Meet Alex Garibyan of One Studio LA / Omni Performance Coaching

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Garibyan.

Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Movement has been the one constant in my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, the place I felt the most confident and the most “myself” was anywhere I could move — playing sports, dancing, exercising, or just exploring what my body could do. I didn’t have the language for it back then, but I knew I wanted a career that lived somewhere in the world of physical therapy or helping people move better. I just had no idea how I’d get there.

Around 14 or 15, I started lifting weights more seriously. At 16, after a pretty bad Achilles injury, the gym became more than a hobby — it became my sanctuary. As a teenager navigating the chaos of growing up, training gave me calmness, control, and a deep emotional outlet I didn’t get anywhere else. That love for exercise carried me through the next several years, and by 21 or 22, I had worked my way into the bodybuilding world and almost even competed, which I never expected.

Bodybuilding taught me something that changed every part of my life:
the more intentional I am, the more organized I am, the more focused I am — the better the results.
That formula became my operating system.

This was also when I began exploring spirituality. It started with the law of attraction and eventually led to The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. The gym became the place I meditated, connected to my body, and learned discipline. In many ways, those long training sessions were the earliest form of self-work I ever did.

Like many who push hard in the weight room, the injuries eventually came — and those injuries were the true beginning of my deeper education. They forced me to understand what happens when the body stops cooperating. I went to physical therapy expecting answers, but after seeing multiple PTs and still not getting the help I needed, I had an honest moment with myself:
“Why would I become a physical therapist if none of the physical therapists I’ve seen can help me?”
That question wasn’t meant to discredit anyone — it was simply my honest experience at the time. Ironically, the practitioners who ultimately did help me were physical therapists who had asked the same questions themselves and had gone far beyond the traditional system in search of deeper answers. They became the mentors who shaped my entire understanding of the body.

The real turning point happened around 2017 when I came across the concept of Ikigai — your reason for being. Ikigai is the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. Something clicked. I realized nothing made me happier than helping people through something I genuinely loved doing. My joy for the work was real, my passion was obvious, and I think people naturally gravitated toward that. That discovery pushed me to go all in. I understood then that my mission was to teach, coach, and embody everything I was learning about the human body — not just for myself, but for others.

So I went looking for the people who could help — practitioners, movement specialists, and mentors who understood the body in a way I had never seen before. I essentially became an apprentice. Through their guidance, I found the path I truly wanted while I continued to train clients successfully: a multidisciplinary route built on corrective exercise, biomechanics, massage therapy, soft tissue and manual therapy, metabolic health, neurology and three-dimensional athletic training.

By 2020, after years of studying, apprenticing, and coaching, my schedule was completely full — even in the middle of COVID. I was driving all over Los Angeles: training clients in their homes, working with people in my apartment gym, and operating out of my mentor’s office. I hit a point where I was spread thin, capped, and knew I needed to build something of my own, even though the world around me was uncertain.

So in 2021, still in the heart of the pandemic, with the push of my now wife, I took the leap and opened ONE STUDIO LA — my first space.

From day one, the practice grew. I doubled down on my education, dove deeper into biomechanics, completed massage therapy school and became licensed, continued taking specialized courses, and refined a system that blended strength training, corrective exercise, breathing mechanics, nervous system work, and holistic lifestyle coaching. Clients were getting results they said they couldn’t get anywhere else, and before long, I had a waitlist that has now been ongoing for more than five years.

Today, I’m still running ONE STUDIO LA with that same waitlist, still studying, still sharpening my craft, and still building the kind of practice I once wished I could find — becoming the practitioner I once needed.

But the next evolution of my work is happening now.

After a decade of refining my methods and helping people transform their bodies and their lives, I’m expanding into online coaching through my new program, OMNI Performance Coaching. It’s the digital evolution of my in-person system — designed for high-performing men and founders who want to train pain-free, beat burnout, build strength, and live longer through a deeply integrated, holistic approach. It allows me to make an impact far beyond the walls of my studio.

Alongside that, I’m developing One Coach Academy — my mentorship program for coaches and trainers who want to learn the multidimensional system I’ve spent years building. My goal is to help the next generation of coaches develop emotional intelligence, identify their unique ability so they can offer a service that feels undeniably authentic to them, build key principles in biomechanics and nervous system understanding, and guide them toward the specialized courses that will sharpen their craft. Most importantly, I want to provide them with the support, structure, and integrative coaching skills that actually create long-term, meaningful results for the clients they’ll serve.

