Online fitness coaching for people in the St. Louis area
The St. Louis metro straddles the Mississippi, with the city and its Missouri counties on one side and the Metro East counties of Illinois on the other, a median age near forty and real winters. Diogo is based in South Florida and coaches online. St. Louis is on Central time, an hour behind me, so your evening call is my later evening, which works.
How the St. Louis area trains, per the CDC’s metro survey
In 2023, an estimated 38.5% of adults in the St. Louis area reported muscle-strengthening exercises two or more times a week (CDC SMART BRFSS, 95% CI 35.4 to 41.5). In 2024, an estimated 22.6% reported no physical activity or exercise in the past month (CDC SMART BRFSS, 95% CI 20.6 to 24.6). Metro samples are smaller than the state survey’s, so read the range in brackets more than the single number.
Daily life in the St. Louis area, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, published value and margin of error together: about 15.5% of workers who live here work from home (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.3); commuters average 24.9 minutes to work (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.2); the median age is 39.9 years (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.1); 91.8% of households have a broadband subscription (90% margin of error plus or minus 0.2). Metro-area figures: your own city may differ.
Climate in the St. Louis area
At the ST LOUIS LAMBERT INTL AP station (USW00013994, 17.1 km from St. Louis' Census internal point), the 1991–2020 normals are a July high of 89.6 F, a January low of 23.8 F, 47.1 days a year at or above 90 F, and 41.7 inches of rain a year.
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.
I have never lifted. Is that unusual here?
No. The survey figures above put the share of adults doing muscle-strengthening work twice a week under four in ten, so most adults here are in the same place, and the plan is built for starting from the beginning. If that is you, the first month is two full-body sessions a week of five or six movements, with weights light enough to learn each one, and progress comes from adding a rep or a set before adding weight. The goal of month one is that you are still training in month two; the weekly call is there to protect that.
Does the weather change the plan through the year?
It moves the outdoor work, not the lifting. The station figures above give St. Louis warm summers, January lows well below freezing and a fair amount of rain, so outdoor walking and running have a different best time in each season: early or late in July, the middle of the day in January, and indoors when the weather turns. The strength sessions, which carry most of the program, stay indoors and on the same days all year. The change of season is when routines slip, so the first weekly call of a new season is where we reset the outdoor half of the plan.
Other metro areas
Up a level: Missouri · Illinois · How one-to-one online coaching works · How to start lifting weights · Your first month of online coaching · Apply for coaching
Sources
- CDC, Division of Population Health — Behavioral Risk Factors: Selected Metropolitan Area Risk Trends (SMART) MMSA Prevalence Data, 2011 to present (j32a-sa6u). _TOTINDA: BRFSS SMART 2024; _PASTRNG: BRFSS SMART 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
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information — U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020), v1.0.1, DOI 10.25921/wck8-er13. noaa-jul-high: 1991-2020 normals; station USW00013994, years of record July TMAX 30, January TMIN 29, 90 F days 29, precipitation 30; noaa-jan-low: 1991-2020 normals; station USW00013994, years of record July TMAX 30, January TMIN 29, 90 F days 29, precipitation 30. source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information — U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Annual/Seasonal Climate Normals (1991-2020), DOI 10.25921/4ek7-fk11. noaa-days-90: 1991-2020 normals; station USW00013994, years of record July TMAX 30, January TMIN 29, 90 F days 29, precipitation 30; noaa-precip: 1991-2020 normals; station USW00013994, years of record July TMAX 30, January TMIN 29, 90 F days 29, precipitation 30. 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).
- Palecki, M., Durre, I., Applequist, S., Arguez, A., Lawrimore, J. (2021). U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020), https://doi.org/10.25921/wck8-er13, and U.S. Annual/Seasonal Climate Normals (1991-2020), https://doi.org/10.25921/4ek7-fk11. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Normals are 30-year station averages and apply less well with distance from the station.