Online fitness coaching for people in Illinois
Illinois sits in the middle of almost every number on these pages: commute, work from home, median age, broadband, the share who lift. What its year does not do is hold still: a long indoor season and a short outdoor one, and a plan that needs a version for each. Coaching for Illinois is coaching for two halves of a year. Diogo is based in South Florida and coaches online. Illinois is on Central time, an hour behind me, which puts the call comfortably in your evening.
How Illinois trains, per the CDC's state survey
In 2023, 39.8% of adults in Illinois reported muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week (BRFSS, 95% CI 38.0 to 41.6). In 2025, 23.4% reported no leisure-time physical activity at all (BRFSS, 95% CI 22.4 to 24.4).
Daily life in Illinois, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, published value and margin of error together: about 15.9% of workers who live here work from home (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.1); commuters average 27.8 minutes to work (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.1); the median age is 39.0 years (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.1); 90.8% of households have a broadband subscription (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.1). State figures: your own city may differ.
How coaching works from a distance
Diogo is based in South Florida and coaches online. Your workouts live in the Trainerize app, you weigh in twice a week, you send progress photos every two weeks, and we talk on a weekly call scheduled around your time zone. Between calls, you can message me with questions.
My training falls apart every winter. Can a plan fix that?
A plan with a winter in it can. Illinois has a long indoor season, and the state survey says about a quarter of adults report no leisure-time activity, with fewer than half lifting twice a week. The winter version of the plan is gym-based and short: two or three sessions of the big movements, a step floor that can be met indoors, and nothing that depends on the weather. The summer version gives the outdoor work back. Writing both in advance is the difference between a routine and a seasonal restart.
How does the time difference work?
In your favor. Central time is an hour behind me, so your evening call is an hour later for me, which is the easiest kind of difference. Illinois commutes are in the middle of these pages and a middling share of people work from home, so the sessions are written for before work, after work and the weekend, and the weekly call is where we move them when a week changes shape.
Do you coach people outside Chicago?
Anywhere in the state; the plan does not know your zip code. The figures above are the whole state, from the city to the farm towns, and the only thing coaching needs from where you live is a connection for the weekly call, which most Illinois households have, and a place to lift, which is a gym, a garage or a basement. The app, the weigh-ins and the call are the same everywhere.
Metro areas in Illinois
Neighboring states
Up a level: Online coaching by state · How one-to-one online coaching works · Coaching for a week that doesn’t hold still · How often should you train? · Is an online fitness coach worth it? · Apply for coaching
Sources
- CDC, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity — Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (hn4x-zwk7). Q047: BRFSS 2025; Q046: BRFSS 2023. source
- U.S. Census Bureau (data.census.gov table API) — American Community Survey 5-year 2020-2024 (ACSDP5Y2024.DP02/DP03, ACSDT5Y2024.B01002). DP03 (0024PE/PM): ACS 2020-2024 5-year, published value and 90% MOE; DP02 (0154PE/PM): ACS 2020-2024 5-year, published value and 90% MOE; B01002 (001E/M): ACS 2020-2024 5-year, published value and 90% MOE; DP03 (0025E/M): ACS 2020-2024 5-year, published value and 90% MOE. source
- Source: CDC. Materials developed by CDC; the data are available on the agency website (data.cdc.gov) at no charge. Use of this material does not imply endorsement by CDC, ATSDR, HHS or the United States Government of Diogo Fitness or its services. Reference to specific commercial products, manufacturers, companies, or trademarks does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the U.S. Government, Department of Health and Human Services, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- This product uses Census Bureau data but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau. ACS figures are 2020-2024 5-year published estimates and margins of error retrieved from data.census.gov, the Census Bureau's own server (keyless table endpoint).