Chika at Ignite Fitnez

Really knows her stuff. We play competitive beach volleyball across the country and Chika has helped get our bodies ready to compete. She kicks our butt and keeps us feeling strong and healthy. Even in our small group I feel like the workouts are very specific to my needs.

Chika is really smart and knowledgable about the best way to build endurance and strength and correct imbalances or recover from injuries. I’ve learned a lot about proper workout techniques which has made me more confident about working out on my own as well. Also she’s super nice and chill!

Let me say right away that trainers like Chika are incredibly rare. You probably already know how many trainers are out there who just immerse you immediately into physically demanding cardio without understanding the state of your body, what your tolerances are, and without regard for proper position during exercise.
I have been taking private sessions with Chika at South Congress Athletic Club for eight months. Her knowledge of the human body is amazing and she is committed to your improvement, injury-​free. She understands every twinge, every little strange sensation in your knee or back, and teaches you that you should pay attention to these messages from your body. She will help you if you already have injuries and teaches you how to prevent them.
I’m a dancer – a ridiculously old dancer. But as much as I love it, the injuries, the pain, and Cortisone injections in my knee were getting me down. I had a membership at a gym and had been trying various machines trying to strengthen my legs to support my knees, but everything felt like I was damaging my knees further. I also had a shoulder injury that needed help.
I went to Chika to find out what movements were destroying my knees; to get help with flexibility and strength in one shoulder; and to develop a general strength-​building series of personalized exercises for what I wanted to do that I could learn to do on my own.
She spent the first session observing how I move. I was so anxious to dive into strength-​building, I didn’t even realize how important this was. She identified the crazy imbalance between my left and right side that I didn’t even realize was going on (and mind you I dance looking at a mirror constantly). She told me we had to correct this first in order to keep me from injuring myself. That did not take long and soon I was constantly employing the little tricks she showed me to balance myself out and I began functioning equally on both sides.
That’s when the real fun started. Her workouts are truly fun. Have you ever had fun doing abs? No crunches! I am so much stronger and I’m able to lift quite a bit of weight with my legs with NO KNEE PAIN. She also worked with my chiropractor to further develop a shoulder exercise and we worked that into my routine.
Because of Chika I avoided a costly knee operation and I’ve strengthen my legs to prevent future injury; I understand the value of listening to my body when it is telling me something is a little off; and I have way more fun doing my strength-​building workouts on my own. And when I go to my sessions with Chika, I look forward to it and we have fun, we laugh, but I’m still working my butt off!

It was a lucky day when I found Chika. It has only been a little under a month and what a difference she has made in my world. I have constant neck pain and she is so in tune with what is going on and how to work with it and not against it. She has such a sweet and personable flair about her that it makes working out FUN. She takes the time to answer any questions you might have and LISTEN, boy that girl can retain what you say and not forget. Take the time to honor your body by going to meet her and you will not be able to resist but to sign on for a «Chika Trip» which you will thank yourself for packing your gym bag for this trip…

I needed help. I couldn’t afford a trainer for an ongoing routine, but I needed to know how to use gym equipment. I’ve worked with Chika twice.
She’s matter-​of-​fact. She gets straight to the point. She is kind and compassionate. Truly, she wasn’t anything like I expected. There was no yelling or overly perky encouragement. She listened to me. She watched me move. She showed me how to do exercises that were in keeping with my poor physical condition.
At no point did she make me feel ungainly or out of place. And I am ungainly. Ha! I also loathe loathe loathe exercising. I’ve been driven to it by a health condition that responds best to weight loss.
I will be going back to Chika occasionally because of her calm yet energizing personality. I felt completely comfortable and wish I could see her on a weekly basis. She will help you. Don’t be scared like I was. Call Chika. :D

Due to being neither young nor slim PLUS having some real orthopedic problems, I really needed a trainer who was very knowledgeable and could customize a workout to my body. That is exactly what I got! Plus, Chika is a pleasure to be around. Thanks, Unilocalers, for helping me connect with this trainer.

