Alper was not the most athletic type as a kid; he had never thought he would find his calling in a physical activity-related area in those early days.

However, things started to change in junior year of high school, when he signed up to a local gym in an extremely de-conditioned state with the encouragement of his exercise-devotee dad. Starting with a cookie-cutter training program and no trainer to guide him, he decided to explore this new realm on his own. Questionable online fitness forums and his dad’s Men’s Health Magazine archives were the initial sources in his quest to find the correct information.

With consistency and hard work, newbie gains kicked in and, amazed by the results, Alper realized strength and conditioning was going to be a part of his life forever. Next thing you know, he had healthy food pyramid posters in his room, hundreds of exercise programs in his library and getting leaner and stronger on his mind.

As a kid who is exposed to “normal” careers all his life, being a fitness trainer was not one of Alper’s options during college. He studied law in one of the top universities in Turkey and landed internships in pre-eminent law firms of the world during college, including a Magic Circle law firm - Clifford Chance. After getting his law degree, he got employed as a lawyer in a top tier media/entertainment law office.

As he was spending his days working on lengthy production agreements, M&A deals, representing Fortune 500 companies, Alper realized that although being financially satisfying, his profession lacked the emotional rewards that he was starting to seek.

At the end of his second year practicing as a lawyer, he got accepted to a masters degree program in information technologies law, with scholarship. As the need to explore his true passions grew bigger, he decided to quit his job to give other careers a chance, keeping the grad school as a safety net.

While he was buried in thoughts about his future, gym became his second home and training was his outlet for all the stress. At this point, the fitness books in his library written for the interested layman were gradually replaced by the scientific sources authored by the leaders in the industry. Realizing the value that can be created in other people’s lives through the application of all this knowledge, he decided to get certified as a personal trainer by signing up to a course offered by the European Register of Exercise Professionals.

Meanwhile, in grad school, he somehow managed to tie fitness and law together and penned a paper titled “Data Driven Fitness Industry and Privacy Concerns”. After getting his personal trainer certification, Alper started training his friends and loved ones, all of whom he is forever thankful for. The feedback he received from them gave him this amazing drive that he was looking for since the beginning.

Becoming sure with the career switch, he decided to leave the safety net and moved to LA in August 2018 to study exercise science at UCLA with the sole purpose of becoming one of the best in his profession. After a year of focused studying, Alper graduated from UCLA with distinction.

In his time in LA, Alper took advantage of all the possibilities that this city offered for a fitness professional. He went through top certification programs to enrich his toolbox. As a big live music fan, if he was not attending a concert, he was attending a strength and conditioning conference. In one of these conferences, he met the co-owner of Heart and Hustle - Kevin Lilly. This crossing of paths ignited the fire, turning Alper into a real hustler, feeling blessed everyday to be doing a job that he truly loves and cares, in a top-tier gym.