The Movement Revolution Family
We are dedicated to enabling our clients to maximize their potential, through the power of neuro-intensive exercise.
Certifications and Specialties:
Meet Our Team of Experts
Our team of Neuro Exercise Specialists have over 60 years of cumulative experience in working with neurological populations. Our coaches’ education level ranges from at least a bachelor’s degree to a PhD in exercise and wellness related fields while holding additional certifications and training in neurological symptom-specific exercise. We understand the unique impact of the conditions affecting our clients allowing us to develop the most impactful exercise programs that help them live stronger each day.
Eric Johnson
CEO & Founder
Eric founded Movement Revolution with the mission to foster hope and invigorate life through exercise, for people with neurological conditions.
Eric has a passion for coaching clients to reach their goals by maximizing their potential. Exercise and wellness quickly became his passion and guided his career path to sharing his experiences as a coach to enhance the lives of others through neuro-intensive exercise. Daisy Asimakopoulos
Director of Operations
Daisy was an athlete all throughout high school, but in college she became passionate about working with special populations and started working with children affected by neuromotor disorders and orthopedic conditions. She graduated with an Exercise Science degree from Illinois State University. While working at the top rehabilitation hospital in the country, Daisy began developing adaptive fitness programs for people with neurological disorders.
Daisy’s strong understanding of program development for conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease and stroke recovery pairs perfectly with her passion to push clients toward their fitness goals. When not training, Daisy is in constant communication with clients and physicians to make sure the Movement Revolution experience is a great one.
In her free time, Daisy enjoys spending time with her husband & kids, traveling, and finding the best outdoor patios – live music required!
Austin Pohlman
Lead Neuro-Exercise Specialist
Austin was a three-sport athlete in high-school, until he suffered a few major concussions in competition. Seeing the impact of rehabilitation in his own life, fostered a passion to enable and help others through their own personal journey.
Austin turned that passion into a Bachelors degree in Exercise Science from the University of Dayton and will complete his masters in the summer of 2020. A internship in the Neurology and Psychiatry department of Northwestern Medical further confirmed that this was his correct path. Leveraging a scientific approach to rehabilitation and disease prevention, Austin has helped numerous clients with varied neurological conditions from Parkinson’s disease, MS, Brain Cancer and others, to improve their functional wellbeing and become more confident in their everyday lives.
In his free time Austin likes to walk his dog Finn, play sports with friends, and enjoys watching a good movie. He likes all types food and is always open to new suggestions or recipes!
Breea Bell
Community Development Coordinator & Lead Neuro-Exercise Specialist
MS, NASM-CES, PES, NASE-CSS
Breea realized early on in her career that she was passionate to work with the special population community concentrating on Parkinson’s disease, Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, among others. Breea has a personal connection with the Parkinson’s community as her grandfather had the disease for 12 years. Making a difference in the lives of individuals with adaptive needs is a passion she strives to achieve each day here at Movement Revolution.
Breea has a bachelors degree and Masters Degree in Exercise Science with a dual concentration in Preventative Injury and Rehabilitation. She also is certified through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) with both the Corrective Exercise Specialist and Performance Enhancement Specialist certifications in addition to her NASE Speed specialist Level II certification.
Shari Manakul
Business Administrator
Shari graduated with her bachelors of Science in Nursing from Chamberlain University. Soon after graduating Shari’s father was diagnosed with dementia so she put everything on pause to become her father’s primary caretaker for five plus years. She is confident that a big reason as to why her dad is still here today is because of the exercise and daily routine that she did with him. That exercise truly prolonged his quality of life. Which is why she strongly believes in the work at Movement Revolution.
Although she decided the hospital setting was not for her, she still enjoys helping others and bringing light into people’s lives. Shari has an immense compassion for others and in her free time she loves to volunteer and donate to women’s shelters and local food pantries.
