“One of the signs of a great teacher is the ability to make the subject matter seem simple. Charles Staley is one of these rare teachers. After listening and talking to him, you suddenly achieve a new awareness of training. You go to the gym and, suddenly, everything makes sense, and you wonder why you haven’t been doing it his way since day one.” – Muscle Media 2000 magazine August, 1999

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have led to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show. Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

In Charles' Own Words

I've been coaching and teaching in the fitness/physical preparation arena since about 1983, although at that time the word "personal trainer" wasn't really in widespread use.

I have a B.Sc in Sociology of Sport from the State University of New York, and I've trained many thousands of people during the past 20+ years, many of them athletes in a variety of sports. I can't reveal the names of some of my more famous clients, as I'm bound by confidentiality clauses in those cases. However I've trained or consulted to several prominent MMA athletes, as well as several Olympic-level winter sport athletes (luge, bob-sleigh), Olympic-style weightlifters, powerlifters, judo-ka, and golfers.

But I also train non-athletes, and we enjoy working with beginners at my live-in facility in Gilbert, AZ (Bed & Barbell).