My Story

Dr. T., Ph.D. is an exercise physiologist and fitness professional of over 20 years. During his career, he has been a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, adjunct college professor, and retired professional wrestler. He is also known for his video blogs and audio podcasts on GoTarryn TV. In April, 2021, Dr. T. received his PhD in General Psychology with an emphasis in Performance Psychology from Grand Canyon University. However, prior to becoming Dr. T., he was known as "Tarryn the Traveling Trainer". He has been a certified accredited personal trainer since 1999. The following section is a timeline documenting his professional career officially beginning in his undergraduate enrollment at Concordia University Chicago....

Professional Timeline:

Tarryn was accepted into Concordia University Chicago in August 1997 where he earned his Bachelor of Exercise Science Degree in three years, graduating at the age of 20. In June 1999, he became certified by the Cooper Institute as a Personal Trainer. During his junior and senior years at Concordia, he completed an internship at the West Cook YMCA. Upon graduating college in May 2000, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia.

Tarryn at Concourse Athletic Club (2001)

Tarryn transferred to the Ed Isakson YMCA in Alpharetta, Georgia as a personal trainer. While working there, he accepted a position as a personal trainer at the prestigious Concourse Athletic Club in Atlanta. He started full-time with Concourse in June 2000. It was there that Tarryn realized his true love and passion of identifying himself as a personal trainer. He would stay with Concourse for nearly two years where he learned the basic foundation of personal training, including: the sales and retention process, scheduling his clientele base, program development, and tracking his clients' progress.

By the end of 2001, Tarryn had come to wanting to take his career to the next step and go into management training. However, he was unsuccessful in finding any fitness management opportunities at that time. At the advice of one of his clients, he pursued the world of restaurant management, and joined Waffle House in November 2001. Upon completing an intensive 12-week training course, and graduating from Waffle House University (WHU), he received his Bachelor of Restaurant Management degree. He became the Restaurant Manager of the Waffle House in Rex, Georgia, and then subsequently the Restaurant Manager of the Waffle House in Fayetteville, Georgia. He ended up leaving Waffle House in August 2003 and spent a brief stint as a restaurant manager for the Golden Corral in Newnan, Georgia.

Washing dishes at Waffle House (2002)

Tarryn at Perimeter Summit Health Club (2005)

Tarryn left Golden Corral in February 2004 to join Peachtree Natural Foods to become the Store Manager of the Peachtree City, Georgia location. In October 2004, he had earned enough time on his resume to apply as an assistant fitness manager for the Bank of America Plaza Executive Health Club. He worked his way up for the next six months and eventually accepted the position as General Manager of the Perimeter Summit Health Club.

Tarryn managed the Perimeter Summit Health Club from April 2005 to February 2007. He continued to work part-time as a personal trainer. He would develop membership drive programs, healthy challenges, and facilitated wellness workshops. He continued to attain new fitness certifications earning his personal training certification from the YMCA and a group exercise certification from AFAA. At the beginning of 2007, he accepted a General Manager position in upstate New York.

Tarryn was hired as the General Manager of the CVPH Wellness Center in Plattsburgh, New York in February 2007. He worked there for the next six months, and then accepted a position with the JCC in Stoughton, Massachusetts. He worked as the Fitness Director of the (then known) Striar Jcc from August 2007 through February 2008. After spending a year away from Atlanta, he realized that he wished to relocate back to Atlanta and found a fitness management job opening with AT&T.

Tarryn at CVPH Wellness Center (2007)

Tarryn became the General Manager of the AT&T Health Fitness Center in Atlanta, Georgia in February 2008. He worked there for the next two years and continued his part-time work as a personal trainer. He won another "Breakfast Break" from WSB-AM 750. During his time at AT&T, he attended Shorter Universityand graduated with a Master of Business Administration Degree in December 2009. In late 2009, AT&T was making the decision to eliminate the management company that Tarryn reported to. At that time, the management company offered Tarryn a transition to their new client, Coca-Cola Enterprises. He accepted that position and opened the new fitness center for Coca-Cola Enterprises in March 2010.

Tarryn transitioned into being the General Manager of the Coca-Cola Enterprises Fitness Center. He would continue managing that fitness center for the next three years. During that time, he won yet another "Breakfast Break" from WSB-AM 750. It was also during this time, in February 2011, that he created GoTarryn!™ Personal Training. He would simultaneously manage the Coca-Cola Enterprises Fitness Center and operate GoTarryn!™ up until November 2012. It was at that point when he realized he could no longer work in both capacities, and ended up resigning from his position at Coke to fully devote himself to GoTarryn!™.

In February 2011, Tarryn became determined to make GoTarryn!™ the number one, best personal training brand in the greater Atlanta area. He would branch out and create a lot of innovative initiatives for his company and is currently successfully managing a base of over 40 active clients that he services. In February 2012, he created GoTarryn TV™. He soon then discovered his true passion of conducting video blogs and podcasts. In March 2015, he began to interview other health and wellness professionals on GoTarryn TV™ and would promote them via his GoTarryn TV™ YouTube channel. Some of his most notable guests have consisted of Stevie Richards, Gary Michael Cappetta, and many other famous professional wrestlers, including wrestlers from GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).

Beginning in January 2017, Tarryn accepted a part-time position of teaching at Georgia State University. Tarryn stated "I always wanted to do something with my graduate degree, and now I feel like it has finally served its purpose. I have always aspired to be both a great trainer and great teacher!" He taught two different classes for undergraduates for the next three years. One was "Principles of Physical Activity & Fitness" and the other was "Fitness Program Management". He has claimed it was a true joy in his life to help educate other future fitness professionals in his field. When the global COVID-19 pandemic occurred, Tarryn opted to take a sabbatical from the university.

Continuing his passion of both training and teaching, in May 2018, Tarryn enrolled into doctoral studies at Grand Canyon University. He decided to pursue his new dreams of attaining a PhD degree in General Psychology with an emphasis in Performance Psychology. Tarryn claimed "I truly feel that I have reached my full limits of mastering the art of health and fitness. I strongly believe that if I want to be the very best exercise physiologist, then this is the next logical step in my career path. My goal for 2021 is to become 'Dr. T., Ph.D.!'" In June 2021, Tarryn officially achieved that goal.

Dr. T. officially accepted an adjunct position with Grand Canyon University in January 2022 as a Doctoral Dissertation Chair. In Spring 2022, he also accepted an additional adjunct role working as a Content Expert to serve on several different doctoral dissertation committees.

In August 2022, Dr. T. was the lead author of publishing a peer-reviewed journal article to the prestigious Journal of Performance Psychology. The title of the article is "Relatedness Factors Defining a Mutual Personal Trainer--Client Relationship to Realize Success: A Qualitative Study".

The direct article link can be accessed here: click here

In August 2023, Dr. T. accepted an adjunct position with the University of Arizona Global Campus. He now serves at UAGC as a Doctoral Research Chair, in conjunction with his adjunct position at GCU in the same academic capacity.