Erik Potempa

Fitness has been a big part of my life for a long as I can remember. I started playing for USA baseball and Tom Allen's Basketball Academy when I was in 7th grade. Which basically meant that I was traveling and playing high level competition year round at that point. As I got older there was more and more of an emphasis put on cross-training which I was very resistant to. As a result, I had 3 knee surgeries before the age of 25. Which ultimately forced me to start investing time to take care of my body. I started taking regular yoga classes and joined Gold's Gym in Corvallis, OR where I met former Dallas Cowboy, psychotherapist, and workout enthusiast Ollie McClay. He not only taught me how to workout, but the psychology behind self motivation and motivating others. This experience made me fall in love with training. Eventually I moved to NYC, got certified, and got a job as a trainer at Equinox Fitness' E54th St location in Manhattan. There, I not only worked with roughly 75-100 vastly different clientele but I also observed and learned from other trainers. In addition, I did intensive work study at Jivamukti Yoga School and took a 10 day silent mediation workshop in vipassana style with S.N. Goenka. After 3 years, I decided to branch off and start my own business. With my unique style of creating workout programs that meet my clients' aesthetic needs through promoting various levels of physical intensity with a specific focus on alignment, balance, flexibilty, and meditation... I've been successfully running my own business for 6 years in NYC.