Green Tea Conversations
What to Look for When Hiring a Personal Trainer with Jeffrey Scott
April 5, 2022
Meet Jeffrey Scott, an EXOS certified performance specialist, and founder of ME&I Fitness and Performance in Minneapolis. Jeffrey provides valuable information on what to look for when hiring a personal trainer and the red flags you should watch out for. He also shares about a new program they are offering called The Fit Start Plan, which provides two weeks of free personal training and gym membership to experience what working with a personal trainer can do for you. To sign up, visit FitStartPlan.com To learn more about Jeffrey and how his team can help you reach your fitness goals, visit MEandIFP.com.

[00:00:22.730] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Good morning and welcome to Green Tea Conversations, the radio show that delves into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine to bring you the local experts who share their progressive ideas and Candi, the latest information and insights needed so you can lead your best life. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, publisher of the Twin Cities edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, and I am honored to bring these experts to you. Today on our show, we are welcoming Jeffrey Scott, an EXOS certified performance specialist, and founder of ME&I Fitness and Performance in Minneapolis. Welcome to the show, Jeffrey.

[00:00:56.790] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Thank you.

[00:00:58.170] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So before we get started, we always like to ask all of our new guests to kind of tell us about themselves and explain how your journey began in order to become a personal trainer.

[00:01:11.550] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yes. I really got into fitness as a youth, right. As the youngest of five children watching my older siblings play sports. I can remember the first time my brothers came home with shoulder pads on. I thought, oh, my God, they're huge, right? I didn't know what shoulder pads were, but it was just such an amazing thing to me. And from there, I was really hooked into sports, watching them grow, Candi develop as a younger sibling, you're kind of following them around. So throughout high school and College playing sports, and then as I played more and more, you start having those injuries starting to occur, you find yourself spending time with trainers, doctors and physical therapists.  And really starting to learn more about the body biomechanics, how to reduce injuries, how to improve performance, and being able to take some of that information and translate it into helping other people to really look at how we can help improve athletic performance. And from there, it just kind of started to spiral and start to realize that the training I was doing with myself and with other athletes really wasn't just for athletes, but it's really for anyone who wants to be in better shape.

[00:02:36.250]
And that's why at my gym, we use the model train like an athlete. Right. We think about when you were in your best physical condition was when you trained like an athlete. And we all watch television or whatever, and we Marvel at athletes and how well they look, how well they move and how healthy they appear to be. And so I really wanted to bring that same philosophy to a gym and help people in everyday life. Whether you are a son, daughter, mother or grandmother, chasing footballs or chasing kids, athletic performance is the same. So that's really where our philosophy came from. And that's what really encouraged me to get into personal training to really impact and, in fact, affect the lives of other people through healthy living. When you feel good about you, you typically feel better about the world around you and the people around you. It starts with that self-perception. And so one way, I guess my way of changing the world is helping it's, changing the way people see themselves. EXOS, for me, was a wonderful start. and that as I looked at the different certifications and I've had different certifications, ISSA, NASM, EXOS  was one that really focused on performance, not just a treated athletes differently, and it really focused on athletic performance versus a lot of the programs were on really more bodybuilding.

[00:04:06.600]
And we've kind of moved out of that bodybuilding error. Everyone doesn't want to be a bodybuilder. Everyone's not looking for bigger biceps or legs. But really, how do I stay healthy? How do I keep my body moving, especially as we get older? We find, heck, just getting up in the morning. Sometimes we find where something hurts that didn't hurt before. And so really being able to help people look at how do I improve my performance, whether that is just walking to work every day or on the athletic field. And really getting into the science of it without being incredibly scientific, but really the science of understanding our body and keeping it simple. And that's what I love about EXOS. It's really high level. You see a lot of EXOS works with a lot of professional athletes. We look at the NFL. That's where you send your top prospects. You send them EXOS to get ready for the combine and draft. In fact, I know in 2021, 15 of the top first-round draft picks and there's 31st round draft picks were EXOS athletes. And so here in Minneapolis, the Mayo Clinic in downtown Minneapolis  Mayo Sports Clinic is actually run by EXOS.

[00:05:24.610]
So I guess I can say pretty fortunate to have found them. Actually, all things being equal, it was because of my experiences at the  Mayo Sports Clinic dealing with my own injury that I learned of EXOS while being treated for my injury. So it's been a pretty exciting ride.

