About Us
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Bang Fitness is not your average gym. Average gyms get average results. The very fact that you’re reading this suggests that you want more than that.
Membership at Bang Fitness includes everything you need to reach your goals. We guarantee results. How many other gyms will do that?
Bang Fitness is focused on what works. We take the best of old-school training and combine it with a progressive approach to function and injury-prevention.
Perhaps you’re an athlete. Perhaps you’ve never run further than the front yard. Everyone has a different starting point. Our goal is to find yours and move you forward as safely and efficiently as possible. We’re a lot more concerned with where you’ll be in six months than where you’ll be next week. To that end, we offer smart, progressive programs that have proven themselves effective time and time again.
We offer:
- Personal Training
- Group conditioning classes
- Semi-private training
- Nutritional counseling
- Dedication to getting you results
We believe that there is more to the gym than just the gym. At the end of the day, we want to ensure that you not only achieve your goals, but gain the strength to accomplish more (way more) than you ever expected. Looking better naked just comes with the territory.
Meet The Team
Geoff Girvitz: Owner/Head Strength and Conditioning Coach
As the owner and director of Bang Fitness, Geoff is proud to offer an outstanding training environment for people in all stages of the performance continuum.
He has never considered the gym to be an end unto itself. He sees it as an opportunity to improve performance and reduce the likelihood of injury. According to Geoff, “Training for performance will not only teach you to find your limits, but redefine them.”
Geoff was initially drawn toward strength training to improve his own athletic performance. He not only wanted to get better at what he was doing, but to ensure that he was able to remain injury-free.
His continuing education includes certifications from the American College of Sports Medicine, Precision Nutrition, Russian Kettlebell Certification (HKC) and Functional Movement Systems (Level II). He has also mentored under some of the brightest members of the industry, such as Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove and the Athlete’s Performance team.
Geoff has contributed articles to websites such as StrengthCoach.com and T-Nation.com, PrecisionNutrition.com and overseen the programming for thousands of individuals, most notably through Precision Nutrition’s Lean Eating program.
He is excited to direct a facility where people push pass their perceived limits every day. This is largely owed to a great team and a fun, inclusive environment.
The entire Bang Fitness Team looks forward to continuing to innovate in the area of strength and conditioning.
Francis Nitsch: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Francis began training as a young teenager trying to improve his body composition. The moment he picked up a barbell, however, he was hooked on strength training. As his passion grew, he wanted to share it and help others achieve their fitness goals, as well, by pursuing a career in personal training.
Francis graduated with honours from George Brown College’s Fitness and Lifestyle Management program and is a Certified Personal Trainer with the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. He is also a certified Starting Strength Coach under Mark Rippetoe. Francis
is a competitive athlete in the sport of Powerlifting and uses his knowledge and experience from strength athletics to provide intelligent feedback to his clients.
As a coach, Francis believes in simple but effective training that is easy to understand. He believes strongly in the empowerment and efficacy that strength training brings and enjoys helping people at any level achieve things they did not think were possible.
Steve Vrbancic: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Steve first started training in his basement as a teenager, haphazardly following programmes in magazines in an attempt to potentiate his ability on the football field. However, it was not until he entered university, as a member of the Queen’s University football team, that he began to see a direct relationship between exercise, its proper implementation, and performance.
Steve has been working as a personal trainer since 2002 and through this experience has developed and honed his philosophy regarding strength training and conditioning. With experience in powerlifting, Olympic lifts, structural stability and strength conditioning Steve has the ability to develop programmes which cater to the full range of populations, benefiting anyone from competitive athletes to those interested in maintaining general health.
Additional certifications:
- ACE
- Kettlebell Trainer Specialist – Level 1 & 2
- SPI (Sports Performance Institute) – Personal Trainer 1
- SPI – Nutrition
- Twist Accelerate 1
- Coremat Certification
Albert Cheng: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Albert Cheng is a trainer who is passionate towards life, health and sports. A graduate of Queen’s University in Physical and Health Education (B.P.H.E.)and Health Studies (B.A.), Albert studied human functional anatomy, exercise physiology, biomechanics, sports psychology, nutrition, and also received coaching experience in many different sports. He has coached, instructed and trained elite athletes in wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, baseball, soccer, rugby and hockey.
