Defy Gravity - Sunnyvale (CA)

5 /5 Anuradha Anantharaman: I would highly recommend Defy Gravity (and coach Jason Thai) for anyone looking to get into olympic weightlifting. He is a super patient and knowledgeable coach! I trained with him for about 1.5 years and I improved so much in my technique and strength (I only left because I moved). Jason pays a lot of attention to how you are doing, your personality, and goals so that he can modify the workouts accordingly. I alerted him about issues with my traps and shoulder when I joined and he always programmed accessories / warm up routines to help with these issues. He also strikes a great balance between pushing you to do better and giving you space to motivate yourself. As Defy Gravity is located within BBA Gym, athletes also have access to all the equipment in the rest of the gym. This makes it a lot easier to do accessories and cardio. As BBA Gym is a private gym, it is seldom too crowded. Apart from that, I really miss the people! I think all the athletes are so nice and it created a really fun lifting environment!

5 /5 Arvin Arbabi: One of the aspects I appreciate most about Jason is his dedication to my progress. He consistently motivates and encourages me, ensuring that I stay committed to my goals. In my eyes, he’s not only a trainer but a fantastic coach who believes in his clients and pushes them to reach their full potential.

5 /5 Angelina Ly: I HIGHLY recommend Jason to anyone, from beginners to even advanced lifters. If you are truly serious about learning how to properly lift weights or want to increase your strength, having a highly knowledgable coach like Jason is a non-negotiable. Before meeting Jason, I contacted around 10 other coaches & personal trainers in the Bay Area, but unfortunately, either their training style was not what I was looking for or many were lacking certifications. That’s when I learned that finding a good coach is actually quite rare. But with enough patience, I finally got into contact with Jason who met all of the criteria I wanted in a coach, being CPT & CSCS certified along with being a USA weightlifting level 2 coach. I started off training with him once a week, but quickly started transitioning to training with him twice a week once I learned how just how capable he is as a coach. With every training session I have with him, Jason is always finding new ways to push my body to its true potential. I always leave a training session feeling challenged, accomplished, and having learned something new about either nutrition, form, mentality, strength progression, training technique, or what my body is truly capable of. I cant imagine finding another coach as talented as Jason and my only regret is wasting all of the years I spent trying to figure out how to lift weights on my own instead of working with Jason sooner!

5 /5 Rebecca C: Started with Jason towards the end of Covid as a complete beginner in Olympic weightlifting and would highly recommend for anyone who wants to learn or needs a coach to solidify their technique. He truly cares about each and every one of his athletes which means he will work through any obstacles you have whether it’s an injury or life just happens and your training ends up looking different during certain seasons of life. He’s an extremely knowledgeable coach and will adapt to your needs individually. He’s definitely a coach that doesn’t sugar coat things and tells you exactly how hard the sport can be, but will always support your goals. The environment at Defy Gravity is extremely encouraging, filled with lots of laughter, and everyone is super nice, so come train with us!

5 /5 Katie Bauman: I have been doing strength training for 10 years and just started training in Olympic Weightlifting with Jason Thai, who is an incredible coach. Olympic Weightlifting is not only new to me, but it is also so much more complex than anything I had been doing. But Jason breaks everything down in ways that make complete sense, whether it is in describing the movements and why they work or using demos or video of my reps to show the difference between what I’m doing as a beginner and what the technique should look like. He also creates different exercises to help break down the movements so that they are easier to focus on and accomplish. His attention to detail helps me build a stronger foundational technique so that as I increase my mastery of the technique, I know I will also be able to increase the amount of weight I lift because that foundation will support me. Jason is also an amazingly patient and motivating coach who consistently inspires me to want to improve. And his knowledge of the sport, of the necessary training, and also of how the body works is extremely impressive and helpful. When I started lifting with him a few months ago I had a shoulder injury and Jason gave me stretches to do at home and built in some exercises into my workouts to help rehab my shoulder and they have been completely effective – my shoulder pain is almost entirely gone at this point. I can’t imagine anyone having more knowledge of the sport and how to break it down in valuable ways and on top of it, he is just a lot of fun to work with! If you have ever had any interest in trying this challenging, yet invigorating sport, you have to work with Jason Thai. He is the best! Katie B, current client