Meet Derek,

 I started personal training back in 2011 as I was completing my bachelor's degree in exercise science. My first client was that had gone through rehab and was in the process of getting back into their previous fitness level. They were a lifeguard and a runner. As we worked, they built up their confidence and got faster and stronger. 

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When I graduated, I returned to my hometown of Newport, Oregon in 2013. I took my old running trails and had eventually developed plantar fasciitis in my left foot. The pain at the time was so bad I could hardly run for more than five minutes. I tapped into my education and got to work with resistance training, and eventually got into a local CrossFit gym that opened up in my area. I dedicated five workouts a week into a regular routine I gained twenty pounds of muscle, and stayed injury free.

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After 2015, I was hired at the local CrossFit gym and put my training to use helping others. CrossFit in the early days was known to cause many chronic injuries in many of the athletes that participated in the workouts. The gym owner at my location was very prone to back and shoulder injuries. There were several injury trends that were showing up in many of the members. Studying the cause of the injuries, I took the time to research and learn about how these could be limited, or even prevented. The more I learned, the better the members got, and there were fewer problems.

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I met my wife at this CrossFit gym, and fast-forward to 2019, we would move to Portland, Oregon so I could expand my training. I worked for the company Guided Fitness, where I traveled to apartment complexes and taught classes. Eventually I would continue training at the gym Peak Performance during the Covid Pandemic. 

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The turning point of my career would be when I was hired at the March Wellness Center at the Oregon Health and Science University. Medical exercise was a big proponent there, and many of the clients in the area had a health issue of some capacity, some more complicated than others. Throughout training sessions with many of them, I began to see how falls greatly impacted their lives. A client I trained would be making great progress and then a fall would occur, and their wrist was broken. A combination of rehab, followed by lower body training with me, would take extra time just to get back to their baseline before the fall. Focus on mitigating fall risk became the primary objective for a lot of my clients. I trained a class on Balance and Mobility, with that main focus, and members were grateful. The class consistently had 16+ people in attendance. 

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Another aspect that greatly improved my training was working with People with Parkinson's.  The way the disease affects individuals is different from person to person, with different stages of progression. It was fascinating to see how exercise changed and improved their outcomes. I also found it rewarding to get them doing activities that were challenging in the past. A lot of the training and techniques from neuroplasticity and exercise could also be adapted to other clients as well.  I also found clients with Parkinson's some of the sweetest, hard-working individuals out there. 

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Which brings me to today, starting Steady Step Fitness. I want to continue to be the motivator, the confidence booster, and the coach, for folks who wish to be better and stay balanced and capable well into their senior years, even in the presence of disease. Let's work to help others out and be our best selves.​