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Welcome to Racked SF's search for San Francisco's hottest trainer. Over the coming weeks, we'll profile sixteen smoking hot candidates who work at local gyms and studios. Then, once you've gotten to know everyone, we'll host a March Madness-style showdown in which you get to vote for your favorite. Let the games begin!
Photos by Arlene Watson.
This guy may look familiar. He's the trainer who caught your eye at DIAKADI, the studly guy riding his bike around town, and the tattooed dude sipping a coffee at your local cafe. Johnny Gilbo is a SoCal boy and former baseball player who moved from San Clemente to San Francisco to study kinesiology at SF State. He understands how to get his body looking just right. Just imagine what he can do for yours.
In one line, tell us about yourself.
One of my favorite things about going home is, hands down, my moms cooking, and she makes a spaghetti sandwich that is truly out of this world.
Why did you become a trainer?
After playing my last game of baseball in high school, I knew I wanted to find a way to stay in shape for the rest of my life and to help others feel the way I do about fitness. I decided to pursue kinesiology in college because I had this idea that I wanted to understand the body and the mind, and to apply what I learned to myself—to know exactly why my body moved in certain ways or how my thought patterns shaped my behavior. I love the quote, "You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be," because it really is true. Knowing that I can take my experiences, knowledge, and perspective and share it with my clients on a daily basis is very fulfilling to me.
What advice would you offer to someone who is just starting in your class?
I will always be there for you guys when you need it most—whether that's training, nutrition, career stress or just getting through a bad day. My clients who have gotten the results they wanted decided beforehand that they were going to work hard and to commit themselves to a process that would take time and undoubtedly challenge them along the way.
Training or working out should be fun and exhilarating while also challenging; it's about finding that right balance. Learning from your successes and your failures will help you grow in a way you never knew was possible, both inside the gym and at home.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself.
I'm super into Astrology and find the idea of personality types and temperaments very intriguing. If and when I go back to school, I'll probably study psychology, maybe sport psychology, we'll see.
If you weren't a trainer, what would you be?
If I wasn't a trainer, I'd definitely want to be a part of the specialty coffee industry. I've always admired the work of latte artists and baristas and their ability to take something as simple as a cup of coffee or a shot of espresso and just elevate it to a whole new level. It's in line with this coffee theory that I have where you are able to take the little things in life and appreciate them for what they are in their simplicity while also creating a better version of it. Learning to brew a great cup of coffee is kind of like working out, or training, in a way—both take time, attention to detail, persistence, and consistency to really get good at it. They are both an art and a science and the relationship of the two is beautiful.
· Johnny Gilbo [Official Site]
· DIAKADI [Official Site]
· All Hottest Trainer 2014 posts [Racked SF]