My Origin Story

I’ve been lifting since I was 15.

It started out because I wanted to get better at hockey. When I searched for more information how to get better, all I could find was bodybuilding magazines.

I started a training log, made home made tank tops and even sported some gloves. I followed  the classic bodybuilder split, training by muscle groups - chest-shoulders-tris / back and bi’s / legs and calves.

I trained like that 5-6 days a week for the rest of high school and was introduced to real strength and conditioning my senior year and started training like an athlete.

I learned the Olympic lifts, start sprinting, squatting deeper, flipping tires, pushing sleds and got on a foam roller for the first time in 2006.

I continued filling training logs through college, and had more resources at my disposal to refine my training program. I learned the word ‘functional’ and went all in on kettlebells. I read every book and blog post I could by Russian kettlebell masters. I learned about bracing and tension and started working out barefoot.

After college, like many athletes, I had a major training slump. I didn’t know what I was training for anymore without hockey.

I started powerlifting. I wore Chuck Taylor’s, and dove deep into the principles of getting really strong and moving heavy barbells. I learned more about physics than I did in my mandatory college class.

It wrecked me. I prioritized the load over form, didn’t move well or have technical proficiency and fell into a deeper training slump. I developed sciatica, my right hip always hurt which made car rides excruciating and I had a hard time sleeping because of my shoulder pain. I thought it was normal. Everyone else I knew was beat up and had bad backs too. I stopped training all together for an over a year  - even though I was making a living as a personal trainer at the time.

It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say I was having an identity crisis. Did I choose the wrong career? Did I like this any more? My personal training job at the time was in a corporate environment. I missed the gritty nature of my old gym and the community I belonged to. A friend helped me find a new gym to train at and I slowly dug myself out of the hole.

I heard the word mobility for the first time on a YouTube video while trying to figure out how to fix my back. It was like the video was made especially for me and the person was speaking to me through the camera.

I started hitting the gym 4 times a week, working on the basics and not letting my ego get in the way. Every second of the day I dedicated to moving better and working on my body. I had foam rollers, balls and bands scattered through my small apartment and every chance I got I was working on my positions and freeing up the stiffness that so many years of hockey and bad training created.  Hannah will be the first to tell it was a little obnoxious, but I was starting to feel better. Not just in the gym but out of it as well. I was on to something.

I had always wanted to do more Olympic weightlifting. Now that I could move better I dedicated myself to learning the skills of these highly technical moves. When in my corporate gym I couldn’t clang bars around and needed to be quiet. This prevented me from lifting too much and allowed me to become more and more proficient. I started feeling good.

My training experiences over the years helped shape my training philosophy and I was on to something. I started to realize I could help more people. I spent the summer of 2014 planning, touring warehouses and getting ready. I opened GAIN in January 2015.

I continued working the olympic lifts, now with a new training partner, and GAIN’s first coach, Alex. We trained hard and were determined to get better. As the business got busier I had a hard time prioritizing my training. I realized I needed to get out of the gym more and started occasionally running in 2016.

In 2017 I needed a challenge and had some unique ideas about endurance training and wanted to test the waters. I signed up for the scariest thing I could think of, an ultramarathon. I ran my first 50k that year and my first 50-miler the next year in 2018. Since then I’ve done  over 20 ultra efforts including backyard ultras and all of the classic routes in the White Mountains including the Pemi Loop and Hut Traverse.

All the running evolved my training philosophy more. I got stronger as my aerobic base got bigger - counterintuitive to everything I thought I knew about training.

Fast forward to today, I like doing a little bit of everything. I like training more than I ever and have a lot of fun with it. Strength training, olympic lifting, CrossFit, running, rowing, biking, hiking, gymnastics - you name it. I train to feel good, be strong, run fast, run far and be up for any challenge life throws at me. I want to age gracefully and be able to take care of myself. I want to move well and intimately know how my body works and responds to different stimulus. All these experiences shaped the ever-evolving philosophy we employ at GAIN with our clients.

I’m sharing this with you today so you know where I came from and how our philosophy at GAIN was created. It’s all from what I have done over the past 19 years in the gym, my formal education in college and the continuing education I’ve pursued since then.

Thanks for reading along and being a part of it all.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

c. 2011