Frequently Asked Questions
What Makes Strength Wise Barbell Unique?
For one, we live and breathe lifting. Many personal trainers are generalists, dabbling a little bit in areas like mobility, stretching, or cardio.
We’re different. Our coaches are expert strength & conditioning coaches. They’re consistently deepening their knowledge into these specific domains and competing in barbell sports. This includes Powerlifting and Olympic Lifting.
The other special factor: we’ve built a training program from the ground up. We’ve turned our collective decades of experience into a full model. You’re unlikely to find what we do anywhere else on the North Shore: technical mastery, personalized workouts, and empathic coaching in a semi-private setup.
What is Semi-Private Personal Training
Semi-private training refers to sessions with 3-6 people all performing their own workouts.
It has a few main advantages:
Access to excellent equipment in a private gym (no waiting for a squat rack)
Personalized programming at a much lower cost than personal training (upwards of 40%)
Community (people usually join the same sessions each week to be with their friends).
How is Semi-Private Different than Small Group Training?
Small group training refers to workout classes between 8-12 people. In these classes everyone does the same workout at the same time.
They’re usually cheaper than semi-private but lack the personal coaching and workouts.
This Sounds Serious! Do I need lifting Experience to join train with you?
Not at all! We’ve been around some truly strong people (as in world record holders). The big takeaway: they love sharing their passion with everyone and anyone. They want as many people as possible to lift weights.
We’re the same. We want all people to gain the benefits of strength training free from judgement. We always adapt workouts to meet people where they are.
In addition, we’ve got several ways to build your confidence before jumping into a semi-private session.
Lifting seminars: Free events that simplify lifting so you can train confidently on your own
Beginner packages: Personal training sessions that teach you technique and principles
On-ramps: A personal training program designed ease you into semi-private training
Beginner series: Semi-private sessions for brand new lifters.
What Other services does Strength Wise Barbell offer?
We also offer online coaching and personal training.
What happens in online coaching?
With online coaching, clients perform workouts on their own using a mobile app. The coach develops and updates workouts monthly.
Here’s how the process typically works:
Assessment and Onboarding: You will submit a questionnaire that includes your lifting history, goals, interests, and injuries. Our coaches then review information that during a Zoom call to create a personalized plan. You’ll receive access to our coaching app along with a training guide.
Program Development: Your coach will take 2-3 business days to develop a written program. You’ll review the timeline and the initial workouts, after which your coach will enter your first phase of workouts into the coaching app.
Support and Accountability: Once you start training you’ll communicate with your coach through the app. We’ll answer any questions, provide feedback, and analyze your technique using a special tool called OnForm.
Refinement: Coaches will use your feedback and data to refine your program. Every 4 weeks (a mesocyle), you’ll receive new workouts based on your goals.
Why use the barbell lifts?
The barbell lifts offer three unique advantages.
They’re very efficient - they work multiple joints and muscles simultaneously.
They’re highly functional - lifting heavy objects carries over to real life.
They’re infinitely loadable - as you progress you can always add more weight to the bar.
While we believe that barbells are uniquely empowering, we use all available tools to improve strength and health. Our workouts include dumbbells, kettlebells, bodyweight, as well as any other form of resistance training.
What’s the difference between Olympic Lifting and Powerlifting?
Olympic lifting and powerlifting are both strength sports but they use different barbell movements.
Olympic Lifting: The snatch and clean & jerk
Powerlifting: The squat, bench, and deadlift.
These movements produce different results. Olympic lifts develop explosiveness and power, while powerlifting develops peak strength.
What is Functional Strength Training?
Functional strength training refers to weighted movements that prepare people for everyday tasks and challenges. You can read our full article on the topic here.
Examples include the squat, deadlift, overhead press, clean and jerk, and snatch.
You can use several different tools to perform these exercises including barbells and kettlebells.
Functional strength training differs from other forms of resistance training in several key ways.
1) Emphasizes compound movements that use multiple joints and muscles simultaneously, which is how bodies tend to work naturally. This is in contrast to isolation movements like bicep curls.
2) Emphasizes progressive overload. Unlike with bodyweight movements or machines, you can incrementally load barbells forever, which makes them a popular choice for functional training.
what’s the typical experience level you train?
A good personal trainer or coach will adapt to you, not the other way around. As such, we work with elite youth athletes all the way to 80 year old lifting for the first time.
With that said, we’ve spent most of our time working with recreational athletes, 40 and older, who want to stay active in their sports while managing families and careers. Learn how we train people in their 40s.