clearwater personal trainers & coaches
Matt Levine is a powerlifting coach, group fitness instructor, personal trainer, and is the managing partner of Gorilla Bench Training Center. With over 15,000 hrs of personal training, and over 5,000 hours of group instruction, he has dedicated his life to helping people become the strongest version of themselves. After more then a decade in the fitness industry, and a extensive background in high level athletics, he has integrated his training philosophy into Impulse Fitness at Gorilla Bench Training Center.
Matt Levine
powerlifting coach & managing partner
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Matt is also a accomplished power lifter posting international elite totals in multiple meets over his career. After nearly 10 years as the Fitness Coordinator at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center, he has made his way to Clearwater Fl. Along with Rich Ficca and Jen Rotsinger, he is committed to providing the best place to strength train possible.
Katrina Curtis
general manager
Katrina Curtis is a certified personal trainer who graduated with her B.S. in Exercise Science while competing as a Division 1 athlete. Throughout her college career she was an Academic All-American and the Women’s Tennis Team’s first and only 3-time, peer-elected team captain. Throughout her years playing tennis she always loved being in the weight room, learning about the human body and helping others reach their goals.
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After missing the competition of being a collegiate athlete, Katrina decided to pursue powerlifting and get a coach to help guide her along that path. She has competed in multiple State, National and International meets. She placed in the top three of them all, taking an International Championship in the process, and winning the nationwide Iron Built Games in her class. She holds International Elite totals in three different weight classes and three separate equipment categories.
Powerlifting and the Legacy Barbell community has left an impact on Katrina and her husband. Katrina has since decided to pursue coaching and give back to the community. Her goal is to add value to others as they have done for her, and positively impact as many lives as possible.
Outside of the gym, Katrina enjoys the beach, spending time with her husband and their three dogs and finding new coffee shops. Her favorite part of being in the gym is celebrating with others when they hit PRs and being part of a community full of love and laughter.
Petra Bray
certified personal trainer
Petra Bray is a certified personal trainer originally from Ohio. She has been active her entire life and an athlete in multiple sports. As a repetitive team captain she has a knack for leading and motivating people that has now transitioned to the health field.
Nutrition and fitness have always been a vital part of her life but lifting made its appearance during her sophomore year of high school. Gaining muscle allowed her to gain confidence in her body and have a goal of being strong rather than simply skinny.
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Petra has a passion to do everything she can to pass on that confidence to others and share how much joy lifting, and now the GBTC community has brought to her.
She believes that our value as people comes from more than our bodies, but she is excited to help others get closer to a healthy lifestyle where they are confident in the bodies they have been given!
Hudson Osmolinski
certified personal trainer & strongman coach
hudson is a certified trainer and competitive strongman. Since beginning his journey as a strongman athlete in 2016, he’s have been invited to five national stages, and has qualified at the international level through the Official Strongman Games.
This life changing sport has given him the opportunity to demonstrate the true power of the human body. As strongman is the application of strength, he believe this style of strength training is essential to daily life and is the ultimate test of maximum physical ability. Being the grandfather of strength sports, connect to your roots and prove to yourself how strong you can be through strongman training.
jessica Fox
Certified Personal Trainer
Jessica Fox is a certified personal trainer at Legacy Barbell. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, she participated in soccer leagues, swim teams and was a ballerina for over 15 years. In 2020 is when her passion for fitness began, on a weight loss journey herself, she fell in love with powerlifting at Legacy Barbell. Jessica’s goal is to encourage others to be strong and confident, and not feel intimidated by weightlifting. Legacy Barbell is a safe space no matter where you are on your journey, it’s a community she hopes all can experience.
Outside of the gym, she enjoys the beach, spending time with her family and friends, spoiling her Boston Terrier.
Aaron roybal
certified personal trainer
Aaron is a certified personal trainer with a B.S in Exercise Science through The Metropolitan State University of Denver. Aaron began training at 14, he was a 3 sport athlete growing up, and a collegiate baseball player before going into the U.S Army. Aaron served as a medic for 6 years in which he pursued powerlifting on the side. Following his military career Aaron found his passion for bodybuilding. He has competed in 4 shows, he has placed to 5 in each, and coached athletes to top 5 placings and national qualifications. Most recently Aaron has worked as a strength and conditioning coach, helping athletes develop the mental and physical skill to excel in their sport.
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Outside of training Aaron enjoys spending time with his family, working with his kids on their athletic goals, golfing, and going to the movies. Aaron’s passion from this industry comes from his father, who got him started at a young age. His dad’s excitement to see him succeed and hit goals was passed down to Aaron with his clients and his kids. “Nothing in this industry can be faked. You have to put in the work and earn everything that you get.”
