Meet Our Staff
A team of fitness experts awaits you at Maximum Performance. We are excited to help you get started and continue on your way to a healthy lifestyle. Feel free to ask any of our staff your fitness or health related questions and we will help you find the answer. Helping you to enjoy your experience at Maximum Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness is our top priority. Meet Our Physical Therapists
Carrie Snyder, MPH, RD, LD, NSCA-CPT
Fitness Manager
Hello and welcome to Maximum Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness. As the fitness manager, I will make every attempt to provide you the best in fitness. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail or call me. My job is to help you in any way I can to …Get Healthy For Life!
Our Fitness Technicians
Our talented Kansas State University students assist you during the early morning, evening and weekend hours. Our students are currently pursuing a health related degree. They have certifications in CPR and first aid. They are seeking the opportunity to share their knowledge and apply what they have learned in the classroom with our fitness members. Don’t be afraid to ask them fitness related questions, they like the challenge!!
Trebor Besser
Fitness Technician
Anna Binder
Fitness Technician
Jeremy Keen
Fitness Technician
Amanda Millet
Fitness Technician
Ryan Parks
Fitness Technician
Our Instructors
MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE prides itself in finding top notch, quality instructors. All of our instructors have a passion not only for group fitness but also for helping better the lives of the members and helping them meet their individual goals. No matter what class you attend, you will always get a GREAT workout.
Michelle Lee Blackwell
Abs +2, Total Tone, Indoor Cycling, Ab Attack
Birthday: December - Sagittarius
Other classes taught: Step, Kickboxing
Hobbies: Cooking (making my husband the guinea pig!), working out, making jewelry, reading a good book
Favorite Food: Mexican, Italian, Southern cuisine
Goals: Lose the 30 pounds I gained from being married and having a baby so I can fit into the tons of clothes I have for the summer! Help at least one person with their personal exercise goals. Maybe I can get brave enough to let Diana help me like to run!
Motto: I guess I have two - One - It isn't always about how you look to others, but it is more about how you feel about "you" and how you live in the skin you are in. Two - Who you "can" be is almost always more than what you "think" you can be - so "think" more of yourself.
Pet Peeve: Dishonesty, unfriendly people, people with preconceived notions of who you are without getting to know you,
Background: I am originally from OK (born in KY). From Oklahoma, I moved to Pittsburgh to attend law school. From PA, I moved to the DC area to pursue my legal career. By Divine intervention, a high school classmate was reintroduced into my life and we were married in October of 2007. We were fortunate to be blessed with a daughter in April. In my spare time I spend time with my husband and daughter, work in the church, do military wife “stuff”, and teach at Maximum Performance and try to make the world a better place. My husband is a Major in the US Army. I am a lawyer per education, but my current job title is CEO/CFO of the Blackwell Household.
Karla Hagemeister
Step, Indoor Cycling
Birthday: January
Other Classes Taught: Toning, Yoga, TurboKick
Hobbies: Running, reading, music, growing in faith
Favorite Food: Chocolate
Goals: Be the best wife, mother, friend and Christian that I can be. Stay fit and healthy over the long haul. Run several 10k and ½ marathons in 2010…I have three half marathons on my calendar so far.
Motto: I don’t go around saying exactly this, but I sort of live by “suck it up and do it”. Generally speaking, whatever you were putting off is never as bad as you think it will be!
Pet Peeve: Negative attitudes and poor grammar
Background: I am originally from Leavenworth as an Army kid. Scott and I have been married twelve years and have two children- Jakob (7 years) and Emmaly (1 ½ years). We are both graduates of KSU; I am a social worker and Scott is a police officer. In my spare time I love on my family, enjoy singing with the 8:45 Band at the contemporary service at First United Methodist, and am active on several community boards.
