Our Trainers.
Laura Polgar
ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist, Professional Ballet Dancer, and Dance Instructor
Specialties: Fat loss, core conditioning, weight training, Pilates and yoga-inspired strength training, flexibility, balance, uniquely skilled to work with teenagers and older adults.
Background: As a competitive swimmer and soccer player for 10 years and now a professional ballet dancer Laura has a wide variety of skills to offer you in her training. As a trainer, she incorporates yoga, pilates, and barre techniques to supplement her traditional strength training. Laura has unique skills to help you build a strong, lean, and agile body. She has helped people of all ages get stronger, build their core, and improve their balance. She also has a lot of experience working with teenagers and older adults.
Favorite quote: “The expert in anything was once a beginner.”
Interests: Spending time with family and friends, performing with her ballet company, watching movies, taking barre and pilates classes, and reading.
Tom Schulien
NPTI-CPT, NSCA- CPT
Specialties: Fat loss, older adult training, cardio kick boxing, strength training, military/ law enforcement conditioning, flexibility, core conditioning.
Background: I am 60 years young and can’t wait to teach you all about staying young, fit, and healthy! Commitment, perseverance, motivation, and discipline are values I learned as a Marine. Values which helped me attain the rank of Sergeant. Adherence to these ideals has helped me attain many goals since such as building a strong, fit body and healthy lifestyle. These are ideals I not only teach my clients, but ideals I live by as well.
With your commitment and my guidance, I can help you improve your personal level of fitness. Individually tailored programs, short and long term goals, and fast pace dynamic circuit training and kickboxing are just a few of the ways I help my clients stay motivated and get results.
Quote: “Growing old is not for sissies.”
Interests: Fitness, kick boxing, motorcycling, cooking, and music.
Bernadette Benda
ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, Dance Instructor
Specialties: Strength training, circuit training, flexibility training, experience working with adolescents, and yoga-inspired training.
Background: Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Bernadette is a Certified Personal Trainor, dancer, and dance teacher. Her love for movement and fitness inspires her to stay active (one of her favorite ways is morning runs!), and she trains her clients with the goal to encourage and inform them of how to stay active and healthier through their day-to-day activities.
Quote: “Go back? No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do!” JRR Tolkien
Interests: Reading, writing, freelance dancing, photography, and running her Etsy shop are just a few of Bernadette’s (aka BB’s) activities!
Mark Hedegore RD, LD, CSCS
The University of Akron- Nutrition and Dietetics, Registered Dietitian, NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) Certified Golf Fitness Professional, NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist
Specialties: Functional fitness, golf-specific training, corrective exercise for enhanced movement, older adult training for balance and quality of life.
Background: As both a Registered Dietitian and an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, I am uniquely positioned to help you get the most out of your workouts. You can’t outwork a poor diet! Whether you work with me or one of our highly skilled trainers, I’ll help you develop a customized nutrition plan that gets to your goals faster. Nutrition is the key to living a fit, strong, and healthy life.
As a trainer, my philosophy is to make you better at what you do every day, whether that means putting away the groceries, doing yard work, chasing your grandkids, or playing a sport at a high level. Together, we’ll build lean muscle in a way that translates to real-life ability. I’ll keep you moving at a brisk pace to keep the heart rate up, burn fat, and give you as much value as possible for your training session. A typical workout with me includes a warm-up with dynamic mobility drills, a total-body weight training circuit with cardio and mobility drills mixed in, and finally, a cool down to keep your muscles loose and leave you feeling relaxed yet energized.
If you're a golfer of any age, I can use TPI's level 1 golf screen to identify specific deficiencies in mobility and stability that are keeping you from performing your most efficient golf swing. I will then build and take you through a customized program to help you swing easier. Level 1 clients also tend to report moving better and having fewer aches and pains, whether golfing or just going through their everyday activities.
When you're ready, you will progress to TPI level 2. Level 2 is all about assessing your strength and power as it relates to the golf swing and taking you through a targeted program to increase both. It's not uncommon to gain 10-20 yards of driver distance while improving your overall fitness level.
Quote: “Be a little better today than you were yesterday.”
Personal: Spending time with family and friends, playing softball and golf, and watching football.