End of the Road

The Weightlifting Academy Aarau will cease to exist and will be officially dissolved by June 1st of 2024.

This will mark the beginning of a new chapter, as I will be retiring from the daily business in the traininghall.

After very humble beginnings in early 2010 and changing the course of regular strength development of several highly motivated grappling, MMA and Muay Thai athletes, this required a lot of tampering with their pride and traditional training beliefs, but at the same time it was the ultimate testing ground for my training approach and the values I wanted to pass on.

Over the years of specialising in training individual athletes while still being inspired daily by my coach and mentor, by the end of 2014 it was definitely time to take it a step further and create the kind of raw warehouse type gym I had enjoyed myself for years when developing as an athlete, for a slightly larger clientele.

Regardless of performance level, I’ve had given the unique opportunity to grow in exercise therapy due to the daily stream of athletes from all different walks of life and sports.

With the establishment of this facility in early 2015 and the larger influx of athletes and associations seeking my expertise to improve their individual performance in the long term, I’ve had the opportunity to become the expert for training and exercise therapy specialist that I am fortunate to be today.

The founding of the competitive sports subdivision in mid-2017 also paved the way for me to become a sought-after specialist in certain areas of athlete development. It was the fulfilment of my wildest hopes to be able to bring my values, my knowledge, my experience and my standards to the squads of the national federations with the necessary passion and perseverance.

After years of dedicated work and the realisation that favouritism is thicker than water and speaking the truth is liken to heresy, I decided in late 2022 to withdraw from almost everything that has to do with an official mandate of an association under the patronage of Swiss Olympic at elite level. Especially nowadays that even another new regulation has come into place that no federation can apply for funding for external experts with an educational background outside their own sport, my services are no longer needed, even if the expertise at all levels of the line of work I have chosen to do, in the federations is not available. As a result, many existing partnerships with many athletes who rely on this promising system will now be ceased as it’s no longer be affordable to them due missing funding.

This rather unfortunate development forced me to push forward and develop my idea to keep educating and guiding athletes and coaches through their challenging journey.

Especially at a time when literally at all levels of education, online coaching and beyond, random faces trying to influence the industry with their immature and ill-conceived expertise are no longer paying much attention to movement quality, I just had to get involved and contribute something, hopefully meaningful.

I will downsize the training hall with immediate effect, rename it “the Grounds” and continue to offer my services to athletes who have the patience to work for their success. As well
I have shifted my business focus to a purely educational offering. I will have no hesitation in sharing pretty much everything I have learnt as a trainer over the last 15+ years with a much wider and international audience under the Methodical Physical Education Group brand.

My enthusiasm for movement training remains unbroken, even after the successes and defeats of all these years in the fast-paced world of elite sports.
As a specialist in exercise therapy, I remain committed in my daily line of work in somewhat smaller capacities to rehabilitation and restoring convalescents to full performance.

Over the years, I have been very fortunate to accompany so many great personalities, athletes, coaches and trainees. I would like to thank you and I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to everyone involved. Your confidence in my abilities has been a constant source of motivation throughout this truly unique journey.

When I look back now, with a very few exceptions, I come to the rhetorical realisation that the most talented athletes I have ever met were in my hands at the very beginning of my coaching career.

It’s come full circle and it’s been one hell of a ride so far!

Coach Fink

Michel Fink