List: 5 of Tucson's favorite fitness instructors

These are people who coach, correct and coax, cracking jokes in exchange for one more push-up, one more squat, just one more stretch. And then maybe another — all the while maintaining good form.

From a list of about 25 names submitted by readers — some entered multiple times — we picked five instructors and trainers to talk about what it’s like to get paid to stay fit.

Rhina Gerhauser, 49

Classes: Indoor cycling, TRX Suspension Training, boot camp, dance, BodyPump (a weightlifting class). “I teach everything. The only thing I do not teach is yoga and Pilates,” she says. Gerhauser also does personal training.

Where: Sierra Fitness, 5455 N. Kolb Road, and the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Road. Gerhauser taught at Canyon Ranch, 8600 E. Rockcliff Road, for 14 years.

Client demographics: 20- to 80-year-olds, including celebrities at Canyon Ranch.

Number of years in the industry: About 30.

Set in motion: “I’ve always been really active. … I used to take high-impact classes at this gym, and one day the instructor didn’t show up and the owner asked me if I would teach the class. He handed me over a cassette tape, and people liked the class. I worked while I was going to college, and it was a good way to make extra money and do something I was already doing and enjoyed.”

Favorite workout: Dancing. “I’m originally from El Salvador, so I studied Latin dance for a long time. Even though I studied dance, I like to just bring it so people can have fun and learn to move their bodies and not feel intimidated. ... I don’t teach Zumba, but I combine all the genres — funk, jazz, a little Latin.”

Love at first sweat: “My husband is a physician, so it’s funny because I met him at the gym. … He took my class a few months after I started working there. … This is the funniest story. I remember noticing him in my classes, and he sweats profusely, so I remember him doing jumping jacks and thinking, ‘That guy is cute, but he sweats so much it’s disgusting. I would never date someone who sweats that much.’ And then I married the guy.”

Active lifestyle: Gerhauser and her husband hike together, and she has run 52 marathons around the country, including five in Boston.

Exercise tip: “Life is so stressful, and if we make exercise also stressful, it just becomes a chore. ... When you’re around other people doing the same thing, it’s enticing and healthy.”

Brandon Wagner, 41.

Classes: “I do a lot of TRX stuff and stay with the traditional barbell and dumbbell lifting,” he says. “I also do kettlebells and battle rope exercise.” Wagner does smaller group classes and personal training.

Where: Select Fitness, 5501 N. Swan Road. Wagner runs his own personal training business out of the gym. He taught at Canyon Ranch for about 10 years.

Client demographics: Teen athletes to people in their 70s. At Canyon Ranch, Wagner says he trained Gerard Butler for the film “300.”

Number of years in the industry: 17.

Set in motion: “When I was 8, I remember my mom doing Jazzercise stuff, and she has her own Pilates studio now out of her home and teaches Pilates and gyrotonics,” Wagner says. “We worked side by side for several years out of Canyon Ranch. … It’s the world I was brought up in. … I’ve always played sports, but I’ve got to say, if it wasn’t for that initial push of staying fit and being fit, I don’t know if this would have been the profession I landed on.” Wagner studied sports science at the University of Arizona, and later dabbled in bartending and then firefighting. Working at Canyon Ranch — where he had worked in years past as a busboy and in the locker rooms — brought him into the profession.

When he’s not personal training: Wagner travels often as part of his work as a fitness consultant and educator for TRX and TriggerPoint Performance Therapy, which is a company that educates people about muscle therapy and manufactures foam rollers. “The nice thing about working for both companies is that one, I teach you how to work out, and two, I teach you how to take care of your body beyond a workout,” he says. He teaches both military and commercial parties how to use TRX in personal training.

Favorite workout: “I like to implement both suspension training and do the traditional barbell training,” he says. “What I mean by that is Olympic lifting, squats, dead lifts, things of that nature.”

Tresha Dunn, 44.

Classes: Dunn teaches TRX classes using a variety of methods — Pilates, yoga and tai chi; boxing with weighted gloves; kettlebells and weighted balls. She also does a boot camp at Udall Park and works with individual clients in a variety of ways, including with a RipSurfer X. “It’s a surfboard-type mechanism that mimics surfing, so you lean and it’s functional movement,” she says.

