Spinning Creator Brings In-Trinity to Santa Barbara

Combining elements of yoga, martial arts, and Pilates, In-Trinity is the newest workout innovation taking the fitness world by storm. And just this April, the first In-Trinity fitness studio in the world opened its doors right here in Santa Barbara.

Located in Paseo Nuevo mall, the In-Trinity Santa Barbara Dojo is the creation of Santa Barbara–based designer Jodi G and her husband, Jonathan “Johnny G” Goldberg, the South African–born former pro cyclist who spawned spinning, the indoor cycling craze, and kranking, the upper-body cardio workout. The idea for In-Trinity came to Johnny G on a trip to Brazil in 2004. “I was lying on a riverbed, and I took a nap,” he recalled. “When I woke up, I went to sit in meditation, and I was facing downhill, and it felt amazing. I thought, ‘If I could just get below the ground, if I could get a bit deeper, I’d be able to stretch more.’”

This inspiration led Johnny G to create the In-Trinity Board and its related workout routine, which gets exercisers to use negative space to discover expanded ranges of motion. “People had been training on a flat floor for a lifetime,” claimed Johnny G, “and this would be the first time you could train elevated and go underneath the ground.”

A typical In-Trinity class lasts 45 minutes, and each one begins and ends in Zen chi meditation. This allows practitioners to focus on mindfulness and relaxation, aspects that are often overlooked in other workout routines. But In-Trinity isn’t easy. Classes build strength, deepen flexibility, and improve balance. Planking and squatting on an incline and decline add a challenge, as well as assistance to movements.

According to Johnny G, “It’s easier to access movements uphill. It’s easier to touch your toes.” In-Trinity also uses sticks and straps as extensions of the body so that students build both physical and mental strength. Even the music in each In-Trinity class has been developed to enhance performance and improve overall well-being.

In-Trinity goes beyond the average workout, and much of its brand is encapsulated in the immortality symbol. This symbol represents the three treasures in Chinese medicine — Jing, Chi, and Shen. “When you take Jing, Chi, and Shen, and you manage to get them all together, you become the most integrated human being you can become,” said Johnny G. In each In-Trinity class, students are surrounded by the immortality symbol and learn to embody these three types of energy. “The concept of the three treasures is what we teach — through fitness, through flexibility, and through being centered,” said Johnny G. “It’s in this way that In-Trinity has its place in developing a more integrated human.”