Unleash Your Inner Athlete for Brain Health and Longevity
Week of June 28, 2025
We all want to live a long and (more importantly) vibrant life. What if I told you the key to unlocking this through the exercise door is by training like an athlete? Think you’re too old for this? Think again! The revelation of neuroplasticity tells us that our brains are always changing and adapting. If we feed the brain the right information and test it through movement, we can fight off cognitive decline. In this 4 session series, we will have 2 fitness training sessions and 2 hybrid lecture with movement classes. Our fitness sessions focus on using movement and exercise to challenge our brain and nervous system to keep us sharp and mobile as we age. This class can be modified for all fitness levels. Our hybrid lecture sessions will dive into the constantly emerging research that shows us how we can preserve and optimize our brain health while teaching some easy but powerful techniques to maximize brain function and while improving mobility and joint health.
Eric Cruz started his journey in health and fitness at the age of 13. After growing up as an overweight youth, he found exercise and nutrition as an empowering path for changing his life. Through reading and watching anything he could get my hands on related to health, he became his own experiment and first client. As he started to see results, he found that this lifestyle not only made him better physically, but mentally as well. He gained self-confidence and a stronger drive for achievement and knew this was what he would spend the rest of his life practicing.
Eager to get out into the field, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology from Missouri State University and later moved to California. There, he attended California State University at Long Beach and received a Master’s degree in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. While his conventional education is foundational, he believes that continuing education is where health professionals really evolve and make a difference.
To solidify his knowledge and expertise as a fitness professional he received credentials such as:
Certified Exercise Physiologist (EP-C) through the American College of Sports Medicine
Level II Exercise is Medicine Practitioner (EIM2) through the American College of Sports Medicine
Multiple Sclerosis Fitness and Wellness Specialist (MSFW) through American Fitness Professionals and Associates
Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) through the National Academy of Sports Medicine
Functional Movement Techniques (FMT) through Rocktape
ARNI Institute (AAI)
He then took his nutrition education and practice to the next level by becoming a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P). It is this area that really sets his practice apart as a health and wellness professional as he enjoys incorporating the full picture of fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle together.
MY MISSION AND PRACTICE: “While exercise or nutrition can be beneficial in different aspects, it is the two combined that truly allows the client to obtain optimal results. Every individual is unique in genetic build and current lifestyle. Therefore, each individual responds differently and may require different changes in behavior to reach their respective goals. No mode of exercise is perfect for everyone just as no single diet is perfect for everyone. The time of one size fits all in nutrition and fitness is gone. We must analyze people inside and out to provide truly optimal recommendations and results.”