Melissa Kasper

• RTS Coach and Training Lab Community Leader

Specialties:

• Powerlifting
• Crossfit
• Olympic Weightlifting

Background:

From Powerlifting, CrossFit, Olympic Weightlifting, Multi-Day Hiking Trips, to Endurance Cycling, Melissa’s athletic background has been diverse, and has spanned across many communities.

Melissa uses her foundation of anatomy and physics to explore solutions and problem solve with athletes. Starting from an education of massage practices, she enjoyed investigating athlete backgrounds based on the presentation of muscles and individual anthropometrics. She went on to study physics and architecture, which developed the ability to overlap complex systems that simultaneously adapt and react to each other. Merging those two academic backgrounds served as a strong foundation for her dive into strength training.

After her first powerlifting meet, she passionately threw her heart into training. Melissa went directly into self-programming, going on to achieve a qualifying total for regional westerns in Canada within her first half year of powerlifting while concurrently running HIIT training. She enjoys sports science, the process of creating solutions in programming, and working with athletes through mindset barriers. A researcher at heart, she believes education is one of the best paths to athlete autonomy and buy-in. Melissa additionally finds value in developing an athlete's confidence in making decisions in the training room, mental resilience to obstacles and setbacks, and having a voice in their programming.

Melissa’s passion is building relationships with athletes through the means of mutual learning and exchanging knowledge and experience to achieve the best outcome for whoever she’s working with. Melissa has spent time working with lifters of all levels, particularly crossfit and hybrid athletes, and is constantly pursuing a greater understanding of the physiology of powerlifting, recovery, and adaptation.