FAQ

Physical Fitness originally referred to whether or not you were healthy and physically capable of doing the things you wanted to do.

The term itself is based on whether something is "fit", or suitable, for its environment.

This is the aspect of fitness that we at Trick9 Fitness choose to focus on:

----> Fitness is being able to do what you want to do.

Fitness in modern culture is more and more an aesthetic, or style.

The idea of 'fit' has changed from Able to Do Things into Looking a Certain Way.

Regardless, "fitness" is something that people think they want because, ultimately, they've been led to believe it will make them happy.

This is also what I choose to focus on:

----> The pursuit of fitness is ultimately the pursuit of happiness.

At Trick9 Fitness we like to think that 'fitness' is being able to do the things you want to do, while feeling comfortable, confident, and happy in your body.

Personal training is a professional relationship between a person with goals, and a trainer who is supposed to help them achieve those goals, usually through a program of exercise and nutrition. Sometimes it's a matter of extremely specialized expertise and knowledge, but most of the time it's a matter of informed guidance, accountability, and encouragement from someone you click with.

Performance/fitness goals can be almost anything: Activity-based goals: to eventually run a marathon, or become able to walk around the block; to climb a mountain, or to be able to carry the laundry up from the basement. Or physique-based goals: to have a more defined tricep shadow when you flex, or to look better in a t-shirt. The 'personal' part of personal training is where this comes in: the methods are defined by the goals of the individual and their relationship with their trainer.

Trainers specialize in many different aspects of performance. There are specialized trainers for almost anything you can imagine: golf, swimming, baseball, dancing, etc. A specialized sports trainer is often called a coach, but it's the same concept. Your goals will often define the kind of trainer you look for.

The trainer you most likely imagine when hearing the phrase 'personal trainer' is probably a 'gen-pop' trainer, or a trainer who works with the general population. By 'general population' we mean people who are not professional athletes, and who have general health and wellness goals shared by many: losing fat, gaining muscle, diminished pain and improved physical performance in recreation and labor.

There is a lot of overlap with gen-pop training and physical therapy, but personal training is NOT physical therapy. I can work with you after you complete physical therapy. I can work with you to find exercises that don't hurt. But physical therapy is an amazingly complex and valuable resource you should look into if you have specific conditions you are trying to "fix".

Trick9 Fitness is a gen-pop training studio, with emphasis on injury prevention, comfortable progression, and post-rehab conditioning.

The closest we can get is using an HFA or HSA. I am not able to take health insurance directly. I don't know of any personal trainers that are able to. Physical Therapists, yes, but not Personal Trainers. The closest we have been able to get was when someone got their training receipt reimbursed through their health flex account.

Trick9 Fitness is open mostly by appointment.

I live near the studio, and my schedule is flexible.

I hang out and work out at the studio, so sometimes I'm there, and free to chat.

Walk-ins are fun, but rare.

If you're interested in training, we communicate and schedule an initial free consultation.

If you decide to pursue training, a significant part of that decision is figuring out how our schedules align, and setting up recurring appointments.

I have a whole blog post about this. The TLDR of which is:

The best exercise for losing fat is any exercise that you enjoy enough to be able to keep returning to it over a long period of time.

Consistency of activity level is key, not necessarily consistency of any specific activity.

You can change what you do, just don't change the fact that you're doing something.

Walking is enormously underrated for fat loss.