Identifying, and Living, the Dream

Lauren Javier – Personal Trainer Columbia MD

As a kid, I remember playing soccer and quitting quickly after I started because I hated running.  I played softball because I loved “team snacks” after games, and the social aspect of the sport.  Gym class was a joke– there was always a way around participating if you were creative.  And binge eating after school when no one was home slowly turned me into the metaphorical elephant in the room.  My mom tried using the reward system, paid me to go to the gym—anything that might work when I was in my adolescence.  I didn’t know how to work out, so I would screw around and burn a few calories.

My love for the gym didn’t come until I was in high school.  I finally made the decision to control my poor eating habits and seek advice and guidance from a trainer at The Colosseum Gym on proper training technique.  I always looked up to and almost idolized the trainers at my gym really– “They’re so lucky, it’s their job to teach people how to work out”.  I decided I would be a personal trainer one day.  My focus on fitness and transforming my own body was in full swing. And I would be my own first client.

I really didn’t yet really know what I was doing, so my transformation could have been a tad healthier and less obsessive.  By the time I graduated high school my focus had shifted from becoming stronger, faster and healthier, to being skinnier and hitting a target weight for senior week in Ocean City.  After seeing how waifish I looked in pictures, I knew something had to change.  I began pursuing Exercise Science studies at Salisbury University, MD.  Fall of 2008, I became a certified personal trainer with the National Strength Professionals Association and started training clients at Plus One Fitness in Salisbury, MD.

As soon as I graduated with my Bachelors, I came back home to my first love, The Colosseum Gym.  Having been a member since I was 11 years old, I was able to set up an interview before I moved back and started my dream job as a full time personal trainer the following week.  The fitness industry has grown in so many different directions and even with all of the classes I took and the degree I earned, I still had a lot figure out.

I had the privilege of working with two mentors when I started at The Colosseum. The first direction I took was with Functional Training, but I quickly realized that was not the right path for me.  Although practice with proper movement patterns is important, I want to help people completely transform their physiques.  That’s when my direction took a spin and I started working with the ‘meathead method’, heavy lifting but with good form, training through muscle failure, and focusing on toning, hypertrophy, and metabolic conditioning.  I loved it, and you can see that passion in my own personal transformation.  My mentor and friend became my coach, and I went on to compete as a bikini competitor in a physique competition.  I’ve now competed twice, with plans to compete for a third time in 2016.  Little did I know that my mentorship would turn into an entire team, a family of like-minded individuals with the same passions.  I am very proud to be a part of Team Warrior Within, and alongside a staff of ‘talk the talk, walk the walk’ trainers.  Especially since this is only the beginning!

-Lauren Javier