Matt Costa
Education and Program Development Coordinator & Neuro Exercise Specialist
Matt developed an interest for studying the human body while training for multiple sports in high school. He was fascinated with how each exercise translated into a sport-specific movement on the field. Matt studied exercise science at Slippery Rock University in western Pennsylvania, where he went on to get his Master’s degree in Adapted Physical Activity, studying Physical, Intellectual, and Developmental disabilities.
Matt is extremely passionate about working with individuals with chronic conditions, and was previously the Director of Training for a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh. He has tremendous experience working with individuals with Strokes, Spinal Cord Injuries, and Traumatic Brain Injuries. He believes everyone can improve their quality of life through purposeful physical training!
In his free time, Matt enjoys any outdoor activity! He is an avid golfer, enjoys recreational sports, snowboarding, and watching the Buffalo Bills on Sundays.Ed
Parth Patel
Neuro-Exercise Specialist
Parth began his journey as an adult as a biophysics major. During that time, he learned that he did not enjoy spending time alone in a lab. He had been active through martial arts, lacrosse, and powerlifting throughout his young adult life and into adulthood. Many times, he would get injured and would try to learn why this occured and how to prevent this moving forward. This led him to earning his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa in Health and Human Physiology.
During this time, Parth had been working as a rehabilitation aide at Athletico Physical Therapy and that’s where he learned of his passion to help patients. He remembers the first patient that he worked with post-surgically and helped progress and the absolute joy it brought him to help someone else achieve something that was so meaningful to himself. He then moved on to Northwestern Medicine where he worked in a variety of settings including outpatient orthopedic, neurological, lymphadema, and in-patient. During this time, he earned his Master’s degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Exercise Science and Pain Science. It was during this time that he took a high liking to pain science and pain disorders and helping those experiencing pain to the betterment of their lives and handing them the tools necessary to meet their goals.
Parth loves spending time with his girlfriend, Nicky, traveling, experiencing new and unique things, especially within nature, and he absolutely loves trying new foods.
Liana Lorenzi
Neuro-Exercise Specialist
Liana found her love for sports and exercise in high school when she was part of a travel volleyball team that played year round. She noticed as she was playing she also found interest in the role athletic training and the rehabilitation played inside of volleyball.
Ed Cruzat
Neuro Exercise Specialist
Ed graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana with a degree in Kinesiology. His passion for movement and education truly blossomed in his mid-20s when he herniated discs in his lower back. Ed rehabilitated his spine with orthopedic doctors, physical therapists, and chiropractors. He grew a thirst for knowledge on proper biomechanics and rehabilitative techniques through that process. This has led to a career spanning 15 years of experience in movement science and rehabilitative therapy. Collecting various certifications over the years, he has helped and educated people through their injuries – an essential driving force in his life. Ed is excited to carry that passion and experience to Movement Revolution as a Neuro Exercise Specialist.
In his free time, Ed absolutely loves video games. He also dabbles in boxing/Muay Thai, mountain biking, kettlebell training, and basketball. He is a die-hard Bulls fan but an even bigger fan of his wife and baby daughter.
Sydney Race
Neuro Exercise Specialist
Being active in sports growing up and having experienced months of post-surgical rehabilitation for a sports injury, Sydney desired to learn more about different avenues of exercise such as injury prevention and rehabilitation. She furthered her education majoring in Exercise Science and minoring in Public Health at Illinois State University.
Following her internship at Movement Revolution, she found a deep connection helping others through the empowerment of exercise. Working with special populations through medical fitness was something that broadened her perspective on the opportunities in the field of Exercise Science. From firsthand experience with her grandma being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, she is passionate to promote functional movement through exercise for better quality of life. She was thrilled when Movement Revolution extended a full time position where she can continue to pursue and broaden this path post graduation.
In her free time, Sydney enjoys traveling to try new foods, find the best coffee in town, and plan outdoor adventures such as hiking.
