RICK HILLS - PERSONAL TRAINER

My name is Rick Hills, I am a personal trainer living in Playa Del Rey. It is a great place to live in that I have easy access to my clients homes living in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, El Segundo Manhattan Beach and Beverly Hills. I have been extremely lucky, most of my clients come to my residence. This allows me to work with more clients, so that I don't spend the day in the car. I turned my place into a gym...a complete gym but with the amenities of a home...just ask my clients!

I have put this site together for a couple of reasons. The most important and I know a very selfish one...I absolutely love what I do. When I see the continual changes my clients make...they could be used in a Master Card commercial, PRICELESS! The other reason is to get everybody as excited and proactive about their own health, fitness and overall well being as I am. I hope my intensity, passion and excitement for core stability and functional training becomes yours as well!

By now, you are probably wondering, who is this Rick Hills character? In all honesty, this was very difficult for me to write. I did not put this site up to to talk about me or my previous accomplishments. This site is about the clients I have now, the ones that move on and the clients I get in the future. We all have a story to tell, this just happens to be mine. I wanted to give you a sense of who I was before creating this site, why I decided to get into personal training, and where personal training continues to take me. This is not a hobby; I am not using personal training to be an actor, or until something better comes along.

I was a 6 ft 2 scrawny soccer player with no upper body when I signed my first modeling contract in my 20's. I was in living in Seattle at the time and I remember calling my family and friends announcing I was now a model. I would start dressing like a model (think Zoolander) I would show up to soccer practice with my hair slicked back after a photoshoot...Friends can be cruel and we will leave it at that.

The agency I signed with, employed an agent named Eugene. Eugene was also a bodybuilder, he told me I needed to put on muscle to enhance my modeling career...he would train me personally. I met him the next day in a basement, a hole in the wall gym in downtown Seattle. It was musty, guy's were passing gas, everybody was pretty much naked flexing and grunting in the mirrors, sniffing bottles of ammonia before their big lifts. I was shocked and scared...I wanted to run. Eugene was there, so I stayed and started to train like a bodybuilder...5 days a week for about 6 months. The first week however was very emasculating...Nothing worse than having somebody tell you, while you are working out to get out of their way, they can't see themselves in the mirror...DANG! I persevered through it all...but I wasn't able to move for the first month or so. I was hooked and have been ever since.

I was a professional model for 15 years... Not trying to impress you, but impress upon you that we all have a story to tell. For those of you not familiar with the modeling industry, here is a quick overview. I didn't get a modeling degree from Barbizon Modeling School, you probably remember their slogan, "Train to be a model... or just look like one". Who knows, maybe I would have been a star had I gone. I knocked on a lot of doors for 15 years in the hope I would be the right guy; going to castings with anywhere from two to hundreds of men better looking and better bodies. (What a great way to build character) Then, sitting by the phone anxiously waiting for the agent to call with some news, waiting for the paycheck to arrive. How is that for job security? Not easy by any stretch but I didn't give up. I would join a gym no matter what city or country I was in...the gym was my saving grace. Besides having to look good, it made me feel good. In my experience with fitness training, I found I was able to forget all of my worries and ease my stress. I would feel rejuvenated.
One of my favorite modeling stories was while living in Italy. My agent had called and told me I had to get to Mondo Uomo, (the male version of Glamour, every guy's dream to get in) for a REQUEST casting, but I had to get their immediately. I remember borrowing clothing from one of the 5 guys I was living with, flying out the door while still dressing, hailing a cab and arriving to what appeared to be a concert gathering. Nope, not a concert...they were all there for the same "request casting". I waited 2 hours.

I took my first step towards being a personal trainer in 1998, I was certified by the International Fitness Professional’s Association. I was first introduced to functional training and core stability training when I was hired by a fitness club in 1997, I left the club in 2004. I started my own business in 2005 and named it Functional Power. This has been an amazing journey for me so far. I have an incredible clientele that I adore and keeps me grounded. My modeling, and traveling experiences gave me a world experience I could never have gotten in the classroom. I am very grateful and thankful; it helped make me who I am today.

The next step in achieving my goal occurred when I became certified with the National College of Exercise Professionals in 1998. Additionally, I am currently certified with the National Academy of Sports Medicine since July of 2000. I realized the more I continued to learn about core stability and functional training, the more results I was able to achieve; with myself and my clients without sacrificing anything. I devoted my time and efforts to this training methodology. Imagine using things like balance boards, the Bosu, giant rubber bands, Airex, stability balls and Dyna-Discs to develop your core, balance and get this… strength and size! Today, this is not such a revolutionary idea. When I first started teaching and utilizing these methods with my clients, they were very new. We temporarily ignored the machines in favor of doing chest presses while laying back over a stability ball, dumbell bentover rows on a balance board or single leg squats on an airex pad with a dumbbell! The beauty of this type of training is, no matter what my clients goals were; strength, power, lose body fat or just tone up... my clients were achieving the goals we had set. They realized, we weren't just doing circus acts to make them look silly. There was a method to the madness.

I'm proud to say that continuing education is a big part of my commitment to what I do. Health and fitness is an area about which we are learning more every day. My clients benefit a great deal from my interest in continuing education, but no more than I do. I never miss an opportunity to attend a seminar that will extend my knowledge in the areas of exercise, nutrition, health and of course my passion: functional and core stability training.

Like your doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists, your personal trainer is a member of the team working to help you maintain your health and well being. Each of us should be available to help you achieve your personal goals, and that is why I chose personal training as my business.

I hope this website has sparked your interest and when looking for group or private training you'll give Functional Power a call at 310-578-1134 or email rick@functionalpower.com to discuss any questions that you have.