I walked into Tony Hafner’s house for our interview and was welcomed into a home with a vast health book library, a fresh garden salad on the table, and a China Study book open with a highlighter beside it: my kind of guy. Tony is a personal trainer at the Belmont Athletic Club who I have shared multiple discussions with on health, gardening, diet, and surfing. I thought it would be fitting to do the interview out of the gym and in his element, his home garden.
Before the interview we talked about many things. We came to the same conclusion from the books we’ve read that the health of your vegetables and fruits are in the soil. The soil holds the minerals that are absorbed into the plant as it grows. As the soil is stressed from runoff, lack of compost, and overfarming, the minerals become depleted. That is why Tony swears by his garden and the Farmers Market for he and his family. He said one of his daughter’s favorite things is to spend time with him in the garden. She is growing up loving to eat broccoli and carrots direct from their garden.
The garden itself was mind-blowing for an urban setting. Herbs, tangerines, oranges, lime, lemon, baby bok choy, carrots, fava beans, broccoli and many more were present in abundance.
We talked about the overabundance of milk and milk products and how that is leading to increased incidence of milk and milk allergy, and as the China study discusses, many folks see great health improvements as they eliminate it from their diet. Finally the conversation shifted to personal training, his job and passion, and our common bond in the mentors that have both influenced us.
Holistic training has been an interest to me for some time. Especially the work of Paul Chek, a holistic health practitioner in San Diego. CHEK practitioners can be hard to find, so I was so excited when I met Tony Hafner. CHEK practitioners realize there is training, and then there is training wisely. By building a strong foundation of diet, lifestyle, and core stability in the proper way, CHEK practitioners are sought out in the professional realms for training. Tony trained personally with Paul and I was so excited to sit down with him and talk about ideas on health.
What does “health” mean to you?
It’s the whole package. Health is awareness and balance. You have to self-educate, to the point where you are looking beyond advertising. People get an idea about exercise, and that they need to do it. They think they need a protein shake and maybe a frozen smoothie to be healthy. My personal health starts with a good night’s sleep. You wake up in the morning and you are well rested, you are not reliant on a stimulant to get you going. A full breakfast of organic whole foods with a lot of vegetables, some protein, nothing out of a package. I personally pack my lunch. I fix a gigantic salad from my garden, and it takes me almost 45 minutes to get through the whole thing, but you know what I love is that I can go right to a workout. If I go down the street and grab the “healthy” version of any menu I feel weighted down.
The whole food, allows your body the vitality, longevity, and ability to detoxify to prevent disease, that’s nutrition to me. The fitness part of health is balance, goals, and aesthetics. I train and exercise to enhance my life. My personal exercise is to enhance my surfing for when the big swells come through and my tennis. You know when you overdue it because it affects your performance in life and in your hobby/sport. That is where balance comes in. I train for surfing and it leaves me with a body shape that I’m very happy with, that’s the aesthetics.
How did you get into Personal training?
I started at the Belmont in 2004. It was a career change that was inspired by my wife. She had been working at the time as a Pilates instructor for 6 years and I was a photographer. But I loved her work schedule, and the excitement she had for her work and her clients. There was a huge excitement around the profession. My wife could take off for a weekend course and come back so excited about her job and also be able to apply it to her own health. I started to read the information about personal training and thought “Wow I can help people, I can do this.” After going to school the Belmont was the first place I applied, but they didn’t really have room to hire me. But they said “we have one opening for fitness staff, we’ll pay you minimum wage, Monday mornings from 7-10.” I said “I’ll take it.” It’s really blossomed from there.
Tell me a little about the CHEK institute certification.
Well I had read some information about the top forward thinkers in Functional Training, and Paul Chek was one of them. Several of the other trainers at the Belmont were already CHEK practitioners and I always found them to be the most knowledgeable and helpful to me in my burgeoning career. CHEK stands for Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology, and it’s just that. The training pulled from research and ideas from all over the world, and they never said once in our training “our way is the only way to go”. They encourage working with whoever is open to it in your community.
What are the top tips you can give those that are thinking about making a health change this spring?
1.) Get in early. I see so many clients, no matter the age, that have waited too long to get help. Whether it’s a younger athlete, a 20-30 something putting on weight for the first time in their life, or an older individual battling with a nagging injury. People wait to the breaking point.
2.) Be consistent. You have to have a plan and stick to it.
3.) Get a good night’s sleep. If you’re refreshed you’re more likely to carry out your health goals.
4.) Eat a clean diet.
