ONLINE COACHING

Frequently Asked Questions

In addition to being personal trainers, our coaches are Doctors of Physical Therapy. They are skilled in the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of musculoskeletal conditions. They will be able to provide you with personal training that is both effective and safe no matter if you’re dealing with a current injury or have a complex injury history. Likewise, if you’d prefer to seek treatment for your musculoskeletal condition, they are qualified to provide you with necessary physical therapy services.

Hiring a personal trainer might seem like something that’s only accessible to the rich and famous, but it’s not! There are many good reasons to hire a personal trainer:

Get a customized training plan: 

  • For most gym-goers, figuring out which exercises to do and where to start can be the most intimidating part of going to the gym. Working with a trainer can take the guesswork out of it. Our trainers will work with you to construct a plan that’s tailored to your needs.

Form checks: 

  • Personal trainers know how to properly perform exercises based on the desired training adaptation. They can assist you with your exercise technique. When performing exercise, “good form” exists on a continuum. There is often a wide range of what we’d consider “good form”, as every person’s anthropometry is different. Your trainer will be able to help you find a technique that works for you. With practice, you will be able to feel more comfortable working out on your own.

Accountability: 

  • Knowing that someone is waiting for you at the gym and that you are paying for that time can be a great motivator to get to the gym for your workout. Your personal trainer can also help to make sure you stay on track during your sessions so that you get the most out of your time spent at the gym. 

Try new exercises: 

  • Tired of doing the same exercises over and over? A personal trainer can introduce you to new exercises and equipment to keep things fresh as you crush your goals.

Learn about the human body:

  • Your Iron Rx coaches are knowledgeable across multiple disciplines including strength and conditioning, health and wellness, physical therapy, and the human body. If they are unable to answer your questions, they will be able to direct you where to look.

Physical Therapy:

  • Physical therapy requires a license to practice. It uses patient education, exercise, manual therapy and other modalities specifically designed for management and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. This includes individuals with acute or chronic conditions, as well as those who are post-surgery. To be eligible to practice, you must graduate from a CAPTE accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy program and pass the board examination through the FSBPT. Altogether, it typically requires about 7 years of education after high school, although some universities offer accelerated programs which can reduce the time investment to 6 years.

Personal Training:

  • Personal training does not require a license to practice in Pennsylvania. However, most gyms will not hire you unless you are properly certified. Traditional personal training revolves around improving fitness qualities like strength, endurance, power, hypertrophy, etc. rather than treating specific musculoskeletal conditions.

Although each discipline is different, they often share the goals of improving muscle mass, strength and general physical resilience. Many physical therapists will recommend personal training to patients after they graduate physical therapy, so they can continue to increase their physical resilience. 

Absolutely! Iron Rx is passionate about helping adults meet and exceed the Physical Activity Guidelines for American Adults. Adherence to these guidelines will be paramount in improving your ability to stay healthy and physically resilient.

You can inquire about our services via phone, email, or in person at No Excuses Gym in Cresson, PA. After reaching out, your Iron Rx coach will schedule a time to meet with you either in person or over the phone to go over your goals and discuss your history as it pertains to fitness or rehab. After this initial consultation, you will be able to schedule your first workout/rehab session with your Iron Rx coach. Before your first session, you must fill out our intake forms. This can be done during your initial consultation or when you arrive for your first session.

Yes, we provide assistance for those with nutrition or lifestyle related goals. However, we must stay within our scope of practice. We cannot provide you with specific dietary recommendations for the management and treatment of specific health conditions/disease states as this would fall under the scope of a registered dietician. We are, however, able to provide you with broad recommendations related to improving body composition as well as basic dietary recommendations set forth by most professional organizations in the space.

There are multiple ways to track progress. The measures used depend on your goals and whether you’re being seen for personal training or physical therapy. We use both objective and subjective measures as needed. Subjective measures include rating scales and outcomes measures (validated questionnaires). Objective measures include functional exercise tests, measuring exercise performance (e.g. weight on the bar x sets and reps performed), and measuring range of motion and strength. If you choose to do online coaching, the TrainHeroic app has a built-in function that tracks your personal records and projected 1 rep maxes for each of your lifts.

We currently operate out of two separate locations. You will be able to choose which location you’d like to train at based on your convenience:

  • No Excuses Gym in Cresson, PA | Address: 612 2nd St, Cresson, PA 16630
  • No Excuses Gym in Portage, PA | Address: 808 Caldwell Ave # 101, Portage, PA 15946

No! We welcome individuals at all levels of fitness.

