Dominic J Scala ACE Certified Personal Trainer

The AI Team before the Tough Mudder Northeast - August 2016

**For my Athletic Instinct family, because you’re the best! Also, huge shout-out to Ben & Ashley Higgins and

Evan Cook! You’re the best trainers in the world and I want to thank you for helping me get to where I am

today. **

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About Me 3 ...............................................................................................................................What motivated me to change? 3 ................................................................................................

Fitness and Training Philosophy 4 ............................................................................................What type of training do I focus on? 4 .........................................................................................

Nutrition 4 ....................................................................................................................................

Entrepreneur 5 ..........................................................................................................................Social Media 5 ...........................................................................................................................Personal Training 6 ....................................................................................................................What to expect 6 ..........................................................................................................................

Training tools 6 .............................................................................................................................

Price of training 6 .........................................................................................................................

Motivation 6 .................................................................................................................................

What makes training with me so special? 7 ..............................................................................Online Training 8.......................................................................................................................

About Me I’m 23 years old, and I’m passionate about fitness. I graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Psychology. I also received my personal trainer certification through the American Council on Exercise, or ACE in August of 2016. I’ve completed my first Tough Mudder with my gym family and I’ve completed my first Spartan Trifecta, which is the Spartan Sprint, Super and Beast completed in a calendar year. I don’t think that this could have been possible a year ago.

I’ve done more this year than I could have ever imagined doing in my whole life. I proved people who didn’t believe in me wrong, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved thus far in my life. I’m excited to see what I thought was a dream come true, right before my eyes. I know that the beginning will be challenging, but I’m ready for it and I’m willing to work for it.

This short book is more of a portfolio about me and my journey and what I’m offering as a personal trainer. I want to share my story to help motivate and inspire others. My ultimate goal is to help start a change in someone’s life. Even if it’s just one person, that would be incredible.

What motivated me to change? In December of 2014, I wasn't feeling good, I was self-conscious about my body, I didn’t have a lot of energy an]d I was sick of feeling like that. I was around 280 pounds at that point of my life. My mom got me a 2 month membership from the gym that she goes to (formally Progressive Training, now, Athletic Instinct) for Christmas and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I think it was about July of 2015 when I really grew an interest in personal training. I’ve thought about it before, but I didn’t know where to start. I asked my trainer friend, Ben Higgins, who also owns Athletic Instinct, and he told me that I needed to look, eat and act like a personal trainer. This was when I really began to lose the weight.

As of right now, I’ve been on this lifestyle change for over a year. It was very difficult, both mentally and physically. I got to a point where I was unhealthy and I needed to find a healthy balance. I had to put in a lot of work to get to where I am today, and that meant that I needed to stay motivated, and keep on track. This lifestyle change will not be easy, but it’ll get easier with time and you’ll feel a lot better.

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Fitness and Training Philosophy What type of training do I focus on? I use a lot of unconventional training tools like; steel mace, steel clubs, sandbag, and steel bells. I believe that we all have the potential to be great, my job is to help you get there. I want to see everyone succeed in their fitness journey. I do a lot of functional training, which means that the training focuses on improving movements of daily living.

Nutrition I’m a firm believer that you cannot out train a bad diet. You need to give your body the nutrients that it needs in order to function properly. You also have to eat enough to sustain your activity level. If you like tracking what you eat, I would recommend using MyFitnessPal.

Me - March 2015 Me - August 2016

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Entrepreneur I’ve done a lot of research into starting my own training business and what I should start with. I’ve read a few books by entrepreneurs, like; Gary Vaynerchuk, Lewis Howes and Mark de Grasse. As I read, the more I thought to myself, what’s my goal for this business?, do I have a specific demographic? or, can I see it going anywhere in five

years? For the moment, I don’t have a clear vision of where I want to go with this business, but I think I have an idea of what I’d like to do. I see my business being more of a mix of informative and fun.

I asked my trainer, Ben, about a year ago, where I should start and he told me to offer free sessions to friends and family. I took his advice and I recently made a post on my personal Facebook to promote my business. This led to three friends of mine showing some interest, which I found to be awesome, I was hoping for one potential client, but I got three!

