Dr. Josef Arnould

From the age of three or four, at latest, Josef Arnould has enjoyed exercising nearly every day of his life. Throughout his youth, he participated in almost every physical activity available to him. At age 16, he began training with weights to improve himself as an athlete. He has continued to practice strength training for more than 40 years.

After earning a B.A. degree in English from Princeton University, an M.Ed. in Reading and Language Arts from Framingham State College, and a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic, Josef opened a chiropractic office in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1984. Since that time, nearly every patient who has sought his services has been instructed thoroughly in specific exercises to expedite recovery from his or her presenting condition, to prevent recurrences, and to reach for a higher state of health.

In 1989, Dr. Arnould teamed up with Mary Kay Proulx, an exceptional physical therapist, to expand the practice to include more comprehensive rehabilitation and exercise therapy services. Although at first only patients in need of rehabilitation were accepted, the program was soon broadened to include people who did not have injuries but who did want instruction and guidance in exercise, especially strength exercise. Some of these people were adults aged 40, 50, 60 and older who had tried a local "Y" or health club but had dropped out due to a lack of instruction and supervision or to an intimidating atmosphere. Many others had never tried strength training before because it seemed a bit strange. Adults such as these discovered immediately that the intimate, relaxed, and supervised atmosphere at the Strength for Life® Health and Fitness Center was an excellent setting in which to exercise safely and effectively.

Over the next several years, the Strength for Life® adult exercise program was improved and refined to make it more effective for more people. In spite of this progress, however, Dr. Arnould recognized that for many people, no matter how much instruction and supervision they received, strength training was still a difficult foreign language. Therefore, in 1998 he began working on a book to present all of the basic principles and many of the important subtleties of strength exercise. Based upon 40+ years of personal study and practice, as well as upon many years of teaching exercise, he composed a comprehensive book of more than 600 pages entitled Stronger After 40 . Completed in 2005, this work lays out the entire Strength for Life® program in great detail. It includes not just 400+ pages of pages of illustrated exercises, but also a thorough presentation of the physiological, psychological, spiritual, and social reasons that support the thesis that strength training is an essential form of healthcare for adults of all ages. It offers a graduated exercise program that begins at a level of intensity appropriate for each individual, even those of us who are very unhealthy. This program advances, step-by-step, to a very high level of strength and fitness. No other book shows so well how one can progress smoothly from weakness and poor health to strength and health excellence. Only someone such as Dr. Arnould, with decades of personal strength training experience and with decades of experience teaching others how to train intelligently, could have written such a complete, sensitive, and thoughtful work. Everyone who reads this book in its entirety will see his or her health and life in a much stronger and clearer light.

Bright and early in the morning seven days each week, Dr. Arnould exercises along side many of the trainees who have been utilizing the Strength for Life® system for years. The pictures you see in Stronger After 40 and in this website show some of these   trainees as they redevelop the strength they need to enjoy and excel in the favorite activities of their lives. When he is not in the Strength for Life® clinic, Dr.Arnould swims, bikes, hikes, kayaks, and skis in the woods, lakes, and hills of New England.

Mary Kay Proulx, P.T.

Mary Kay Proulx graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Physical Therapy. She has 28 years of experience as a P.T. in rehabilitation and orthopedic settings. She has been the director of the physical therapy program at the Strength for Life® Health and Fitness Center for seventeen years. She has completed many advanced training programs during the past several years, most recently in spinal stabilization and the Pilates method. Her experience and expertise were essential elements in the development of the Strength for Life® program.

Mary Kay is an avid out-of-doors person. A native Vermonter, she has skied many mountains in Europe and North America.

Roger S. Berman, D.C.

Following the completion of this undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Roger Berman attended Northwestern College of Chiropractic, from which he received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree in 1987. He then returned to his native Massachusetts and began to practice in the Pioneer Valley. In 1990, he joined the staff at Strength for Life®. In addition to traditional chiropractic spinal adjusting, Dr. Berman specializes in extremity adjusting and manual myotherapies for muscular and tendon pain syndromes. When he is not working or exercising in the clinic, he enjoys soccer, basketball, and cycling.

Cheri York-Whitely, P.T.A.

Cheri York-Whitely earned her Physical Therapy Assistant degree from Springfield Technical Community College in 1990. She has many years of clinical experience in stabilization techniques, Pilates, yoga, myofascial release, joint and connective tissue mobilization, strength training, and other forms of manual therapy. In addition, she is keenly interested in the spiritual and psychological elements of healing. Her insights and encouragement enable many of our trainees and patients reach higher levels of health than they would have without her help.

Cheri lives near the woods with her husband, two daughters, a dog, a cat, and the neighborhood bears, bobcats, deer, skunks, and the other usual characters of rural western Massachusetts.

Suzanne Imm, P.T.A.

Suzanne Imm obtained her P.T.A. degree from Lasell College in 1998. Before comimg to the Strength for Life® Center in 2001, she gained valuable experience while working as a P.T.A. in several different types of clinical practices. In addition, she developed a strong interest in strength training while employed at a physical therapy/fitness center in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

At the current time, Suzanne's non-work hours are spent primarily in facing the marvelous and enormous challenges of raising her two young children.

Linda Boliver, P.T.A.

Linda Boliver graduated from Barnard College in 1973.   While raising six children, she earned   a P.T.A. degree from Springfield Technical Community College in 1999. Over the past several years she has worked in many diverse clinical settings, most notably with severely handicapped children. While holding these very challenging positions, Linda has managed to work at Strength for Life® on a part-time basis for several years. Her extremely high level of compassion for fellow human beings has prompted many of our trainees to seek her out when they are in need of encouragement.