Who am I?

My name is Daniel Alen Taylor, a Chicago-born, raised, and based athlete, designer, scientist, E-sports coach, photographer, and strength coach. I attended DePaul University, where I received my Bachelors of Science, majoring in computer science with a focus in graphic design and video game development, and I am an ISSA certified trainer since 2016. I began my personal fitness journey at the same time of beginning my college career, initially focusing on becoming stronger and spending time with my best friends, and slowly changing into it being my greatest life focus.

A powerful mind can only exist within a healthy body, and a powerful body can be achieved with a healthy mind. While it may be true that the mind and the body are separate entities, the two working together in harmony creates an environment for the entire being, You, to live a full and bountiful life; the mind must be nourished just as the body must be. My approach to health and fitness stems from this core philosophy. I train to strengthen my body for alternative physical activities, and for non-fitness related pursuits such as active photography sessions or long, seated graphics design projects. I strive to learn more about the human body every day in order to implement that newfound understanding into my training. There is never a focus on performance during training while disregarding education on what we are doing. Quantified “success” never trumps the training session being a fun and pleasant time. Becoming strong in all sense of your being, mind, body, and spirit, is my priority in training, and it is my mission to aid you in achieving the same for yourself.

“Dan is amazing, he understands really well what he is teaching and explains each and every exercise. He goes into details on how each exercise impacts different muscles. He is always smiling and happy to answer any question. He is flexible, accommodating and understood very well what I was looking for. I was a bit worried when I started gym because of my lower back pain. I have been going to the gym for 3 months now, I no longer have pain in my lower back and gained considerable strength, all thanks to Dan.”

— Kanwal, strength training client

“My fiancee and I started here a bit over a month ago, and there’s legitimately not a person at this gym who isn’t incredibly cool and not full of energy. I gained a lot of weight over covid and became pretty weak, and the trainers have been very helpful in working with me where I’m at now, both in strength/conditioning and in diet.”

— Andrew, strength training client