Liam Moore
Neuro Exercise Specialist
Liam was originally born in Seattle, Washington where he grew up and discovered his passion for exercise through his love of swimming, climbing, and soccer. During High school Liam underwent three ACL surgeries in a four year stretch and spent much of that time in rehab. Due to this he grew to appreciate the rehabilitative properties of exercise as well as the unique meaningful relationship that trainers provide to their clients when helping them reach their goals. Liam began to volunteer as a swim coach for children with intellectual disabilities and made it his goal to turn this passion into a career.
Liam left Seattle in order to study Exercise Physiology at Marquette University in Milwaukee Wisconsin. While here he developed an interest in working with special populations and connected with Movement Revolution in order to complete his Senior internship. He loved every second of the internship and developed a passion for training clients with neurological conditions and was thrilled when they reached out about making him a full member of the team post-graduation. Liam received his Bachelors of Science in Exercise Physiology degree from Marquette and moved out to Chicago in order to continue his work at Movement Revolution.
In his free time Liam enjoys going for walks, riding his bike, reading, and exploring new places.
Tess Grimes
Neuro Exercise Specialist
Tess found her love for exercise through sports growing up and continued that passion into her college studies. She graduated from Marquette University in 2021 with a Bachelors in Exercise Physiology. During college she was motivated to help others learn how to begin exercising and became an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer. While training college students, she found that lot of people needed direction on how to start and began to help them not only with exercise but changes to their lifestyle. Moving forward she went on to teach group training classes and learned the best ways to challenge them on a daily basis. Tess realized that communication and relationships with the people she trained was what continued to make the most impact on their goals. Tess’s goal is to make movement and exercise something that can be carried over into everyday life.
In her free time, Tess enjoys doing anything outdoors and is always open to trying new outdoor activities.
Anna Dudziak
Neuro Exercise Specialist
Anna always had a passion for sports growing up and continued to foster it while playing soccer throughout high school and college. Her interest in exercise science stemmed through her own experience with injuries and the rehab that followed. She suffered an ACL tear as well as a wrist fracture both of which required surgery and months of rehab.
Though it was physically and mentally challenging, she used her personal experience to dive more into the exercise physiology world. As her interests grew, she continued her education and completed her M.S in Clinical Exercise Physiology from Benedictine University. She now uses the knowledge she gained to better understand her clients and tailor each session to them individually.
In her free time, she enjoys travelling with family and friends to meet new people, enjoy new experiences, and indulge in new cultures.
Bailey Rowley
Neuro Exercise Specialist
Bailey developed her mindset of exercise is medicine’ growing up as a competitive swimmer and going through physical therapy herself. Seeing mindful, deliberate exercise help her get back to what she loved doing, sparked her interest in studying exercise science at the University of Kentucky.
Since graduating, Bailey has worked in an outpatient orthopedic setting as a rehab aide as well as in a commercial gym as a personal trainer. Both of these experiences led her to pursue further education in kettlebells, pre/post-natal exercise and stretching/mobility work.
Today, Bailey still enjoys swimming and competes in triathlons, as well as furthering her kettlebell skills at the gym. In her spare time, she enjoys going to live shows, trying new restaurants and traveling – and loves recommendations for all of these!
Christina Johnson
Neuro Exercise Specialist & Occupational Therapist
Christina is excited and honored to be an occupational therapist and NES at Movement Revolution. Christina has always had a love of helping others and a drive to solve or modify situations to help improve her patient’s quality of life. She is passionate about her clients success and deeply cares about their recovery.
Christina is originally from the Chicagoland area, but went to undergrad and grad school at St. Ambrose University. She has her masters in occupational therapy and has been practicing for roughly 18 years in Neuro and Trauma, inpatient, and outpatient settings. She has significant experience working with persons recovering from stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, MS, and many other medically complex conditions. Prior to joining Movement Revolution’s incredible team, Christina worked at Rehab Institute of Chicago/Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (10 years), Advocate Christ Medical Center (6 years).
Outside of work, Christina spends the majority of time with her husband, 3 children, 2 dogs, and friends and family. She feels her happiest outside, enjoying good food, volunteering in the community, and continuing to learn & research all areas of science and health.