Testimonials
Testimonials
What our clients are saying
I am thrilled to endorse John as an exceptional personal trainer in San Francisco, who has been instrumental in my fitness journey over the past year. Under his expert guidance, I transformed from a 44 year old gym novice into someone who truly understands and appreciates fitness who now trains 6 days per week.
When I began training with John, I was about eight months post-procedure from a Gastric Sleeve surgery. John was incredibly considerate of my physical limits and lack of gym experience, tailoring a program that was both safe and effective.
Thanks to John’s unwavering support and expertise, I successfully improved my body composition, reducing my body fat from 26% to a remarkable 15%, while increasing my weight from 187 lbs to 195 lbs. This substantial achievement is a testament to John’s ability to motivate and educate.
In terms of specific progress on common lifts:
Incline Dumbbell Press Squat Deadlift
Baseline 40lbs x 5 135lbs x 8 145lbs x 5
6 months 80lbs x 4 325lbs x 2 325lbs x 2
12 months 95lbs x 4 335 x 4 345lbs x 3
John’s dedication to his clients is unmatched, focusing on personalized attention and creating a positive, empowering environment. His commitment helped me not only reshape my physique but also fortified my confidence and understanding of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
I owe my tremendous progress and renewed enthusiasm for fitness to John’s personal training, continual encouragement, and profound knowledge. I wholeheartedly recommend John as a personal trainer for anyone looking to make meaningful changes in their fitness journey in the parkside or sunset district, San Francisco.
Throughout the past 10 years, I have always tried different kinds of diet and exercise programs for weight loss that would work in the beginning, but never lasted: keto, paleo, Herbalife, you name it. I learned that drastically cutting out certain foods or not eating enough calories and starving myself was no the answer if you wanted to create a lifestyle and change to stay consistent. With John through online coaching, I was still able to eat the foods that I loved in moderation and lose weight at the same time! He was always on top of everything as far as checking my progress and what adjustments on what he thought we needed to make to reach my goals. I did his 8 week program and list 14 pounds of fat, while gaining lean muscle and strength. John is very knowledgeable on nutrition and exercise needs and I would recommend him as a coach for any goal you'd like to reach, whether its gaining strength, muscle mass, losing bodyfat, corrective exercise, or just being healthy in general. The best part is I was able to take what I learned from John and apply it to my everyday habits so that I could stay consistent with my goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
I write to enthusiastically recommend the services of John Zhang a personal trainer / fitness coach in San Francisco. I am a 69-year-old male in good health. I retained John in the fall of 2019 to help me with my balance, flexibility and strength. I also put in high priority on injury prevention. From our first session John seemed to understand exactly what I wanted and how to achieve good results. His emphasis on core training, particularly squats and a variety of associated techniques yielded almost immediate benefits. John kept a watchful eye on my during every repetition of every exercise, making me feel confident in my form and easing my concerns about injury. I made steady, encouraging progress as the weeks went by. John combines a professional approach to his role with an easy-going manner and a good sense of humor. I looked forward to every session I had with him and was disappointed that the advent of the coronavirus interrupted our training regime. If you're looking for a personal trainer in the Parkside or Sunset in San Francisco, I recommend him without qualification.
John is a personal trainer who works with people in person and online coaching who specializes in strength training, muscle building and fat loss. Having worked with multiple trainers before, John stands out the most with all the knowledge and guidance he provides for my workout routine. He explains all the what, why and how's of everything he recommends we do and everything I bring up as well. Profiting from his long experience in working out and dieting himself, as well as coaching multiple dragon boat teams, he manages to catch every little detail and instantly improving the exercises. I started doing lower body work with John and I have gained a decent amount of strength and size for the couple of months that we've been training together. He provides a routine surrounding when we meet to make the most out of my time and I don't have any guesswork towards reaching my goals. On top of it, he is a nice guy who is fun to spend time with.
I can't express enough gratitude to our personal trainer in San Francisco, John, for his incredible support during my journey back to trail running. He crafted a personalized strength training program specifically designed for my long-distance runs, helping me lose weight while building the muscle endurance and core stability necessary to conquer challenging terrains. His expertise truly transformed my performance and enhanced my enjoyment of the trails. Simultaneously, John played a crucial role in preparing my husband for his Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) adventure. He developed a program that focused on strength, endurance and injury prevention, enabling my husband to build the resilience needed to carry a heavy pack across varied landscapes. He was also able to improve his shoulders range of motion tremendously as it needed surgery decades ago but opted out not to as a former baseball player.
