VITAL STATS

Hometown: Hawaii

Studios Where He Teaches: Barry's Bootcamp, CYC, SurfSET Fitness, Derek Jeter 24

Cities Where He Teaches: New York, NY;  Hamptons, NY

Background: Keoni Hudoba has been a group fitness instructor for several years. He has taught group fitness at REEBOK Sports Club NY, EQUINOX, Derek Jeter 24 Hour Fitness, Bootcamp Republic, and Club H Fitness where he teaches classes such as his signature class DRENCHED, Urban Rebounding, Cardio Burn, Bootcamp, Abs, Back and Butt 45, Absolute 30, The Challenge, Body Sculpt, and Les Mills CX30. He also recently joined Barry's Bootcamp on their first New York City venture at their new facility located in Chelsea and in the Hamptons, NY. Keoni is certified in Primary Group Fitness by the Aerobic and Fitness Association of America (AFAA). Keoni brings a lot of passion, enthusiasm and motivation to his workouts. He is sponsored by Under Armour.

Read Keoni's inspiring post below about he transformed his life through fitness and lost almost 150 pounds!! He's now sharing his passion for fitness to motivate others to meet their personal goals.

ABOUT KEONI AND HIS THOUGHTS ON FITNESS & TEACHING:

What inspired you to become an instructor? Take a trip with me back to 2003, I was 21, a successful student in performing arts school and struggling with my weight. I was the stereotypical funny fat kid in school, but behind the humor was an eternally frustrated and downbeat young man, hiding his emotions behind his smile and 327lbs.

I knew something had to give; castings routinely ended with comments such as “you have an amazing voice and stage presence, but you’re not right for this part.” I knew my weight was holding me back in more ways than one.  I made the choice to transform my life, change my eating habits and commit to becoming healthy. It was a hard journey, spanning almost two years, with the inevitable pitfalls of falling back into bad habits, but determination and drive pushed me through and I achieved my goals, slimming down to a healthy 180lbs.

Fitness and healthy living have truly transformed my life. I've taken my performing background and adapted it to group exercise and personal training, motivating others the way I motivated myself to achieve my goals. I teach at numerous clubs in NYC and am in the process of establishing my own brand, KEONIKINETICS "Forces That Move Your Body".

In terms of health and fitness, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. Training others has helped me to train myself, improve my fitness, and motivate not only my students but also myself to the next level of body conditioning. Yet behind the motivation and fitness there remains the realization that falling back into bad habits is an everyday challenge, but a challenge that I can overcome. The key is to understand your own body and finding what works for you. I feel my role is helping my students obtain this knowledge and utilize it so that they can achieve their goals.

What’s your favorite thing about teaching? I have the best job in the entire world, I get to wake up and inspire someone as well as myself to be a better version of themselves. I get to see positive change and play a major role in it. There is no more rewarding career then this.

How would you describe your teaching style? Passionate, compassionate, diverse, energetic, electric, magnetic

What's your biggest challenge when teaching? My biggest frustration is that a lot of people adopt the attitude that a healthy lifestyle is a luxury limited to a small portion of the population. I believe everyone and anyone has the ability to transform and improve his or her lives.

How do you like spending your time when you're not teaching? I love traveling, spending quality time with friends, amazing food (I eat anything and everything!).  Anything outdoors, long walks on the beach….oh wait this isn't match.com right? ;-)

What do you like best about fitness classes? I love being able to create. I come from a performance background, and fitness to me is still being on stage everyday but just a different venue: the gym.

What’s your “go-to” workout song? I love podcast, especially DJ Corey Craig - the energy and flow is AMAZING in his mixes. I don't have one particular "go-to" song, I love all music.

Favorite workout brand? My favorite brand is my amazing sponsor, Under Armour, they are a mile ahead their competitors.

What do you eat/not eat? My favorite treats are sweets.  I love cake, cupcakes, cookies, etc. I eat everything, ask anyone, I just know if I eat everything I have to work it off.  And I love SPAM...it's a Hawaiian thing :-)

Your guilty pleasure? My guilty pleasure is the salted carmel cupcake from City Cakes

What's your most memorable teaching moment? Hmm….this is a tough one especially recently because so many of my students have crushed their weight loss goals. I think my most recent memorable moment is watching one of my students, Jason Smith, transform in front of my eyes.  Not only physically, but his confidence, his demeanor….everything about him has changed for the positive. It is the biggest compliment and honor that I was a part of that. Congrats Jason! YOU inspire ME!

FOR THE STUDENTS

What’s the one exercise everyone should master? My favorite full body exercise would have to be the Turkish Deadlift.

How do you recommend people get motivated when they’re not in the mood to exercise? No one said it would be easy, but I say it's going to be worth it. My motto for life: Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I'M Possible.

If you could give our users one piece of fitness advice what would it be? Everyone has "cheat days", be honest with them and know you have to workout to take off that reward.