Twenty-one-year-old personal trainer Abbie Light is making waves in the fitness industry with her passion for helping people of all ages achieve their health and fitness goals. 

That passion was ignited at a young age with sports. 

Abbie had always played softball. But as a freshman at The Villages High School, she was drawn to weightlifting. So, at 15 years old, she joined the girls weightlifting team. That’s when she knew working in the fitness industry was in her future. 

After graduating high school, Abbie enrolled at Lake-Sumter State College and is pursuing a degree in Elementary Education. She was also certified as a personal trainer, and today trains and teaches at the Iron Village Gym in Oxford. 

There, her commitment to clients goes beyond just physical training; she aims to instill a genuine passion for exercise.   

“My goal as a trainer is to get people to fall in love with working out and exercising. It’s not something that you should feel like you have to do,” Abbie says. “Not everybody has the opportunity to exercise, work out or have a healthy lifestyle, so when they do, it’s my job to make sure they actually enjoy it.”

Abbie also focuses on proper technique to avoid injuries and stresses the importance of meal planning and consistency when working with weights to ensure desired results.

She also tells her clients that balanced muscle development is important, especially when it comes to training your triceps and biceps, the small muscles on the back and front of your upper arms, respectively. 

Two exercises that focus on strengthening those muscles are the tricep pushdown and the bicep curl, aka the preacher curl.

“It’s important to do both exercises, because when you’re doing heavy power movements or explosive movements, it’s essential that your biceps and your triceps are trained equally,” Abbie says. “If those muscles are imbalanced, it’s going to be a lot harder to perform more difficult movements.”

While Abbie primarily works as a personal trainer, she has a deep passion for working with children and young athletes. She served as the girls’ weightlifting coach at Wildwood Middle High School where she played a significant role in mentoring young athletes to lead a healthy lifestyle and make positive choices.

Looking ahead, Abbie aspires to become an elementary school teacher and combine her passion for education and fitness. She believes that guiding children to make healthy choices early in life can ultimately lead them to and keep them on the right path to a brighter future.

Tricep Pushdown Machine | Sets: 2-4 Total (no less than 2, no more than 4) | Reps: 12-15 per set | Rest: 1-2 minutes

Special Note: This exercise targets the triceps, located on the back of the upper arm, that support the movement of extending your arm at your elbow. With proper form and regular practice, tricep pushdowns can tone those muscles and increase stabilization around your shoulder joint.

Steps: Adjust the seat according to your height. Sit down, set the weight (low to start and work up gradually), and place your elbows on the bar so they are completely in line with your hands. Lean all the way forward with your feet completely flat on the floor. To begin, brace your abdominals, push straight down as you inhale, squeeze at the bottom, and then slowly come back up as you exhale.

Bicep Curl Machine (Preacher Curl)  |  Sets: 2-4 Total (no less than 2, no more than 4) | Reps: 12-15 per set | Rest: 1-2 minutes

Special Note: This exercise targets the biceps, located on the front of the upper arm, that support the movement of bending your arm at the elbow. With proper form, bicep curls can help you build strength in the upper arm.

Steps: Adjust the seat according to your height. Sit down in the seat with your bottom and back against the backrest and set the weight (low to start and work up gradually). Place the back of your arms on the pad in front of you and grab the handles with your palms facing upwards. Curl the handles up to your shoulders as you inhale, then lower them back down as you exhale.

Photos by: Nicole Hamel