who are We?

Liam "Taku" Bauer

Liam is celebrating 30 years as a strength coach in 2018. From his humble beginnings in a Nautilus gym in Washington D.C., Liam has trained thousands of clients privately as well as acting as a fitness consultant for clients all over the world.

Liam likens his training style to Bruce Lee's "Jeet Kune Do." His methods have a foundation in effort-based strength training (a.k.a. high intensity or HIT training). However, as an eternal student, Liam borrows from countless influences.

His clients defy gender and age stereotypes. From professional athletes to nonagenarians Liam has seen it all.

Liam currently trains clients at Fitness SF in Oakland, CA.

Jesse Schmidt

Jesse began his personal training career in April 2017 and quickly achieved the title of "Fitness Director" at Fitness SF in Oakland. He credits his early success to his voracious appetite for learning and guidance from his mentor, Liam Bauer.

Jesse graduated from UCLA in 2011 with a degree in American Literature. He is an avid rock climber, baseball player, and aspiring ninja warrior.

Jesse's clients include seniors, high school athletes, marathon runners, obstacle course racers, and martial artists.

Our Mission:

To promote health and prevent disease through strength training in the safest and most efficient way humanly possible. To help people become the best version of themselves.

Core Values:

Promoting individual strength through evidence-based progressive overload training.
Supporting individual health through evidence-based nutritional counseling.
Strengthening communities by connecting practitioners of the evidence-based, high intensity training (H.I.T.) philosophy to clients who value evidence-based training regimen.
Disseminating up-to-date scientific research regarding exercise physiology and neutralizing misleading and/or unscientific information.
Bolstering Oakland’s image as a hub for fitness innovation and technological advancement.
Providing the owners with returns on their investment sufficient to continue sharing the tenets of high intensity, evidence-based training.

“[Jesse] has really flipped it upside down for me. I was much more focused on the amount of time I was spending at the gym. Doing a lot more cardio and doing several sets of reps. Jesse helped me to realize I don’t have to spend as much time at the gym. Focusing on one set to failure and pushing myself to increase the amount of weight versus doing tons of reps was a better approach. ”

— Alexia @mommylexiloves (Instagram)

“I started training with Liam Bauer over the summer of 2017 and I immediately saw huge results. His method is all based on evidence. I had never touched heavy weights before I trained with him and before I knew it I was squatting 160 lbs and really pushing my threshold. I pushed my muscles to muscle fatigue, which was completely different for me, but it showed results like I’d never seen before. ”

— Ashley

“When I first joined the training program with Jesse I had some goals to build up my body mass and put on muscle, plus lose weight (unwanted body fat) and Jesse really helped me meet those goals. I really enjoyed the way that Jesse kept momentum and high energy through all of our training and made me focus on the most important parts of the workout. So for all you guys out there that are thinking of training I fully recommend it. Jesse is awesome and he can change things for you!”

— Daniel

“ In the 12 week period where I was first on this style of training my body fat decreased noticeably (maybe 1-2%) and I also gained 2-3 lbs of muscle. For someone who has been training in the gym for 10 years and training intensely for 6 to gain muscle in such a short space of time, alongside increases in strength and decreases in body fat, really showed me how beneficial and how effective this style of training can be. For me it’s a really enjoyable style of training. It’s short, very effective, and it really pushes you physically when you’re in the gym. ”

— Conor

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