About Dan

My story

I've been on skis since I was three years old. What started as a kid's love of the mountain eventually became the organizing principle of my professional life. In 2004 I moved to Killington, Vermont to teach skiing full time through the winter — six days a week on the mountain — and I continue to hold my PSIA certification. Between skiing and years of competitive beach volleyball, I became deeply curious about the body that made all of it possible.

I went back to school for a Master's degree in Exercise Science, focused specifically on performance enhancement and injury prevention. My goal was to move to Vermont and work with mountain and snowsports athletes — and in 2012 I landed in the northern part of the state to do exactly that.

What happened next was Norwich University. At this military college — the birthplace of ROTC — I spent five years as a strength and conditioning coach, eventually leading the program as Head S&C Coach. Most of my time there was spent working with the university's twenty varsity athletic teams. I also partnered with the military wing's branch leaders to develop a Military Athlete Program, extending structured physical training beyond varsity athletes to the broader military student population. Earlier in life, I served as a volunteer firefighter and officer, and went through Junior Air Force ROTC — experiences that gave me a lasting understanding of what first responders and tactical professionals need from their bodies.

Today my work has evolved well beyond the weight room. I train clients in person at my home gym in Waterbury, Vermont — a facility I built to a high standard, modeled after what I developed during two gym changeovers at Norwich and inspired by what I saw at EXOS in San Diego during my training there in 2018. The way I work has deepened: I integrate breathwork rooted in Taoist breathing practices and Chinese internal martial arts, and I coordinate with other practitioners — acupuncturists, chiropractors, physical therapists — rather than working in isolation. And I've built proprietary AI-assisted tools that help me bring a roundtable of perspectives into every training plan.

My athletic life outside of coaching includes backcountry skiing, SKIMO racing, alpine skiing, Nordic skiing (both skate and classic), snowshoeing, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, SUP, kayaking, and strength training. I practice what I teach — and I teach what I've learned works.

Training philosophy

While every client is different and how they respond to training is different, there are two things that I believe everyone needs — strength and symmetry.

There are few people out there (if any) that have both of these components in check. Whether talking about relative or absolute strength, most of us can use more. Strength is also the key to durability — your ability to stay injury-resistant and do what you want to do longer. Along with strength, it is vital that your body's systems are in sync. There are very few of us that don't have some type of muscular imbalance, postural issue, or joint dysfunction, which are all things that can lead to injury, create improper movement patterns, and not allow us to get optimally strong.

The combination of strength and symmetry is what allows us to create that ideal human movement system — one that is in it for the long haul.

• I require that your mind is focused on training when you are working with me
• I work hard to formulate and guide your training — you must work hard to get results
• I'm a big believer in "strength is king"
• I have a strong focus in corrective exercise and injury prevention — creating ideal symmetry
• I don't use any one system or methodology — I have many tools in my toolbox
• I'm a student — always learning from the latest research, events, colleagues, and clients
• I'm a teacher — it's important to me that my clients understand what they are doing and why

Credentials

"Training with Dan was very different when compared to my experience of training with other trainers. Dan brings a much deeper understanding of the human body to training and he really opened my eyes to what is possible in terms of getting to be stronger and more flexible." — Sanjay M.