Coach Aydın

aydin yaman (they/them) - Class Instructor and personal training

Hi! I’m Aydın and I’m excited to be part of Hardshell’s coaching team. 

I have been exposed to many different styles of coaching and training – I spent my young adult life as a competitive athlete in soccer and rugby, working with coaches from high-intensity and high performance training backgrounds. In these environments, working out felt like an obligation and, at best, a precursor to having fun. Leaving team sports behind as an adult, I meandered my way through long distance running for a few years before giving up on a regular exercise routine entirely. It was only after transitioning and signing up for a bouldering gym with a whole crew of friends that I was able to find joy in working out again.

I have always had the most fun and been the most inspired to work out in team, group, and community settings. As a queer and trans person, I’ve often found traditional gym settings to be alienating and isolating, and I never imagined I’d find my place in a weight-lifting environment. I joined Hardshell to train for a big, challenging hike through the mountains in Maine – I was better prepared than I’d ever been for a hike, all without pushing myself past my limits the way I had learned to in prior eras of my life as an athlete. I found Hardshell’s community-centered, sustainability, and general-preparedness approach to be extremely effective and life-giving. 

I have a lot of experience and training in community organizing, facilitation, crisis response, care work, and mutual aid work. I incorporate these skills and frameworks into my coaching, and I am especially excited to work on making exercise and lifting heavy things accessible to other queer and trans people who have experienced similar levels of alienation from mainstream fitness culture. 

I’ll be teaching Monday morning and noon classes, Wednesday and Thursday noon classes, in addition to working one-on-one with clients. If you’re interested in working with me or chatting more about our work at the gym, you can reach me at aydin [dot] hardshell [at] gmail [dot] com.