Last semester, our Her Campus chapter took a class at iLiv Cycling all together, and we had an absolute blast. Part of the reason we had so much fun, though, was because of our spectacular instructor!
Karim Woolfolk is a group exercise coach who became passionate about nutrition and exercise through his time as a pastry chef. Through his work he started to gain weight, then got into exercising to help lose that weight and gain more muscle.
Woolfolk then followed his passion and studied to become a cycling instructor with Madd Dogg Spin and Schwinn and a personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and now works at 24 Hour Fitness, Plus Health and iLiv Cycling as a group exercise coach and personal trainer. Although these two roles are his professions, he doesn’t see them as a job– exercise and nutrition are his passions, and he loves his job because he gets to meet new people that he probably wouldn’t meet otherwise. He also loves being able to educate others without the “schooling” feeling, and being able to bond with people over nutrition and exercise.
Woolfolk also highly recommends anti-inflammatory eating, which is similar to following a vegan diet. This consists of eating foods that tend to not inflame the digestive organs. He ate vegan for seven months, then upon returning to meat, he found it gave him some digestive problems. He is currently trying to get back into a vegan diet, because it gave him such a “light feeling” and he wants to get back to that. He recommends eating vegan because of the aforementioned feeling, and also urges you to consider the environmental and ethical implications of a meat based diet.
He is also very inspirational and believes wholeheartedly in the power of fitness, and tends to post very inspirational things on Instagram. To all the people who say they “can’t” cycle or they “can’t” exercise, Woolfolk says “that may very well be true, but there’s only one way to find out. Then you’d have to redefine what “can’t’ really means to you.” He also says that fitness is an “investment in the future you,” and exercising should be treated like a part of your routine– like eating and sleeping. “Some days, yes that dish may not turn out as you would have liked, or some nights you may only get an hour of sleep. It doesn’t mean you stop eating or never try to sleep again.”
Karim is an amazing instructor, and I highly recommend that you take a class with him! You can find him at iLiv on Mondays at Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m., and on Saturdays at 11:15 a.m.. You can also find him at 24 Hour Fitness where guest passes are available. Check out his Instagram at @bodydesignbykarim.