Personal Training Details
My Approach to Training
My personal training focuses primarily on three goals: programming, execution, and education.
Programming is necessary to lay out the most effective plan of action for the individual and their goals. Each goal (fitness adaptation) has its own nuances, perspectives, and methods. Each individual has their own fitness experience, genetics, schedule, and circumstances. My job is to bring these variables together to get the individual to their goals and adapt the program as the individual, or their goals, change.
Execution is necessary to milk the program of its benefits and results. This is both your adherence to the quantity of the programming variables as well as the literal execution of your exercises down to joint angle and tempo. I cannot overstate the importance of form for any and all fitness goals/adaptations. In the majority of cases, and particularly for strength, muscle growth, and mobility, I find a client needs more adjustment on their form rather than their volume or intensity to break a plateau.
Education is necessary for the growth of the client beyond reaching their immediate fitness goal. The adaptation they seek has a set of methods with roots in the foundational sciences of anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, nutrition, etc. Their program is based on one or more of these methods. My goal is that every time you set a goal and we achieve it with a 6-12 week program, you walk away knowing an extensive amount more about the training and programming for the fitness adaptation in question. I do this by keeping the conversation between sets, after correcting form, centered around the science of our approach, the exercise in question, or the goal-supporting activities needed outside the gym.
You’re reading this now because you have one major goal, and I want to get you there. More than that, I want to get you to the next goal. I want you to reach the one you have now and then ask yourself “what next?” I want you to do that again and again until fitness is an engrained part of your lifestyle and you’re more than just healthy, but you perform. I like to make athletes and fitness enthusiasts, so if progress over the long-term interests you, let’s schedule a consultation.
Process:
Consultation
Everyone gets a free 1hr coaching consultation. Upon scheduling, you’ll fill out a brief questionnaire that provides me with baseline information about you, your lifestyle, your fitness level/experience, goals, etc. I use this information to bolster my questions and notes during our consultation, where I dig deeper to find everything I need for your programming. At the end of the call we discuss my services and which, if any, would work best for you in reaching your goals.
If by the end of the consultation you’re interested in personal training, you have a few options moving forward. Option 1 is buying your first session for less than half-price, or $69. This allows you to test out training and the gym we’d be working at. I’ll prepare one day of your program to go through with you so you can get a feel for my approach. At the end of that session, we’ll set you up with a package if you decide to move forward. Option 2, if you’re super-excited and ready to go after the consultation, is to jump straight to a package of sessions. Larger packages are cheaper per session, prices here. If you decide to purchase a package while on your consultation call you’ll receive 1 free session. This option is no longer available after the consultation call.
If you choose either of these options, at the end of your consultation I put all or part of your program into writing to present at your first session and digitally share with you upon purchase of your first package. If you choose the half-price first session option but decide to not continue with training, your program can be made available to you if you continue with Remote Coaching.
Programming
Fitness programming is shared through TrueCoach. After it is written you will receive an email invitation to the platform to set up your account and download the mobile app. Your program is assigned via a calendar, with each training day coinciding with a date. The app allows you to mark workouts as “complete” each day, allowing for a record of accountability. If you miss a training day on its assigned date, you can still go into past workouts and complete it if you made it up. Individual exercises within each workout also should be marked as “complete”, and results can be entered to communicate changes in reps, sets, rest, weight, etc. to the coach. This helps keep the progressions of the program accurate, since I likely won’t see you for every training day. Using these features, the client can access and follow the program via the app while communicating completion and performance to the coach virtually for their independent workouts.
To receive free programming through the process above, a client must see me a minimum of 1 in-person session per week. Otherwise, training would have to be combined with one of my other services to receive access to the program and TrueCoach.
