Meet Our Bethesda Team
Steve Evans, Regional director
Steve is a UMD alumni with a B.S. in kinesiology and holds the CSCS, USAW level 2, and TPI certifications amongst others.
Based out of our flagship Bethesda location as director, Steve provides ongoing support to all of our trainers, welcomes new clients into our community, and trains his own group of clients. His specializations include sports performance, Olympic weightlifting, pre and postnatal training, boxing, and circuit training. When not training, Steve actively competes in and coaches Olympic weightlifting with his team based in Alexandria, VA.
Keren Cepero, LEAD Trainer
Keren brings unparalleled enthusiasm and positivity to everything she does, and training her clients is no exception! Need some happiness in your life? Hang out with Keren for 2 minutes. We guarantee she’ll make you smile while you put in the work. She specializes in everything from weight loss to pre-natal training to highly specialized Senior Training, including those dealing with Parkinson’s, balance issues and osteoporosis. Certified with NASM, TRX and AFAA, Keren creates super creative workouts that have her clients looking forward to them each week.
Kat Trammell, LEAD trainer
Our training vet, Kat’s passion for helping others is what makes her stand out. She has a knack for getting the most out of her clients and delivering fun, creative workouts to keep driving progress! Not only are her workouts effective and creative, but the relationships she forms with clients is second to none. If you’re Kat’s client, you’ll know she cares about you just as much as she does about getting you results. On top of specializing in yoga for special needs, Kat has delivered the best results for clients looking for weight loss, fat burning, lean muscle gain, and increased strength.
Hillary Hoffman, trainer
A longtime training client herself, Hillary has a unique perspective on how to deliver super effective workouts for all types of clients. Hillary specializes in weight loss, building strength and athletic performance, and she has also recently added olympic weightlifting to the repertoire, competing in meets herself. On top of that, she’s also a health coach with a background in nutrition coaching. You can’t get more well-rounded than that! If you love a trainer who both cares about you and knows how to push you to get the best results, Hillary is for you!
Teddy Gaines, Trainer
Teddy has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years. He began his personal training journey as an Airman in the USAF, 18th Medical Group, where he developed exercise routines while tracking body composition to ensure the squadron met mobility and promotion standards.
Teddy specializes in weight loss, body recomposition, functional strength, disabled senior training, and athletic performance to name a few. He holds NASM CPT, and Fitness Nutrition Specialization Certification from NASM. Teddy is very goal oriented trainer, and loves to develop programs for clients to help facilitate them achieving those goals!
Michael sullivan, Trainer
Michael has been helping clients for over a decade when he first discovered his passion in college. Since then he has developed an impressive array of skills and knowledge, delivering results for all types of clients, whether it be weight loss, strength building, injury rehab, and more. Michael most notably incorporating proper movement to deliver long term success and limit the risk of injury for clients as they work towards their individual goals. Don’t let that motorcycle he rides on intimidate you - Michael is as positive and caring as trainers come!
Tomica Carter, Trainer
Born and raised in the DC Metropolitan Area. Tomica is a graduate of Howard University (1994) and has been in the Wellness/Fitness Industry since 1987. Tomica was a Wellness government contractor for 12 years managing fitness centers and health promotion programs for a variety of agencies including DEA and FDA. She then shifted to the commercial market at Equinox for 8+ years. There, she worked her way up to the top tier of trainers before moving on to being a “solopreneur”.
Tomica is a certified Personal Trainer with the NASM, Certified Level 1 USA Weightlifting Coach, Certified Level 2 Nutrition Coach with Precision Nutrition, Certified Animal Flow Instructor as well as Certified Pre/ Post-Partum Coach with Annette Lang EducationSystems. She is also trained to work with post cancer patients, which is her heart's devotion. Tomica believes in encouraging her clients to become the best version of themselves, believing that we all should “strive for progress, not perfection.”
Vesi Misheva, Trainer
Vesi, aka ‘Vee’, was born and raised in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She is NASM-certified and has been involved in sports since an early age, competitively swimming for 7 years. Vesi has lived in the DC area since 2016, pursuing her career in health and fitness.
She has a very strong sports discipline, which has helped her succeed not only in sports but also in life. She specializes in strength training, powerlifting, building muscle, nutrition coaching and pre and post-natal fitness. Additionally, Vesi holds a NASM certificate in Corrective Exercise, a Precision Nutrition certificate in Exercise Nutrition and a GGS-1 certificate in Women's coaching. Vesi’s philosophy on exercise is: “Do something today that your future self will thank you for!”
