fitness forum
TRANSCRIPT
Thomas Noah
Fitness Forum
Bio: I would like to start by first sharing with you all of my experiences with fitness and how my passion for it came to be. I am originally from Liberia, a small country on the west coast of Africa. My hometown is Framingham, Massachusetts. Most of the time I am very proud to have grown up in Framingham. And then there are days when all I want to do is walk with my head down in disappointment. Sports have always been a major part of my life. I grew up playing soccer in Africa, in the back yard of my first Framingham home and at the Ron Burton Training Village (RBTV). Football came into the picture in 7th grade and stayed until my senior year of high school. The organized sport I was most successful in was wrestling, which I started during my junior year of high school. Although it was short lived, wrestling was my most successful sport because Jon Kanavich, one of the best wrestling coaches in New England, coached me. Basically if you give me a ball, a chance to run around or compete, you best believe I will show up. But how is all this relevant? I became a member of RBTV the summer going into 6th grade (2003), where all the intense exercise and training began. It is difficult for my friends to believe but weight training did not begin for me until the end of my 8th grade semester and football season; as preparation for high school. The more I exercised the more I became aware of my body, the more I wanted to learn about fitness. Around the same time I started wrestling and I became exposed to the world of fitness and the possibility of making it a career. I took a training elective course that taught me the appropriate ways of weight training as well as proper forms and spotting techniques. Being a division one athlete with one of the best athletic trainers and facilities in the state was definitely an advantage. Fast forward to college, I landed my first personal training (PT) and group exercise gig in the fall of 2012 at Stonehill's recreational department working for John Leahy, Director of Recreation sports. Although much of my PT knowledge is self-‐taught through countless hours of research, YouTube videos and experience, I've been privileged to be mentor by fitness gurus like Leahy, people who have been in the business for many, many years and have every certification in the book. Through John I became exposed to many other fitness opportunities through NIRSA, the governing body of college recreation. This past November (2014) I had the privilege of attending my first NIRSA conference. At the NIRSA Regional conference (Boston), I sat in workshops such as public speaking; ask an expert, and a take a student to lunch event. At this conference I was able to develop mentor/mentee relationships with professionals from Boston University, Tufts, & the University of Rhode Island. I recently had the opportunity to intern with UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. While I was at UMass I shadowed the manager of the fitness department, Ms. Hannah Dunlap. The relationship with Ms. Dunlap was initiated because of the hope of working part time as a trainer in Hospital Rehabilitation or in a Corporate Fitness environment much like fitness at UMass Medical School. Like other mentors,
Thomas Noah
my relationship with Hannah has been amazing. She's been a great resource and has supported me despite her busy schedule. These kinds of relationships are extremely important at this point in my career as I'm trying to establish myself. Objective: Because fitness is currently blooming in society, more people are becoming more interested in getting physically fit. It is weirdly becoming a norm. It’s almost taboo to be couch potatoes. As a passionate trainer I could not be happier. But then again that may explain why people have been aggressively reaching out to me in the past years regarding exercise, nutrition & dieting. In the past I have been open with providing people with requested resources; whether it is nutrition facts, workout tips or WORKOUT PLANS. I still want to be a primary resource for you all but not in the same manner for business purposes. Rather than providing individual answers and personalized exercise plans, I came up with a way to still be a resource but as a community. I want to be able to reach a larger community as well as give you all the opportunity to see others’ fitness & nutrition concerns, questions and solutions. The goal of building a community is the reason this page exists. This is a resource/questions & answers (Q&As) page regarding fitness, nutrition, exercise etc. In other words, you are more than welcome to ask any questions and express any concerns about your health. I will do my best to answer all of your questions. If I don't know the answer I will do the research and post related articles and videos. I will also post basic ways to stay healthy and create your own exercise plans as well as motivational videos and quotes; tips and do's and don'ts regarding exercising and more. Aside from just me answering your questions, it’s important that you express your concerns because I promise that whatever it is, someone has the same concern. You were personally invited to this forum because you are either a past client, approached me at some point in recent years or months about improving your daily health and nutrition intake or someone I believe will be a great support to this community. This page is a bit restricted for several reasons: quality, safe space and future business purposes. If you have friends and family members you think will benefit from this content, don't hesitate to bring them onboard. In the world of fitness or any independent business, credibility is extremely important. That is why I'm bringing two of my PT friends and future partners on board. The first Trainer is Matt Smith, a certified Olympic Weight Lifting Coach. The second Trainer is Danielle Servideo. I am excited to have Danielle on board because her training is more nutrition focused. I had to make sure I covered all of my bases for you all because there is only so much that I know. So on behalf of Matt and Danielle, I want to welcome you to my first Fitness Forum!
Thomas Noah
Tag line "Creating a lifestyle change" represents my hopes & beliefs as a trainer. When I think fitness, my mind automatically refers to wellness, a person’s bodily, religious & psychological health, also known as the functioning of the whole person. My goal as a trainer is to create a lifestyle affect, which focuses on this holistic approach wellness. The physical aspect of fitness is only icing on the cake. There are five stages to the transtheoretical model of change. The hope is to get my clients to stage five, the maintenance stage, where fitness becomes a habit. In this stage, a client wakes up and exercises because of how it makes them feel as a person, not necessarily what is in the mirror. I believe this is what separates the temporary amateurs in the early stages of the transtheoretical model of change from fitness gurus.