Introduction

My name is Ryan and I first heard about steemit a couple weeks ago from a friend on Facebook. He has a degree in economics and is always posting about financial markets, cryptocurrency, and precious metals. I know he does extensive research and I trust his judgement based on the personal choices he makes with his own investments, so thanks to @yoopstar for the intro to steemit. I will admit I was skeptical about steemit, as I'm sure many first starting out are. Upon more research and signing up for an account you begin to realize this is very real, and very cool! Looking at the community and the amount of support we can give each other sets this platform apart from other social media, not to mention you can make some money. With other social media I've noticed supporting people and creating a positive reputation is not the goal, in fact many comments are so negative you would think their goal was to destroy their reputation. Steemit is so much different. Motivated by keeping a positive reputation drives this community (from what I've seen so far) to create of culture of growth. People bent on bringing others down will lower their reputation and eventually have zero influence on steemit and have no reason to come back, that's good shit.  

Some quick background on me first. I'm a grad student studying Exercise Science at Northern Michigan University. I am President of the NMU Cycling Team and also race Road and Mountain for the team. I have a combined 18 years of experience in endurance sports between swimming, running, and cycling. I am a National Strength and Conditioning Association Certified Personal Trainer, currently training clients around 30 hours/week. I've been personal training for 5 years now, working with clients ranging from high school sports teams, people coming out of injury rehabilitation, weight loss goals, performance goals, and holistic corrective exercise. I am currently studying to be a CHEK Certified Exercise Coach. You can find more information about CHEK Institute here: https://chekinstitute.com/about-the-c-h-e-k-institute/c-h-e-k-professional/

Why I'm here

Help with health

I love helping people get healthier, and by curating articles and authoring posts I feel are relevant to people's health I can effectively assist them in educating themselves about whatever health related topic they are concerned about. I will focus on scholarly peer reviewed articles and scientific evidence based information. If I cover a certain subject on health or fitness, I WILL have evidence(with relevant references) to back it up and a logical explanation as to why I hold those beliefs. 

Incentives

Incentives are prime motivators for everything we do. We work to earn money. We do good for others because it feels great to see our effort has helped. Incentives are what drives the world, and can also have a huge affect on reputation. We have an incentive on steemit to create a positive reputation, to increase our market value. Therefor this creates an atmosphere of positive growth! Everyone has the incentive to be positive to each other, yes even in criticism. When you see people criticize on facebook or youtube there is no incentive to maintain their reputation, which instantly devolves in ad hominem attacks, slurs and overall bullying. I have yet to see that on steemit. 

Writing

I've always loved to write. Until I had to. To sit down and write a blog article comes naturally. To have to write a similar paper for a class is a completely different story. It could be on the exact same subject but for some reason when I am forced to do it, the task of writing feels strained. On steemit I get to write posts about subjects I love, interact and network with new people from all over the world who read my writing, and possibly make a little money in the process. 

Conclusion

If you've made it this far down my intro post I give you credit! I spent way too much time on this post and am really looking forward to cranking out some scientific evidence based posts on health and fitness! I will also do an occasional article on politics, economics, mountain biking, road cycling, and many other outdoor activities! 

• Please follow me if you appreciate fact based information on health
• Please do not follow me if you are not going to read and actively engage with my content, I do my best to read people's content and make thoughtful comments afterwords, and appreciate reciprocation
• Feel free to comment on this post with any questions on specific health topics. If I don't already know the answer, I have access to 1000's of journal subscriptions and will do my best to find some information for you 

Your friend in health, Ryan. 

Image Credit: https://www.paulcheksblog.com