Young athletes, check this out. If you want to excel in your sport while at the same time reduce the chance of getting injured, Merritt Clubs Eldersburg trainer Josh Kruhm is your guy. He and a couple other Eldersburg trainers coach student athletes at the club through a program called Parisi Speed School.
We sat down with Josh as he talks about how a young athlete can be fast, strong and explosive.
What got you into personal training?
I’ve always been a teacher and a coach. Ever since I was little I’ve wanted to do that. Fitness has always been a big part of my life as well and so when I realized I can kind of put both of those things together I just dove right in.
Were you an athlete back in school?
Yeah I played basketball and I ran track all through high school. I’ve been playing basketball for most of my life.
How long have you been working at Merritt Clubs?
Since November 2016.
At the Eldersburg club, there’s a youth program called “Parisi Speed School”. How is this different from other youth programs?
For us, we want to create a professional environment for young athletes. We find that a lot of times, kids are made to do things that they shouldn’t be doing. Coaches focus on the wrong things. For us, we really focus on the strength of the athlete. And one of our main goals for Parisi is to build athletes to be able to absorb high amounts of force, as well as deliver it. This will keep our athletes performing at their highest level while greatly reducing their chance of injury.
Why should a student athlete try this out?
I think it’s the best thing they can do for their athletic performance. Because you can practice and do all the skills and things you want but at the end of the day you need to be fast, strong and explosive. And the only way to do that is with a trained coach.
How do you start it off with someone who is new to Parisi?
The first thing we do is bring them in for a movement evaluation. So we want to see their ability to move. We want to see if there are any limitations that they have. If there are any asymmetries from right to left, front to back. We need to see any priorities we need to address when they start. Based on that we’re gonna go into a performance assessment. We’re gonna see where they are performing as an athlete right now. And then from there we can dictate how we can proceed further in what their greatest needs are gonna be to help them become the best athlete possible.
