Personal Trainers in New York.

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’m a 32-year-old guy who’s been looking for a personal trainer in New York City. I’m looking to build up the muscles on my somewhat ectomorphic frame dramatically, bodybuilding-style, and lose excess fat.

Some qualities I would require in a trainer: male bodybuilder who’s very muscular himself – I know it may seem superficial to some, but it’s reassuring to me in terms of qualifications; plenty of experience; a few good references; knowing how to work with clients who have certain medical issues; and (important, but not quite as critical) related degrees and/or certifications.

If you know any such person, please contact me.

Thanks.

2

I’m looking for the same (in NYC). Though I’m looking for more of a powerlifter with oly lift experience. Not looking to meet that often–just want to work on my form and go over oly lifts.

Feel free to respond to thread or PM me.

3

If I lived in NYC I would train with these guys:

4

Worth the drive from NYC over to N.J. look for Jason Ferruggia. He writes for Elite,Men’s Health, and has some of the best results in the business. Contact him through: http://www.j1strength.com/

The other recommendation is Joe DeFranco, also in N.J. He trains some of the best in the NFL,NHL,MLB,NCAA, and MMA and the yackity yack club. Find him here: http://www.defrancostraining.com/.

Take the day and get some serious strong.

5

Here is the best advice you will get. Do not get a personal trainer. I am sure many people from this site can speak from experience when I say 99.9% of personal trainers suck balls. Better yet, look into getting a trainer from this site, who actually know what they are talking about, and can help you reach your goals. Look into Mike Roberson, or Eric Cressey (you can find them by doing using the “search” feature). Both are awesome, know there stuff, and can really lead you in the right direction.

Good Luck,
B

6

Defranco would be awesome, but the big question is "how much cabbage would it cost?’ The guy works with elite athletes and his services can’t be cheap.

7

[quote]Brendan B wrote:
Here is the best advice you will get. Do not get a personal trainer. I am sure many people from this site can speak from experience when I say 99.9% of personal trainers suck balls. Better yet, look into getting a trainer from this site, who actually know what they are talking about, and can help you reach your goals. Look into Mike Roberson, or Eric Cressey (you can find them by doing using the “search” feature). Both are awesome, know there stuff, and can really lead you in the right direction.

Good Luck,
B
[/quote]

I agree that most personal trainers are horrible. I was doing miltary presses with 135 at NYSC and a trainer told me it was great that I could do that much but that I should “squat a bit and power up with my legs” I mentioned that’s a push-press and I didn’t need the momentum for military presses and he kind of shrugged and walked off.

Nevertheless, I (at least) want to make sure I’m doing the exercises correctly–especially squats and oly lifts. I’ve studied videos of the lifts but not 100% sure I’m using proper form. Seems a bit crazy that I’d have to travel to a different state for such advice.

8

Best trainer I ever knew was female; worked at a Gold’s Gym out on Long Island.

I understand your logic, but I wouldn’t be so quick to rule out a T-vixen type.

9

Although I am not a “personal trainer”, if anyone happens to make their way to Albany, NY, I would have no problem getting them started in OL.

10

[quote]Muscularo wrote:
I’m a 32-year-old guy who’s been looking for a personal trainer in New York City. I’m looking to build up the muscles on my somewhat ectomorphic frame dramatically, bodybuilding-style, and lose excess fat.

Some qualities I would require in a trainer: male bodybuilder who’s very muscular himself – I know it may seem superficial to some, but it’s reassuring to me in terms of qualifications; plenty of experience; a few good references; knowing how to work with clients who have certain medical issues; and (important, but not quite as critical) related degrees and/or certifications.

If you know any such person, please contact me.

Thanks.[/quote]

Until you find someone to teach you the lifts, the best thing you can do is practice doing your squats as deep as you can…that goes for overhead/back/and front squats (in the rack position), snatch grip deads (no back rounding), and do some stiff legged deads with a hard shrug at the top. Ease up on your chest training a bit, make sure you are doing as many rows/chins etc as sets you do for chest to provide better flexibility across the chest/shoulders, and of course stretch the shoulders/chest after working them. Start your workouts with plenty of arm circles, and also walking lunges to warm up.

