Quick Reference
PT Package
12-session package. Sessions do not roll over. Pricing and package terms are handled through your contract and by Mason directly.
Group Class
6-week enrollment cycles. Max 12 people. 6 stations, 1 minute on / 1 minute off, 3 sets per station.
Cancellations
24-hour notice required to cancel without penalty. Late cancel or no-show: session is forfeited, counts as used. One emergency cancel per rolling 30 days. You enforce it every time. No exceptions negotiated in the moment.
The philosophy underneath everything is simple: force production over volume, technical precision over load, and the trainer leads. Clients do not decide when they're done. You do.
Core Principles
On Intensity
Ask them this: if there was a gun pointed at their head, how many more reps could they do? That's how they should be training. People almost always have more in the tank than they think. They will thank you for pushing them past what they would have done on their own. That's what they're paying for.
The goal of every session is not soreness and it is not a calorie burn. It is a training stimulus that produces an adaptation. Soreness is a side effect. Adaptation is the product. Keep your eye on the right thing.
Barbell & Rack System
Machines
Free Weights
Specialty & Accessory Items
Session Logic
Volume by Client Stage
Intro / First Few Sessions
1 set per exercise is enough. Most people will feel the next day what 1 set of slant board squats or hack squats actually does. Do not chase volume in early sessions. The goal is a clean introduction to the stimulus.
Beginner Clients (0-12 weeks)
2 sets per exercise generally works well. Full body format. Keep the rep range in the 6-12 zone. Watch for velocity drops to call the set.
More Experienced Clients
Read the session, not a template. Adjust volume based on how they're moving and recovering. The principles still apply. You're just managing a higher training age.
Older Clients
Higher rep ranges (15-20+) are appropriate because they produce less joint stress at equivalent stimulus. Adjust load accordingly. The volume rule still applies: less is usually more until you know exactly how they respond.
Exercise Swap Protocol
If an exercise feels off to a client, there is always an alternative that hits the same muscle group. Offer it without hesitation. Trying to force an exercise that isn't working is a waste of everyone's time.
Client reports knee discomfort on slant board squat in week two. Swap to hack squat machine with a higher foot position. Same quad stimulus, different loading angle. Document the swap and note it for the next session.
Exercise Rotation
Exercises rotate on an 8-12 week cycle. Clients need enough exposure to an exercise to actually get good at it. Switching things up every session prevents skill acquisition and makes it impossible to track real progress. Stay with a movement long enough to see adaptation, then rotate.
Spotting Approach
The standard "hands under the bar, ready to yank it up" approach is not how we work. It is reactive, it telegraphs distrust in the client, and it does not actually produce useful training output.
Forced Reps
Forced reps are not for everyone. They are a high-intensity tool that works well with younger, more resilient clients who can handle the recovery demand. Do not deploy forced reps by default.
When to Use Forced Reps
Younger clients with established movement patterns who are clearly undertaxed after a clean set. The stimulus from a forced rep is significant. Make sure the client can handle what comes the next two days.
How to Execute a Forced Rep
Same principle as spotting. Assist through the sticking point only. The client is still doing the work. You are bridging the gap at the hardest point in the range. This is not you doing the rep for them.
Wrist Stabilization Cue
When a client lacks pressing stability, their bar path drifts backward, pushing the weight toward their head instead of maintaining a consistent vertical plane. This is a stability failure, not a strength failure. Standard spotting does not fix it.
When to Use It
Any pressing movement where you observe backward bar path drift or visible instability through the wrists and elbows. Most common on dumbbell press and Kabuki bar pressing. Use it early if you see the pattern, not after it becomes a habit.
What It Is Not
This is not a forced rep assist. You are not adding to the lift. Light pressure only. If you find yourself actually supporting load, you are doing it wrong. Back off and let them handle the weight themselves or reduce the load.
Tool Selection
The standard barbell is the hardest implement to execute properly and produces the least benefit for the average client relative to the technical demand. We have better options.
Lower Body Priority Equipment
Slant Board Squats
One of the primary lower body tools. Removes ankle mobility as a limiter, shifts load onto the quad, and produces excellent stimulus without heavy spinal loading. Most clients: 1-2 sets max until you know their recovery profile.
Hack Squat Machine
The other primary lower body anchor. Quad-dominant, controllable load, joint-friendly with proper setup. Foot position changes the emphasis. Higher foot placement takes more quad and less low back. Lower foot placement the reverse.
Safety Squat Bar
When a barbell squat movement is appropriate. More upright torso, reduced spinal loading, more forgiving for clients with shoulder mobility issues. Almost always the correct bar when free bar squatting is actually called for.
