Hello! My name is John Bruno and I am a former NCAA strength and conditioning coach and martial arts instructor originally from Erie Pennsylvania, where I worked for about 10 years at Mercyhurst University, also in Erie. I am truly passionate about my career as a strength and conditioning coach and personal trainer, as I love helping others learn and succeed, love bettering myself through my own training journey and practicing what I preach, and also I love continuing my own education as a fitness professional and regularly read, attend seminars, and practice new skills in both nutrition and fitness. In late 2014, after finishing graduate school, I moved to Sarasota Florida where I now reside full time; I live in The Meadows area.
I have trained elite athletes as well as out of shape people looking to get back in shape, and elderly people with orthopedic problems such as hip and knee replacements, and everyone in between of all ages. I have the education and experience to help anyone succeed. I am excited to work with you and guide you to success.
I am very much looking forward to helping you succeed in your fitness journey, whatever that may be for you. In my own education and development, I have been coached by and mentored under some of the best in the industry over the past 18 years. I look forward to sharing this knowledge and these skills with you.
Below I have created an outline of my background and services so that you have the choice to read everything in depth or quickly find the section(s) that are of most interest to you.
Looking forward to hearing from you and thank you for your interest,
Yours in Fitness,
John J. Bruno, MS, CSCS, PES, CSS, FMS, USAW
Masters Degree in Exercise Science – Performance Enhancement / Injury Prevention
NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach
Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certified Nutrition Coach
AIS Active Isolated Stretching Practitioner Aaron Mattes Method
NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist
FMS Functional Movement Screening Specialist (Level II)
NASE Certified Speed Specialist
RKC Certified Kettlebell Lifting Instructor
AKC Certified Kettlebell Lifting Coach
Certified Associate Grappling Instructor, Harris International
Certified Apprentice L5 Jeet Kune Do, French, Filipino, and Indonesian Martial Arts Instructor
John Bruno Strength and Conditioning
Personal Training
Martial Arts
Nutrition Coaching
Section 1 – How to Get Started
Section 2 – Location of Training / Nutrition
Section 3 – Types of Services Provided
A. Performance Training and Strength and Conditioning for Sports
B. Personal Training Customized for Each Individual Client
C. Elderly Clients / Senior Fitness
D. Body Fat Reduction and Weight Loss
E. Mass Building and Weight Gain
F. Nutrition Coaching
G. Injury Rehabilitation
H. Corrective Exercise / Movement Correction / Posture Correction
I. Pre-Surgery Preparation Training and Post-Surgery Recovery Training
J. Joint Pain (example: Knees, Hips, Shoulders, etc.)
K. Back Pain Reduction, Therapy, Strengthening, and Safety
L. Balance Training
M. Olympic Lifting
N. Power Lifting
O. Functional Training
P. Kettlebell
Q. Active Isolated Stretching / Flexibility
R. Other Health Conditions
S. Parkinson’s
T. Osteoporosis Prevention / Therapy
U. Self Defense / Martial Arts
Section 4 – Prices
Section 1 – How to Get Started
To start out with, I would like to offer you a complimentary fitness assessment. This is where we will discuss goals and training schedule. This way, you will see I am the most qualified trainer to help you tone up, lose body fat, build muscle, gain strength and look and feel great. I will teach you a complete comprehensive program including protocols for cardiovascular aerobic and resistance training. Also, we will better organize your nutrition to enhance your results. I will track your body composition regularly as we go. This will ensure we are creating the desired changes (for example, to make sure we are losing fat and not muscle).
I ask you to read the reviews on my profile. See what my previous and current clients have to say about training with me. Also, I have many certifications but would like to specifically point out that I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). This is considered the gold standard of certifications; it is the hardest to attain and is the only one accepted by the NCAA for working with Division One athletes.
The best way to contact me to schedule your complimentary fitness assessment is to text my cell phone, number above.
Texting is good because if I am with a client, I can get back to you when I am on break. If you would rather call my cell phone, please feel free. However, keep in mind that I may not be able to pick up as I may be with a client. However, I do regularly check my messages.
