Joe DeShawBA Exercise Science, ACSM, CSCS
From the inception of ZUM, Joe has collaborated with Peter Shmock to ensure that the training staff is of the highest caliber. He created ZUM's innovative system of training services, which provides a wide variety of training options to it's members. He also created several unique classes including Hard Core, ZUM's signature Group Ex offering, and personally teaches and certifies the other Hard Core class instructors.
The staff at Zum looks to Joe as their Senior Mentor Trainer. Joe and Peter have jointly developed and implemented a formal Internship Program where qualified candidates can study under Joe and Peter in a structured setting.
In his individual work, Joe enjoys working with a wide variety of people, ranging from those living with physical limitations to others who are competitive athletes. His particular expertise is in working with people who have physical complications that affect their daily lives or recreational activities. He has a talent for identifying harmful or inefficient movements, and is very effective teaching exercises and approaches to corrective help.
Throughout his career, Joe has been committed to professional excellence. Before he became a trainer, he spent a number of years working in physical therapy clinics where he learned how to tailor exercise programs to suit the specific needs of each patient. Since becoming a personal trainer in 1997, he's continued to hone his skills. He has studied with prominent teachers of yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and Jiu-Jitsu.
Since 2005, he has undertaken individual study with Jeff Haller, one of the foremost Feldenkrais practitioners and trainers, and Peggy Protz, another local practitioner who teaches her Finding Flexibility class at ZUM. This study has further enabled him to guide clients into more refined and precise ways of moving, and has inspired much more creativity in his work. In addition, he has worked extensively with Ken Lloyd Russell, who created The Way of Seeing. With Ken's guidance through rigorous examination of how Joe functions in everyday life, Joe has become more attentive to himself and his clients. This has helped him become more sensitive to his clients' needs and more discerning with directing their exercise programs. As a result, his clients learn to become responsive to their own bodies, enabling them to enjoy physical activity without being limited by pain or fatigue.
Joe's commitment to excellence was demonstrated at Western Washington University, where he played offensive tackle for the football team, earning league honors for three seasons and conference honors for two. A natural leader, Joe was team co-captain for two seasons. He enjoys playing the drums and was in a local rock band for eight years. More recently, he has been working on writing with correspondence courses through the University of Iowa, The New School in New York, and at Hugo House in Seattle.
Joe's professionalism and success received national recognition when Men's Journal Magazine named him as one of America's best 100 personal trainers.
