You can do more than you think you can. You don’t need to get in shape before you start. We begin with where you are and build strength, confidence, movement, nutrition awareness, and habits that fit real life.
If you walk into the gym feeling defeated, my goal is to help you leave feeling capable and strong.
I’m Clarence Devens, an NCSF-certified personal trainer at IXL Health & Fitness in Poughkeepsie, with roughly two decades of experience as a certified trainer. I work especially well with beginners, older adults, people carrying significant extra weight, people returning after time away, and anyone who wants the gym to feel less intimidating.
My exercise education began long before the classroom. I started studying training to become a better mountain biker and later competed successfully in amateur strongman. Formal exercise-science study followed, along with professional certification. I previously held ACSM certification and am currently NCSF certified.
Professionally, I progressed from helping people informally in gyms to working the fitness floor at Mike Arteaga’s Health & Fitness, personal training, and eventually personal-training supervision. Working with people at very different starting points taught me that knowing exercise science is only part of the job. A program also has to fit the person well enough that they can—and want to—keep doing it.
My education extends well beyond exercise science. I have spent substantial time studying scientific and technical subjects including physics, engineering, digital electronics, computer programming, and computer-aided drafting. I also earned degrees in Communication Media Arts and Communications Media Management and studied business, economics, management, psychology, and stress management.
That broad background affects the way I coach. I tend to look at a problem from several directions: understand how it works, break it into manageable pieces, explain it clearly, and adapt when the first approach is not working.
I don’t train people according to a system. I use systems to train the person in front of me.
Over the years I’ve trained with and studied many approaches—cycling, strength training, strongman, bodybuilding, powerlifting concepts, machines, free weights, cardio, and different training philosophies. I take the useful pieces and build around the individual rather than forcing the individual into one method.
My long-term goal is independence: teaching you enough about exercise, nutrition, movement, and your own body that you become increasingly confident managing your fitness yourself.
Both are individualized. The difference is how much support you want outside the workout itself.
$62 per session
I take care of your workout.
Come in and train with me one-on-one. I select and adjust the workout, coach technique, help you build strength and fitness, and make the gym easier to navigate. Sessions are generally about 30–45 minutes, based on what is appropriate that day.
There is no ongoing between-session coaching attached to this option. Schedule additional sessions whenever you need them.
$130 per week
We take care of the whole picture.
Includes one individualized in-gym session each week plus ongoing support: calorie and protein targets when appropriate, a simple off-day plan, food-journal review, movement guidance, weekly check-in, text support, education, accountability, and adjustments based on what is actually happening in your life.
You are paying for my involvement throughout the week—not simply a longer workout.
The logo tells the same story as the coaching system: four pillars working together in one direction - forward.
Show up, experiment, learn what fits, and give your body time to adapt. Consistency comes before complexity.
Your workout isn’t the only movement that matters. Walk, stand, climb, carry, bend, squat, and keep movement in everyday life.
Begin with what you already eat and gradually improve it. Awareness comes before precision.
Aim precisely, but don’t confuse imperfect adherence with failure. A good-enough week repeated consistently can move you forward.
The coaching system comes from years of working with real people and paying attention to what helps them stay engaged, learn, and progress. Technology simply gives us a better way to organize that process between sessions.
ChatGPT is the tool. I built the coaching system it is being asked to follow.
Complete Fitness Coaching can include a private shared ChatGPT project that I help you set up, even if you have never used AI before. You can use ordinary conversation to report meals, workouts, movement, questions, barriers, and wins. The system helps organize the information so you don’t have to become good at tracking before tracking can help you.
AI helps organize, track, and educate. I remain your coach and make the individualized coaching decisions.
A workout is one hour—or less—inside a much larger week. Complete Fitness Coaching gives us a way to work on the parts that happen outside the gym too.
We can use weekly phone check-ins, text support, calorie and protein targets, a short food journal, movement goals, simple independent workouts, and regular progress reviews. The tools are adjusted to the person rather than forcing every client into the same system.
Nutrition coaching: General fitness nutrition education, calorie and protein guidance, food-journal review, and practical habit coaching are provided within professional scope. This service does not diagnose or treat medical conditions or prescribe therapeutic diets.
All in-person training takes place at IXL Health & Fitness in Poughkeepsie.
Ongoing clients need gym access. If you are not yet an IXL member, a $25 day pass can be purchased in addition to your training session so we can meet, train together, and see whether we are a good fit. For regular training, membership will generally make more sense.
New to working with me? A free 30-minute kickoff conversation is available for new members so we can talk about your goals, your history, and the right place to begin.
We start with a conversation about your goals, exercise history, injuries and health considerations, daily life, movement, nutrition, and what has or hasn’t worked before. Then we train. Early workouts help me see how you move and give us room to experiment instead of forcing you immediately into a rigid program.
Weight can matter, but it isn’t the only evidence that something is working. We also look for stronger lifts, easier stairs, better mobility, more daily movement, improved consistency, greater confidence in the gym, and the moment you realize you can do something that used to be difficult.
The goal isn’t to make you dependent on a trainer. It’s to make you capable.
You don’t have to change everything at once. Tell me what you want to accomplish, and we’ll figure out the right place to start.
Text: 845-518-1719
Training location: IXL Health & Fitness, Poughkeepsie, NY