Frank Ward Training

Frank Ward Training operates out of a private studio at 340 NW 36th St in Oakland Park, tucked into the city’s northwest side not far from Powerline Road. Frank Ward, the trainer behind the business, is certified through the American Council on Exercise and has been working as a personal trainer in South Florida since relocating from Washington, D.C. in 1997. By his own account, he came to South Florida for the lifestyle and started training clients to pay the bills, then found that coaching people through their fitness goals was the part of the work he actually cared about.

Unlike a big box gym, this is a one on one operation built around a small private space rather than a membership floor full of equipment. The studio itself is compact, roughly 250 square feet of rubber flooring, but it is outfitted with free weights, TRX suspension bands, pull up and dip stations, and a few pieces of specialized gear including an inversion table for clients dealing with back issues. Frank Ward Training also has pool access on site, which opens the door to low impact water based exercise options for clients recovering from injury or dealing with joint pain that makes traditional strength training difficult.

Sessions run $60 individually, or clients can buy a 10 session package for $500, working out to $50 per session for those who commit to a block of training rather than paying one off. Programming is customized per client rather than following a set class structure, covering strength and flexibility work along with nutrition guidance built into the coaching relationship. Frank Ward markets the studio as open to clients of every fitness level, gender, age, and experience, with training built around the idea that people share the same basic anatomy and movement patterns but need individualized approaches to reach their specific goals.

The Oakland Park studio serves a service area that stretches beyond the city itself into Wilton Manors, Coral Ridge, and Lauderdale by the Sea, which makes sense given the northwest Oakland Park location sits within a short drive of all three. For residents who want the accountability and individualized attention of a private trainer rather than a class format, and who would rather train in a small dedicated space than a crowded commercial gym floor, Frank Ward Training offers an independently run alternative that has had nearly three decades to refine its approach in the South Florida market. The pool access and adaptive equipment in particular make it a reasonable option for older clients or anyone working around an injury rather than training purely for competition.