INWOOD — An Uptown-based trainer who offered free workout classes to the community is opening his first gym in Inwood next month, giving fitness buffs the chance to try out his intensive two-week program that promotes individualized training in a group setting.
Yusuf Myers, whose workouts have been featured in Men’s Fitness magazine and the MTV series "I Used to Be Fat," will open Pure Result X-Treme at 4875 Broadway in March.
The gym will focus on group fitness, including 75-minute conditioning and strengthening classes, as well as cardio dance. Myers will also offer his signature program, PRX14, a two-week, bootcamp-style fitness and nutrition regimen intended to jumpstart weight loss.
Myers, 33, who grew up in Washington Heights and currently runs a business that places trainers in high-end residential buildings throughout the city, saw the need for better fitness options Uptown.
“There was definitely a void that needed to be filled,” he said. “The commercial gyms don’t have any real guidance. There’s a lack of nutritional education, of knowing what to do in the gym, how to work out properly.”
At Pure Result X-Treme, each class will include a combination of spinning for cardio conditioning and strength training with cable weights, kettlebells and a TRX-like suspension system. Multiple trainers will teach each class so that clients receive individualized attention.
The gym will also offer PRX14, in which participants meet daily for two-hour group workouts over a 14-day stretch.
Myers developed PRX14 a little more then three years ago when his now-business partner Margie Prado sought his help. A former college basektball player, Prado’s goal was to become a fitness model, so he agreed to carve out two weeks from his busy schedule to train her.
Prado proceeded to lose 30 pounds in those two weeks, Myers said.
He realized he was onto something, but was hesitant at first about bringing the program to a wider audience.
“I didn’t used to like group classes,” Myers said. “I had clients who would take them and come back to me injured, because it wasn’t individualized at all.”
In response, he developed a fitness assessment to divide participants into beginning, intermediate and advanced groups. Trainers for the beginner group focus on teaching people how to exercise properly. All participants also receive nutritional guidance and support in the form of a group chat app. Each two-week session of PRX14 costs $550 for new participants, while returning participants will receive a discount.
Since introducing PRX14 to the Uptown community three years ago, Myers said that hundreds of people of all fitness levels have successfully participated in the program.
“We’ve had people who are 300, 400 pounds make it to the end and really get that feeling of believing in themselves,” Myers said.
The reason it is so effective for many people is the group support, Myers said. In addition to using the group chat app and daily workouts with trainers, returning participants act as mentors for new ones.
“You’re never going to be left alone and that’s why the program works so well,” he said.
For those who prefer a more à la carte experience, the gym will also offer 75-minute group fitness classes that follow a similar model to PRK14. Each day will emphasize a different area of the body so clients can create individualized workout plans.
Myers is still determining the price for the 75-minute class, but gym-goers will be able to purchase classes individually or as packages for a reduced rate, he said.
Myers also co-founded the Get Focused Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing obesity among youth, particularly in Uptown communities. He hopes that the PRX gym will represent a step toward realizing that goal.
“It starts with parents, teaching them how to eat right and exercise so they can pass that onto their kids,” he said. “Now that I’m working directly with the parents, I hope it will trickle down.”
