New Cottage Grove personal training studio focuses on options

• Personal trainer

Brian Waldo recently opened his Optimal Health and Performance fitness training studio at 7155 80th St., in Cottage Grove. Bulletin photo by Scott Wente

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Brian Waldo’s Optimal Health and Performance is all about options.

Waldo, owner of a new personal training studio in Cottage Grove, is trying to cater to a broad array of people who are looking to improve their health, lose weight, get into shape or recover physically from an injury or surgery.

“There’s kind of something for every price point,” said Waldo, a personal trainer for over 20 years. “We’ve got a lot of options for people.”

Those options include small-class yoga, weight-loss boot camps, small-group personal training, one-on-one personal training and corrective exercise.

Waldo opened his Cottage Grove studio in late March and said he has been satisfied by the early response. He has nearly filled two of the weight-loss boot camp classes, which meet for about an hour three times a week and include about eight people. He is nearing the need to add more of those classes, he said.

The weight-loss boot camps run as low as $139 for 12 sessions in a month. Personal training costs $70 to $90 per hour.

“This is more exclusive,” he said of the small studio environment. “It’s more private and you pay for that.”

Waldo has some personal training clients, and he has two other personal trainers who work with clients at the Cottage Grove location.

There are many ways to use a personal trainer, Waldo said. Some clients want to work frequently with a trainer. Others use a trainer to set up an exercise program and then work out on their own, checking in with a trainer every month or so to monitor their progress and make any necessary adjustments to their workout.

“Our goal is to try to match up the person with the program that works for them,” he said.

The Cottage Grove location is an expansion of Waldo’s Optimal Health and Performance. He has clients and training classes at an Eagan studio, but saw an opening in Cottage Grove. The studio is at 7155 80th St., next to Dairy Queen near the Gateway North commercial area.

The planned launch of an LA Fitness in the nearby vacant Home Depot building won’t be a problem for Waldo, he said. Actually, he invites more fitness businesses to Cottage Grove because he said it gets people thinking about fitness. Also, some clients like to use a private personal trainer to set up an exercise program and then do their workouts at a larger gym like an LA Fitness, he said.

“It’s a service model vs. a facility model,” he said.

All classes and programs are by appointment. For more information, call Waldo at 612-251-5142.

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