Trainer Bios
Samantha
Samantha has been in the fitness industry for over six years. She comes from a major health club in which she was a full time trainer. Her skills are specialized in, but not limited to, nutritional consulting and body transformations. Samantha is a NPC figure competitor, fitness model, and gives new hope to the 12 week body transformation program. Her story is interesting and somewhat unexpected to hear from a career personal trainer. Samantha was never an athlete. In fact, she was quite frightened to engage in physical activity being that she was very petite and frail as a child. She could never hit the ball in softball or volleyball no matter how hard she tried. Even the thought of kickball gave her anxiety! Regardless of her non-athletic frame, she was always interested in fitness. She recalls a leg press machine in the jr. high locker room. It was a strength test and she was petrified. But, when it came to her turn, there was barely enough weight to max her legs out. I guessed they thought the girls would be really weak. From that point, I knew I did have some athletic ability and it felt good! A glimpse of hope was all that was needed. Samantha started small with an exercise tape by Cindy Crawford and jogging once or twice a week. This continued through high school until her senior year. At that point, she joined a gym for the very first time with her boyfriend Harold, now husband and Lift owner, who taught her how to use the cardio equipment and weight lifting equipment.
Tracey
Tracey graduated in 2004 with a Business Management Degree from Our Lady of Holy Cross College, but decided to leave the Corporate America world to pursue her dream of a career in the Health and Fitness industry. She earned her certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine which specializes in corrective and functional training.
Tristan
Tristan is a former chef with fifteen years experience in the Culinary Arts. He worked for a local celebrity chef before moving on to work for an organization specializing in holistic and organic cooking. At this organization he began to prepare meals for a local Sports Nutritionist’s clientele. At this time, he was living with high cholesterol and high blood pressure with overall poor health. Although he was only in his late 20’s he felt much older. He had gained weight since his college days and it was taking a toll on his body. Shortly after his wife became pregnant with their 1st child eight years ago, he realized that he needed to change his lifestyle to help ensure he would be around for his family. During this time he began his transition into fitness. He abandoned his current way of eating and over the course of two years transformed his body and mind. It helped to be surrounded with healthy choices; he was preparing organic and vegan meals on a consistent basis, and developed a passion for this new way of cooking. This all helped to escalate his lifestyle transformation. Tristan is now an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant. He designs fitness programs with the same passion and creativity he used in preparing meals. Tristan’s programs are based on simplicity. They include functional human movements, performed intensely with resistance. He also gives advice on healthy food choices to incorporate into your lifestyle. Tristan understands each client’s individual needs. He works with his clients encouraging them to grow on their journey toward healthy living.
Harold
Harold Prestenbach, owner and trainer specializes in full body, multi-muscular movements, muscle strengthening and endurance. Also has experience in core conditioning, stability training, circuit training, corrective posture training and rehabilitation. Harold grew up with an intense drive for fitness. He began pursuing martial arts at the early age of 6 in which his natural athletic edge helped him soar threw tai kwon do earning his 2nd degree black belt at the age of 9. In 1989, Harold was invited to compete in the Jr. Olympics in tai kwon do. At the age of 8 Harold became an instructor for all experience levels from ages 7 to 70 years of age. Being naturally lean, he began studying bodybuilding in his early teens in order to gain muscle and make him a better athlete. Basic body building turned into a love of fitness in which now, Harold enjoys all aspects of physical fitness. From 2005 to 2007, Harold began training his wife, Samantha, for her first figure competitions. Having so many years of fitness in his repertoire, he has the ability to relate to clients of all ages and conditions, while being able to offer profound nutritional guidance as well. His training style is best explained as, "specializing in full body, multi-muscular movements, muscle strengthening and endurance." Harold also has experience in core conditioning, stability training, circuit training, corrective posture training and rehabilitation. Currently, Harold is enjoying adventure racing, placing 1st in his age group at the Adventure race duathlon held at Fontainebleau State Park in October 2009. Harold’s mission for LIFT is to be known as the place that positively changes lives on so many different levels!
Tim
Tim Goyette was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. He moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane University where he achieved a bachelor's degree in 2008
Tim has been interested in fitness since high school, where he took several semesters of weight training classes. He became more involved in fitness during his last two years of high school when he played ice hockey competitively. During college, he struggled to stay 'in shape' by using the conventional gym methods of strength and cardio days followed on the same schedule each week. The results never came as he thought they should. He would later discover this came from a misunderstanding of healthy eating and not pushing hard enough during workouts.
The summer of 2009 introduced Tim to CrossFit, which showed Tim a new way of approaching fitness with great success. Later on in 2009, Tim decided to pursue a personal trainer certification to help others achieve their goals as he had. Tim will earn his CrossFit certification in July.
Tim describes his training style as a blend of many different aspects of fitness methodology, centered on the goals of his clients. "There are ideas from power lifting, olympic lifting, sports conditioning, gymnastics, and CrossFit all mixed together to give people the best possible results," he says. There is also a heavy emphasis on research-based training methods. It all starts by making the client's goals his own and applying what has been proven to work to get to those results. Tim's other strength is in nutritional counseling, which fits right in with the philosophy at LIFT. "Honestly, you can really work hard in the gym and only get halfway to where you want to be if you don't eat right. It's that important." Tim is becoming increasingly involved in nutrition science, and plans to attend school part time in the fall to become more knowledgeable on the subject.