In the 6 a.m. fog and mist, a bright orange truck sticks out in the crowd of Priuses and Teslas parked at the corner of 20th and Church streets.
With modified scaffolding in its bed, it’s pretty hard to miss. A few feet away, a group of four people warms up in Dolores Park. Some run up and down the incline of the hill, or do step-ups on a nearby bench or toe touches across the grass. They’re led by Greg Bianchi, known fondly as Coach B.
His personal training business, “The City is Our Gym,” is hosted out of his truck. Bianchi, a personal trainer since 2003, built his “gymmobile” in 2020. Now, he hosts group workout sessions, personal classes, and corporate fitness classes throughout the Bay Area from the truck.
“When I started working at gyms, I really didn’t like the vibe or the feel of them,” he said. “There were too many rules and restrictions. And the more I did this, the more I thought fitness should be more about the people.”
Despite the nip in the air, his clients are chipper and keen as they head for the Liberty Street Steps, where the group will utilize both the truck and the historic, very steep stairs.
Bianchi remains vigilant, instructing each person patiently on the next exercise as they finish at their own pace. He doesn’t yell or push anyone beyond their limit, but jokes with the group as they make it through their sets.
“Working out isn’t a lifestyle,” he said. “It doesn’t define you. It’s just something you do to go do stuff that defines you.”
Bianchi’s fitness journey began when he was a track-and-field athlete at Arizona State University. After an injury, he became a student manager for the team, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and physical education.
He went on to get a master’s degree in sports science and management at the United States Sports Academy in 2006.
After graduating, he moved back to San Francisco and began working at gyms and coaching friends.
“I love solving problems for people,” he said. “People come to me with different injuries and I love figuring out those little nuances.”
Before the gymmobile, Bianchi would bike from client to client, racking up nearly 100 miles a week. Simultaneously, he served as the head coach for the City College of San Francisco track and field team and the men’s and women’s cross-country teams, coaching there for nearly 19 years until the program was cut during the pandemic.
In 2009, Bianchi decided to open a tiki bar-gym hybrid inside a garage in Orange Alley between 25th and 26th streets. The space combined fitness and the social aspect of working out.
“The tiki garage really set the idea of having a mobile gym space,” he said. “I grew it into a truck because I wanted to see more of the city, not just one place. We live in a beautiful city, and I felt like I was missing out.”
Bianchi and a close friend constructed the structure themselves.
“I’ve been welding for a long time, so I just started playing with stuff,” he said. “Then a buddy of mine and I got together and I told him what my fantasy was. It had to incorporate fitness, and I wanted to make sure there was that element of play. I can store workout materials in the truck, people can work out on it, use the pull-up bar, bounce around, or just play.”
The gymmobile has allowed Bianchi to cultivate a schedule tailored to his own life.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he does two personal early-morning training group sessions at Dolores Park, and two more at Ocean Beach, then typically meets clients in Marin, Palo Alto, and Burlingame. Tuesdays and Thursdays he travels to Oakland and around the North Bay.
Bianchi says his favorite place to work out is San Francisco, for its beauty and its unpredictable weather. Once, he says, a heavy rainstorm almost cancelled a group session until a single hard-core client arrived.
“Only Jeremy showed up,” he said, laughing. “And so we ran from Fort Mason to the Golden Gate Bridge and back, as it poured and poured.”
Bianchi has no intention of acquiring an indoor space; in fact, he’s just added a mobile barbecue attachment to the gymmobile. “I’ve built everything off the truck,” he said.
As the sun peeks through the fog, Bianchi begins to wrap up the session before his next stop: Ocean Beach.
“I want to be the catalyst for people to keep doing what they want to do,” said Coach B. “No matter how old or young, just keep on going. If they want to run a 10k, climb Mount Whitney, or just be in shape, I just want to inspire them.”