Absolutely not! Age is not a contraindication to lifting weights. This includes the use of barbells, dumbbells, machines or just about any piece of equipment you can think of. Exercise can always be scaled to your current level of fitness and individual needs.

Our philosophy:

  • Most injuries in the gym appear to occur from doing too much too soon. It’s typically not the movement or technique itself that causes injury; it’s more-so the parameters you place around the movement (weight, sets, reps) and how that relates to your current level of physical preparedness.
  • We end up doing too much too soon for a variety of reasons. A common reason stems from the idea that in order to get stronger, we must force adaptation by adding weight to the bar. This is a backwards interpretation of the principle of progressive overload. The reality is, we get stronger FIRST, and THEN add weight to the bar in order to properly match the training stress to our new and improved level of fitness. If you subscribe to the former interpretation of progressive overload, you may be putting yourself in situations where you’re accumulating unnecessary fatigue and putting yourself at higher risk by doing too much too soon.
  • Contrary to popular belief, “good form” exists on a spectrum. The belief that there is one universal way to do an exercise leads to the assumption that any deviation from “perfect form” will inevitably result in injury. In reality, this is not the case. Unfortunately, this assumption reinforces unhelpful beliefs about the human body being fragile. The human body is adaptable and is able to handle a variety of exercises performed in a variety of ways. We believe “bad form” will only increase your risk of injury to the degree that it loads your tissues in a manner that causes you to do too much too soon.

With this framework in mind, we take various measures to reduce our client’s risk of injury. This includes:

  • Implementing load management techniques to make sure the training stress is appropriately matched to the current level of fitness
  • Teaching clients how to use the fitness equipment as intended
  • Adjusting the client’s technique to make sure we’re effectively targeting the tissues we’re intending to target
  • Checking in with our clients to make sure the exercises are tolerable
  • Adjusting the program based on the client’s response to training
  • Including exercise variety in our programs to reduce risk of overuse injuries
  • Starting beginner programs with higher reps in reserve and slowly increasing difficulty as the individual improves
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This depends entirely on the individual, the type of injury, and the stage of tissue healing. There are many injuries that respond well to progressive loading and exposure therapy. Some may require small tweaks to your typical exercise routine and may not require an intervention. Others may require an entirely different approach with longer recovery time frames. In the case of chronic conditions like osteoarthritis, we focus on long-term management of the condition. Your coach will need to perform an evaluation to be able to answer this question fully.

Adaptations to exercise do not occur overnight. It has been well documented that neural adaptations to strength training may take around a month to present. Any improvements in performance early on are likely due to improvements in your ability to coordinate the movement via motor learning. Obvious gains in both strength and muscle growth may take multiple months. Beginners are typically very sensitive to training stimuli, thus we’d predict one’s training response to be fruitful over the first full year of consistent training. There are many factors that can impact your response to training. If you have been training for a while and have yet to see the results you want, don’t panic. Your coach will work with you to decide on the best course of action. 

Yes, as long as your coach has availability! Just let us know your preferences and we will attempt to set you up with your preferred coach. 

We currently require a referral for physical therapy services. No referral is required for personal training.

Yes. In order for Iron Rx, LLC to have access to No Excuses Gym, the client must be a member at the facility. We have adjusted our fees to help accommodate this cost.

Yes. During your free consultation, your coach will ask about your training history, previous injuries, and goals. You will then work together to establish a training program that is specific to your individual needs. During your first few sessions, you and your coach will implement the program in a collaborative manner that accounts for your individual responses. Your performance during these initial sessions will serve as your baseline assessment.

This depends on multiple factors, such as your personality, goals, financial situation, and self-efficacy with regards to training. Some clients enjoy the consistent accountability of working out in person. Others may only need a session or two to establish a solid program and then prefer to work out on their own time. We’ve had clients come in anywhere from 1-5 times per week. Most of our clients average 2-3 sessions per week. Training in person allows us to provide real time feedback regarding your training technique and intensity. We can also adjust your program on the spot if needed.

For Athletes:

  • In an ideal scenario, we’d recommend 4-5 sessions per week for athletes when out of season. For in season training, we’d recommend 1-3 sessions depending on your sport and individual needs.

Your Iron Rx coaches are proud members of the Mass Research Review. Additionally, our coaches must complete 30 hours of continuing education bi-annually in order to maintain their licenses as Doctors of Physical Therapy.

We are currently available 7am-7pm Monday – Friday. Weekends and early morning slots may also be available upon request.

To sign up, please contact us directly by phone, email or the forum located here on our website.

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