Joseph pearson

I spent years training and “dieting”.  I was affected by severe asthma at a young age and weight gain became an issue.  In middle school I took control of my asthma and with the push of my parents played every sport possible. Little league, track, basketball, school softball, tennis, swim team, lacrosse and in later years football.  I rarely saw my parents during the summer months due to the many weeks spent at sports camps.  I knew I always wanted to play football but my parents wanted me to have at least a year of strength training under my belt. At that point, I took a life guarding job at a local health club and began strength training. My work was cut out for me. I wasn’t necessarily strong, but I worked very hard for many hours. I am very grateful to my parents who undoubtedly gave me the tools to become the best I could be.

Once I got into football, I fell in love with the sport and the competition.  I still did track, but my main focus was football.  I played all four years in high school.  I knew I wanted to keep playing,  so I did hours on hours of speed training, weight training, conditioning and camps.  This gave me the chance to play in college.  After four years of college I tried out for the NFL, but I never made it (my genetics didn’t fit the mold.)  After a couple years of playing arena football I decided to hang it up.  I had many coaches over the years just hand me workouts but I always wanted to know the “why’s” behind what I was doing. This curiosity helped me build the philosophy that I instill in my athletes and clients. I don't just teach the movements. It's important to me that my athletes and clients understand the science behind the why.

My interest in the preparation side of sports started in early high school.  My dad bought me books with workouts in them and my mom gave me a greater understanding of anatomy from her career in the medical field. The body always fascinated me and I knew that was the path of education I wanted to take.  

I received my degree from Guilford College.  I have a bachelors in science,  with a concentration of exercise science.  I am also a certified Strength and Conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. This is the top certification in the business.  I have been an avid lifter since I was 13, and have been as heavy as 305 pounds in body weight.  My all time best lifts are 645 squat, 465 bench. I knew after football was over that carrying around all that extra body fat would be detrimental to my health, so I decided I needed to loose weight. I lost over 80 pounds safely and effectively. Without football I had nothing to compete for until I found powerlifting. I now have an overall title at a state meet, and a 523 squat, 370 bench, and 585 deadlift.  All at 218 body weight.

I will keep pushing myself both mentally and physically, continuously getting stronger, as well as instill that into the Strength Feed members. 

Erin Bratcher

I was born and raised in Raleigh, NC and as the youngest of 4 kids I am a natural competitor. Sports were always a big part of my life growing up and I fell in love with the game of basketball at a very young age.  I became obsessed with training, and was driven by the concept that no one could ever perfect every aspect of the game.  I always craved improvement and believed in the concept of working harder and smarter than your competition.  Basketball has put me through college, and more recently taken me all over the world.  I played Division I ball while obtaining my BS in Kinesiology from Charleston Southern University. From there I began my professional career in the German Bundesliga.  This fall I will embark on my fourth season overseas.  An essential part of me being able to stay in the game this long and compete at this high of a level has been my strength and conditioning training off the court.  As I’ve delved further and further into my playing career I've gained more and more interest in the fitness industry as a whole, which inspired me to become a certified personal trainer and spend my off seasons working with other athletes. As this interest grew, I decided to start working on my master’s degree in preparation for my professional career when it’s finally time to hang up the sneakers myself.  I’m currently working on my MS in Applied Exercise Science with a dual concentration in Sports Performance and Corrective Exercise Training which I will be finished with in May of 2018.
 
As an athlete I understand the mental, physical, and emotional demand I and other athletes put on our bodies daily.  We put an extraordinary amount of work into our craft and we expect that our bodies perform and meet these demands.  In order for that to happen it is so crucial that we take care of our bodies not only in proper stretching and recovery methods, but also in strengthening the sometimes forgotten areas that are depended on so much in contact sports.
 
Regardless of the demographic I work with, l like to emphasize not only strength and conditioning but power, stability, balance, coordination, proprioception, and flexibility.
 
If you expect to get the most out of your body you have to take care of it, and injury prevention is a essential part of training.  Through hard work and dedication I was able to reach the highest level of competitive play, and accomplish more than a few personal goals, breaking records and winning championships along the way.  It has been an incredible journey and I am beyond excited to put that same effort and attitude into learning more and more about the strength training industry and mastering the finer things in training that are so crucial to helping athletes and the general population excel in sports and their training goals.

Graham Fulcher

​I swam competitively for 10 years as a youth and a junior with a local year round swim team here in Raleigh, we started doing some extra strength and conditioning outside of the pool at a local gym. After a few weeks of training in the gym I started noticing major decreases in my times and fell in love with strength training. After a few months in the gym I found Olympic style Weightlifting and started training exclusively in Weightlifting and couldn’t stop. Everything about the snatch and clean and jerk attracted me to the discipline.
 
I decided I wanted to learn more, I went to school to receive my Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology with and concentration in Health and Fitness from East Carolina University. While at ECU I found the Weightlifting Club. After some time I became the president of the club, while under my leadership we gained our official club status. After I completed my USA Weightlifting Certification I started a student lead coaching program where we taught and coached other students interested in proper movement mechanics. During the spring of 2018 I qualified and competed in University Nationals in Utah placing 5th in the 105kg weight class.
 
Strength and conditioning was an easy track for me because I am always working to get better and be the best version of myself. I started coaching swimming at 17 and I haven’t stopped coaching since, I love helping people push past what they thought they were capable of. The reactions of PRs and progress never get old to me. I want to continue my pursuit of knowledge for myself here at The Strength Feed as I develop TSF Weightlifting Club. 

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