Perfect Workout App: Pioneering Virtual Training

Posted on December 31, 2020September 7, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

How The Perfect Workout is Pioneering the World of Virtual Training

When the first shelter at home orders were mandated, we pivoted from our in-studio personal training to online personal training.

We offered immediate support to our clients and a solution to maintaining health, boosting immunity when it mattered most and having jobs for our trainers.

We created an exciting new way of offering our workouts, with lots of help from our early adopters (both clients and trainers). This allowed us to develop a product and system that is our Virtual Training today.

The first iteration of in-home training was ingenious, and helped many clients stay on track with their health and fitness goals. Since then, we have invested more time, resources and innovation into our Virtual Training Program and are excited to share the next steps with you.

We’re Evolving: App Development

Moving all of our personal interactions onto platforms like Zoom added a layer of concern when it comes to security, privacy, and feeling safe.

Our clients also experienced frustrations when they couldn’t access account information, and it took too many steps, links and clicks to meet with their trainer.

So, we’ve decided to develop The Perfect Workout App featuring our own video software.

This will allow trainers and clients to connect 1-on-1 without third-party software like Zoom or Facetime for added security and convenience.

With The Perfect Workout App, clients will also get to see real-time workout progress, easily share the program with family and friends, receive nutrition coaching, and seamlessly manage appointments – all in one place.

It’s our way of giving clients access to more tools, more resources, and more education.

We’re Innovating for the Future: Couples & Group Virtual Training

Initially, our Virtual Training program offered immediate support to our clients and a solution to maintaining health, boosting immunity, and having jobs for our trainers. (We deeply appreciate our early adopters!)

Our clients can continue to build strength, get healthier, and improve their immune system during the pandemic and beyond – no matter where they are around the world.

We’ve also received many requests from our clients to add family members and friends from out of state train with them in their sessions.

And we’re excited to now introduce a new service to make your training experience more inclusive with Couples & Group Virtual Training!

Not only is this going to make training more fun and sustainable for a lot of people, it's going to bring families together, no matter where you live, during a time where that may not be possible. Now and in the future.

Learn More about our Virtual Training Program HERE

Couple maintains Strong Surfer Bodies in their 60s

Posted on October 2, 2020July 29, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

How This Couple Maintains Strong Surfer Bodies in Their 60s

Having a strong, sculpted body was possible when you were 20 or 30. But not now, right?

Wrong! Mark & Debbie Gale are proving that building strong bodies, sculpted muscles and the stamina to do the activities they love is possible at 60, and they’re doing it with slow-motion strength training.

Mark and Debbie Gale are a surfer couple through and through. For 30 years, they’ve been hitting the SoCal waves on their tandem surfboard and enjoying the sun. For them, the most important thing is to be able to keep doing what they love for as long as possible.

Four years back, they started noticing that they didn’t have as much stamina while surfing as they used to.

Debbie says, “The hardest part is paddling out to catch the waves. And I realized I had wet spaghetti arms! I got tired so quickly.”

A friend of hers had told her about The Perfect Workout and Debbie figured she’d give it a try. She went in for an intro session at the Tustin studio and was hooked.

“I’ve always hated weight training, but I liked The Perfect Workout because it doesn’t matter how many reps you do. It’s all about hitting muscle success. It’s a tangible goal, not some intangible number!”

Learn More about the Best Exercises for Women Over 60

Mark was skeptical that 20 minutes, twice a week could do any good, but he couldn’t deny the results he was seeing in his wife. “Her glutes were back up in the air!”

He also noticed that Debbie could paddle better than he could and he wanted some of that stamina for himself.

A year after Debbie started, Mark began working out at the Laguna Niguel studio and loved the short, challenging workout.

“I used to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the gym for two hours every day before work. Now I get better results in 20 minutes? I feel like I wasted so much of my life not doing this!”

With the help of his trainer, Mark has reached 110 lbs. on the Lat Pulldown and close to 450 lbs. on the Leg Press machine.

For Debbie, her biggest weakness was her core and when working out on her own in the past she had done crunch machines with her back. Her trainers were able to work on her posture and help her move with better form, which has strengthened her core immensely.

“I found muscles I never used in my lifetime!”

Recently, Debbie and Mark went surfing and surprised themselves when they realized they’d been in the water for two hours. Mark asked Debbie if she was tired and she wasn’t at all. Mark says, “We had never lasted that long! Usually when you take a break from surfing for a few weeks, the first day back is extremely painful. Now because of The Perfect Workout, we can take time off and feel great when we come back!”

