Christopher Harnish, PhD, ACSM EP-C, CSCS, USAW, FMSc

Dr. Chris Harnish earned his Bachelor of Science in Clinical Exercise Science at Ithaca College; his Master of Science in Exercise Physiology at the University of South Carolina; and his PhD in Exercise Physiology at Virginia Commonwealth University. His dissertation was titled, “Comparison of two different work to rest ratios on the acute metabolic and inflammatory effects of a single bout of spring interval training.”

As an exercise physiologist and coach, Dr. Harnish has worked with both clinical and healthy populations, as well as beginner to professional athletes. His research interests are broad, but revolve around optimizing human performance, with more than 20 publications.

Dr. Harnish is a lifelong endurance athlete, starting as a speed skater early on, and then moving to competitive road cycling for nearly 20 years. After starting his PhD, he began trail running and mountain biking before taking up Xterra triathlon, which culminated in a USAT age-group National Championship in 2018.