IN SHAPE - Key Persons
In Shape Fitness Center and its executive management team of Mark Esposito and Rob Acquavella are pleased to announce the promotion of Aris Mier to Fitness Director.
Prior to taking the role of Fitness Director, Aris was a personal trainer at The Edge Fitness Clubs in Orange, LA Fitness in Trumbull, and In Shape for a total of four years. Before Aris' career in the fitness industry began, he was the Lead Supervisor of Security for the Connecticut Post Mall for three years. He has a B.S. in Exercise Science with a concentration in Human Performance from Southern Connecticut State University. Aris holds a corrective exercise specialist certification through NASM and a tactical strength and conditioning facilitator certification through NSCA. He is a certified nutritionist level 1 coach through Precision Nutrition. Furthermore, Aris finished top 3 in the country for quarterly Dot Fit sales in 2021.
Overall, Aris brings extensive knowledge and experience along with a passion for changing the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. With this new position, he will not only help clients achieve their health and fitness goals, but also help the team around him grow in their careers as fitness professionals. In this new position, Aris will be overseeing the growth of the personal training and Dot Fit supplement aspects of our business.
Job Titles:
- Certified Personal Trainer
Christina has had a love of sports and exercise most of her life - as a child, she participated in a variety of youth sports including basketball, soccer, softball and bowling, and she started working out at a gym when she was 15. She was absolutely loved the gym environment, and realized at that young age that her passion for fitness and fascination with the human body would determine her career path. After high school, she went straight to work full time as a Physical Therapist's Aide for a local sports medicine and physical therapy rehabilitation center, where she worked for over eight years. In this capacity, she had the opportunity to work closely with clients and injured athletes to help them rehabilitate and learn corrective exercise techniques.
During that time, Christina continued her education by obtaining her Certified Personal Trainer designation from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), and went on to supplement that certification with NASM's Weight Loss Specialist and Women's Fitness Specialist. She obtained a supplemental Personal Training Certification from the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association (NESTA) and has completed several continuing education courses in Nutrition & Fitness, Exercise with Parkinson's Disease and Core Conditioning.
Christina's valuable experience in the field of physical therapy combines a knowledge base of rehabilitative exercises with traditional fitness, with clients who range from competitive athletes to older adults with limited mobility, from young adults to the elderly, and from people range from very fit to very overweight, with significant medical concerns as a result. Her passion for pushing people to achieve their goals, whatever they may be, drives her passion to succeed in the fitness industry, and she is a welcomed addition to our training staff.
Job Titles:
- Certified Personal Trainer
Matthew is a graduate of the Professional Fitness Trainer Certification program at Branford Hall, where he graduated with his National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer designation.
Growing up, Matthew was small for his age, and very thin, and lacked self-confidence. Inspired by his father, he was intrigued at the idea of the ability of the human body to build muscle, mass and strength. When he got to junior year in high school, he joined a gym for the first time. He started working out on a regular basis, loving the atmosphere and support, and started learning more about nutrition and macros to help increase his size. This developed into a fascination with powerlifting.
In 2015 he joined In Shape Fitness, and by the time he became a senior in high school, he had grown in size and strength, and began developing programs for his friends & family, which led him to pursue his personal training certification at Branford Hall. He completed his externship at Branford Hall at In Shape, and was eager to apply his experience, with everything he learned in school, at his home gym. Matthew is an advocate of compound, multijoint, functional movements because of the metabolic effect on the body.
His charm and warm personality made him a welcomed addition to our dynamic staff.