Reviews

Don’t go here unless you want to feel your best and want help reaching your personal fitness goals…seriously. I limped into John Beall’s office a year ago,having no idea how I hurt my knee. I needed to be on my feet for 3 weeks walking through Europe in 4 days ( thanks to Yelp-I found RISE! ) John fixed my knee and I was running 2 days later! I am active but was constantly stopping my training due to injuries. I returned to RISE after my trip and worked with John on my latent injuries for several months (not everything has a quick fix) and took advantage of all RISE has to offer-personal training, pilates, yoga, TRX, small group classes, massage and chiro….Thanks to the John, KIKO(Pony Boy), Camille, Diana, Jen, and all the Rise trainers-life is good!
This place is awesome, if you want to feel your best 🙂

Rise, a long overdue 6 month review.

I was introduce to Rise through John Beal’s chiropractic practice. An ergonomist at work recommended John as the go to chiropractor to fix a plantar fasciitis I’d been lugging for a year.
In 3 months Dr Beal fixed it!
Yes people, plantar fasciitis can be fixed, and John Beal is your man!

Dr John then suggested a bit of physical therapy to strengthen and build some muscle where they were needed. That’s where he handed me over to Derek. Yeah, the great thing about Rise, it’s all in one place, and it’s downtown, east end, Alameda.
The physical therapy with Derek turned quickly into personal training with Derek on my request. I started to enjoy weight lifting and wanted to do more.
Honestly, I am not a gym person, always preferred the outdoors. And weight lifting has never been my thing. But convenience and the display of professionalism at Rise got the best of me (Derek is such a great trainer).

So back on topic, Rise.
The only thing I would say could be improved at Rise is the signage. Clearly stating where rooms are, what rooms are for, what’s ok and off limits. I know for example that the upstairs area is reserved for personal trainers but I don’t think there is a clear sign to tell you that. To be fair, I also know that (the ever so helpful) Darlene does walkthrough when people sign up. But if you have the discipline to train regularly you’ll quickly get a hang of the layout.
Besides that, staff and trainers are always very friendly and super helpful (am there end of afternoons, early evenings) and the place is very clean despite the time it’s been around.

It’s just a great place and I am very grateful that we have Rise in Alameda, thank you John and staff.

I am happy to report whatever he did to me has me 100% healed!

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I was referred to work with Dr. John Beall by my dear friend Gabi Cascio after exhausting all other possibilities in search of healing a scary AF pinched nerve situation that was not only causing my thumb to go numb, but also creating excruciating pain like I have NEVER FELT BEFORE… John estimated it would take about 4 sessions to ‘fix me’, and BAMMM was HE ON THE MONEY!!!

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‘Confident, funny, grounded, knowledgeable, & skilled healer’ are just a few words that come to mind when I think of this LIFE SAVER!!!

In need of body work, personal training, massage or the most amazing chiropractics?

So, I have been through the mill in search of a good hands-on body work specialist and Dr. John Beale came to my rescue. He and the Rise Bodyworks staff are the best in the business. One of the major benefits is that Dr. Beale is hands on and he is involved in every aspect of the biz and in your improvement and recovery. I would not be as healthy as I am today if it were not for him and staff.

Most of all, he is a caring hands on personable individual and I always leave feeling personally cared for.

P.S. Genie (personal trainer) is awesome!

I have been going to Rise for a few years. Have loved the ART by Dr John and really enjoyed my pilates personal training. Have been taking pilates reformer for a few years as well and it has been steady and fine as well. Today I took my first pilates class with Nika and it was AWESOME!!! I can’t wait for my next Pilates class on Friday with her. She worked every muscle in my body with humor and attentiveness. Really, really top notch instructor.

I’ve had six sessions so far with John Beale and already I am feeling noticeable improvements. A twisted ankle led to whole-leg stress that was preventing me from running. After these sessions I am back at about 90% and had a pain-free run this week. I’m stoked! Rise has a great vibe and John is a fantastic physical therapist, super in tune to the body and not one to spare his clients the necessary intensive treatment to get to true healing. Thank you, John!

Fantastic service, amazing results. I’ve been to quite a few chiropractors over the years, and have always been relatively happy. However, Dr. Beall sets a new bar for treatment. Firm and direct, nothing lasts as long as his adjustments and I’m pain free, energetic, and active. After a nasty car accident, John expedited schedules to get me seen immediately, helped adjust me, and then selflessly coached me through how the injury process works and what to watch out for. I always feel like I’m visiting a friend when I go to Rise. Thanks.

