Fitness Together Brecksville: Trainer Tuesdays: What caused you to want to become a personal trainer?

Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.

What caused you to want to become a personal trainer?

Jessica Regula: My road to fitness started in high school when I took a body toning class. We learned how to lift weights, use machines, and write programs for ourselves. At this time I was also taking a yoga, Pilates, and nutrition class and this combination really sparked my passion in health and wellness.

I began noticing the way that my body was changing; I had more energy, more confidence, and overall just a more positive outlook on life. I felt so much better than I ever had, that I wanted to share the feeling with others. I started writing programs for my other high school friends and would work out with them. This continued throughout college and when the opportunity to become certified arose, I knew I had to take it.

My main reason behind becoming a personal trainer was that I wanted to help others, whether they were struggling with low self-esteem and body image, a chronic illness, or were just looking to better themselves, because I've been there before. I absolutely love what I do and I love showing my clients that they can accomplish anything!!

Personal Trainer Justin Traft working with a client

Justin Traft: There are a few things that made me want to become a personal trainer. One being the fact that I used to be overweight as many of you know. It was never easy to be motivated or lose the weight. That was my motivator to become a personal trainer knowing there are other people out there going through what I went through. Knowing I can help them with some of the success I have had myself. So I love the fact now I can help people through their journey in weight loss and give them some pointers because I have been in their shoes. Two, I love the reward of changing someone’s life for the better and having them see it, then have them tell me how it has given them a whole new perspective on life just by giving them my time a few days a week. Three, I have passion for this industry and have for a long time. I like learning about new supplements coming out or even learning an exercise combo I have never seen. The industry is always changing and to be a great personal trainer you have to be willing to learn a little of everything. Fourth, I love all walks of life you get as trainer for clients.

Kelly Bailey: Exercise has had such a positive impact on my life. Being physically fit allows me to engage in many hobbies including horseback riding, hiking, kayaking, and triathlon. In addition, I struggled with depression in years past, so the mood-boosting benefits of exercise have been huge for me. After experiencing the benefits of being physically fit, I decided I'd like to help others realize the same positive effects. Becoming a personal trainer and helping others realize increased health through exercise is a natural fit for me!

Joshua Teplitz: When I was diagnosed with Diabetes at the age of nine, I was first introduced to the world of health and fitness. Being overweight as a child really took its toll on me and although I was young, I knew that I wanted to change my lifestyle and self-image immediately. As years passed by, I grew more passionate about fitness and was able to explore it as a serious career choice. It was never a question of if, but more when, in terms of dedicating my life to helping others on their unique path to a healthier lifestyle.

Personal Trainer Monika Cotter working with a client

Monika Cotter: A few years ago my husband brought one of his fellow soldiers home to have dinner with us. While chatting with him I found out that he was a personal trainer before joining the army, since I had been working out and not seeing results I asked him if he could help me. Within a few months of working out with him I had lost weight, gained muscle, gained confidence and found a love of fitness. With my new found love of fitness I decided to become a personal trainer and I have enjoyed every minute of it and cannot wait to gain more experience and knowledge.

Adam Teplitz: There wasn't a particular moment when I knew I wanted to become a trainer. For as long as I can remember, fitness has been a passion of mine. I take pride in living an active, healthy lifestyle. Personal training seemed like the perfect route to go. I knew I wanted a career where I could have a positive, direct impact on others. There's nothing more rewarding than being able to share my passion for fitness with my clients. From a client telling me it's not a struggle to get out of bed anymore to a client surpassing a personal record, the impact you can have has no boundaries.

Lisa Clark: Unlike many personal trainers, health and fitness was not always part of my daily life. In fact I was quite a couch potato as a teen and early adulthood. In my 30's I was asked to sponsor a friend doing a 150 mile bike ride in a weekend and I thought if she could do it, so could I. So on a whim I signed up to ride with her. I was so excited and so empowered by having the ability to ride so many miles in a weekend. From that point on I started changing the way I looked at health and fitness. It became an important part of my life and through my passion I started encouraging others to eat healthier and exercise. Seeing the difference I was making in my own life and in the lives of others, I wanted to be able to reach more people with my passion! Becoming a personal trainer gives me that ability to help others achieve their health and fitness goals!

Personal Trainer Sean Sullivan working with a client

Sean Sullivan: I grew up an athlete playing just about every sport that you can think of. In 5^th grade my football team made it to the bowl game, and we were able to play at the college stadium! This was a big deal for a kid that age. A lot of that excitement came to a screeching halt later that year when I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. Doctors advised my parents to keep me from playing contact sports, and it also became more important for me to eat healthy---getting plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and protein. In order to stay active, I excelled in the competitive sport of , Irish Dance where I went on to qualify for the world championships 8 times. During those years, I worked privately with a few personal trainers and fitness coaches. They customized a program to help my strength, explosiveness, flexibility, endurance and agility; and, they even helped me to plan proper nutrition---especially for the night before a competition or the day of a competition to make sure I was properly fueling my body. Private personal training gets results! I began winning national and international titles all across the United States, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. When I got into high school, I took a class for lifeguarding in order to get a school credit and a fun job simultaneously. As a lifeguard I was working in gyms and surrounded even more by the fitness culture. The head lifeguard where I was working was also a personal trainer, and she used to talk to me about what a rewarding position it was; and how she thought I had a great personality for it. I have always been passionate about helping people in all aspects of their lives. My mother has always been a great example of keeping exercise a priority in her life…waking up at 6:00am every day to get in her workouts or powerwalking long hikes in the Metroparks. Our family has always been effected by diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and certain types of cancer…all of which exercise and diet have been shown to help prevent. Fast forward a bit…school was not my favorite sport. After high school, I believed that my hard work ethic could get me by in life…and I was right!---if I was okay with working 50 hours a week at a manufacturing company as a temp making minimum wage. I worked so hard at this shop with the hopes of moving up in the ranks. They couldn’t get jobs in faster than I could finish them. I remember vividly after three months asking my manager when they might open a position to hire me when he replied “You’re pretty much a temp indefinitely.” I knew that there was more to life and that I had to go back to school, but for what? My mother reminded me of the lifeguard who had pointed me towards personal training and encouraged me to make appointments at some schools in our area with a personal training program. A year later, I graduated from the National PersonalTraining Institute and the rest is history. For me, this has absolutely been the most rewarding career that I could imagine. There are success stories that I think about and have to hold back the tears from my eyes when people talk about how I helped to empower them to make the necessary changes that literally saved their lives. It doesn’t get any better than that and I thank God every day for paving the path that brought me to personal training.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Trainer Tuesdays: What caused you to want to become a personal trainer?

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