Robert Altvater, online personal trainer — Robert Altvater, Certified Personal Trainer

Personal Training Online

    If you want to build consistent fitness habits and move to your next level, you’ve come to the right place for learning about personal training online.
    As a certified personal trainer, I help you advance from where you are today to where you want to go, with a creative individualized fitness program designed to reach your unique goals.
    Done entirely online, it’s ideal for today’s time-pressed “desk jockey”—professional, manager, analyst, software developer—where movements are confined and repetitive and lead to predictable, but correctable, strength and mobility issues that are the physical effects of our digital age. And if you are time-pressed, it’s the best way to get more fitness in less time.
    The program includes scheduled workouts and check-ins for accountability and advancement, the secrets for getting fitness done. Regularly scheduled updates to your program build on your progress achievement and advance your development into new areas. Continuous improvement comes with having a constantly moving target that works the whole body and never gets boring.
    Along the way, it’s a fun and caring space–challenging but always positive–where your fitness experience and understanding are our top priorities.

It’s All Online

With personal training online, the gym comes to you so there’s no time or money spent getting to and from “your” gym. No traffic, no parking. To and from home in zero time because you never left. Workouts done in half the total time. No waiting for equipment. Nobody to detract from our focus on your personal training experience. For many, it’s not just as good as going to the gym for training, but it’s even better.

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A partial session to show the phases of a well-rounded online personal training workout design

It’s Totally Personal

Man Doing Hollow Hold with Personal Trainer Observing During an Online Personal Training Session

It’s about you so it starts and progresses based on you, where you’re starting from, how far you’ve come and how far you want to go. It’s about your whole body, not a muscle group or two. It includes movement, flexibility, balance and working muscles you didn’t even know you needed to work on. We adapt to whatever workout equipment you do or don’t have. Maybe most important, since procrastination is the single biggest impediment to fitness, we have a mutual commitment each week, so we actually get it done.

Plus, truly personal training is far more effective than large scale automated pre-recorded online videos, apps and group workouts, precisely because it’s truly personal.

It’s Real Training

Man Doing Single Arm Dumbbell Row During an Online Personal Training Session

Expect to work, sweat…and learn with workouts that challenge you to advance. Live real time guidance and feedback optimizes your progress and keeps you safe from injury. As your strength and ability progress, we re-design your program every few weeks to keep challenging you to reach your next level. You’ll learn why we do what we do, empowering you to make fitness part of your life, now and forever.

Having a well-trained trainer is the fastest, safest and most effective way to get you to your goals and progressing to new goals.

Fitness & Movement Training

    I develop personalized fitness plans that cover everything a properly moving body might need.
    The program we create for your personal training online is tailored to achieve your personal goals, and can be almost anything. It always includes a balanced easy-to-follow plan across the full body, along with scheduled check-ins for feedback and accountability. With both of us committed to show up and do the work, the work gets done in spite of temptations to procrastinate.
    In practice, clients see me for live workouts one to three times a week and, in between, do programmed workouts on their own. Many clients start with twice a week live workouts, then transition to once a week, coupled with twice a week workouts alone using our written program. Once well underway, some clients opt for programming only and we do half hour check-ins once a week instead of live training sessions.
    In every case, programs are updated on a regular cycle to prevent boredom, to work different muscle groups, to adapt to progress…all so you keep advancing.

Woman Doing Dumbbell Row During and Online Personal Training Session

Nutrition Planning & Coaching

Balanced Food Plate Example for Nutrition Planning and Coaching as Part of Personal Training Online

    Whether your goal is weight loss, weight gain, autoimmune control or just better energy and a stronger foundation for overall health, I offer nutrition coaching and planning as an option for your online personal training.
    You’ll get a regularly updated meal planning menu geared to both your needs and your tastes, along with a breakdown to guide your macronutrient consumption. A weekly 30 minute live check-in keeps the program on track, measures progress and enables us to revise and adapt the plan based on the results you’re seeing on the way to achieving your goals.
    Along the way, we demystify the key nutrients…what they are, how to measure them and how to achieve the right balance. You’ll understand it like you do the back of your hand. I mean that literally…we’ll use your hand as your personalized guide to carbs, proteins and fats, magically translating your body size to your serving sizes.
    It’s a plan you can use every day for the rest of your re-energized life.

Plans & Pricing

It’s personal, so it’s about choices. Unlike mass group and automated programs, one size definitely does not fit all. So I offer different check-in and one-on-one session plans to fit your time and your budget. Your online personal training programs are all still individualized to fit your unique starting point and goals. Costs vary primarily by the amount of time we spend together one-on-one, with consideration of the time I spend between sessions on program design and evolution as your skill and physical conditioning progress over time.

