How to get a personal trainer at ASU

Did you know personal trainers are available for all ASU students, faculty and staff at the Sun Devil Fitness Complex at all ASU campuses? 

Personal training sessions may include fitness assessments, equipment training, cardio, weights, stretching, customized program design, goal evaluation and more.

Ethan Callanan, 22, a senior studying exercise science, works as a personal trainer for the SDFC on the Tempe campus. He wants to pursue a career in strength and conditioning, and he was just accepted into ASU’s exercise and wellness master’s program. 

Student Life asked Callanan about the process of personal training here at ASU. Find out how he started as a personal trainer, see a sample workout and find out how you can apply to start your fitness journey. 

Why did you decide to become a personal trainer? 

I decided to become a personal trainer my freshman year of college. I was originally out of state going to school in my hometown in New Hampshire. I was playing basketball for the community college I was going to. I fell in love with the process of improving physical health through basketball. 

I finally understood how to find motivation through goals. I felt this passion toward improving myself and wanted to instill the same feeling in other people. I wanted to show people that the lack of motivation they were feeling was temporary once you felt the benefit of achieving healthy goals.

How does someone find a personal trainer at ASU?

At the SDFC, clients first undergo an interview with the manager of personal trainers. Those meetings involve going over some quick goals, what their availability is and how often they want to train. 

Then, we as trainers are given clients based on how our schedules match. We then get in contact with the client ourselves and schedule a more in-depth consultation.

How much do the sessions cost, and how many times a week do you meet?

For students, one session is $22. If you buy sessions in packages of five, the pricing per session drops. So five sessions is $105, which comes out to $21 per session. Each package of five drops the price of the individual session by $1. 

A client is able to choose how many times per week they would like to meet as long as the scheduling works out. I normally see clients one to two times per week, with three being the most I have seen one client.

How do you become a personal trainer for the SDFC? 

To become a personal trainer for the SDFC you simply go onto the student work page. 

Here you can search for personal training positions that are available. I started by shadowing other trainers who had been working at the SDFC and then shortly after had my own clients.

What are the most common questions you get from clients when they first start? 

Some of the most common questions I get as a personal trainer include “how long will it take for me to look how I want to look,” “what should I be eating to attain my goals,” “why am I doing this movement” and “am I doing this right.”

How do you create a training regimen for your clients? 

Creating a workout regimen for someone comes down to two things. What does this person want when they come in to train and what do they need?

Finding the right balance is key in maintaining them as a client. The client dictates what their goals are and what they want to improve. Once we discuss their goals, I will create the exercises that they want and that they need, efficiently put them into a one-hour session and create a split depending on how many days per week they want to come in.

Ethan Callanan

Can you give me an example of a typical workout?

Typically what I would do for a client who comes in once a week is give them a full-body workout. I will provide one upper body workout followed by a lower body workout and then follow that up with a core workout. I will then program another set of exercises with the same pattern. 

For example:

Overhead shoulder press

Barbell squat

Dynamic plank

Dumbbell row

Stiff-legged deadlift

Captain chair leg curl

This is a very broad example of a workout I would give a beginner in the gym. These are very fundamental movements that would help build a solid resistance training foundation. 

What is your biggest takeaway from being a personal trainer? 

My biggest takeaway from being a personal trainer is that even the people with the least amount of experience can become a completely new person with practice. Patience and practice are the two most important things, and if you have those you have the ability to achieve any goal.

Visit the SDFC’s personal training page for more information and to connect with a personal trainer.