Llarence Turner, Trainer
Llarance is a trainer with a special background! He’s a PhD student in Nutritional Sciences at Howard University, where he currently teaches “Introduction to Nutrition.” He obtained a Masters in Health and Human Performance from Texas Southern University and received a B.S. in Nutrition, Dietetics, and Hospitality from Lamar University in 2014! He’s a certified strength and conditioning coach (CSCS) through the NSCA, a certified trainer through NASM and is even certified through USAW!
As if that wasn’t enough, Llarance has served as a guest panelist on various nutrition speaking platforms and during his undergrad studies he developed a nutrition, fitness and general wellness program. He’s even been featured on local news for his work delivering healthy habits and exercise in the community, which you can view here.
Alice Ramos, trainer
Alice has been a certified NSCA personal trainer for more than 20 years, a registered Yoga Teacher for 10 years (IYTA 200hrs) and a practitioner Neurocoach (Integrating Neuro-Linguistic Programming with elements of Neuroscience) for the last 4 years. Before moving to DC, she instructed group fitness classes like Spinning, Step, Zumba and Kickboxing at some of the most prestigious gyms in Puerto Rico, where she is originally from. For more than ten years she has worked with functional training at her clients homes for wellbeing and healthy habits with a Holistic approach. She has also been a marathonist and a triathlete!
Another thing we admire about Alice: she is also a powerful dreamer, reaching for her own goals. She moved this past year to DC to accomplish a new level of quality of life and lead by her example!
Brandon Buie, Trainer
Brandon comes to Training Ground from Raleigh, North Carolina, where he trained athletes, individuals recovering from previous injuries, and high performance working professionals. He holds a Bachelor's degree in kinesiology and is a certified strength and conditioning coach(CSCS).
Brandon’s other certifications include ACSM CPT, Precision Nutrition Level 1, Exos Performance Specialist, DBC Level 1 Biomechanics/Human Movement. Brandon specializes in coaching clients on proper movement and athletic development. His personal goal for his clientele is to work through functional movement pain free, while also building strong lifestyle habits to help them reach their goals and enjoy it along the way.
Divya Utterwar, Trainer
Divya is a personal trainer with experience in sports therapy, physical therapy and rehab, general health, and corrective exercise. Inspired by many internships and clinical classes in physical therapy clinics and athletic training rooms, Divya's interest in training piqued because it’s effectiveness in preventing injury and physical therapy. She loves working with pain management, fall risk, as well as overall muscle strength and joint mobility. Seeing the healing power of exercise made Divya want to enter this field and create a positive change in people's lives. Divya's proudest fitness project is a virtual bollywood Zumba class designed during COVID. They still hold free classes for the community!
Outside of the gym Divya plays the viola in the DC tango orchestra, crochets and runs a henna business
Ange Wanteu, Trainer
Meet Ange (pronounced like “Orange” without the “Or). He’s an ACE certified personal trainer with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science, with a focus on both exercise science and healthy lifestyle. His main focus is calisthenics workouts, weight loss, nutrition plan, boxing, muscle gain, plyometric and strength training.
Ange combines this knowledge with a deep passion for sport as a soccer player, love for tennis, and dedication to make sure his clients achieve their goals. In his free time, Ange enjoys soccer, tennis, pool, reading and learning new languages. Speaking of, he’s got a pretty cool accent while he pushes clients towards their goals!
Tony Passero, trainer
Tony has delivered results for clients all across the country, from the west coast to the beaches of Miami, before settling back to the DC area! His fitness journey began with his quest for a black belt in Jiu Jitsu, where he worked at the very first UFC gym in CA. From there, his passion blossomed into a wide array of education and mastery of different skills, from Boxing to Animal Flow to Kettlebells to MMA Conditioning to Nutrition. He now helps specializes on weight loss and fat burning, as well as strength building and athletic performance. Regardless of your goals, Tony has the ability to get results and make sessions fun!
Andy Schaefer, Owner
Andy opened Training Ground in 2017 so that people of all fitness backgrounds could have access to top tier personal trainers in a comfortable, supportive environment and without the need for a contract or membership.
Andy’s goal is for Training Ground to be the happy place for all the clients that we are fortunate enough to have in our community!