Training Locations:
To see clients all over the city, and because I genuinely enjoy the variety of equipment and training styles available, I currently train out of 3 gym locations. Each is better for a certain type of person and training style, however the best option is always the one that gets you in the gym most consistently to perform your program. I also do sessions with clients at their building if it has a gym that allows trainers, so long as it is close enough to work with my commute. We can discuss the options in detail during your consultation, but here are the locations if you’d like to do some research:
SOLACE NYC
38 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016
Larger gym with ample free weights, turf, and functional equipment. The vibe is strength and conditioning athletes, Crossfitters, weightlifters, powerlifters, and functional fitness enthusiasts. This is a serious but welcoming gym with a strong community that offers memberships and classes as well as a place for trainers to train their clients.
HYPE GYM
37 Union Square W, New York, NY 10003
Medium-sized gym with high-quality machine equipment ideal for muscle growth. This is where I would most likely take any hypertrophy/bodybuilding type clients, though we could also easily work on strength, power, and even fat loss with the available equipment. Hype is a trainer-only gym, and does not have an open membership option.
Independent Trainer Spot (ITS) 28th Street
1 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016
https://independenttrainingspot.com/
Small gym with an intimate vibe. On most days we would be 2 of the 4-8 people total in the gym at a given time, and other days by ourselves. ITS is well-equipped with everything from free weights to cardio equipment, with the exception being muscle-specific machines. This gym is best for everyone from beginner upward, short of those hyper-focused on strength, conditioning, athletics, power (Solace) or hypertrophy/strength (Hype).
Home Gym
If you have a home or apartment building gym that allows trainers, I would potentially be able to commute to you for sessions. There’s a reduction in price due to no gym-rental fee ($110/session), but scheduling becomes tighter to plan commuting. We would need to discuss your location, schedule, goals, and the gym itself (how its equipped) to see if this might work for both of us.
Scheduling:
All my clients get access to the Acuity Scheduling App. From here you can manage your packages of sessions and purchase, schedule, reschedule, or cancel them. We will put your sessions on a recurring schedule that we agree on, which can be changed as needed from the app. I get notifications of all these changes, but still communicate them to me via text/in-person.
All clients must schedule an in-person session at minimum 1x per week when purchasing packages. There are, of course, exceptions for vacations, holidays, emergencies, etc., but it is expected that missed sessions generally be rescheduled and made up as best as possible within the same week or month. Clients who cannot reliably maintain a schedule and training frequency will forfeit their saved spots on my calendar and will need to confirm their schedule week by week. I maintain the right to cease training a client if any scheduling issues come up that prevent me from adequately providing my services or present an excessive strain on my ability to maintain a normal work schedule.
Its requested that clients give me a “heads up” whenever they plan on being away for over a week. The rule of thumb is the number of days you’re going away is the number of days heads up I would prefer, so if you’re gone for 2 weeks give me 2 weeks notice. This namely refers to vacations, not emergencies or last-minute work or family responsibilities. This lets me know how many sessions I’ll be doing throughout the month, but also gives us a chance to schedule makeup sessions and make a plan to keep you on track while on vacation.
Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations within 24hrs of the scheduled session time will incur a $50 cancellation fee. Same-day (date) cancellations will incur the loss of 1 session from your inventory but not incur the $50 cancellation fee.
Ex: If your scheduled session is Wednesday at 5pm:
a) You can cancel for free until Tuesday at 4:59pm.
b) You incur a $50 fee if you cancel from Tuesday 5:00pm to 11:59pm.
c) You forfeit the session, but do not incur a fee, if you cancel on Wednesday.
In some cases I might allow the session to be rescheduled into later in the week or month. This depends on the circumstances and timing of your cancellation, as well as how it has affected my commute/schedule/etc. That rescheduled session cannot be rescheduled again and will be lost if it is not completed. It also cannot replace another session and must be stacked on top of your normal schedule.
Communication:
My clients receive my cellphone number so they can reach me quickly if needed. I encourage clients to reach out with fitness, program, or nutrition related questions throughout the day and I 'will respond as soon as I am able. Scheduling, rescheduling, and cancellations can all be communicated via text and I will almost certainly see it quicker. However, it is recommended to also send an email covering cancellations, vacations, rescheduling a few weeks or months out, or anything else you would like to keep a record of.