A few years ago, a woman came in who was terrified to start.
On a scale of 1 to 100, where 100 is scared to death, she was about a 97.
I remember her first one-on-one. I handed her a 22-pound kettlebell before we started deadlifts, and she was absolutely certain she wouldn’t be able to lift it.
After one try, she felt confident. Fast-forward to now, and she’s doing trap bar deadlifts with 135 pounds for sets of 10. 😄😂
After going through 10–15 exercises in that first session, she realized working out didn’t have to be complicated. As long as she was given exercises that fit her ability and the goal of progressing over time, she could handle way more than she thought.
She ended up convincing her sister to try it.
She told me some of the exact things that convinced her:
- “There are a lot of ‘older’ people here. It’s not just people in their 20s and 30s in perfect shape.”
- “They build custom programs for everyone, so there’s no pressure to compare yourself to anyone.”
- “Everyone’s friendly. It feels like walking into a family member’s house.”
Her sister gave it a shot—and had the exact same reaction.
It even went a step further. She brought her son in to check it out when he started thinking about majoring in exercise science. She wanted him to see what a real professional training environment looked like.
Now?
- They both come four or more days a week.
- They’re both way stronger than when they started.
- And Pratt Personal Training is now a regular topic at their family gatherings.
Not a bad chain of events for someone who once thought a 22-pound kettlebell was impossible to lift.
— James Pratt