“Mountains are conquered with, single, small steps.”

I became captivated with the fitness lifestyle before I could ‘legally drive’. At that time I had no mentor, coach, or gym teacher showing me the ropes. It was just me, a couple of fitness magazines and a set of hand me down weights in a cold basement. After months of dedication and hard work, I began seeing improvements in my physique and frame of mind. I quickly knew that health and fitness would be a permanent part of my lifestyle.

In 2010 I became a certified fitness trainer through the International Sports Science Association (ISSA). I’ve also completed ISSA’s strength and conditioning course. My training philosophy is focused on improving posture, mobility and strength. It’s my strong belief that all healthy individuals should be able to perform primal multi-joint movement patterns, such as deep squats and deadlifts.

I believe in strength training- strength training using full body functional barbell movements. I believe everyone that’s really interested in becoming stronger needs to be taught how to use the barbell. This isn’t just getting under the BB and moving it around, there is a science, a precision, involved in completing these lifts. And not enough people know how to perform them and not even close to enough people know how to coach the lifts. I should mention what the main lifts are: squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead BB press, bent over row, and for more advanced athletes the power clean. All other exercises, to me are accessory movements that should assist in making the main lifts stronger.

I believe that all ‘healthy’ humans should be able to perform the lifts. If someone can’t perform these movements with a full ( or close ) range of motion because of poor posture or neglect of stretching ( mobilizing ), I work with them, give them the tools and guidance on strategies to improve their position so they can perform these movements the way our bodies are designed to. If someone can’t perform a movement properly or without pain, it’s not the movements fault, it’s the individual not understanding how to do it, or is so tight, with bad posture they can’t perform it. This commitment to mobilizing is very near to my heart, after a few years of focusing on mobilizing I have changed the way I feel, move, even breath, and can train pain free. And this is my goal, to help people get stronger pain free. Once I get people trained how to move better and are competent with the lifts, it’s then when I actually start showing them how to train- because after all, the main lifts, especially the squat, deadlift and overhead press were movements centuries before they were exercises.

Once the training begins I give them proper parameters on how to train with a goal of getting stronger – for whatever the reason is to be stronger- sports, life, confidence. Just learning to ‘lift’ properly fills people with a new found strength, confidence in themselves. It’s goal, that they can actively feel the progression, each session is a building block for the next and the next.

We all use these movements over and over again during our day, and if we do them incorrectly we engrain dysfunctional patterns. Once an athlete learns the proper motor control to execute functional multi-joint movements properly, the principles carry over to everyday life, making day to day activities easier and safer.

I’m very excited at the opportunity to bring my training techniques and passion to the Studio.

– Matt Reinhart