If I had to sum it all up:
I’ve always been someone who learns by moving — and now I’m someone who helps people move in ways that change their lives. It started with a kid who felt most confident in his body, and it evolved into a life mission grounded in curiosity, mastery, and service.

And honestly… I’m still just getting started.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Has it been smooth? Smooth is relative.
Compared to more than half the world, I really have no room to complain. I’ve been incredibly fortunate. But on a personal journey level — the internal work — there have definitely been bumps, and each one was packed with lessons.

A big part of the challenge early on was believing in myself. Building confidence. Learning how to stay focused on my path while blocking out the noise — and there’s always noise. I had to learn how to surround myself with the right people, the ones who wanted the best for me and brought out the best in me, instead of pulling me off course. That inner work has been just as important as anything I’ve done professionally.

When I first started coaching, I was around 19–23 years old, sneaking clients into different 24 Hour Fitness locations across town. I got kicked out of more gyms than I can remember — always politely, always with the same look from staff like, “Sir… please stop doing this.” At the time, I was working three or four other jobs while going to community college, still trying to figure out what direction I wanted my life to go. Training was something I loved, but it was part-time — something I did because it made me feel alive, not something I fully believed I could build a career around yet.

Things started to shift around 2017–2018. I was deep in mentorships and apprenticeships, learning corrective exercise, biomechanics, and layers of the body that traditional fitness never taught me. That’s also when I discovered Ikigai, and everything clicked. Training wasn’t just fun or fulfilling — it was my purpose. It was the thing I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. That realization pushed me to go all-in instead of giving coaching whatever leftover time I had.

Around that same time, I established myself at a gym in Glendale and built a solid client base. It finally felt like I was gaining traction… and then the gym eventually closed down due to internal issues.
From 2019 through the COVID years, I trained clients anywhere I could — homes, backyards, parks, garages, apartment gyms — truly anywhere. And even though it meant driving all over Los Angeles and operating under the radar, I never saw that period as a setback. I saw it as my time to step up. Health was uncertain, guidance was unclear, and people needed support more than ever. Ironically, during one of the most chaotic times, my business grew the fastest because I stayed committed to serving people when they needed it most.

All of that — the sneaking into gyms, the side jobs, the mentorships, the gym closure, the COVID hustle — led to one of the biggest decisions of my life. In 2021, I opened ONE STUDIO LA. Having my own space was the culmination of years of trying, failing, learning, adapting, and refusing to walk away from what I knew I was meant to build.

So no, it hasn’t been smooth. But the road wasn’t supposed to be smooth. Every bump taught me something. Every obstacle clarified my mission. And every phase — even the messy ones — helped shape the person and practitioner I’m still becoming.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
At my core, I help people feel, move, and live better by understanding their bodies on a deeper level than the traditional fitness world ever teaches. I’m a coach, but my work lives at the intersection of biomechanics, nervous system regulation, strength training, and holistic lifestyle coaching. It’s a fully integrative framework — not just sets and reps, not just mobility drills, and not just nutrition tips — but understanding why someone moves the way they do, why they’re in pain, and what foundational systems need to be rebuilt so they can perform and feel their best long-term.

Most people seek me out because they’ve already tried everything else. They’ve seen physical therapists, trainers, chiropractors, massage therapists, and specialists… and they still don’t have a solution. I built ONE STUDIO LA to be the place people come when they’re tired of fragmented care and want someone who can see the full picture — their breath, their gait, their posture, their nervous system, their strength, their stress load, their lifestyle, and how all of these systems work together.

What I specialize in is creating clarity.
I help people finally understand what’s happening inside their body and teach them how to recalibrate it — not just for a session, but for life.

A big part of my work is rooted in Postural Restoration–informed principles, biomechanics, and corrective exercise, blended with strength training, metabolic insights, and nervous system practices. I love taking complex concepts and making them approachable, actionable, and empowering for the everyday person. My clients range from executives and founders to athletes and individuals recovering from injuries. The common thread is that they’re high performers who want to feel powerful and pain-free again.