They’re riding better than they ever have and Mark is lifting Debbie over his head with ease, a trick he learned in his youthful ice skating days. At 64 and 60, Mark and Debbie are stronger than they’ve been in decades.

Debbie says, “We’re never giving up The Perfect Workout. It makes a huge difference in our health and our enjoyment in life.”

Why Killing Yourself in the Gym Could Be Doing more Harm Than Good

Living with elevated cortisol levels can feel like a battle against your own body…

The effects of strength training on gut health

Exercise for Gut Health: The Link Between Exercise and Digestive Disorders

Did you know, your gut is home to over 1,000 bacterial species…

The Perfect Workout's Featured Trainer, Candace Regan

Your Virtual Trainer For Fitness & Mindset Mastery

Certified in group fitness, functional training, & Slow Motion Strength Training…

High Risk? Remain Safe & Strong At Home

Posted on July 31, 2020June 12, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

High risk? Remain safe & strong at home

We’re all trying to figure out what our priorities are right now. But there’s one thing that’s at the top of everyone’s list- safety. Am I safe from this virus? When will it be safe to go places? Are my friends and family safe? There are a lot of questions up in the air– but one thing you should never have to question is the safety of your workout.

—

Lin Rowland and John Aspebakken’s journey with The Perfect Workout started with Lin's decision to take control of his fitness journey. He had been going to bootcamps, which had become really rough on his body. As he was getting a little bit older, he felt like that style of training wasn’t safe for him and he couldn’t really sustain it any longer.

We actually see this a lot, because most workouts and programs out there have a shelf-life on them.

Runners will run, until their knees wear out.
Crossfitters will flip tires, until they throw their back out.
Bootcampers will…bootcamp? Until it's not sustainable anymore.

That’s one of the many incredible benefits of slow-motion strength training. It is the ultimate sustainable workout. Think about it– how many programs do you know of that have clients ranging from 11- 95 years of age? Not many, but The Perfect Workout does.

Back to Lin– his fitness journey changed when he saw a sign. An actual, physical sign that is. (Be sure to watch the video for a good laugh we had when I thought he meant a metaphorical sign ?)

He waltzed into the Southwest Fort Worth Studio one Saturday and said, “I’m interested in finding out what this is about!” He got to chatting with one of the Trainers who took her time to learn about his fitness goals, teach him the method and sent him home with more information than he could ask for on slow-motion strength training, along with a 1-on-1 workout on the schedule.

From that moment, Lin became a client and part of The Perfect Workout Family.

“It just seemed interesting and what I really liked about it was it seemed really safe.”

After actually going through the workout, Lin also appreciated (I’m sure begrudgingly at times) that his Trainer “watched him like a hawk.” Having worked out in other gyms and facilities where they show you how to do the machine and then walk away, he felt like the personal attention he got from 1-on-1 coaching at The Perfect Workout was something special.

“I don’t know that one person can watch 30 people at once and correct them,” Lin said in regards to other gyms he’s been to.

John (who’d been quietly listening) immediately chimed in to tell me that they had taken a couple vacations last year to Pennsylvania and California, where we luckily had studio locations and they were able to get in a training session.

“They had the machines, all of the information on us…”

“And it was the exact. Same. Thing,” Lin interjected. “And they knew everything about us– It was the exact same training experience as here – on both coasts.”

I took a moment to give them kudos for getting into the studios on their vacations, and the thought of training during holiday got me curious about if they would do Virtual Training if they traveled to places with no studio locations….

I tabled my thoughts on vacation workouts because I wanted to hear more about John and his beginnings with The Perfect Workout.

He had retired a few years ago and had never done any bootcamps, gone to gyms, or anything related to an exercise program. I didn’t even have to ask why because he offered up the answer– “I didn’t want to invest the time.”

But after watching Lin come home twice a week, every week for six months with glowing reviews about what he was experiencing at The Perfect Workout– and the fact that it was 20 minutes, a couple times a week– it really appealed to John.

He liked that he didn’t have to take a bunch of time out of his week and devote it to exercise. He also knew that at his age, he wanted to build and keep strength in his muscles and maintain his balance. He wanted the ability to do things around the house.

He finally said to Lin, “You know, I’d kinda like to try this too, and see how it works.”

John joined Lin in the studio one day, experienced some of the exercises and signed up!

