A Marathon, Not A Sprint

Tamarac Fitness Instructor Mychael King

Tamarac’s newest fitness expert focuses on basics to help people build long-term strength, endurance
 
FREMONT, Mich. (Oct. 27, 2021) – COVID-19 brought Tamarac’s newest fitness specialist and his family back to West Michigan. For Mychael King, relocating from the metro Detroit and mid-Michigan areas has allowed him to be closer to family – and doing what he loves most.
 
“Helping people achieve their fitness goals in a safe manner by training basic movement patterns is what I love doing,” says King, who started working at Tamarac this summer. “My goal is to improve the dysfunctional movement patterns that impair good posture and function. I like to work on a person’s hinge technique so that the hips and back muscles are engaged in a manner that reduces the risk for injury and prevents future injury. I use various methods to improve one’s ability to stand on one foot, holding a plank, and improving the fundamental movement patterns that are performed in daily activity. I hope to use my training to help correct the limitations that may cause pain and reduce the risk of injury, address dysfunction, and use science to safely activate muscles to strengthen them for the long term.”
 
King’s focus on safety and fundamentals comes from his experiences as an athlete with asthma and injuries from training and sports. In high school, he loved to play sports but struggled with asthma. At Central Michigan University, where he was an All-Academic honorable mention shot putter, King began to build a foundation for strength and conditioning. After college, he began to make small steps to building endurance. He started with recumbent bikes, then progressed to intervals on the treadmill. King ran a 5K for the first time averaging an under-10-minute pace.
 
King takes this philosophy of focusing on safety and basics into his practice as a fitness trainer.
 
“Like a lot of things in life, the fitness journey is a marathon, not a sprint,” he says. “Start by crawling, and you’ll get there. How a person looks is not important. Without stability, endurance and strength, the risk of injury would go up. People need to do basic and fundamental movements.”
 
The Midland native had moved for an opportunity in Farmington Hills. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, King lost his job, along with more than 1 million Michiganders in Spring 2020. The setback gave King and his family the opportunity to relocate to West Michigan. His wife, Alexcia, is from Grand Rapids and during a visit home, the couple decided to move to the area. Today, they live in Muskegon with their 2-year-old son, Shiloh, not far from family.
 
“We like the water, we like rivers, we’re close enough to a big city, and the people we’ve met have been very friendly,” King said.
 
Though he’s a relative newcomer to the area, King says he feels a deep connection to and admiration for his Tamarac colleagues and Tamarac’s members.
 
“Everyone has been welcoming and so friendly, and when I see them at Tamarac, they say, ‘Come here, let me give me a giant air hug,’” King says. “COVID has impacted all of us, and I can see the resiliency in those who come to Tamarac. The people who come here truly love Tamarac, they care about it, they’re very vested in this place. To be able to provide service to folks like that is truly an honor and a blessing. They’re going to be cheering you on. I truly don’t take that for granted.”
 
Learn more about Tamarac at www.tamaracwellness.org, or call: 231.924.1600.

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