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What My Clients Say

The best thing is that it’s all planned out and it changes regularly. I’ve been working out with Robert for over four years and have never been disappointed. He grasps the science and has a huge bag of tricks to work the whole body in balance that I could never discover myself. No fads, just solid discipline to address my specifics. I view it as extending useful life, which is valuable no matter when you start it.

PatBusiness Executive and Consultant

I’ve worked out with Robert for about 5 years and the experience has been incredible. He helped me develop a healthier lifestyle by keeping me focused on my weight loss goals and developing recovery plans for mild injuries. Robert is fantastic with adaptive exercise and has a high level of knowledge in muscular and skeletal systems. He’s really fun to work out with and will help you meet your goals, no matter what level they may be.

BrianAssociate Property Manager

Robert has been great at motivating me to work out regularly. He keeps my workouts fun, and varies the exercises so it never gets boring. I never feel embarrassed or shy with Robert, he makes me feel proud of what I accomplish during each session.

Michael Credit Union Community Branch Manager

I was looking to lose some weight, but I also wanted to get into shape! I reached out to Robert to obtain his services as a personal trainer and it has been a great experience from the beginning. Robert had done nutritional plans for me as well as online workouts that have really challenged me. I have been working with Robert for 4 months now and I have lost 35 pounds.

JohnCulinary Group COO

Altvater Fitness and Movement has helped me immensely in working towards my goals and building the right habits. Robert does a great job tailoring a workout program to suit me individually for where I’m at and what my goals are while taking into account the fitness equipment I have at my disposal. He has also been awesome at working with me on my broader food choices and keeps me accountable to ensure I’m building the food habits that I need long term.

MasonSoftware Engineer

Robert encourages me to stick with exercising even when I don’t want to. I always had good intentions to start exercising but I always found excuses to quit. He makes it enjoyable to exercise. He never criticizes or loses his patience with me when I need to be shown how to do something more than once. The challenges I have overcome is that I am able to climb four flights of stairs without too much effort. I recommend Robert to anyone trying to improve their health and fitness.

LisaAutomotive Factory Worker

Altvater Fitness and Movement

5.0

Based on 23 reviews

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louis chandra

15:03 04 Aug 23

I’ve been working with Robert for about 3 months now (and counting). Robert has been the best personal trainer I’ve had the pleasure to work with. He works with my schedule, with my location preferrence and my goal in mind. We don’t need much equipment to get started and the workout keeps on evolving to keep it fresh and challenging and work towards my goal. He also teach me what I’m supposed to feel in what part or the muscle which I think is the biggest challenge when doing virtual work out and at the same time educating me on the why we’re doing this exercise. He keeps my form correct, removes the barrier of working out and maximize the result. I’m looking forward to work with Robert long term to keep a healthy life.

Siddharth Rath

19:38 09 Jul 23

Robert is a great trainer. He listens to your needs, continuously evaluates and changes the training plans to suit your needs, manages to reconcile your fitness goals with what is actually beneficial for your body and for alleviating pain, even includes your physical therapy exercises in the warmup routines. he is very helpful and compassionate, but also keeps you accountable.

Garrett Stinson

01:54 11 Mar 23

Robert is absolutely amazing. I was looking for a physical therapist to help unravel my muscle tension from the waist up that I have developed over the last decade of spending 8 - 16 hours a day at a computer. Within 2 sessions I was already seeing benefits and changes in my body and how I moved it. I'm writing this review after one month of training and it's a night and day difference in the health aspects that I was hoping to tackle through targeted work outs. Primarily I started this journey so I could sleep better because I could not comfortably sleep on my back or really any position anymore due to some of my crammed shoulder and spine posture. While my sleeping problems aren't solved, I can say the aspect of it that is related to me physically being uncomfortable at night has greatly improved, I really didn't expect to feel these changes in one month.

This is my first experience doing online personal training as well; I was skeptical that he would not be able to glean enough information over the poor video quality / meeting location options I have in my current residence. Even with some of the unique challenges I have had in that regard he still sees and catches plenty of information, and crafts excellent workout plans to suite my needs.

I'll spend just a moment now talking about some of my past workout and fitness history to give some reference of the general experience level I came into this with. I was always decently active for a nerd lol; I grew up doing things like mountain biking, skiing/snowboarding, rock climbing, hiking. I have trained multiple martial arts, benched up to 185lbs (above my body weight), and done many different workouts.

It was incredible to me how easily Robert was able to highlight holes in my form, and find such perfect, simple, foundational movements to start training and challenging me with. For example we tried a push up plank esque workout (different and more targeted than I have ever done) and to my disbelief I was feeling pressure on my knees from my body trying to compensate and we went down to an easier form, now today I was able to do that same workout I wasn't able to 2 weeks ago.

I could go on about how great Robert is. He is truly my favorite personal trainer I have worked with, 10/10 recommend him.

