Aerobic Fitness & Strength Training

New ClASS

Instructors

Our instructors and trainers are the best. For cardio, strength, cycling, circuit, or small group sessions, you will excel, meeting and even surpassing your fitness goals. Let us introduce you to our team.

Peter Bergamo

Peter Bergamo is our owner and is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a personal trainer. He's a corrective exercise specialist and trains seniors for optimum performance. Peter is also a NASM certified weight loss specialist who focuses on clients' specific needs using proper form, intensity, and frequency to help them be the best they can be. He believes that a fit body will perform best and with a reduced risk of injuries.

Carla Angevine

Carla Angevine is our Director of Nutritional Counseling. Carla is an AFAA certified group fitness instructor, with a prestigious ACSM certification in personal training. She also holds certifications and specialized training with spinning, urban rebounding, PiYo, and Zumba.

Linda Bender

Linda Bender is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher. Linda is certified in restorative yoga and has taken many workshops with world-renowned teachers such as Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley. In 2011, she completed the first module in "Integrative Yoga Therapy" with Joseph LePage. Linda is a seventh-generation Usui Reiki Master.

Suzanne Blaicher

Suzanne Blaicher is a AFAA Certified Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor, SPIN instructor and a certified TRX instructor. After naturally losing 50 pounds in her 30’s, she incorporates her fitness accomplishments into a regime of HIIT strength training, a healthful diet and a positive outlook in all of the classes she teaches.

Matthew Brinckerhoff

Matthew Brinckerhoff has been involved in martial arts and self-defense for over 40 years. Along with being a martial arts/self-defense instructor and a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, he holds a master's degree in phycology. He teaches proactive and reactive strategies for safety in any situation. Matt strives to help people feel confident in keeping themselves safe and to make learning fun. Matt is an avid hiker, cyclist, kayaker, and skier.

Lauren Contorno

Lauren Contorno has been a spin instructor since 2013. Lauren is also a certified teacher and program coordinator at EdAdvance in Litchfield. In her free time, she runs, swims, rides her bike, and spends time with close friends and family. Lauren has two grown children.

Trudy Cox

Trudy Cox is a certified Yoga Alliance 500 hour yoga instructor. She received her Hatha training in Newtown and Vinyasa Flow training at Kripalu School of Yoga in Massachusetts. She currently leads Vinyasa Flow classes at Litchfield Hills Fitness. She teaches Yoga with a sense of humor and compassion. Her class strengthens and challenges the participant with a joyful progression of poses, building from warmups through strength and balancing poses, and ending with a period of rest. An award-winning pastelist and member of the Connecticut Pastel Association, Trudy is newly retired from teaching middle school. She loves animals, hiking, paddle boarding, cross-country skiing, and kayaking. She recently completed hiking most of the Connecticut portion of the Appalachian Trail and is looking forward to her next adventure—hopefully without rattlesnakes this time!

Kim D'Andrea

Kim D'Andrea is an ACE certified group fitness instructor and has been teaching at Litchfield Hills Fitness for over 20 years. She holds certifications and specialized training with Keiser Power Pacing and Urban Rebounding. Kim has an extensive background in dance and before joining us, she taught dance for 15 years in Litchfield and West Hartford.

Lizzie Kabelka

Lizzie Kabelka is ISSA certified as a personal trainer. She also holds certifications and specialized training in Pilates and Keiser Power Pacing.

Andrea Lake Meharg

Andrea Lake Meharg received her 200 hour Yoga Alliance teaching certification at West Hartford Yoga Center. She also received her Chair Yoga certification at Kripalu Center. Andrea's classes are a combination of Vinyasa flow and restorative yoga, designed to connect mind, body, and spirit through breath work and meditative movement while increasing strength and flexibility. Andrea believes in creating safe and accessible yoga classes for all levels.

Julie Nevers

Julie Nevers is an AFAA certified personal trainer, AFAA certified group fitness instructor, and Jillian Michaels BODYSHRED instructor. She enjoys teaching a variety of classes and designing them to accommodate any fitness level. On a personal note, Julie has been an athlete since high school, where she discovered her love of sprinting. She enjoys utilizing the Fit Pit for challenging and creative workouts, circuit training, weight training, and running.

Matt Pagano

Matt Pagano is a local chiropractor and cycling enthusiast who has been teaching at Litchfield Hills Fitness for 14 years. He enjoys pushing his students to achieve their personal best. Using good motivational music, his classes are more cycling specific with an emphasis on rhythm, pedaling cadence, and power output.

Meghan Pagano

Meghan is an ACSM certified personal trainer. She has her bachelor's degree in psychology and pre-physical therapy from Mount Saint Mary College. She trains clients of all ages and fitness levels to help them reach a variety of goals.

Leslie Palmer

Leslie Palmer is our Director of Group Fitness. She is an ACE certified personal trainer and a certified spinning instructor. Leslie enjoys working with people at all fitness levels and believes that anyone can improve their lifestyle with regular exercise. Leslie is a snowboard instructor, horse trainer, and horseback riding instructor. She also enjoys rowing, aerial adventure park activities, and kayaking.