I’ve met with one client already, and it was alright, it wasn’t perfect. I still have two clients to meet with and I haven’t heard back, which is a little discouraging. I also work at a grocery store, part-time, and my training is based on what free-time I have from my other job. This wasn’t the greatest start, but I know that I’ll become better as I train more people.

I realize that I don’t have much to offer for an arsenal of fitness tools. I’m just starting out, and I hope with making a profit from training, I’ll be able to afford more equipment to offer you. I’ve never done anything like this before and this whole thing could fall apart, but I’ll be damned if go down without fighting. After everything I’ve been through, I’m not going to give up so easily.

I am not an expert, nor am I a guru. I’m learning as I go. I don’t have a lot of experience doing anything like this and a lot that I do know, I’ve learned from either my trainers at Athletic Instinct, or from my own personal experience. I want to share what I’ve learned with you, and I want to equip you with the tools you'll need to succeed.

Social Media I like to use my social media to inspire and motivate people. I use my Instagram account the most out of all of my social media. My Facebook is more to message clients and interacting with my friends. I have a Twitter and YouTube that I want to utilize at some point.

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Personal Training What to expect I base your workout on the information that you give me, and my first priority is your safety… no ifs, ands or buts. I want you to succeed and I want you to do so progressively and without injury, if possible. Take the time to enjoy the process, because it’s worth to see the progress. It’s important to say that this is YOUR journey and YOU need to be motivated to change. I will do what I can to help, but I can’t do all of the work for you.

I’m a new trainer to the scene, so I will make mistakes because this is a learning curve for me. I will assign “homework”, which is basically exercises that you can do in-between our sessions together. For first-time clients, I give a simple workout to give you an idea as to what my program is like. Once you feel more comfortable with the workout, we can work together to create a more challenging workout for you.

Training tools I use a number of different unconventional tools to help optimize your body. I have a battle rope, four pairs of kettle bells (4kg, 8kg, 12kg and 16kg), two steel maces (10 and 15 pounds), a pair of 15 pound steel clubs, a sandbag, and a steel bell. I also have an Ab Mat and a pair each of 30 pound and 35 pound dumbbells. I would recommend purchasing some of these tools if you want to try a workout at home, once you feel more comfortable with the more complexed exercises.

Price of training For the time being, I’m offering three free personal training sessions. Afterwards, I’m looking at charging $35 per 50 minute session. I want to present myself competitively and what I offer is worth the money. I’m trying to make this my career and I want to make a living doing what I love. I began my business as a means for me to get experience, so I’m not pricing as much as someone who has more experience than I do.

Motivation I’ve never been asked, explicitly, how I stayed motivated in the beginning of my journey. The further I got in my journey, the more I fell in love with the process. I had people who believed in me and were amazed by my transformation. I also started a lifestyle change in my family and a couple of my family members lost a lot of weight.

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What makes training with me so special?

What sets me apart from other trainers is that I had, and still have, the motivation and determination to change my lifestyle and improve my health along with exercising. I also gained a love for the process, which I believe helps keeps me motivated. A year and a half ago, I was extremely self-conscious about my body and not feeling comfortable going shirtless being around people. I believed that I could never get in shape.

I know what it’s like to make a change that significant. I know what it’s like to hit a barrier or reach a plateau. This type of change is extreme, and you’ll make mistakes, like me, we’re all human. It was the hardest thing I had to do, but it was worth the struggle. I want to help you as much as I possibly can to help you achieve your goals.

Me during the Spartan Beast in Vermont - September 2016

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Online Training

I’m interested in training clients online. I think this will be more affordable for you and it will allow me to reach a wider demographic. If this is something that interests you, I’d like to recommend that you get a pair of kettlebells, and steel clubs, a battle rope, steel mace and a sandbag. I like the training tools I have from Onnit and it’s one place to get a steel mace at a reasonable price. I’d suggest that you start with light weight and gradually build up from there. Just let me know if this option interests you.