Welcome to Racked Chicago's Hottest Trainer Competition!

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Today officially begins our second-annual search for the hottest fitness trainer in Chicago. After sifting through all of the reader submissions and analyzing the nominees, we've narrowed it down to eight hot yoga instructors, spin leaders, drill sergeants, weight trainers, and more.

We'll be rolling out all the contestants over the next two weeks. Each trainer will get their own post, complete with a photo gallery and a short bio. We'll begin the voting on Thursday, August 15th by splitting the contestants up into groups, the winners of which will be chosen by a reader vote. We'll continue to pit them up against each other until there are only two left—they'll face off, and one will be crowned the ultimate champion.

Last year, we learned that promoting your favorite trainer via social media is key, so if you have a crush, don't be afraid to shout it from the Twitter rooftops. All forms of social media are welcome, and the more the better. We'll be tweeting with the #HottestTrainers2013, so feel free to follow along.

Of course, comments are encouraged, but anything mean spirited or offensive will be removed. In addition to being pretty damn sexy, our trainers are all really great people. Without any further ado, let the games begin!
· All Hottest Trainer 2012 posts [Racked Chicago]