Our Staff

Blake & Gwen Beckcom

Personal Fitness Trainers
Personal Nutrition Coach
Fitness Together San Diego

My wife Gwen and I have helped countless people achieve their weight loss and fitness goals in our private suite setting, non threatening “all about you” training environment with some of the highest accredited, ethical and experienced professional fitness trainers in the industry. Many of our trainers possess Baccalaureate Degrees in Kinesiology or Exercise Science as well being recipients of Personal Training Certifications, or in some cases, multiple and or advanced Personal Training Certifications to Emergency Medical Technician Certifications. Our fitness lifestyle and fitness experience combined with our love of people regardless of sexual orientation, race, religion, or physical impairment, have been cornerstones to our success over the years. Gwen and I are in our early 50’s; are grandparents ourselves, yet with one look at us, you’ll know………….we know fitness and nutrition.

Our top priority at Fitness Together is for the safety of our clients and the safety of our staff followed only then by a highly personalized fitness and nutrition program tailored in minute detail to the fitness level and medical circumstances our clients present at the on set of their initial session. We provide both initial and ongoing Fitness Assessment Testing protocols to monitor progress against goals providing additional motivation and results orientation, delivering that to you in a bound format on a 6 to 10 week basis. Additionally, for those interested, we provide a proprietary nutrition program aptly named Nutrition Together, written by a licensed nutritionist on staff. To find out more go to: http://corp.fitnesstogether.com/nutrition-together/.

As fitness experts, we provide monthly written content published by local news outlets such as San Diego Uptown News, www.sandiegouptownnews.com; Gay San Diego http://www.gay-sd.com/; The Presidio Sentinel, http://www.presidiosentinel.com/; and Rage Monthly Magazine; www.ragemonthly.com

To find out more about our staff go to http://fitnesstogether.com/missionhills/page/meet_our_trainers.

To see samples of our published content go to www.betterbodysandiego.com

We extend to everyone, a Complimentary Session to introduce you to our program where you can find out more about our service and our staff, and meet Gwen and Blake Beckcom, the owners of Fitness Together to determine if we as Fitness Professionals and our programs are a good fit for your health and fitness needs. If you are serious about your fitness and long term health and wellness, this is the place for you. We ARE the real deal.

Follow us on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/FitnessTogetherMissionHills

Blake and Gwen Beckcom,Owners

Cathy Guarino

Personal Fitness Trainer Fitness Together San Diego

Cathy has been a nationally Certified Personal Trainer and a Specialist in Performance Nutrition for over ten years. “Cat” as she is known, started her personal fitness career after a tragic loss in her life. She began to see the mind, body, spirit connection, and how the right exercise and nutrition can not only help on the physical level, but on the emotional, spiritual and mental aspects as well. Cathy’s has taught “Grief Relief” group exercise classes as well as training youth sports teams, adult and adult senior populations.

Cathy is certified by the International Sports Sciences Association and is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine. Over her experiences, Cat has worked closely with physical and behavioral therapists in motivational techniques to help clients change their lives. Cathy is a long distance runner, biker, tennis player and all around fitness enthusiast.

Gene Schlenker

Personal Fitness Trainer Fitness Together San Diego

Gene Schlenker has a Baccalaureate Degree in Kinesiology/ Exercise Science from Humboldt State University. He is a Certified PT/HFS through ACSM and is working on his CSCS Cert. He has certifications in spin, exercise nutrition, advanced cardio life support, and was previously certified as an Emergency Medical Technician. While in school Gene worked in the Human Performance Lab at Humboldt State where he created materials, participated in a wide variety of testing protocols and development there of, as well as being an invited presenter in upper division exercise physiology and exercise testing classes. Gene has a great educational background and has practical application in training clients from tri athletes to diabetics. His girlfriend; Alyssa is interning in cardio rehab at Scripps to finish her Kinesiology Degree. They live in Point Loma with their dog Capone.

