Meet Chris Bradley, Owner of Vtrainers Personal Training. Located at 21 Bala Ave, Chris has been providing personal training to this area for over 20 years! The three words he would use to describe Vtrainers would be Great Affordable Training. Checkout Vtrainers today!

How did you first learn about Vtrainers Personal Training?

I founded Vtrainers with another personal trainer in the year 2000. We worked at Bally Total Fitness and we wanted to start our own personal training programs for gyms all over PA and NJ.  I’d travel to Chambersburg Pa and Edison NJ just for one client sometimes to get the programs rolling. We found that owners could get greedy and want to charge the clients too much so we started our studios where we had total control. 

What is your role at Vtrainers Personal Training?

I own and manage our five personal training studios. We are always looking to grow!

Before working at Vtrainers Personal Training, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’ve ever had?

Before I worked as a trainer, I worked in a movie theater.  We could see all the movies for free and eat as much popcorn as we desired.  I now hate popcorn. We once watched Independence Day starting at 11 pm on July 3rd straight into the morning of July 4th. That was a cool moment. 

How has Vtrainers Personal Training helped you in your career development?

Being here for 20 years has taught me how to deal with people more than anything. I had to learn how to motivate. How to try to understand what people are feeling even if it isn’t how I feel or think. I think that’s a big problem today in America. If someone doesn’t agree with us we have little desire to try to understand their viewpoint and compromise.  In this job wearing the hat of a trainer, marketer, and boss; I have to compromise daily. 

What are 3 words to describe Vtrainers Personal Training?

The three words to describe Vtrainers would be Great Affordable Training.  

What is your favorite part about working for VtrainersPersonal Training?

My favorite part of working here is that I love physiology and making people happy. In this job, I get to do both. It’s a weird combo.  

What is your proudest moment at Vtrainers Personal Training?

The thing I find the coolest is that my daughter, who was months old when I started Vtrainers, now does training sessions for us when she’s home from college. She is the NCAA powerlifting champion, weighing only 100 pounds, yet people listen to her. It sort of comes full circle. 

Do you recall any embarrassing moment at work?

The worst gym moment was when I actually took a few days off and went to Maryland with the kids. A few clients and trainers went for a run and locked the door. When they came back the lock wouldn’t unlock with all of their car keys inside the building. We had to call a locksmith which took hours.  Of course one time I took a few days off for the year I had to deal with that from an amusement park. I felt horrible.

Favorite travel spot?

I love going to the Poconos. I grew up down the shore and when my parents sold the house I just couldn’t pay to rent there.  It just felt weird. So, one of our clients owns 8 Pocono houses so we tired that out and my kids loved it. It’s laid back yet still plenty to do.   

How do you define success?

I define the company’s success by how many clients we have.  The more clients we have that believe in us and use our services, the better I feel.  It shows we care about our work and care about them.  Vtrainers has been open since 2000. I don’t know if any other personal training studios on the mainline, that just do personal training, have been open that long. So we take pride in that. We have some trainers that have worked with us for over a decade. I know their livelihoods depend on me doing a good job and building the company.  

 If you had to eat one meal, every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

If I could eat anything every day it would be pizza. Only if there were no repercussions. And blueberries. I eat pints of blueberries at a time. So does my 1-year-old. We bought someof our own blueberry bushes. We got one blueberry. One. Hopefully, I don’t get stranded on an island. I’ll die.

People would be surprised if they knew:

One odd thing about me is there is nothing I want. I’m the worst person to shop for because there isn’t one thing that I want to go buy for myself.  For other people, there are tons of things.  But only to give them away or see people happy. Not sure why I work so hard. Lol. I just buy things for work, family, and friends.  Even strangers. Once, we were in line at an Orioles minor league game and we were talking to a family in front of us. They said they could only afford to do one game a year.  So I walked over to the box office and bought them front row tickets for a different game later that year.  I like doing this game like that. They probably thought I was nuts but oh well.   

What is the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?

If I won the lottery I’d just open more gym locations,  find charities to donate to, and get things for people. Again there isn’t one thing I’d buy myself. I’m weird.  

What is the first concert you attended?

The first concert I ever went to was Billy Joel. I was like 25. I avoided listening to music as a kid because my aunt owned a dance studio and I felt if I showed any interest they would make me go there. So I never listened to music until I was in my late teens.    

What is your favorite thing to do in the area?

 I love road trips. Plus my kids are fascinated with ghosts; we have all the ghost hunting equipment you see on TV. So we road trip to find “haunted spots “ in the area and play with all of the equipment. I don’t believe any of it but you never know so we go.

 Is there anything special about City Ave that you can share?

Growing up, the thing I loved most about City Ave was seeing the News Stations. I grew up in Northeast Philly and in South Jersey. Seeing them at the time was like seeing a celebrity.  Then I professionally started to train a lot of news anchors and even played on Fox 29’s softball team for about 5 years.    

Want to be featured in the next issue of Faces of City Ave? Email Briana at cityave@cityave.org.