Two years ago, The Campanil highlighted a unique fitness service in Oakland catering to the LGBT community: The Perfect Sidekick.
The Perfect Sidekick was founded in 2010 by Nathalie Huerta, a former Mills graduate student. Huerta’s vision was of an open and welcoming space for the LGBT community to exercise and gain valuable information regarding health and fitness.
Since 2010, The Perfect Sidekick has seen some huge changes, including expanding their location and adding new services.
“We expanded to a larger location since 2010 and plan to expand once again before the end of this year,” Huerta explained. Nutrition services geared toward educating clients on what to consume and what not to consume, massage services, and an upgrade to participating in four outside events per month have also been added.
“The Perfect Sidekick currently has seven talented staff members, the largest staff we’ve had to date. Two of which have lost over 150 lbs. each,” Huerta said.
With the new school year ahead, The Perfect Sidekick is offering new student discount rates and deals. Student memberships are highly discounted and have access to a wide range of valuable resources.
“Apart from the discounts, student members are able to access diverse group workouts ranging from yoga, kickboxing, boot camp, rehab and stretching, and each group for group workouts is small,” Huerta said.
With no more than 10 people per class, very direct attention is given to each member (following a similar suit to classes here at Mills!). As a member, you are granted access to all the trainers and their unique styles, which is especially advantageous because the same trainers who teach private clients also teach group training sessions. Constant and consistent contact between client and trainer is encouraged.
“We measure and track members’ progress on a monthly basis by having them meet and check in with a private trainer, which ensures that they are maximizing their time at the gym and are actually reaching their goals,” Huerta said
Mills Faculty and students have been loyal patrons of The Perfect Sidekick, finding success in their time spent there.
Former Mills students Kathryn Hall and Jasmine Abele are both current and past clients respectively.
“Since I started at the The Perfect Sidekick, I’ve lost over 50 pounds,” Hall said. “I didn’t realize that I was really looking that different until I started getting the reactions.”
Hall joined The Perfect Sidekick because it sounded different that other gyms she’d tried.
“What I had done and where I had gone before never really kept me interested, so I thought, ‘why not?’” she said. “The Perfect Sidekick is different because the entire team is there to help you reach your goals.”
“The gym is more like a family,” Hall said. “The trainers are always available talk about you, your training, or anything about your life in general. We even do things outside of the gym together.”
The Perfect Sidekick creates memorable experiences and lasting relationships.
“The Perfect Sidekick is so wonderful, I want to renew my contract,” Abele said.
Abele continued on to explain that there is a great sense of community found at The Perfect Sidekick.
“The gym instructors are awesome and people get real results!” she said. “The class sizes are small so it is easy to make friends, which helps me stay motivated to go often. The instructors give great attention to every clients’ workout needs and abilities. The most exciting thing about The Perfect Sidekick is the results! It has been amazing to watch friends and fellow clients transform right before your eyes.”
“There is nothing like being able to do a push up for the first time on your toes when you have spent the last years of your life unable to do one on your knees,” said Hall.