Melissa Howard

Melissa Pressmar started her journey toward teaching yoga through meditation and spiritual practice that began in 1997. After many years of personal training, she felt the calling to help others. Melissa has studied holistic health modalities, including aromatherapy and herbalism, all while serving others with Reiki, meditation, chakra, and yoga classes. In addition to teaching yoga at Litchfield Hills Fitness, Melissa owns a Reiki studio, called Balance Within You in Torrington, and leads stand up paddle yoga classes through Sportsmen's of Litchfield during the summer. Melissa is certified in Baptiste style power yoga and sees herself as a lifelong student of the practice.

Rebecca Rasmussen

Rebecca Rasmussen spent her life studying the body through the world of dance. She toured internationally for 12 years with the dance company MOMIX. She is an RYT 200 hour graduate of the Kripalu School of Yoga and Health. Rebecca studies and shares the practice of yoga with the desire to help others love and care for their bodies through movement and exploration.

Shelli Rhoads

Shelli Rhoads is a certified spinning instructor and has been teaching indoor cycling for over five years. Fitness has always been an important part of her life, and she loves to inspire and encourage others to make it a priority as well. Shelli is also the Volunteer/Patient Relations Coordinator at The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital. In addition to teaching indoor cycling classes, Shelli enjoys running, hiking, and most outdoor forms of exercise.

Dean Roberts

Dean Roberts holds an AFAA certification as a group fitness instructor and has been teaching at Litchfield Hills Fitness for 12 years. He teaches muscle isolation and is very knowledgeable in body composition and how to target specific muscles through proper form and alignment. Dean is genuinely passionate about helping people achieve their fitness goals.

Jodi Tenney

Jodi Tenney is a Beachbody certified Turbo Kick instructor. She strives to encourage others to make fitness a part of their lives so that they can be healthy in mind and body. As an instructor who obtained her fitness certification after she turned 40, she wants to inspire others to set goals at every stage of life for personal fulfillment. Jodi's other fitness favorites are Zumba, STEP, and Tabata.

Samantha Tilley

Samantha Tilley is a certified Mad Dog Athletics "Johnny G" group spinning instructor. Sam specializes in interval and heart rate training. Sam is also certified in Hatha Yoga through the Yoga Institute of Houston.

Jessica Travelstead

Jessica Travelstead was raised in Litchfield County but moved west to obtain her undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado in Boulder. After college, she and her husband, both avid skiers and outdoor enthusiasts, moved to Taos, New Mexico, and then to Portland, Oregon, where Jessica worked for Nike Golf. After receiving her MBA from the University of Denver, she moved back to the East Coast to continue her career in the sports apparel business in NYC. Years later, she returned to Litchfield to raise her children and joined an active real estate practice with The Matthews Group at William Raveis. Jessica also coaches the Washington Montessori tennis team and plays on a 4.0 USTA team. When a tennis injury briefly kept her from doing high impact athletics, she began spinning and ultimately received her SPIN certification to better understand exercise science and bring high cardio, low impact, and fun cross training into her already active life. Jessica loves music, and she creates class profiles that map cycling routes all over the world: Santa Fe to Taos, New Mexico, the 2016 Olympic race courses in Rio, the Green Mountain Challenge Course, stages of the Tour de France, and even local terrain profiles in our beautiful Litchfield County. She provides riders with ranges of gear levels and RPM instruction, so her riders find the perfect balance of output and heart rate. Her classes are great for newbies as well as seasoned riders who love great music and interesting, varied terrain.

Marci Vincitorio

Marci Vincitorio is an AFAA certified personal trainer. She has experience creating and implementing individualized training and conditioning plans for all levels of fitness, whether it's one-on-one, group, or a class environment. Her passion for fitness and for sharing her knowledge to inspire and encourage others is outstanding.

Gina White

Gina White is a growing yogi. She is 200 hour certified in the Baron Baptiste style of Power Yoga and strives to obtain as much knowledge about the practice of yoga and how to incorporate its grounding foundations into personal work-life balance. Gina chose Power Yoga because of its strong physical sequences connecting to her background in the performing arts as a dancer. Gina toured internationally as a swing in the musical production of Nickelodeon's pop Nicktoon, Rugrats, and also danced with the NLL Boston Blazers dance team. In 2013, Gina began touring with the theatrical shadow dance company Catapult, finalists on NBC's America's Got Talent. Gina studied dance and theatre performance at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and theatre at Southern Connecticut State University. Gina has played TAC on CBS's Bull and lives in Goshen with her husband, Neal, and their family.

Chris Morse

Chris Morse is an AFAA certified personal trainer with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. Chris puts a high emphasis on proper body mechanics and injury reduction. With high energy and a passion for fitness, he can create holistic programs for clients that are fun, safe, and effective.

Jill Sahlin

Jill Sahlin is a Kundalini Research Institute (KRI) certified yoga instructor and has been practicing Kundalini Yoga for fourteen years. She completed her 200-hour International Teacher Training Program certification in Kundalini Yoga as well as a 30-hour training program in Radiant Child Yoga (levels 1-3) as part of the Radiant Child Family Yoga certification, both at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Jill also earned her health coach certification through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and holds a master’s degree in school counseling. Currently, she works full-time as the clinical support coordinator at The Arc of Litchfield County.