If you’re uncertain about where to start your fitness journey or are ready to set new goals, personal training could be right for you.
Our personal trainers will evaluate your current status, teach you the fundamentals of exercise technique, and recommend particular exercises specific to your needs. They will teach you how to exercise properly in order to achieve weight goals, increase strength, and perform everyday functional movements to decrease the risk of injury.
Now let’s meet a few of our 15 trainers
- Jill Garrett: “Everything we do now is for our future selves.”
- Yakov Lyublinskiy: “We first have to make sure your goals are realistic.”
- Heather Whitsett: “You deserve to be your best, most authentic self.”
- Mary Zarate: “Move every day!”
Jill Garrett
“Everything we do now is for our future selves.”
What inspired you to become a personal trainer?
My love for health and wellness. I am very interested in longevity and having a good quality of life the older I get.
What is the most rewarding part of helping someone reach their fitness goals?
Helping my clients reach their fitness and health goals. Whether it’s my 97-year-old client telling me her doctor noticed she was walking better to my 35-year-old client noticing her core is stronger, to my 42-year-old client telling me she was able to raise her garage door by herself when the power went out. Seeing clients gain confidence is rewarding.
How would you describe your training philosophy?
We are building a strong body now to help protect our bones when we get older. Everything we do now is for our future selves. You need to make fitness a discipline.
How do you help motivate someone who feels stuck or discouraged in their fitness journey?
I like to remind them of my philosophy. Everything you do now will show up later. I also like to find new ways to do exercises. Nothing is one size fits all. Everything can be accessible.
What’s your personal favorite workout or exercise?
If I had to choose one thing it would be yoga, which combines breathing, stretching, and muscle building. It also lowers cortisol levels.
What might you tell someone who’s new to the Fitness Floor and nervous about getting started?
Getting to the parking lot is step one. I would also suggest getting out of their own mind. No one is paying attention to what you wear or your hair. Keep showing up for you — no one else. You deserve to feel good.
Yakov Lyublinskiy
“We first have to make sure that the goals are realistic.”
What inspired you to become a personal trainer?
I observed people not exercising and leading unhealthy lifestyles that led to noticeable levels of fragility and the early onset of serious health complications. Also, thanks to practicing martial arts and studying Zen philosophy, I wanted to learn how to heal people as that is yet another part of being a complete warrior — the ability not only to destroy but also to heal. And I am also in awe of the human body and its complex machinery.
What is the most rewarding part of helping someone reach their fitness goals?
The change that we can make on a person’s everyday life, like working with someone who can barely get up from a chair and after a couple months knowing that they can go shopping for two hours and keep up with grandkids. Or improving someone’s outlook on life as a whole… or at least being able to improve their golf or tennis games.
How would you describe your training philosophy?
It doesn’t necessarily reside in always pushing harder and faster. The most important thing is consistency and showing up. Very often I tell my new client on the first training that “I have only one goal for you right now: I want you leave this training session feeling better than when you got here.” That will help a person who might feel apprehensive about training to come back and achieve their other goals without placing more stress on their already stressful life.
How do you help motivate someone who feels stuck or discouraged in their fitness journey?
As a trainer with significant experience, I can always adapt and change training sessions. If someone is struggling to reach their goals, we have to first make sure that the goals are realistic. After careful consideration we can understand what the barrier or barriers to success might be — from not training sufficiently to overtraining, and from not addressing specific body imbalances to dealing with unresolved injuries. So we can always change our training strategy from addressing musculoskeletal imbalances to include a new regimen like plyometrics or just have a long stretching session.
What’s your personal favorite workout or exercise?
Performing mini circuits with kettlebells and combining martial arts movements with functional training. This allows me to stay in great shape without lifting really heavy weights while also supporting cardio, balance, and coordination at the same time. It’s efficient and fun.
What might you tell someone who’s new to the Fitness Floor and nervous about getting started?
This brings me back to what I said earlier about motivation and my training philosophy. In addition, I would clearly explain our goals and the principles of proper training and even debunk some training myths. During training sessions I explain every exercise’s muscle activity, specific functional benefits, and the importance of proper progression. It’s also very important to explain to a new client who’s maybe afraid of getting sore or injured that they don’t have to push too hard during the initial four weeks of training in order to allow the body slow progressive adaptation. I would also make sure to include exercises that feel good and relaxing overall, like full-body joint mobility and stretching.
Heather Whitsett
“You deserve to be your best, most authentic self.”
What inspired you to become a personal trainer?
I was working as a Fitness Floor attendant when Fitness Director Camari Princewill suggested I consider becoming a personal trainer. He’s been an incredible mentor, and it’s especially been our incredibly active and healthy older members who most inspire me to help others (and myself!) stay on track for life.
What is the most rewarding part of helping someone reach their fitness goals?
Watching someone’s confidence and sense of self increase, especially women. Doing hard things builds physical and mental fortitude, which gives us the confidence to be fully ourselves in the world. You deserve to be your best, most authentic self.
How would you describe your training philosophy?
Balance is key to maintenance. We must be training for strength, cardio, mobility, flexibility, etc., but also resting properly. I stress balance in workouts, diet, and the psyche throughout all aspects of life.
How do you help motivate someone who feels stuck or discouraged in their fitness journey?
I try to explore and connect fitness goals to personal core values. When someone is motivated by a deeply meaningful “why,” they’re going to have a “North Star” to follow on their journey, even when it becomes difficult to see their way through.
What’s your personal favorite workout or exercise?
Single leg deadlift with dumbbells! It’s great balance training, a booty builder, and challenges my grip strength (which needs some love). I could do this exercise during every workout and be excited for it every time.
What might you tell someone who’s new to the Fitness Floor and nervous about getting started?
It’s not necessarily hard as much as just unfamiliar. Start small with maybe a group fitness class, a floor orientation with a staff member, spending a cardio session watching people, and even some 30-minute J-Starter Fit sessions tailored for you by a trainer. Build on small things until you’re more familiar with the overall experience and it will all become less intimidating. It’s a great place to learn.
Mary Zarate
“Move every day!”
What inspired you to become a personal trainer?
As an athletic trainer, seeing my first compound fracture of a football player’s leg on a Friday night. I nearly passed out, so I had some lengthy conversations with myself about what I could do and not totally throw away my degree. I love being a fitness professional and would not change a thing!
What is the most rewarding part of helping someone reach their fitness goals?
I love to hear stories about things my clients have achieved, whether it’s something simple like better balance or just getting out of a chair without assistance to feeling more confident in themselves in everyday life. It’s a big motivator for me when someone’s whole demeanor and attitude about themselves becomes more positive.
How would you describe your training philosophy?
I’ve consistently focused on longevity, building strength and maintaining it, being consistent, and staying active — all of which are extremely important as people age. Move every day!
How do you help motivate someone who feels stuck or discouraged in their fitness journey?
That’s all on a case-by-case individual basis, and I tend to stay on the gentler side of motivating my clients.
What’s your personal favorite workout or exercise?
Definitely strength training followed by biking/Peloton. I also enjoy just being mobile throughout my day, although I hate running. If you ever see me running, I’m fleeing from someone or something.
What might you tell someone who’s new to the Fitness Floor and nervous about getting started?
The overall feeling on the Fitness Floor is very non-intimidating, so that’s a plus. For someone new to training with me, I would encourage them to try a few sessions, set small but achievable goals, and reassess where we are after a month.
- Personal training is for Levite JCC members.
- Check out our special J Starter Fit package and other personal fitness package pricing options.
- Our new InBody studio option is a great complement to personal training.