Lynette Laufenberg, CPT
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Iowa
ACE Certified Personal Trainer, since 1998
ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor, since 1990
Yoga Fit Level III Certified Teacher
IMX Pilates Certified Instructor
Certified Indoor Cycling Instructor
Boot Camp Certified Trainer
American Heart Association CPR/AED Certified
Lynette has been involved in the fitness industry since 1990. Her passion for helping people make lifestyle and behavior changes has been in the forefront of her work. She believes that everyone’s wellness should include attention to fitness, nutrition, sleep, and stress management, and Lynette works with each of her clients in all of these areas to empower them toward creating the highest quality of life.
“The greatest reward is educating people, through personal training or teaching a class, and seeing them make better, healthier choices on their way to meeting their goals!”
Gina Stano, CPT
Education
AFAA Certified Personal Trainer since 2000
SCW Corrective Exercise and Coaching Techniques
SCW Active Aging Certified
Trigger Point Rolling Therapy Certified
American Red Cross CPR/AED Certified
Certified personal trainer Gina Stano joins our studio with over 25 years in the fitness industry. She brings her zest, knowledge, passion, and creativity into all her training, teaching, and coaching sessions with tenacity, poise, professionalism, and enthusiasm.
Her areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, individualized weight loss programs, teen/children’s programming and classes, corrective exercise, active aging fitness programs, barre and dance class formats, and fitness coaching.
Gina’s career started the day she decided to lose 70 pounds with proper nutrition and exercise. Her inner motivation to be a better mother for her two young toddler sons (now 27 and 29), and a better wife to her husband, who at the time had some physical challenges, inspired her to change her lifestyle. She took that milestone and turned it into a career that she says, “has inspired her to continue to inspire others”.
She currently resides in South Florida with her life partner Mitchell and looks forward to being an integral addition to the Balance Fitness studio family, changing lives for the better.
Mark Croy
Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Athletic Training
Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration (MHCA)
Nationally Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC)
Nationally Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS)
Certified Titleist Golf Fitness Professional (CGFP)
Certified Specific Functional Movement Assessment Specialist (SFMA)
Certified Functional Movement Specialist (FMS)
Certified Functional Strength Coach (CFSC)
Certified in Basic & Performance Kinesio (Rock) Taping
Certified Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (IASTM)
Certified CPR/AED
Mark has worked and trained in many places around the world. Mark played football for the Air Force and Semi-Pro football for the California Crush in Southern California. After dealing with a series of personal football injuries, he shifted that energy and passion into helping people change lives as a Health/Sports Performance Professional. Mark has been working in the health and fitness industry since 1996. He enjoys all areas of sports medicine, golf, movement, and fitness.
Mark believes that exercise and physical goals should be approached as a process not a task. Mark thinks out of the box, meshing different proven therapies, using cutting edge exercise/therapeutic techniques to program work outs specifically designed for his client’s individual needs. Mark has extensive experience working with individuals and teams for improved personal health and performance. He has trained people in many sports, special needs and health conditions of all ages and levels.
Mark, along with his wife Sharon, have three children. In his free time, Mark enjoys being with his family, golfing, and anything involving sports.
Dr. Mitchell Kershner, ND
I was raised in North Miami, Florida though relocated to South Miami, where I went to a junior college and my future as a Naturopathic doctor took shape. I was a massage therapist, personal coach, a personal trainer and I attended one of the very first accredited Vegetarian Nutrition courses at Miami Dade. I knew deep inside me that there must be something out there that tied all of these modalities together.
After reading an article about naturopathic medicine from a local supermarket magazine, I knew that was my calling. I knew there was healing in the touch.
In 1990 I packed up my things and moved to Portland Oregon to study Naturopathy. After five years I completed my schooling with a doctorate bachelor’s in naturopathic medicine science. I was intrigued in the philosophy of bridging the mind and body, emotions as well as the spirit and soul. I learned how emotions and thoughts can alter our pathways.
