About RTS®

Since 1997…

Founded by Tom Purvis, RTS, LLC has provided continuing education to Exercise Professionals. While the information presented may and certainly should be applied to one’s self, the goal is to come to understand, appreciate, and eventually master the process required to make skilled exercise decisions appropriate for the current idiosyncratic needs and abilities of any individual, regardless of where he or she may currently lie along the *Functional Continuum®.

(*Functional Continuum is a registered trademark of Tom Purvis)

“The complete RTS experience and education can only be achieved
by attending Mastery taught exclusively by Tom Purvis.”

Exercise Professionals

We define an Exercise Professional as any practitioner who employs exercise as a modality regardless of the demographic with whom he/she works. Personal trainers, group exercise instructors, physical therapists, chiropractors, performance specialists, strength coaches, skill coaches, etc. all employ exercise along a continuum of client/patient abilities, tolerances and goals. Yet there are specific areas and levels of knowledge that are not taught in any of the related degrees or certifications.

A Professional’s Focus

RTS offers truly PRACTICAL education for the Exercise Professional, not bound by tradition, and not biased by sciences like physiology that cannot possibly influence exercise design decisions. The focus is on an ever-expanding foundation of principles and information that enables the decision making process, enhancing the Exercise Professional’s skills of investigation, custom exercise design, progression, and exercise delivery specific to the idiosyncratic and changing needs and tolerances of the individual client. While generalized assessments, exercise instructions, and protocols of progression are acceptable standards of education and practice for physical therapy and personal training. At RTS we considered anything that is not Client-Defined™ as subpar for true Exercise Professional! Everything must be modified based upon “Who, Goal, Have, Own, and Tolerate”™!

A true professional’s education is not based upon gathering more support for what he/she already believes. It is not comprised of sound bites that people mistake as “science”. Science is not memorized facts or misapplied research. It is a process of constant questioning and investigation! It s process requiring openness, not ego! A true professional seeks both text book and practical knowledge that is only of value as applies to each individual client or patient and his/her responses and outcome.

Exercise Mechanics

“The term ‘Exercise Mechanics’ was coined by Tom Purvis in the 80’s
and RTS was the first and only course teaching it for decades.”

RTS focuses and excels at the progressive presentation of Exercise Mechanics, an application of engineering and physics to the understanding, implementation, and delivery of exercise. The upper levels of the RTS programs have proven time and time again to exceed the vast all major university kinesiology, biomechanics, exercise science, or sports medicine classes in terms of the applicable presentation of mechanical principles and their specific application to various individuals. The integration of orthopedics and motor learning with the physics of resistance application along with the skills of client/patient education set RTS apart.

Determine Your Own Entry Level

The RTS programs have progressed from a single 5-day course in 1997 to multiple levels of courses including the 6-day domestic and internationally RTS Foundations to the 120 hour online prerequisite lectures + 9-day hands-on RTSm_.

We offer educational courses and programs nationally and internationally which allow us to further our mission of changing the perception and delivery of exercise by bringing substance and objectivity to how we study, teach, and apply exercise idiosyncratically to each individual client or patient for whom we accept responsibility.

Are you committed to extremely advanced learning? In very specialized study within field of that typically requires a commitment to traveling. (50% of RTSm students are international; one even learned English just to attend!)

If logistics or your level of commitment don’t allow keep you within a tighter geographical radius, there are RTS₂ courses in many regionally and expanding annually.

Your Expectations Define Your RTS Experience

Ultimately, your experience with RTS, will be determined first and foremost by the attitude and filter with which you attend. Attendees of RTSm have include NBA and NFL strength coaches, university professors, Specialty Certified DPT’s, MD’s, DC’s, high school coaches, “celebrity trainers”, “master” trainers, recently certified personal trainers, Pilates instructors, yoga teachers, etc. Exercise Mechanics and delivery transcends all versions and levels of exercise. Be open and you will walk away with new skills and insights that can help evolve your decision making process… if you so choose.

The Bottom Line

If you’re entirely satisfied with your level of knowledge and skills in application; if you’re completely satisfied with your ability to meet the needs of every single type of client from the exceptionally tolerant athlete to the orthopedically and neurologically compromised 50 year old to the average 80 year old; if you’re happy with the standards of practice in the industry, or if you’re just apathetic, then RTS is not the place for you… yet.

The History of RTS

RTS is the culmination of 40 years of experiences as a lifelong student and inquisitor, decades of teaching experience and professional practice, as well as both physical achievements and challenges… all of which culminated in thousands of mistakes… a virtual breeding ground for hundreds of original insights into Exercise Mechanics and working with every person regardless of where they current are along the continuum of physical abilities and tolerances.

In 1989 the founder of NASM, Dr. Robert Goldman, recruited Tom to develop the Biomechanics Lectures and Hands-on portions of what was the first Personal Training certification in the US. By 1999 Tom was continuing to increase the depth and details of these presentations, while NASM was eliminating its advanced courses for the more lucrative standard courses.

You could view that decade building NASM as the incubator for the development of the information that was to become “RTS”. For several years Tom had been doing professional continuing education courses for therapists and trainers under the RTS name, so at that point RTS became the sole home and delivery site for his continually advancing explorations and presentations. Over 30 years later RTS continues to evolve and offer one of the most advanced specialty educational programs in the Exercise Professional world.

For testimonials from fitness and medical professional, Terms & Conditions, and FAQs click here.