About

I started weightlifting in 1984 when my eighth-grade gym teacher introduced me to it. I loved the idea of being able to make my body stronger through exercise. Soon after that, I got into the martial arts. In 1989, I was chosen to teach all the kids and teenager classes at my karate school.

Through my late twenties, I spent hours every day, teaching and training at different schools. Unfortunately, this was pre-internet, and the knowledge that may have alerted me that I was overtraining, and building severe imbalances, wasn’t freely available.

My mobility became restricted, and pains that greeted me in the morning started to show up. Arthritis and other nagging restrictions put a brake on most of my activities.

I started to explore Tai Chi, Yoga, and Feldenkrais, and found I was able to reclaim a lot of my mobility.

As the years went by, my daughter started to show a lot of promise in the sport of wrestling. When she reached higher levels and training more and more, I wanted to do my best to keep her from getting injured just by training incorrectly.

I explored leaders in functional training, like Gray Cook, Michael Boyle, Kelly Starrett, and my current favorite, Aaron Horschig, and learned about the importance of balancing strength and flexibility through a joint’s full range of motion. Where you wanted to work stability, and where you wanted to work mobility.

Following leaders in the strength field like Dan John, Charles Poliquin, Pavel Tsatsouline, and making our own adaptations, we got her very strong. Bench pressing 200 lbs by the time she was 14.

Being so strong, she got a lot of attention, and other athletes started coming to me to get stronger.

In the last ten years, I started applying my skills to non-athletes that just want to move better. I’ve been loving the challenges of finding what needs work, and the reward of seeing someone gain back freedoms that they’ve lost. I enjoy improving people’s quality of life by giving them the freedom to move in ways that allow them to fully enjoy their days.

I continue to improve my knowledge by adding certifications and following various physical therapist and physiotherapist online. There may be a lot of bad information out there, but there are plenty of fantastic coaches sharing their knowledge, and best practices are bubbling up.

So I’ve become known for two things…

Finding imbalances and restrictions, and making sure you are powerful through your full range of movements. 

And making the motivated athlete very… very strong.

Certifications and Relative Experience:

CPT, Corrective Exercise, Small Group Training, Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Functional Movement Systems (FMS), Boxing Instructor Level I, Black Belt in Kenpo Karate and Ninjutsu

I was a wrestling coach for 8 years, and have also worked with a lot of swimmers. I’ve also participated in at least a dozen obstacle course races.