The Gym That Helps You Build Strength for Life

Michael began lifting weights in the backyard of his house the very next day. The weights he lifted were his dad’s old cement weight plates covered in a plastic coating that cracked all over the place. In 1995, after pestering the owners relentlessly, Michael got his first job at World Gym in Vancouver, Washington, working the front desk and cleaning the toilets every night. He was in heaven. Toward the end of 1995, Michael started coaching members of the gym where he gained a small following. It’s important to remember that in 1995, personal training was in its infancy-unlike today, there weren’t a lot of coaches making a living as personal trainers. He graduated from high school in Vancouver in 1996. It was shortly before graduating that Michael competed in his first natural body building competition. He continued competing and coaching clients at World Gym in Vancouver until he moved to Nashua, New Hampshire, in September 1998. He secured a job as a personal trainer at World Gym in Nashua in 1998 as an employee of the gym. At this time, personal training was becoming more recognized by the general population, not just for athletes. As a result, Michael decided to start his own business as a personal trainer, and in January of 2000, Aspire Health & Fitness was born. In addition to earning a multitude of personal training, nutrition coaching, and strength and conditioning certifications, Michael earned his first business degree from Hesser College in 2006 and his second from Rivier University in 2008. In 2007, Michael began offering generalized nutrition guidance to his clients. In 2017, online coaching was another new offering at Aspire. In 2019, Aspire started offering healthy habit-based coaching. In 2021, Michael earned his PN L1 certification and in 2023 he earned his PN L2 certification, both recognized as the top nutrition coaching certifications in the industry. As a result, Aspire offers a comprehensive nutrition coaching service teaching clients how to approach nutrition from a deep health standpoint. And in 2025, small group workout classes were offered. All the while, the focus for Michael and Aspire Health & Fitness has been to coach clients toward achieving their health and fitness goals and know how to sustain that success for the rest of their lives. Michael and his wife Pamela have been together since 2008. They have three children, Tommy, Jaimi, and Ivan; two grandchildren, Bently and Amelia; and two French Bulldogs, Mrs. Hazel Mae Landingham, and Harvey Sebastian Fulgencio Specter. Michael and Pamela have a burning desire to rent an RV for a year and road trip it across the country visiting each state. And something most people don’t know about Michael is that he is an avid, die-hard WWE fan.