Recently Elisabeth and I took a trip to go hiking in Stowe, Vermont. Stowe is a bit of a special place for us. We’ve taken several trips there over the years. We always have good time in any season. Ironically, Stowe is greatly known for its skiing and mountain biking- two sports we do not partake in. However, where there is skiing and mountain biking, there is usually hiking.

Over the last few months I have found my work to be a bit slower. Track and Field is done for the summer, I’m working at a new gym that provides more balance, and we’re finding ourselves in a natural transition time. ​

This fall I took my second installment our courses in the Functional Range Systems. After being jazzed on all of the information I learned last year taking the FRC I was excited to learn more.

Taking the FRC course taught me a lot of nuts and bolts of training true mobility. I learned significant detail about articulations, their make up, and the stressors needed to make change within them.

Practicing the system had shown significant results with different clients, but I have to admit that I didn’t feel 100% confident implementing all of it. All of our clients are individuals with their own histories, interests, injuries, etc. . .  I felt as if I didn’t know enough. It was as if I had this entire toolbox of tools but I didn’t really know how to use them. I felt as if I was guessing once I stepped outside of the simple interventions.

​In the world of fitness it is easy to get caught up in the new fads of exercise. Advertisements are always showing the newest gym in town. Revolutionary equipment is launched every quarter. The most studied diets come into vogue. It’s impossible not to be influenced by the next sexy thing that promises to make you healthier more easily than ever.

Coaches are influenced the same way. We see equipment, protocols, and trainings that promise to be the answer to all of the struggles we have when helping out clients. We are the same.

Sadly, few of these new innovations hold their weight and carry through on their promises. As we all know (but sometimes avoid) there is no easy quick fix, but instead it's the regular reasonable habits make the most difference in our lives.

Enter the bicycle.

For many coaches their education is only beginning when they become a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). To maintain the CSCS many hours are spent completing continuing education. Lecture reviews, quizzes, conferences, etc. . . This is fun, it helps to further education within the field, but sometimes coaches become interested in other certifications in other independent systems.


For me, this came after being introduced to Kinstretch by a coworker. Kinstretch is a wildly fun and complex system designed to constantly provide self-evaluations  while increasing ranges of motion and function. We could “ooh” and “ahh” about it for hours, but we should move on.

In the previous post on education I recounted my experience at Hope College. While much of it was exceptionable, parts of it were inadequate. The exercise Science program was no exception to that statement. While many students in the program went on to Doctorate of Physical Therapy Programs, the career path for the rest of us was fairly limited despite Professor Slette’s awesome job of showing us different careers.


Besides physical therapy, the second major career path that was pushed in the program was to become a Strength Coach. In fact, I even took a 3 credit class that prepared students to take the test to become a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach. And that is what I did. Those of you that know me may find this funny, as I’m sure you don’t imagine me as a whistle-blowing deadlift-yelling coach. It’s just not me. I never had interest in that…Although I do handle most of the strength work for the high school Track and Field team I coach.

I thought that it might be interesting to share my educational background on this blog. First, it would help share with you what I have invested my time into learning and give you an intimate look at how I’ve come to be where I am.  Second, writing about my educational background may serve as a bit of a “review” of programs or certifications I have taken. I think this may be interesting for others thinking about similar areas of study.
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Because this is the first post in a series, I suspect it would be best to start with my early education. Not elementary school or even high school, but I will start with college which was my first formal exposure to health and wellness education.

We started the year off with a cold walk on Popham Beach.
​Here's to the new year!

Summer has come and gone here in Maine. Well, actually Fall is all but gone too. Daylight Savings Time has brought darker evenings. We even had a snow flurry yesterday. This got me thinking about the imminent winter coming our way

It was a busy summer and fall. Staying in the US, and Maine, longer than we have in a long time has challenged us, but allowed us to take up some new hobbies. Our garden this year was quite bountiful. There is nothing like garden-tomatoes. ​

A cheesy blog title inspired by a personal finance book with an equally cheesy title. 

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, nearly all of its have felt changes in our lives. In the worst case scenarios, we have become sick or had loved ones fall sick. Other bad scenarios include loss of jobs, decreased hours, or simply the looming worry that jobs could be lost and security could be eliminated.

For those of us who have fared well thus far during the pandemic, we are undoubtably struggling with all of the obvious changes to life such as homeschooling children, distancing from immunocompromised loved ones, taking on extra chores for those who are unable, etc. . . Really, things that aren’t so bad compared millions who are severally suffering during this pandemic.

This is a time for us to step up and help others where we can. Shop for the elderly, provide video lessons for nieces and nephews, donate when possible, etc. . .

Within this blog and my scope of practice, today I would like to help you during the COVID-19 Pandemic. I won’t go into the didactic details of strength training and immune function, the role of sleep, and aerobic conditioning’s impact on increasing cardiopulmonary efficiency.

Instead, this blog is about your home office set up.

Strength training is a great modality that should have place in everyone’s workout program. Hands down!
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But, what is strength training? Perhaps your first thought is olympic weight lifting

​Or maybe it is strongman activities

​Or bodybuilding

​Really, “strength training” is quite a broad term. Strength is the ability to exert or resist force. Training is the act or process. So, Strength Training is the process of exerting or resisting force.

We’ll just keep it within the physical dimension today, but you can apply those definitions to other characteristics such as ‘mental strength.’

So, if strength training is ‘the act of resisting or exerting force’ as long as the energy put into a movement is at or above the threshold to maintain position, you’re strength training!

Stretching. Ah, stretching. We all know we should do it more often for our tight hip flexors (whatever those even are). Right?
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Here is a sample of a static stretching routine that I made for a high school athletic team I work with.

Stretching has been on and off popular for decades. Many have touted its miraculous ability to “lengthen tight muscles” whereas others claim it to be a futile effort.

I sit somewhere in between. It is hard to know, even for those of us who have degrees in the field, advanced certifications, and loads of experience. Just looking through my bookshelf I found a variety of different opinions on the topic of stretching.

It doesn't matter.
Well it does. 
But it doesn't.

Many people find themselves going to a new gym or simply researching  exercise online because of a common goal; Weight Loss.
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Exercise should be an important part of the equation if you’re interested in losing a little weight. However, exercise is not the only variable in the equation.

Why write this blog? Why create a website? I have decided to begin this project to expand the number of people I can communicate with. I understand, that when it comes to exercise, many people do not want to come to a physical gym to learn about exercise or even just dabble in it. I hope that by building this website I can share my ideas about healthy habits no matter your level of experience or interest in venturing out to seek health in conventional ways.