In addition to his educational and instructional background, Albert is also an active competitor in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA.
Through years of training and competition, he has become exposed to many different approaches that are now implemented into his workouts. However, as a life-long learner, Albert is still always on the lookout for the newest and most scientific training methodologies in helping individuals achieve their goals.
Ron Dykstra: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Ron loves strength athletics. As a young man he competed in shotput and discus, but today he’s fan of power lifting, and doesn’t care about federations or gear, he digs strongman events, and loves and has competed in the Olympic lifts, but doesn’t want to be all snobby about it, because it is all weight lifting, OK?
As an adult Ron has deliberately weighed as little as 175lbs and as much as 260lbs, and competed in both the 94 kg and the 100kg weight categories. The multiple transformations he has undergone have given him a unique perspective on the trials and tribulations of the average trainee who has “tried everything”.
While strength is his passion, his focus today is helping others achieve their body goals. Whether it is increased strength, improved conditioning or a smaller waist measurement, for Ron, the goal is always the same: taking what we have to start with, and then doing better with it.
If health, strength, low body fat, and improved mental focus sound good, then Ron may be the trainer for you.
Paul Hynes: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Like many young men, Paul began strength training to improve his physique. Little did he know that through pursuing his body composition goals, it would affect every area of his life and ultimately steer him towards a career in the strength and conditioning industry.
Paul is currently enrolled in Sheridan College’s Human Performance Training Certificate program, though he did not start his post secondary education with that focus. Coming from an artistic background, Paul started training when he was enrolled in Humber College Visual and Digital Arts program. While studying there, he made his first of many forays in to the cramped weight room as a “skinny guy” looking to build some muscle and maybe impress some girls.
While his early motivating factors may not have been profound, Paul continued to relentlessly pursue his training goals. Through numerous failures and mistakes, he has come to the understanding that every failure is an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to grow and improve.
From teaching fitness boot-camps to helping young guys avoid the same mistakes he made in the weight room, Paul is dedicated to empowering people to change their bodies — and lives — for the best.
Ron Castro: Registered Massage Therapist
Ron Castro holds a bachelor’s degree in Physical Health and Education and is an RMT through Sutherland-Chan’s School and Teaching Clinic program. He has extensive therapeutic and strength training experience with rugby players and swimmers at the University of Toronto.
Since becoming an RMT in 2007, Ron has worked with Swim Canada and the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario. He has travelled internationally with some of Canada’s top swimmers and attended numerous national events as a therapist.
Ron continues to work with the University of Toronto swim team and has moved on exclusively to work with the swimmers of the High Performance Toronto Academy as a massage therapist and strength trainer. He also consults with strength coaches across the country to create programs centred on injury prevention and performance.
Ron believes that you don’t have to be an elite athlete to get the VIP treatment. His goal is to help every single client perform – and feel – better.
Ron’s an exceptional therapist and we’re very proud to have him on board. To book with him, please contact us at 416.777.2264
Treatment Room
Cecily Milne: Yoga Instructor
Since taking her first yoga class nearly 10 years ago, Cecily has been dedicated to the practice that brought strength and balance to her hypermobile body along with focus and ease to her mind and everyday routine. She received her certificate to teach in 2009 from Downward Dog Yoga Centre, regarded as Canada’s preeminent training program for aspiring instructors.
Cecily’s full-time teaching schedule includes in-studio group classes and private sessions, along with speciality workshops designed to guide and inspire students looking to deepen their practice. She has experience with both beginners and advanced practitioners, with those who have turned to yoga to assist with disability, as well as with professional athletes and celebrity clientele. Cecily is beyond excited to be joining the team at Bang, and looks forward to Recovery Yoga becoming a regular part of members’ training regimes.
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