Section 2 – Location of Training / Nutrition
Option 1:
I also train people at the Fitness Center at Sun Outdoors Sarasota RV Park (formerly known as Sun N Fun) which is about 5 minutes off the Fruitville road exit of I75. This is a larger facility with several amenities. It is a good fit for those looking to join a gym to work out at times when you are not training with me one on one. However, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY A MEMBERSHIP TO TRAIN WITH ME AT THIS GYM. The gym does offer a discounted membership to my clients though. I will give you directions when you schedule your assessment; the address is:
7125 Fruitville Rd
Sarasota, FL 34240
Option 2:
Another location I train clients at is Pope Performance which is a small performance center 5 minutes east of I75 off of the University Exit not far from the University Town Center Mall. This is a smaller performance center style gym. Only people working with myself or one of the other trainers go here. It is not a membership gym but a private personal training space. YOU DO NOT NEED A MEMBERSHIP TO TRAIN WITH ME AT THIS GYM. I will give you directions when you schedule your assessment; The address is:
7353 International Place Unit 306
Sarasota, FL 34240
Option 3:
I also provide in home training services or training in your community fitness center; for example, people that live in condos with gyms or people that have their own facility at home. Because drive time is involved, I usually have to charge more than my regular rates, but for some people the time saved is worth the additional cost (see fees section).
Option 4:
Nutrition services are done in person by appointment at a mutually decided location, over Skype or Facetime, or by phone. Ongoing communication is done by email, text, and phone call, and in person meetings when needed.
Section 3 – Types of Services Provided
A. Performance Training and Strength and Conditioning for Sports
I have worked with many NCAA Division I and Division II athletes in my career. I have worked with NCAA and professional athletes from many sports including ice hockey, water polo, basketball, football, wrestling, all type of martial arts, field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, golf, track and field, boxing, and tennis. My highlights include 3 Olympians in ice hockey (2 gold medal), two Patty Kazmaier Award winning NCAA Female Division I Hockey Players, 2012 Division Champion and 4th Place National finishers (Mercyhurst Water Polo 2012), several golden glove champion and top finishers, and countless martial arts and jiu jitsu competition winners.
B. Personal Training Customized for Each Individual Client
I have a system and methods that focus on general physical preparedness for each individual as a person. Then we customize the training based on each person’s physical ability, training status, prior experience, and injury / health history. These programs are structured in a way to produce the desired physiological results that will produce fulfillment of each person’s specific goal.
C. Elderly Clients / Senior Fitness
Many ask me, because they see that I have worked with so many NCAA athletes if I work with older clients. The answer is “yes”. Elderly clients are some of my favorite clients to work with because they all get good results and it is fun to watch people progress and get positive results as they go. Most think that training athletes and training elderly is very different, but in reality, it is not. In both cases, we are trying to get someone to be stronger and move better. So, the real difference is just the “starting point” of each person, but the process is very similar. I get just as much satisfaction watching someone who could not stand up without using their hands, stand up for the first time without using their hands. And I am ecstatic when I see this same person stand up 10 times while holding a weight in their hands. And this is the norm when working with seniors.
D. Body Fat Reduction and Weight Loss
Personal training and customized exercise coupled with the proper nutritional and lifestyle approach is the only way to make a positive impact on body composition. You simple cannot exercise off the weight. We will give you the right type of programming to attain your weight loss goals, but you will have to do your part to ensure that you help in the process. You cannot out train or out condition a poor diet. Yes, you may be able to work off a few pounds, but that is it. And it won’t last. It is not sustainable. We will show you the way, but you will need to walk the walk.
E. Nutrition Coaching
The nutrition coaching program is done in addition to any of our other programs like personal training or can also be done on its own. We have various degrees of coaching and utilize email, phone calls, and in person visits from the nutrition coach. You can do as little or as much coaching as you like, as some people need more than others. We will show you how to eat and what to eat without calorie counting (for most people), without tracking macronutrients (for most people), and without having to measure everything you eat (again for most people, advance athletes and competitors may need more strict guidelines).
