How would you describe your training style?
I spent the first 9 years of my life in a small town in the Sierras where my brother and I spent all of our free time outdoors playing sports, building forts, or just hiking around and exploring. When I look back to that time, I realize that all of my hobbies involved movement, in one way or another, and it was those days we spent running around in the woods of the sierras that I discovered my passion for staying active. When it comes down to it, we weren’t all born loving exercise – but if you make movement a part of your daily routine – you can and will come to love it. My goals as a trainer is to help you:
1. Exercise in a pain free and safe way
2. Learn or re-learn how to move and exercise – and enjoy it.
Most of the people I work with come in with some sort of limitation. It may be because of injury or maybe they simply haven’t made the time to focus on their health – but they are ready to get moving and get back to that activity or mobility level that they once enjoyed. I know first hand how frustrating and challenging that can be.
After more than a decade of playing sports, an injury left me basically immobile and unable to move or exercise the way I loved and wanted to do. Not only did I fear I’d never be able to do some of those things again, I also lost some of my passion for exercise because I was experiencing pain and didn’t have the right direction on how to address it. It is because of this experience that so much of my training style is built around preventing injury – and training your body to anticipate movement in a number of ways so that you can do the activities you love to do. When you break it down, my philosophy is pretty simple. Teach your body how to move in ways that will make all activity eaiser, less painful and more beneficial. If you want to become an avid runner – let’s break down the movement involved in running and train your body to comfortably achieve those movements. Then, we’ll identify areas where you need to get stronger and more fit/mobile. Finally, once you are the best you that you can be, let’s run!
My goal is to help you achieve whatever activity level/goal you have for yourself whether it is professional cycling, high school sports, general fitness, or playing with your grandchildren. My job, as I see it, is to make you as fit and as good at that activity as you want to be. I do this by not only making fun and challenging workouts based on what your needs are, but I also create home exercise programs that will help you become a more functional “movement able” person.
How did you end up working at the Function Factory?
I attended San Diego State University where I studied Kinesiology with an emphasis in Athletic Training and was lucky enough to meet Marko and Phil while volunteering at a physical therapy clinic. They were working as personal trainers and were using techniques I had never seen before and I was really impressed. As I continued to pursue a career in Athletic Training, I came to learn through my volunteer work that the reason I loved athletic training so much was because I was able to help people through their injuries, and help them prevent injuries by making them stronger, faster, leaner and more efficient at moving. I realized that the way I was really going to be able to use my skills as a movement specialist to the fullest potential was to work in physical therapy and functional personal training. Once I finished my undergraduate work and became a certified athletic trainer, I became fascinated with learning more about how the body functions and started to study the world of Applied Functional Science.
When Marko opened Function Factory this year I immediately wanted to be a part of it. Personal training at Function Factory is a great way to apply my knowledge but also have fun and interact with clients of all different ability levels. I’m really excited and feel very blessed to work in such an awesome place. I am currently applying for PT school and hope to be enrolled next fall while continuing to train alongside the amazing team at Function Factory.
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