Meet Our Personal Trainer: Michelle Golla

Michelle Golla started her own fitness journey following a torn ACL that ended her basketball career. As a former athlete, she found herself lacking the motivation to stay active after her injury. When she decided it was time to make a change, Michelle started taking daily walks around the block. Eventually, she was running up to 60 miles each week and had lost more than 50 pounds. She started competing in running races and made the Dallas/Fort Worth elite squad in her 20’s. The prior injury and experience inspired her to started coaching for small and large groups of cross-country runners while teaching for Denver Public Schools. Her three kids were even on her team. The team of 72 runners won the district championships. It wasn’t just about running. She incorporated strength, agility, conditioning, and stretching to every training. While teaching, she also did 1-1 coaching for high school runners prepping them for college. Several even won scholarships to top schools like Harvard.

Being a former basketball player, Michelle also coached basketball to middle school girls along the way. Many of the players also played in high school, then college. She studied martial arts prior to having her children until she was forty and worked up to a third degree blackbelt. She launched self-defense and bully-proofing programs in several elementary schools in Denver.

At 40-50 years of age, Michelle started doing triathlons and worked her way up to completing a Half Ironman finishing in record time of 5:30. As of now, Michelle has completed 119 events which includes mostly running races starting at 18 years old. This includes 9 marathons, 21 triathlons, and 5 bike races. She continues to race today.

After retiring from teaching, she started her own fitness business and became a personal trainer, running, strength and conditioning coach, martial arts instructor, stretch therapist and weight management specialist. Injury prevention exercises are also incorporated into all workouts such as a warm-up to loosen the muscles and ends each session with stretching. She started small with 10 clients going to their homes. Then grew by working with people at gyms. Finally, she converted her two-car garage to a gym and broke 40 clients a week, which included new and experienced runners Even with COVID, her business continued to thrive with people wearing masks and/or switching to zoom meetings. She has worked with clients of all ages and abilities but her major target group are middle-aged folks, She prides herself on working with athletes who want to improve their performance. Her one client Erik made significant strides competing in world pentathlon events representing the USA because of the strength training and intense running sessions. Her son Sam who is a professional rugby player for the Dallas Jackals and USA team. He has asked his mom many times to coach him on getting faster on the pitch. What an honor that has been.

She’s now just offering virtual solo or small group sessions online due to her moving, but once she settles down, in person sessions will resume.

With a unique understanding of the difficulties one may face prior to adopting an active lifestyle, Michelle is exceptionally qualified to help her clients reach their fitness goals. Michelle's well-rounded background allows her to successfully guide you through each step of your fitness journey and incorporate stretching into every workout. She works to educate her clients on how to perform each exercise so they can do the workouts on their own, how to incorporate cardio into a work week, the importance of including other modalities to maintain a healthy mind, body and spirit such as massage therapy, physical therapy, meditation, yoga, and nutritional support. Michelle is inspired by you. She combines resistance/strength training with aerobic exercises so that you get a comprehensive workout, each and every time you hit the gym.

If you're new to remote training, she will virtually guide you through the basic dynamics of each exercise in your personal training routine, ensuring that you are performing them safely and effectively. As you get stronger, we will adapt your personal training program to give you the best workout, to challenge you, and make each workout enjoyable. It’s always a great experience and great fun working with Michelle!!!!

If you're already a regular at your gym, we can add diversity to your routine, amp up the difficulty, or target a problem area, helping you achieve the results you are looking for.

Our Denver fitness trainer helps you achieve your goals through support, innovation, and accountability.

Qualifications

• Certified Running Coach -RRCA, HRC

• Health and Wellness Coach Certification -USCW

• Personal Training/Strength and Conditioning Certification -ACE

• Weight Management Specialist - ACE

• Flexologist -Stretch Lab

• 3rd Degree Black Belt - Enshin, ITF, SKA

• Certified Fitness Instructor - ACE

• Certified in Orthopedic Exercises- ACE

• Middle and High School Math Teacher

Her overall Vision: To provide the best training, support, advice, and encouragement in a positive manner; be sensitive to one’s needs; value one’s goals; provide an enjoyable, safe and memorable experience.