Developing Basketball Athletes Holistically Through Weight Room Tech

Introduction

Justin Ochoa is the founder of Gem Sessions, a high-performance basketball development business in Indianapolis. Known for blending elite-level skill work with evidence-based strength training, Justin trains athletes ranging from youth prospects to pros playing overseas.

Justin’s path wasn’t linear. Like many young athletes, he was passionate but underestimated the leap between high school and college basketball. After realizing he wasn’t prepared for the next level, he left the game and experienced a loss of structure and identity. “I saw the mistakes I made, and I realized—I can help people avoid those.” That gap year left him physically out of shape and mentally disconnected—fueling his eventual dive into strength and conditioning.

Building a business came with new hurdles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his first gym was shut down, forcing him to take jobs at Amazon and a pizza shop just to stay afloat. With no clear playbook, Justin had to merge basketball and performance training on his own—often without mentors or models to follow. At times, it was a lonely road filled with trial and error, but he used every setback as fuel to refine his system and philosophy.

As Gem Sessions grew, so did the complexity of running a training business—managing programs, tracking progress, scheduling, and getting paid. With TeamBuildr Strength and TeamBuildr OS working in sync, Justin found the tools he needed to scale his programming and streamline his operations—giving his athletes a premium experience and himself more time to coach.

Challenge

Running Gem Sessions meant juggling dozens of moving parts: staggered athlete schedules, individualized programming, remote training, manual booking, and payment collection. Justin was using spreadsheets, PDFs, texts, and Venmo—an unscalable system that left room for errors and ate up valuable time. “I was all over the place—different documents for different people, text me when you're coming, cash app me after. It was the worst way to run a business,” he recalls.

As he transitioned out of owning a facility and into a leaner, subleased training model, Justin needed to simplify and professionalize. He was looking for two things: a powerful, flexible programming platform that could support his training model, and a gym management tool that was minimal, effective, and aligned with how coaches work—not just how gyms operate.

Solution

TeamBuildr became the engine behind Justin’s programming. He builds foundational templates categorized by training goals and frequency—then customizes based on each athlete’s needs. Whether they’re training in-person or remotely, athletes get their sessions through the TeamBuildr app, complete with video demos, performance tracking, and notes. Mounted iPads in the gym let athletes log their own lifts and progress during sessions.

This setup allows Justin to run more efficient, high-touch training sessions without being tied to a whiteboard or stack of printouts. Athletes get real-time feedback and the ability to track progress over time—something that has boosted buy-in and autonomy. “They’re more invested when they see their numbers,” Justin says. “It’s helped the coaching side more than I expected.”

Meanwhile, TeamBuildr OS handles the business side: scheduling, memberships, payments, and client onboarding. Instead of back-and-forth texts, athletes simply use the booking page in the app to reserve sessions and manage their memberships. With cutoff times in place, Justin knows his schedule at least 12 hours ahead. “It gave me back my time. If no one books, I’m not sitting around wondering if someone’s gonna show.”

Even better—clients take responsibility for their own bookings, payments, and updates, which reduces admin work and ensures consistency. “It’s simple, clean, and doesn’t come with a bunch of useless features. It’s built by people who understand training,” he says.

Results

With TeamBuildr Strength and TeamBuildr OS, Justin has built a seamless tech stack that supports both athlete performance and business efficiency. Programming that once took hours across multiple tools is now templated, trackable, and scalable.

His sessions are more focused, his athletes more engaged, and his remote clients better supported. He has grown his business and now trains high-level basketball players ranging from high school to the pros. Drawing on years of coaching, playing, and training, Justin designs programs that unify on-court skill development with speed, agility, lifting, and recovery—all under one philosophy.

He created a seamless training model where a single coach could manage all aspects of athlete growth.  “When one person is in charge of all the variables, the athlete gets to reach their full potential,” he said. “People think I’m mimicking basketball movements with weights. I’m not. I’m preparing athletes for the demands of the game,” Justin added. This eliminated miscommunication between trainers and skill coaches and allowed for more intentional, individualized progress.

On the business side, scheduling chaos and payment confusion are a thing of the past. TeamBuildr OS helps him stay organized, get paid on time, and avoid unnecessary admin. “Everything’s tidy now—my schedule, my financials, and my athlete flow,” he says.

Together, TeamBuildr Strength and TeamBuildr OS have helped Justin grow Gem Sessions into a professional, scalable training brand—without the overhead of a big facility or extra staff.