MEET YOUR TRAINERS!

• NASM Certified Personal Trainer
• NASM Performance Enhancement Specialist 
• NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist 
• NASM Integrated Flexibility Specialist
• ISSA Certified Personal Trainer 
• ISSA Performance Nutrition Specialist 
• Lifestyle Technologies Weight Management Consultant
• TRX Instructor 
• StrongBoard Instructor
• Oh Baby Fitness Instructor 
• Precision Nutrition Pro Coach
• Senior Fitness Instructor
• CETI-Cancer Exercise Specialist
• Beach Therapy Coach

I know the journey isn’t easy.  I’ve been training clients for over 25 years now, but my story began long before. I was overweight as a kid and as a young mom. I tried everything: Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, a cabbage diet, a low fat diet, Jazzercise, you name it. I’d find some short term success, but without fail, I’d wind up gaining the weight back. 

At age 37, one of my daughters suggested I go to the gym with her, so I did. With a personal trainer, I lost 80 pounds, found unexpected joy in weightlifting, and loved discovering this new way to reduce stress and deal with emotions. After my first trainer moved, I worked with others. A few were stellar, but many lacked relevant education and experience, and their recommended supplements and workouts did permanent damage to my body. 

I didn’t want this to happen to anyone else. I wanted to share my newfound passion for lifting weights and feeling energized with other women like me who had struggled with yo-yo dieting – and I wanted to do it in a way that prioritized education and healthy, sustainable outcomes, not trendy or risky programs that could leave someone hurt or depleted. 

I decided to become a personal trainer. I took classes, went to seminars, read countless books to learn as much as I could about alllll different types of bodies and how they work. I also spent years working with a renowned nutritionist (Philip Goglia, author of “Turn Up the Heat”), and that education has helped me develop more extensive nutrition coaching programs that I now offer to clients. 

After years training and managing a big chain gym, I took the scary/ exciting step of opening my own private fitness studio in central California. I knew that many people in the community wanted healthier lives but were intimidated by big gyms. I trusted that a private, welcoming space would facilitate the individualized attention that can make all the difference.

In the years since I took that leap, I’ve experienced many of my own ups and downs, including a significant whiplash/concussion incident that permanently injured my neck and jaw and triggered trigeminal neuralgia. I’ve had to modify my own workout strategies toward less invasive modalities as I manage the constant pain. I know what it’s like to work carefully with injuries, limitations, and sensitivities – every day is different, and what is best any given day will depend significantly on what my body is telling me. That’s what I try to teach my clients, too. 

With 25+ years in the fitness industry now, I’ve learned many strategies to help my clients as they transition from different phases of life, different eras of health, evolving needs. Trends come and go, but the basics of how to feel and live healthier are pretty constant – and I can ensure we have strategies that are tailored to whatever era of life you find yourself in. 

• TRX Instructor
• Oh Baby Fitness
• StrongBoard Instructor
• Myofascial Release
• Certified Personal Trainer
• Weight Management Consultant 
• High Intensity Interval Training

I’m in the business of helping others. I began motivating and training people in the early 1990s as a Pop Warner Football coach in Redwood City, CA. I continued coaching – high school JV football, then high school varsity football, then working as a head coach in the US Flag Football Association. 

I’ve always been an entrepreneur – I had a successful detailing business and a restaurant. But life took a horrible turn in the early 2000s; during the housing crisis, I lost my cars, my houses, my boats, my business and livelihood, without any real forewarning. Hero to zero, but I had to be resilient. What could I do?

Well, I still had my bike. Yes, a bike. I’d ride daily all over San Francisco, mulling over ways to rebuild what I’d suddenly lost. And among everything else I’d lost, I still had my smile, my sense of humor, and my hard work ethic. I controlled what I could control, began my own fitness crusade to eat healthier and exercise. In spite of everything else that had transpired, I still had control of me, and I *felt* better. 

I pursued a new career path as a personal trainer; I wanted to help others who felt “out of control” to find a sense of purpose and peace. I learned more about exercise and nutrition, and especially how important myofascial release is for tight muscles. 

When my own back would tighten up, I learned to get out the foam roller and start rolling my glutes. Yes, sometimes I wanted to cry, but afterward my back felt so much better. When I took up golf again a few years ago, I have been continually amazed at how myofascial release techniques have helped my golf game. 

Staying fit as a senior now is very important to me, and I stress that importance to my clients as well – many of them have spent a whole career sitting at a desk and are taking steps to incorporate fitness into their lives as they transition to retirement. I love helping people on their journey to healthier, active lives.