Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Pfund.
Hi Christopher, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Before I ever became a personal trainer, I was a professional athlete. I played arena football as a wide receiver, and for a long time, sports were my entire world. Competing at that level taught me discipline, resilience, and how to perform under pressure. Lessons that would later shape everything I built beyond the field.
In 2018, I transitioned into personal training, bringing that same athlete mindset into coaching. I started by working hands-on with clients, helping them train with intention and structure, just like I had learned to do as a professional competitor.
Then in 2020, everything changed.
When the world shut down, New York was one of the hardest places to be. Gyms closed overnight, routines disappeared, and a lot of people in the fitness industry were forced to either adapt or walk away.
I chose to adapt.
What began as a temporary pivot became a turning point. I shifted fully into remote and in-home training, learning in real time how to coach people online while still delivering real results. During that same season, the shutdown pushed me into another transition. I partnered with a company that supplies commercial-grade fitness equipment and began installing custom in-home gyms for clients who suddenly had no access to traditional training spaces. What started as a solution during the pandemic became a long-term extension of my work and a new way to support people beyond just workouts.
By March of 2023, my business was fully remote. At 33 years old, my wife and I, she was 31, packed up our lives with our newborn daughter and moved to the Austin area simply because we could. Not because we were running from anything, and not because we were chasing a forever home, but because we had the freedom to experience life somewhere new and grow through a different season together.
We weren’t chasing permanence.
We were chasing perspective.
That freedom came with pressure. We were first-time parents in a new city with no family around. No safety net. In every sense. Emotionally, financially, mentally. I became the security blanket for our household. Feeling how much I had to lose forced me to approach life differently. I began to strategize everything: how I worked, how I created, and how I showed up as a husband and a father.
When we moved to Pflugerville, I didn’t just want to relocate. I wanted to build community. Coming from a tight-knit background in Montauk, I’ve always believed in showing up where you live. So I partnered with the apartment complex we moved into and began offering a HIIT class as a community amenity. It wasn’t just fitness — it was connection, consistency, and creating something positive for the people around me.
That same energy carried into everything I did in the Austin area. I stayed deeply involved. Playing pickleball at Pickle Ranch and competing in tournaments, running flag football and basketball games, training with Low Blow Boxing, staying active at local gyms, and even squeezing in sessions at Hotworx. I wasn’t just coaching fitness. I was living it alongside the community I was building.
At the same time, another side of my life was growing just as seriously.
It was also in Austin that I leaned fully into music.
Austin made sense for another reason. The culture. I’ve always lived in more than one world, especially fitness and music. And Austin felt like a city built for people who don’t want to be boxed into one lane. The energy, the creative scene, the mix of wellness, entrepreneurship, and art. It matched who I already was becoming.
For the first time, I had the space and the environment to take my artistry seriously. I turned our walk-in closet into a makeshift recording studio and began working on music projects. During that season, I recorded an EP, released multiple singles, and shot several music videos. Working with STLL Studios on “Then I” in 2023, and later filming for “Against Time” and “True to It” at Warm Studios with Brown Nickel Productions in 2024.
Music wasn’t a side project.
It became another lane of discipline and purpose in my life.
I’m not just a personal trainer who makes music on the side. I’m an artist and that identity now lives right alongside everything I build in fitness.
Austin showed me that I didn’t have to choose between those worlds. It was a city that supported both the discipline of training and the freedom of creating, and it helped me step fully into being both.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road but I’ve never seen that as a weakness. Long before business, music, or fatherhood, life had already built resilience into me. Playing professional football taught me how to walk into pressure without flinching. Growing up in a family shaped by divorce moving from house to house taught me how to adapt early and stay grounded no matter the circumstances. By the time I started building my own path, I was already seasoned enough to pack a bag, take risks, and trust myself fully.
The biggest professional challenge came in 2020 when the pandemic shut down gyms overnight. As someone whose career was built around in-person coaching, I had to rethink everything in real time. I transitioned into remote and in-home training, rebuilt how I served clients, and partnered with a fitness equipment company to install in-home gyms for people who suddenly had no access to traditional training spaces. What started as a response to crisis became a long-term evolution of my business.
