Talia Brennan
BasedSellwood, Portland Coaching since2017

Strength, taught slowly, to people starting again.

I am Talia Brennan. I coach in a two-rack studio on SE 13th and on a lawn in Sellwood Park on Wednesday mornings. Most of the people I work with have not picked up anything heavier than a toddler in years, and every one of them leaves the first hour knowing exactly what to do next.

Book a first session See the programs
Fourteen clients at a time, no more

You write

Tell me what you want to be able to do again. Two lines is plenty.

The first hour

In the studio, at your pace, with an empty bar and no audience.

Twelve weeks

A block written for your body, reviewed together every third week.

Keep going

Most people stay. Some take the plan and go it alone. Both are fine by me.

The shape of it

Small numbers, all of them checkable

Nothing rounded up. This is what the week and the year actually hold.

12 weeks

One block

Reviewed together at week three, six and nine. Nothing is decided in advance of week ten.

14 people

Clients at a time

Three places open right now. When they go, there is a waiting list and I am honest about it.

3 mornings

Out in the park

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, all year. We have trained through hail twice.

9 years

Coaching

Five of them handing people exercises in a physical therapy clinic first.

About

I coach the people gyms lost

Nine years, two racks, one park lawn and a paper notebook for every person I work with.

I spent five years in a physical therapy clinic handing people a printed sheet of exercises and watching most of them stop the week their appointments ran out. Nobody had ever taught them to train, only to rehabilitate. So I learned to write the part that comes afterward, and I have been doing that ever since.

Almost everyone who walks into my studio is careful with something: a knee, a back, a shoulder, a pregnancy that finished two years ago and never quite finished. We build around it rather than pretending it is not there. You will not be shouted at, weighed, photographed, or asked to do burpees, and you will know the name of every movement in your week and why it is in there.

A normal week

Mon Studio, 6am to 1pm
Tue Studio, 6am to 1pm
Wed Park group, then studio
Thu Studio, 6am to 1pm
Fri Park group, then reviews
Sat Barbell club, 8am
Sun River at 5:40, then writing

Sunday is for writing the next blocks. Nobody trains on a Sunday, and that includes me.

Ways to train

Four ways in, one of them yours

If you are not sure which, take the one marked. It is where nearly everybody starts.

One to one Start here

The first hour

We talk, we move, and you lift something. I write your first three weeks down before you leave, and you keep them whether or not you ever come back.

Right if You have not trained in years and want somebody to start you off properly.

How long60 minutes
Price$90
One to one

A twelve-week block

Two hours a week with me and one session you run yourself, written around whatever you are being careful with. We sit down at week three, six and nine and change what is not working.

Right if You want to be measurably stronger by the end of a season, not by Friday.

How long12 weeks
PriceFrom $1,560
Small group

Park mornings

Four people, one lawn, kettlebells and a coffee afterward. Wednesday and Friday at seven, all year, weather included. Nobody there is younger than forty.

Right if You train better with company and worse in front of a mirror.

How long50 minutes
Price$28 a morning
Written plan

Coaching by post

A block written for you and a call every third week. For people who already have a gym, a body they know well enough, and no plan worth the name.

Right if You can lift. You just keep making it up on the way to the rack.

How longPer block
PriceFrom $240

A session

What one hour actually holds

There are no surprises in here. This is the shape of every first session I run, and it has not changed in six years.

  1. 0:00 10 min

    Talking

    What you want to be able to do again, what hurts, and what you have already tried and quietly hated.

  2. 0:10 10 min

    Moving

    Six things, none of them hard. I am watching ankles, hips and shoulders, not scoring any of it.

  3. 0:20 25 min

    Lifting

    A squat, a hinge and a carry, learned with an empty bar and loaded only as far as they stay clean.

  4. 0:45 10 min

    Writing it down

    Your first three weeks go into a paper notebook with your name on the spine. You leave with a photo of both pages.

  5. 0:55 5 min

    Questions

    Anything you did not want to ask in front of anyone else, including what it costs and what happens if you stop.

60 min
One first session

You leave with the next three weeks written down, whether or not you ever book a second hour.

Getting started

How it goes, and where

You only have to be in the studio for two of these four.

By email

01

You write

Two minutes

Two lines about what you want back is enough. I answer everything myself, usually the same evening, with a couple of questions.

The studio

02

The first hour

60 minutes

We talk, we move, you lift, and I write the first three weeks down in front of you. Wear whatever you can move in.

Wherever you are

03

Weeks one to three

Three weeks

Two hours a week with me and one you run alone. You text me when something feels wrong, and I answer before the next session.