[00:05:45.450] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Jeffrey, why don't you tell us a little bit about what makes EXOS different than some of the other certifications that you've gone through?

[00:05:53.430] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah, EXOS was a great find for me in terms of I've been certified with others, NASM and ISSA. But when I came across EXOS, as I said, I found them while actually being treated at the Mayo Sports Clinic in downtown Minneapolis and just some of the things they had me doing that were different. I started to look them up. One of the first things that was really different in going through the EXOS training was that EXOS starts you with their philosophy. What is their philosophy toward training in terms of progression, in terms of understanding functional movement and functional assessment of the movement, understanding exactly what it is that the person you're working with is trying to achieve and biomechanically how their body is going to move to affect those exercises or those movements. And then with EXOS, unlike a lot of other trainings where it is, you have the books, you have the manuals. You go through all this EXOS is all videos. You have a whole lot of videos that you have to watch and you can't skip around. You have to watch them in order before they even let you move on to the next one.

[00:07:12.980]
And so the videos are actually led by EXOS instructors who are walking you through both the theory, the philosophy, the mechanics, and providing examples. So while you're watching the videos, they're explaining it to you. Then they'll go to another section where they're showing you how to apply it and give you examples of working with an athlete to see what's actually taking place. So for those who are visual learners, it's a really great experience to see exactly what they're doing, how they're positioning someone. And as you know, in sports and in training, how you have your hands or your feet or your legs actually makes a difference in terms of how a muscle is being used and the force that it's going to generate. So being able to have those videos where you have a chance to watch this and you're listening to what they're saying really makes a difference. So excellent. Again, it was a tremendous opportunity. It's really having to break it down and say, okay, now that I have this client, this is what it's going to look like for the next 16 weeks or whatever it is. But really the theory and the philosophy, I think, is what makes EXOS so different.

[00:08:28.470] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So let's talk about a couple of things here. The reason that I really wanted to have you come on the show today is because you wrote an article for Natural Awakenings for our April magazine, which comes out very soon or is out on the shelves now. And you wrote an article called what to look for in a Personal Trainer. You gave us some really great tips, and I thought it would be really good to have you come on the show and help people to identify that. Let's start with that. What are some of your finding of personal trainer and what we should look for?

[00:09:02.150] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Well, again, I believe that your trainer should be certified. There are a lot of people out there. You go to any gym, you're going to find someone who's willing to train you. They work out all the time. They feel good about themselves. They've accomplished some goals. Maybe they've lost some weight or they've added some muscle, whatever the case is. And you start conversation like, oh, yeah, I can train you well. I can sit and diagnose a broken leg, too, but I'm not a doctor. And it doesn't qualify me to actually give medical advice and take it further than saying, you know what, because your leg is bent in that direction. I know it's broke. I think when you are looking for a trainer, finding someone who is actually taking the time to invest in themselves, invest in the profession by going through a certification. It doesn't have to be an EXOS certification. It's any certification that says that I care enough about this business in this profession to take it to the level of getting the knowledge and information that will allow me to be more qualified and be more attentive to your needs as a client.

[00:10:16.590] - Candi Broeffle, Host
That is a great tip. And so that's important for us to know, too, is that in Minnesota, it's not required that you have a certification to be a personal trainer, correct?

[00:10:25.600] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Correct.

[00:10:26.670] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So you really want to be asking those questions. What are the certifications that you've taken? What kind of background do you have in this? And really understanding it goes beyond just what kind of training they have done for themselves, but how they have really developed it in helping other people as well.

[00:10:45.390] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Right. We find that you find people where what works for me as an individual and training myself may not be the same thing that works for you. In addition, you may have some other issues that we need to deal with. Maybe you have a pelvic tilt, maybe you had an injury previously. Some things where we need to start with some corrective exercises, we need to do some type of rehab or rehab. And so understanding what those things are and specific movements or specific exercises to address those can be very helpful in your fitness journey versus someone jumping in and maybe taking an issue and compounding it by not addressing it properly.

