Lauren Shaffer was first introduced to the world of group fitness at Eastern Illinois University in 2004 during her sophomore year. Soon after she was a regular at classes, the University held auditions to teach and her passion started to unfold. In 2005, she became certified with Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA).
Lauren began her group fitness career teaching step, core, Pilates and kickboxing classes. She was really drawn to group fitness because it allowed her to use her creativity with choreography development and love of movement from dance classes as a child. She graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Following graduation, she taught classes in the evening at the local YMCA in Ottawa, IL, where she worked during the day at The Times in Ottawa, IL as a newspaper designer and reporter.
In 2010, Lauren moved to Elk Grove Village, IL, got married and started working as an editor for an association management company. From 2010-2016 she took time off from teaching, but knew it wouldn’t last forever as she had a strong passion for leading classes and helping others find workouts that they love. In 2014, after the birth of her son, Lucas, she started getting back into working out and eventually found herself longing to be back in the group exercise setting. In 2016, she started teaching classes again at the Elk Grove Village Park District and hasn’t looked back since. She continues teaching at the park district as well as the Schaumburg Park District and also is starting to offer live virtual workouts.
In addition to her AFAA certification, Lauren has completed workshops on perinatal fitness and group resistance training. Lauren completed MixxedFit training in 2016, became a certified POP Pilates instructor in 2018, an American Barre Technique instructor in 2019 and most recently, a Barre Intensity certified instructor. She currently teaches Barre, Step, Strength and POP Pilates classes.
Lauren’s goal for each and every class is to help participants realize their amazing potential and that they leave class feeling better and more empowered than how they felt when the first entered the room. She hopes she will always be able to share her love of fitness in all stages of life.