Hollie Metrick
Certified fitness coach
Hollie is a certified fitness coach with a background in both fitness and competitive sports. After a successful 13-year career in the film and television industry, Hollie decided to turn her passion in fitness into a career, becoming a certified coach in 2021. Originally from Baltimore, MD, she spent 15 years in the Pacific Northwest before moving to Florida in 2022 with her husband, two dogs, and cat. Her background in the entertainment industry has honed her ability to motivate and inspire others, while her passion for fitness drives her to help clients achieve their goals.
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As a competitive 56kg powerlifter, Hollie understands the discipline and determination required to excel, and she uses this experience to help guide and motivate her clients. She enjoys coaching and inspiring a variety of clients, especially those just beginning their fitness or powerlifting journeys, and continues to promote the safe space that Legacy Barbell provides for their members.
Outside of the gym, Hollie has also been a competitive pool player since 2011, leading her teams as captain in four world national championships.
Jenn Rotsinger
powerlifting coach & managing partner
Jenn Rotsinger has been a competitive powerlifter since 2004 and has lifted in all divisions of the sport from raw with sleeves to full multi-ply. She was the third woman to ever squat triple bodyweight and the first and only 114lb (52kg) female to total over 1000 pounds. Her best lifts include a sleeved squat of 363lbs (165kg), a wrapped squat of 388lbs (176kg), a 215lb (97.5kg) bench, and an All-Time World Record 440lb (200kg) deadlift. Her passion of the sport is seen in her performances as well as her coaching and passing on her years of experience under the bar. Aside from training and coaching, she is also co-owner of Gorilla Bench Training Center and a Clinical Microbiologist.
Akilah Phillips
MS, RD, ld
Akilah Phillips is a Registered Dietitian with an M.S. in Exercise Science and Sports Nutrition. Born and raised in Texas, Akilah unexpectedly developed a love for fitness and weightlifting while in college at the University of Houston. Despite initially wanting to be a medical doctor, Akilah decided to pursue a career in nutrition after she began realizing how important it is to live and follow a healthy lifestyle.
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Shortly after to switching majors to dietetics, Akilah began working for UH athletics. Here, she found her true passion of working with athletes and continued to pursue this career path. Over the last 5 years, Akilah has worked in a variety of collegiate and private athletics settings such as EXOS, Texas Christian University and the University of Oklahoma.
Currently, Akilah works with minor league baseball players here in Florida and the Dominican Republic. Outside of her professional career, Akilah enjoys helping athletes and active individuals alike reach their goals and become their best version of themselves. Her philosophy on nutrition is that all foods can fit into a healthy lifestyle no matter what your goals are!
Richard Ficca
owner & founder
Our founder Richard Ficca has been destined to move iron and steel since the day he was born in Tampa, Florida. As the picture to the left shows, his family put weights in the crib before he could do well… anything.
Always a big kid, Richard was always stronger than the friends he hung with, even those older than him. His genetics were going to allow him to be big and fat or big and strong. There was no swimming career or gymnastics in his young life or future and he was given his first weight bench at 12 years of age for Christmas.
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Quickly, Richard was able to press over 200 pounds on a bench within months, pressed 315 in 9th grade, and pressed 405 between sophomore and junior years of high school, all raw of course. He was in the 1400 club at Chamberlain Senior High and was a member of the varsity football and wrestling teams, garnering honors in both. He went on to play football at Newberry College for a brief stint, but the Army soon called.
Richard’s family has a proud military tradition and one that he always wanted to follow. Richard served as a paratrooper in various airborne units during his time in the Army, mostly in Anchorage, Alaska. Also it was great learning an actual education in physical fitness which helped Richard to know more than just strength training. Airborne units have been running, cross training and using various fitness techniques such as plyometrics long before they became the rage today. Living in Alaska did not hurt the amount of time Richard spent lifting. A Florida boy could find solace in the warm gym, lifting for hours and hours in his free time. This is where Richard first competed on a small level, and learned to love the sport. When Richard left the Army, life as it can and will do got in the way and he quit lifting, becoming obese in the process.
Realizing that big and fat was not an option; Richard started lifting and dieting, learning as much as he could along the way. This led him to compete again in 2004/2005 where he placed in some contests and won a couple as well. After an injury Richard gave up the sport again until his best coach, friend, and training partner Christie his wife motivated him to compete again in 2010. This brings us till today and Richard is currently competing at a high level. He is currently the Florida State Chair for the USPA. He owns and operates Gorilla Bench Training Center for strength athletes. He currently has one of the top 10 benches of the year at 606, and is ranked #1 in Master’s with a 2066 total. He has also set records for various federations at both the 308 and super heavy weight classes. Richard is hoping to really take a lifelong love of lifting and apply it to the record books over the next couple of years, hoping to take Gorilla Bench and it’s troop not only along for the ride, but one day handing over that title of Silverback, (but not anytime soon!)
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whether you want to lose weight, gain strength, compete in powerlifting, or improve your overall fitness, Our experienced personal trainers and coaches are ready to help you achieve your fitness and strength goals.