Diana Knox
Step, Sculpting
Birthday: December
Other Classes Taught: Hi/Low(remember hi impact aerobics in the 90's???), Step, Double Step, Stability Ball/BOSU, Pilates, Yoga, Power Sculpting, Cycling (soon)
Hobbies: Running (5K's to Half Marathons), Member of Little Apple Road Runners, Singing in St. Isidore's Choir, Treasurer for MHS Cross Country Team
Favorite Food: Pasta Carbonara, Filet Mignon, Tiramisu
Goals: To be become the best instructor I can; to learn to play the piano, to take adult ballet lessons, to run a marathon
Motto: Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Pet Peeve: Rude people
Background: Married my highschool sweetheart after graduating from KSU in 1985. We moved back after graduate school in 1990. I have been doing aerobics since the age of 18, began teaching in 1994, after the birth of my second child. Have been a Fitness Director since 1998 and love to have control of things! My hubby is a licenced architect and a professor of architecture at KSU. Besides club classes, I currently teach KSU continuing education classes and do personal training in my "spare" time. I began running in 1996, have completed 6 half marathons and am training for my first marathon! Along with my husband (30 years together/married 24), I have two wonderful teenage children who fulfill my life. I love my job and hope it shows!
Beth Smoller
Indoor Cycling
Birthday: March
Other Classes Taught: Step and Toning.
Hobbies: Running, cooking and scrapbooking.
Favorite Food: Almost all of it. I hate mushrooms and other things that are texturally weird. But I love food. Pizza, Italian food, American food, Mexican food, keep on going.
Goals: I want to run a marathon in 2010. And if that fails, at some point in my life.
Moto: Be so strong that no one can disturb your peace of mind.
Background: Beth is a graduate of Kansas State University and that other school down the road. But she definitely bleeds purple. A native of Holton, Kansas, she and her husband Brian have one son, Brady.
Kendra Staley
Yoga
Birthday: August - Leo/Virgo
Hobbies: Traveling, Reading, Cooking, Eating, Dancing, Yoga-ing
Favorite Food: Chocolate, Veggies, Cheese
Goals: to travel and live around the world
Background: I'm originally from Ellsworth, KS and teach ESL (English as a Second Language) at KSU.
Kari Wallentine
FitYoga, ExtremeYoga, Mommy Yoga I & II, SilverSneakers® MSROM, CardioCircuit, YogaStretch
Birthday: April, Aries
Hobbies: Reading, Cooking, Crafting, Listening to music, Watching movies, Hanging out with my husband
Favorite Food: Dinner at Brookville Hotel
Goals: To become a better yoga instructor; To make every class fun; To take time for myself
Motto: Live life to its fullest
Background: Kari grew up in Shawnee, KS. She graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine. While completing her Masters degree, she started taking Yogilates classes through UFM. This sparked a passion in her for all things yoga. She has received YogaFit Level 1, YogaCore, and Prenatal/Postpartum certification. In addition, she has attended SilverSneakers training for MS-ROM, CardioCircuit, and YogaStretch classes. Her typical class style is relaxed and calming, yet fitness-based at the same time. She strives to improve students’ flexibility, balance, strength, and muscle tone through basic to intermediate yoga poses. Because of her training in YogaFit, she can offer modifications for yoga poses to suit any body.
Our Substitute Instructors
Janelle Bailey
Step, Indoor Cycling, Pilates
Janelle has been teaching step and spin classes for the past 11 years. She is also a certified Stott Pilates instructor and has taught since 2004.She has taught mat classes and has done instruction on all pieces of equipment. Janelle is also a Physical Therapist and works at Geary Rehab.
Stephanie Grams
SilverSneakers®, Total Tone
Born and raised in Parsons, KS, Stephanie graduated with a B.S. in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Athletic Training from Kansas State University in 2002. She then went on to earn an Associates Degree in Physical Therapy Assistant from Jefferson County Community College in Louisville, KY in 2006.
Stephanie has been an employee of Maximum Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness Center since October 2006. She also helped design and establish the women's health program at Maximum Performance.
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