About the Owner, Q. C. Doughty

15+ Years Experience as a Trainer
Active participant in both power and endurance sports
Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Advanced Personal Trainer
Certified Fitness Nutritionist -- one of the first in Northern California!
Golf Conditioning Specialist -- PGA Approved Program
Finisher: TBF Half Ironman Triathlon and many other triathlon events.

I've been at least semi-active my entire life, although my interests have varied greatly over time. Growing up, I played Soccer every spring and fall in a local Kiwanis league. I tried my luck at baseball, basketball, the cross-country team, and - briefly - football, where a shoulder dislocation cut my first and only season short.

During rehab from my shoulder injury, I discovered the benefits of resistance training and continued weight training through college. I liked how I felt with a little more muscle on my frame. I felt more confident and at ease.

After graduation, I allowed the "real world" to cut my gym time down to near zero. Like many people in their twenties, I lost muscle and gained even more fat. Frustrated with my appearance and lack of progress, I began walking and eventually started jogging again. Heart rate monitors were just hitting the shelves and I quickly learned just how valuable a training tool they could be. I also discovered -- via feedback from the monitor -- I was always jogging/running too fast.

My 9-to-5 coworkers noticed my enthusiasm and some even wanted me to train them after work. While I trained friends in high school and college, I never considered this as a career. I agreed to take on a few clients and shared my knowledge and experience with them. I didn't quit my day-job. I just trained people part-time off and on for 10 years and through several full-time career moves.

As a full-time profession, I chose the computer business and for the bulk of the 1990's, I made my living as a LAN administrator and web server administrator. During that time, I quit running more times than I care to admit. To me, running by itself is not that exciting. It wasn't until I found a book called Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals that I was able to stick with it for more than a month or two. I let the book sit on my shelf for over a year before I even summoned the courage to open it. Once I started reading, I knew I wanted to try it. Switching off between swimming, biking and running made life so much more interesting. I always had something different to look forward to, which made all the difference for me.

For the first time since college, I was actually looking forward to my training sessions again. Again, my co-workers caught my enthusiasm, and I was soon training a few people on the side. As California's high-tech economy began to slump, I started my own technical consulting company and struggled for about 18 months before giving in to what I am sure seems obvious to you by now - I became a full-time personal trainer.

Even with over 15 years of part-time experience under my belt, I have to admit I was a little nervous about making the switch. I screened dozens of certification organizations before settling on NESTA (the National Endurance Sports Training Association) as the best fit for my philosophy and strict criteria of what a certification company should provide and require of it's students. Over a few months, I attained both the Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Advanced Personal Trainer designations as well as becoming one of the first Certified Fitness Nutritionists in Northern California. I then went on to learn Postural Analysis and attained a Golf Conditioning Specialist designation through GMP Fitness - a PGA-approved golf-conditioning teaching program.

To round out my practice, I selected NESTA's Certified Endurance Sports Trainer and Certified Spencer Pilates Instructor programs. I wanted to be sure to give potential clients the peace of mind only a combination of practical personal experience and respected agency certifications can accomplish. I then selected cutting-edge fitness equipment to allow my clients to safely achieve the maximum results in the shortest amount of time.