\n When now-personal trainer, content creator and fitness coach
\n Sydney Hunter was attending St. Francis High School in East
\n Sacramento several years ago, she wasn\u2019t planning to become the
\n next American Gladiator \u2014 she just really liked sports.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Basketball, soccer, volleyball \u2014 you name it. If it was athletic,
\n Hunter loved it, and was probably good at it, too. This was
\n especially true of track and field. Hunter ran as one of the
\n fastest sprinters at St. Francis and eventually competed on
\n scholarship at UC Riverside for the same sport. But
\n simultaneously, she began to develop a love for weight lifting,
\n and she kept getting stronger, training at Sacramento spots like
\n Alex Van Dyke\u2019s Going Vertical in Midtown and Fitness Rangers on
\n 34th St.\n<\/p>\n
\n That pursuit of strength was largely done for herself, to
\n challenge herself and meet personal goals. Hunter only became
\n aware of the \u201cAmerican Gladiators\u201d reboot \u2014 a show that
\n originally aired in the 1980s with the concept of everyday
\n amateur men and women across America facing pro wrestlers, weight
\n lifters and fitness coaches to compete for the title of the next
\n American Gladiator \u2014 when her friend Ayinde called her and
\n suggested she audition. Ayinde had already been through the
\n casting process for the show and put Hunter in contact with the
\n casting director.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Hunter never expected to be on reality television, but she\u2019s
\n never been afraid of being in the spotlight.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think things like this that come out of the blue, when I think
\n back, I\u2019m like, no, this is where I\u2019m supposed to be,\u201d Hunter
\n says.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n A couple of weeks later, Hunter went in for an in-person test,
\n and was quickly chosen to join Ayinde on screen. The show
\n premiered on April 17 and features 10 episodes with various
\n physical challenges for the participants to compete in.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Nowadays, Hunter lives in Los Angeles. But for those in her
\n hometown interested in weight lifting or extreme fitness, she
\n still highly recommends the facilities she trained at in
\n Sacramento.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhether you\u2019re wanting to take it to the new level of full-on
\n trying to be a gladiator or just wanting to start out your
\n fitness journey, both of those spots are absolutely incredible,\u201d
\n Hunter says of Alex Van Dyke\u2019s Going Vertical and Fitness
\n Rangers.\n<\/p>\n
Sacramento\u2019s local \u2018gladiator\u2019 scene<\/p>\n
\n Alex Van Dyke\u2019s Going Vertical is a training facility focused on
\n helping athletes build speed, agility and power. Fitness Rangers,
\n located in East Sacramento, features training facilities that
\n Hunter says are great for lifting, as well as a wide variety of
\n group classes, including barre, indoor cycling, cross training
\n and more.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Adam Attia, the owner of Fitness Rangers, says that one of the
\n things he loves about their facility is how inclusive it is to
\n ages, ability levels and personal goals.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was taking a class the other day and realized to my left was a
\n recent triathlete and to my right was a woman who was eight
\n months pregnant,\u201d Attia says. \u201cWe were all doing the same class,
\n but doing it to our own ability.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Hunter\u2019s advice for first-time gym goers, whether at one of these
\n Sacramento gyms or somewhere else: Make a plan before you go so
\n that you feel more confident in what you\u2019re doing \u2014 and be open
\n to making new connections.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou might see the same person once or twice,\u201d Hunter says, \u201cThe
\n third time you turn it into a head nod, and the head nod turns
\n into a \u2018Hi!\u201d The \u2018hi\u2019 turns into a compliment on their workout
\n set, and then, you know, as girls, we start yapping after that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Attia\u2019s advice to beginner athletes was similar: \u201cIt\u2019s amazing
\n what you can accomplish just by starting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
A strong community\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Hunter didn\u2019t grow up watching the original show, since it ended
\n the year she was born, but once she decided she wanted a spot as
\n a gladiator, she quickly became excited for how the opportunity
\n could allow her to provide something she needed as a young girl
\n getting into power lifting: a role model.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m most excited to be an inspiration to other girls, and
\n especially girls of color, to know that your strength is
\n something that should be celebrated,\u201d Hunter says. \u201cI\u2019ve always
\n been a big energy, I\u2019ve always been a lot, and I\u2019ve always been a
\n big dreamer. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you that you\u2019re being silly
\n when you dream things, because there isn\u2019t anything that\u2019s crazy
\n \u2014 you literally can do it.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite her positive outlook on fitness and pursuing her goals,
\n getting into weight lifting as a teenage girl was still sometimes
\n a mixed bag, Hunter says. On the one hand, she loved the feeling
\n of getting stronger, and her family and her teammates praised her
\n as the cross training started having a clear positive impact on
\n her times on the track. But there were others who were more
\n negative about her growing muscles. One thing that helped her
\n focus on the good was a supportive community of young women
\n around her: her classmates at the all-girls school St.
\n Francis.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cA big part of how I navigated everything was by having a very
\n good sisterhood bond,\u201d Hunter says.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n According to current leadership teacher and interim student
\n activities director Laura Hanusek, who fondly remembers having
\n Hunter as a student at St. Francis, this kind of community is
\n intentionally built at the school, but Hunter was especially
\n tuned in to putting in the work of building strong friendships at
\n an early age.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe celebrate each other\u2019s success,\u201d Hanusek says, adding that
\n the female students \u201cdon\u2019t really compete for space. They just
\n create space for each other, and they step back and let other
\n people soak up the spotlight.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n When Hunter reflected on what her time on \u201cAmerican Gladiators\u201d
\n taught her, she found herself returning to a lesson fitness and
\n athletics have taught her time and time again.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFitness has taught me to not always think about the end goal,
\n and to enjoy the journey,\u201d Hunter says. \u201cAnd I would say the show
\n taught me that as well. Enjoy the moment, enjoy the process.
\n There\u2019s a lesson to all of it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The final episode of Hunter\u2019s season dropped on May 1, and
\n you can watch the whole competition on Prime Video
\n now.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2013\n<\/p>\n