I am a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) and Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). I became a personal trainer out of an interest to expand my knowledge of weightlifting and use it to help others reach their fitness goals. What I came to find through time and experience is that there is much more to being a trainer than just lifting weights.
Very early on in my training career I realized that everyone faces roadblocks on their way to becoming the best versions of themselves. Two of the most impactful of these was past/current injury and pain during movement, and I found many of the trainers around me choosing to avoid these hurdles rather than address and overcome them. Even in clients I often found an acceptance of mobility or strength deficits due to old injuries or current pain.
My personality would not let me accept this as fact. I made a note of every injury I came across and looked into the literature on exercise methods that could improve the mobility and strength of these injured areas and began incorporating them into my sessions. Many of these physical therapy-esque exercises were unconventional and seemed alien to clients and coworkers, but if they could improve my clients' quality of life I knew they were worth a shot.
My clients' and I soon began to see the benefits of this corrective exercise approach. Over time, not only did mobility and strength increase, but confidence in movement and ability began to come back. Once the results started rolling in, I began looking for ways to expand my capacity to improve others' confidence in their movement and I acquired my Corrective Exercise Specialist certificate.
Training has become so much more to me than a means to build muscle like I thought it would be when I began. To me, my training is a way to truly impact and change lives for the better.