Another major challenge came in 2023 when my wife and I moved to the Austin area with our newborn daughter. We were first-time parents in a new city with no family around and no built-in support system. On top of that, for a period of time we were managing life in two places at once, maintaining responsibilities in New York while building a new life in Austin. Balancing two cities added another layer of pressure. Financially, emotionally, and logistically, and forced me to become even more disciplined with how I managed my time, energy, and focus.
But one of the most unexpected challenges was navigating judgment especially from people closest to me. Not everyone understood the direction I was moving in, and at times I could feel the doubt around me. The difference is, I never doubted myself. If anything, that skepticism became fuel. It reminded me that vision often looks risky before it looks right.
That mindset is exactly what inspired my song “Staying Ahead.” Lines like “Doubting me empowers me… They would tell me I should ghost write and how I’m outta key… not knowing I’m a prodigy” came straight from real moments — turning outside noise into internal drive.
Balancing multiple identities has been its own challenge too. Building a serious career in fitness while pursuing music at a high level. It would’ve been easier to choose one lane. But I’ve learned that limitation costs more than hard work ever will.
Looking back, none of the challenges broke me. They refined me. Every obstacle pushed me to evolve, not just as a business owner, but as a husband, father, and artist. And the same strength that carried me through football, family transitions, and career pivots is the same strength I carry into everything I build today.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I build in multiple lanes and I take each one seriously.
At my core, I’m an artist who blends discipline and creativity in everything I do. My background as a professional athlete and personal trainer shaped how I approach music. With structure, consistency, and intention. I don’t create from chaos; I create from focus.
In 2023, after moving to the Austin area, I leaned fully into my artistry. I built a home studio, recorded an EP, released multiple singles, and produced several music videos. My music centers around confidence, resilience, and self-belief speaking to people who are building something in their own lives and refusing to be defined by limitations.
At the same time, my work in fitness has always gone deeper than traditional training. I’m a specialist in Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) and the Internal Strength Model (ISM), with a strong focus on connective tissue health, joint capacity, and long-term movement resilience. I help clients build strength from the inside out. Not just lifting more weight, but moving better, recovering smarter, and staying durable in real life. Everything I teach in sessions is meant to translate beyond the gym and into how people show up at work, in sports, and in everyday life.
But there’s another side of my work that people don’t always expect.
I also create and host experiences.
Over the years, I’ve been trusted to host and guide celebrities and influencers in places like the Hamptons, New York City, and Miami. Through referrals in the high-fashion and creative world, I’ve worked alongside people who curate luxury environments and social experiences. In those spaces, my role is simple but powerful. I bring presence. I keep the energy smooth, calm, and playful. I help people feel comfortable, seen, and able to fully enjoy the moment.
Whether it’s fitness, music, or curated experiences, the thread is the same:
I know how to create environments where people feel stronger, freer, and more themselves.
What sets me apart is that I don’t separate these worlds.
Training, artistry, and experience-building all live in the same lane for me. The discipline I bring to fitness shows up in my music. The emotional intelligence I bring to hosting shows up in how I coach. And the creativity I bring to music shows up in how I design every space I’m part of.
I’m most proud of building in multiple lanes without cutting corners in any of them. Creating work that’s real, intentional, and built to last, whether it’s in the studio, in a session, or in a room full of people.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
When I was in second grade, I had an experience that still feels unreal to this day. I was invited to South Street Seaport in New York City and got the chance to play drums with members of the Grateful Dead family during the RatDog era. Jay Lane let me play his drums, and Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman came out and jammed with me while I played.
They really encouraged me and even invited me to the Library of Congress for the 200th birthday celebration, where I got to meet people like Colin Powell and Lance Bass. One of the funniest moments I still remember is meeting the guy in the Big Bird suit — and he stayed in Big Bird’s voice the entire time we talked. As a kid, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.
That whole experience planted something in me early. It showed me how powerful music could be and how creativity can connect people in ways you never forget.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cenycviews.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ce.nyc
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@cenyc
Image Credits
Alex Burton with STLL STUDIOS
