About Sal

I’m Sal Marinello, the personal trainer to call if you want to get into the best shape of your life.  I help people of all ages and ability levels get into great shape without wasting time, money and effort.

I have been a personal trainer for over 20 years and during this time I have conducted over 30,000 private personal training sessions and have spent thousands of additional hours running my speed and conditioning clinics, serving as a high school strength and football coach, giving speeches on health and fitness issues and working with youth sports programs.  My byline has appeared in sports pages of The New York Post, my face has been on ESPN and my voice and material are featured on the Steve Czaban Show, Fox Sports Radio’s national morning show.

I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) as designated by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and a USA Weightlifting Certified Coach.  I also am a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).  In addition to my NSCA certifications, I participate in their Fly Solo program that is designed to mentor those who want to become NSCA certified professionals.

I have been involved in coaching sports from the youth level and high school for over 20 years and I am the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Chatham High School in New Jersey.  Over the span of my career, I have worked with thousands of individual kids and teams, in weight rooms, gyms, tracks and fields all over the state.

Since the fall of 2009, I have served as the Athletic Development Coach for the Mercy College athletic program, including their fledgling Division 2 men’s and women’s lacrosse programs located in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

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My personal training facility in New Jersey – the Millburn-Short Hills Athletic Club – was the first of its kind in the suburbs back in 1989 and since then we’ve conducted over 150,000 private sessions.  Our specialty is that we don’t specialize.  We’ll train anyone, and since I started training people in Manhattan back in the 80s I have trained everyone – models, actors, actresses, the famous and the infamous, wanna-bes and never-will-bes and average folks, too.  Since I started doing my thing in the suburbs, the ages of our active client base has run the gamut from young kids to 80-year olds, from incredibly gifted athletes to incredibly non-gifted athletes, men and women, soccer players and football players, committed couch potatoes to “ants-in-the-pants” chronic exercisers.  You name it, I’ve trained it.

The one constant in all of these sessions has been my training philosophy.  Others may beg to differ and say that that my facility and program is not unique, but in response, I can offer up a loyal client base, many of which have been with us for over 15 years.  Personally, most of my clients have been with me for more than 10 years with a handful being in the fold for the better part of two decades.  I don’t charge membership fees, just training fees.  People stay with me because I’m good at what I do. (see Testimonials)

I’ve built a successful business the hard way, by appealing to the needs of real people and delivering on my promise.  Celebrity trainers live and work in a fantasy world and have won the fitness business lottery – and I’m not begrudging them.  However, I was a celebrity trainer when I started in the business and I saw that while it’s nice to say that you train a celebrity, it certainly doesn’t pay the bills – especially when you work for someone else.

I’ve built a business and have become successful as a trainer by engaging people just like you, your family and friends.

My program is responsible for the success of my business and for the success that’s been experienced by the individual clients and sports teams that I work with.  My philosophy will get you into great shape and for the most part, you’ll have fun doing it.  Frankly, I’m not interested in pleading with the committed couch potatoes and trying to convince them that they should start to exercise.  My commitment is to those folks who are frustrated by what they have experienced in their efforts to live a healthier lifestyle and are looking for a better way.  I’m not here to sell you gadgets, gimmicks and other fitness “stuff”.

All you have to do is be willing to listen to me and there’s no limit to what you will be able to accomplish.