Trainers

Melissa Huntington 
Certified Personal Trainer, Licensed Massage Therapist

Melissa is the Fitness Director at Kingsbury Club Medfield and has been a certified fitness professional since 2005. She joined the Kingsbury team in 2012, bringing a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to health, wellness, and performance training.

Melissa began her career in 1998 after graduating from the Bancroft School of Massage Therapy. She quickly established herself as a skilled practitioner, specializing in deep tissue and sports massage, and developed a strong passion for educating clients about their bodies. Her work has included collaborations with celebrities and elite athletes such as members of the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Kickboxing Teams and the New York Giants.

While her work as a massage therapist helped many clients recover from physical challenges, Melissa recognized the limitations of massage alone in addressing long-term health and performance goals. This realization led her to pursue further education in exercise science and nutrition. In 2005, she graduated from the National Personal Training Institute as a certified personal trainer and nutritional consultant. She also holds certifications in CrossFit Level 1, TRX, and Kettlebell training.

Melissa takes an individualized and evidence-based approach to fitness, focusing on assessment, motivation, education, and program design to help clients achieve sustainable results. She is dedicated to fostering trust, consistency, and confidence in those she trains, and is passionate about helping individuals of all ages and abilities reach their highest potential - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

A lifelong athlete who played soccer, basketball, and softball throughout high school and at the college level; Melissa brings a strong athletic foundation and a deep understanding of the importance of long-term health and recovery.

Melissa lives an active lifestyle with her family and dog in Providence, Rhode Island. She enjoys exploring the city’s vibrant food scene and plays softball and pickleball whenever possible.

Brie Houghton
Certified Personal Trainer

Brie Houghton is a mother of three crazy kids, a PN-L1 certified Nutrition Coach, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Behavior from Simmons University. Brie is a passionate business owner, nutrition coach, and athlete dedicated to helping clients fuel their bodies and achieve lasting change. As a wife, mother, and athlete herself, Brie understands the unique challenges of balancing family, fitness, and personal goals. She believes that everyone’s fitness and health journey is unique, shaped by individual wants, needs, desires, and limitations. Her approach centers on habit and lifestyle coaching to support sustainable, long-term change.

Additionally, she is passionate about supporting women, particularly through pregnancy, the postpartum period and beyond. Her approach focuses on helping clients create an environment where they can thrive, achieve their goals, and smash limiting beliefs.

Heidi Lusby
Certified Personal Trainer

Many of you know Heidi from teaching Aqua and Cross Training classes here at Kingsbury. She is a passionate personal trainer and running enthusiast who started her running career with the town local, “Angel Run” then challenged herself run a 10K, 1/2 and then onto a full marathon. Heidi has run the Boston, New York, and Chicago marathons and has completed a total of 14 marathons in the past 12 years. Heidi also enjoys sports performance training and works with many local high school sports teams, and especially loves working with hockey, lacrosse, and soccer athletes. She enjoys all sports and living a healthy lifestyle with her family. Heidi is available for personal training, small group training, and run coaching.

Jenn Gately 
Certified Personal Trainer & Group Fitness Instructor

Jenn began her career in group fitness and personal training in 2003. She has experience training in the collegiate, private and corporate fitness, and wellness sectors. Jenn is inspired to explore emerging research in the exercise industry and continually strives to adapt her training modalities to meet the needs of the populations that she serves. Jenn builds personal relationships with each client, helping them to celebrate small successes, inspiring and motivating them to maximize their potential and helping them reach lasting lifestyle transformations!   

She knows how important it is to listen to both your mind and your body, and to have a healthy intuition.  Outside of the gym you may also catch Jenn and her husband hiking, biking and chasing their rambunctious son Eddie around Medfield!

Jenn is a Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor through the National Council on Strength & Fitness (NCSF), Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and Mad Dogg Spinning. She is available for personal and small group training, strength training, interval training, rowing, and cycling.

After One Session: You’ll feel empowered, sweaty, and ready for the rest of your day!

Christo Lagos
Personal Trainer

Christo joined the Kingsbury trainer team in May 2017. Christo has been a life-long multi-sport athlete. He holds a bachelor's degree from Springfield College. He has coached high school football and legion baseball as well as Fury baseball 13U. Christo uses his love of exercise to inspire others to gain confidence through coaching proper technique. Dedication, hard work, honor, integrity and morality dictate all aspects of Christos' life and serve as a positive influence on the athletes he trains. Christo works with all ability levels and ages. He is available for personal and small group training.