Posterior Chain
Rogue Donkey
The primary posterior chain machine. Reverse hypers decompress the spine and build the erectors and glutes simultaneously. GHD work builds the spinal erectors and hip flexors. Glute-ham raises are one of the best hamstring exercises that exists. Know how to operate all three functions of this machine.
Cable Work
Cables provide constant tension through the full range of motion, which free weights cannot do. Rows, pull-downs, flies, curls, tricep work, and face pulls all have a cable variant that is often superior to the free weight version for the purpose of building muscle. Use the cable system regularly.
Landmine
One of the most versatile tools in the space. Landmine presses are joint-friendly and can substitute for most pressing patterns. Landmine rows, landmine squats, and rotational work are all accessible for clients who can't handle the more demanding free weight alternatives.
Station Composition
Four stations are mandatory every class. The remaining two slots are flexible and change based on what makes sense that day.
Mandatory Stations
Flexible Stations (2 Slots)
The remaining two stations are your call based on the class design. Options include:
Slant board squats, ball slams, ropes, box step-downs, sled, military presses. Every major pattern covered: quad-dominant lower, explosive conditioning, upper body conditioning, eccentric lower, locomotive pushing, pressing strength.
Intensity Standard for Group Classes
The 1 minute on / 1 minute off format is not easy mode. The rest exists so people can work hard during the work interval. Do not let people pace themselves into comfort. Push them during the on interval. The rest is where they recover.
Dedicated to Class Space
Moveable From PT Space
Any PT space equipment that is not bolted down or impractical to move can come into the class space when the session design calls for it. Dumbbells, slant board, mats, sandbags, and weight vests all move between spaces as needed.
A well-designed class covers all major movement patterns, balances intensity across stations so nobody is fried before they reach the next one, and gives every participant a way to succeed and a way to be pushed.
Movement Pattern Checklist
Push (Upper Body)
Military press, landmine press, dumbbell push press, chest press. One pressing variation per class.
Pull (Upper Body)
Row variation, face pulls, banded pull-aparts, rope pulls. This is always the posterior chain station. Never skip it.
Quad-Dominant Lower
Slant board squat, goblet squat, step-up, box step-down. One per class minimum.
Hip-Dominant Lower / Hinge
Kettlebell deadlift, good morning, hip hinge with band, suitcase carry. Sometimes this doubles as the second lower body station when a dynamic movement is replaced.
Conditioning / Dynamic
Ball slams, battle ropes, sled, kettlebell swings. High output, low technique. These keep the heart rate up between the more skilled stations.
Load and Difficulty Management
With 12 people in a class, you cannot program to a single fitness level. The station design handles this. You set a base load and communicate a heavier option and a lighter option at the start of each station.
Base load is set. Anyone struggling with the base goes lighter. Anyone who completes their reps well inside the minute picks up the heavier option for the next round. They progress within the class. You do not need to stop everything and reprogram.
Activation work is not a warm-up routine. It is a targeted intervention for clients who show clear signs that a muscle group is not firing correctly. The best warm-up is warm-up sets of the actual exercise. You will know within the first two exercises whether a client needs additional activation work based on what you observe.
The Two Triggers
Trigger 1: Posterior Chain Shutdown
Signs: client cannot feel their hamstrings or glutes working, anterior pelvic tilt is present, quad takes over in deadlifts and squats, knee dominance throughout lower body work. Route to hook lying bridge and 90/90 pelvic tilt on the box.
Trigger 2: Shoulder Instability in Pressing
Signs: one-sided difference on dumbbell or Kabuki bar pressing, visible shakiness, bar path drifting backward toward the head. Route to banded W's and the double-loop band external rotation exercise. Insert between pressing sets.
Hook Lying Bridge
What It Addresses
Hamstring and glute activation in clients who are quad-dominant or functionally disconnected from their posterior chain. Also engages the adductors when a ball is used.
Setup
Client lies on their back. Feet are flat on the floor, out in front of them at a comfortable distance. Not tucked close to the glutes. If feet are too close, the exercise becomes glute-dominant and the hamstrings drop out. Place a light squishy ball between the knees to engage the adductors throughout.
The Cue That Makes It Work
Bridge the hips up toward the ceiling. Once at the top, cue them to try to pull their butt toward their heels without actually moving their feet. That isometric pull is what engages the hamstrings. Without it, most people will just be doing a glute bridge and missing the point entirely.
