Fitting the vision of clients
Jackson Bell
Once in training to become a professional chef and now a personal
trainer who teaches fitness professionally, Kirk Watt’s approach to
his work might, at times, seem to clash.
He offers a food menu to clients while they are busy sweating off
calories.
“I’m not a dietician,” said the co-owner and director of fitness
operations at nVISIONuFIT. “But when it comes to recommending the
necessary food that people need, I can help.”
Opening the fitness center last year, with the intent of using the
facility as a chance to focus on one-on-one workout sessions, Connie
Watkins -- the other owner, chief executive and Watt’s girlfriend --
said their emphasis is more on personal training than general
membership.
That lack of quality often found in the personnel and equipment at
the larger, chain fitness centers was the main inspiration for Watt
and Watkins to open nVISIONuFIT.
“As a trainer, I was going to other locations and gyms and I got
tired of taking my clients into places that were not well
maintained,” he said. “It didn’t make sense to me to take them into
substandard places and charge them the rates that I did.”
The fitness center, Watkins said, provides three functions. Its
primary focus is providing workout sessions with personal trainers
for $50 to $70 a visit. He also rents out the center to other
personal trainers for $10 a session or a flat rate of $600 per month.
And, finally, patrons can enroll in what he calls the “client
maintenance program,” which, for $65 per month, he lets them exercise
under light supervision with him always available for help.
This closely monitored approach -- he even has video surveillance
in his office to keep an eye on clients when immersed in
administration work -- has resulted in no injuries related to
equipment misuse or inappropriate exercise regimens, he said.
But for the 14-year veteran who was once active in bodybuilding
and martial-arts competitions, the emphasis is on giving clients
their money’s worth. To return that good faith, the center charges
them on a monthly basis and without requiring a contract.
“It’s a risky thing for a [fitness center], but, on the same
token, it establishes trust with the clients,” Watkins said. “People
go through different phases in their life -- one month something
might be going on that makes them unable to come in.”
What many clients are attracted to, however, are the intimate
surroundings.
“I like that it is not a massive, anonymous gym where you work out
with 200 people at a time,” said North Hollywood resident Sebastian
Calvo, who has been exercising at nVISIONuFIT for two months. “I’ve
been working out for 10 years and I prefer a small gym such as this
one, where there are familiar faces and people refer to you by your
first name.”
Watt said he also trains John Burroughs High School athletes
during a 12-week, two-hour course that meets on Saturdays. He plans
to branch out to other schools in the future.