D1 Training: Q&A
Article by Hannah Holbrook | Photos+Answers by D1 Training
ONE FREE WEEK OF TRAINING (VALUED AT $75) FOR ANYONE WHO COMES IN AND MENTIONS THIS ARTICLE!!
- What brought D1 Training to the Brazos Valley?
“Generally something like D1 Training, something high-level, division one, and professional, is hard to get if you’re not a professional athlete. We saw a need for it in this area. They didn’t have something like this. We saw that this is more of a health based community, so we thought that this kind of training would be something that people would appreciate. We wanted to give people the opportunity to train at a professional level.” –Henry Hall, Head Speed & Strength Coach
- How did the community respond to you guys?
“Of all the D1’s (there are around 50 across the United States), we were in the top three in pre-sales before we even opened. D1 tracks how often people sign up, how often members come in and use their membership, and whether or not people stay. Of all of the D1’s in the nation, our College Station facility is ranked one, two, or three in every category” –Henry Hall, Head Speed & Strength Coach
- Take us through the process of what happens when someone comes in for the first time.
“The first thing we do is introduce ourselves and make them feel welcome. Then we give them a tour. We want them to see the facility. It is really hard to talk about what we offer without them actually seeing our space. From there, we always talk to them about their goals and what they want to achieve. We talk to them about what their preferences are in working out. We find out if they have a family, we ask what their setbacks are in life, and we go from there. We always set them up with a free workout because you can’t really experience D1 without trying a work out. To us, every person that walks in is not a unit or a number, they’re a person.” –Laura Sosa, Director of Operations
- What makes D1 Training different from other training facilities/gyms in the community?
“The programming behind it. You can go and get workouts anywhere, but here, whether it’s personal training or group training, our workouts are periodized. There is a beginning, middle, and end. We track your progress and get you to your goal.” –Henry Hall, Head Speed & Strength Coach
“D1 is unique because the same person that is coaching the professional athlete, is also the person coaching the soccer mom and the seven year old. All of this happens in a facility that most people wouldn’t have access to if they weren’t a professional athlete. All of that makes a huge difference.” –Henry Hall, Head Speed & Strength Coach
“It’s not your normal, scan your card and walk into the gym, kind of place. Here, you’re becoming a part of a family. Even on the staff side of things, when I first started here, I had no idea what I was walking into. I have a whole new family now.” –Kristen Love, Marketing Manager
- Are there any especially notable success stories from athletes (or staff) that have come to train at D1?
“I’ll give you a fun story from each age group. There was a mom that came in with her kid because she just wanted him to get off the couch. When he came, he was nine. Immediately, he built a relationship with the coach. All of our coaches are really high energy and fun. He went from losing twenty pounds in about six months, to wanting to start playing a sport in school. Now he is in middle school and he’s starting on the A team in his sport. Things went from just wanting to get him off the couch, to him enjoying athletics at school. He grew in confidence and results.”
“A junior in high school who was playing on the B team in football came in and said, “Coach, I want to be able to play in college”. We had him for all of the spring and all of the summer, and then he went into his senior season. Immediately, his coaches were like, “What have you been doing?” He went from B-team, to starting on Varsity, and now he’s actually playing division two college football.”
“There was a sixty-four year old doctor that initially came in by himself. He told me that his body didn’t feel right. He had been having trouble with his shoulders and his knees. Since he’s come in, he’s lost around thirty-five pounds, he feels a lot better, and his shoulders and knees feel great. He says that all his friends can’t keep up with him. His wife had noticed such a change in him that she actually started training too. Now they train as a couple.”–Henry Hall, Head Speed & Strength Coach
- What level and/or age of athlete do you allow to train at D1?
D1 Rookie (7-11): Introduces and creates a foundation of overall athleticism in a fun, positive and high-success environment.
D1 Developmental (12-14): Focuses on progressing and maintaining athletic movement while refining and ingraining fundamental skills of speed, agility, and power. The repeated rehearsal leads to permanent and positive athletic change.
D1 Prep (15-18): Focuses on fine-tuning technique, with the goal of taking the athlete’s game to “THE NEXT LEVEL”
D1 Collegiate: Getting the extra edge over teammates and opponents during summer and winter breaks. D1 also serves as the official strength & conditioning programs for select universities.
D1 Boot Camp (Adults): A metabolic workout focused on total body conditioning and high caloric burn, including strength, cardio, flexibility and core training.
D1 Strength (Adults): A high-intensity, high pace metabolic workout focused on total body strength and conditioning.
D1-on-1: Personal Training where personalized goals are maximized.
- It seems that you value balance for your members at D1 – tell us more about why that is a cornerstone at D1.
“Working out is great, but there’s also a life away from here, so you have to find that balance. Life is all about balance. That’s how you keep things going long term. You can get burned out, you can injure yourself, and you can neglect the people that need you at home without balance. You just want to make sure that you find a balance in all aspects of life, because once you do that, you can achieve any goal.” –Henry Hall, Head Speed & Strength Coach
- So you provide physical/athletic training services – but what other services or programs are available at D1?
“We often run camps for our scholastics groups during winter and summer breaks. These camps can focus on a variety of things from speed & agility, to vertical training, soccer, football, etc. We also provide Combine training, off season training, and we work with the physical therapy office next door to us to help get people back into the game. In addition to that, we regularly host birthday parties for both adults and kids, hold unique team building events for local businesses, and rent out the facility for corporate events.” –Laura Sosa, Director of Operations
ONE FREE WEEK OF TRAINING (VALUED AT $75) FOR ANYONE WHO COMES IN AND MENTIONS THIS ARTICLE!!