[00:11:32.850] - Candi Broeffle, Host
We're going to go into a break now, but for people who want to learn more about ME&I Fitness and Performance and how Jeffrey and his team can help you reach your fitness goals, visit Meandifp.com and that's M-E-A-N-D-I-F as in Frank, P, as in PETER.COM.

[00:11:54.690]
You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back.

[00:12:18.070] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're talking with Jeffrey Scott, an EXO certified performance specialist and founder of Me and I Fitness and Performance in Minneapolis. So, Jeffrey, just before the break, you were starting to give us a tip. You gave us one tip on what we need to look for when we're trying to find a personal trainer, and that was to look for someone who has gone through certification. So what are some of your other tips for people who are looking at finding a personal trainer that they feel comfortable working with?

[00:13:00.720] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
I think another thing you want to look at when you're working with a personal trainer or you're interviewing personal trainers. First off, it really is an interview process. You want to understand what their experiences for you as an individual, considering what your goal is, what is their experience in working with people who have your specific goal. Right. If you are someone who is trying to lose weight, I'm not necessarily looking for a bodybuilder trainer. I want someone who has an understanding of what does it take to lose weight, especially if I've had difficulties doing that where I may need more help with nutrition, I may need more help with accountability. I've struggled with this. So psychologically I may be feeling some type of way. And I need a trainer who understands that. I was recently working with a young lady who came into the gym and she's worked with several trainers. And when we got done with our first session, the thing she said to me that stood out, that goes to the point we're making here. She said, you know, I appreciate your patience. And was like, what's? That I've worked with other trainers and they always get frustrated with me, which makes me frustrated.

[00:14:08.830]
And sometimes it just takes me a long time to figure out how to do something right. It's not I'm trying to be difficult. So I think it's very important to find a trainer who understands you, your personality and whose personality matches with yours. Do they have the experience with someone who's doing weight loss or maybe you're an athlete who is looking to do a Triathlon. Right. What variations they have with working with other athletes or individuals who have done triathlons before. What do others say about them in terms of working with them? Right. Because when you start working with a trainer, it can be a very intimate relationship in that you are telling this person really about your goals and something that's hopefully very important to you and you want it to be important to them, or at least that they appreciate, respect and understand the commitment you are making to yourself and the commitment that they need to make to you to help you achieve that goal.

[00:15:09.740] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Yeah. And it's really talking about that. It's really a very intimate relationship. You're putting yourself in a very vulnerable situation when you're talking to somebody because especially when you're looking at trying to lose weight or something like that, there's so much shame that can come with that. You really need to feel safe with the person who you're telling this is what happened to me last time, and this is where I got stuck.

[00:15:34.150] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah. And you have different trainers, and that's not saying that one is better than the other, but you have those who are the drill Sergeant trainer. Right. It is everything is going hard, go hard or go home. You have some who don't really have the capacity to push people. They don't know how to measure. So they're just too easy. They're great at designing things. But when you say, I'm tired, okay, go ahead and go home. Right. And it's really finding what is that style that fits the style that I need. And also understand this when you're looking for that trainer. What you need a trainer may change, right? Today I need someone who is going to be hard on me and is going to push me and not take any excuses. And as I continue in my fitness journey, I may find I no longer need that. And so I may outgrow my trainer or I started off with a trainer who was strictly into weight loss, and so it was one training style. But today I've moved on. I've learned to control my eating. I've lost the weight. Now I want to move toward taking on some new physical challenge.

[00:16:44.230]
And this isn't the trainer that I think can take me to that next level. And so you have to know it's okay to change trainers and find one that fits your goal today.

[00:16:57.790] - Candi Broeffle, Host
That is such great advice. I'm sure there's even times where you're working with a couple of different trainers at the same time, not even so much while you're moving on, but just for different things. And that's what makes it so such a great opportunity to really find out who you work well with and really trusting your instincts. If you're in a certain way about somebody, trust that.

[00:17:21.720] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah, I can say in my gym oftentimes we'll get someone coming in again, I'm a performance specialist. When I have someone coming in, usually in that first two weeks, I'll actually have them work. If they've never worked out or they're just starting, I'll usually have them work out with one of my other trainers, who he is really good with conditioning, really good with weight loss, and he's really good with helping people build that initial foundation. And so when they come to me, we're going to step it up a notch. Right. But it's really helping. It's really not that I couldn't do what he does or he couldn't do what I do. It is not looking at what we're good at, but really having that trainer who what are you great at? And so we use that system of you're great at this part. I'm good at that part. I can do it, but it's not the most effective use of my time. You're great at that. Let's just have them start with you. Come to me where someone who and at the same time will have someone where they're already athletically performing well they'll start working with me, but they'll also work with him on different days.

