Liz Johns

I remember being in high school for the track season, and being told that I had a degenerative disc in my lower lumbar spine, which caused me pain every time I tried to pick my leg up to run hurdles and walk up the stairs. At the time there was talk about medications, injections, or even fusion surgery, which seemed ridiculous to me at the age of 17.

I believed there were better options, and as a result I focused on continuing to move, and I looked for exercises to get my body to move better. Two years later, another MRI showed that my degenerative disc was almost completely healed. I was able to do all the things I wanted without pain, including running, rowing on the crew team in college, and cycling. I always had a passion for movement and activity, and I didn’t know how it would continue to show up over time.

In my early adult life, I always wanted to pursue a career in fitness and exercise. But I was told unless you go to med school, you can’t make a living doing what I wanted to do. So I decided to go into early childhood education, where I really enjoyed working with kids and showing them how much fun it could be to move and play and use their bodies in all the ways they could. I realized that kids were moving far less than I did as a kid, and it was having severely negative effects. I became extremely passionate about not only getting children to move more, but getting them to enjoy it more than sitting in front of screens.

Over the years, I have seen how technology has engineered movement out of our lives. I have seen the detrimental effects on friends, my own children, and even myself when we don’t move enough. I believe that people should be able to enjoy their bodies for a lifetime and enjoy activity and be able to take care of themselves. And through the work we do, I love that we help people, young and old, enjoy moving more without pain. I love that I am able to use our work for myself to move better and without pain when training for my marathons. I love helping people get active so they can live their life and do all the things they want.