Chika is a godsend. I don’t say this lightly. Also a godsend: the delightful friend who recognized I needed something to take my mind off the impending death of my mother and was so gracious as to provide me with two months of her services.
Allow me to tell you two short tales.
–One day she was making me do SOMETHING and my brain started going «Oh god just make it stop.» I then replied to my brain «shut the hell up, this is good for you, this is WHY YOU ARE HERE.»
–After my last workout, my entire body hurt. HURT. Like, I couldn’t get out of bed hurt. It was amazing. I thanked her on Facebook.
This woman will hand your ass to you, all the while telling you you’re doing a good job (thanks for that, by the way) and making good conversation.
But pleasant attitude aside, the thing is, I walked in to her nearly a year after breaking my foot, which seven months later led to a sciatic nerve problem. I’ve had back problems my whole life. This was worse than anything I’ve ever gone through with my back. I’d been working on it on my own, with yoga and acupuncture and really brutal massage that got my hips mostly back square. What we do, the entire focus of my work with Chika, is making sure all the OTHER muscles are strong. My legs, my shoulders, my core. Because if those are strong, my hips will have to do less and can maybe chill out and THEN get strong once they are better.
This woman is amazing. I’m indebted to her, and my friend, for kicking my ass and making me love it, literally and figuratively.

Chika has the training, background, and experience to work with a diverse range of clients. In addition to helping me achieve several personal goals (weight loss, endurance, etc.), she has taught me an extraordinary amount about the body, muscle development, and how to prevent and overcome injuries. She also knows other experts in the area who provide outstanding supplementary services (e.g. massage therapy).
Most importantly, Chika is a professional — she holds both her clients and herself accountable. I’m incredibly happy to have discovered her, and I’d gladly recommend her to anyone seeking to improve their fitness and overall well-​being.

Follow up — I have NOT been keeping up with my exercises and went to see Chika for a ‘kick start’. She is awesome — no judgement, she simply stepped in with an assessment of my current physical limitations, and designed a new series of workouts to get me back to my previous level of functioning. I left feeling empowered. Over the next few weeks, I noticed definite improvement with my range of motion and structural alignment so much so I was able to complete a 3-​day hike in the mountains. — Very Happy Customer!

I was looking for a personal trainer to help me find some exercises that I could do to help strengthen my back and to help me become a stronger runner. Before going to Chika I had hurt my back and was having alot of pain in my foot which was keeping me from running.
I met with her for about 6 weeks and learned so much that has helped me in my current exercise routine. I learned how to use bands, foam rollers and learned so many exercises that I can do on a daily basis that have helped me strengthen my back and keep my muscles stretched. She was very easy to work with and I would easily recommend her to anyone wanting to find a personal trainer. She also sent me descriptions of each exercise that we did so that I could have something to refer to when doing exercises at my home.

When I first moved to Austin 3 years ago, Chika was the first trainer I met and got to work side-​by-​side with. I got to see how she interacts with her clients and the care and detail she puts into her personal training and classes. She is without a doubt on of the best trainers I have had the pleasure of working with. She is knowledgeable, motivational, and most of all fun!

I don’t like to work out, but I don’t mind working out with Chika. She makes it enjoyable, even as I’m sweating and panting away in her class. She’s very laid-​back and doesn’t scream at you like some trainers have a tendency to do. She was also very willing to work with me on a payment plan for the class when I found myself having to shell out lots of $$$ on a new computer after my old one crapped out. I would definitely recommend Chika to anyone who’s looking for a trainer.

Chika makes working out fun. It’s just that simple. After an hour of getting my butt handed to me on a (gym) mat, I can say, «gee, that was great, can I have some more?». I’ve learned so much about how my body responds to different types of movement-​and why. I’ve learned also how to correct my moves to be more efficient and beneficial.
I work with Chika at the South Congress Athletic Club, she also offers an outdoor fitness class that folks just love. She is enthusiastic, understanding, funny, and all about getting you to your fitness goals in a way that’s fun (see above) and above all, sustainable. All of the moves I learn with Chika, I can do on my own when I hit the gym between training sessions. I’m seeing great results and also feel I’m learning the right way to do things, which in the long run will help to prevent workout-​related injury. She’s great!