We caught up with Zenergy gym-fixture, Personal Trainer and Tennis Coach Zack Taylor to get a little backstory on what makes him tick.

Who was your first fitness mentor?

My parents were my first fitness mentors. My father was a professional power lifter and my mother was a figure competitor. To this day, they still have a workout room with a squat rack, deadlift platform, and bench press with all the fixings. Couldn’t ask for a better upbringing; regular push up contests, tons of squats, biceps curls, and daily crunches.

What are your favorite sports?

My all-time favorite is tennis, but I played 10 seasons of both baseball and basketball growing up. In addition to 4 seasons of football and track. I actually switched from baseball to tennis after getting season-ending pneumonia my last two seasons. It was a sign; I ended up getting a tennis scholarship to Lewis-Clark State College and tennis is a big part of my career now at Zenergy and the local high school, Wood River High.

What is your favorite non-athletic pastime or hobby?

Besides all things sports and being required to play something every season, music was and still is a favorite hobby of mine. We Taylor kids took 2 years of piano and voice before getting to choose our own instruments. I landed on trumpet, and became section leader as a sophomore in high school. I then carried that position into college, where I was 2nd chair in a traveling jazz band for LCSC.

What’s you most recent favorite movie, show, or book?

I’m a history buff. In fact, I couldn’t choose between a career as a history teacher or one in the fitness industry until I realized how much I like the body and its functions. My favorite movie is Saving Private Ryan, that’s The Greatest Generation right there! My favorite book is “Song of Achilles”; Greek Mythology is truly mesmerizing.

What’s one thing you’ve discovered about yourself that surprises you?

One thing I’ve learned as I get older is I am here for a purpose. Not only do I enjoy teaching others about the body, but it’s delivered in a way that everyone gets it and things start to “click.” Like looking into teaching history, watching people’s light bulbs turn “on” in the fitness world is one of my greatest achievements and surprises.

What is your secret talent that not many people know about?

Jumping. Yep, jumping. Although I’m only 5’9” tall and weigh 170 pounds, my current box jump height (up and onto a box) is 50”. With my vertical leaping ability, I can dunk a volleyball on a 10 foot basketball hoop, and headers in the Ketchum Co-Ed Soccer league are too easy when I can out-jump all of the tall guys. I’ve been groomed to jump; all of my sports growing up were explosive and agility based. Add in 10 seasons of basketball: I could touch the rim as a 9th grader, and was dunking by 11th grade.

-ZT