[00:18:29.130]
Today, you're with me for the strength training and performance training. Tomorrow I have you working with him because I need you doing more cardio. He's going to be your cardio coach.

[00:18:38.290] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So tell us a little bit about your gym, because how many trainers do you have that are available at the gym?

[00:18:45.430] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah. So we currently have three trainers, by the way. We're looking for two more.

[00:18:51.910] - Candi Broeffle, Host
If anyone is looking for a job.

[00:18:53.220] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Anyone's looking for a job, we need two more trainers. We are one of those gyms where we're fortunate we have more demand than we have time to provide it. But in our gym today, we have three trainers. The three of us work together, and we try to really work together as a team understands that different trainers are going to have different levels of expertise, different levels of knowledge, different personalities. And so it allows our clients to really have that team experience. They have a team supporting them. We don't use a whole lot of machine equipment in our gym. While we have our treadmills and our rowing machines and our bikes, we also have a lot of green space. So we put turf in the gym as well as our hardtop for the weight area. We use lots of equipment. People come in and they see the kettlebells, they see the TRX, they see the tire and the sledgehammers. Sledgehammers go along with the tires. They'll also see a lot of bands they'll see one that you probably will not see anywhere else that we use all the time. And that is some Dixie cups, 15 Dixie cups.

[00:20:05.440]
You'll have to come to the gym to see what that one's about.

[00:20:09.190] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Well, that is really cool. And I know it's interesting because you're really customizing each workshop to each client and what they need and giving yourself the space to be able to do that. So for people who want to learn more about what Jeffrey does, visit Meandifp.com and again, that's M-E-A-N-D- I- FP.com to read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit Natural Twin Cities.com.  You can find a podcast of this show on AM950Radio.com on Apple and Google podcasts. And anywhere you get your podcast.

[00:20:45.250] - Candi Broeffle, Host
You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back.

[00:21:08.210]
Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle. And today we're visiting with Jeffrey Scott, an EXOS certified performance specialist and founder of ME&I Fitness and Performance in Minneapolis. So, Jeffrey, we have been talking about some of the things that you should look for when you're trying to find a personal trainer that you feel comfortable working with and that can work for your particular needs that you had talked about in the article was actually about insurance. So how important is it for people for your personal trainer to have insurance?

[00:21:44.990] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
I think it's very important to have insurance. It's just like you wouldn't go to a doctor who doesn't have liability insurance or medical malpractice insurance or your dentist understand, when you are working with a trainer, there is always the possibility that injury occurs, right? I mean, that's just the reality of you go walking down the street, you can get hurt. You are entrusting yourself with someone in trusted in your health and your body to somebody. And I think it's important that that person treats this as a profession and as a professional. Most professional services, whether that's financial services or medical services, or mental services require some type of general liability insurance in the event that something should happen. And I think your trainer needs to have the proper insurance again. Once again, it demonstrates their level of commitment and professionalism to the industry in which they're working. So I definitely believe they should have some level of insurance. And it's not even that expensive or difficult to get.

[00:22:59.930] - Candi Broeffle, Host
I think it's important and I was interested when we were talking about this for the interview as well is just how many people are personal trainers and may work in a gym. And I think a lot of people might feel like the gym is covered, so they would be covered, but they don't necessarily work for the gym.

[00:23:19.520] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Right. A lot of trainers in gyms are independent contractors. 1099 contractors. And so while the gym has liability coverage, if you should hurt yourself using their equipment, you slip on the floor or something when you're working with that trainer, that trainer has probably signed a waiver that excludes the gym from liability that they cause to you. That's something you want to ask your trainer. Do you have liability insurance, general liability insurance in the event that you have me do something that causes an injury?

[00:23:59.610] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Yeah. Hopefully nothing like that ever happens, but you always have to be careful.

[00:24:04.470] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
You know what? We also hope that we never have an auto accident. Our home doesn't burn down, but that's what insurance is for. It's for the unplanned unexpected.