Allison Bergstrom

Personal Fitness Trainer
Fitness Together San Diego

Allison graduated from San Diego State in Kinesiology in the fall of 2010. Prior to joining Fitness Together in March of 2009 Allison was a Personal Trainer at 24 Hour Fitness. Fitness is Allison’s passion. She loves to educate others on living a healthy lifestyle and how fitness can change you both physically, as well as mentally. Keeping clients motivated and accountable toward their fitness goals, while at the same time making each session fun, different and enjoyable, is her key to a clients transformation success. Allison is certified by the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association. When she is not working out, she loves the beach, waterskiing, running, reading, the arts and spending time with family and friends.

Mark Herson

Personal Fitness Trainer
Fitness Together San Diego

Mark knows the importance of keeping the body strong and balanced. With over 15 years personal training experience, he has certifications in personal training & rehabilitation from PFIT and is currently obtaining additional certifications. Mark is dedicated to assisting you to reach your goals by using exercises customized to your individual needs. Whether you are looking to strengthen your body for everyday activities or favorite sport, decrease chronic lower back pain, improve your posture, enhance core stability, or just looking to tone up and lose weight -- Mark is here for you. Getting bored is not an option because Mark’s training sessions are focused, fun, challenging, and ever changing. He works with clients to achieve goals that they never thought were possible or attainable. Clients have included individuals from varied levels of fitness and aged from 15-80 years. Mark believes that fitness is a way of life. He appreciates fitness and exercise on many levels. Trail running, beach volleyball, and biking are among his current passions.

Luke DePron

Personal Fitness Trainer

Growing up in Illinois Luke was always active.  As a high school football and all conference baseball participant he learned the type of hard work it takes to reach ones goals.  With the idea of exercise being a leading contributor to health, and his desire to help others create and maintain healthy lifestyles Luke obtained a degree in Exercise Science from Illinois State University as well as a certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Luke has gained valuable experience training a wide range of clients ranging from adolescents looking to gain confidence as well as older adults looking to improve their general fitness and health. Luke is an expert communicator when it comes to anatomy, form and purpose employing just the right amount conversational knowledge helping you understand the what and why, while making it a fun energized experience. He believes that exercise should be fun and offer a major contribution to the overall enjoyment and quality of life.  He strives to live an active lifestyle as well as keep a positive mindset believing that people can accomplish so much more than they give themselves credit for, and that there's nothing easier than a little hard work. When not exercising Luke enjoys cooking and exploring all that San Diego has to offer! 

Ricky Mitchell

Personal Fitness Trainer
Fitness Together San Diego

Ricky has devoted his life to helping others live better, healthier, and longer though exercise and nutrition programs for over 30 years. He is living proof of what healthy living, exercise, and nutrition can do for you. This guy is fit; knows how to get you fit, and how to help you stay fit. He has a B. A. in Exercise and Sport Science from Texas Tech University, and is a Personal Fitness Trainer through The National Strength and Conditioning Association. During Ricky’s Texas Tech B.A. curriculum, he became an educator in their Fit-Well Department, developing programs for faculty and staff. Over the span of his career in fitness, he has worked with a wide spectrum of clients, from athletes in performance enhancement programs, to clients rehabilitating from injury or medical issues, across all ages. Along the way he has picked up a medal or two in his own personal fitness journey in gymnastics, and natural body building. Ricky’s vast experiences, combined with his sincere, friendly, motivating style, are sure to aide you in your personal transformation.

David Bell

Personal Fitness Trainer
Fitness Together San Diego

As a highschool football and track athlete David understood what it took to be in great shape. His life however, like many of our own, took him on a journey away from fitness. David looked up one day and realized how out of shape he had become, and took definitive action. Not happy with himself, he jumped back in the gym and took it a step further by hiring his own Personal Trainer to help get back what time had attempted to take. David’s transformation was so inspiring that he took that experience and what it did for and to him, and made fitness his career, becoming a Personal Trainer himself. His first hand experience via his own transformation has given David insights in to the common life issues that most face when allowing the day timer and other circumstances to take over one’s sense of health. His high energy and positive style, combined with his experiences, are sure to be a motivator in your transformation.