Jim Shellooe

19:13 07 Mar 23

My wife and I have had a month of sessions with Robert and are already feeling the improvements in core strength. He has tailored the workouts for each of us, recognizing the needs to adapt and work with and around our past injuries. Our daughter is a physical therapist and suggested we tap into Robert, based on the excellent reputation he has earned. The virtual workouts have been really effective. He is both friendly and professional and informative, answering all our questions as we go along. We look forward to each of the sessions; he's gradually training us to do more and more on our own...

Roy Dorombozi

15:21 14 Oct 22

Remote training is something I was extremely skeptical about, but it's actually really really convenient to be able to have a 1:1 session (caterer to the equipment I have available) in my pocket.

On top of the training Robert has taken very keen notes and attention to my previous injuries and pain feedback to keep me feeling safe and productive.

I very much appreciate the out of band check ins and info you find researching my injuries, all in all a great experience, especially during this new remote work era

Audrey Hartman

17:29 18 May 22

I started working with Robert a few months ago because I wanted to get back into exercising and strengthen my body to prevent another back injury. I’ve dabbled in exercise over the last few years, including working with a different trainer, and never stuck with anything for more than a couple of weeks until now. Unlike other trainers, he focuses on building an exercise plan that not only works for your goals but keeps you engaged and motivated. If you’re looking for someone who takes the time to identify exercises and regimens that don’t cause you pain or discomfort, but also gives you the push you need to see progress, then I highly recommend you reach out and schedule a consultation with him! I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made already just in a few short months.

pete ewbank

21:40 21 Feb 22

Altvater Fitness has be a great asset to me I was looking for a program that would help me in my movement and exercise. Prior to finding Altvater Fitness my movement was limited. I was suffering from stiff shoulder and neuropathy and using a cane to balance my walking so each day was a struggle then while looking on Face book I found Robert and started chatting with him and found that he owned and managed Altvater Fitness and Movement, so we chatted, and I told him of my goal to be more stable in movement and to eat better in order to lose weight and feel better

So, I finally decided to use Robert to help me work toward my goal and so he set up a movement and nutritional plan that was focused for me. It had a daily menu with good, cooked food and easily made. It helped me to cut out fast foods which was a major portion of my life, and it has help me to lose weight (over 30 lbs. so far).

Robert's training and guidance has been an asset to me in that it has help me to stay focused and encouraged to maintain the total goal. Robert is very supportive in his client's progress. Robert's knowledge and willingness to do the right thing makes him an excellent trainer and someone who can be trusted to help you improve movement, your nutritional outlook and give you the support to achieve the goals you want. Roert has given me a new focus on the way I live my life and I thank him for that

Brian Russell

18:49 22 Jan 22

I have been working out with Robert at various gyms for over 5 years. My wife joined me when the gyms closed down at the beginning of the pandemic and we have been remote for almost 2 years. Robert has been incredibly flexible and has adapted our workouts as we’ve gotten stronger and as we work through injuries. He has an expert level knowledge of body mechanics and runs workouts that will leave you feeling good and sore. He can also work with you on a nutrition plan and helped my wife and I get to our goal weights for our wedding. I highly recommend Robert for achieving whatever your goals may be and maintaining a lifetime of fitness.

Bethany Russell

16:55 22 Jan 22

Robert is an excellent trainer. I’ve been working out with him for almost 2 years now! He trained with my husband first but took me on as a client as well during the pandemic, when I was needing a way to work out. I appreciate his flexibility and knowledge so much! He’s amazing at corrective exercise for whatever injuries we’ve had as well. Robert is the best!

Alejandro Pena

16:58 27 Dec 21

What I've enjoyed most about working with Robert has been the variety and the instruction. He's very good at providing a variety of exercises that are tailored to you, and when you have your sessions together he also provides great instruction on form.

When I came to him, I was working out on my own most days, but I would often strain or hurt myself over time. When we began working together, Robert showed me some stretches and other techniques to help alleviate that pain. Over weeks, he also specifically chose exercises that would help build strength in weak areas and comport with my desk-bound work-life. I'm happy to report that those strains and pains I felt before are now completely gone. When I work out on my own, I do so for longer, and harder.

I hope you consider working with Robert, I've enjoyed it myself!

About Me

My Training & Certifications

If you’re looking for a well-trained trainer (and here’s why you should, and how to identify one), be sure to check out their training and certifications. Here are mine:

National Academy of Sports Medicine
Certified Personal Trainer
(NASM-CPT), January 2014
Corrective Exercise Specialist
(NASM-CES), January 2016

Precision Nutrition
Nutrition Coach, December 2019

National Council on Strength & Fitness
Strength & Conditioning Specialist, December 2022

My Experience

I’ve worked as a certified professional personal trainer since 2014 and corrective exercise specialist since 2016, in chain and independent gyms and as a sole practitioner delivering personal training online.