[00:24:14.390] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Exactly. So what are some of your other tips about looking for a personal trainer?

[00:24:21.290] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Some of the other tips that I would give are things such as we talked about finding personalities that work for you and that fits your personality. And one of the things I would look at is the attentiveness of the trainer. So during that initial consultation, pay attention to who's doing the talking. Am I sitting there telling you all about how great I am and all the things I can do for you, or am I listening to your challenges, your issues or concerns to evaluate whether or not I can really help you? Right. Because I can't help everyone. Your trainer can't help everyone, but they don't know that until they've actually taken the time to listen to you, ask questions, to get more information. I can take it further. I'm working with a young lady where her parents brought her to me. She's coming off of an injury. And so I told her after the first session, said, well, before we have our next session, I need to talk to your physical therapist. And that's what we did. I actually got on the phone with the physical therapist, talked to the physical therapist, told them what I was doing, listen to what they had been doing with her, how long they had been training.

[00:25:42.270] 
And the physical therapist and I both came to an agreement on what we would do over the next four weeks. When she would go back to visit them. Right? Because I want to make sure I know what her goals are. But I want to gather as much information as I can to be as precise as I can be in helping her achieve her goals. And so that means I can't be the one doing the talking. I need to listen. So you want a trainer that's listening to you, and not only are they listening for the things that you're saying, but one who's listening enough that they pick up what you're not saying or how you're saying things. Right. They're in tune to you.

[00:26:25.010] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So what are some of the many red flags that we should watch for?

[00:26:30.590] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Well, the first one is if they are expounding on everything that they do, that's probably somewhere where you may want to walk away because they're more interested in them than they are you. I think you also want to look at as you're looking for a trainer, and it's not necessarily a red flag, but it is something to consider, and that is their availability. Is everything built around their schedule, or is it a trainer that has flexibility where they can work with you and your schedule? And again, it's not good or bad, but you have to think about what can you really commit to? What times of day can you commit to? What type of stress might it create in your life if you are trying to get from your job in 15 minutes to get there with your trainer versus having that time where I know that traffic is this or that, or I want to change clothes at home. So knowing their availability and their flexibility, knowing their policies, if it is three times a week and I miss one day, do I get to make up that day on a different day, or am I locked into those three specific days a week and it's use it or lose it, those would be something else. I look at the flexibility again of their daytime versus evening time. If I said morning and I can't get in in the morning, do I have the flexibility to come in the evening? Schedule permitting, right. Their schedule permitting. So those are some things that I would look for in a trainer. Even the gym, I think, is something that you should really consider when you walk in that gym. What is your first impression of it? Right. If you think about going out to a restaurant, you walk into a restaurant. It's dirty, filthy. Most of us stop at that point and we walk back out because we're thinking of our health. If you walk into the gym, you want to assess the atmosphere of the gym, everything from the music that may be playing to the conversations taking place. If it's loud and boisterous and that's not your type of vibe. The cleanliness do they actually take the time to clean the facility where I feel comfortable laying on a bench or laying on the floor orderliness. Right. Because again, it's that idea of this is an environment I'm going to be spending a lot of time in.

[00:29:15.680] 
And if I'm uncomfortable in the environment, that's going to create stress intention in my body. And that stress intention in my body is going to impact how my body moves and perform and will impact my workout. And so while it sounds like the little thing, it can make a huge difference. If you went into the doctor's office and it was filthy with trash on the floor and then they're telling you, okay, open your mouth, you're going to have some second thoughts about it. You might have stopped in the parking lot and walked away.

[00:29:52.550] - Candi Broeffle, Host
One of the things that I noticed on your website when I was doing some research on you before the article is it's both on your website and in your social media is that you're featuring real people. It's not like you do work with athletes as well, but you're also showing you have real people who are in your gym, who are working out who you're training. And that brings a level of comfort as well, because especially as somebody who is 54 years old, a woman who's 54 years old, I'm not going to necessarily feel comfortable walking into a gym that's all performance athletes in their 20s and 30s.

