Photo by Tosha Gaines
Former University of Alabama football player Eric Kerley operates The Studio Specialized Personal Training locations in the Birmingham area, including at 115 Office Park Drive in Mountain Brook.
For Eric Kerley, football taught him discipline, grit — and the value of setting goals. Now, nearly three decades after his days on the defensive line for the University of Alabama, he’s still putting those lessons to work, this time in the fitness world.
Kerley owns and operates The Studio Specialized Personal Training, a personal fitness gym with three locations in Birmingham, including one at 115 Office Park Drive in Mountain Brook. Open for about 24 years, The Studio offers one-on-one personal training, group classes, massage therapy, and what Kerley calls “an overall focus on keeping people healthy and happy.”
“Our goal is to help people live healthier, happier, longer lives,” Kerley said. “We meet people where they are and help them get to where they want to be.”
The Studio’s trainers design customized fitness programs that help clients lose weight, increase stamina, improve metabolism and diet, or simply maintain a healthier lifestyle. Clients work out in a bright, well-equipped space with modern tools including free weights, TRX suspension training, balance pads, agility ladders, sleds, and more. The gym offers one-on-one personal training in 30- or 60-minute sessions, as well as “buddy training” sessions for spouses, friends or business partners who want to train together.
“We’ve been blessed to deal with some of the top businessmen in Alabama and really enjoy working with them,” Kerley said. “It’s not just about the physical side — it’s mental and spiritual too. Helping people meet their goals in all of those areas is what we do.”
Kerley, a standout at W.A. Berry High School — the predecessor to Hoover High — who starred at Alabama from 1994–97, said he majored in kinesiology and exercise performance, with an eye on life after football. After a short professional career, he invested his earnings in opening The Studio.
“It was just right up my alley,” he said. “I took a step out on faith, put what little money I made playing pro into the business, and went for it.”
His Mountain Brook location caters to the community’s busy professionals, with programs designed to fit demanding schedules. Many of his clients are lawyers, executives and other business leaders — people with high-pressure lives who need efficient, effective workouts that fit into their days.
“Those guys don’t have much time,” Kerley said. “Even working on billable hours, they need to get in and out, so we cater to that. It’s about making it fit their lifestyle.”
For Kerley, the most rewarding moments come when a client hits a milestone or experiences a breakthrough.
“That’s our goal — to help them mentally, spiritually, physically meet their goals,” he said. “There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing that happen.”
Kerley credits his own years on the field for giving him the mindset to succeed in business.
“College football is a job — it’s a business — and it takes a special person to have the discipline to perform at a high level and keep up academically,” he said. “It taught us how to be gentlemen and professionals in life, and that’s carried over to everything I do.”
