March 27, 2017

Meet Alexander Bruce of The Study in Santa Monica

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexander Bruce.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in Texas as a multi-sport athlete. Primarily swimming and basketball. I got into the fitness industry after college working on the operations side of the business with hopes of opening my own membership gym one day. I soon acquired a CPT (certified personal trainer) from the NASM and became a better student of health, wellness, strength and conditioning.

I moved to Miami in 2008 where I shifted my focus from promoting fitness to many down to the few. I began working as a freelance trainer. I would train people at the beach, the park, a condo gym or even just an open space in a person’s home. I kept some bands, medicine balls and Kettlebells in my trunk and charged very little so I could get more experience and work with as many people as possible. Along the way I was reading fitness resources, completing new certifications and attending workshops and seminars by industry leaders.

In 2010, I set out to San Francisco to expand my career and get a change of scenery. There I worked in a private training studio and trained more than I ever had in my life. I worked with people from different fitness populations with a myriad of health conditions and previous injuries which forced me to adapt and customize my approach to training for EVERY student. I created a solid reputation and was ready to start my own program and studio.

Thanks in part to the tech boom in SF however, good commercial space was difficult to come by, so I migrated south to sunny Santa Monica to open my first studio. The study was born in March of 2013, the 60-day semester program emerged and slowly at first and then rapidly grew in popularity. I’m proud to say that myself and my second in command trainer Zac now enjoy a full roster of eager students each semester with a growing waiting list.

The approach and the process are working so a second studio space is now in the works. There is always something to build on and improve so that keeps things interesting and exciting for me in every aspect of my personal and professional life.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The transition from gym manager and potential gym owner to trainer was a scary decision as I had to move away from my first specialization and enter into an entirely new area of fitness. There is a lot of trust and responsibility that goes with being a trainer and I take that very seriously. The gym manager has far less impact on the individual at the gym than the trainer and that is what prompted the switch.

Also, moving cities was a big speed bump. Had I opened my studio in San Francisco, I had a loyal team of students ready to start day 1. Instead, I moved to Los Angeles where I knew virtually no one and had zero clients to work with. There were a few slow months there and I struggled financially.

Fortunately, I wasn’t too concerned with failure of the business. I knew once the word got out and I could build a name in the community synonymous with safe, effective training with an emphasis on education and empowerment that the studio would grow quickly.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
The Study is a small personal training studio in Santa Monica. Located in an alley, it has a no-nonsense warehouse look with a boutique, high-end studio feels. We specialize in custom training and fitness education for the individual or small group (2-4 people). Almost no two human bodies are the same, so it doesn’t make sense to treat them as such. The program here identifies, evaluates and adapts the abilities and needs of each student prior to training. Student goals tend to revolve around fat loss, muscle gain, improved strength and conditioning which we attack from all angles. (Nutrition, training, recovery as well as the mental aspects of changing one’s lifestyle). The program delivers on these as well as the empowerment to sustain those results, build on them and take on new challenges physical or otherwise, applying that newly acquired knowledge.

I’m very proud that I founded a gym that does not actively sell nor does it advertise. I hated the corporate fitness world because everything was about sales, projections, bonus incentives, lead generating, etc. in that setting. It always seemed like money was the primary goal of the gym or trainer and the success of the client was marginalized. I hang my hat on my students’ success and that is what keeps the business going and growing…not the other way around. People value growth, progress and real results so that is what I focused on with my studio. All our prospective students did some kind of research online or were referred by another student which helps keep only those truly motivated knocking on our door. No cold calls or door-hanger flyers here!

The program itself sets the study apart from other gyms because it ensures structure and a methodical approach to each element of a comprehensive fitness regimen. Moreover, the approach is highly academic which differs greatly from many of the group class and boot camp-type training options that are popular today. The sessions are instructed like clinics versus an episode of the biggest loser. We make adjustments for the human body but also the human mind, which any good trainer will tell you is much more difficult to transform. People learn differently and are motivated by different things, so our very first job as instructors is to listen. We must observe and discover which tactics will deliver the most impact for each person.

The Studio is also extremely clean, organized and the equipment is well-maintained. Some of the best gyms I’ve ever been to have extraordinary staff and training but the facility itself is filthy and the equipment is gross or damaged. I vowed long before I ever opened the study to keep the cleanest gym ever even if I had to yell at students for not wiping their feet and take extra time to mop throughout the day.

Lastly, the modest 2-man training team of myself and Zac Montgomery make this place a fun and engaging sanctuary for our students, fully aware of the stress and hardships that the world outside puts on them. That’s what keeps some of our students returning for multiple semesters.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up as pretty good athlete and student. My dad is an engineer and my mom a teacher. In hindsight, I think I combined their strengths into my path as a trainer and coach. I also was a class clown and still find it rewarding to make people laugh. I think that is helpful in my line of work because training can be a very vulnerable time for people trying to get in shape or learn new skills. The road to high-performance fitness is paved with failure which can be frustrating and demotivating, so I insist that we not take ourselves too seriously and acknowledge this is not a life or death scenario.

I love music, film, stand-up comedy. Just as the road to fitness is paved with failure, my program is paved with Seinfeld quotes and cinematic allusions which occupy a healthy portion of my brain.

In addition to fitness, sports and multi-media, I try to travel as much as possible, play games that challenge me physically and mentally and commune with nature on a regular basis.

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