Personal Trainer Faith Wagner Loves Helping People Earn Their Stripes

competitive gymnast through college, Faith Wagner earned a Master’s Degree in kinesiology and serves as an adjunct professor at Southeastern University in the discipline in addition to being the director of Earn Your Stripes, a gym that launched in the heart of Downtown in 2023. Her lifetime of experience and academic training allows her to adapt and customize workouts for clients that includes corrective movement and accommodation for existing injuries.

“I love being able to meet people where they are, give them a phenomenal workout, and help them prove to themselves they can do it,” she says. “I’ve worked with people who’ve been suffering with longstanding pain, clients struggling with mental health issues, moms returning to the gym after having babies, retired athletes—and together we’re able to create super effective workouts.”

Earn Your Stripes is primarily a group fitness studio that also offers personal training. Their signature class, EYS Fit, runs about 45 minutes and involves a dynamic workout that includes strength, function, endurance and power training.

“We really focus on a balance of those four areas, training to the appropriate heart rate zone in each one,” Faith says.

“We work to build camaraderie in the class…you should leave feeling like you got a personal training session.”

– Faith Wagner

For the particularly ambitious, EYS Combat is another class designed around full-body HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).

For people who might be inexperienced with or intimidated by fitness classes and personal training, Faith said EYS staff provides prospective members tours of the gym and makes sure they are comfortable. Her team also finds out where people are in their personal health and wellness journeys.

“We ask about any existing injuries, pain, or anything physical our certified trainers should know about—and we modify workouts as needed,” she says.

“Everyone who hasn’t yet taken a class starts at a station that monitors the heart rate throughout the class. We work to build camaraderie in the class and give personal attention to members during it, too…you should leave feeling like you got a personal training session.”

Faith offers some sage advice for those starting out: “When people take the all-or-nothing approach starting out, going from zero to several classes a week, they have a hard time finding balance in their lives. I suggest starting slow and taking a bite-sized approach; perhaps start with two days a week, be consistent while you try to make it seamless with the rest of your schedule. When that feels good, add a third day.

“If someone is consistent, the workouts will prove themselves. I have a client who now comes four to five days per week without fail, works hard, takes the modifications to the workouts as needed— she’s lost 30 pounds and feels healthy. So don’t hold yourself back from trying something new—really go for it and see where it takes you.”