It seems too good to be true that one of the most sought after experts on fitness and nutrition lives right here in the Lansing area—and there is a studio staffed with personal trainers right around the corner.

On Target Living

After Chris Johnson, owner of On Target Living in Haslett, received his undergraduate business degree from Western Michigan University in 1980, and after a multi-year, multi-job stint in the working world, he came to Michigan State University and earned his master’s in exercise physiology.

Then, in December of 1990, a month before the Michigan Athletic Club opened, Johnson was hired as its fitness director. He built the program from the ground up, and says that what he learned along the way eventually helped the MAC have the first million dollar training program in the country (circa 1996).

A major milestone achieved, Johnson turned to writing, first with a simple seven-page manual for his in-house trainers in what had by now become the premier training facility for trainers in the Midwest.

Along the way, Johnson started speaking on nutrition and pretty soon, people weren’t only listening, they were coming back for more and bringing their friends with them. In 2004, he published Meal Patterning, a book on setting habits for better eating. However, although his talks continued to pack people in, book sales didn’t exactly boom.

A short time thereafter, he left the MAC management; although he still enjoyed his work, it wasn’t what he loved to do. Then, he was given the opportunity to speak at a Merrill Lynch function, which led to Johnson being asked to speak at a management conference in front of 3,500 people.

His talks are built around three components of healthier living: exercise, rest and rejuvenation, and nutrition. “The real emphasis of my presentation is finding an emotional connection—Your ‘why?’ And your ‘why’ has to be bigger than your ‘but.’”

Johnson’s talks almost always include a table full of food because he’s a big believer in showing people the difference between good and bad carbohydrates, proteins and fats. He preaches the importance of increasing one’s intake of healthy foods such as flax, fish oil and wheat grass. Although many a neophyte’s first reaction is “fish what?” and “wheat huh?” Johnson says that once the initial spoonful goes down, for most people there’s no turning back.

Locally, his clients include MERS, Michigan Millers, Jackson National Life, Delta Dental and Auto-Owners Insurance. He also travels across the country for client events, but he says that this past fall “I realized that business has been great, and I’m very grateful, but I really don’t want to be on a plane every week.” Instead, he would “like to drive to 50 percent of my business.”

What works for Chris Johnson is a positive attitude, a high energy delivery and a mastery of his material that is second to none. That’s why more and more companies looking to “healthy up” their employees as a way to raise productivity and keep skyrocketing healthcare costs in check are targeting On Target Living for help getting there. 

The Trainer's Studio

Walt Reynolds has been a personal trainer for going on 22 years. For the past seven, he’s been one of the co-owners of The Trainer’s Studio on Dunckel Road near Jolly Road in Lansing. He categorized the majority of their clients as those in the general fitness market, people who are typically 20-55 years old, looking to get in shape, tone up and stay in shape.

The studio currently has four partners, 11 trainers, two massage therapists, two Pilates instructors and one dance instructor. Each runs his/her own business out of the facility and pays a fee for its use, so they technically have no employees.

Reynolds himself works with a lot of athletes—from kids as young as eight or nine to a couple of men in their 80s and 90s. Through a connection at Haslett High School, Reynolds has trained several Vikings over the years, working with them before and after their season and supplementing their training in-season. As a former college high jumper, Reynolds also trains a good number of track and field athletes.

The studio has integrated with Playmakers over the last several years on a running project, and also has informal relationships with physical therapists, referring clients back and forth. According to Reynolds, about 90 percent of their business is training individuals, with the occasional couple (husband and wife or friends) and some small groups of three or four.

Reynolds says that fundamentally, “Athletes need five essential things: speed, stamina, strength, suppleness, skill.” He trains people in the first four, but also teaches general movement skills common to nearly all sports.

During a first visit the trainer evaluates the person’s strength, speed and car
diovascular condition. Most clients opt for short-term training, which consists of three to six sessions to establish a routine that the client can continue to carry out at a workout facility or at home. These people typically check

back every few months to make sure they’re still progressing. Others, including a number of business professionals in the Lansing area, have established long-term training relationships.

Training generally runs between $50 and $75 per hour. Reynolds says that most people “can get a solid workout in 30-45 minutes,” although he has a client that trains for two hours every Friday morning. Most of the trainers see between 25-35 people per week (all by appointment), and training hours are 100 percent flexible.

“I really like the culture that we have,” Reynolds says. “The Trainer’s Studio has a great business model, with happy trainers [and] happy clients.”

Which may be a large part of the reason why they haven’t seen much decline in business as a result of the economic downturn. “I won’t say that we haven’t felt it, but business has been good.”

In an industry where workout centers and trainers come and go, Reynolds and his colleagues have thrived. How? Not TV or radio commercials. No splashy newspaper ads. Reynolds says their biggest advertising expense is the sign out front, and that 95 percent of their business comes from word-of-mouth. The key to their success, as clichéd as it sounds, Reynolds says, is “one-on-one personal relationships.”