The studio

04

The first review

Thirty minutes

We sit down with the notebook and change what is not working. This happens again at week six and week nine.

  • Where it happens
  • By email
  • The studio
  • Wherever you are

Clients

People who kept going

Each of these is about a specific block, so you can read the one that sounds like yours.

Return to Lifting 12 weeks

I had spent four years telling people I was not a gym person. It turns out I was a person nobody had ever taught anything. Twelve weeks later I deadlift more than I weigh and I can tell you why every movement is in my week.

Priya Raghunathan Nurse, thirty-eight
After Baby 16 weeks

I came in eight months after my daughter and cried in the first session, which Talia did not make weird at all. She started me on breathing and a broomstick. I carry the car seat up two flights now without thinking about it.

Hannah Doyle Second baby, back at work
Park Mornings Two years

Four of us, a lawn and a coffee afterward. I have not missed a Wednesday since the first autumn, including the one where it hailed and she made us finish the carries anyway.

Marcus Oyelaran Teacher, fifty-one
Runner's Strength 10 weeks

I had run three marathons on legs that had never picked anything up. The first eight weeks felt insultingly easy and then I took nine minutes off my half without one new injury.

Elin Sandberg Runs the river loop, badly
Knees Again 20 weeks

My surgeon said I would be back to normal walking. Nobody mentioned stairs, or carrying anything, or getting up off the floor. She had written all three into the plan before it occurred to me to ask.

Dominic Serrano Knee reconstruction, 2025
Coaching by post Ongoing

There is a gym in my building and I had been doing the same three machines since 2019. Now a block arrives every twelve weeks and I get a call where she tells me kindly that I am rounding my back again.

Yuki Tanabe Trains alone in Seattle

On paper

Where the coaching comes from

Certifications, the clinic years, and the courses I keep going back to.

Coaching 4

2019 - Present Strength coach, independent Talia Brennan Strength
2017 - 2019 Coach and rehabilitation assistant Riverside Physical Therapy
2014 - 2017 Physical therapy aide Riverside Physical Therapy
2018 - 2022 Coach, community strength program Sellwood Community Center

Education 2

2010 - 2014 BSc Kinesiology Portland State University
2020 - 2020 Certificate in Exercise and Pregnancy Oregon Health Sciences (continuing education)

Courses I keep going back to 4

2023 Loading the Postoperative Knee Two-day clinical workshop, Seattle
2022 Coaching Older Adults Six-week course, online
2021 Motivational Interviewing for Practitioners Portland State University
2024 Return to Running after Pregnancy Clinical seminar

Talks and teaching 3

2025 Strength after fifty is not a compromise Sellwood Library, evening talk
2024 What discharge does not cover Riverside Physical Therapy, staff session
2023 Teaching the first barbell hour Oregon Coaches Meetup

Full resume Download the PDF

Questions

The things people ask before they write

Mostly asked apologetically, and none of them are silly.

I have never lifted anything. Is this for me?
It is mostly for you. About two thirds of the people I coach had never touched a barbell before their first session, and a good number had never been inside a gym. We start with an empty bar, or a broomstick, and add weight only once the shape of the movement holds.
What if I have an injury or something that hurts?
Say so in your message and we build around it. I spent five years in a physical therapy clinic and I work alongside two therapists in Sellwood, so if something needs looking at properly I will say that too rather than coach through it.
Do I have to commit to twelve weeks?
No. Start with one hour. If you never book another, you still leave with three weeks written down and you are welcome to take them somewhere else. Nothing here is a package and nothing renews on its own.
What should I wear, and do I need shoes?
Anything you can move in, and flat shoes rather than running shoes if you have them. If you do not, wear socks and we will manage. There is a changing room and a shower nobody ever uses.
Can I train with a friend?
Two people to an hour works well and costs $130 between you. More than two and the park mornings are a better fit, or we set up a private group of four on a morning that suits you.
What happens if I have to cancel?
Tell me by the night before and it costs nothing. Later than that and I charge half, because the hour is gone and I cannot fill it. Illness, childcare and weather in the park are all exceptions and I do not keep score.

Booking

Start with an hour

Tell me roughly what you want back. I answer every message myself, usually the same evening.

What happens next

  1. I write backSame evening

    Two or three questions, so we do not spend your hour on paperwork.

  2. We pick a timeWithin a week

    Mornings from six, or Saturday if that is the only window you have.

  3. The first hour60 minutes

    In the studio on SE 13th. Wear whatever you can move in.

  4. You get the planThat day

    Three weeks written down, yours whether or not you book again.

No card details, no packages and nothing to cancel. You can stop after the hour and I will still send you the plan.