Westchester County Business Journal A good fit
A good fit
PTI trains one on one
Arnold Scacci worked on Wall Street for 20 years “at a small firm no one ever heard of” and cashed out to pursue his passion – physical fitness – and to become his own boss.
“We saw the writing on the wall,” Scacci, a Scarsdale resident and former stock option equities specialist, said of current Wall Street woes. “We decided to step away as a company in 2005. Looking back, I’m happy I’m not there. So I started looking for businesses and looking at different franchises for something that would suit me and something I would want to do every day for the next 20 years of my life.”
Scacci found it in Long Island-based Personal Training Institute (PTI), which has 20 existing or soon-to-open locations. He bought the Westchester County franchise rights and opened a PTI in New Rochelle this summer.
Scacci is days away from opening another in the Rye Ridge Shopping Center in Rye Brook. His intention is to open two more locations, also in Westchester.
PTI's approach to training and physical fitness is very focused and includes an important nutrition component.
In a nutshell: Don't expect great results if your training session is not accompanied by a healthy diet.
“One of the things that we do here as part of the program is use the Tanita scale, the industry standard in weight loss,” said Joy Perlow, a nutritionist who meets with clients once a week. “What is gives you is your weight, body fat percentage, total body water percentage, body mass, metabolic age and bone mass.”
Perlow said each client gets a calorie guide and nutrition program based on the numbers provided by the scale, which lets her know if a client is sticking to the nutrition program or not.
Exercise sessions are as equally focused: You're in and out in a half hour.
“The model of this company is what really struck me,” Scacci said. “The workout itself is very, very sensible and attractive in the sense that you could get a great, high-intensity workout in a 30-minute period. I’ve been going to the gym my whole life and I would always observe people working out and wondering why people would be sitting on one machine for 15 minutes.”
Manager John O’Connor said PTI appeals to a different market than big-box gyms that offer exercise classes and free rein of the facility. At PTI, a client is always with a trainer during a workout session to ensure its effectiveness.
“It depends on a person’s likes and goals,” O’Connor said. “If someone is not skilled at using the equipment on their own, then it’s not going to work for them.”
PTI doesn’t offer clients brochures. Instead, Scacci encourages first-time clients to try a workout with a trainer for free.
As for the price, which averages $23 a session, “our pricing structure is much different than a typical personal training studio,” Scacci said. “We train people in-house and certify them in-house, so we don’t need to pay for the national certificates a lot of trainers who demand much higher prices have.”
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