Fitness trainer Trent Firestine needs your votes to be honored in his profession.(Courtesy photo)
“I was never really fit,” trainer Trent Firestine said of his growing-up years. “I didn’t know how to get fit,” he said in a recent interview.
“I needed help. I needed guidance,” he added.
But he certainly appeared fit and others who meet him want to know how he achieved that look. He had no answers. But their questions prompted his quest to find out what it would take to get fit. Mr. Firestine read about how others achieved fitness, becoming convinced he could put some of their answers to work, while other answers had to come from his widening research.
Today he trains people on Shelter Island and the North Fork to join him on the road to fitness and is among leaders in the late stages of Muscle & Fitness Magazine’s “Mr. Health & Fitness” contest. It all started with an email from a representative of the magazine asking if he might have interest in entering the contest. He rapidly agreed to submit information about his own road to fitness and his work to help others to achieve their best fitness levels.
What’s important to Mr. Firestine about the contest is it raises money for the B Positive Foundation, which funds childhood cancer research, raises awareness and spreads positive outlooks in the fight against childhood cancer.
He advances in the contest based on votes from supporters who are eligible to cast their ballots online. Voters can cast ballots without cost, or opt to support the B+ Foundation, and can provide multiple votes for a contestant.
At the end of the latest round, Mr. Firestine needs to be among the top 10 remaining competitors in his group as of today, Thursday, Feb. 19. That will be reduced to five and then a single candidate from each group goes forward to quarterfinals. Cuts continue through to semifinals by March 26, and finals that run from March 27 through April 2, and on April 24, Mr. Health & Fitness will be announced.
The winner will receive $20,000, a cover photo and a feature story in Muscle & Fitness.
True to his passion, Mr. Firestine said if he emerges as the grand winner, his $20,000 wold be invested in programs that make fitness, recovery and education accessible to more “people who need to move, heal and thrive.”
With or without the win, Mr. Firestine is focused on eventually developing a program to work with seniors and patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease or ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), generally known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His aim would be to assist them to achieve as much movement as possible.
Currently, he works with individuals and groups at the Community Center’s Recreation Department, the Dering Harbor gym and with students at the school on the Island, as well as visiting clients’ homes for fitness sessions, and at the North Fork Wellness Center in Cutchogue. He was also invited to offer a fitness program at a recent health retreat at Camp Quinipet and Retreat Center on the Island.
He has trained triathletes and Ironman competitors as well as anyone, he said, interested in achieving their best selves in mind, body and soul. Because his approach to fitness is not simply physical, he also functions as a life coach. “Fitness and passion is a way of life,” Mr. Firestine said.
In his profile on the competition site, he said, “Passion comes from experiencing how movement, breath and mindset transform not just bodies, but lives. Fitness is a gateway to wholeness.” He approaches training that builds strength, mobility and endurance.
Islanders know him from his frequent columns in the Reporter, where he responds to questions from readers. He notes that he’s always loved writing and is happy to combine two passions. People always call him for advice and he’s enthusiastic about answering their questions.
It’s never an intrusion, Mr. Firestine said, adding, “I’m dedicated to proving that health is more than muscles. It’s mindset and movement and the way we uplift the people around us.” Many would be surprised to know that he majored in culinary arts at a SUNY upstate campus and to this day he caters special events, another passion he says he’s “honored to do.”
To cast ballots for Mr. Firestine in the Mr. Fitness & Health competition, you can access the site at //mrhealthandfit.com/2026/trent-firestine. You can also access his site to vote through Facebook.
