I have worked in the fitness industry for approximately 17 years, as a trainer, facility owner, fitness manager, studio instructor and massage therapist.
I like Ultra running. In 2014 I completed the Leadville 100 mile trail run in Colorado. In 2015 I completed the OCC running from Orsieres in Switzerland to Chamonix, France. I have also completed 6 day multi-day runs. Sometimes I think about Hardrock, but then I think about craft beer and everything is okay.
I teach exercise for lower back pain management, as well as kettlebells, olympic lifting, GP referral; as well as generally making people more awesome. If you aspire to be a figure athlete, run an ultra, or get ripped I have a proven track record. If you want to get fit & tone up I really don't know what to tell you.
I am qualified in exercise for stroke, level 4 (whatever that means, if you are a member of REPs probably means something to you, also my exercise for back pain is level 4). Recently helped to launch an exercise for stroke class, in conjunction with the stroke association, using evidence based exercise.
I have completed Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) Part A & Part B, and C; I hope to go to Prague for part D as at some point.
In September 2015 I attended the McGill 1 course in Dublin (that's Stuart McGill the back pain guy).
I'm not a kettlebell guy, or olympic lifting guy or running guy or barefoot guy, or corrective exercise guy or whatever the latest trend. I do all these things, but in the right context depending on the client and their training goals or my goals when I'm training myself. Choose the right tools for the job. Of course, some tools are always going to better, for example, free-weights in some form are probably going to figure in most programs I do for people in the gym.
I have a degree in a subject unrelated to health and fitness, but that was a lifetime ago.
My obsessions with craft beer (pale ale mainly), coffee, American TV Shows, Mindfulness, Kristina Rihanoff, and several Brazilian Fitness Models are well documented.
Top 5 TV Shows right now January 2016:
1) The Wire
2) Breaking Bad
3) Californication
4) The Sopranos
5) True Detective/ Narcos
Top 3 beers
1) The Kernal Brewery Pale Ales
2) Mosaic
3) Beavertown Gamma Ray, its worth it for the can design alone
"lift weights, run, read, drink coffee & rest"
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| A random picture of a weight disc |
Why Lost In Fitness?
Three reasons
1) It's easy to get lost in the day to day business of the fitness industry and forget why you started to train clients in the first place, and why you wanted to be in the industry. People train to get results and feel better about themselves.
2) The sheer amount of fitness information out there now can be overwhelming. New fads and magic training systems are touted everyday in magazines and on the internet. If it's confusing for fitness professionals think how the average person must feel when they encounter this, and want to separate the wheat from the chaff, find out what is true and what is not. It only recently dawned on me that I've been training all types of clients for 17 years, week in week out, from GP Referral clients, weekend warriors, low back pain sufferers to guys who wanna get big. Now I think about it I've probably trained a greater variety and number of clients than most internet fitness gurus. Critical thinking, logic, experience and common sense should helps us navigate the myriad of fitness fads that are out there. Basic concepts and principles rarely change.
3) Fitness is a passion. Some jobs are 9-5 and then you go home and forget about it. The best people in fitness don't work like this. I come home and immediately check out fitness related websites, blogs, and check out emails from sites I subscribe to. I am always looking for new products to get whether they be books or DVDs. I'm interested in all aspects of fitness and always try to relate new information to what I do, will it help my clients, will it make me a better trainer. There's always something new to learn.