Hall works with Missy Grimm during a training session.

By Nicholas Backus

Personal trainer Eric Hall knows that walking into a gym where heavy-metal music is blaring while muscular-bodied people lift weights can be intimidating.

He also knows that type of workout isn’t for everyone. That’s why he created Avatar Private Training Studio, located at 311 5th Ave. N. Avatar is primarily a one-on-one private gym that also provides group workouts in yoga and muscle-elongating gyrotonic exercise.

Hall, 31, wants his clients to be “conscious of their bodies” by being more flexible and in touch with their physical condition.

“People walk around hunched over,” Hall said. “You see it every day. I want people to feel better about their bodies in relation to the physical world. Things like walking or driving or even sitting at a computer.”

Whether they’re in a group or alone, Hall’s clients exercise in a calming environment. Each one of the hundreds of track lights on Avatar’s three floors has dimmers, and natural light floods through translucent windows. Throughout the gym, which was remodeled from a former Internet gaming café, soft New Age music pulses rather than the blaring music found in most weight rooms.

On a recent week day, Hall kicked off his flip-flops and set up one of his sundry pieces of equipment for client Robin Fraley of Hopkins. Fraley has brought along her infant daughter Sasha, who sleeps quietly in her baby carrier. Soon enough, Sasha begins to stir and cry, requiring the attention of her mother. Fraley decides to call it a day, her workout lasting about 10 minutes. On her way out, Hall is sympathetic.

“No charge for today,” he says. “I just want to see you next week, OK?”

Avatar’s relative seclusion in the North Loop neighborhood and one-on-one workouts help clients put down their guards, Hall said, and enables them to get the most out of their exercise. His most spectacular client story as of late is Jeff Beard, 38. Beard goes to Avatar two hours a week and has managed to lose 40 pounds in 12 weeks. Hall says the normal rate of weight loss is 1 to 3 pounds a week.

“I weighed 245 pounds and now I’m weighing in at 200–205,” Beard said. “I’m the last guy to go to a gym, but Avatar helped because you don’t feel bad going there if you’re out of shape.”

Tim Ostgard is another Avatar regular from South Minneapolis who sees the appeal of a gym like Avatar.

“The benefit is so you can get used to a couple of trainers and know how you are progressing,” Ostgard said. “Everyone has their own style.”

Hall specializes in a increasingly popular form of exercise called gyrotonic training, which draws its inspiration more from yoga than weight lifting.

“It teaches that there is strength in elongation of muscles and not in contraction,” Hall said. “It builds longer and leaner muscles like a traditional dancer rather than a traditional body builder.”

Hall will incorporate gyrotonics into workouts to help his clients feel better physically. Clients might not always know how good it is for them before they try it, Hall said.

Another Avatar trainer, Lauren Simpson, has a background in dance that includes ballet, jazz and modern styles. Similarly, many of her clients are women or men who had dance training at some point in their lives and would like to incorporate dance technique into their workouts. Simpson uses dance stretches and flexibility exercises as well as dancing motions for the purpose of cardiovascular training.

“I try to do a lot of coordination and balance routines,” Simpson said. “I’ll teach my clients a set of three motions the same way you learn steps in dancing. It keeps the mind engaged while working out.”

Although Hall has found success in these alternative forms of workout, he knows that it may not be right for every client. He said he doesn’t see other personal trainers in the area as competition and will refer clients to other gyms in the area if he thinks Avatar isn’t for them. He said he has sent clients to body-mass-oriented gyms for muscle gain.

“If someone wants to be Mr. Minnesota with 22-inch biceps, I’ll gladly refer him to where his needs can best be met,” Hall said.

His own gym is doing well, employing a team of trainers and two massage therapists. Hall put about $180,000 into creating the 4,000-square-foot gym with an added 1,000 square feet on the roof in the summer.

“In the end, it’s about people feeling better or losing weight that keeps us going,” he said.

When looking for a personal trainer, Hall says it’s important to find someone with a background in kinesiology or nutrition. Hall said that he is still in the training business because of his passion for these areas of health. The trainers who leave the industry after two years let training become too vocational, he said.

“If someone doesn’t have a movement or medical background, then workouts just become cookie-cutter after the trainer does too many of them,” Hall said. “People who stay in the industry explore their bodies and find out how unique their body is. Then their job is to share this joy with other people.”

Another way Hall makes sure he or his staff doesn’t get bored with the workouts they put together is by making a full-time Avatar work week 20–25 hours. The trainers will usually do hour-long sessions four to six times a day. Those sessions should mix a good workout with enough fun to make clients look forward to coming back, Hall said.

“It’s like if you go to a party or nightclub with a good vibe,” he said. “You tell others about it and want to go back. That’s what working out should be like.”