Victoria, born and raised in Brooklyn, grew up as an athlete playing basketball and running track and field. She is a military veteran who is currently teaching Physical Education at a high school here in the city. During her college years, she worked at local gyms teaching group fitness classes, personal training and teaching Zumba. Over the years, she fell in love with impacting her athletes and students in not just their growth in her class or their sport but maximizing their movement potential. CrossFit made her feel the same in her own fitness journey.
In 2017, She began CrossFit and through her journey, she got her first pull-up during the 2018 Open and in the 2019 Open, got her first toes to bar. She fell in love with the process of stepping outside of her comfort zone with every single workout, challenging herself and getting fit through the constantly varied style.
Victoria is a Certified Personal Trainer, CrossFit Level 1 Trainer and Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach.
Contact: Instagram: @coachvmatos
Brittany has been working in the fitness industry as a CrossFit Level 1 trainer for about 5 years. She has been full-time in the fitness industry for the last 2.5 years; for the previous 2.5 years, Brittany was still a 9-5er in the social work profession. “I try to keep my social work empathy and insights alive in my fitness career,” she tells us.
Lauren grew up playing sports from a very young age. She started starting playing ice hockey at 7 and tee-ball on a boys’ team at 8. She played high school sports and sporadically worked out at a YMCA in the off-season. A regular gym goer for years, Lauren eventually began bodybuilding routines. After a couple of years, she grew bored of “pushing weight around and looking in the mirror.” Lauren found CrossFit when she was looking for something more athletic. She knew right away that it was the right fitness pursuit for her. She has participated in a handful of local competitions both in both Scaled and Rx’d divisions.
Arturo comes to CFSBK with 9 years of training experience working with diverse populations in individual and group settings. Arturo’s fitness background stems from the competitive aspects of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Strength and conditioning were a major aspect of hi training for amateur MMA fights, amateur Muay Thai fights, and NAGA tournaments and therefore truly sparked his interest in fitness. Since then, he has participated in several CrossFit Opens, Olympic weightlifting meets, and many local CrossFit competitions.
It’s unclear whether the sheer boredom of Ohio country life or the influence of a sports-lovin’ family triggered Coach Jess’s athletic endeavors. Jess began playing softball as soon as she was old enough to enroll, then quickly added basketball and soccer to keep her busy year-round. After moving to NY for college, Jess took a hiatus from sports… unless you call flip-cup a sport. Unsure of how to return to physical activity, Jess gave everything from running to Bikram yoga to kickboxing a try. Luckily, her future husband got her to join a gym, lift weights ,and eventually led her to CrossFit. CrossFit helped her complete her first Marathon in 4:19, has made her a more powerful hitter in her softball league, and CFSBK has given her a family outside of Ohio.
A former natural foods chef, Christian has been training a variety of populations from 8 to 80 years old for over 6 years now. With a eye for mobility issues, he specializes in helping clients and members gain, train through, and maintain healthy ranges of motion. Since earning an AAS degree in Exercise Science from CUNY Kingsborough he has logged countless hours of continuing ed and certifications including: NASM Certified Personal Trainer/Corrective Exercise Specialist, CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, CrossFit Movement and Mobility, CrossFit Endurance, and many more.