The North Shore’s Best Fitness Trainers
The IPF team is extremely passionate about helping adults and kids achieve their highest level of ability. Our staff is here to encourage and motivate you throughout this journey as well as help you identify and overcome those things that have been obstacles to your success. By teaching techniques and skills related to movement, strength training, conditioning, nutrition, injury prevention, and recovery, our team will challenge you in an environment that improves not just your physique and knowledge but, more importantly, your confidence and self-esteem.
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Walter Norton Jr.Owner
Professional Journey
Having worked in the fitness industry for almost 25 years, it’s not surprising that Walter has had an impact on a wide range of athletes and clients. From winning championships, to achieving weight loss goals, to improving mindset, it’s clear that, through Walter’s extraordinary coaching approach, his clientele enjoy both widespread personal and professional successes.
Walter can stake a claim to having trained the most athletes in New England over the past several decades. His incredible resume includes:
- NBA Boston Celtics 2004-2008, including their Championship year in 2008
- New England Revolution (MLS)
- Boston Breakers (WUSA)
- Boston Bruins (NHL)
- Boston University Men’s Ice Hockey (NCAA)
- Harvard University Women’s Ice Hockey (NCAA)
- 40 medalists across the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 Olympic Games
- First Round Draft Picks in Football, Basketball and Hockey
- Professional Athletes in Golf, Boxing, Lacrosse, and Fitness
- Celebrities from movies, television, music, and media including: Ben Affleck, Jen Garner, Ryan Seacrest, Ciara, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon
While Walter remains available to train specific clients for special projects or programs, his real passion is bringing his structured, consistent, straightforward, and high octane coaching style to the middle school, high school, college and adult athletes and clients who train at IPF on a daily basis.
In addition to training, Walter’s industry experience includes serving as a consultant for Nike on the SPARQ performance advisory board as well as consulting for numerous other major sports organizations, running a corporate fitness business in Boston, and helping grow a top ten agency for pro football players.
Walter founded/owned Mike Boyle’s Strength & Conditioning (MBSC) with Mike Boyle and was the facility’s Director of Programming & Training for ten years. Under Walter’s leadership, MBSC became the largest and most well-known training facility in the U.S. During that time, Walter continually honed his vision of the ideal training facility – one that would be relationship-driven and motivate individuals and teams to improve their athletic ability, change their fitness and nutrition habits, and enhance their lifestyle. In 2008, Walter left MBSC and that vision became IPF.
Personal Journey
Not unlike many people who venture into the fitness industry, Walter started working out as a senior in high school and enjoyed the process and the results. This physical growth was important to his role as a Boston University scholarship quarterback and launched him into a professional football career in Europe post-grad. But most important, seeing and feeling how working out changed him for the better, lit the fire for the rest of his journey in the fitness industry.
In the late 90s, Walter and Mike Boyle decided to open Boyle’s Strength and Conditioning in Saugus, MA. “The first day we were open, I trained six kids. A decade later, during my last two summers at MBSC, we were training about 450 kids a day. That evolution and growth, from a business standpoint, was awesome. But many athletes I had spent hours with on a daily basis, year after year, were now just getting a ‘hello’ and a ‘goodbye’. I wanted to continue to be a coach and a mentor, not a conductor just moving people around. I missed the relationships, the growth, and shared experiences.”
When Walter opened IPF in 2008 in Andover, MA he envisioned a more personal facility, where he could have a very hands-on experience with all athletes and clients. “We want to impact physical, behavioral and lifestyle changes in people. Our philosophy is that we want you to learn to believe in yourself and the process, and to have a real desire to want to learn and improve.”
After 25 years in the industry, Walter is still excited by early mornings, late nights, and every opportunity. “We are inspired every day to help all different kinds of athletes and clients. On any given day at IPF, there are pro athletes, Olympic medalists, teachers, seniors, moms and dads, young kids of all abilities, all working out at the same facility. Every day is still exciting!”
Walter lives in North Reading, MA with his wife, Liz, daughter, Nicole, son, Macintyre, and their four dogs, Magnus, Abe, Lyken, Lucious.
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Jamie DamonDirector of Training & Operations
Professional Journey
Over the past 10 years at IPF, Jamie has stepped up to the plate each time he has been asked to take on new, greater and more important responsibilities. Currently, as the Director of Training & Operations, Jamie ensures that the IPF facility runs smoothly every day, that IPF hires the best coaches and staff and that they receive excellent training, and that all clients feel supported and part of the IPF community. In addition, Jamie manages our highly successful internship program, coaches our adult and athlete groups as well as personal training clients, and is instrumental in creating the optimal training programs for our clients. Jamie has a wealth of knowledge and experience in fitness, goal setting, nutrition strategies, and habit changing techniques and has trained a wide range of clients from the ages of 12 to 72 including:
- Medalists from the 2010 and 2014 Olympics
- Professional athletes from the MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS
- Women’s U.S. National Ice Hockey Team members
- Women’s U.S. National Soccer Team members
- Collegiate Athletes and Sports Teams
- Middle School and High School athletes and sports teams
- Cancer survivors
- Clients rehabbing from surgery and traumatic accidents
There are many ways that people describe Jamie – incredibly hard working, always gives great effort, never loses focus on the task at hand, and extraordinarily reliable and consistent, just to name a few. But, most of all, his fellow coaches and the IPF community know him to be extremely caring; he enthusiastically puts 110% of his time, his energy, and his heart into helping others.
Jamie is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and a Certified Sports Performance Coach with the USA Weightlifting Association. He graduated from Emory University, Atlanta, GA in 1996 with a B.A. in History.
Personal Journey
It’s a familiar story, says Jamie. “I played sports throughout my youth, got into weight lifting, loved the gym, and decided I wanted to become a strength and conditioning coach or a trainer.”
