One year ago, on December 1, 2016, I became the new owner of TruFit Personal Training Studios. And, holy cow, what a year it has been! We’ve added five new trainers, redecorated a bit, held six different charity events, held a ribbon cutting with our alderman… The list goes on (and will be filled with photos below!).

Now, in case you don’t know how TruFit works, let me give you a quick run-down before I dive deep into more highlights of 2017:

• TruFit is a private personal training facility in downtown Evanston where training clients see their own personal trainers;
• Our trainers have a wide variety of specialities ranging from strength training, weight loss and fat loss, nutrition coaching, post-rehab training, mobility/flexibility, pre-natal training, kettlebell training, and working with older clientele.
• All trainers who work out of TruFit are completely independent and run their own companies (such as I do with IzzyFit) which means they all get to work with clients they WANT to work with, choose their own schedules and charge their own fees. Now, even though we have 19 separate trainers under our roof, I still consider us a team that works together for the greater good. Which I think is super cool and I KNOW is very rare.
• TruFit’s number one core value is to create a fun, safe and inclusive space for people of all needs to become their healthiest selves.
• When clients come to TruFit looking for a trainer, we get to know their goals and needs and introduce them to a few trainers we think can best address those goals and needs. We don’t treat people like they’re sales quotas; we want the best for each individual. 
• Oh, and we have fun!

I’ve learned our clients and trainers are really, really generous. This year we’ve donated clothing to the Evanston School Children’s Clothing Association; we’ve raised close to $2500 for local Evanston organizations such as the Evanston/North Shore YWCA, the Ted Fund and the Center for Independent Futures (blowing our initial $1500 annual goal out fo the water) and we’ve donated food to the Evanston Food Pantry. We’re already getting ready for some awesome charity events for 2018! (Sign up here if you want to be kept in the loop!)

I’ve learned our trainers are super talented outside of being great trainers. For example, Symphony is a podcast starlet; Christina, Gabori and Kathryn are great photographers; Tony is a fantastic writer and happens to also be really good with Photoshop and burning paper (as evidenced in this wanted poster):

I’ve learned that when you ask for your trainers’ expertise on a topic, you’ll be blown away by what they have to say. Primo example: This blog post we put together about how to find the right trainer when you want to get fit after 50.

I’ve learned how to lay down a new floor (and that I truly have great friends and loved ones who helped put it together):

Holiday season is here and a lot of us will be traveling! And, you know, we all WANT to work out but sometimes we have hurdles: We don't know where to work out, we don't know what to do, we don't have equipment, we don't have time.

We at TruFit Personal Training Studios want to remedy that for you! Below you'll find a workout that you can do almost anywhere, that's spelled out for you, that doesn't really require equimpent and that should just take you 30-45 minutes (after a quick warm up)!

Check it out below (with the sound on)! Do it, share it, love it, share it, leave your comments below, share it... Enjoy!