How We Run Simple Solutions Fitness

In 2021 Simple Solutions Fitness grew from a solo operation to a team of two.

SSF started to help people feel strong and carry over that confidence for the rest of their lives.

Maggie Hillmann, one of the most empathetic and attentive people I've met, joined the team for about a year as a Personal Trainer before moving on to a better career opportunity. She played a tremendous role in revamping our programming to make exercising more fun.

Those early days were full of bumps and bruises as we learned to work as a team instead of just flying solo on things. I'll cherish the insight Maggie brought that helped me get out of my own way.

Since then, Jamie Poppen has joined the team and started training! Jamie is both a trainer and a physical therapy student at The University of Missouri. We're learning a lot, making some significant changes to how we help people, and continuing to uncover some unanswered questions.

There are tons of great gyms in Columbia and personal trainers out there, so we know women care about taking care of themselves. While well-intentioned, we think it sucks that so much of personal training today is "take these supplements, "get on this restrictive diet" and sweat yourself skinny in my Bootcamp".

That demoralizing approach makes fitness less fun, less stress relieving, and less empowering.

Misleading the lost and disheartened with "proven" meal plans, summer slimdown challenges, and before and after photos is great for boosting gym revenue, but that's where the gains end.

In addition, personal trainers aren't qualified to tell you what to eat, dietitians are.

Help women feel strong and confident by doing something different.

The alternative is to help identify other experts that our clients deserve access to - not supplement superstores that are going to push pills, but partnerships with;

• Physical Therapists
• Dietitians
• Psychologists, Therapists, and Counselors

SSF helps women identify what they need to do to feel healthy and move better. And that can help you balance work, parenting, and self-care. We're excited to help you have someone to show up to your workout for. You.

SSF's goal is to focus on strength training. We believe you have all the motivation you need to succeed -we just need to help you channel it. We'd rather be the best personal trainers in Columbia than the biggest gym with all the fanciest equipment.

We want to help our clients feel good about themselves, feel connected to each other, and give our team what it needs to be happy - in that order.

We're able to create high-quality programs because we control every inch of our space. You don't have to worry about how to do an exercise, we'll show you.

We don't try to do all the things in one session. A good cardio session takes 20-40 minutes. Trying to shove cardio into an hour with lifting is a poor fit. You don't need us to show you how to use an elliptical or go on a walk with your family.

Once you identify how you should be moving and how things should feel, you'll be empowered to exercise more on your own.

We don't believe in mirrors because they place the focus on other people. It's also not good form to stare into a mirror as you're performing lifts - where your eyes track influences your balance. You won't find a shelf full of supplements anywhere. We believe that most of them lack scientific evidence. Some of our clients work closely with registered dietitians like Bamboo Nutrition and those conversations are better served between them.

Finally, we love getting feedback on how we can make the space more inviting for you, and often that involves sitting down for a conversation.

First, we'll have a consultation: We sit down to find out more about you, what success looks like, and what's motivating you. We love using motivational interviewing for this. It's an evidence-based technique "designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.” (Miller & Rollnick, 2013, p. 29)

If we have a good fit, then you'll start with a trial: We'll figure out how you move which will inform us what exercises you might start with. If you're good at squatting, we'll have you squat. If you need to work on your ankle mobility, we'll find the squat that works well for you.

A trial is 28 days long and involves coming in for two sixty-minute sessions per week. Most of our training is semi-private or small group which means we'll have 2 to 5 people in a room at a time. We offer limited amounts of one-on-one personal training during off times.

During your trial, you'll get acclimated with the place, meet the other clients, and practice moves that make sense for you and your goals. If you feel like it's a good fit, we'll continue to have you come in for studio training.

Our ultimate goal is to help you feel strong and confident. For some, that means working on their own.

There's also a hybrid option of some in-studio and some additional programming outside of it. We're always surveying clients to find out if the schedule works so we can help support keeping people active.

Interested in learning more about who we are at SSF? Check out our about page.

And if you're looking for a personal trainer and strength training, you know how to reach us.