Meet the trainers

Certified in bodybuilding, strength and conditioning, and nutrition, I offer a unique blend of professional knowledge and personal experience. Having lost over 130 pounds myself, I understand first-hand the dedication, challenges and victories involved in weight loss and muscle building.

My coaching style is built on empathy, proven methods and personalised guidance designed to help you change your body and your mindset. Whether your goal is to shed fat, build muscle or improve your overall health, I am here to support you every step of the way.

I hold the ISSA Elite Trainer, ISSA Nutritionist and ISSA Strength and Conditioning Specialist certifications, and I am CPR and AED certified. Outside the gym I run businesses and teams, so I know what it takes to fit real training into a full calendar: together we will build a plan you can actually keep.

I’m James Lesly, a dedicated fitness coach and yoga instructor, here to guide you on a path that combines strength, mobility and mindset. My coaching is designed to help you move efficiently, prevent injury and unlock your full potential, physically and mentally.

I trained as a personal trainer at the YMCA in Montréal, where I also completed a certificate in functional training for seniors and volunteered with the Blind Foundation, coaching adapted exercise and chair yoga for people with reduced mobility. My yoga certification is from Vibrations OM. Today I teach hot vinyasa at Oxygen Yoga and Fitness and lead corporate, condo-tower and private sessions across Montréal.

Each session is tailored to your goals and needs, blending physical challenge with mental clarity, and I bring guided breathing and meditation into the work whenever it helps. Let’s work together to make you feel unstoppable, every step of the way.

I am a certified personal trainer with over nine years of experience in strength training, bodybuilding and transformation coaching. I specialise in designing customised training and nutrition programmes, with a particular focus on women, and I have a proven track record of helping clients improve their performance, body composition and long-term lifestyle habits.

I compete in the Fit Model division: I won the Montréal Popeyes Classic in 2025 and took three gold medals at the Toronto Pro Qualifier the same year, in the Open, Overall and Masters categories. The discipline, attention to detail and precision that competition demands are exactly what I bring to your programme.

I coach at Gold’s Gym in Montréal and hold an ISSA international fitness certification, a personal trainer diploma from IAP Career College, HYROX365 coaching certification and first aid and CPR. I combine science-based training with practical, achievable strategies built around your goals, and I coach in English and Persian.

I am a certified personal trainer and group instructor with more than twenty years of coaching experience in strength, conditioning, weight loss, mobility and recovery. I teach a wide range of formats, from HIIT, functional training, spinning and circuits to stretching and breathwork, in person and online.

My approach is focused and results-driven, with a calm, structured style that supports long-term progress and injury recovery. I build every programme around your assessment, your movement patterns and your recovery needs, add foundational nutrition guidance when it helps, and balance accountability with flexibility so the plan survives real life.

I hold a two-year diploma in fitness and nutrition from ICS Canada, and I am a certified breath coach and Science of Stretching yoga instructor with Yogabody. Before Montréal I led fitness operations across three corporate wellness sites in Ottawa and coached desk-based clients on mobility, strength, posture and stress. I train in French, English and Spanish.

My teaching approach is rooted in playful movement. I love encouraging students to explore movement through a balance of challenge and mindfulness, and I aim to create an environment that feels supportive and engaging for all levels.

I teach weekly vinyasa classes at Ashtanga Yoga Montréal, focused on strength and mobility with progressive sequencing, body awareness and alignment. I also lead Pilates sessions for private groups, with an emphasis on core strength, functional mobility and posture, and I facilitate meditation sessions that integrate breath work and stretching in a corporate setting.

I completed a 200-hour Yoga Alliance teacher training in Montréal with Jeanne Mudie, a 100-hour classical mat Pilates training in the Kathy Grant lineage at Moving Just Fine, and a 100-hour intensive with Daniel Rama at Vikasa focused on functional movement, myofascial release and PNF stretching. I teach in English.

I have coached one to one since 2017. I spent my first six years in Saudi Arabia, training high-profile private clients, including members of the Saudi royal family, where professionalism, discretion and confidentiality were part of the job. Since October 2023 I have coached in Montréal, with clients of every fitness level, background and goal.

My work centres on strength and resistance training, muscle building, fat loss, functional training and conditioning. Every programme starts with an assessment of your needs, your limitations and your objectives, and I adjust it regularly as you progress, so the plan always matches where you are.

Expect sessions that are structured, challenging and motivating, with a constant focus on technique, safety and measurable progress. From the first session I teach proper form, breathing and equipment use, because good technique is what prevents injury and keeps you training for years. I am an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer. I coach in English and Arabic, and I also speak Russian.

I have spent ten years in and around the fitness industry, the last two coaching one to one. I teach strength, spin, aquafit and senior classes at the YMCA Robert Lee in Vancouver, which means I coach every kind of body in a week: first-timers, people returning after an injury, and members who have trained for decades.

My signature is circuit work. A forty-five minute session moves through ten stations that mix functional and plyometric movement - dumbbells, barbell rows, the air bike, the rower - with short rests and deliberate work on balance and proprioception. It builds strength, but it also fixes the things that quietly limit people: posture, stability and confidence under load.

One to one, I start from what you can do today rather than from a template. I am NASM certified, YMCA trained and hold advanced CPR-C, and I will always show you the modification before I show you the heavier option.

I studied sport sciences with a specialisation in exercise physiology and began coaching in Iran before moving to Canada. Here I earned my ACE personal training certification, spent a year with Fitness World in Kitsilano, and now work independently and as a contractor at Align Method Studio in Vancouver.

Align Method is a women’s health studio, and that is where my practice has become most specialised. I am certified in hypopressives, a low-impact technique for realigning the rib cage, core and pelvic floor, and much of my work is with women through pregnancy, postpartum recovery, perimenopause and menopause - where the right progression matters far more than the hardest one.

I prefer one-to-one coaching because the quality of attention is simply higher, and I also lead small strength-building groups. Whatever your starting point, we will build the program around your body, your history and the time you actually have.

I coach at the Bettie Allard YMCA in Coquitlam, where I run consultations, one-to-one programs and group classes. My work starts with a real conversation about your goals, your training history, your limitations and the life you actually live - the plan comes after that, not before.

I design and deliver strength, cardiovascular, mobility and weight-management programs, and I adjust them as your performance and your goals change. I have led circuit and group fitness classes of more than forty participants, and I have worked extensively with older adults, adapting exercise selection and intensity to build strength, balance, mobility and confidence.

I am a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and NASM Weight Loss Specialist, with First Aid and CPR/AED Level C. What I care about most is that you keep going: consistency, accountability and trust are what produce results, not any single hard session.

I have taught yoga for twelve years, and I teach gentle, flow and power styles depending on what a group needs. My classes are a combination: yoga first, with strength and fitness work built in, then meditation and a long deep-relaxation close. I believe flexibility without strength leaves people fragile, so I train both in the same hour.

I currently teach gentle yoga for residents at Fraser Point, and I have led healing workshops and group events for years alongside my long-term private students.

I also studied psychotherapy and relationship coaching, and that shapes how I teach: I pay attention to what people bring into the room, not only to what their body is doing. I teach in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, which means nobody in the class has to follow along in their second language.