Thanks to John's tailored approach, we both felt stronger and more capable than ever. This past fall, we embarked on a week-long trek in the Dolomites, and the training we received from John made all the difference in our experience. If you're searching for a trainer who genuinely understands endurance sports or just trying to get healthy the smart way by building muscle and prevent injuries, I wholeheartedly recommend John in San Francisco. His knowledge and passion will help you achieve your goals!
My husband and I are a couple in our 70's. John was our personal trainer in San Francisco for almost a year up until the pandemic. He worked with both of us weekly in a joint session. This took a lot of coordination, patience, and skill. He was very adept at identifying our relative strengths and weaknesses and designing the training accordingly. He monitored us very carefully and made sure to challenge us while not overly fatiguing us. We felt great after each session and really could see the improvement overtime. He is a very personable, reliable, and talented personal trainer. If you are looking for a personal trainer in the sunset or parkside area in San Francisco, John is highly recommended.
My goal was to achieve a certain build and John understood me from the start after a few questions and answers. All my life I was skinny and no matter what I did, it did not help at all. Now I am extremely busy with work and even after work I am usually on a work call or trying to balance my work life with some social events. But John keeps me accountable, consistent, and motivated to achieve the goals we set together. He pushes me beyond what I believe I could do and I am actually amazed by what I have accomplished so far with John as my personal trainer in San Francisco.
John is very experienced in strength training, muscle building and fat loss. He can point out the smallest of details about an exercise and make it work so much more efficient for me. Since week 1 of working with John I got a weekly routine surrounding the times we would meet so it takes out all the guesswork for what I have to do in the gym on my own. On top of that, he also provides weekly nutritional advice and is very organized as most of his work is online. Needless to say, I made more gains in one month with John that I did in the past six months with other personal trainers before working with him! I can see the changes in my body compared to my past photos since I started with John back in September 2019. If you ever need to bring your fitness game to the next level and beyond, John is the way to go!.
If you are looking for a personal trainer / fitness coach that can tailor to your workout goals, John definitely the trainer you are looking for in San Francisco. I have been working a lot and one day I just hit a plateau in which I could not lose any weight and whatever workout I did, I was not able to tone up my body. That is when I was in search of a personal trainer and found John. He came out with workouts that tailored to my goals and how my body works. Whenever I was doing a certain workout, he would always make sure that I am using the correct muscles. He does this by asking if I feel stretched her and there. If I say no, he was able to modify the workout where I can work that certain muscle. After a few months, I was definitely stronger than before. Not to mention, John can help with flexible dieting that's worked for many that has gone through what I have gone through. So if you are in the sunset or parkside district, he is your best option for a personal trainer in San Francisco.
I chose John to train me for the hourglass look. I was able to lose fat and gain muscle where I wanted in about six weeks. I lost three pounds and gained two inches in my hip/glutes area. John taught me macro tracking and tailored my workouts where I can do on my own and also a separate routine while I was traveling for work. He also recommended how much cardio I needed to do to reach my goals. I recommend all those that want to lose fat and build strength and build muscle to train with John.
I worked as a sales expert supervisor at 24 hour fitness in which I had the pleasure to work along side John. John was our top personal trainer and is very dedicated to his craft. I know this because I too had the pleasure of being trained by John on a 12 week program. During that time I have learned so much from him about health, fitness, nutrition, and maintaining the results I have earned by following his program. Working with John, I can attest how he takes great care of his clients, delivers great results, built strong bonds with each client and maintains a professional attitude throughout it all. Not only is John a hard worker, but what sets him apart from all of the trainers I have known is the fact that he is a great listener and detail oriented. John has my full support in all his endeavors which I know he will succeed 10 times out of 10.
