Ripped in Riverside:  A Recommendation for a Personal Trainer in Jacksonville

 

Two of the most beneficial, yet stressful people to find in life are a good therapist and a personal trainer.  Despite any facade of professionalism, these are two extremely intimate relationships:  One will eventually understand how screwed up you are on the inside while the other will reveal how defective you are on the outside.

I can’t help with any therapy needs, but I have encountered a personal trainer whom I would like to recommend for anyone that wants to get fit and also appreciates a solid listener.  And in case you haven’t noticed, he also inspired me enough to write a post about him– truly a great guy!

Meeting Christian in Riverside

When I moved to Riverside from Mandarin, I experienced a bit of gym “culture shock.”  I’m fairly comfortable in gyms, but I would be telling a lie if I did not write that the men in my new gym, through my unhealthy psychological habit of comparison, helped me truly understand my own gross, physical inadequacies.  Tall, muscular, shredded, thoughtful, considerate, confident, strong, stylish, bearded.  Great beards.  I am none of these things.    

Additionally, after a stressful, initial quarter of teaching high school, I was absent from the gym for nine weeks.  Any gains in strength or appearance I earned over the summer were vanquished by the uncooperative spirits of fifteen-year olds and the ridiculous workload of being a teacher.

Enter Christian.

After my exercise sabatical, I was finally attacking my most hated exercise, squats, when I heard these words, “Do you mind if I show you something?”  Immediately, my defenses fueled by my insecurity, ego, and social anxiety rang simultaneously.  I told Christian I could use some help, but I would never have the money to afford a personal trainer.   I didn’t want him to waste his valuable time.  He just laughed, shrugged off my words, and showed me a few hip stretches utilizing different resistance bands.  My squat stability and depth dramatically improved within minutes.  Christian knew his stuff and agreed to give me a free session even though I was clear I could never pay him.

What to Look For in a Personal Trainer

I’m actually no dummy when it comes to personal training.  When I was twenty-one, I earned my NSCA-CPT.  At the time, this was one of the most difficult personal training certifications to acquire.  To renew my certification, I would earn credits by studying a quarterly magazine sent to my apartment containing the latest peer-reviewed articles on exercise physiology.  While working at Bailey’s Powerhouse Gym, I learned there are “meathead” trainers who look great and make six figures a year, but often set up their clients for injury down the road.  I also learned there are personal trainers who are not only knowledgeable in exercises, nutrition, and designing programs, but have a strong foundation in anatomy, kinesthetics, and physiology.  These trainers motivate and help clients reach their fitness goals, and also separate themselves by prescribing corrective exercises or stretches to address issues of muscle imbalance, flexibility, posture, etc.  A good personal trainer can also alleviate body pain by identifying and helping to work out trigger points in the body.  Any trainer can design a workout for fat loss, but I prefer the trainers who can design safely design a workout for a type 2 diabetic that recently underwent a knee replacement surgery.

To say Christian meets these standards is an understatement.   Although, I inherited part of my father’s long distance running prowess, I also inherited his limited mobility issues that have somewhat reduced his quality of life as he has gotten older.  Even with my knowledge from my personal training days, I struggled improving the flexibility needed to increase my range of motion and to safely perform functional exercises.    Christian continues to help me address these issues and my front squats have never looked better.  It’s truly amazing to watch how he improves his clients functional range of movement and form with resistance bands and a few minutes of their time.

https://instagram.com/p/BQVrlqggiiE/

Contact Christian

Apart from Christian’s serious knowledge of body mechanics, he’s simply a great guy.  He’s not pretentious, and if you have looked at these pictures of him, he could be.  He’s down to earth and most importantly he listens.  I’ve taken some time to get to know Christian and he pulled himself through some dire circumstances.  He has used his past to fuel his motivation and he has molded himself into a person who is inspiring, relatable, kind, driven and welcoming.  He’s one of the great people I’ve encountered since returning to Jacksonville from Korea and I want to see him succeed.  He deserves it.

If you are considering a personal trainer, give Christian a call, send him an email, or contact him over instagram.  His contact information is listed below.

Christian Walker

915-996-6757

trinity4strength@gmail.com

http://instagram.com/trinity.strength