My Gym
Santa Margarita Training Facility
Members and clients only — so everybody on this floor is working, and nobody is watching.
The room
Why I coach here
I'm gentle and patient. Totally approachable. A natural educator — I'm perfect for people new to fitness, older athletes, or anyone wary of "gym culture." That's a promise I can only keep if the room cooperates.
Most rooms don't. You wait twenty minutes for a rack. You learn a new movement badly, for the first time, in front of forty strangers with nothing else to do.
This one isn't open to the public. Everybody on the floor either holds a key or is somebody's client, and they're here to work with their coaches — not to gawk or waste time. It's friendly, it's supportive, and it's low-traffic: at its absolute busiest there are still no lines. Once in a while I'll move an exercise down the order because the machine is in use, and we come back to it two minutes later.
That's what I actually need from a gym, and it's rarer than it sounds: a room where everybody is working, so nobody is spectating.
Inside the building
What's on the floor
Iron, and no queue for it
Free weights, power racks, cable stacks and plate-loaded machines. At its absolute busiest, I'll occasionally move an exercise down the order and we come back to it two minutes later. That is the worst it gets.
Room to move
Ten thousand square feet, with a long turf lane for carries, sleds, drills and anything that wants a straight line instead of a machine.
Recovery, in the same building
Infrared saunas, red-light booths and PEMF. And AMP, a physical therapy practice working out of the same space — massage, chiro, cupping, PT, Normatec — so when something needs a professional who isn't me, they're down the hall.
A ring in the corner
There's a full-size boxing ring and heavy bags. Not part of what I program — but it tells you what kind of room this is.
Nice enough that people film here
Coaches and creators book the floor for their own content, usually late at night or at weekends when it's near empty. It's a fair compliment to the room, and it never reaches you: the only person in anyone's frame is the person who brought the camera. I don't photograph clients.
Open when you are, and clean when you get there
Members hold a key fob, so the building has no opening hours — early, late, holidays. And the thing reviewers say most often about this place is that it's spotless. I've never had to apologise for the equipment.
Before you come in
Your first session here
Park at the door, and I'll meet you there. Parking is on site off Esperanza, a minute from the 241 at Antonio. It's key-fob entry with no front desk to negotiate, so you never have to work out how to get in or explain yourself to anybody.
You don't need a membership. Coming in as my client is all the access you need.
Bring almost nothing. Shoes you can stand flat in, and water. That's the list.
We don't start with a workout. We start by reviewing your health history and blood work. Programming comes after I know what I'm programming for.
If you want to look further
I don't own this gym — I coach on its floor. Their own site and their Instagram are below if you want to see the place through their eyes. Fair warning: they're writing for members and for people who film there, not for my clients, so the tone is theirs and not mine.
Come see it.
The easiest way to know whether a room suits you is to stand in it. Ask me about an in-person session and I'll show you around first.
Ask about in-person training