Blog

posted on April 28, 2021

Here at UF we love our members so much it’s time we show you off and have CJ climb the incline like King Kong, he will shout your presence from atop of the highest point of Mt. Washington!

This week we’d like to shout out Tim Bickerton.

Ladies & Gents, here is Tim in his own words!

Hey Union Fam! I’m Tim and I’m originally from Beaver County. After a few years in NYC and DC, I boomeranged back to Pittsburgh and have been here ever since. I’m proud to be part of Pittsburgh’s growing robotics community as an Engineering Operations Manager at Seegrid.

I’ve had an on/off (mostly off) relationship with fitness throughout my life and in 2017, after pouring my heart into a startup that was acquired, I decided it was time for a change. I joined Union and began training with the OG himself, Marco Rigazio. Marco taught me all the fundamentals of the big 3 lifts, had me push around heavy sleds and even taught me some boxing workouts. I was hooked. And the Saturday CardioLab classes kept me moving. I’ve trained with many of Union’s personal trainers for nearly 4 years now, and I’m thankful for the friendships I’ve built with each of them. I’m proud to say that with the training and advice I’ve received from everyone at Union Fitness, I’ve dropped 60 pounds and put on a lot of muscle since that first day I walked into the gym. I finally know what CeJ means by “getting bumpy”!

My favorite lift is the deadlift mainly because it’s grown from probably my weakest lift to one of my strongest (thanks Sumo!). There’s just something awesome about lifting something heavy off the floor. I set a goal last year to compete for the first time in my life at the Iron City Open. I had to put that on pause due to the pandemic, but I’m excited to say that I’m competing this year. I look forward to seeing y’all on the platform in June.

My celebrity training new would consist of Kumail Nanjiani (seriously, have you seen this dude lately?), Chris Pratt and Joe Manganiello, all of whom have undergone their own awesome transformations over the past few years. One fun fact about me is that I’ve been doing improv comedy since 2012, most recently on a musical improv team (making up scenes AND songs), and have also done stand-up comedy. If you dig through YouTube enough, you may just find a recording of me on stage!

If you see me around the gym, please say hi! I’m always looking to meet new people and connect with familiar faces.