Mike Whitman, Middletown High School alumni and director of training at Smarter Team Training, came to MHS for STEM presentations on Friday, April 1, to talk to students about his career and educate them on the science behind weight lifting and nutrition.
Whitman attended MHS from 2002 to 2006. He played in the band and wrestled for the school for three years. He went on to attend college at Towson University with a music performance major. After two years, Whitman discovered he enjoyed exercise and the science behind it more and changed his major to exercise science.
“Exercise and fitness has always been a passion of mine,” said Whitman, “and I wanted to be able to help people achieve their goals.”
Whitman has had many jobs in the exercise and personal training world. He was a director of performance at FX Studios, a site manager for a health and wellness program, and was a personal trainer to professional athletes sponsored by Under Armor. He now works as the director of training at Smarter Team Training, a business he helped create.
“I work 80 hours a week and I love my job,” said Whitman. “It’s like a religion to me.”
Whitman’s job deals a lot with physics and chemistry inside the body. During his STEM presentation, Whitman explained to students the equations for velocity and force while relating it to lifting weights. He also demonstrated a few different lifting techniques that supported his philosophy of velocity based training using less weight but for a longer time.
Athletes should “value the process more than the end goal” when lifting weights and competing in sports, said Whitman.
Whitman said he doesn’t know where his career or business will be in the next few years.
“My goal is to to inspire or change the life of one person each day to build my business,” said Whitman. “To have the opportunity to change someone’s life is the coolest thing you can do.”
