Carleton’s personal trainers are dedicated, experienced & inspiring. Check out their experience, aspirations, and stories below!
Laura Degroot
Meet Laura Degroot, a Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Coach for the Carleton College Rec. Center. Email Laura to schedule your times: pureblendbarbend@gmail.com or visit her classes: Monday/Wednesday/Friday12:10 -12:50 Rec Studio: Functional Fitness Tuesday/Thursday 7:00-7:45 Rec Studio: Morning Tabata
A little about Laura . . . Her Experience, Her Expertise, Her Passion & Her Story
Laura “Marks” DeGroot is an accomplished coach, athlete, and business owner. With over 24 years of coaching experience, Laura has worked with athletes and coaches of all ages and abilities, from beginners to top-level competitors and trainers.
Laura is a Certified Sports Performance Coach, Certified Yoga Coach, and CrossFit Level 1 Coach, and is also a competitive athlete in Olympic Weightlifting, Powerlifting, CrossFit, and Figure, and is seeking her first Ironman. Her journey with fitness and health took off after she overcame an eating disorder that nearly took her life, and she is now on a mission to help others achieve their health and life goals.
As a vegan athlete herself, Laura is passionate about showing others that it is possible to be strong, confident, and sculpted while following a vegan lifestyle. Her love for God, fitness, and community led her to Carleton.
In her coaching practice, Laura focuses on creating a supportive and inclusive environment that empowers her athletes and coaches to reach their full potential. When she’s not coaching or training, Laura enjoys spending time exploring the great outdoors with her pup Rogue, visiting family and friends, speaking to the youth, reading, and so much more.
Fitness Class with Laura Degroot, Personal Trainer
Brianne Hoffert
Meet Brianne Hoffert, a Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Coach for the Carleton College Rec. Center. Email Brianne to schedule your times: bhoffert25@gmail.com
A little about Brianne . . .
Brianne became interested in fitness and nutrition at a young age. She has only become more passionate about it as the years have passed.
She was born & raised in Virginia, MN, on the Iron Range. She is married with 5 children (twin girls and three boys), a dog, and a cat. Her family is enjoying traveling more each year as her children get older. There’s never a dull moment in her busy household . . . so it’s essential to stay active, well-fueled, and fit to keep up with it all!
Her favorite sport is running, especially marathons. She has run 20 marathons so far and a couple of 50k events. She will run her 4th Boston Marathon this April 2024. She also competed in her first Sprint Triathlon in August 2022. Trying a new event was both challenging and fun for her! She loves how inspiring, supportive, and inclusive the endurance community has been in her experiences.
Her Experience & Certification
She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Dietetics from the University of North Dakota in 2004. She worked as an RDN (Registered Dietitian Nutritionist) at the Rochester Athletic Club from 2010-2013 and became an ACE Certified Personal Trainer in 2013. Her family moved to the Northfield area in 2013. Since then, she worked at Anytime Fitness in Faribault as a Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor from 2016-2018. During that same timeframe, she worked for Live2BHealthy teaching fitness classes at Millstream Commons Assisted Living in Northfield and at the Villages of Lonsdale. From 2019-2020, she taught group exercise classes at the Northfield YMCA from 2019-2020. She has been in private practice from 2016-present as well with Brianne Hoffert FITrition, working with clients through nutrition counseling, personal training, and run coaching.
She has earned Level I & II Certificates of Training in Adult Weight Management, an Orthopedic Exercise Specialist Certification, Senior Conditioning Specialist, a Foam Rolling Certification, Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (2018-2023), and obtained a RRCA level I Run Coaching Certification in 2022.
Her Goals As A Personal Trainer
Brianne wants her clients to focus on what they can do already and help them build on that. She wants to assist them in finding a balance between training, nutrition, sleep, and recovery that works for their lifestyle and challenges them to become their best self. Her goal while instructing fitness classes is to share her joy of movement with others, while helping them to be fit.
Her Nutrition Counseling
Brianne is excited to offer nutrition counseling either by itself or in conjunction with personal training through a 12 week program called Focus & Achieve that challenges participants to improve in both their nutrition & fitness knowledge while providing accountability and guidance for success. Brianne loves the wide variety of wonderful people at Carleton and helping them towards achieving their health goals.
Thad Caron
Email Thad to schedule your times: thadsfitness@gmail.com or visit his classes: Monday/Wednesday/Friday12:10 -12:50 Rec Fitness Center: X-Fit Bar Tuesday/Thursday 12:10-12:50 Rec Center Varying Location: X-Fit Lite Monday/Friday 1:40- 2:20 Rec Center Varying Location: Mid-Day Mix
A little about Thad . . .
Thad brings his 15 years of experience in fitness coaching to the classes he instructs at the Rec. He is certified in USA weightlifting as well as Level 2 Crossfit. Since 2013, he has been the proud owner of CrossFit Calypso, and he aspires to DCTC for sports and exercise science.
Thad’s goal is to help create lifelong healthy habits for his clients. He wants to make the time he has with them at the Rec one of the best parts of their day.
Thad’s Elizabeth and he have six children( Samantha, Isabella, Sophia, Emma, Connor and Joanna) a dog (Lola) and a grandson (Jacob). His hobbies include CrossFit and BMX racing. He loves watching his kids play sports!