Joel St. Cyr
Professional Strength & Conditioning Coach

Joel St. Cyr has been a professional strength and conditioning coach for over twenty-five years. Joel is currently the coordinator of speed, strength and conditioning at Babson College. He spent twenty years at Northeastern University as the head strength and conditioning coach working with collegiate athletes from all sports. He worked as a strength coach for the Patriots as well as Clemson University. In 2010 Joel opened St.Cyr Sports Performance and trained athletes of all ages from middle school students through adults. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Springfield College. Joel is available for personal and small group training.

Julie Sanderson

Julie has been an exercise enthusiast for 35+ years and enjoys helping individuals and small groups achieve their wellness goals. She is a nationally certified trainer, Multiple Sclerosis Wellness certified and experienced as a Youth Strength Training instructor. Julie loves the outdoors, healthy eating and competitive running. She was a charter member of her local school system's Nutrition Task Force and believes an active lifestyle is a small sacrifice for a lifetime of health. Julie specializes in strength training, weight loss and functional fitness for adults, youth, teens and clients with special considerations. She is excited to design a safe, innovative workout program for you!

Lisa Karger
Pilates Instructor and Barre Instructor

Lisa is a former dancer, longtime fitness enthusiast, and has been teaching group fitness for many years. She first discovered Pilates many years ago to help alleviate lower back pain and weakness. She immediately fell in love with how Pilates made her feel and how strong it made her which inspired her to become a Pilates Instructor. Lisa draws from her passion of dance and strives to continuously learn and grow so she can challenge her clients to be the best that they can be. Lisa is comprehensively trained through Balanced Body University in Pilates and Barre. Lisa also teaches Barre and TRX. In addition, Lisa has a decor business specializing in children's decor.

Paula Bogar BS, MA
Personal Trainer
Group Exercise Instructor
Arthritis Program Leader
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Paula is a fitness professional with a BS in Exercise Science, Athletic Training and Health and Physical Education from Penn State. Upon attaining her NATBOC certification as an athletic trainer, she then went on to UCONN to serve as the athletic trainer for the highly talented UConn Huskies Women’s Basketball team and earned her masters degree in Fitness Management. She is currently certified as a Aquatic Fitness Professional and Arthritis Foundation Exercise and Aquatic Program Leader. She is also a RAQ THE BARRE Master Trainer

Working with clients and athletes as well as teaching aqua fitness classes has been a passion of hers for over 25 years. Paula has taught Aqua Fit, Aqua Sport, Senior Swim and Aqua Jog at the Kingsbury Club since 2016. More recently, you will see her name on the group fitness schedule. Early in her career, Paula worked as a teacher and athletic trainer at The Rivers School and Roxbury Latin.

When not at the Kingsbury Club, Paula enjoys spending time with her family. She can be found skiing in NH in the winter, kayaking in Narragansett Bay in the summer, and hiking in Rocky Woods with her dog Max all year round. She has been actively involved in Medfield Girl Scouts for over 14 years.

Paula understands the mindset of someone who has put fitness and health on the back burner for a variety of reasons, only to find out as we age or return from injury that it is not so easy to get back on the horse. Paula can help you start and take that first step back to wellness, feeling better and leading a more active lifestyle. Using her years of experience in athletic training, she can safely provide clients with multiple variations and combinations of exercises to meet each individual's strength and fitness goals. No workout is ever the same! She is available for personal training, small group training, and aquatic personal training.

Steve Gurtowski 

Confidence in your ability to meet life’s physical demands is one of the key aspects of living well, and Steve is committed to helping you fit fitness into your life.

Steve has over 24 years of strength, health, and fitness coaching experience under his belt. His training philosophy is based on time-proven practices and grounded in experience and an athletic background. His interest in fitness began as he watched his role model, his grandmother, maintain her strength well into her 80s by staying active and working on her farm. As a result, “keep moving to keep healthy” became the cornerstone of his philosophy.

One of his core beliefs being that smart fitness training doesn’t rely on high-tech equipment or the latest workout trends. Instead, he uses a mix of sensible strength training, smart lifestyle strategies, and time-tested tools for building strength and conditioning.

Every client enjoys a personalized training plan with their specific fitness levels and goals in mind, whether it’s building strength for health and longevity or recovering from an injury. He has worked with all groups ranging from youth athletes to grandparents.

His specialties include: filling the gap between post-physical therapy and full function, helping those with “bad backs”, the active aging population, and desk bound workers feel and move better again.