Where: Desert Sports and Fitness, 2480 N. Pantano Road; Udall Park, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. Dunn also works with clients in their homes.

Client demographics: She works with many post-rehabilitation clients, such as those with joint replacements, diabetes or a terminal illness. Most are 55 or older. In her classes, Dunn sees 20- to 70-year-olds.

Number of years in the industry: About 26.

Set in motion: “I started when I was 18 when I was in college,” she says. “I started working at a spa, and I was going for my degree in nutrition.” She decided a desk job wasn’t for her and pursued personal training, eventually becoming a medical exercise specialist and starting her own business in post-rehab conditioning.

Favorite workout: “It’s a combination,” she says. “If I was going to be in a gym, interval training is my favorite, using TRX, kettlebells and a ball. Trail running and hiking would be close to the top of my list, and then sand volleyball, which I play here. I also really enjoy being in the water, swimming and surfing.”

Exercise tip: “The biggest thing I preach to people is they have to be in a good emotional state for anything to work for them. … If they need to spill their guts, we push really hard. I focus on making sure that they have happy souls to better their bodies.”

Lonnie Davis, 60.

Classes: “I do everything from low-impact aerobics to Zumba to water aerobics,” he says. Davis also works with individual clients.

Where: Sun City Oro Valley Aquatic and Fitness Center, 1495 E. Rancho Vistoso Blvd.

Client demographics: 55- to 90-year-olds.

Number of years in the industry: About 20.

Set in motion: A doctor’s warning sent him to the Northwest YMCA for group fitness classes about 20 years ago. “I was there every night, so they said, ‘Why don’t you become a teacher?’ ” he says. One night when the teacher didn’t show, “I just dove in and got started getting paid for exercising.”

Favorite workout: “I love riding my bike, because you can get out there and not think about everything and just let your mind go,” he says. “I have slowed down some, because it used to be just get on the bike and ride as fast as I could. Now, I’m to the point where I ride slower and check everything out.” Davis and his wife often ride a tandem bike, and in the past he has ridden in El Tour de Tucson. Zumba is another of his favorites. “You get in there and feel free and get to move,” he says.

Why he teaches: “I enjoy seeing people improve and change their lifestyles,” Davis says. Group fitness distinctly changed his own life. He teaches 11 hours a week and says his “cholesterol and blood pressure and everything has really dropped.”

Chris Crawford, 53.

Classes: Boot camp, kickboxing, indoor cycling, walking, strength and core. Crawford is also a personal trainer.

Where: Pima Community College West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road; PCC Desert Vista campus, 5901 S. Calle Santa Cruz; Platinum Fitness, 110 S. Church Ave.

Client demographics: Mostly college-age students at Pima classes, though Crawford also has older students. Pima classes are open to the public.

Number of years in the industry: About 20.

Set in motion: “I ran every day, and one day I was getting on my mountain bike, and you know how you get that click in your hip? It didn’t hurt until three days later when I woke up, and I was deformed,” Crawford says. She injured her back and developed a form of scoliosis with a curved spine and uneven hips. She was in a wheelchair and unable to walk long distances. After 10 months of drugs and doctors, Crawford was told surgery was the only option, and running was a thing of the past. She was about 30. “As a last resort, I went to a physical therapist and did water therapy. … I started training with him, and I thought, ‘I want to do this.’ After two months of training, Crawford says her body was almost normal again. She got certified as a fitness instructor and began by teaching water aerobics.

Favorite workout: Kickboxing. Crawford still runs, but not as much. She now emphasizes core work and stretching in her classes, which she skipped before her injury. A strong core has kept her active despite a chronic diagnosis.

Activity as therapy: “I got breast cancer in 2011, and I had to go through five months of chemotherapy,” she says. “I lost all of my hair and toenails.” Crawford was told that she would need to skip classes. “I never missed a single class,” she says. “I worked the whole time. It gave me a reason to get up.” Today, Crawford says, she is “cancer-free.” “My children tease me because for every ailment they have, I say, ‘Why don’t you go exercise,’” she says. “They say, ‘You think exercise is the answer for everything,’ and I kind of do.”