Albuquerque Journal
New Mexico and ABQ News, Sports, Business and more
Published: Tuesday, October 25th, 2022 at 12:02AM
Updated: Wednesday, October 26th, 2022 at 12:02AM
Ben Barker has always played sports.
During his time playing football in college, his love for weight rooms grew alongside his affection for the sport.
Flash forward to today, Barker is building a fitness empire via his social media.
“I’ve never done anything else but fitness,” he says. “After college, I became a personal trainer and never looked back.”
Barker has amassed more than 100,000 followers on TikTok. It’s the start of his journey as he quit his job at the gym he was working at to give his online workouts a go.
He currently offers an online program at benbarkerfitness.com.
As a personal trainer, his best piece of advice is to remain consistent – and get walking.
Barker says almost everybody can go for a walk and the mental health benefits are off the charts.
“Walking is so underrated and is a great spot to begin your fitness journey,” he says. “My dad lost 130 pounds because he decided to get in shape. He started walking and it became like a snowball effect. Fitness is the same way. You start with something small. My family and I have gone on family walks daily and getting in the sunlight. A 30-minute walk a day gives us time to listen to nature.”
Barker spends a lot of his time creating videos and workouts for his clients and followers.
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He says during the last two years, it was challenging to keep motivated, but he had to show up.
“It matters,” he says. “I understand that sometimes trainers spend all their time in the gym and don’t want to be there for more time. This is why I’ve developed ways to work out at home and do exercises outside.”
While walking is the first step, Barker does have a go-to exercise.
“Squats,” he says. “They are simple and highly effective. I also love running sprints. It’s not as popular. Sprinting can be done running, or in the pool or on a stationary bike.”
Barker continues to emphasize that consistency is key and learning is part of the game.
“I take the same approach with personal training,” he says. “I’m not smarter than anyone else. We are all on a journey.”
Barker says the decision to get healthy and in shape is an investment – one where clients have to stay accountable.
This is the reason he offers many avenues for fitness goals.
“If you have a friend to work out with, that automatically gives you incentive to show up,” he says. “Having an accountability buddy is a game changer.”
Barker, like many others, is often adjusting his business on a daily basis because of social media.
“When you are trying to grow something online and it doesn’t perform well, you have to think about what’s happening,” he says. “It comes down to if I’m helping at least one person, then I’m doing a good job.”
A quick workout
“Here’s my go-to, no equipment needed home/travel workout,” says Ben Barker
10-minute *AMRAP:
10 Split Jumps
10 Push-Ups
10 Sit-Ups
For 10 minutes rotate through the 3 exercises as many times as possible with proper form. Modify split jumps with lunges and push-ups with knee push-ups if needed.
*AMRAP = as many reps as possible
Online
Find workouts at benbarkerfitness.com or on social media @benbarkerfitness
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