Meet Rivak Hoffman

I’ve been in general fitness training with Rivak Hoffman for about 8 years. I can honestly say it has marked a turning point in my life. This is much more than an intense workout session. Sure, I’ve lost body fat, and built up my endurance and strength. More importantly, I’ve also gained insight into the aging process, and how to combat it.

I am in my 60s and have changed from a sedentary person prone to aches and acute tendonitis from participating in casual sports, to a more conditioned man, probably in better shape than I was in college. Thanks to Rivak Hoffman’s training techniques, I have regained youthful agility, balance, coordination and flexibility. What distinguishes Rivak’s approach to training is his professionalism, knowledge, individual attention, and a comprehensive, enthusiastic and guided approach to health and fitness.

This is not cookie-cutter body sculpting. Rivak has an impressive resume, but he doesn’t flaunt it. His medical and neurological training coupled with his credentials in fitness training sets him apart and makes him an ideal trainer for clients of all ages and abilities, those with intact musculoskeletal systems as well as those with disabilities or chronic disorders. Most importantly, he approaches his clients as a true professional. He keeps detailed records and monitors progress. He makes sure you get each exercise right and monitors every movement for mistakes that can lead to injury. Make the call! I’m sure glad I did.

James Merritt, MD

Rivak is an outstanding trainer and a great person. I have worked with him for over three years–started while pregnant. I was in fantastic shape when I gave birth, labor went very smoothly and pushing was easy. A week after my daughter was born, I actually weighed a few pounds less than when I became pregnant. I have stayed with him, because I see results. I become a lot weaker without him around to push me. He also knows just how to hard to push a person to challenge then without making them want to give up.

He has a significant amount of medical knowledge, which, as a physician myself, I greatly appreciate. His professionalism and knowledge truly enhance the workout experience. Did I mention he comes to the house too? Talk about convenience! No excuses to avoid the workout. No equipment at home? No problem! I am continually amazed at how tough Rivak can make a workout in a small amount of space with minimum equipment. I find his rates to be reasonable as well.

Tamara Scalise, MD

Rivak’s cutting edge approach to fitness and nutrition opened up my potential to new levels. For years, I have struggled to establish proper fitness goals. Rivak helped me redirect my focus in the right direction and establish those goals. In the past, I have always thought the answer laid somewhere between bodybuilding and power lifting. Boy I was mistaken. For years, I had neglected cardio, core and interval training, and neglected what I really was looking for. That was a lean athletic body.

My favorite activity/sport is surfing, so Rivak trained me like a swimmer. He showed me different exercises college swimmers perform, and integrated them into a high intensity workout 3 days per week, with long relaxing runs on the days in between. In one month I lost 15 pounds, and barely had to change what I was eating… As long as it was in moderation. As a Marine Officer, I am expected to be in premium condition. Yes, I have, at times pushed my body weight limits. With Rivak’s techniques and his ability to clarify what I need for my specific life style, I will never struggle with what I need to do to maintain a high-level of fitness. I have never used a personal trainer before, but I can now say it was a life changing experience and money invested wisely.

Major Todd Lucht

My doctor had told me to lose weight, but not how successful weight loss is accomplished. It was time to find a personal trainer. My search began on the Internet when miraculously up popped Rivak Hoffman on my computer screen. I had known Rivak when he was working as a Medical Researcher at UC Shiley Eye Center but had not spoken to him for years. I knew he was an honest hardworking individual. He was always driven to do his best, and is a person who never backed down from a challenge. It was at that moment I decided I was going to be his next challenge. If anyone was able to help me through this difficult stage of my life he would.

In our initial consultation and fitness assessment, Rivak’s calculations confirmed I was in the “clinically obese” category. We discussed a training program that worked for me, and I began my new lifestyle of combining diet, resistance training and cardiovascular exercise. I have been working with Rivak for 1 year and have lost 45 pounds, decreased my bad cholesterol by 20 points, and best of all am now wearing a size 12 dress! I feel great and my friends say I look wonderful. Thank you Rivak for helping me meet my first weight loss goal!

Candice McIvor

I highly recommend you work with Coach Hoffman.  It is rare to find a professional so broadly educated and firmly committed to building you back to optimal working condition.  Rivak has assessed previous injuries that have plagued me as an adult along with poor training choices that were triggering them.

What I enjoy most about our training:

• Sharing of his philosophy around training and rehabilitation
• Discussions around an optimal diet
• Postural changes at the workplace to help accelerate my results
• Personal success stories and examples of other clients to motivate me
• Being pushed further than I’ve gone before

Seven weeks into training and I have seen significant improvement in my flexibility and strength.  Specifically, my back pain is alleviating and my posture has improved.

I KNOW the healthiest years are right ahead of me!

Michael Maize

Two years ago, well aware that I had been living with a life limiting Pulmonary condition, I found myself in a place that I somehow never expected to be; in a hospital bed, on IV antibiotics, 30 lbs overweight, struggling to breath on 6-8 liters of Oxygen and probably one bad cold or flu virus away from my own funeral. It was a place I did not intend stay but I soon learned that the only way out of it would be a double lung transplant. Even so, my age, eating and drinking habits and inability to exercise all made the surgery extremely risky. I needed to change.

With my wife’s encouragement, I called the number she found on the web and spoke to the man who eventually turned out to be my deliverance, Rivak Hoffman.

His deep knowledge of exercise science, physiology and nutrition in addition to his reliability, positive attitude and commitment to helping his clients achieve their health related goals combined to make him, for me, an irreplaceable part of my health care support team. Six months after we met, I was 25 lbs lighter, immeasurably stronger and despite needing high levels of supplemental Oxygen to do it, I had achieved a level of conditioning that I had not believed possible. On Christmas Eve, 2015, we received the call from UCSD hospital that they had a pair of healthy lungs for me. I was ready.

Three months later, I’ve recovered from the surgery, regained my life and am in the early stages of training for the Philly Marathon in Nov, 2016. There are many people I can name to whom I owe a debt which I can never repay and who I will be thinking of as I cross that finish line. None, more so than my coach, my teacher, my friend, Rivak Hoffman.

What I enjoy most about our training:

• Sharing of his philosophy around training and rehabilitation
• Discussions around an optimal diet
• Postural changes at the workplace to help accelerate my results
• Personal success stories and examples of other clients to motivate me
• Being pushed further than I’ve gone before

Seven weeks into training and I have seen significant improvement in my flexibility and strength.  Specifically, my back pain is alleviating and my posture has improved.

I KNOW the healthiest years are right ahead of me!

Jack Coughlin

Rivak the miracle worker! I was needing to find an exercise specialist/trainer to strengthen my core lower back muscles, shoulders, arms and thigh muscles, which have degenerated from a very rare disease called polymyositis. For 13 years I have watched my once, very slim and fitness body, gradually become ravaged by the destruction of muscle mass, leaving me unable to climb stairs, walk without a cane and always using a wheelchair when outside the home. By chance, I found the link to Rivak’s company. A call and a response from Rivak, was the beginning of an incredible journey to wellness and muscle rejuvenation.

Rivak has the medical education, training and experience; in particular, a strong interest in working with challenged people. With a customized program and a commitment to Rivak and myself, the challenge was set and I was ready to see results. Rivak encouraged me to reach for my maximum potential exercise level but he cautioned me to be aware of my physical limitations.

Only an experienced exercise trainer, like Rivak, has the ability to design an exercise program to achieve the greatest outcome. My workouts are intense and strenuous at times. That was in 2006. In two years, I have seen a major change in my muscle strength throughout my body.

Berverly Weurding