“We both coordinated our schedules so we both go right one after the other when we go there and it’s worked out tremendously. I just feel a whole lot better strength-wise and balance wise and posture-wise. I’ve noticed I sit up straighter and just a whole lot of improvements that I’ve seen since then.”

Excited about his partner’s progress, Lin also mentioned that John is able to get up and down off the floor more easily too, casually demonstrating that before he got stronger, it included a lot of grunting and groaning as if it were painful.

“And now he just gets right up!”

I couldn’t help but also celebrate this seemingly small victory, pointing out that changes in every-day activities is one of the many unexpected benefits of doing slow-motion strength training. We often go into our workouts with the mentality of just getting stronger, or losing weight, or maybe improving a medical issue, but it’s when you start to notice an improvement in those day to day activities that makes you stop and think, Wow…this is doing something!

Both John and Lin agreed, telling me they noticed it doing other simple things like pulling the groceries out of the trunk of the car.

“Something simple like that seems simple, but after a while is not so simple,” Lin put it perfectly.

I couldn’t wait any longer to hear what their Virtual Training experience has been like, so I switched gears– I asked both John and Lin what they thought when we said, “Hey! We’ll train you from your living room!”

Like many, they were skeptical at first. They both rattled off their initial thoughts–

“Man, there’s no way!”
“Without the machines and everything else, how well can you really do this?”
“How are you going to be able to monitor how we’re doing very well?”
“It’s not the same thing.”

Despite their skepticism, they felt like they might as well try it– and they pivoted their workout approach, right alongside us.

“We jumped right in the following week after we couldn’t go to the studio anymore and we started working with Hannah (the SWFW Facility Manager)– We all took a moment to agree how amazing yet another one of our trainers is.

I asked them how their first Virtual session went…

“It was tougher than I thought it would be. Way tougher than I thought it would be!” Lin responded as he began to laugh about the “state of the art” equipment they were using in their living room.

I needed to see this– what were they working out with?

They pulled out their state-of-the-art equipment to show me. “It’s a bag of bricks! And a couple towels. And some pillows.”

Lin began to tell me that although it was “just a towel,” his trainer was able to utilize it during his exercise and it was challenging enough to make him shake. “Shakin and cryin” were his words to be exact. ?

“What makes working out with your body, or the towel, or the grocery bag of bricks more challenging than you thought it was going to be?” I asked.

They explained it was the slowness of the exercises. That doing it so slowly and precisely was the key component, not necessarily their equipment. After all, they were exercising with towels and bricks!

“Do you think this is something you could do on your own without the coaching from Hannah or whoever else you might be working with?” I asked them both.

“Oh, I would never push myself that hard. Somehow she’s able to just drive you through that wall where you’re just like, no, no, no, never again! Get me out of here!” Lin replied laughing.

John chimed in too, “That and your form and position. She’s just watching every move I make… ‘Raise your elbows, lower your shoulders,’ or whatever. There’s just so many things to monitor and keep track of, it’s just good to have somebody there watching you and seeing how you’re doing and that really makes a difference. And that’s one reason I was really excited about doing this program, because I knew I would have somebody there watching me.”

They both commented on the importance of the safety factor. They feel safe having a trainer with them every rep of the way. And they feel just as safe during their Virtual Workouts as they do with their in-studio sessions.

In addition to the safety component, Lin couldn’t help but bring up how difficult the workout actually is again. “It’s pretty amazing.” To which he couldn’t help but mention feeling the same way about our team members, telling me that everyone has been incredible, and incredible quality.

Knowing how important it is to have wonderful Trainers on our team, I made a point to thank him for his compliment and also to reiterate that every one of us (trainers, and non-trainers) wants to help our clients get healthier, stay safe, and keep working out– especially during this uncertain time.

I wanted to explore why else they felt like their at-home workouts were so safe. Was it just the slow speed, or was there something else their Trainer was doing?

John explained that he dealt with some long-time back problems but was always reassured with a modification in the exercises he performed. “When I walk out of the session, whether it was at the studio or here, my back is feeling better at the end of the day.”

“There’s always the workaround that is helpful. And it still pushes you ahead,” Lin agreed. “And it's still difficult!”

“It’s still brutal,” John added.

I laughed, joking with them they were going to scare people away calling the workout brutal, but was happy to hear that the intensity of their Virtual Workouts rivaled what they typically experience in the studio.

“Once the closures have been lifted and we’re able to open the doors back to our studios, do either of you see yourselves doing virtual training again for whatever reason?”