My wife referred me to Dr John Beall, Chiropractor. Dr Beall has some unique techniques…Great moves & good treatments. Dr Beall is really good & I recommend that you try him, if looking for a good Chiro (saves me the trip into SF & maybe the best Chiro, I’ve found.)

All my years at a desk job finally caught up to me and I woke up with a crick in my neck that massage wouldn’t cure. My co-workers raved about John Beall and told me that he changed their respective lives. Cautiously optimistic, I called and was able to make an appointment the next day. They were right: he was hard on my muscles but super nice. The pain in my neck and shoulders has gone away and he gave me tips for how to adjust my desk at work to reduce the stress on my muscles in the future. Amazing.

I was in serious pain following a case of slipped rib – I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t rotate my upper body, couldn’t breathe without pain – in short, I was desperate and terrified. I had already seen my regular chiropractor for adjustments to alleviate the pain (twice a week for 2 weeks and RICE-d constantly) but nothing I did ever seemed to make it better.

A friend who saw how miserable I was told me to visit an ART-certified chiropractor and that’s how I found John. Boy am I glad I did! Making an appointment at Rise was a breeze and the clinic itself was wonderful and clean.

John briefly talked to me about my condition, to understand what happened. He is personable, and instantly made me feel comfortable. He then proceeded to massage my shoulder and back WHICH HURT LIKE A MOFO. It was honestly, some of the most terrible minutes of my life, but once he was done, I could feel all the tension seeping out of my body and the pain easing.

John was really detailed, patient and thorough. I have never had such a good chiro appointment. He spent every minute of our session adjusting, fixing and working my body, instead of just wasting time on meaningless small talk. The 30 minutes of my adjustment felt like forever (in a good way), and by the end of it I felt like I had a whole different body. You can just tell he’s a chiropractor that really cares and is incredibly good at what he does.

John was also super knowledgeable and really inspired confidence – which I was severely lacking after my numerous failed adjustments at my chiropractor. He noted that a lot of my pain was probably due to the difference in lengths of my leg, he even provided me with a free massage ball and insole heel so I could treat myself at home. The best thing was that unlike other chiropractors who would push for unnecessary treatments, John told me I was pretty much fine, but that I could call him again if I felt like I needed an additional treatment. None of that “sign up for a package” or pressure selling bullshit.

all in all, I have to say, John is a chiropractor who is really knowledgeable, caring and kind. He really is there to take care of you and your body! So if you are in doubt about which chiropractor to visit, John is definitely an awesome option!

One thing I will say though is that his office is slightly informal – there were dogs barking and running around which might bother some people. I didn’t find it distracting at all but its just a heads up for people who may not like dogs.

Dr. John is hands down the best Chiro/ART specialist I have ever seen. As an Olympic hopeful in Rowing, I have seen many trainers and PT specialists. Due to the nature of the sport, Rowing puts a lot of strain on your back. I have suffered from back pain from most of my career. Other masseuses or chiropractors would help to some degree, but no one could make real, long term changes. That is, until I saw John.

He found some issues that no other PT ever noticed and was able to work it out. He has helped me to improve my Rowing performance as well as speed up my recovery time and improve my quality of life (with little or no back pain).

John is awesome. I went in for help with an old ankle sprain that had acted up and traveled up to my knee causing substantial pain for about three months which the conservative RICE method did very little to resolve. I went to see John after stumbling upon the ART method and his website. His business happens to be right down the street from my house, so I see him at least once a week now. He cured my ankle and knee within three sessions – I was shocked.

I was so happy and surprised, that I asked him if he could help rehabilitate the strength in my left arm where I had tennis elbow surgery a couple years ago. We are now in the process of doing ART and then doing some guided exercises and I am using weights and working my body out like I haven’t done in 5 years. If you haven’t heard of ART and have tried traditional physical therapy for an injury (esp. repetitive type injuries), I urge you to give John and his team a shout – I bet they can help.

Rochefort 8!

I love this place!

