Neil – Racquetball, Weight training, Soccer, Running

Living in Italy for two years at the age of 10 definitely sparked Neil’s interest in sports, especially soccer. He was there for the World Cup in 1982 when Italy won. He played on club soccer teams in college and still plays both indoor and outdoor games. He has also been a youth soccer coach for 10 years.

Today, Neil is working towards a personal training certification. “I enjoy teaching, sharing, and encouraging others to become fit. Through learning on my own and becoming a better athlete, I can help others be better as well.” And Neil certainly is a great athlete. He weight trains three times per week and does cardio twice. He also loves to look for new and unique methods of training. He literally soaks up all the information he can through magazines, websites and videos.

For both fun and fitness, he enjoys a good game of racquetball. “It trains you to do quick starts and stops, which is needed in soccer. Certainly, cardio and weights help me with endurance, strength, and agility.” His favorite training partners, though, are the kids he coaches. During soccer practice, he’ll be out there right along with them; doing laps, stretches and playing scrimmage games. One of his most proud moments was taking his U-12 soccer team to an undefeated season. “They were a rag-tag group of players; the ‘Bad News Bears’ of the recreational soccer league who took everyone by surprise and outscored every team by a total of 44 goals to 11 goals.”

Neil truly believes that he was put on this planet to help others. He does this both in his professional career, recruiting and encouraging people to pursue a college education and through being a coach and personal trainer, by sharing his knowledge about fitness. One of his favorite quotes is: “The man on top of the mountain did not fall there.” Anyone who is at the top had to start and the bottom and work hard to reach their goal.

Outside of work and the gym, you can find Neil at any venue that has live bands playing! “I am a huge concert goer and have kept every ticket stub going back 20 years. I also go see a lot sporting events, like professional football games and college basketball…the problem is that I find myself coaching from the stands!” His favorite foods (all enjoyed in moderation of course) are pizza with mushrooms, Chinese take-out, jambalaya, strawberry cheesecake, and Guinness.

Workout advice from Neil:
Changing the angle and the grip width of exercises is key to confusing your muscles. Attacking them from different angles and going from narrow to wide grips causes your muscles to recruit and use muscle fibers that they normally wouldn’t be using during ‘normal’ angles and widths. This also provides you a way to work the whole muscle thus resulting in a more symmetrical look.