Meeting the ‘Gold’s’ Standard

You can work out and discover the latest nutrition fads by a quick Google search, so what’s the point of a personal trainer? The truth is tackling a new fitness regime on your own can often lead to disappointment. However, with the help of a local personal trainer like Jeremy Marcotte from Gold’s Gym, you can get help in making the right goals and lasting results. IFM staff met with Jeremey to discuss in detail some of the things you can expect when signing up for his services. 

IFM: What are some of the things that you do with your clients?

JM: As a personal trainer, there are three main things I feel like we’re responsible for—motivation, accountability and education. We use those three pillars or focal points to provide service. As we work with the person, we focus on exercise and keeping them in good form, as well as showing them how to utilize the gym to its fullest capacity. I specialize in nutrition and that’s what my education background is in, so I also provide a lot of nutrition counseling. It seems to be one of those areas [where] people really need help.  

IFM: What are some of the things that you enjoy most about your job?

JM: I think the most encouraging thing is watching people overcome obstacles, overcome adversity, overcome hardships and achieve goals. I get to witness fantastic weight loss transformations where people drop a whole bunch of weight and get their lives back. I also get to be a part of helping people to get off of pharmaceutical medications and resolving their problems with exercise and nutrition and not having to rely so heavily on drugs to stay healthy.

IFM: What are some of the things you appreciate about working with Gold’s Gym?

JM: I had a gym membership before I became a gym member here. I’ve had a gym membership just about everywhere. When I walked into Gold’s Gym, I found a support network and the atmosphere just seemed to be really different. There were a lot of people in here that were in fantastic shape and it was really intimidating at the beginning when I first walked in, but everybody was super supportive from the staff to the members. And that was all before I worked here. 

IFM: What inspired you to enter the world of fitness as a dietician and personal trainer?

JM: I started as a high school athlete, but I was not into weight-lifting or anything like that. I found myself in a harder situation in life and the gym became a good outlet for me, something that I got a lot from physically and mentally. I felt better when I went.

I started to get really passionate about it and started to enjoy myself more after like about a year. I was in really good shape, but I wasn’t seeing the results that I wanted. That’s when studying nutrition kind of came into the mix and realizing that a lot of people really needed help with nutrition. That gave me a purpose. I realized I wanted to show people how to not only work out, but also how to eat.

As someone studying for my Master’s in nutrition, I really want to make sure the information I provide to people is the best. I want them to be successful. I want them to have the tools they need to drive that success, so [it’s] not just something that’ll get them through the next two weeks.

IFM: What are some tips that you would have for beginners? 

JM: The first thing I tell people is just move. What I mean by that is don’t be afraid. With Instagram and social media, they feel like they need to do this big extravagant program. They feel like they need to start doing a million things at once.

It’s better to focus on making goals using the SMART acronym—specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. It’s getting people to start off slow and making it sustainable. When you’re first starting out, you need to address questions like, “Can I do this long-term? Can I at least commit to this right now?” 

Walking is one of the best things for people to do, who haven’t been working out at all. Nine times out of 10, I can get somebody to commit to work, you know, to walking 15 to 30 minutes, five to seven days a week. And then build from there.

IFM: What about those who might feel intimidated by the equipment?

JM: If you’re afraid of the weights or intimidated by them, grab somebody and ask for help to get shown how to use the equipment. If you walk into a gym setting like this, the staff there should be more than willing to help you out. 

I think that’s another thing a lot of people struggle with when they first walked into the gym is they don’t want to look dumb. You don’t want to walk in and start using a piece of equipment and end up on like a gym fails video, because somebody is recording you. Getting somebody who knows how to utilize the equipment is really important and can alleviate that fear.