Meet Your Exercise Physiologists | Applied Fitness Solutions
Applied Fitness Solutions · Ann Arbor

An Exercise Physiologist built your plan.

Every AFS member has one designing their program. Here is what an Exercise Physiologist is, how they work, and the people doing it at AFS.

Meet your EPs

Behind your program

There is a clinician behind your program.

An Exercise Physiologist is a degreed clinician, trained in anatomy, physiology, metabolic health, and the management of chronic conditions. They use exercise to improve your health, which goes a step past the general fitness a personal trainer provides. Our founder Mike compares it to the difference between a handyman and a surgeon: both have their place, but they are not the same job.

Your EP builds your program around you, shaped by your goals, your abilities, what your body needs, and even the exercises you enjoy or want to avoid. Your plan also moves through phases over time. As your body adapts and the work starts to feel easy, the plan shifts so you keep progressing instead of stalling.

The Periodization Series

A plain-language look at how those phases work and why each one matters. New issues arrive through the summer.

Issue 1 · Available now

Phase 1: Strength Endurance

Why your training plan starts lighter than you think, and what those first weeks build.

Read it →
Issue 2 · June 19

Phase 2: Hypertrophy

What changes when the reps drop and the load goes up.

Coming soon
Issue 3 · June 23

Phase 3: Strength

Heavier loads, fewer reps, and the role your nervous system plays.

Coming soon
Issue 4 · June 26

Phase 4: Absolute Strength

The final phase, where every adaptation before it comes together.

Coming soon

Your training has three parts, and they all run on the plan your EP built for you.

Designed by your EP

Your strength plan is built phase by phase, around your goals and abilities.

Delivered in your app

It lives in your workout app, with every exercise demonstrated and reps suggested.

Coached on the floor

EPs and Associate EPs keep you safe and on track, working from the plan your EP wrote.

Every month

Your EP sends you a Trainerize message asking for updates: changes to your goals, new injuries, preferences, or anything else that affects your training. Using that, along with your full exercise history, they begin the ExRx process, moving you to the next phase of our periodization model and adjusting your program so it keeps matching your needs and goals.

In the app

How to contact your EP in the app.

Your EP is one message away in Trainerize. Open the app, tap your EP’s photo, and write to them directly.

The Trainerize app showing your Exercise Physiologist's photo, which you tap to open a message
1

Open Trainerize

Sign in to your workout app on your phone.

2

Tap your EP’s photo

Their face is your direct line. Tap it to open a message with them.

3

Send your update

Share an update, ask a question, or flag a new condition, and your EP makes any adjustments your program needs.

What to tell them about

1

Your goals

Tell them when a goal changes, when you reach one, or when something new is on your mind. Your plan follows your goals, so they will want to know.

2

Injuries and health changes

Share any new pain, injury, surgery, or medical or orthopedic issue. Your EP can adjust your plan to keep you working safely around it.

3

Anything about your program

Travel coming up, a phase that feels too hard or too easy, a movement that bothers you. The more your EP knows, the better your plan fits your life.

On the floor

Next time you’re in, say hi.

Your EP designs the plan, the team on the floor brings it to life, and all of them are there for you.

See the full AFS team

© 2026 Applied Fitness Solutions · Ann Arbor, MI · 4afsfit.com