Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Consider Lance Burns the president of #TeamNoSleep. A personal trainer by day and nightclub security detail by night, his everyday hustle is standard, but his clients are his priority.
"Successful people didn't sleep when they first started, so why should I?" –Lance Burns
"I don't do bootcamps because I can't be hands on with people. I only do small groups, maximum eight people. That way I can go around and adjust you, briefly talk about your own diet, any changes you need to do, etc.," he says. "I pass out a questionnaire to find out my your needs and wants and then I create a customized plan, which takes time. Sometimes I don't sleep because I have to get a diet plan out to this client, and then I get two more clients, and then I get backed up."
Diving into Lance's background is going to take a minute. As a former Professional Indoor Football League player, Lance played for the Florida Tarpons before creating workouts for major NFL teams like the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He started training on the side, and decided to try his luck in the body-building circuit, which is where he realized he really did have a knack for the fitness field.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3979092/miami-personal-trainer.0.jpg)
"I would spend my money on my own training equipment to train off season. People constantly asked me if I could train them. I worked off of referrals and realized I could really make some money off of this. So I started pursuing it, studying it, and it wasn't until my first men's physique body-building show that I actually started to love the process of dieting and training hard for aesthetics," he admits.
But bicep curls and burpees aside, this 29-year-old trainer balances multiple gigs as a spokesperson for several nutrition supplement companies, plus he's worked his way up to becoming the security supervisor at Hyde Beach at the SLS Hotel. (And if you're wondering how to get by his bouncers, Lance's advice is simple: tip them).
That's not to say this tough guy doesn't have his soft side. Lance is a huge R&B fan and even had a brief stint as an independent music producer a few years back leasing and selling the beats to artists around the state. But he keeps that on the DL; you'd be more prone to hearing Hip-Hop blasting from the gym he's training at than anything else. On his off time, Lance enjoys spending time with his dog, which he's had since college, and his new wife. (Sorry ladies, this stud put a ring on it just last week)!
At the end of the day, when his heart isn't with his new family, it's with his old one. "My clients have turned into a family," he says. "People have followed me from when I was only training at a park to another gym, to another gym, and now to my new gym. I love being able to help and change people's lives, and that I am my own boss."
Check out the rest of this year's Hottest Trainer contestants here.