John seemed to have an idea forming in his head when he told me he could see them doing a Virtual Session while on vacation, if they happen to be someplace where there wasn’t a studio available.

Ahh the question I tabled earlier was answered after all!

Lin lit up at the idea, agreeing how perfect that would be. “It’s really inventive and outside the box and it’s just been amazing, really.”

As if both men hadn’t said enough wonderful things about their experience yet, I asked them what they would say to anybody who is on the fence to try Virtual Personal Training. Here’s what they said:

“Try it, because I think you’re gonna be shocked. I think you’re gonna be shocked at the intensity and still feel benefits. That’s what’s important. You’re still going to have those benefits of balance and being able to pull the groceries out of the trunk again.”

“I think you would be surprised at how personable it is through the screen, which doesn’t make any sense because they’re not there with you, but… it’s still personable, they’re still there with you, and they can still see what you’re doing, and they’ll still catch ya!”

Lin had been looking for a safe way to exercise, and John simply couldn’t ignore the time efficiency and the effectiveness of 20 minutes, twice a week. But what they didn’t expect when they joined The Perfect Workout was that they found a workout they could do forever… no matter their age, their ability, or their location.

Nobody knows how long we will all be sheltering in place. But, it’s important to all of us at The Perfect Workout to ensure you don’t lose out on a lot of the benefits we’ve worked so hard in-studio to gain.

Maintain your strength so you aren’t starting back from ground zero again.

Why Killing Yourself in the Gym Could Be Doing more Harm Than Good

Living with elevated cortisol levels can feel like a battle against your own body…

Exercise for Gut Health: The Link Between Exercise and Digestive Disorders

Did you know, your gut is home to over 1,000 bacterial species…

Your Virtual Trainer For Fitness & Mindset Mastery

Certified in group fitness, functional training, & Slow Motion Strength Training…

One Couple’s Story of Feeling Safe & Strong at Home

Posted on April 18, 2020June 12, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

one couple's story of feeling safe & strong at home

We’re all trying to figure out what our priorities are right now.

But there’s one thing that’s at the top of everyone’s list- safety.

Am I safe from this virus?
When will it be safe to go places?
Are my friends and family safe?

There are a lot of questions up in the air– but one thing you should never have to question is the safety of your workout.

We actually see this a lot, because most workouts and programs out there have a shelf-life on them.

Runners will run, until their knees wear out.
Crossfitters will flip tires, until they throw their back out.
Bootcampers will…bootcamp? Until it's not sustainable anymore.

That’s one of the many incredible benefits of slow-motion strength training. It is the ultimate sustainable workout. Think about it– how many programs do you know of that have clients ranging from 11- 95 years of age? Not many, but The Perfect Workout does.

Back to Lin– his fitness journey changed when he saw a sign. An actual, physical sign that is. (Be sure to watch the video for a good laugh we had when I thought he meant a metaphorical sign ?)

From that moment, Lin became a client and part of The Perfect Workout Family.

“It just seemed interesting and what I really liked about it was it seemed really safe.”

“I don’t know that one person can watch 30 people at once and correct them,” Lin said in regards to other gyms he’s been to.

"They watch you here. I like that. And any minute correction or discomfort or whatever is spotted immediately."

“They had the machines, all of the information on us…”

“And it was the exact. Same. Thing,” Lin interjected. “And they knew everything about us– It was the exact same training experience as here – on both coasts.”

I tabled my thoughts on vacation workouts because I wanted to hear more about John and his beginnings with The Perfect Workout.

He finally said to Lin, “You know, I’d kinda like to try this too, and see how it works.”

John joined Lin in the studio one day, experienced some of the exercises and signed up!

"I just feel a whole lot better strength-wise and balance wise and posture-wise. I've noticed I sit up straighter and just a whole lot of improvements that I've seen since then."

“And now he just gets right up!”

Both John and Lin agreed, telling me they noticed it doing other simple things like pulling the groceries out of the trunk of the car.

“Something simple like that seems simple, but after a while is not so simple,” Lin put it perfectly.

Like many, they were skeptical at first. They both rattled off their initial thoughts–

Despite their skepticism, they felt like they might as well try it– and they pivoted their workout approach, right alongside us.

I asked them how their first Virtual session went…

I needed to see this– what were they working out with?

They pulled out their state-of-the-art equipment to show me. “It’s a bag of bricks! And a couple towels. And some pillows.”

