Meet Cheri Paige Fogleman | Personal Trainer, Fitness Instructor and Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cheri Paige Fogleman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cheri Paige, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We’ll, I’ve been a personal trainer and group fitness instructor for 20 years. A few years back I decided to start writing down reoccurring conversations that I’ve had with clients. I was realizing I was getting asked the same questions, so I decided to compile them— along with the answers and what I’ve found that works. Not the “how to do a biceps curl” stuff, but why and when and how to motivate when I just don’t want to do a biceps curl! It’s all the wisdom trainers bring to a training session. In my book, My Trainer Says, I recommend starting off very very gently and slowly in fitness, but realized I didn’t have anywhere to point people to as a good jumping off point. There are several geriatric fitness programs out there, but what about the plenty of folks in their 20s, 30s, or 40s who have never felt comfortable pursuing fitness? So I decided it was time to do something about that and I developed my class, Super Beginner! I teach it twice a week live (on Zoom!), and it’s also available to stream on Burnalong. So you can work out from home. The price is low: $5 per class or $20 for the month (suggested donation), and the only equipment you need to start is a chair. I’m trying to break down the barriers many folks have to starting a fitness program. The basic class starts seated and we learn two lower and two upper body strength moves. By the end of the half hour, we slowly progress to combine the moves together and stand up to focus on range of motion, strength, balance, coordination, endurance, and learning the vocabulary of fitness. Since seeing how Super Beginner has helped so many people, I then developed a pathway to progress from the Super Beginner-level to advanced beginner and into intermediate-level through my classes.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have a background in acting and modern dance, and I feel my talents all come together when teaching group fitness. Having a strong enough voice is necessary to confidently convey what to do, and there’s a bit of choreography keeping track the flow of moves and how to angle myself on the screen so that the students can best see what I’m doing. Teaching for the streaming fitness channel Daily Burn really taught me a lot about teaching to an audience that wasn’t right there with me. So I suddenly had to draw from my experience working one on one with students to anticipate what cues would be helpful to folks watching and working out at home.
I’m not really a competitive person, and I wasn’t a “sports” person growing up. The thing is, for many folks, their initial introduction to fitness came in the form of competition: sports. Think dodgeball in PE class, or tryouts for the basketball team. If you don’t make the team, you don’t get to play, and the message then is: you then aren’t the “fitness” type. Those early messages stick with us into adulthood. But, I want folks to know that even bookworms can have fitness! We all have these amazing bodies, and I want to help folks live to their potential.
I have a real passion for helping folks understand that fitness is actually for everyone— it’s not just reserved for those picked first for the kickball team!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oooooo. I always like fitting activity into travel. We do all this weightlifting and fitness stuff so that we can live more full lives, yeah? So I love discovering new parts of the city on foot or during a fun jog, Hiking, or swimming, yes please! I’m also up for kayaking or standup paddle boarding or finding a fun new class to take…like trapeze or aerial yoga!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Lisa Wheeler, fitness guru, has been my fitness mentor for many years— we both taught at CLAY Health Club and Spa in NYC, then I worked under her at Daily Burn and she’s now the head of Fitness+ at Apple. She has always encouraged, supported and helped me to streamline my focus and keep things simple.

Website: www.bodybycheri.com

Instagram: @bodybycheri

Linkedin: Cheri Paige Fogleman

Facebook: @CheriPaigeFogleman

Image Credits
David Lang