Small Business Comeback Tour: In-Home Personal Training, LLC

By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso

NEW JERSEY (WCBS 880) — Talk about being flexible, this fitness business grew into several adjacent services when their back was against the wall at the height of COVID.

As the company name suggests, In-Home Personal Training, LLC of New Jersey started with fitness training at clients’ homes. This model forced their business to shut down during the pandemic. In-home services have since struggled to rebound.

“When COVID started, and like a lot of small businesses, I had no idea how I was going to be able to survive,” said owner Matthew Locascio on the WCBS Small Business Comeback Tour, sponsored by PSE&G.

Naturally, In-Home Personal Training pivoted to virtual training sessions on Zoom, Skype and FaceTime. But, it was the addition of online nutrition classes and yoga instruction that helped the fitness business expand beyond New Jersey.

“They watch my nutritionist prepare healthy meals and learn how to do it with them, the yoga and Pilates, the same,” said Locascio. “They actually work up to 30 people in a class at a time. It’s quite awesome. And, they’re working with people all over the country, which is something I never imagined for my business.”

He told WCBS 880 he now has clients throughout the Tri-State and as far as North Carolina.

In-Home Personal Training now also offers in-home massage therapy and a popular “bridal bootcamp” service.

“You will never work with a more motivated client than a bribe to be,” Locascio said. “The whole service is kind of adjusted around a game-plan that’s customized completely to their timeline.”

One bride, he said, lost 75 pounds within a year ahead of her big day.

See this incredible comeback story on the video above.