You've built something from nothing. You can read a cap table at midnight and still run a board meeting at 8am. And your training? It's either nonexistent, or it's some relic of a Crossfit phase you don't talk about anymore.
I'm not here to sell you a transformation. I'm here because founders specifically tend to respond well to how I coach — and because the standard personal trainer model is a bad fit for how your brain works.
Why Most Coaching Fails Founders
The usual model goes like this: a trainer gives you a program, you follow it, you get results or you don't. The problem is that founders are bad at following programs they don't understand. You want to know why you're doing 4 sets of Romanian deadlifts instead of 3. You want to understand the logic before you buy in. Most trainers read that as pushback. I read it as a prerequisite.
The other issue is rigidity. A standard 5-day-a-week program assumes your week is predictable. Yours isn't. You're in San Francisco one morning and on a call with your Singapore team at 6pm. The best program isn't the most optimal one on paper — it's the one you can actually run for two years without it falling apart every time a fundraising sprint hits.
That's the whole philosophy. Beat your last session. Not some arbitrary target I set. Whatever you did last time — beat that.
What the Actual Work Looks Like
I train out of a private studio on Industrial Rd in San Carlos, about 20 minutes south of Palo Alto off 101. No rack of mirrors, no 6am bootcamp class blaring next door. It's quiet, which some people find weird at first.
The work itself is not complicated. Deadlifts, split squats, weighted carries, pressing. Movements that build real structural capacity — the kind that keeps you out of the chiropractor's office and lets you still do this in your 50s. For most executives I work with, the early weeks are about finding a baseline: what loads, what volume, what frequency you can actually absorb given your life.
A common starting point looks something like this: two sessions a week, 45-60 minutes each, built around a main lift at 75-85% of working max, a couple of accessory movements, and a loaded carry or two. Simple enough to execute alone on travel weeks. Substantive enough that you feel it.
Strength is a skill. You get better at it through practice, not just effort. Most founders I've worked with are used to grinding harder to get more output. That works in a lot of domains. In the weight room, the nervous system adapts to consistent, well-organized practice — not to heroic effort followed by two weeks off.
The 12-Week and What It Actually Is
The entry point is the 12-week. It's a consult, not a sales pitch dressed up as a consult. We spend the first session figuring out whether this is even the right context for you — your schedule, your history, what you actually want out of it. If it doesn't make sense, I'll tell you that.
If it does make sense, the 12-week is where we build the baseline: movement quality, loading patterns, a program logic you can articulate yourself. By the end, you should be able to explain why you're doing what you're doing. That's not a nice-to-have. It's the whole point.
I work with a handful of founders and executives from across the Peninsula — Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, a few from further up the 101. If you're looking for an executive personal trainer in Palo Alto who'll actually coach you rather than count your reps, this is worth a conversation.
If you want to think about it more first, the article on whether a personal trainer is actually worth it is a fair place to start. It doesn't try to sell you anything.
FAQ
I travel constantly. Can this actually work? Yes, with the right program design. The 12-week is built around your actual schedule, not an idealized one. Most clients end up with a two-day anchor structure they can run anywhere, and a protocol for travel weeks that isn't just 'do what you can.'
I've trained before. I'm not a beginner. Is this still useful? Usually more so. If you have a training history, we're not starting from scratch — we're identifying where the gaps are and building from what's working. Experience is an asset, not a complication.
What's the difference between this and hiring a big-name online coach? Online coaching works for some people. If accountability and program delivery are what you need, it can be enough. If you want someone to watch your deadlift, adjust your setup in real time, and understand how your week actually runs — that's in-person work. The online vs in-person breakdown covers this in more depth.
Where is the studio exactly? Industrial Rd in San Carlos — easy off 101, straightforward from Palo Alto or anywhere on the Peninsula. Private space, no wait for equipment, no audience.
If any of this sounds like what you've been looking for, the move is to reach out and book the initial conversation. No prep required.