What I’m most proud of is the system I’ve built. It took a decade of mentorships, apprenticeships, injuries, education, and lived experience to create an approach that doesn’t exist anywhere else. And the proof is in the results: ONE STUDIO LA has had a continuous waitlist for years, built entirely through word of mouth. No paid ads. No gimmicks. Just impact.

But I’m also proud of how my work is evolving.

OMNI Performance Coaching is my online coaching program for high-performing men and founders who want a smarter, more integrated approach to training, recovery, and longevity. It’s the digital evolution of the system I built in person — designed to help people train pain-free, beat burnout, build sustainable strength, and live better for the long haul.

Alongside that, I’m developing One Coach Academy, my mentorship program for coaches and trainers. It’s designed to help the next generation of coaches develop emotional intelligence, identify their unique ability so they can offer a service that’s undeniably authentic to them, build strong foundations in biomechanics and nervous system understanding, and pursue specialized education to sharpen their craft. Most importantly, it provides the structure, support, and integrative coaching skills that actually create long-term results for the clients they serve.

What truly sets me apart is my lens.
I don’t see the body as a collection of muscles to train or symptoms to treat. I see it as a whole system —Spiritual, physical, neurological, emotional, and metabolic — and I help people rebuild that system from the inside out. I don’t use cookie-cutter programs. I don’t rush people. I teach them how their body works so they can take ownership of their health and performance.

And maybe the most important part: I’m still a student. I love this work. I’m constantly learning, refining, and integrating. I think people feel that — the curiosity, the care, the passion. That’s what clients connect with, and that’s what makes this work meaningful to me.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Absolutely. I’ve always believed that the quality of what I consume directly shapes the quality of how I show up — in my work, my relationships, and my life. I’m a lifelong student by nature, so I gravitate toward resources that challenge my thinking and expand my understanding of the body, the mind, and the human experience.

Books:

A few that have had the biggest impact on me:

The 7 Laws of Spiritual Success — This was the 1st book that truly made the most impact with how I move in the world back in 2012. A powerful reminder of how to live and work with intention.

Ikigai — This concept genuinely changed the direction of my life and helped me understand why coaching felt like my purpose.

Atomic Habits — A masterclass in consistency and identity-based change, which is at the heart of coaching and being.

Outlive by Peter Attia — I consider this the modern bible of medicine. A deep dive into longevity, performance, and health span.

Outwitting the Devil — This book helped me crawl out of some a my pivotal anxiety ridden era of my life. A fascinating exploration of fear, discipline, and self-mastery.

The Bible — A more recent but grounding influence, helping me deepen my understanding of faith, discipline, and the human experience through christianity.

Podcasts:

Podcasts are a big part of my weekly learning:

Diary of a CEO — My recent favorite. I love the way Steven Bartlett interviews and the depth he draws out of his guests.

The Peter Attia Drive — Insightful conversations around health, longevity, and performance.

Huberman Lab — Practical, science-based tools for understanding the nervous system and behavior.

Paul Chek Podcast — One of the earliest influences on my holistic thinking.

Courses & Education:

This is where most of my growth has come from:

Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) — By far the most impactful education I’ve done. It fundamentally changed how I see and understand the body. It answered questions I’d had for years with evidence, systems, and clear treatment frameworks.

Chek Institute — My introduction to holistic health, systems thinking, and seeing the body as an integrated whole.

Gray Institute (3D Maps / CAFS) — Expanded my understanding of multi-planar movement and how the body interacts with gravity and ground forces.

Apps & Tools:

I use technology as a way to build awareness, not obsession:

WHOOP & Oura Ring — Helpful for understanding recovery, stress, and long-term trends.

Lumen — A useful tool for metabolic awareness and nutrition timing.

Apple Notes — Where many of my systems, ideas, and late-night insights live.

Mentorship:

More than any book or podcast, my mentors have shaped me the most. Learning through apprenticeship taught me how to think critically, stay curious, and continue evolving — and that mindset still guides everything I do today.

At the end of the day, the resources matter — but the real learning happens in the studio, with real people, real challenges, and real breakthroughs. That’s where everything comes to life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @alex_Garibyan : @onoestudio.la : @OmniPerformanceCoaching
• Other: https://yelp.to/V0XtKqOwki

Image Credits
Daryoush Rahimi (Tash Frames), Roman Ter-Ovsepyan (Roman Photography), Nick Fran (openhousefoto)