F. Mass Building and Weight Gain
Some people, athletes, and/or body builders need to gain lean body mass. However, other people either have trouble putting on muscle or have medical conditions that make gaining muscle hard. We have exercise and nutrition programming designed for helping people put on muscle mass.
G. Injury Rehabilitation
After an injury, many people are assigned physical therapy. This is great. Physical therapy takes you to a point from injured status to a state where you are now able to resume normal activities. However, many people reinjure themselves or never fully recover because they do not have a method to bridge the gap from the post physical therapy stage to the regular activity and performance stage. We have programming that can take you from post physical therapy back to performing at your best or even better. Think about safe effective logical progression forward.
H. Corrective Exercise / Movement Correction / Posture Correction
As a Functional Movement Specialist, I have been trained to use specific exercises (called corrective exercises) to fix or improve dysfunctional movement and/or postural abnormalities. Essentially corrective exercises acts to wake up a lazy muscle group that is causing the dysfunction, or to establish a better movement template over top of the old pattern. In essence, the exercise is the medicine, thus fixing the problem.
I. Pre-Surgery Preparation and Post-Surgery Recovery Training
Like an athlete would prepare for the rigors of an upcoming season, I always advise people to take this same approach with any upcoming orthopedic surgery… especially shoulders, hips, and knees. For example, if someone is having trouble getting up and down out of a chair, they really need to get their strength up before undergoing a hip replacement surgery for example. And if these same people have a weak upper body, they run a higher risk of injuring their shoulders during the post-surgery phase, where they will need to overuse their hands to get up and down. So, I suggest people do themselves a favor, and prepare for the post-surgery rehabilitation phase by training hard pre-surgery. It will make you and your physical therapist’s life easier. Then when physical therapy is done, before you revert back into your old ways, use this as a chance to improve your strength and get back to where you once were when you were younger and before the surgery causing injury happened. Note, at the time of this writing I am 51 years old and I have had 2 hip replacements… on in 2017 and one in 2018… since then I have broken most of my lifting records involving the legs… this is in no small part because I trained and prepared hard for both surgeries… and continued at it after the surgeries.
J. Joint Pain (example: Knees, Hips, Shoulders, etc.)
There are a lot of common reasons why hips, knees, shoulders, and backs may hurt. Due to having the experience I do working with these problems; I have several ways we can work to mitigate these types of problems and still make forward progress. Pushing through the pain is not the answer. Knowing how to work around it is.
K. Back Pain Reduction, Therapy, Strengthening, and Safety
I did not really set out to deliberately become an expert on back pain, but I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to train directly with Dr. Stuart McGill at a 3-Day seminar back in 2012. After having read his books, the seminar completed so much about the presented information and concepts. For those that do not know Dr. McGill is the worlds leading kinesiologist on lower back pain and pain causing mechanisms as well as core safety and core strengthening. I set out to learn a bit about this to help with my own back pain, but it has snowballed into something bigger. I now have a very good track record with clients I have helped with back pain, often fixing it all together as I did my own.
L. Balance Training
Most of our program will improve balance by default, but we do have specific exercises that we include and additional exercises we add when we really want to dial in someone’s balance. However, I have also observed that most people have a strength problem and not a balance problem per se.
M. Olympic Lifting
Technically, the Olympic lifts are the barbell snatch and the barbell clean and jerk. We use some Olympic lifting in most of our programming with athletes and the athletic population. We do not have an Olympic lifting team per se but do teach these lifts to both athletes and people who want to move on to competition Olympic lifting. When the athlete is ready, I can refer them to a team through my network of coaches.
N. Power Lifting
The power lifts typically refer to the barbell bench press, the barbell parallels squat, and the barbell dead lift. These are the 3 main competition lifts for this sport, but sometimes others are included. Just like with Olympic lifts, most of our athletes and athletic population will do some or all of these lifts as part of their program. However, at the time of this writing we do not specifically have a power lifting team per se. If a lifter is ready for competition, I can refer him/her to a team through my network of coaches.
