Illinois native Brent Parkhill, who has worked for 15 years in a variety of health-related settings ranging from corporate wellness to training athletes involved in rotational sports, recently relocated to East Tennessee to become a personal trainer at the Wellness Center in Tellico Village, and since starting at his new position in early July, Parkhill has assisted numerous residents in staying fit and active in the Village.
“I have just been exposed to his teachings as a result of being in his domain,” Larry Richardson, who regularly exercises, said. “He’s obviously very knowledgeable based on me working with a lot of trainers in the past. He seems to have a lot of talent and charisma.”
Jim West, Tellico Village Property Owners Association director of golf, and Parkill plan to develop a golf program through the Wellness Center.
“Golf is a violent sport from a movement perspective,” Parkhill said. “There’s nothing to prevent injuries from happening. We want to put together a program so people can play longer, play safer and play better.”
Parkhill hopes to get the “blueprint” developed during an upcoming golf project meeting so he can move forward with the social media marketing aspect of the initiative.
“We’re going to promote the heck out of this thing and get this rolling,” Parkhill said.
Parkhill said that West is excited to start an initiative that bridges the gap between the Wellness Center and golfing opportunities offered in the Village.
“We have had a lot of positive comments,” Holly Bryant, recreation manager, said about Parkhill’s work in the Village. “He’s a great addition to the personal trainer staff here. He had four new clients on his first day here.”
In addition to the golf project, Parkhill works to improve resident’s mobility and puts together a nine-week strengthening and conditioning program.
“I did sign up for six months to work with him,” Tellico Village resident Marlie Ridley said. “I find him extremely knowledgeable. He has progressed me along so I haven’t been in pain. I’m working muscles that I haven’t used before. He’s excellent and absolutely fantastic. I’m impressed with his skill and very glad that I did sign up with him.”
Parkhill has developed corporate wellness programs for BP, Molex and OfficeMax in the past, and he has assisted companies in finding equipment supplies and creating money-saving ideas in employee fitness.
“One of my favorite people to train is my youth athletes,” Parkhill said. “They’re just starting their process. It’s fun training them. They don’t have any set ways.”
When working with residents, Parkhill first does a mechanical evaluation to watch people move and to see what he has to work with before writing up a program for them to follow.
“Once I determine what their imbalances are at rest, I have them do some movement tests,” Parkhill said. “It’s almost a confirmation of what I saw during their passive test ... being able to determine what kind of person I’m working with determines what type of program I will do for them.”
In older adults, Parkhill sees the loss of strength, speed and mobility.
“Your body is very adaptive,” Parkhill said. “If your objective is to get better, you either have to walk faster or longer. It’s time to change what you’re doing or the results will become stagnant.”
Parkhill said he has thought about going back to school and studying physical therapy, but in the meantime, he plans to use his knowledge gleaned from studying the work of various physical therapists, chiropractors and professional athletic trainers.
“I had been on a waiting list for another trainer for months now,” Tellico Village resident Rosemary Overton said. “When I heard Brent was coming here and knew he was the same quality of the trainer I was waiting for, I signed up. I finished four sessions now. I’m really pleased. ... He has a very different philosophy than just doing situps and crunches and things with machines. ... What I like about him is he does a total assessment of your needs. He doesn’t prescribe for everyone’s needs.”
