Meet Your Personal Trainer: Isaac Fakasiieiki on Sustainable Weight Loss at NTX Strength & Conditioning

We sat down with personal trainer Isaac Fakasiieiki from NTX Strength & Conditioning, a private gym setting in Arlington, Texas, to discuss the foundation of lasting fitness. With over a decade of experience helping clients achieve and maintain their health goals, Isaac specializes in sustainable weight loss, strength and conditioning, and helping absolute beginners find confidence in the gym. If you’re interested in getting started with a personal trainer, this interview series is for you.

Interview Part 1:

Why People Start Personal Training and Focusing on Their Health

Q: What are the main reasons people start working with a personal trainer and choose a private gym setting like NTX Strength & Conditioning?

Isaac: Most people want to look better and lose weight, but sometimes it’s health issues. They might be dealing with high blood pressure or trying to get off cholesterol medications, things like that. That’s usually why they start working with a personal trainer.

Q: Many people prioritize how they look when starting their fitness journey. How do you and the other trainers at NTX make sure your clients are taking care of their health, beyond some of the looks-based reasons that might first inspire them to start working with a personal trainer?

Isaac: I would say probably, and this is just a rough number, 90% of the people who come in to work out are doing it because of vanity reasons. They may not admit that, but they are motivated to show up at a personal training session because they want to look better. Maybe they want to get rid of the fat under their arms or on their belly.

But when you start training, especially at our gym, we’re focusing on your overall health. If you’re focusing on your overall health, then those aesthetic things will just come naturally. As personal trainers with longtime experience, we’re focusing on your nutrition, focusing on your mental health, then focusing on your physical health—all of those things play a role in the fitness of our clients. If you’re just focused on a specific event—a Cancun trip, a wedding, or whatever—but you don’t actually change anything about your overall habits, you’re going to gain that weight back, probably worse than it was before. As a trainer who looks at the bigger picture, I’m not trying to help you just lose weight. I’m trying to teach you how to keep it off and to maintain overall health so you don’t have to worry about having to get weight loss help again.

Q: Thinking of some of your clients who regularly attend personal training sessions, how do their perspectives on weight and health change over time?

Isaac: To be a helpful personal trainer, I have to convince people that it’s about their health versus how they look. And, usually, there are still mental hurdles that people have to overcome, even if you’ve trained with me for years. Part of it means getting over what society deems as good or proper, like the scale. With fitness, the scale really doesn’t matter, because there’s more to it than just your actual weight—how your body processes things, how your body gets rid of water at different times of the day, and depending on what and when you’re consuming food and water.

Q: So weight is just one part of the picture?

Isaac: Yes, weight is just one metric. It doesn’t even really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. It matters in the sense that, ‘Hey, we’re consistently losing weight,’ which means we are doing the right things with your diet, with your exercise, with your mental health. But if we were just looking at weight every day, and it’s going up and down, that doesn’t tell the whole story of your fitness success. Our clients start to notice other fitness results as well, like how their clothes fit better, how much more energy and mental sharpness they have, and their ability to move better and function well in their daily lives.

Q: For clients who started due to a major health scare—like bad cholesterol or heart problems—what has their journey been like?

Isaac: I think most of the people who’ve had health issues, once their diet is restructured and changed, and their knowledge is improved, typically they will see big progress milestones like a reduction in medication from their doctors. They’re feeling better. They have more energy. For those who start training because of health concerns, I think their experience has been really good. They start out thinking it might be a short-term interest but find that they like to continue working with a personal trainer on a regular basis because, even though they can do this on their own, it can be a lot harder to do it on their own. Many of our gym clients like the one-on-one fitness guidance. They like the routine of showing up to a scheduled appointment. And, our clients here at NTX realize it’s about making a life change, not just a momentary change.

Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

For more in this interview series, check out Part 2: Starting Your Fitness Journey (The Beginner’s Guide)

Ready to take your first step toward your fitness goals?

Located at a private gym setting in Arlington, Texas, NTX Strength & Conditioning is a convenient 1:1 training space for clients across the wider DFW area–just a short drive from Bedford, Euless, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Irving, and more.

Reach out to trainer  Isaac Fakasiieiki today to schedule your initial consultation and start your personal training journey toward lasting fitness results.