Breathing
Full breath in through the diaphragm. Stomach and chest both expand. Full breath out through pursed lips, like blowing up a balloon. Breathing is not optional here. It sets the intra-abdominal pressure that makes the exercise work properly.
The client should feel tension through the back of their thigh at the top of the bridge. If they only feel it in their glutes, their feet are too close or the cue did not land. Reposition and re-cue before adding reps.
90/90 Pelvic Tilt on the Box
What It Addresses
Anterior pelvic tilt, hamstring activation, and the mind-muscle connection for clients who cannot feel their posterior chain working in loaded exercises. The box setup is what makes this work. It is not the standard floor version.
Setup
Client lies on their back with legs elevated on a plyo box. The goal is a true 90 degree angle at the hip and at the knee. Adjust the box distance from the client until both angles are correct. This is not approximate. The position is the whole point of using the box over the floor.
The Cue
Have the client drive their heels down into the top of the box. This is an isometric contraction. They are not lifting or moving. The heel drive engages the hamstrings and pulls the pelvis into a neutral or posterior tilt. Hold the contraction and breathe through it.
Breathing
Same cue as the hook lying bridge. Full diaphragmatic breath in, stomach and chest expand. Full breath out through pursed lips. The exhale helps release the anterior tilt and deepen the posterior pelvic position. Coach the breathing actively on the first few reps.
Banded W's
What It Addresses
Posterior delt, mid and lower trap, and rotator cuff activation. Used when pressing looks asymmetrical or unstable and the client shows weak external rotation or poor scapular control.
Execution
Client holds a band with both hands, elbows bent to roughly 90 degrees, arms in a W position. Pull the band apart and drive the elbows back and down, squeezing the shoulder blades together at the end range. The motion is external rotation with scapular retraction. Control the return. Do not let it snap back.
When to Insert It
Between pressing sets when you observe instability or asymmetry. One to two sets of 10 to 15 reps is usually enough to get the posterior shoulder complex firing before the next pressing set.
Double-Loop Band External Rotation
What It Addresses
Posterior deltoid, infraspinatus, and the full rotator cuff external rotation complex. This is the deeper activation exercise for clients who need more than banded W's or who have a significant pressing instability pattern.
Setup
Tie one band to the rig. Loop a second band through the first one. Client holds the second band with both hands and steps back to create tension. Arms come up into a field goal post position, elbows at roughly 90 degrees, upper arms parallel to the floor. The band pulls them into internal rotation. Their job is to resist that and hold external rotation.
The Hold
30 seconds to one minute. The isometric hold is the stimulus. It is not a rep-based exercise. Spend time getting the position right before starting the clock. If they are not in the correct position, the exercise is not doing its job.
Optional Press-Out
Once the hold is established and the position looks solid, the client can press their hands forward from the field goal position. This adds a pressing stimulus from an externally rotated starting point and reinforces the correct shoulder mechanics under a small load. Use this variation when the basic hold is easy and you want to progress the stimulus.
Timing and Dosage
One to two sets inserted between pressing sets. Start with the hold only. Add the press-out in subsequent sets if the position is clean. Occasionally used at the start of a session for clients with a known shoulder instability pattern, but the default is between pressing sets, not as an opener.
The Rules
Cancellation Window
24 hours notice required to cancel or reschedule without penalty.
Late Cancellation (under 24 hours)
Session is forfeited. Counts as used. No rollover.
No-Show
Session is forfeited. Counts as used. No exceptions.
Emergency Allowance
One emergency cancel per rolling 30-day period. Valid emergencies: sudden illness, family emergency, unavoidable work emergency. Invalid: running late, forgetting, fatigue. This is discretionary but should be tracked consistently.
High-Frequency Clients (3-4x/week)
Missed sessions do not roll over, stack into future weeks, or convert to longer sessions. Missed equals forfeited, full stop.
Travel or Planned Time Off
Client notifies before the start of the affected week. They can pause or shift in advance. No retroactive adjustments.
How to Enforce It
What You Control
Session Structure
Exercise selection within the programming logic established here. Session pacing. When sets start and end. How hard you push clients.
Client Experience
Creating a focused, professional, quality session. Holding the standards established in this portal. Being the face of Rebuilt in the training space.
What You Do Not Control
Content and Social Media
Client Content
Do not post client identities, testimonials, training footage, or anything that identifies a Rebuilt client without prior Company approval and client consent.
What You Say About Rebuilt
Do not make unapproved claims about genetics, protocols, supplements, outcomes, or health conditions in any public content. If you want to post something that mentions Rebuilt, run it by Mason first.