Body By Design

My wife and I started working out with Mark about 3 months ago. So far, so great! This is the first time I was able to stick with an exercise regimen in my entire life. Mark is patient, professional and adjusts the workout to your level. Also, he’s makes it fun and keeps you motivated and moving forward. I highly recommend Mark and his perfectly-​sized gym.

Mark is one of the best motivational trainers I have worked out with since I had been an athlete. He is old school with his training — and has you do what he has done and had success with for years! Obviously he doesn’t have you do exactly what he does — he adjust to your abilities. He is goal focus and truly helps you get to where you want to be!
All I can say is thank you Mark.

I’ve never worked with a personal trainer (and maybe that’s what I’ve been missing all this time) I never liked working out to be honest. However, I walked away from the gym feeling like I enjoyed working out! Mark is great and patient. He adjusts my exercise routine to my needs.

Mark does an outstanding job customizing a workout to your personal needs. I had never done weight training and never had used machines. Mark was very patient but had me productively working on all the machines from my first session. The improvement in my overall fitness and strength in the last ten months has been amazing. Having Mark as my trainer has changed my «fitness» life in a way that I didn’t think was possible.

Because of Mark, I now really enjoy working out! I bought a groupon before signing up and am I gald I did. Mark is a great trainer, he motivates, he’s tough but fair, professional, energetic and fun! Although Mark trains more than one client at a time
(In a private gym) he works with each client personally and effortlessly. I highly recommend Mark to anybody that wants to start feeling stronger and better overall.

I found Mark on Groupon – I am always a little skeptical about purchasing services such as this through the site, but I just moved to Manhattan Beach, and decided to try something new!
I just had my third training session, and so far Mark has been fantastic! I’m not looking to lose a ton of weight, but I definitely need some extra motivation to get from thin to toned. Before this, I never had very much experience with weight lifting, and I am so excited about everything Mark has taught me thus far!
Additionally, to counter a couple of the negative reviews I have seen on Unilocal… Yes, Mark does train in group settings at times. However, I don’t personally see that as an issue. As far as I know, people come to personal training for that extra push they need to see results – if you don’t have the discipline to continue reps if your trainer walks away for 5 minutes to help someone else, maybe this wouldn’t be the right fit for you. However, if you want to find a good, personable, trainer who will create a workout for you and push you to work harder than you have before, this could definitely be the place for you!
Overall, loving this place so far. I would definitely recommend it!

I have been working out with Mark on and off for almost 3 years now. I love coming to this gym! Mark is extremely knowledgeable and attentive. He provides a great work-​out tailored to the individual. Some days, there may be 3 or 4 clients working out, but Mark manages to keep us all on pace. Other days, it is only me. The gym is clean, has great music, and a variety of equipment. I highly recommend Body By Design.

If I could give a 10 I would. He is that good.
Mark Gontar is one of, if not the best, trainer that I have ever had. When I worked out at his gym consistently, in the past, it was wierd how good of a body I had. I didn’t know why it was happening or really appreciated, at the time, how lucky I was to have stumbled upon him.
Mark has been a personal trainer for a while so he has a lot of experience, an incredible passion about fitness and a strong drive and motivation to give his clients the best workout possible. This is really great if you have a stressful job that wears on you, you will need the extra motivation. He has a well-​honed instinct for knowing how much to work someone out to get them a result that very very few trainers have. My last two trainers had no sense of how hard I needed to be worked out to get a result.
A bad trainer that doesn’t push you isn’t worth the money. Its so frustrating to work out with a bad trainer that doesn’t know how to get you a result. Mark has a great body himself so obviously, if he can get his body to that point, he can push your limits and get your body to a different level. This isn’t to say all people with good bodies make good trainers, I had a trainer in the past who had a ripped body but no sense of how hard he needed to work me out to get a result. He never got my muscles to failure and if that doesn’t happen, you are not going to get a result. I think this is because your body releases growth hormone only when you really push your muscles to failure and its that hormone that tells your body to burn fat.
For the money, I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to find a better trainer.

I came here for about a month or two a few years back with the intention of getting in shape of other than a circle. I researched Mark Gontar and everything seemed on the level. But I never went back and I would never recommend him to anyone trying to pursue a personal trainer. I even left early (gave him 2 weeks free) just because of his un-professionalism.I spent close to a couple thousand dollars trying to get «ripped» but i got «ripped off» instead. The only clientele I would see in their were caucasian professional /​stay at home moms from Manhattan beach who have the money to support this arrogant dirtbag. What i did not like is that he already charges an arm and a leg to train you in a group setting but a personal trainer is supposed to be 1 on 1, he would have 5 people in their taking turns «training“them His diet advice was horrible, he would say only eat if your hungry… what kind of horse shit is that??? listen I can go on and on but I’m not, also he was always in the back on his computer and only god knows what that creep was looking at… I even called him during the recession to give him the benefit of the doubt and to see if he had any recession buster deals and his reply was no, what a douche bag, he’s been at that location for a while so I guess all the Manhattan Beach housewives keep him in business… long story short save your money and go elsewhere try The Gym in Torrance, Armando is a great guy and will motivate the fat off of you!!! and you will get ripped not ripped off or do boot camp style classes but please heed my warning, stay far from Mark Gontar…

Tough. Good. Strong. Results.