FitCo Gym — Local services in Irvine

The reason I'm so compelled to share my experience is that if you are looking for a personal trainer, you should at least know of Mr. Sasa before you choose someone else. I'm sure there are other great trainers out there, but below is why Sasa and his training are deeply appreciated by me (and I'm sure I'm not alone). In the first consultation meeting, Sasa demonstrated the way he works, but more importantly, he listened carefully to me explaining my health situations. I had autoimmune and hormonal problems as well as injuries and chronic pain in multiple areas. It turned out that Sasa took the information I gave him to heart! In later training, he always asks me how I am responding to the training, and constantly adapts his program to my body reactions and restraints. It's a truly personalized training experience. The reason he is able to provide the real personal training that works for the client comes from two important things. One, he is extremely knowledgeable, experienced, and he keeps on learning. Two, he is such a deeply kind person that he cares. As a result, he takes a holistic and thus effective approach for weight loss, muscle building, lifestyle change, and wellness. In addition to workout, he cares about (in a gentle, respectful, and humorous way) your motivation, diet, rest, moods, etc. because they are all relevant. He is also ready to answer questions about exercise and diet. He is motivating in each training session, and he organizes fun competitions/activities with his clients to keep them focused. By having all these components kept in check, his clients tend to lose fat while gaining muscle, which is very impressive to accomplish. Because he is knowledgeable and caring, Sasa is also very good at improvising workout programs to tailor to your needs. I give him a heads up if I would be late, but there was one time I was terribly late due to work and traffic. I was convinced in my head that it would be an incomplete workout. However, Sasa condensed the workout into several supersets, so effective that it was one of the most energizing and fulfilling sessions, and I ended up feeling sore (the good sore) for a week after. Other times, when he has to change the program in response to my body situation of the day, he always develops a new set of movements that complement each other very well and the set is challenging but not overkilling. I always left the training feeling more energized than coming in. Also because of his knowledge and level of care, Sasa gives super clear instructions, attends to the details of my movement, and gives me feedback as soon as he sees a deviation from the proper form. I can't thank him enough for that. I believe that a proper form is the most important thing, everything else (regardless it's weight loss or muscle gain) comes with time and repetition as long as we get the form right and keep doing it. But if the form is not correct, we are just spearheading into injury sooner or later. I am not talking about an outrageous deviation from the form--I have somewhat of an awareness of that. It's the minor unnoticeable deviations that matter over time. Those are the things that Sasa attentively watches and catches right away. When he gives feedback, he is also very effective in terms of explaining what I did and what changes I should make for a better form, so I get it. Not only he teaches me the movements, but also he educates me about the underlying mechanisms (he'd happily and excitedly show you some cool videos if you are interested in such topics). I should add that he is super pleasant to talk to. He is a good listener, he has fun things to share, and he has a great sense of humor. If you are like me, who came with injuries, pains, health challenges, and feel doubtful about personal training, I'd recommend you to consider Sasa. He will listen to your needs and wants, and work around your restraints. If you don't have those challenges like me, that's awesome! Sasa will prevent injuries from happening to you while moving...

This is why I love FitCo Gym and training with Sasa:

The gym itself is awesome. They just moved to a new space that is 2.5x bigger than their old space and it is beautiful and a joy to work out in. There are so many different, high quality machines that are pristine condition and with the larger space they're even adding more to elevate the experience. Sasa owns the gym so the only clients using the gym are his or the clients of his two other trainers. At FitCo you aren't going to a personal trainer who rents out a space that is shared by a bunch of other trainers and their clients fighting for machines. It is a truly a private training experience. Most of the time during my sessions I am the only one there training. It is also a very welcoming and inclusive environment. No intimidation or judgment here whatsoever.

I was looking for a personal trainer who focused on just strength training for that's what I found here. 60 minutes of pure strength training. I prefer to do my cardio sessions separately and use my gym time to focus on strength alone.

I feel like finding the right trainer is kind of like finding the right therapist, lol. They can have all the credentials in the world but if the relationship doesn't fit it just doesn't. That being said, Sasa is a great trainer and a I found to be a great fit for me. He is personable, knowledgable, motivating and encouraging. He gives me feedback on my form when needed and answers all of my questions when I want to pick his brain about health or fitness related topics. He understands that life gets in the way sometimes and doesn't yell at you if you skip a workout or eat a not so healthy meal once in awhile. I train with Sasa twice a week and really love his programming. It's well structured, well thought out and makes a lot of sense in terms of reaching what my stated goals are. Everything is tracked through an app and it's easy to see how you're progressing with it. He has even provided me with two at home workout programs each week in addition to our gym sessions since I want to strength train 4x/week.

Considering the private sessions, the training knowledge, the top notch gym and additional home workout programs he provides that are personally tailored to my goals, I feel that Sasa and FitCo really are a cut above a lot of personal trainers and gyms in the area. Investing in your health at FitCo is a great value both physically and financially. I'm very happy here and look forward to my...

It's been a year since I've started with Sasa and his sessions. I started by feeling bored and confused about the gym/gym equipment, and sought out personal training and have since found community via his gym and the support as well as encouraging environment he and the other members of his gym have created.

They're a really good bunch of people...readily sharing workout, real stories about their fitness journey and diet tips.

Embarking on exercising and personal training was initially daunting and new (so was intimidating as I didn't know how to use the equipment) but from my first day till now I feel like I've learned a lot and found good people to keep my spirits up as I ramped back into restarting my fitness journey.

I've fallen on and off the bandwagon (more than once!), and not always consistent with my diet but finding a great community to connect with as I worked out really helped me stay motivated even on days when I didn't feel like it. The encouraging environment was a huge help for me. It made me keep trying! Even when impatient.

With time and community I felt more confident and comfortable. I now enjoy personal training and see it as a great way to build new exercise and lifestyle skills.

I'm by no means the consistent workout person nor will you see me in the gym all the time but Ive since found that having community makes the hardest workout days not so bad. And it feels like a small achievement to...