Adrian Hinkle of Training Mate on Servant-Hearted Coaching and Making the Room Feel Like Yours
The first thing you notice in Adrian’s class at Training Mate isn’t the equipment. It’s the energy. Somebody’s laughing. Somebody’s low-key nervous. Music is already in rotation. The room looks like real life: different ages, races, body types, and backgrounds all sharing the same space.
And somehow, without a speech or a slogan, the message is clear: You belong here. Exactly as you are. That is the space that Adrian and Training Mate creates.
Raised to Serve, Choosing to Lead
Adrian’s story doesn’t start in a studio. It starts in Arkansas.
Family, for him, meant showing up. That’s where he picked up what he calls a “servant-hearted” way of life, helping others grow, supporting where he can, sometimes putting others first, not because he has to, but because he wants to.
Inside and outside the gym, he’s allergic to complacency. He’s always looking for new hobbies, new outlets, new ways to stretch himself. That same mindset flows into his coaching: you don’t have to be perfect, but you’re not allowed to stay stuck. The moment he knew he was more than “just a guy who likes working out” came at his first fitness role, when a member pulled him aside to say thank you. The extra time Adrian spent helping with stretches and best practices had changed his performance. The gratitude was so real it moved him.
“That’s when fulfillment and purpose stepped in,” he says. “I realized I’m capable of real change in this role.”
Instructional Designer Energy in the Studio
By day, Adrian is an instructional designer for a global company. He builds trainings, leads workshops, and thinks deeply about how people learn. That shows up everywhere in his classes.
He doesn’t just demo and yell over the music. He reads the room. He knows some people need to see the movement, some need to hear the why, and some need to feel it with hands-on coaching. The gym is the classroom he runs, making sure everyone, from first-timer to veteran, actually understands what they’re doing.
Training Mate provides the programming. Adrian makes it human.
He scales movements up or down based on injuries and fitness levels, offers “spice it up” options for advanced athletes, and keeps the environment serious about form and light about ego.
00s Hip-Hop, Big Glutes, No “Thump-Thump”
Then, there’s the playlist. As a millennial who misses the 90s and early 00s, Adrian curates music around the workout. On leg- and glute-heavy days like “Thunder Down Under” or “Melbum,” don’t expect faceless EDM. Expect Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. Expect “Back That A** Up.”
“The members love it,” he laughs. “They want to hear about having a big booty, not an EDM thump-thump mix.”
The soundtrack isn’t a gimmick. It loosens people up. It pulls them out of their heads and into the moment. It reminds busy, stressed-out adults that moving can feel fun again.
A Diverse Room That Feels Like Home
Adrian’s class is one of the more diverse rooms you’ll see in fitness, in age, race, background, and ability. That doesn’t happen by accident. He’s always thinking about how people’s experiences shape the way they show up. His goal is “this space is for me” energy for everyone.
That means real eye contact. Remembering stories. Checking in on old injuries and new jobs. It also means repeating one core truth:
Exercise is self-love and self-care. The physical glow-up is the bonus.
Corporate Athlete, In Real Life
Adrian is living the corporate athlete life in real time: instructional designer, coach, videographer, and creative on the side.
Balance, for him, shifts with each season. Corporate work is about growing the brand. Coaching and videography are about fulfillment that doesn’t feel like work. Recently, the hardest “no” he’s had to say is to himself, protecting his energy while dreaming about being in fitness full time and present in more studios.
His advice for other corporate athletes? Prioritize yourself. Set boundaries with everything that eats your time. Don’t let days go by where everyone else got your energy and your body got nothing.
Time is more valuable than money. He treats movement like proof that he understands that.
What He Hopes You Take With You
If someone says, “Training with Adrian changed me,” here’s what he wants that to mean:
That you now see movement as a privilege, not punishment.
That you’ve felt the mental shift that comes from using your body on purpose.
And that, for at least 45 minutes, you felt like a human first, not a number in a class.
“We’re all the main characters in our own stories,” he says. “But when I slow down, practice empathy, and encourage someone, it feels good. That’s what my coaching is rooted in.”
You’ll remember the sweat and the playlist. But the real change is quieter: you start to believe you deserve to be in that room.
