Grants education
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Hi, I’m Grant Wenger, a certified personal trainer at Urban Athlete in Chicago. My next step in educational development is working towards my MAT certification. This 8-month program has eight, 3-day intensive weekends. The MAT Specialist program is comprised of four units: LOWER BODY, UPPER BODY, TRUNK and SPINE and CERVICAL SPINE as well as ACCESSORY MUSCLES. This course provides students with the education they need to become a MAT Certified Specialist. The course begins April 7th and ends December 17, 2017. This is a necessary step in my development to better differentiate myself from other health care professionals but also address a void in the conventional rehabilitation and exercise protocols. Anyone who has ever trained with me knows I’m a combination of holistic, Eastern and Western technique combined with my already wide breath of personal training. My goal is and always has been to treat the core problem of my client’s issues from building muscle and weight loss to rehabilitation and core development. The MAT Certification will give me exactly what I need to help my clients heal and become who they intended to be.
The cost for this education advancement is $11,000. To say this is a stretch on my finances is an understatement. I live a very simple life; shared apartment and minimal personal possessions. I have typical expenses; ie…car, insurance, groceries as well as student loans that I am working to pay down. My one joy right now is my rescued German Shepard Nico, who gets whatever free time I have left from my 10+ hour days. I am a very hard worker and look upon these difficulties as challenges on my road to development but the time has come to swallow some of my pride and ask for help. I promise that MAT will be a necessary quiver in my arsenal of skills that can help propel me to be a better teacher/trainer/healer and any help you can give me to achieve this dream will be met with extreme gratitude.
To give you an idea of how serious I am about learning, I was in a very serious car accident years ago. The doctors told me I would probably never walk normally again. I sustained two collapsed lungs, lacerated liver, major nerve damage, spinal compression at L1, L2, L3 and L4 as well as a fractured skull. The accident was so severe that I technically died twice in the ER. So, once I was out of the hospital, I had to start with learning how to walk again. Initially, I couldn’t feel my back or my right leg. I started rehabbing myself slowly with all forms of soft-tissue modalities that involved specific manual techniques to help regain range of motion. Over the next five years of ups and downs my sheer will and determination, coupled with my previous experience and body knowledge as a gymnast, helped get me to where I am today.
This whole experience helped lay the groundwork for my personalized approach to healthcare and training. My thirst for knowledge and being able to help even more critical injuries is pure motivation for the MAT course. By helping me, I am better able to care for, rehab and train clients to their fullest potential.
The cost for this education advancement is $11,000. To say this is a stretch on my finances is an understatement. I live a very simple life; shared apartment and minimal personal possessions. I have typical expenses; ie…car, insurance, groceries as well as student loans that I am working to pay down. My one joy right now is my rescued German Shepard Nico, who gets whatever free time I have left from my 10+ hour days. I am a very hard worker and look upon these difficulties as challenges on my road to development but the time has come to swallow some of my pride and ask for help. I promise that MAT will be a necessary quiver in my arsenal of skills that can help propel me to be a better teacher/trainer/healer and any help you can give me to achieve this dream will be met with extreme gratitude.
To give you an idea of how serious I am about learning, I was in a very serious car accident years ago. The doctors told me I would probably never walk normally again. I sustained two collapsed lungs, lacerated liver, major nerve damage, spinal compression at L1, L2, L3 and L4 as well as a fractured skull. The accident was so severe that I technically died twice in the ER. So, once I was out of the hospital, I had to start with learning how to walk again. Initially, I couldn’t feel my back or my right leg. I started rehabbing myself slowly with all forms of soft-tissue modalities that involved specific manual techniques to help regain range of motion. Over the next five years of ups and downs my sheer will and determination, coupled with my previous experience and body knowledge as a gymnast, helped get me to where I am today.
This whole experience helped lay the groundwork for my personalized approach to healthcare and training. My thirst for knowledge and being able to help even more critical injuries is pure motivation for the MAT course. By helping me, I am better able to care for, rehab and train clients to their fullest potential.
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Grant Wenger
Organizer
Chicago, IL