Strength and Conditioning
Farmington, Michigan 810-201-4857
WHAT WE DO
WE HELP YOU GET STRONGER. Life is motion. Motion requires force. The ability to generate force is strength. When you get out of a chair, climb the stairs, lift something overhead, snatch a child away from danger or leap for joy, you are using strength.
We lose strength as we age, with associated loss of muscle and bone, and a painful decline into metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and frailty.
We think that's unacceptable, especially because it's avoidable. Experience and a growing body of clinical research tells us that strength training can restore muscle mass, improve bone density, and maintain function in aging adults, with beneficial impacts on mobility, blood pressure, blood glucose, mood and function. Read more about it here, in a paper published in the journal Advances in Preventive Medicine in 2011. Or watch this video presentation by Dr. Sullivan at the 2012 National Conference of the Starting Strength Coaches' Association.
If you can still climb the stairs, get out of a chair, lift your arms over your head, and lift a kitten off the floor, we can make you stronger.
Dr. Jonathon Sullivan
HOW WE DO IT
WE TRAIN WITH BARBELLS. Nothing fancy or newfangled here. No gimmicks, no games, no fads. At Greysteel, you will learn to perform five simple, incredibly powerful movements that people have been using to get strong for generations. Quite simply, these exercises are nothing more or less than normal human movement patterns performed under a load to strengthen those movement patterns. The five barbell exercises we teach at Greysteel strengthen your ability to stand up, pick things up off the floor, push, pull, and lift things over your head.
Trainees at Greysteel learn to exercise rationally, effectively, and safely, beginning with very light weights and adding weight as they get stronger, using the princiiples of progressive overload and the general adaptation syndrome. With proper rest and nutrition, this approach builds strength quickly while improving mobility, coordination, conditioning and confidence. The process of progressive lean tissue loss is arrested and reversed, leading to the gradual, natural accumulation of muscle and bone mass.
Trainees at Greysteel begin with the Novice Progression, a program in which strength in the squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press and power clean accumulates rapidly. These exercises may sound intimidating or inappropriate for older adults, but nothing could be further from the truth. Read more about the program here. (Note: our program is a 2 day/week modified version.)
WHO WE ARE
WE ARE GREYSTEEL, dedicated to helping people of all ages, but especially those in their forties and beyond, realize the health and functional benefits of rational, scientifically-based, effective strength training.
Greysteel is owned and operated by Jonathon M. Sullivan MD, PhD, a graduate of the University of Arizona College of Medicine (class of '92). He did his postgraduate training in emergency medicine at Wayne State University and completed a neuroscience research fellowship and a PhD in physiology in 1998. His research focused on on brain resuscitation and stroke, with publication of over two dozen abstracts and papers. He continues to see patients and teach at a Level I Trauma Center.
"Sully" is a Starting Strength Coach, trained and certified by Mark Rippetoe, the author of Starting Strength and a nationally recognized authority on strength training. Dr. Sullivan writes regularly on the science of strength training, and some of his work can be found here. Dr. Sullivan serves on the Maintenance of Certification Committe for the Starting Strength Coaches' Association, and is the Chair of the Association's Science Committe. He practices what he preaches, training regularly with barbells, Tang Soo Do karate and Krav Maga. He is 54 years old.
Sully is assisted in Greysteel operations by MK Fuller and Jeff Taylor.