East Bay Area trainers take it online and to the world BY Lou Fancher
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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022
Trainers’ access to equipment—even if moved outdoors after the initial shelter-in-place orders lifted or used in virtual classes and programs made available by clubs—was eliminated or, at best, rare. A trainer whose business was independent or who worked only through a club affiliation was cast into the cold world of “what now?” Like his colleagues, Martinez-based Brandon Glass hit upon his thriving
self-owned company, Contra Costa Fitness, while in a predicament. He knew continued success demanded an immediate rethink. “Almost all my clients were inperson,” Glass said. “Many of them required hands-on assistance, and with Covid I couldn’t see them safely. I had been training and running bootcamps for some time when the pandemic hit, and I just had a feeling we weren’t
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRANDON GLASS
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ovid cast an entirely new light on the personal-fitness training arena. Suddenly, the highly individual, inperson, hands-on practice of physical fitness trainers represented a dark, dangerous zone. Compounding the complications, gyms and fitness clubs were shut down entirely due to public-health safety protocols.
GRIT Brandon Glass evolved from personal trainer to physical therapist.
