Best Nashville‘s Personal trainers – Reprinted from Top Rated Local https://www.topratedlocal.com
Coming up with a list of the best personal trainers in Nashville was no easy task! If you’re in Nashville, it’s no secret that this town is booming, and as a result, personal trainers and fitness studios have sprung up on every street corner. So if you live in the Nashville area, how are you supposed to pick the best personal trainer near you? Below is our list of the top personal trainers in Nashville to save you some searching.
Best Personal Trainer Nashville
What makes someone one of the best trainers? We looked at three main factors:
- Reputation and Accomplishments in the Fitness Field. Being a leader and influencer in the Nashville fitness scene is different than being a celebrity trainer (think Erin Oprea or Bob Harper). Being popular in the media is great, but we selected fitness professionals who really have a long-term body of work to their name.
- Length of Training Career. There are plenty of fresh faces in the Nashville fitness scene, but if your trainer has only been around for a couple years, they won’t make our list no matter how sweaty they make you.
- Training Techniques. You won’t believe how much poor exercise instruction is out there, even from big-name trainers. You can rest assured that the personal trainers on our Best In Nashville list are master instructors who deliver quality teaching.
1. Dan DeFigio
1. Dan DeFigioOur list of the best personal trainers in Nashville starts with Dan DeFigio at the top of the heap. Dan is the owner and founder of Basics and Beyond fitness & nutrition, which has been Nashville’s flagship personal training company since 1993! This guy has an enormous track record over the last 25 years – thousands of successful clients, bestselling books, TV and radio and magazine features, education courses for other personal trainers, HCA’s exercise education, and the list goes on.
Dan is a personal trainer, a health coach, a certified nutrition counselor, and post-injury exercise specialist. As the author of Beating Sugar Addiction For Dummies, he can also help you with stress eating and sugar cravings. Ask around and you’ll see why we put Dan at the #1 spot on our Nashville list.
2. Kandice King
Kandice King is a top-notch personal trainer who graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She has been working in the fitness and nutrition fields since 1999. Kandice was recruited as the strength and conditioning coach for several Vanderbilt sports teams, and is comfortable working with both athletes and couch potatoes. She has owned her own fitness studio in Hillsboro Village / Music Row, and has been an instructor for major fitness organizations.
Kandice is a superior exercise teacher, a qualified nutrition clinician, and unquestionably one of the best personal trainers in Nashville. Plus, we are told that she can do more chin-ups than pretty much anyone on this list.
3. Daniel Johnson
3. Daniel JohnsonDaniel Johnson is the creator of Effect Fitness, which is a very innovative approach to personal training. Daniel is one of the kings of functional fitness and bodyweight training, and his work incorporates strength, flexibility, stability, and stress management all in one amazing package. Personal trainer, father, innovator, role model – Mr. Johnson wears many hats, and wears them all very well. Daniel works with clients in person in Nashville, or online worldwide. Follow him on Instagram.
4. Maria Bascetta
4. Maria BascettaMaria Bascetta makes our Best Trainer In Nashville list because of both her amazing teaching skills and her supreme focus on women’s empowerment. Maria is the owner of The Southern Squeeze training facility in Nashville, and she is passionate about all things strength, kettlebell, and grip sports.
Maria’s work with women has had a remarkable impact on the Nashville fitness community. About her work as a personal trainer, she says,
“People want to feel heard, to be seen and understood. They want to get strong and look better in their clothes, and they’re struggling to manage their time and fit workouts into their schedule. They want to eat better but don’t know how. They don’t know how to exercise or what proper exercise progression and regression looks like. So that’s where I come in as their coach. Training women is not something that I HAVE to do, it’s something that I GET to do, and that if F-ing AWESOME. ”
5. Jon Brown
5. Jon BrownJon Brown is the founder of 6 Fitness Training Systems in Antioch, Tennessee. Jon’s strengths are his fantastic exercise programs, and his personality. Jon (friends and clients call him JB) is fun, funny, respectful, and motivating all in one…how shall we say…“not very tall” package.
JB is a veteran of the Nashville personal training scene, having been a sought-after personal trainer for over 20 years. Jon is there for his clients 24/7, and to teaches them how to transform their lives into a healthier lifestyle. Building your New Normal is what Jon’s all about, and he can help you with that in person at his exercise studio in Antioch, or train you online in the comfort of your home.
6. Jamie Carroll
6. Jamie CarrollJamie Carroll has a pile of education and certifications (Jamie is certified as a NASM personal trainer, a Medical Exercise Specialist, an RKC Kettlebell Instructor, a Reiki level 2 Practitioner, and a Health Coach), but that’s not why she’s one of the best personal trainers in Nashville. Jamie has a passion for working with people who experience anxiety, depression, and addiction – and she helps them with real food, supplements, movement, and habit change techniques.
Jamie Carroll’s training programs will make you rethink how much work you can do in a tiny space in just 15 minutes. She combines traditional badass kettlebell moves with much functional movement work a la Original Strength to build you a high-functioning body in no time.
Jamie’s ninja training tools also include being a functional medicine specialist – someone who can analyze your lab work and determine the best nutrition plan for your personal body and physiology. Pretty cool toolbox for a personal trainer, huh? She is an avid volunteer with Dreams & Wishes of Tennessee and The Phoenix Nashville (A Sober Fitness Community).
7. Jeff Howerton
7. Jeff HowertonJeff Howerton is a long-time staple of the Nashville fitness scene. He’s been a sought-after personal trainer since 2001, and currently owns one of Nashville’s most popular training facilities, LEAN Personal Training.
Jeff is known for his honest and caring approach – no ‘Biggest Loser’ nonsense here. He’s proven himself to be a quality teacher, a superb coach, and someone you just like being around. If it weren’t for all the lunges…
8. Irv Rubenstein
8. Irv RubensteinNo list of Nashville’s best personal trainers would be complete without including the granddaddy of Nashville’s personal trainers, Dr. Irv Rubenstein.
Dr. Rubenstein founded STEPS (which stands for ‘Scientific Training and Exercise Prescription Specialists’ – stick with the acronym, Doc) in 1989, which was the very first personal training studio in Nashville. It exists to this day, utilized by dozens of personal trainers, nutritionists, chiropractors, and massage therapists.
While he may be a fading light in the local training scene, Dr. Rubenstein’s place in the Nashville fitness community is legendary. His PhD from Vanderbilt in the 1970s earned him a chapter in the first handbook for personal trainers from The American Council on Exercise. He has been a well-known educator and workshop provider for decades. Irv has a great reputation amongst Nashville’s many physicians, and still spends his days training clients and working with joint-replacement patients.
9. Tash Weddle
9. Tash WeddleWhen you hear “women’s fitness center”, Tash’s TNB Fitness of Nashville should be the first thing you think of. Tash provides personal training to women in Nashville that is entirely different from the ordinary gym experience. Tash’s specialty is training elite athletes, and her tenure as a high-level strength and conditioning coach at Kent State, Purdue University, and Vanderbilt University will attest to that. Tash is a dedicated advocate for women and helps them push beyond stereotypes, self-doubts, and self-imposed limits. Tash is affiliated with Nashvilles New Beginnings Center, which provides not-for-profit fitness and nutrition coaching to low-income women.
“Our mission is to help financially disadvantaged women discover the strength in themselves, inside and out, and to become the healthiest they can be through individualized world-class coaching in fitness, nutrition, and behavior change.”
If you’d like to talk about working with one of the best personal trainers in Nashville, just drop us a note and we’ll be in touch asap!