I’ve always been an athletic person, constantly playing sports and being active. No matter what throughout my life I’ve tried different variations of things to try to lose weight. I’ve tried to eat very little calories a day to even cutting out foods in my life completely. After a little while I still kept gaining all that weight back and the diets weren’t sustainable. I started my journey with John for 3 months and lost almost 20 lbs. John was very attentive when we were training. Every workout he laid out to the diet was meticulously planned. John was able to help me stick to my diet without having to make any drastic changes. He helped me with eating in moderation while reaching my weight goal. There were weeks where my body wasn’t adjusting well, John was able to help me adjust my diet and workouts that catered to my body’s needs! Throughout the whole process he was very supportive and always knew when to keep pushing me through while helping me feel comfortable. At the end of the process I was very impressed that I was able to lose all the stubborn weight that I never thought I could lose. In the process I was able to tone out my body and til now I’m still able to apply the changes to my eating habits on our journey. Instead of putting me on a diet John was able to help my change my lifestyle where I’m still able to maintain now. Thanks John!
I highly recommend training with John! I have been working out for years, but my strength and stamina have plateaued over the years. My wedding was coming up and I wanted to look my best for my special day. I decided to choose John based on his credentials and his own personal success story. John has a deep understanding of the science behind the workout routines he creates. He was able to adapt the workouts to accommodate my shoulder discomfort. Due to my shoulder issues my overall strength has decreased over the years and with John's help and modified exercises, I have regained and exceeded my previous strength. He was able to introduce me to some stretches and showed me the wonders of the lacrosse ball, rolling out the tightness in my shoulders. As a busy nurse that works the graveyard shifts, John's flexible schedule was key to my success. I am in the best shape of my life, and it gave me the confidence I needed to feel like I was looking my best on my special day. I will forever be grateful for John's help! A must go-to personal trainer in the sunset/parkside in San Francisco.
Working with John through a hybrid of in person and online coaching has been a game-changer for my fitness journey. He was instrumental not only in improving my form but also in focusing on mobility, which has made a huge difference in my overall performance. John pushed me to lift the heaviest weights I’ve ever lifted, getting my strength up and I couldn’t be more proud of my progress. As a busy professional, I appreciated how John customized the program to fit my needs, making it both manageable and effective. Since working with him, I’ve lost over 15 pounds, and the lessons and habits I’ve developed will serve me for life. Highly recommend him in San Francisco, especially if you live in sunset or parkside San Francisco!
I had the great pleasure to have John Zhang as my personal trainer during the spring and summer of 2024.
I had two goals for the training: to decrease my body fat percentage, and to increase my muscle mass.
By the end of the summer I had reached those goals. I felt stronger, and again liked the way my body looked.
I attribute my success in reaching the goals to John’s effective training methods.
John created new whole body workouts for each weekly session. As a result, my body was always being challenged to complete the workouts.
Besides being challenged, I felt engaged and never bored during our training sessions.
John was lots of fun to train with. He has an outgoing, positive, supportive personality. Also, as an athlete himself, he is perfectly suited to train other athletes, like me. If you live in parkside or saint francis wood area, he is very close to you and a must try personal trainer.
I can't recommend John enough as a personal trainer! When I first started training, I struggled with motivation and consistency in my workouts. John not only helped me stay on track, but he also created detailed and structured workout plans tailored to my goal of building strength and muscle. His knowledge and guidance made a huge difference in my progress, and I still use the workout plans he designed for me to this day.
What really sets John apart from all the trainers in San Francisco is his ability to push you while keeping the workouts engaging and effective. He breaks down exercises in a way that makes them easy to understand and execute with proper form. His personalized approach kept me focused and made every session feel purposeful. Thanks to his support, I saw real results and built a stronger mindset toward fitness.
If you're looking for a dedicated, knowledgeable, and motivating personal trainer in SF, John is the one to go to. He knows how to bring out the best in his clients and will help you reach your fitness goals!
-Michael S.D.
My wife and I signed up a contract with John as our new personal trainer in early 2024. We both enjoyed our sessions with him and found John’s training sessions helpful to get in shape again. He helped both of us to meet our goals to be in a good shape and adopt a healthy lifestyle. What we most liked about him was always willing to accommodate our needs for each session, specifically that we both are professionals and had to attend our training sessions after work hours. John was also great to always give us professional advice to correct our forms and thought us how to track our micros and keep close tracking over our measurements, data driven working plans. We liked his personality and enjoyed working sessions with him, we are planning to resume our sessions with him on when we are ready to after our abroad trip for our wedding.
Working sessions with John was a great idea and investment we did during 2024. He is polite, professional and cares about his clients.
-Shirin and Farzad