Andrew Schaefer grew up in Victoria, Australia. After finishing boarding school, where he excelled in (Australian) football and academics, he joined Victoria Police to pursue investigations.

His twenty years in Australian state, federal and international law enforcement investigations exposed him to varying personal and group fitness regimens, infinite life experiences, and awarded him various recognitions, including Subject Matter Expert in Organized Crime Investigations.

In 2011, Andrew and his American wife relocated to Kansas City where he soon stumbled upon recently opened City Gym and was introduced to Hailee Bland-Walsh. After seeing the culture and community City Gym is built on, his lifelong love for fitness became a professional interest and he gained his certification in Personal Training.

Since 2011, Andrew has been committed to City Gym, its values, and the community it has brought to Waldo, where he lives with his wife, Susan and his much loved 8-year-old son, Otis.

Chuck McKee’s fitness journey began in high school. Feeling smaller than his classmates, Chuck wanted to get bigger and stronger and began learning how to properly lift weights taking every weight class he was allowed. He started where most people begin, by taking advice from classmates who were bigger and stronger and seeking information in Muscle and Fitness Magazine. At graduation, three years later, Chuck weighed 170 lbs.

After high school he lost focus and weighed 210 lbs with approximately 25% body fat. Being unhappy with his physique and how he was feeling about himself, he changed his focus to fat loss and over the next few months he was able to get his weight back down to 170 lbs. Once there he turned back to gaining muscle with the goal of getting to 200 lbs with 10% body fat. The journey was long, challenging and included many highs and lows. It took him about a year of eating better foods and working hard on his strength training programs until he reached his goal of 200 lbs with 10% body fat. The feeling of accomplishment was so incredible. He could see all his hard work payoff. It was then he decided that he wanted to become a personal trainer and help others reach their goals. He turned his focus to exercise science and began working to become a personal trainer. Chuck finds the experience of helping others reach their fitness goals very rewarding!. Even after 25+ years in the business, he considers it a privilege to travel alongside his clients on their fitness journey.  He feels blessed that it’s his job to help others become a better version of themselves and it’s something he gets to live each day.

Ian Campbell has been at City Gym since day one. He grew up in Cimarron, a small town in south-western Kansas. He played football for Kansas State from 2004-2008, and moved to Kansas City in 2010 after having two cups of coffee with the St. Louis Rams. Ian has been working in personal fitness and strength training since 2010, he was voted best top Male Trainer in 2014 by KC Fit Magazine. Since his move in 2010 Kansas City has always been home, he spends as much of his spare time as he can with his two amazing boys Cade and Crosby, and his beautiful wife Kasha.

Josh Guffey has a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Kansas State. He has been a personal trainer since 2004 and has experience training all types of clientele. Josh’s main focus is helping clients make the lifestyle changes necessary to get and maintain results. In his spare time Josh loves to travel and hangout with his wife Paige, kiddos Kirra and Reese, and their Doberman, Duke.

Collin Dawson has been doing the thing he loves since 2009. From a small town in northern California, Collin began his fitness career not as a trainer, but in membership sales at an Orange County 24 Hour Fitness. There his club manager introduced him to personal training.

In San Diego, Collin worked with 24 Hour Fitness becoming a master trainer, a fitness manager, and Trainer of the Year with them in 2012. In 2016 he left 24 Hour Fitness to branch out with his own personal training business, working for in-home clients and a sports performance facility in San Diego.

In 2018 he moved to Kansas City and the first gym he interviewed with was City Gym, and naturally the last. Collin calls City Gym home while doing what he loves!

Justine Tapp is both a group fitness instructor and trainer at City Gym. She received her bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy, and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Nutrition Coach. Justine has been well rounded in her fitness endeavors throughout life. She was a two-sport collegiate athlete, former MMA cage fighter, and has worked in the fitness industry for the past four years. Within her first year pursuing personal training full-time, Justine had the honor of being nominated for Best of KC Personal Trainer 2023 through KC Magazine. Her favorite thing about working in the industry is empowering people to accomplish more than what they think they’re capable of. Justine is passionate about the sport of boxing for cardio combined with strength training. Justine wants to find what works best for you. She wants to help you manage your time to make yourself a priority, encourage you to do your best, and influence you by practicing what she preaches. When Justine isn’t at the gym you can find her camping/hiking with her wife Whitney, German Shepherd Piper, and rescue Reece. Her favorite mantra is “the difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.”

Ryan Bade has been a personal trainer for over 10 years and has learned so much by just listening to people. He enjoys nerding out about the coaching language and how many different ways it can be applied for a variety of learning styles.

Here are a couple things that he feels are important for channeling into one’s success either in fitness or in life.

First of all – Communication is key! Be honest with yourself and know when to give yourself a pat on the back or a little kick in the right direction! Self talk is incredibly important so be nice to yourself.

Next up is Consistency. Becoming consistent with workouts and with proper nutrition guidance will produce results. That positive swing will help momentum and help to keep the ball rolling in your fitness and day to day life.

Lastly, any perceived setback is a learning opportunity in disguise. In life we are always moving forward. Sometimes we sprint, sometimes we crawl, but we aren’t moving backwards!

Whether you are just getting started, need a refresher, or are ready to dive in head first, give Ryan a shout and he can help you hit it in stride either online or in person!

Elisha Orama was born in Puerto Rico (se habla español!) and has lived in Houston, South Florida and Boston before making the move to Kansas City. She attended Wellesley College in Boston, where she also played collegiate basketball. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology, then attended UMass Amherst for her graduate degree in Sports Management.

Elisha has been a personal trainer since 2018. She made the switch to personal training after working as a collegiate basketball coach, followed by time working in college athletics administration. Personal training allowed her the opportunity to get back to coaching to help clients discover what their body is truly capable of.

Elisha is a huge fan of sports, dogs, tattoos, and anything Puerto Rico related. She and her wife, Ashley, live in Prairie Village with their dog, Berkley.

Ryan Colvin’s passion is to help people change their lives in the simplest and most realistic way possible. He feels everyone deserves the right to good health and to be happy with themselves inside and out. Getting healthy and fit doesn’t have to be difficult, but it can be. Why is that? With so much conflicting & contradictory information out there it can be extremely frustrating & confusing to know what to do. Guess what? You’re not alone. Ryan sincerely cares about his clients and there is nothing he values more than helping them go through an experience that makes them happy, confident and strong. He realizes how being out of shape can affect many aspects of life and he wants to be there assisting you in discovering the benefits and joys of training. This is what helped him in becoming the person he is today. Ryan is here to be your personal guide on every step of the journey.

Emily Stivers grew up in Overland Park, Kansas. From a young age she fell in love with any and all competition, especially with her two older brothers. At sixteen Emily was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which hindered any college athletic aspirations. After graduating high school, she studied Kinesiology at Kansas State University. During her undergraduate studies she became enamored with the ACSM’s Exercise is Medicine health initiative. Through exercise Emily found a way to manage her arthritis symptoms. From then on she became extremely passionate about helping others utilize exercise to empower themselves.