staff spotlight
STAFF MEMBER
DINA SAITIS
by Rachel Mayan
A stay-at-home mom for 20 years , Dina Saitis now spends much of her time in a new kind of home – one with kettlebells and burpees and lots and lots of sweat . A home that bleeds intensity in 30 , 45 , and 60 minute time blocks and is devoid of talking , aside from the occasional under-the-breath profanity and chatter from the poor soul who forgot that talking means more burpees . This new home in the Small Group Studio is where HAC Personal Trainer Dina Saitis has built a community and turned passion into profession .
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Dina was voted Readers ’ Choice Best Personal Trainer in 2016 by the News Journal .
If you ’ re here to work out , I ’ m not here to take it easy on you .
Dina ’ s passion along with innate intensity has led her to achieve great things in her six short years in the personal training industry . She was voted Readers ’ Choice Best Personal Trainer in 2016 by the News Journal , and she ’ s recently gained press as the trainer for now-Olympic athlete and WNBA player , Elena Delle Donne . Despite her accolades and quick rise to success , Dina is humble about her achievements . “ I think I ’ m enthusiastic , and that ’ s probably the draw , I don ’ t know ,” she laughs . “ I really do like what I do .”
Dina ’ s love of fitness began at age 18 . “ I always was a six-day-a-week person at the gym .” A combination of lifting , running , and yoga filled her days , and before that , she did twirling and cheerleading in high school . Her initial drive to exercise was vanity , she says , but as she got older , she realized just how important it is to maintain that lifestyle . She wanted to have as much mobility , as much strength , and as much endurance as she possibly could as she moved into the progressive decades of her life . Her drive became about pure health .
That drive and a fire for change after a divorce led Dina to HAC Fitness Director , Maria Crennen . She asked Maria to hire her . Dina was a member at HAC , previously a member at Pike Creek , and as she put it , “ a pretty intense member .” She had done the Beast , a grueling weightlifting challenge , and was in the club almost daily . Knowing Dina ’ s intensity and work ethic , Maria told Dina she needed to get her National Academy of Sports Medicine ( NASM ) certification to be considered as a personal trainer , but in the meantime hired her to work the Guided Circuit in March of 2011 . Dina got her NASM by June .
In her first week as a trainer , Dina acquired five clients . “ I was able to make connections