Premier Fitness Team
The personal trainers and group fitness instructors at Premier Fitness are awesome! All are certified, qualified, compassionate, caring and highly motivating individuals. Each staff member has different specialties, so regardless of your age, gender, needs and/or goals, we have a trainer and/or class instructor that can help you meet and exceed your desired goal(s).
Let Us Help You Get Healthy, Fit, & Happy
Instructors
Christy Gillenwater
Owner, Personal Trainer, Certified Golf Fitness Specialist, Stability and Balance Trainer & Certified Medical Fitness Specialist. Christy is currently working on two different certifications for Stroke Recovery Fitness Specialist and Women’s Health – Stages of Menopause & Exercise Intervention.
Christy is the Owner and a Trainer at Premier Fitness Studio. Christy, along with her husband, soul mate & best friend, Trey, started Premier Fitness Studio in August, 2015. They have two boys, Stephen and Connor, and live in Southport, NC. Christy loves most sports and is willing to try just about anything, including skydiving one year for her birthday! In May, 2015, Christy competed in and finished, her first Half Ironman Triathlon.
Christy is a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Group Fitness Instructor, through IFTA (Interactive Fitness Trainers of America). She is also a Certified Medical Fitness Specialist through IFPA (International Fitness Professionals Association) and a Certified Golf Fitness Trainer through ASFA (American Sports & Fitness Association). Her Stroke Recovery and Women’s Health certifications are through the MedFit Organization. She has received additional certifications for training Special Populations, Sports Fitness and Balance & Stability Instruction. She has also received her certification for BOSU Balance Training.
Christy truly has a sincere desire to help her clients achieve their goals and get more out of their lives, by promoting physical training combined with making good nutritional choices! Christy’s specialty certifications allow her to work with many clients that have various diagnosis, from MS, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Parkinson’s, Stroke, joint replacement and surgical repairs. She also works with many clients who just want to feel better, lose weight, improve balance and/or tone and strengthen muscles. Regardless of the goal, Christy helps her clients stay motivated through challenging, but rewarding workouts and positive encouragement. Christy loves each of her clients and takes a personal interest in their lives, their health and their overall well-being.
Sara Fox
Personal Trainer and Certified Medical Fitness Specialist
Sara joined Premier Fitness Studio in August, 2020! Since then, she has been working with numerous clients helping them reach their goals.
Sara moved to Southport from Maryland in 2008 with her husband, daughter and step-daughter. She worked as a career firefighter/paramedic at various departments for ten years and then transitioned to law enforcement, for seven years. Due to a line of duty injury, Sara has had to change her career focus, but is still a certified paramedic.
Utilizing her medical fitness certification, she wants to help those with chronic disease and/or disability, obtain better physical fitness, improve quality of life and regain some independence. She understands, first hand, the challenges that accompany illness and injury in physical fitness. Sara is excited to start this new chapter, using her medical training and knowledge, to help others physically improve their lives! Are you ready to get started? Sara is ready to help you, regardless of what your fitness goals are! Call and schedule a free consultation and tour our private personal training studio… we can’t wait to meet you!
Michelle Anthony
Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Group Fitness Instructor
Michelle started as a client wanting to build strength and tone her muscles. After spending some time with us and seeing how we worked with clients and the difference it made in their lives, she wanted to be a part of the team. She got her certifications and jumped in head first, training clients and teaching classes! She’s developed a reputation of being tough but gets great results. When Michelle isn’t training or teaching, she’s volunteering with SOAR Animal Rescue. Helping people and puppies is definitely her calling!!
Donna Dowson
Yoga Instructor, Unnata Aerial Yoga, Yin Yoga
Growing up as a dancer, Donna had an early appreciation for the flow and grace of the human body, and she fell in love with the asana practice when she discovered yoga in 2000. The constant challenge of developing and maintaining physical, mental, and spiritual balance has kept her coming back ever since.
She completed her 200-hour teacher training in 2015 at Yoga Shala in Sacramento, CA. She started teaching yoga so she could help students discover the beauty of the breath, the ease of movement, and
the acceptance of self and others that yoga offers. Always emphasizing the practice of honoring the body’s current state of being through ahimsa (non-violence), Donna encourages students to explore all the possibilities yoga has in order to improve the health and well-being of mind, body, and spirit. Her classes are fun, energetic, and aimed at helping you find balance in your practice on and off the mat.
There is a yoga practice out there for anyone who is willing to try.
In 2018 Donna elevated her practice when she became certified in the Unnata Aerial Yoga method.
Donna’s Aerial Yoga class offers you authentic yoga enhanced by the silk hammock to help elongate your spine, enable you to get inverted, and assist you into deeper stretches. You’ll use gravity to relax and realign the body, center the mind, and uplift the spirit. Learn anatomy and alignment cues to make all your yoga poses more effective and amazing, no matter what style you usually practice. Come experience her welcoming teaching style, energy, love, & passion for yoga that will keep you coming
back for more!
Kendra Harrison
Group Fitness Instructor
Kendra leads our Steppin’ It Up class on Tuesday & Thursday mornings. She used to be a regular attendee of the class, along with several others, but when another instructor had to be out for medical reasons, Kendra stepped up and began leading the class. She obtained her certification and has been leading the class for almost a year! She loves mixing up classes with various stations that work balance, strength, hand-eye coordination and cardio.