[00:30:35.090] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah. And we get that a lot where we have people come in and today our gym, like any other, we have a certain demographic that has been created. I can tell you our gym, we're about 97, 95% women. And one reason why they said they commented to others, it is the atmosphere. They feel comfortable and they see women that look like them. Right. Just ordinary people. Now, again, you mentioned we have ordinary people, and work with athletes. Well, everyone's an athlete, in our opinion. Athletes. We have athletes of different shape, sizes, ages and level of athletic ability. But it is, again, the atmosphere in which you're going to work. You see people where they come in and they say, I went to XYZ gym and I just felt so intimidated where everyone just looked in this super shape and there's all this aggression in the gym of do this. And I just felt like I didn't fit in. We really tell people whether it's our gym or another gym because we're not going to be for everybody either. Right. You want to find that environment where you feel welcome. It's like when you buy a home, sometimes you walk into a house, and you immediately know, just not for me.

[00:31:59.520] 
You walk in the other place and you feel like, yes, I can see myself here. This feels like my environment. This feels like home. Is that going to happen in every case for everybody? I don't know the answer to that. But when you do find that it's such a comforting feeling.

[00:32:17.040] - Candi Broeffle, Host
It is. And it really is. It's hard enough to work out anyway for most of us. So you want to feel like it's fun to go to where you're going to go, that you're going to be around people who you like to be around and build those relationships when you're going into the gym as well.

[00:32:34.820] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
And I think that's another key thing you just said. Am I enjoying the experience? I'm here, and for some of us, going to the gym is that stress management, stress relief, get away from the kids, get away from the job, get away from all the challenges of life. And you find that you develop these relationships at the gym where I don't know where this person lives, don't know their last name, don't know what they do for a living. It's my gym buddy, right? I walk into the gym and people know my name, and it's like, hey, Candi, I immediately feel better just being in the presence of my gym family. And again, that can be a one experience that helps to uplift you, helps you to get past whatever challenges you've had throughout the day for at least an hour or however long I'm there, I feel embraced by the strength of other people.

[00:33:32.370] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So we're going to go into a break right now. And for people who want to learn more about what Jeffrey does, visit Meandifp.com. And again, that's M-E-A-N-D-IFP.com. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings magazine, visit Natural TwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on AM950Radio.com on Apple and Google podcasts. And anywhere you get your podcast.

[00:34:00.090] 
You're listening to Green, Green, Green Tea Conversations AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.

[00:34:05.080] 
And we will be right back. Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're talking with Jeffrey Scott, an EXOS certified performance specialist and founder of Me&I Fitness and Performance in Minneapolis. So, Jeffrey, you have given us some really great information about what we should be looking for when it comes to finding a personal trainer. And, think one of the things that I found really kind of surprising to me when you and I were talking before is just how affordable personal training actually is. So can you give us an idea, like, if I came to you and said, I want to work with you one on one, I just want to come in a few times a week to be able to get into shape for summer or maybe I have a rehab situation that I'm working on. How much does it cost to work with a trainer one on one?

[00:35:24.130] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah. So at our gym, we start our personal training starts at $55 per session. So if you're purchasing individual sessions, this allows you working with your trainer. We also do sell packages where if you're buying a month's worth of training. So let's say you're buying. I want to do twelve sessions a month. Obviously, the cost is going to be a little cheaper when you commit to the full twelve sessions versus just the one on one at $55 a session. We have monthly packages that range anywhere from that person who just wants to meet with the trainer one time a week to get the basic layout of their workout and then work out. So four times a month with a trainer starting at $200 a month.

[00:36:07.710] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Oh, wow.

[00:36:09.090] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Right. So that's four sessions a month. You meet with them once a week up to if you're doing three or four sessions a week, I think it's around $400 to $500 for a monthly package. And all of our packages include your membership so that those days that you're not there with your trainer, we still want you getting in doing your cardio at our gym. We really look at if I'm training with you three days a week, I really want you training probably five to six days a week.

[00:36:40.710] 
But you don't need to pay me to watch you on a treadmill. We'll do the strength training, the mobility training directly with you because we want to walk you through the exercises, walk you through the movements, ensure that it's going to be correct so it's safe. But on that day when I have you Candi, I need you to come in and you need to be getting in your 30 minutes of cardio. Well, that's where the membership comes in. You can come in on your own. I can tell you what I want you to do on the treadmill and let you go off on your own and do that, whether it's on the treadmill in the gym or you're going to go walking outside. You don't need to pay me to watch you do cardio.

