Coached Every Rep, Every Day
At Highland Mercer, certified coaches are on the floor for every training hour — guiding form, cueing movement, and keeping you accountable from warm-up to cooldown.
Most gyms hire coaches as an upsell. At Highland Mercer, coaching is the baseline. Located on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood, our 6,200-square-foot space was designed from the floor plan outward to support coached training: an open lifting floor with sightlines a coach can monitor from any angle, four dedicated class studios running concurrent programming, and a recovery wing with contrast therapy and massage tools. We don't lock coaches behind a scheduling wall — walk in during any session hour and a credentialed coach is present, available, and watching. That philosophy has shaped every hire we've made since opening in 2016.
Four commitments that distinguish how Highland Mercer coaches show up for every member, every day.
Every Highland Mercer coach holds at minimum a NSCA-CSCS or NASM-CPT certification, and we fund continuing education every year. When exercise science evolves, our cues and programming evolve with it — you're never being coached on outdated methodology.
Our coaches don't disappear between personal training appointments. During all open-gym hours, at least two coaches are active on the floor — watching movement patterns, offering corrections, and answering questions before small problems become injuries.
Whether you're six weeks into your first training block or three years into competitive powerlifting, you receive a periodized plan. Beginner orientations, intermediate hypertrophy cycles, and advanced strength peaking all run simultaneously under the same roof.
We cap group classes at fourteen members so coaches can actually see you — not just count reps from across a crowded room. Over weeks and months, that proximity builds a coaching relationship that carries into your open-gym sessions too.
“I'd been going to big-box gyms for four years and was still guessing at my squat depth. Six weeks at Highland Mercer with Coach Daria and I hit a 35-lb PR. The difference isn't the equipment — it's that someone actually watches you move.”
— Marcus T., Wicker Park
Book a free 45-minute orientation session and meet the coaching team before you commit to a membership.
Each certified, each specializing in a distinct discipline from Olympic lifting to mobility.
Every group class stays small enough for real-time coaching correction on every member.
Designed for coached movement, not solo wandering between machines.
Eight years building Chicago's most coach-forward training community.
“I signed up at Highland Mercer after recovering from a shoulder impingement. Coach Ben spent the first two sessions just assessing how I move. That level of attention isn't something you find at a regular gym — and it's why I've been a member for three years now.”
— Priya S., Logan Square