As a teenager living in Andover, MA, Jamie would make his parents drive him up to the Gold’s Gym in Salem, NH to work out. “I had a smaller build than I wanted back then, so I would drink Weight Gainers until they made me sick. I was consumed with trying to get better, faster, and stronger, but at that time, in the late 80s/early 90s there wasn’t as much access to great information like there is today. I was the guy who would order random stuff from the back of magazines.”
Jamie particularly excelled as a sprinter at Andover High School, where he still holds the record time in the 50-yard and 60-yard dash, and he went on to run track at Emory, his alma mater. “I was always taking my training to an extreme that most people my age weren’t going to. I was running down the track with parachutes on my back. I had various textbooks that I bought always trying to learn more. The cool thing I learned through all this investigation and experimentation was that through improvement, no matter how much, I always felt a sense of accomplishment. I was continually building myself up with incremental successes.”
The industry has changed quite a bit since Jamie was a teenager. “I feel very lucky that I can now work in an environment where I have always felt at home and where I can truly be myself. I also feel very proud of how IPF has grown since I’ve been here. When I started coaching here, we had a handful of adults in our morning group and a couple of youth groups. The business has grown exponentially to where we now have adult and athlete groups throughout the morning, afternoon and evening, six days a week.”
However, Jamie returned to Andover, MA for more than just a job opportunity. “My entire immediate family still lives in the North Shore area, including my 93-year-old grandmother, and there are so many other wonderful connections that I have and continue to make here. Along with my wife, Karen and daughter, Sara, I am very glad to be part of the IPF community.”
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Liz Keady NortonConsultant & Coach
Professional Journey
Liz is currently the Assistant Coach of the Harvard University Women’s Ice Hockey team. Liz also works as a Skills Coach for USA Hockey Girls’ Development Camps, coaching some of the best U15/U18 women in the country. These camps are a direct pipeline to the U20 National Team and U.S. National Team.
Although a Division I coach for four years, Liz has spent a lifetime in women’s hockey. On the coaching side, prior to Harvard, Liz coached at Union College, Andover High School, and the North Shore Vipers Program. Additionally, Liz was the Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach at Andover High School. A terrific coach and communicator, Liz has been a sought after private skills coach and power skating instructor for the last decade.
Liz’s success off the ice as a coach can be traced to her phenomenal on-ice career:
- Member of the Boston Blaze of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League – 2008/2009
- Member of and trained with U.S. National Women’s Ice Hockey Team – 2004/2005 and 2008/2009
- Participated in the U.S. National Team’s Pre-Olympic Tour – Summer 2005
- Played in the 2004 Four Nation’s Cup, which features the U.S. versus Canada, Finland, and Sweden
- All ECAC, Ivy League First Team selection, 3-time MVP, and Senior Year Captain of the Princeton Women’s Ice Hockey Team
- Won four national championships with her Assabet Valley Girls Hockey Club team, which boasts the largest number of Division I and Olympic players to come out of any all-girls program
- All ISL and All-Scholastic in soccer, hockey and track at Milton Academy, where she still holds many school records
Liz is able to provide IPF parents and their hockey-loving kids with invaluable insight into how to evaluate your game, design a plan to improve, and make the move to varsity, the collegiate level, and beyond.
Liz also knows very well what it’s like to be an IPF athlete since she has been working out with Walter for almost 15 years both at IPF and Mike Boyle’s Strength & Conditioning. In addition to training with talented male and female college players, she has trained extensively with NHL athletes including All-Stars and Olympians.
When Liz transitioned from playing to coaching, she became a very popular coach at IPF. She worked with athletes individually, led groups, and was the first General Manager at IPF. Liz is always available to consult with parents and athletes regarding the process of recruitment, physical improvement, skill development, and the mental side of hockey.
Liz is USA Hockey Certified for Coaching.
Personal Journey
Clearly Liz has a passion for ice hockey, but she was also a standout athlete in soccer, track and, though a late bloomer to lacrosse, ended up playing varsity in that sport as well. It’s not just her athleticism that sets her apart, though. In 2008, Liz was the recipient of the Sarah Nevins Award, which is given to one female athlete nationwide every year for demonstrating the highest level of dedication and leadership to sports.
“At IPF, I recognize that I am a role model, especially for the younger female athletes. I am able to communicate to them that it’s about the process, not where they are now, and to share with them that my success isn’t all based on natural talent. I really beat the odds making the national team and playing hockey at Princeton, and I truly believe it’s because the IPF process worked for me.”
Liz relates to IPF’s young athletes because she has been through exactly what they are up against. “With my background in Division I hockey, I see what it takes to get to that level and to be successful when you do. I will do anything I can to help guide an athlete down the right path. Athletes not only need to make a full commitment to the process at IPF, but outside of here, they will need to commit to better nutritional habits, improved sleep and recovery, and a focus on academics. They really need to be all in if they want to ‘make it’.”
Having had setbacks, herself, makes Liz an even more important resource for IPF athletes to be able to turn to. “Younger kids are always so focused on the end goal that they end up thinking it’s success or failure, black or white. I like to help them see the positive in failing; if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it. I believe there is a lot of value in working hard at something regardless of the result.”
Transitioning from athlete to coach has given Liz an opportunity to share not just hockey lessons with others, but life lessons. “Hockey, and training in general, are great ways to teach people about having a work ethic, setting goals for personal development, and, for a lot of younger kids, building mental toughness and confidence. I love being able to reach athletes on another level that translates to the rest of their life for the rest of their life.”
Liz and Walter live in North Andover with their family and four dogs, Magnus, Abe, Lyken and Lucious, who also love to hang out at IPF!
