We Are Cortex | Bake McBride

After an early career as a collegiate and semi-pro baseball player, Bake McBride took himself and his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology on another path. A personal trainer since 1995, he’s now an assistant manager at MOVE by BJC where, in his words, he “takes care of bodies.”

The 18,000-square-foot fitness center in the midst of the Cortex Innovation District serves the cardiovascular, strength and conditioning needs of 2,000 members. In his role, McBride oversees the center’s group fitness department and its community engagement programs.

And the center’s goal, McBride said, is nothing short of perfection. “Innovation plays a big role. We take history. We take education. We put it all together to develop workout plans, life goals, things like that,” said McBride, whose primary degree from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville includes exercise and wellness, along with a minor in health education. “We really dig deeper than a normal fitness facility to create that special human being, that perfect, healthy human.”

And speaking of innovation, McBride speaks highly of the environment at Cortex, where he gets to rub shoulders with innovators involved in groundbreaking work in St. Louis across a variety of industries.

“The thing that makes Cortex special is the people,” McBride said. “I really enjoy the people, just to see the entrepreneurs that are coming through. There's a lot of things I didn't know were happening in the area.”

He sees many of those innovators and entrepreneurs breaking a sweat in the weight rooms and exercise classes at MOVE by BJC, or taking advantage of therapeutic massage, personal training and virtual classes.

“It's great to be a part of the Cortex community,” he said. “The things that are happening as far as the innovation piece of it — I’m glad we're a part of it. Just to see what's happening in the area is amazing.”