I’ve been passionate about fitness ever since age 10. I bought my first
weightlifting set during the summer between 4th and 5th grade. And in the more than 30 years since
then, I’ve managed to make just about every mistake a person can make with
exercise and nutrition.
What kinds of mistakes? Jogging, all sorts of sports conditioning
drills, the StairMaster, lifting weights the way everybody else does,
treadmills, double split routines (training in the morning and also the evening
on the same day), stretching, plyometrics, etc., etc.,
etc. I worked out 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. You name it, I did it. “Those
don’t sound like mistakes” you may be thinking to yourself. And at the time, I
didn’t think so either. I considered all of those things to be healthy and good
for me. It wasn’t until I managed to wreck both my knees and my left shoulder
by the time I was in my early 20’s that I found out differently. I learned too
late that the high-force physical activities that I thought were healthy,
instead were prematurely wearing out my joints several decades too early.
I managed to err significantly in the realm of nutrition too. At one
point I even gained 50 pounds of extra fat from a nutrition idea that’s popular
in the weight training world. When taking into account my worn out joints and
significant body fat fluctuations, my enthusiasm for fitness had initially
resulted in a body that was less healthy than if I’d never pursued exercise at
all.
In some ways, though, my mistakes in fitness have been blessings in
disguise. For example, losing the excess 50 pounds of fat and keeping it off
has helped give me practical, real life knowledge that’s helped the clients
I’ve worked with to lose fat themselves. My mistakes have also given me a lot
of first hand experience regarding what not to do, what doesn’t work well,
what’s dangerous, and what’s a waste of time. I learned the hard way that a lot
of traditional gym dogma isn’t very effective, is instead often harmful to
peoples’ joints, and needlessly wastes countless hours of peoples’ lives.
Fortunately, in 1992 I stumbled upon a book by Ellington Darden, Ph.D.,
which changed the course of my life. Darden’s book was my first exposure to the
slow-motion strength training method, and it launched my personal investigation
into learning about more rational principles of exercise. I learned that even
though slow-motion strength training makes the muscles work harder than other
weight training methods, it minimizes the impact forces the joints get exposed
to, so it’s safer. (My knees and shoulder have been rejoicing ever since I
learned this!) I also experienced that by making my muscles work much harder
than I had before, I was able to add 10 pounds of body shaping lean muscle
tissue in my first 9 days of slow-motion strength training.
No more working out 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. The new workouts were
intense, but briefer and less frequent. I was looking and feeling better than I
ever had. No more joint pain. I was hooked!
During this same time I was completing my bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics
and Astronautics Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. I was
happy to land a job at GE as an engineer right after graduating. However, after
11 months of working there, I saw my life flashing before my eyes on the second
floor of Building J on the GE complex, and I didn’t like what I saw.
Engineering wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. So, I quit my engineering
job and made the rather unusual switch to become a personal trainer at a local
gym in San Jose, California, where I was living at the time. I was ecstatic to
be working in fitness, the field that I’m passionate about. And I dreamed of
someday opening my own facility devoted exclusively to more enlightened
exercise practices.
After three additional years of learning from some of the brightest
minds in fitness, I was ready. I moved to San Diego and in 1999 opened The
Perfect Workout, providing personal training with a focus on slow-motion
strength training – the most efficient, effective, and joint-safe form of
exercise I’ve come across. In the beginning I was a “one man show” – I
performed every single job in the company, from CEO to personal trainer to
bookkeeper to janitor and everything in between. Since that time our company
has been fortunate to grow much larger, and we’re passionately spreading our
company’s mission: to Revolutionize the Way People Exercise.
I don’t want you to suffer from the same mistakes that I made. I don’t
want you to wear out your knees decades too early. I don’t want you to waste
your precious time on inefficient and ineffective exercise methods. I want
fitness for you to be safer, more efficient, and effective.
Thanks for letting me share my personal fitness journey with you, and
letting you know how it’s shaped what our company is today.
The Perfect Workout
Reston
12355 Sunrise Valley
Dr #60,
Reston, VA 20191,
United States
+1 703-584-5369