In Western medical schools, they don’t talk about emotions. They don’t talk about feelings. They just talk about topics like the cholesterol pathway and kreb cycle. Here’s how you produce ATP – the end result of your energy, productive pathways. What was discussed in naturopathic school was how this pathway will be affected if you’re in a bad mood, if you’re angry, or if you’re nutrition is suffering. All of these are factors.
In the 90’s nobody really knew about Naturopathy when I had heard about it. My family was asking me, am I crazy? What am I doing? You could walk around the streets and ask a thousand people if they’d ever heard of naturopathic medicine and you would’ve gotten a thousand no’s. My goal was to incorporate massage therapy and personal training with healthy eating and healthy cooking. I just knew there had to be something that brought it all together. I just knew that naturopathic doctors would be the general practitioners (GP) of the future.
In 1999 I moved to Northern New Mexico. In 2002 I became an adjunct faculty member at the University of New Mexico where I taught several courses in the nursing program. For the next 12 years, I learned a lot about the many different cultures and religions. I also had a better understanding of what the body’s capable of. The physical body can go weeks without food, days without water and only minutes without oxygen. But what about the other elements? The mental and emotional habits we cling to. This is where our mind starts to play tricks on us. We think…”Oh my God, I can’t skip a meal. Or Oh my God, I can’t get off bread.” We’ll say,” I’ll die without my pasta.” When in reality, the pasta may be what’s killing you.
I was a search and rescue member of the ground medical team for six and a half years. It was great to be a part of a team especially for someone like myself who was a solo practitioner. How did this help me? Well, if I’m going to ask somebody who’s having trouble making some big life changes, like changing their diet, changing their habits, I’ve found that people that are the most successful typically have a support system around them, which means people that will help them or hold them accountable or be there to support them.
Once I completed 10 years in private practice and six and a half years of adjunct faculty at The University of New Mexico, I moved back to South Florida and while I was there is when I had decided to attend culinary school and completed with a diploma in culinary arts.
Over a period of five years I was involved with intensive personal and professional development work and graduated as an Introduction Leader with Landmark Education. As a member of Toast Masters International for 7 years, I attained a level as a Bronze Competent Communicator in public speaking. This skill has given me the ability to give talks and deliver information that’s fun and engaging.
Melissa Varvarigos
Education
Bachelor of Science, Biology, Florida State University
Pilates Institute of America Certified Instructor
Yoga Fit Level I Certified Teacher
American Heart Association CPR/AED Certified
Melissa holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Florida State University. She is the science department chair at Wellington High School but has always held a passion for teaching Pilates and yoga. Trained at the Pilates Institute of America, Melissa has been teaching various levels of Pilates since 2005. She began her yoga journey in 2009 when she became certified through Yoga Fit and has been teaching both disciplines throughout the community, including at Ultima Fitness, Iron Lion and Wellington CrossFit. Melissa believes, as Joseph Pilates once said, “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.”
Gina Hofmann
Education
Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor, RYT-200
Gina was born and raised in the Philippines. She’s the oldest of 9 siblings. In 1976 Gina moved to Hawaii. Two years later she moved to Silicon Valley, California where she worked for 20 years. Gina left the corporate world to be a full time mom/homemaker.
In 2005 Gina and her family moved to Wellington, Florida where she did volunteer work at her son’s schools and other organizations such as Grandma’s Place in Royal Palm Beach, FL. Grandma’s Place is a temporary shelter for abused and neglected children. Gina’s passion for helping others led her to pursue in attaining an Occupational Therapy Assistant degree.
Gina is a licensed Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. She’s also a certified Kripalu yoga instructor since 2012, but she’s been practicing yoga for almost 20 years. Gina found that practicing yoga could lead to overall physical and mental well-being. She got her 200-hour yoga certification (RYT–200) so she could share this wonderful practice. Gina is finding that yoga is a perfect complement to occupational therapy.