The ‘Uber’ of physical fitness

Ryan Beauchesne, the founder and CEO of Mobility Prescription, likes to compare his personal fitness consulting firm to Uber, the ride-hailing service. “We’re mobile,” says Beauchesne, BHS’13. “We go directly to our clients’ homes.”

Like an Uber driver, his schedule is ever-changing, dictated by his clients’ needs. On Monday, he saw his first client at 5:30 a.m., a half-hour before sunrise. On Thursday, he will host an hourlong boot camp at the Marino Center from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., leading Northeastern community members through a series of strength and conditioning exercises.

Beauchesne founded Mobility Prescription in October 2014, following a 15-month stint as a private trainer for a big health club in Boston. Over the past two years, the health sciences graduate has leveraged his professional connections to build a business that now serves more than 50 clients of all ages and fitness levels. The youngest is 13, the oldest 82. Some are first-time lifters, others star hockey players for the Boston Bruins.

According to Beauchesne, one client in his 50s started playing tennis after training with Mobility Prescription and is now a strong local competitor in his age group. “Some of our clients have completely transformed their bodies,” he says. It’s never too late to start a program.”

A talented team

Mobility Prescription’s team is small yet well-qualified, with thousands of hours of clinical experience in the sports medicine field. The group takes a holistic approach to health and wellness, employing a nutritional consultant while working with a biotechnology company called InsideTracker to analyze its clients’ blood for various biomarkers.

Six of its seven staff members have either studied or currently work at Northeastern, including chief medical advisor Gianmichel Corrado, the university’s team physician, and gym design engineer Alexander McQuiggan, E’13, who has worked with several clients to help them create bespoke workout spaces in the comfort of their own homes.

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Mobility Prescription take a holistic approach to health and wellness, with a particular focus on working out and eating healthfully. These photos, from the personal fitness consulting firm’s Instagram account, shed some light on Heim and Beauchesne’s workout routine and eating habits.

Head fitness consultant Jimmy Heim, DPT’16, will be working with Beauchesne to put the boot camp attendees through their paces on Thursday, guiding them through compound exercises like squats and pushups. “We work with our clients on habit-building and try to teach them that they’re in this for the long run,” says Heim, who received his doctorate in physical therapy. “We want them to understand why they’re performing certain exercises and how doing them will help them achieve their goals.”

Heim and Beauchesne practice what they preach, eating healthfully and exercising consistently to reach their own fitness objectives. Heim is a competitive powerlifter, with the ability to squat, bench press, and deadlift a combined total of nearly 1,300 pounds. Beauchesne, for his part, is an avid surfer, snowboarder, and ice hockey player. “My passion for fitness stems from dealing with health-related issues in my family,” says Heim, “and I’ve seen how much of a positive impact exercise has had on my own life from both an aesthetics and lifestyle standpoint.”

The experiential edge

The young alumni say that their experiential learning opportunities at Northeastern have prepared them to help their clients reach their physical potential. Both worked as personal trainers at the Marino Center for several years, designing personalized fitness plans for students, faculty, and staff. And both completed several co-ops or clinical rotations at prestigious hospitals or rehabilitation facilities, where they worked to fine-tune their understanding of the ins and outs of patient care.

Beauchesne did one of his co-ops at Sports and Physical Therapy Associates, in Boston, where he trained elite high school and college athletes under the direct supervision of the former rehabilitation director for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. Heim, for his part, did his final clinical rotation at the Andrews Institute, in Florida, where he worked to prepare college football players for the NFL Scouting Combine. The experience contrasted sharply with his three-month co-op as a physical therapist at a retirement community in New Jersey, where he worked with elderly clients who sometimes struggled to get out of bed in the morning.

“I got to see all the aspects that go into patient care,” Heim says, reflecting on the totality of his clinical experiences. “I’ve brought athletes back from post-operative procedures and seen the human body at its most delicate.” Notes Beauchesne: “At all of my co-ops, I learned that the health and safety of your clients should always be your No. 1 priority.”