YOUR COACHES
MEGAN BENZIK
Meet Megan.
Diagnosed with Lupus at age 12, Megan realized she had 2 choices. She could allow Lupus to take over her life, or she could choose to stand and fight. This pivotal choice led her to learning everything she could about living a healthy lifestyle and overcoming her chronic illness.
As she started to regain her health back, she realized that she wanted nothing more than to wake people up to the fact that they DO have control over their health. In 2008, she became a personal trainer and has been coaching clients ever since.
In 2011, after getting her Lupus under control, she decided she wanted to exceed just being healthy, and compete against the fittest in the world through The CrossFit Games. She refused to let Lupus hold her back. It wasn’t easy, but in 2017 after dedicating 6 years towards training, her dream came true when she qualified to compete at The CrossFit Games Regionals as an individual competitor. Shortly after, she was offered a sponsorship to train under the best coaches in the fitness industry and competed in 2018 as well.
Megan founded Live ATOP Coaching in early 2019 with Austin O’Neal with the goal of helping others transform their lives through deep health coaching. With over 12 years of experience in the health and fitness industry, she wants to share her knowledge and guidance to help others dig deep, reach their goals, and transform their lives for the better.
Megan earned her bachelor's degree in Biology from Governors State University while interning at a local Personal Training Studio and working as a Physical Therapist Technician. Megan's certifications include ACE Health Coaching Certification, Precision Nutrition Level 1 (Pn-L1), ISSA Personal Fitness Instructor, CrossFit Level 1, CrossFit Level 2, CrossFit Gymnastics.
AUSTIN O'NEAL
Meet Austin.
Austin O’Neal is ATOP’s coach for active change. He is well known for his ability to help people change their habits on the way to adding muscle, losing fat, and crushing PR’s in a way that fits their lifestyle.
Austin has been in the health and fitness industry for over 15 years and has experience in many different roles- from working the front desk at the local gym as a kid to coaching large-group CrossFit classes to being a full-time professional athlete. Austin has college football experience along with being a national qualifying wrestler. Post college, Austin qualified for three individual CrossFit Games Regionals and competed in numerous professional functional fitness competitions. If you are a coach yourself, you may have spotted Austin throughout the years on TrueCoach and OPEX Fitness ads. Throughout all those experiences, it became evident to Austin that the best way for him to make a difference in people was through a mix of personal and group coaching.
Austin enjoys coaching and studying the art of coaching- especially in regards to fitness, nutrition, and health. He loves seeing the positive physical and mental changes and growth in people over time. When Austin isn’t coaching, he is often with his family and friends working out, hitting the hiking trails, or going on some sort of adventure. And most definitely eating.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wabash College (Indiana). At Wabash, Austin was an active member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, Sphinx Club, and football team. He was also a team captain and national qualifier on the wrestling team.
Austin holds coaching certificates of Precision Nutrition Level 1 Nutrition Coach (Pn-L1), Precision Nutrition Level 2 Master Coach (Pn-L2), OPEX (OPEX-CCP), USA Weightlifting Level 1 Coach (USAW-L1), and Nutritional Coaching Institute Level 1 Coach (NCI-L1). He is also on-journey to complete and earn his credential as a National Board of Health and Wellness Certified Coach (NBC-HWC) by the end of 2022.
