About Our Personal Training Center in West Chester

About Uriel Baker

Hi! My name is Uriel Baker. I have had a passion for helping others my entire life, and I love being fit and healthy. My goal is to help as many people as possible experience the feeling of confidence they will get from being healthy and physically fit.

My story is one to which most people can relate. I was born in the Caribbean (Jamaica) and lived there until I was 24 years old. For most of my younger years, I had been in great shape. From early childhood throughout recent years, I had been very active, and in average to great physical shape. I was always that guy with amazing muscle memory and metabolism, who – even if I went long periods without exercising and proper diet – would bounce right back after a short period in the gym. I was always involved in sports and excelled in all. My involvement was in a number of activities including track and field, soccer, volleyball, basketball, aerobics and strength and agility training.

I have been an executive in the hospitality industry, with over 30 years of experience. As I got older, promotions, job responsibilities, traveling and relocating played a great role in my slow but gradual departure from maintaining strict and consistent health and fitness regiments. Between 1998 when I first moved to the USA and 2021, I lived in 12 cities. I do not regret the experience though, as I have managed some beautiful hotels, traveled quite extensively, and formed some amazing friendships in the process. I even met my beautiful wife, the mother of my two beautiful daughters through work.

Being married to an amazing cook, and parenthood added to the list of obstacles to eating right and exercising. Like most people, I got to the point where I would look at myself in the mirror and be unhappy with the person I saw, while at times reminiscing about times I was in far better shape. There were a number of times when that thought pushed me to stress-eating, thus compounding the issue. On a number of occasions, I joined the gym but never seemed to have time to go. When I did go, I would get intimidated and/or frustrated by the other young, in-shape, good-looking gym members, so ultimately got discouraged and stopped going.

The wake-up call happened for me one evening in 2019 when I tried to chase after my 3-year-old daughter and was terribly short-winded after running for 30 seconds. That same month I did a physical with my family doctor. Finding out that I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, was terribly overweight, and was pre-diabetic, had me scared. You see, I started having children in my 40s and if I wanted to be around to see my little girls grow up, I would have to make some changes – fast! Besides, I need to make sure that 6’4”, I am around to scare those teenage boys (or girls) who plan to break my princesses’ hearts. My doctor wanted to put me on medication, and since I am not a big fan, I made a deal with him. I will use diet and exercise to get my BP, cholesterol and A1C levels to normal.

I went home and made some changes. First, I made some drastic changes to the contents of our pantry and refrigerator. Secondly, since I was no longer comfortable going to the big box gyms, I joined a group fitness gym for the first time in my life. I loved the comradery, less discomfort, accountability, and amazing sessions, all still while competing with just myself. I also loved that other gym members would look to me for direction and assistance. This got me thinking, “if this were my facility, what would I do differently?” Then I thought, “why not run my own?!” I have always been great with leading friends and teammates through group workout sessions, and have always known that I have a natural ability to get others to do exercises together with me, or with me instructing.

Presently, thanks to keeping my promise to myself and my primary care physician, my medical condition is now all normal. I have gone down from 295 pounds to 260, and feel great. But the journey continues! My goal was never just purely to lose weight. It also feels amazing to do normal day-to-day activities and not feel like I need to review my living will. If my story is one to which you can relate, I would love for you to join me on this journey.

We now bring you West Chester Fit Body Boot Camp, and will strive to provide you the same results as other Fit Body Boot Camps have provided around the world! We are a result driven fitness studio, and our trainers will push and motivate you to be proud of your abilities every time you come! I will even personally run some of the sessions. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to do what I love, and love what I do. Our studio is for all fitness levels, and we want every member to feel as though they are a part of our family. We look forward to helping you on your fitness journey!

– Uriel Baker