Penny Smart is a personal trainer who owns a gym on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York. The current location of Dakota Personal Training and Pilates, which is my third gym, is very near Central Park on the Upper West Side. Number two would be to start at a commercial gym because that's where you could gain experience and get referrals. I'd only been on staff as a trainer for one year at a commercial gym before I became an independent trainer. From that point on I rented space at the training gym that I eventually bought from the owner.

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