After my third pregnancy, I had serious hip pain, and also wanted active approach in healing it.
I found Rise through my insurance web site (yes, they take insurance for chiro), checked it on yelp and found exactly what I needed.
Dr.Beall and his instructors are the best, and atmosphere there is awsome!
John healed my hip, and I continued to take pilates classes.
All instructors are just great, and they have classes all day long, to fit anyone’s busy schedule!

John is fabulous. He has been doing ART on my elbow, and as rough as the sessions are, I always end up laughing. And the problem is all but gone after several sessions – I keep returning to him to both keep it gone and for the fabulous full body adjustments he does. I feel like a new person after each session.

But there’s more – Pilates instructors Chris, Camille and Kiko have made the new person stronger. Chris and Camille got me broken in and made me a regular, and Kiko has figured out where my weak spots are and is slowly making them into strong spots.

I can’t say enough good stuff about this place. I hobbled in six months ago with multiple long-term injuries that were preventing me from doing all kinds of things. Now, nothing hurts. Ever. I’m back to training for half-marathons thanks to these folks!

I wish I could give this place 100 stars. And I have some really good reasons.

First: I started working out here regularly a month ago, and every instructor is awesome. They are ALL professional, motivating, super knowledgable, and friendly. Good people. The atmosphere is very welcoming, but you still get your butt kicked. I look forward to moving and working my body in new ways with each class.

Which brings me to my second reason: last night, I dislocated my shoulder during a class. Yeah, you read that right – that bad boy popped straight out of the socket. I was super tired, and I TOTALLY did this to myself, by trying to use my hypermobility (double-jointedness) to lift a weight whilst positioned incorrectly. Oops. This was a first for me, and it was indeed horrific. Because I was light-headed and in a great deal of pain, my version may be skewed. But, as I remember it: class was stopped, people gathered around, I wanted to disappear, John came over and, in addition to some obscenities, I asked (yelled? cried?) that someone pop it back in. After a bit of deliberating (or maybe none?) John straight up DID IT, in one strong, swift movement, accompanied by a loud “pop”, a feeling of instant relief, and some loud cheers. If it wasn’t for John, I would have been held up in an ER for hours with a dislocated shoulder, and everything would have been much worse. So basically, he saved the day with some mad skills and big cajones. Everyone there was also super helpful and supportive of my freakish workout accident, as well.

So this place is pretty much the best ever. 100 stars, in my book.

I’ve been getting ART and chiropractic sessions with Dr. John Beal for a couple months. Incredible, very helpful (sometimes intense) work, with witty banter thrown in to distract and entertain. I love a business run by real people with individual personalities (not a cookie-cutter “professional” mask so many people in medicine and wellness seem to employ). But even if I didn’t like Dr. Beal his work speaks for itself. Pilates trainer Kiko is also awesome, worked me hard but in an entertaining and totally motivating way. Gladys in reception is always a pleasure to see. I am happy to have Rise in my self-care rotation.

(Edited to add that people writing negative comments about particular teachers should probably check to make sure they have said teacher’s gender right.)

This place is awesome! John appears to be quite vested in attracting top instructors from around the area. Diana Moskowitz is my regular instructor and I could go on and on about how great she is but I’d run out of space. She is a true professional who knows how to get everyone motivated throughout the workout, even when we are exhausted! I’m much stronger today then when I started nearly a year ago. I love that she really knows what she is doing and that she is always super motivated!!

I spend most of my time in TRX classes with Diana but I’ve taken classes with other instructors who are also great: Camille, Kiko, Jennifer and Lydia. You can’t go wrong. The instructors are top caliber.

As much as I used to joke that John should give me kick-backs for my Yelp posts, I will state for the record that I relocated to Singapore and get NOTHING from Rise. In fact, since I am no longer a client, I bet they forgot all about me. ?

Anyway, the reason for my review is that while I have been trying to establish a new fitness regime, I really, REALLY miss Rise. Thanks to my personal training sessions with Camille (which ended September 2013), I can still keep up with most weight training and aerobic classes here in Singapore. Unfortunately they leave me somewhat uninspired. I also took a few Pilates classes at various studios in the area, and they weren’t very challenging at all. (One instructor claimed she was mean, but I breezed through her workout.)

So yes, even though I whined and complained when Camille tabata’ed my butt, I find myself missing TRX and kettle bells. (So sad, but true!) Once I return to the States (in 2-3 years?), I’ll definitely be back…