“What makes working out with your body, or the towel, or the grocery bag of bricks more challenging than you thought it was going to be?” I asked.

“Do you think this is something you could do on your own without the coaching from Hannah or whoever else you might be working with?” I asked them both.

“Oh, I would never push myself that hard. Somehow she’s able to just drive you through that wall where you’re just like, no, no, no, never again! Get me out of here!” Lin replied laughing.

"I was really excited about doing this program, because I knew I would have somebody there watching me."

I wanted to explore why else they felt like their at-home workouts were so safe. Was it just the slow speed, or was there something else their Trainer was doing?

“There’s always the workaround that is helpful. And it still pushes you ahead,” Lin agreed. “And it's still difficult!”

“It’s still brutal,” John added.

“Once the closures have been lifted and we’re able to open the doors back to our studios, do either of you see yourselves doing virtual training again for whatever reason?”

John seemed to have an idea forming in his head when he told me he could see them doing a Virtual Session while on vacation, if they happen to be someplace where there wasn’t a studio available.

Ahh the question I tabled earlier was answered after all!

Lin lit up at the idea, agreeing how perfect that would be. “It’s really inventive and outside the box and it’s just been amazing, really.”

"It's really inventive and outside the box and it's just been amazing, really."

Maintain your strength so you aren’t starting back from ground zero again.

Why Killing Yourself in the Gym Could Be Doing more Harm Than Good

Living with elevated cortisol levels can feel like a battle against your own body…

Exercise for Gut Health: The Link Between Exercise and Digestive Disorders

Did you know, your gut is home to over 1,000 bacterial species…

Your Virtual Trainer For Fitness & Mindset Mastery

Certified in group fitness, functional training, & Slow Motion Strength Training…

Kelly and Richard Got Toned and Strong!

Posted on November 5, 2014June 12, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

kelly and richard got toned and strong!

Strength training helped Kelly get toned, and Richard estimates that he got 50% stronger, improved his posture, and lost about 75% of the aches and pains that he had in his back and shoulders.

Kelly Alessandro doesn’t know how much time she has left. Not at The Perfect Workout, but in life. Two years ago she was diagnosed with sarcoma, a very rare form of cancer, and doctors initially didn’t give her a very good chance of survival. She’s gone through surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. Through it all, she has stayed mentally and physically strong. Kelly attributes making it this far in part to the fact that she’s in such good shape, thanks to The Perfect Workout. “I was able to recover so much better from all those surgeries because I had a strong core, because I was so strong,” she says.

The story begins before Kelly got cancer. About two and a half years ago, she saw an ad for The Perfect Workout and decided to investigate slow-motion strength training. “I had no idea it was going to be as good as it was. Most people don’t get it. They think you have to spend an hour.” Kelly didn’t need to lose weight, she just wanted to “tone it up” and get stronger. Within a couple weeks she started seeing results, and she was hooked. Six months into her workouts, she got the bad news. She had surgery, then took five weeks off to recover. When she started her workouts up again, she was actually receiving chemotherapy at the same time, and feels like the workouts helped.

It was around this time that she finally got Richard to start working out with her. “Kelly kept nagging me,” he jokes. “I didn’t want to listen to her tell me I had to work out. She kind of shamed me. She just had major surgery, she was going through chemo, and she was still doing it.” Richard approached it with gusto the same way Kelly had, and made good progress.

Richard and Kelly agree that having a trainer keeps it safe and makes it fun. “The whole staff at Laguna Niguel has been great!” Richard is serious when he says, “I hate going! But the hate only lasts for 20 minutes. I just jump right in. I try to have fun with it. When I’m done, I’m done, and I go home and have my protein shake. The Perfect Workout is 1/335 of my week. For 1/335, I can do anything!” With everything they’ve been through together, Richard and Kelly have a remarkable sense of gratitude, and with some sarcoma experts they’ve just found, they also have a new sense of hope. Their trainers at the Laguna Niguel studio say, “Kelly’s spirit is always upbeat and positive. We’ve been honored to work with her and her husband, Richard, and their courage and determination has touched all of our lives.”

Tag: Couples

How The Perfect Workout is Pioneering the World of Virtual Training

We’re Evolving: App Development

We’re Innovating for the Future: Couples & Group Virtual Training

How This Couple Maintains Strong Surfer Bodies in Their 60s

High risk? Remain safe & strong at home

one couple's story of feeling safe & strong at home

kelly and richard got toned and strong!