O. Functional Training
In one sense, this means considering functional anatomy, rather than gross anatomy, when designing exercises and programs. In functional training, we focus on training muscle groups rather than individual muscles. We try to train an entire motor patter through its entire range. This type of training more closely resembles the movement of sport or life. Thus, the attributes developed by these types of exercises are considered to be more usable in everyday life, AKA more “functional”. For the most part, all of our programming is functional in nature. These types of exercises can be done with typical barbells and dumbbells but are also often done using kettlebells, battle ropes, medicine balls, bosu, TRX, kettlebells, sleds, clubs, sandbags, and other less traditional equipment.
P. Kettlebell
The Kettlebell is near and dear to my heart. It singlehandedly started the “functional training” movement seen back in the early 2000’s. I have personally trained under many of the best kettlebell coaches of that time including Pavel Tsatsouline and Valerie Federanko.
Q. Active Isolated Stretching / Flexibility
I am certified in and use the AIS stretching technique as taught by Aaron Mattes, a pioneer in flexibility training who has been in the field since the 1960’s. I have over 80 hours of hands on training from Aaron and also 100’s of hours of time logged as a practitioner working with my clients. I don’t regularly work as a stretch therapist, but when issues arise with clients while we are training, I often use these methods to stave off any injury or condition before it gets too serious. I also use these methods when working with a new client to correct a preexisting condition so we can move forward with training and not be held back by an old problem.
R. Other Health Conditions
I am experienced working with all the following conditions: Stroke, Quadriplegia and Paraplegia, Ataxia, Parkinson’s, Rectus Diastasis, Hip Replacement, Shoulder Replacement, Knee Replacement, Fibro Myalgia, Lupus, Post Car Accident Blunt Force Conditions, Heart Disease, A Fib, High Blood Pressure, Osteoporosis, Asthma, Type II Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, and many other conditions. If your specific condition is not listed, I am sure that I can still find a way to help you become active and stronger.
S. Parkinson’s
I have worked closely with several Parkinson’s clients and have learned a great deal about this debilitating disease. We often take a boxing approach and also work on large gross motor movement strengthening. Boxing patters are very enriching for the brain body connection that is slowly lost over time with Parkinson’s.
T. Osteoporosis Prevention / Therapy
I have had several of my regular female clients over the age of 60 that I have been training for several years, have improved bone density tests since starting our training. One of the ladies went from osteoporosis to osteopenia in 2 years. Another went from osteopenia to normal bone density. And the third, who was already in the normal range when she started, actually gained bone density. All of these women trained regularly with me two to three times per week consistently between bone density tests. This is consistent with reports that show resistance training being the best stimulus for promoting bone growth
U. Self Defense / Martial Arts
As far as traditional martial arts go, I teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), a blend of the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA), and Classic Western Sport Boxing. I teach these styles in their pure artistic form as they were taught to me.
However, I also teach Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do Concepts (JKD) which is not so much a style but a process of training methods put together to help guide your training from a more global and systematic self defense perspective. Using Bruce’s guidelines we blend techniques from many styles into a system that is custom designed for each individual to utilize in self defense and combat. As Bruce would say, “keep what is useful and reject what is useless”.
Therefore, self-defense is taught with a JKD framework using techniques from Boxing, Wrestling, FMA, BJJ, Savate, Muay Thai, Sambo, other kickboxing arts, Wing Chun, Kali, Karate, and Kung Fu. As these techniques are taught, the student learns to combine them at different ranges to effectively create their own specific style of combat.
Section 4 – Prices
Let me be candid and say that this type of customized training will not fit everyone’s budget. The price range for personal training ranges from 160.00/month to 1200.00+/month with the average monthly packages running from 400.00 to 800.00 per month.
The single session rate for 1 hour is 75.00 and single session rate for 30 minutes is 40.00 at one of the gyms listed in “Section 2 – Location of Training / Nutrition”. Discounted training packages are available which generally save you 5 to 10 dollars per session.
