Doug Werner

Author, Abbie Gets Fit

Doug Werner, author of the critically acclaimed children’s book Abbie Gets Fit, and co-author of the Be Fit, Be Cool guide, is a 35 year veteran of the health and fitness industry, a winner of that industry’s Distinguished Service Award and the American Council of Exercise ‘Ash’ Hayes Scholarship. An associate member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and the American College of Sports Medicine, Doug is an expert on physical fitness and sports for kids and adults. Abbie’s story is the true and endearing account of one 9 year old girl’s journey to get fit with Doug…her dad. Doug can be reached at dhwerner75@gmail.com. <br /> <br /> Doug Werner is a fitness industry veteran with over 30 years in health club management and equipment sales experience. A graduate of Bentley University (Waltham, MA), Doug worked with several high profile club chains in the 1980’s, including Healthtrax Fitness and Wellness and Club Corporation of America (now ClubCorp). In 1982, Doug earned his Nautilus Certification from Nautilus founder Arthur Jones and Dr. Ellington Darden, author of ‘The Nautilus Book’. He switched to the equipment side of the industry when he joined Nautilus as the northeast area sales director in 1990 and was promoted to US National Sales Manager in 1994. Doug left Nautilus in 1996 to take on a US Sales Director position with Life Fitness where he managed 7 direct sales reps and 5 dealers in 22 states. From 1997-99, Doug was the UK business development manager for Unisen, where he helped to establish Star Trac as one of the major equipment providers in the UK. He returned to Nautilus in 1999 to run its commercial sales division. While there, Doug oversaw the sales integration of Nautilus, Stairmaster and Schwinn Fitness and helped to develop, launch and successfully position Nautilus Nitro as the preeminent strength equipment line. <br /> <br /> In 2003, Doug became the vice president of operations at New York City based Town Sports International. While at TSI, he was responsible for the sales and operations management of 39 health clubs in Boston and Washington, D.C., with 1,500 employees and over $85m in annual revenues, including the pre-sale, grand opening and management of 6 new clubs in 18 months. From 2008 to 2013, Doug was the COO of New England Fitness Distributors, the 3rd largest Precor dealer in the USA, where he also served on the Precor Dealer Advisory Board. Today, Doug is a senior manager for USA based Core Health and Fitness.<br /> In 2012, he published the critically acclaimed children's book, ‘Abbie Gets Fit’, based on a true story about his own 9-year old daughter. In 2013, Abbie was the featured speaker at the annual meeting of The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in Washington, D.C. In 2015, Doug was awarded the ‘Ash’ Hayes Scholarship by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) for his work in the prevention of childhood obesity. Doug lives in Glastonbury, CT with his wife Jenny, 16 year old Abbie and her 14 year old brother Sevi.