The SRAC allows students and community members to use an indoor track, three full-court gyms, 20,000 square feet of strength and cardio equipment and various classes that are new since the center opened in spring last year.
There are 11 certified personal trainers who are providing one-on-one classes for students and community members and currently more are in the process of being hired.
SRAC assistant director Christina Maino said she is working to hire more certified trainers because the new facility has interested more students to sign up, even though there were trainers available at the campus sport club, before the SRAC opened.
“We have a waitlist of over 20 people who want personal training at the moment,” Maino said in an email.
The SRAC offers almost half the price of commercial or personal gym prices, so it becomes difficult to accommodate all individuals who want to sign up for training.
Although, the current personal trainers are excited to be in the new facility and to be receiving more clients.
Mitch Kothe, kinesiology graduate student and SRAC personal trainer, said he has been busy with back-to-back clients every Tuesday and Thursday since he started working at San Jose State in the spring.
“Typically in a day, depending on how many clients I have, I arrive early . . . clock in, get ready, bring a little notebook and meet my clients upstairs for training,” Kothe said.
For trainers at the SRAC it can be a long day, Kothe said. He and personal trainer Kelsey Snook are students in the same major and balance training in the SRAC with their regular class schedules.
“It’s difficult matching up schedules with [my clients] because everyone is a student, so it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, when are we going to come in?’ ”
Snook said.
Despite balancing their own schedules, the SRAC trainers said the most difficult part can be working with their client’s schedules as well.
“You try to ask why they can’t show up, but generally people just cancel on you last minute for no reason – no rhyme or reason, so that can be a real challenge sometimes,” Kothe said.
As a trainer for about 10 years, Kothe said he had many clients at his other jobs, such as his current second job at City Sports and it is common for clients to cancel sessions.
Other than the challenges of scheduling clients, the SRAC trainers find their job rewarding.
Snook started working at SJSU in July last year, so she has experienced working in the old gym as well as in the new SRAC and learned that working with long-term clients is the best aspect of the job.
“I have a couple girls who I’ve been with a lot longer [than my other clients] and they like to keep coming back because they want to see their progress, they want more instruction or they do better if someone is guiding them,” Snook said.
To Snook, working with clients one-on-one is rewarding because she gets to see her clients grow every step of the way.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, when you came in a year ago, you couldn’t do this exercise or this movement and now you can,’” Snook said. “It’s really fun for me to see people progress because then I get excited for them too.”
