To sum up what could be a long story, I played sports like many other kids, was injured at one point and sent to rehab. This injury took me out of a season of basketball (which to this day is my favorite sport) and at that time it was a HUGE deal. My high school athletic trainer was there with me both at school and in the rehab center to help take care of my injury. He also helped me stay positive and keep a good frame of mind during my therapy which was key during my rehabilitation. I thought that was the best thing ever and from that point I wanted to be an Athletic Trainer.
My high school athletic trainer was there with me both at school and in the rehab center to help take care of my injury.
I ended up going to college for this and for those of you who don’t know it’s a pretty intensive work load. All classes are in the morning because by the afternoon when sports start you’re with a sports team either at your college or local high school. I traveled on the road when they traveled, I spent the night in hotels when they did and was at all the practices and games. This experience gave me hands on experience to so many injuries including broken bones, torn ligaments, concussions, lacerations and many others. Depending on the injury we had to treat we would have clinic hours and manage rehab programs for athletes. 4 years of this plus an extra 2 years for my masters and I was off to work for NovaCare to do the very same thing with a larger population of athletes. I went on to serve as the Head Athletic Trainer of Upper Moreland H.S. and the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach/Assistant Athletic Trainer for Germantown Academy.
So how does this all tie into the ground work that built Fast Twitch? Even though I believe our gym stands for hard work and we take out a lot of the “fluff” that many other gyms endorse, there is another side to our gym that focuses heavily on injury prevention.
Many gyms will often say “come try us out no matter what your fitness level”. I make it a priority to try out programs at other gyms to see what hot’s, what’s not, what’s new. What I have found is that many classes I have attended people are not challenged. People who are members or take classes at these gyms may think “this is a good class” may be because they have not trained another way or they are just ok with that level of intensity. It doesn’t mean these classes aren’t hard, they just don’t push out of that “comfort zone”. A gym being “good” is not just about having the hardest workout. It’s about safely pushing people out of their comfort zone and pushing your body and mind to new levels. This is what we stand for at Fast Twitch Training.
Because of my therapeutic background I am very aware of the journey a person must take to achieve these results. This is why we make sure every employee at Fast Twitch is FMS certified. What does this mean you might ask? FMS is a universal screening which evaluates 7 primal movement patterns which allows us to evaluate everyone for certain movement patterns which are incorporated into our workouts. It also allows us to highlight what needs to be worked on if the pattern is not cleared. This allows all of our trainers to speak the same language and do it at the same level when instructing a class. From there we can help to increase mobility and stability exactly where it is needed individual by individual.
In addition we have also instituted bridge programs for athletes with post-surgery and post rehab ACL injuries. This program is for athletes who are finished with rehab and are still not yet ready to return to their sport and need a program to bridge that gap. We understand injuries, how to evaluate and work with them, as well as rehab and take care of many chronic issues. If it is out of our scope we have resources that we can refer people to.
This gym is unique in a lot of ways and the best way I can describe it in a few words is that we function at a higher level and can take someone from injury to full recovery to strong, powerful and healthy. This is not just a place where you will come in and start to go 100% out of the gates. Even as a healthy individual you will not go 100% because our 100% is higher than you initially believe. But if you commit to that challenge you will be able to achieve more than you ever imagined.