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The Work We Do: Dan Hagerman, Fitness Advantage

My name is Dan Hagerman. I am co-owner of Fitness Advantage with my sister, Sarah Sirico, and head coach at CrossFit North Tribe.

Fitness Advantage is just an open gym that people can come as they please and use the equipment. I have my degree in exercise science. Then we have CrossFit, which are hourlong classes by appointment. We have eight people at most in each class.

I graduated almost 14 years ago now and after that I moved back home and along with my sister we moved what was a small personal training studio that she operated to the current location of Fitness Advantage now. This way, it allowed us to have longer hours, people can come and go as they please and it’s worked out really well. It’s been that way since January 2005. In 2012, we started CrossFit, and that’s a lot different. It’s much more hands-on. It’s small group training with a focus on strength and conditioning.

A typical day starts with an early alarm. I have a 5 or 6 a.m. class, depending on the day, and those classes will continue on the hour through most of the morning and then we’ll pick them up again in the afternoon. That leaves a big chunk in the middle of the day for me to have personal-training clients, or just getting back office work done.

My role as head coach is to kind of make sure everything runs smoothly. I do the programming and make sure that the structure of the program fits within the hour. I also make sure the other coaches know what the purpose is so they can take that information and relay that to the athletes to have a successful workout.

My favorite part of the job is the fact that it doesn’t feel like a job. I get to do something I’m very passionate about. They come in and they put their trust in you to guide them toward their goals. There’s nothing better than if there’s even a small change, whether it’s in their squat form, or nutritionally. Those small changes that make all the difference to them, it’s great. There’s nothing more rewarding than that. And I get to do that day in and day out.

“The Work We Do” is a Suffolk Times multimedia project profiling workers on the North Fork. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See photos on Instagram @thesuffolktimes.