Top Personal Trainer and Hybrid Athlete: Trevor Franklin

Tell us about your athletic background, how you got into personal training and running specifically?

My parents put me in sports as soon as I could run. I loved competing and spending time with my friends. In high school, I played 6 sports – I was never super talented in any one sport but my small Texas high school needed bodies and I was always up for a competitive environment.

I got into personal training in my early twenties. I had your typical jobs and hated them. After being fired, I decided to never again work in a field that caused me to hate my lifestyle. Fitness was the only thing that made sense. I am so incredibly lucky to live out my passion and be compensated for it.

I found my way into running during 2020 as an outlet when I couldn’t consistently go to the gym. It has become a huge passion of mine and something I want to continue to progress.

You ran the NYC Marathon recently - what is your next marathon and do you have any new goals in regards to your training/time/etc? What would you do differently?

My next marathon will be the OC marathon; this race is more for fun! The next race I plan on giving my all is the Chicago marathon in October of 2024. I want to break 3 hours and potentially qualify for Boston. Hiring a coach was a game changer.

Can you tell us a time that you failed/experienced any setbacks on your training journey? How’d you bounce back?

Last year I dealt with a stress fracture that left me sidelined for the NYC marathon. The biggest lesson that taught me was that it’s really difficult to have multiple fitness goals across different sports and be really good at any one. Laser focus is needed to achieve goals in my opinion.

People normally start to waver on their New Year’s goals by now. How do you keep your clients motivated?

Just show up. Motivation will fail and there will be several days people won’t want to move or exercise. It’s normal. It’s about moving the body on the days when we don’t want to. That builds drive, that builds discipline, that’s what makes us better.

It was so exciting to see your new gym. Tell us more about it - what is your favorite thing about it?

This has been the hardest challenge I have faced to this day. There are so many things that are out of my control and every day there are new things that we face. Small business ownership is not for the faint of heart. My favorite thing about it is the fact that I did it.

Has there been anything about the experience that has surprised you? Any learnings or takeaways?

The amount of random knowledge I have learned. Random things that I never thought I would need to know or figure out- we have had to do. Growth is never fun in my experience.

How did you find out about WOLACO?

I saw WOLACO’s compression on a bunch of my friends in 2018. I messaged them and bothered them for 3 years before Terry finally realized that he wanted to be my best friend.

What does living an athletic way of life mean to you?

I view it as a general preparedness program. I want to maintain my independence for as long as humanly possible - leading a healthy and athletic life is the best way to do so in my opinion.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

When my parents told me that the world isn’t kind and isn’t fair- that it tends to favor those that work hard and stay humble.

If you could only share one piece of advice for someone training for their first marathon, what would it be?

To have fun! It’s going to suck, your body will constantly ache, there will be times you hate the miles and amount of time it takes to prepare, but the feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line is something that can’t be bought. It’s earned through the weeks of training so enjoy it!!

Starting your own gym - what motivated you to take the leap?

Honestly I was just comfortable. I was fine in my career and didn’t seem to have the same ambition I possessed when I moved to NYC. So I knew I needed to make some sort of move. Don’t get me wrong, most days I’m stressed and anxious. BUT I know that my 80 year old self will be happy with my choices I’m making today.

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