My Online Training Philosophy & Practice

    For your online personal training program, based on what you choose, I combine the three disciplines of personal training, corrective exercise (“treat while you train”) and nutrition coaching to design programs tailored to where you are and where you want to go.
    As you may know by now, many online trainers pick a favorite exercise to show you, but my favorite is always the one that focuses on your exact need at the exact moment in time. I have a vast playbook to draw on—getting bigger every day with my constant research and learning—and I draw on it based on where you are and where you want to go.
    Strength training is central to the programs, but unlike simple and one-size-fits-all programs, it’s focused on movement and flexibility, since how you move is how you live. It works for millennials and it works for boomers, whether your goal is muscle mass, bone density, balance, resilience, endurance or just plain feeling better and in control of your world.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the complimentary consultation work?

After an initial conversation, we set up a separate one hour consultation, or just do it on the spot if we both have time. We begin with your goals and prior experiences. Next we do a movement assessment that usually includes an overhead squat (one of my most informative diagnostics), and a few other brief exercises. We have you do some foam rolling, stretching, a light warm-up and–time permitting–we start to work through your primary movement patterns such as push, pull, hinge, squat, etc. These multiple assessments give us a broad sense for the current state of your body. From there, we discuss the findings and how to start addressing them from the very start. We wrap up with a recap of what we’ve discovered and review your training options. If you decide to proceed, we set up your first training session before signing off.

What exercise equipment do I need?

You don’t need to buy any new exercise equipment. If you’d like to get some equipment to enhance your results, I usually recommend starting with some simple resistance bands and a foam roller of some kind. There are a wide variety of these out there and I have a few recommendations (not something I get a commission on, BTW…I’m not in that business). But if you do have some equipment on hand, we can make the best use of it, or if you want to get some new things, I can provide some guidance on what gets you the best results at the least cost.

What videoconferencing equipment and apps do I need for online personal training?

For equipment, most of my clients use a smart phone or a tablet on their end, often on an adjustable mounting stand. A few use a notebook or desktop computer with a webcam. For apps, we mostly use Google Meet because it works well with Google Calendar and email, and we’ve also used Zoom.

What happens if I get hurt?

If you get hurt, we’ll see if we can quickly correct it with targeted corrective exercise. If that is unable to help, I will likely recommend seeing a local massage or physical therapist. If you need to cancel your session on short notice due to injury I don’t charge for the missed session. You can reschedule the session once you have the all clear and are feeling better. If the injury doesn’t rule out other exercises, there a ways we can work around it to keep you on your fitness track without making it worse.

Can a personal trainer help with injuries?

Depending on the background of the trainer, a personal trainer can help with injuries to ensure you get back to where you were and are able to push beyond that point. My training and certification by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a Corrective Exercise Specialist have been designed with this in mind. It’s call “treat while you train” and–depending on what it is–may include light stretching, foam rolling, targeted movement or exercise to address the injury without risking making it worse.

What happens when I need to reschedule a session?

When you need to reschedule a session you can text or call. As long as it’s a a day prior to the scheduled session, you can reschedule free of charge.

How do I lose weight and keep it off?

Ah, the hard question that’s on so many people’s minds! Fad diets promise fast easy weight loss, but they usually don’t work, can be unhealthy, and never last. The truth is that you lose weight and keep it off by focusing on controlling portion sizes and your ratio of macronutrients, coupled with regular strength and cardio training to keep your metabolism up. That balance of proper nutrition, regular strength training, and a little cardio help most of us immensely. Fortunately, you don’t need to restrict yourself to a certain diet fad that forces you to eat things you really don’t like.

How does strength training help me lose weight?

By increasing your strength, you increase the size of your muscle tissue. The greater your muscle mass, the more calories you tend to burn at rest.

What is corrective exercise?

Corrective exercise is a style of training closely related to rehabilitation. After a physical movement assessment, we can pinpoint muscle imbalances, postural distortions, weakness, underactivity and overactivity. Corrective exercise is used to address these issues–both acute and chronic–related to strength, weakness and movement.

What’s are the differences between online personal training and an in-person training?

Very few, actually. The main difference is the way you receive guidance and information from your trainer. If your trainer can teach you in person, they can train you online. It comes down to the communication style and learning style of each individual. Since the virtual trainer “comes to you,” there is an adaptation to your workout space and equipment, instead of using a gym’s equipment and often waiting in line to use that equipment.

What hours and days can we meet?

Since I adapt to your schedule, I have time slots seven days a week from 9 am to 7 pm Pacific. So if you’re east of the Pacific time zone, evening sessions are available as late as 10 pm Eastern.

Contact

Feel free to get in touch with any questions you may have, or to set up a free initial consultation. There’s no obligation. And I won’t use your information for anything other than getting back to you.

CONTACT ME