Bowling Green with full-service gyms and physical therapy. Mason is active in his church and stays involved with his family’s activities.

How did you become involved in the fitness industry?

I had always been interested in fitness even back when I played at Bowling Green High School. I enjoyed the offseason training as much as I did the season. … I remember very well my mom asking me the summer before senior year, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” I said I’d like to do something medical but don’t want to be in school that long. It was mom who suggested physical therapy. I was very fortunate since a lot of people get into physical therapy because they were injured and I wasn’t. I also was fortunate that we had a family friend who was a physical therapist who had just moved back to Bowling Green. She said, “Why don’t you shadow him?” … I did and that allowed me to decide this was what I wanted to do. … I got into physical therapy school and developed the fitness side when I was at school in Lexington looking for a part-time job. I had joined a fitness facility there, and the manager come over to me one day and asked if I would be interested in a job. So I did that and learned a lot about fitness and I did sales. My very first job as a physical therapist was in Paducah working for a company that was leasing space from a fitness center. (Dukes was working there too.) I had a lot of ideas, but I didn’t really have any say over programming. I was there for about three years, and we were very blessed to be able to come back to Bowling Green and start Total Fitness.

What do you do for the BGHS football team?

We have a contract to provide, so we work with all the athletics teams there. We are there on the field and court. We assess injuries and see if players need to be referred to physicians. Lot of times we can manage things with just ice.

What are some of the latest fitness crazes in larger cities that might be adaptable for Bowling Green or do you think we already have enough variety?

I think certainly over the past couple of years we’ve seen an explosion of offerings in Bowling Green. There are just all kinds of niches. For us being Total Fitness, we really offer everything under one roof. For Bowling Green to be the size it is, we have a lot. But for us, what we wanted to be able to offer is a family atmosphere and have something for everyone. We have supervised child care and indoor aquatics so we offer swim lessons. We have batting cages and indoor soccer at our Three Springs Road facility and on Russellville Road we have an area for dance instruction. We have a lot to offer with multiple locations and multiple services. We try to make it convenient for people to exercise. We really encourage families to join and exercise together.

In Bowling Green, we have two facilities that have fitness centers, both are full models with outpatient physical therapy. Those are on Russellville Road and Three Springs, and we have a clinic in Hartland for traditional physical therapy. We tried Franklin with a full-model center … but that one is not there any more.

How do you balance work and family?

Family comes first. When we first started, neither one of us had any children, so we worked a lot. But as we grew and were able to hire folks and help us out … we both started families. Now that our kids are bigger they are into sports and things, so they are at the facility. We make exercise a family thing. My wife and I have two daughters who are into volleyball, dance and softball. 

What do you do when aren’t involved in fitness?

Church is very important – kids in youth group, camps. I spend a lot of hours working, but we do take that quality time together. The whole family does church camp where I’m a counselor. I’m involved in athletics with the kids and like just spending time with my family. My wife, Lisa, and I have been married since 1997. Our daughters are Kassidy, 13, and Kailyn, 11. My parents, Darrell and Lucy Mason, still live in the same house I grew up in. My dad worked for BellSouth for more than 30 years and my mom taught for more than 30 years. Both are retired now.