[00:37:14.320] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Well, that's really affordable, though. So including your membership to the gym and the personal training, that's very affordable. You also have some other opportunities for even more affordable options, correct?

[00:37:28.030] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
Yeah. So our goal was in building the gym was to provide something to the community, the community being North Minneapolis, where we're located in the city at large, so that we could take away those things that keep people from coming into the gym. Right. And they could see that it can be affordable and in fact, it's cheaper than insulin to come to the gym, if you think about it. So our packages range where we do a lot of group training, we find that group training one is more affordable for most people where even at $55 a session, while that's affordable, it's even more affordable if I can do it at $30 a session. But I have three other people in the group with me. Right. And there's also some additional benefits to that with those three other people. I get accountability. I also get someone to share the pain with me. Right, and so I developed the relationship can have a huge role in how you feel about your training from the trainer's perspective. It does allow us to have a group experience where they can help bring that energy. They can help to bring the additional guidance that we have.

[00:38:46.270] 
And again, it simply makes it more affordable for people. As an example, right now we're running where for 359 a month special, they have three training sessions a week plus membership to the gym. And when I say three training sessions a week, it's three training sessions. But we also throw in the membership. We do spin classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. So the spin classes are included in that 359 price. And the gym membership is 24/7 365. We use a key five system, so they always have access. And it's really trying to, again, help individuals develop a healthy lifestyle and introduce them to the gym. Now, I know other gyms may be more expensive than that, but we really find that for what we're trying to accomplish, which is really creating healthy lifestyles in the communities that we serve. We can still do well as a business while doing well as a service provider.

[00:39:46.960] - Candi Broeffle, Host
And when you're talking about, like, the group training, how many people are in a group? Typically, yeah.

[00:39:52.050] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
So with our group training, we try to keep the groups down to about four people per trainer. So we may have more than one group happening at a time where there's more than one trainer working. But this actually we find it's beneficial to keep at about four or five people where it allows me to work with a group of people where they're all doing the same exercise per se. But I can still focus in on individuals and their specific needs. As an example, recently at one of the training sessions, as I'm working with two young ladies who were part of the group, we were doing back squats. One of the people in the group, she's really good at doing back squats, but we had someone else who was newer to squats, and so her form was such that I really didn't feel comfortable having her do that. But we still wanted to work the same muscle group. So as opposed to having her do squats, we had her doing Goblet squats on a bench. Right. So it allowed me to change the way she's holding the weight, use a safer exercise. But still, they're both working the same muscle group at the same time and they're both still part of the same group.

[00:40:59.080]
They're just doing different exercises. And that's one of the beauties of keeping the groups smaller, that you can actually still bring a level of customization, even though it's a group workout.

[00:41:10.710] - Candi Broeffle, Host
When you said a group workout, I was thinking more like a class, but this is really a small group. And I imagine those people kind of stick together as a lot of their trainings.

[00:41:19.790] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
You will find where definitely they will start their own messaging on Facebook Messenger or group text messages, they're checking on each other. They are inspiring and supporting one another. Sometimes they're sharing in their bashing of their trainer together but it does create a different level of a different experience for people and that's really part of what we are trying to create at the gym. It's not just coming and working out, but it's about the whole experience.

[00:41:51.730] - Candi Broeffle, Host
So you have a new program right now that you're launching called the Fit Start Plan and this is where you are offering two weeks of free training to people. So tell us about that.

[00:42:02.830] - Jeffrey Scott, Guest
It's really for people who I'm not doing anything right now or I'm not sure what I'm doing right now. I want to start my fitness and so the Fit Start Plan allows them two weeks of free personal training with a trainer in small groups and we hope that over that two weeks there is no obligation to continue. Obviously, we hope that during the two weeks they're able to adopt some healthy habits, learn some information that's going to help them to progress their fitness and then they can always join one of our groups here at the gym or they can take it back to their own gym and at least they're getting started and they're moving forward. So it's our fitstartplan.com we hope that people will take advantage of it and that's our gift to the community and our commitment to helping our communities.

[00:42:50.900] - Candi Broeffle, Host
Well, thank you so much for being with us today. You're listening to green tea conversations on AM950 and I am wishing for you a lovely day.