This year, “Promise Fitness” has taken the social media feeds of Gloucester’s young people by storm.

Promise Fitness posts fitness content that features students and alumni of Gloucester High School and depicts student-athletes during workouts or practices. It is operated by Gloucester native Jeffrey “Jeff” Oliveira, a college senior at Salve Regina University. 

Beneath the surface of the workout content is an attention to motivation and positivity, and a desire to better the world. 

Oliveira’s story does not begin with Promise Fitness: according to him, it is his newest way of spreading the positive attitude he has adopted through the adversity he has faced in his life.

Oliveira’s story begins when his father passed away while he was only ten. Two years later his stepfather came into his life, introducing the idea of fitness and healthy living. Oliveira’s dream was to play college basketball, but after tearing his labrum at Emmanuel College, he was unable to play, and hit a low spot in his personal life. From here on out, it was his desire to create a better life for himself through other means.

“I was in a really low spot in my life, so in the summer I began modeling and acting and got into fitness,” said Oliveira.

He worked as hard as he could to overcome his injury but was still cut from Salve Regina University’s basketball team. It was then when he discovered his new purpose was to help other people, as both a personal trainer and a mental wellness advocate. 

Flash forward to the summer of 2019, and Promise Fitness was born. He and a friend, Alex Militello, decided to start a fitness page to spread both their workouts and their motivational message. The page was an instant hit, and Oliveira immediately started to notice positive feedback. 

Oliveira considers his dedication to fitness and his career his “promise” to his followers and himself. “That’s why when I’m at the gym it’s easy for me to just open up my phone and film my workout and put it up on my page every day. That’s my promise from now on. I think I’m trying to do two workouts a week or two posts a week, a couple videos.”

In response to those who do not believe they could have a lifestyle like the one presented on the Promise Fitness Instagram page, Oliveira stresses the importance of staying diligent. “At the end of the day I try to tell people you have time you just have to set your priorities,” said Oliveira. “I get all my school work done and not everyone’s like me but I get up at 6:30, go for a run, do my workout, start the day around nine o’clock. If you want something that bad you have to go after it and work for it. And this is what I want that bad, I want to help people, I want to make a living in personal training, hopefully owning my own gym.”

Kai Deguzman, a Junior at Gloucester High School, was one of those who was inspired by Oliveira and Promise Fitness. “Jeff has always pushed me to go beyond my limits and work harder,” said Deguzman, “and just believe in myself when I didn’t.” Deguzman is an avid follower of the workouts posted by Oliveira, and one of the many people personally encouraged by Oliveira to surpass their goals.

Despite aspiring to become a personal trainer, Oliveira’s goal through Promise Fitness was never the money, but instead “making a change in people’s lives, and seeing the smile you can put on someone’s face.”

You can check out Jeff’s work at pfpromisefitness.com, @promisefitness on Instagram, or Promise Fitness on Youtube.