The Zone Training Center

In town for a couple of weeks under stressful and sad circumstances, so my best friend (who is better than your best friend) scheduled 4 sessions for me at The Zone Training Center. (Seriously, i have no idea what I would do without her).
My first session was for an assessment with Brian. I expected it to be the traditional, boring discussion about food pyramids and burning more calories than you take in, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah; but I was pleasantly surprised. Beyond getting my body fat assessed, Brian also gave me a heart rate monitor to determine my target zone. When I was unable to complete the cardio assessment due to back pain, Brian walked me through some exercises to help me strengthen my back and hamstrings. After the walk-​through I looked at my own heart rate monitor and realized I’d burned 401 calories. During the «assessment». Yeah, you’re going to do WORK here.
The next day, my friend (yes, the really amazing one) and I took the Classic class with Diana. Again, I assumed it would be a boring class where we did 9,000 reps on one body part and were bored to lady tears. I was so wrong. Diana strapped us with heart rate monitors (which, is perfect if you are motivated my numbers). We essentially spent 30 seconds on two exercises for 2 reps and then moved onto another pair of exercises. It was fast-​paced, challenging, and I sweated my balls off to energetic songs (there MAY have been some singing and dancing between sets. Maybe). Diana did was motivating, focused on our form, and encouraged us for the entire class.
If I lived here, I wouldn’t hesitate to make The Zone Training Center my home gym. It’s the perfect fit for anyone wanting to go to a place where everyone knows your name.

What a pleasant alternative to the usual (at least to me) drudgery of a typical gym! I discovered The Zone Training Center along the route of my daily walk — they are new to the neighborhood, having taken over a site formerly occupied by a dance studio. I stopped in one day to hear about their program. After researching more about their philosophy and methods, I decided to give their «Twilight Zone» class a try… a routine designed specifically for people of my, ahem, «mature and seasoned» age. What a delight — and that’s something coming from me, who would rather have a hot poker to the eye than workout inside on machines. The 60-​minute class flew by — broken up into 30-​second segments of different, focused movements. Brian, my trainer, was with me every step of the way-​educating, instructing, guiding and encouraging. And it was all done within a spanking new and clean environment with fabulous music (also geared to the taste of «my people»…Michael Bublé, Beatles, etc.). I’m going back for certain, and would highly recommend this class and the center to anyone interested in fitness training that’s backed by solid science and delivered by a low-​key, charismatic team in a pleasant, no-​hard-​sales environment. To that point, I didn’t get a pitch at all, zero, nada. In fact, the owner (Dan) couldn’t have been clearer about being flexible to accommodate my needs and schedule. Kudos to them, and welcome to the neighborhood!

I was visiting La Jolla for few days and was looking for a decent place to work out. The Zone proved to be THE place. Excellent, clean, new equipment. Helpful, friendly, but not overbearing staff. Towels provided. Really just a great place to workout without all the «big gym» hoopla. If I lived in La Jolla I’d join in a minute. Thanks, Zone Team!