It will be very difficult to learn to OL if you don’t have the flexibility for the positions. If you can do the positions properly, you are going to learn them faster!

11

[quote]Benny Podda wrote:
Worth the drive from NYC over to N.J. look for Jason Ferruggia. He writes for Elite,Men’s Health, and has some of the best results in the business. Contact him through: http://www.j1strength.com/

The other recommendation is Joe DeFranco, also in N.J. He trains some of the best in the NFL,NHL,MLB,NCAA, and MMA and the yackity yack club. Find him here: http://www.defrancostraining.com/.

Take the day and get some serious strong.[/quote]

Agreed. If I was in NYC I’d go with Jason or Joe.

Joe is in Jersey, but I read over at Elite that Jason is opening up a place in NYC - so he’d be my go to guy.

12

Thanks for all the replies.

I agree that many trainers are less than stellar but I’m sure there are some good ones out there. Right now I feel I could really use a trainer, since my progress seems to have stalled nowhere near my goals.

If anyone has additional suggestions, please post them.

13

I’m not a personal trainer, but I’m looking for a partner that’s willing to be involved in squats, deadlifts and cleans. I live in upper west side.

14

[quote]Benny Podda wrote:
Worth the drive from NYC over to N.J. look for Jason Ferruggia. He writes for Elite,Men’s Health, and has some of the best results in the business. Contact him through: http://www.j1strength.com/
[/quote]

Another vote for Jay; the guy knows his stuff. FYI, he’s in NYC now - just opened his own studio. I can get you in touch with him, if you want (shoot me an email: ec@ericcressey.com).

15

[quote]Muscularo wrote:
Thanks for all the replies.

I agree that many trainers are less than stellar but I’m sure there are some good ones out there. Right now I feel I could really use a trainer, since my progress seems to have stalled nowhere near my goals.

If anyone has additional suggestions, please post them.[/quote]

This may seem off-topic but what’s your diet look like? It’s been said plenty on this site, but most skinny guys think it’s their training but it’s actually their diet that’s holding em back.

16

[quote]conwict wrote:
This may seem off-topic but what’s your diet look like? It’s been said plenty on this site, but most skinny guys think it’s their training but it’s actually their diet that’s holding em back.
[/quote]

I do try to have five or six small to medium sized meals a day; but I wonder if the content, frequency, and/or sizes of the meals has to be tweaked. My meals are always protein-rich, and I try to keep most of my carb intake to earlier in the day (morning and afternoon).

When I first started to really get into bodybuilding, I gained muscle and strength, but also gained a lot of fat. Then, I tried to lose the fat, and succeeded in burning most of it – but also lost way too much muscle.

Now, I’m too fat (ironically for being rather ectomorphic) and not making much progress in building muscle or strength. I really think my frustration lies in some combination of nutrition and training.

17

Until you find a trainer it won’t hurt to use a program from the site that works for lots of people.

Why not try Chad Waterbury’s Anti-bodybuilding Hypertrophy or Christian Thibaudeaux’s (I hope I spelled that right) Bodybuilding Pendulum?

Massive Eating, a two part article by John Berardi, has great advice for calculating calories and may be a good refresher on protein/carb, and protein/fat combinations.

Use Surge post-workout and add meal replacements (as opposed to whole food meals) to get your calories up to 3500-4000, or more or less depending on what the ME calc says (there’s also a site that can be Googled that has a built-in calculator)

I usually eat a large breakfast with some P, a little F, and lots of carbs, eat a big lunch, snack a bit, work out, have PWO shake, within two hours have a HUGE shake that has 800-1000 calories and 60-80 grams of protein, eat a big dinner and maybe snack more, and have another huge shake before bed.

Sometimes if I feel really bloated I’ll skip the huge shake after the workout, but all in all it’s not hard to eat that much.

I eat healthily, organic when possible, lots of fruits, and do some cardio/GPP/etc which is factored into my diet and contributes to a higher “G Flux” (search for an article entitled G Flux and anticipate more soon).

I have gained a fair amount of muscle mass and don’t seem to be slowing down, and haven’t gained any fat to speak of.

I don’t mean to stop discussion about the PT but I think it would be useful for you to share more about your workout and diet and (re)read the articles above before you go 100% on the PT.