Rob Turner
Owner and Founder of Functional Performance Systems
Strength and Fitness Professional
For over 14 years, Rob has enjoyed designing individualized strength and conditioning programs for clients with a wide range of fitness and athletic experience. Much of the population desires either physique management or sports performance so Rob has aligned his expertise and training facility with these objectives in mind. Rob’s many years of strength training in high school, college, and professional athletics has given him a unique perspective on training and a keen eye for coaching human movement, optimal body position, lifting form, and choosing appropriate exercises according to skill level. This practical experience in the weight room and on the field complements his dedication to strength & conditioning and nutrition research.
Rob draws from a rare knowledge base that uses barbell and dumbbell strength exercises, gymnastics progressions, and human bio-mechanics coaching inspired by GOATA. These three pillars serve as the fundamental ways to enhance movement “software” and strength the most efficiently while minimizing injury risk. You can read interviews with Rob regarding his thoughts on health and exercise here and here.
Nutrition and Lifestyle Educator
Although fitness training gets a lot of attention, Rob realizes that its what you do outside of the gym that is just as important. Our food consumption represents our most intimate contact with the environment. In many respects, our bodies literally become what we eat from day to day. Our nutritional intake affects our hormones & cells, the way we look, the way we feel, and how we perceive ourselves and the world. Rob’s nutritional strategies are centered around the work of Ray Peat, PhD. Rob emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high resting metabolism, balancing blood sugar, and eating nutrient-dense foods that are easy to digest, don’t increase inflammation, and enhance cellular energy.
Rob and Dodie Anderson co-authored the 180 Nutrition Program – Popping the Food Bubble, an in-depth, three month educational course based on the work of Ray Peat, PhD. The course is written for the layperson and challenges mainstream nutrition beliefs and doesn’t subscribe to dietary fads or dogma. Dodie and Rob educate clients around the world using the Popping the Food Bubble course material. Rob also does phone, email, or skype nutritional consulting for domestic and international clients. Rob’s blog is a robust resource of integrated and complementary information dedicated to evidence-based nutrition, biology, physiology, and strength and conditioning principles. The FPS blog material is repeatedly referenced by other blogs such as The Danny Roddy Weblog and is used as a reference by Z-Health for their Sustenance course material.
Athlete
Rob is a highly-decorated athlete who excelled in high school, college, and professional sports, earning contracts in the Canadian Football League, National Football League, and Arena Football League. Over twenty years in the weight room and countless hours on the field provides him with insight into hard work, competing to win, facing adversity in sports, playing well with injury, preparing like an athlete, and achieving consistent, elite performance. This experience is invaluable for a strength professional.
High School Athletics
At Pine Crest Preparatory School in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Rob was a member of the varsity football and basketball teams for three years and was named captain in both sports for his senior year. He played both defensive back and quarterback during his high school football career. After being dominant in the first three games of his senior football season, his season ended when he suffered a collarbone injury during the third game. Rob also excelled in basketball where he started for three years at guard and led Broward County small schools in points per game during both his junior and senior seasons (21 ppg). Rob finished his three-year career with over 1300 points scored and won the county dunk championship in 1999. Rob was a two-time all-conference, all-county, and all-state selection in basketball and an all-conference and all-county pick in football. He was selected as the Broward County “Athlete of the Year” by the Miami Herald as a senior in 1999 despite missing much of his football season due to injury. In addition, Rob was awarded the 1998-99 Brian Piccolo award from the National Football Foundation which goes to the most outstanding scholar-athlete in Broward County. Rob is part of Pine Crest’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
Collegiate Athletics
Rob attended Central Michigan University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Rob lettered four years with the Chippewas where he played wide receiver, leading the teams in receptions and receiving yards in 2001 and 2002. He left the school fourth all-time in receptions (112) and 8th all-time in yardage (1363). Rob is tied for the longest play from scrimmage in CMU history and holds the record for longest receiving touchdown in school and stadium history (98 yards). He was named Academic All-Conference in 2001 and 2002; and, as of 2003, he was the only athlete in school history to garner Division IA Academic All-American twice (2001, 2002). In 2003, Rob won the prestigious John S. Pingel Award (now known as the Mike Salder Award) from the National Football Foundation given to the most outstanding Division IA football student-athlete in the entire state of Michigan. Chippewascountry.com named Rob to the CMU all decade football team for the 2000s.
Professional Athletics
Rob spent four years playing professional football at the wide receiver position. Shortly after college graduation, he joined the British Columbia Lions of the CFL in May 2003. He was able to make the team and start as a rookie despite a hamstring injury that occurred early in training camp. In late December of 2003, he was signed to the New York Jets’ practice squad. Rob was let go by the Jets in 2004 only to be signed by the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League in December of 2004 where he spent three full seasons (2005-07). In 2007 with the Avengers, Rob was the only receiver that year to start every game and lead the Avengers in receptions (121), receiving yards (1400), and touchdowns (28) helping the Avengers to the franchise’s first ever playoff victory. Rob was released from the Avengers in February of 2008. He had the opportunity to continue his playing career but decided to stay in Southern California to devote his time to a new passion — helping others achieve their fitness, sport performance, and health goals. Rob finished his professional career including the playoffs with 148 receptions, 1648 receiving yards, and 34 touchdowns.
Education and Experience
Strength and Fitness Coach:
Personal Trainer (2006 – Present)
Opened Functional Performance Systems in Simi Valley, CA (2010 – Present)
Athletics:
Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale, FL (1996-1999)
Central Michigan University Football (1999-2002)
B.C. Lions, Canadian Football League (2003)
New York Jets, National Football League (2003)
Los Angeles Avengers, Arena Football League (2005-2007)
Education:
BA in Business Administration from Central Michigan University (2003)
Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN)
Peat Nutrition Consultant
CHEK Correspondence Courses Completed
* Program Design
* Dynamic Medicine Ball Training
* Advanced Swiss Ball Training for Rehabilitation
* Swiss Ball Training
* Primal Patterns Movement
* Scientific Back Training
