There are lots of recommendations for daily exercise that lots of people ignore, but what if your doctor told you all you needed was two 20-minute workouts a week?
“It sounded too good to be true,” says spine surgeon Jeremy Stallbaumer.
That’s what he’s now recommending, though, with the Exercise Coach. It’s a Chicago-based franchise that Stallbaumer is going to open at the Waterfront between Firebirds and GM Clotheshorse.
“I thought there was a need for my patients first and foremost,” he says.
Also, as he gets older, Stallbaumer says, “I’m looking for ways to work out more efficiently.”
He knows it may be hard to believe that such a short workout could do much.
“You gotta see it, I would say,” Stallbaumer says.
That’s why he says he’ll offer people four free sessions.
“I think by the end of that third or fourth session, the light bulb comes on.”
Stallbaumer says the reaction then generally is something like, “Yes, I can see how this is doing something to me. I’ve never experienced this before.”
There are a variety of trainer-led workouts with machines that have computers and monitors to report how much force a person is generating as he’s working out.
“The technology makes it very exciting,” Stallbaumer says. “You get instant feedback.”
Fifteen minutes of the 20-minute workout are based on strength training with what Stallbaumer calls the computer-navigated machines.
Then there’s another five minutes of more high-intensity cardio activity.
The idea is “for maximum stimulus for your muscles to adapt.”
“And then the most important thing is to recover from that workout,” Stallbaumer says. Without it, he says, “You don’t get that true benefit from exercise.”
Stallbaumer says it’s a better benefit than someone who is working out an hour every day.
“In fact, they’re probably just running around in circles.”
A typical Exercise Coach package is $299 for eight sessions of one-on-one training. That’s reduced to $199 for training with a small group of three or four people.
“There’s a trainer who is working with you and running the computerized machines,” Stallbaumer says.
People can’t go in and work out on their own as they do at a regular gym.
There are about 35 Exercise Coach locations nationwide, about 10 of which are in the Chicago area.
“I’ve got a number of patients I think it could be very useful for,” says Stallbaumer, who was an exercise science major in college.
He says eight out of 10 people with spine issues don’t need spine surgery or aren’t candidates for it, but Stallbaumer thinks the Exercise Coach could be an answer for them and others with a variety of issues.
“Basically, this high-tech workout gets you the right dose of exercise as efficiently as possible,” Stallbaumer says.
“People are busy, and they don’t have time,” he says. “That’s one of the biggest hurdles we have to conquer.”
He thinks the Exercise Coach is the answer.
“I believe it.”
Stallbaumer left the clinic where he was practicing and is now five months into a two-year noncompete agreement.
Though he’s doing some work for the Veterans Administration, mostly he’ll be one of the exercise coaches at the Exercise Coach.
“I’m going to be there and readily available,” Stallbaumer says. “I’d probably be the only spine surgeon in the United States who’s training clients with exercise.”
Don Piros of Landmark Commercial Real Estate handled the deal for the 1,400-square-foot space.
Stallbaumer says the business will open in about six to eight weeks.
He says he would like more locations, including near where he lives.
“I’d love to put one in west Wichita.”
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