Chad Landers on Becoming One of LA’s Top Celebrity Trainers

Welcome to this frank conversation with writer, speaker, strength and conditioning specialist, power lifter, and the owner of Push Private Fitness in LA, Chad Landers. Chad has been a ‘legit’ trainer to rock stars and Hollywood actors for over 24 years and throughout this interview you’ll find simple, actionable, no-nonsense advice, which is all too often absent from this area of the industry.

For the first half, we focus on how his nutrition and training advice differs for his actor clients on a time crunch versus his regular clients. In the second half, we talk about how Chad built his career, going from a farm in Illinois to being California state co-chair of USA Powerlifting, and training Hollywood clients in Studio City.

Selected links

• Push Private Fitness – Chad’s fitness facility and personal training business
• Contact Chad – Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Show notes

• Chad’s Bio. – Chad is a graduate of the University of Illinois in Kinesiology, a certified strength and conditioning specialist with the NFCA, and in 2007 he was the first and only American to graduate with a Diploma in Sports Nutrition from the International Olympic Committee. He is a personal trainer in Los Angeles since 1993 and opened Push Private Fitness in 2003. Chad is a powerlifter, former CA State co-chair of USA Powerlifting. He has been published in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and Yahoo with public speaking gigs around the world. [3:00]
• Chad on working with celebrities. – Although Chad’s experience has led to him working with actors and celebrities, he continues to work with a variety of people in L.A. Chad draws a parallel between Push Private Fitness with ‘Cheers, where everyone knows your name.’ Push Pull Fitness strikes a balance between respecting celebrity privacy and not treating the famous differently than any other client. Usually, training actors is no different than anyone else. However, there is more pressure on actors to achieve a specific look over the average person. [6:00]
• Chad on working with older clientele. – Chad was training a 96-year-old for free, and he felt very rewarded with this work. Up until the client recently passed away, she was able to live a quality life with dignity. Chad is also working with a 74-year-old powerlifter who has gone through breast cancer and endless challenges, but she continues to find success. [10:00]
• Chad’s training tips for starting out. – Chad suggests that in-person trainers starting out shouldn’t focus on finding their niche. Instead, they should focus on high-quality training with a variety of people. [14:00]
• Preparing an actor without enough time. – Chad was given three weeks to use a protein sparing modified fast as an extreme measure to prepare an actor. The actor was able to drop 30 pounds in three weeks. However, this setup the actor for a rebound. Chad likes to keep his actor clientele one week out from a photo shoot with more sustainable methods. [15:50]
• Hollywood magic! – Chad has seen every trend and supplement come and go. When Chad wants to get someone in shape, he focuses on big multi-joint exercises with some interval training. Chad isn’t using a magic Hollywood pill. [21:00]
• The differences between training today and years past. – The biggest difference today is the amount of options to get ripped, which is both a blessing and a curse. Today, more food is concocted in a lab. That said, we still have the choices of food that hasn’t been overly processed. Chad feels like people need to be more mindful of the choices they are making at restaurants and grocery stores. [24:45]
• Chad’s grocery store tips. – Chad suggests staying around the outside of the grocery store. Stay away from the pre-packaged foods located in the middle aisles. Chad also suggests not to go to the grocery store when you are feeling hungry. [26:30]
• How Chad starts changing a client’s diet. – Chad does not put most clients onto a diet right away. Instead, he has them track without making any changes. There are clues in their tracked data that help Chad determine the best course of action. Sometimes, just changing one thing will give the client a jump start and adhere to the change. [28:00]
• One habit at a time. – Chad feels like it depends on the person if adherence works better one at a time or a large lifestyle change. For example, a Type-A personality might do better on a strict diet overhaul. However, other people might have a hard time giving up just one bad habit.  [30:00]
• ‘Calorie Culprits.’ – There is something in everyone’s diet, such as nut butter, that can add up really fast. Instead of giving up the calorie culprit, it might be a simple matter of measuring and tracking. [32:00]
• Giving yourself an Audit. – Andy speaks to giving yourself an audit once every 1-2 years. He suggests tracking everything for 1-2 weeks to remain accountable. [33:15]
• Chad’s life story. – Andy asks how Chad went from being a kid on a farm in Illinois to living down the road from Universal Studios. Chad attributes his success to taking risks and having a lot of support along the way. He started off as a biology major but switched to his love of kinesiology. However, at the time, personal training was not a popular career path. Starting out, Chad wasn’t happy with managing a local health club, so he moved to Las Vegas. He eventually got a few positions working as a staff member at different gyms. In 1993, Chad took a risk and moved to Los Angeles to work as a trainer. Chad eventually started training his own clients at Gold’s Gym. After eight years he started, what is now, Push Private Fitness. When Chad realized what he does was important, his business really took off. [37:00]
• Karen’s role in Chad’s success. – Working the in Film Industry, Karen’s transformation certainly started the conversation about Chad’s business. These conversations snowballed into many actor referrals at the beginning. After Karen’s physical transformation, her confidence improved and translated into positive changes in her career.  [44:20]
• The key for Chad’s referrals. – Chad never once asked for someone to refer a client. He really focuses on just leaving a good impression with all of his clients. Chad doesn’t have a strict cancellation policy. Chad feels like it is smarter to retain existing clients instead of trying to find new ones. [46:30]
• Andy’s change in coaching approach. – Andy started out coaching with a finite end date. However, he has changed to incorporate a minimum training commitment of three months. Working with clients on a continual basis allows for transformations over the long-term. Chad mentions how trainers don’t think twice about subscribing to research reviews. In turn, it shouldn’t be surprising that clients pay trainers to stay informed and keep them on track. [51:00]
• Pricing and buy-in. – Chad sees pricing and buy-in as two separate things. Buy-in is about how much clients enjoy spending time with Chad, regardless of the price. Chad’s long-term clients have a lower rate than brand new clients. However, he still continues to raise his rate for existing clients. If a new client can’t afford Chad’s rate, he suggests one of the other trainers that offer lower rates. Speaking to coaching online, having a higher rate might be more necessary to get buy-in. [54:00]
• Working with clients that live a ‘busy’ lifestyle. – Chad thinks that sometimes it isn’t possible to help people until they are willing to help themselves. Ultimately, they need to have consistency to the workout and eating program over the long-term. These clients will need to make a change in their life. [59:30]
• Chad’s craziest job perk. – Chad flew coast-to-coast in a private jet. [1:02:00]
• Advice to trainers. – Chad suggests that you need to love training other people and be willing to meet them at their level. A trainer can’t take a client’s progress personally. Chad also emphasizes not to get into debt and to pay yourself first. [1:04:00]
• Interview with Karen. – Karen talks about her success and always working toward the top. Karen feels like she has imposter syndrome. She suggests staying hungry and humble. [1:10:00]

Thank you for listening! – Andy and Chad

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