Who We Are

 

Karen Cowan, CEO

Karen Cowan, CEO

Karen is the driving force of Focused Fitness®. Her passion for increasing the effectiveness of Physical Education began while she was teaching in Spokane Public Schools. She quickly went from being an award winning PE Teacher to Curriculum Director. In her quest for improving the Physical Education Program, she helped Spokane Public Schools obtain the coveted Carol M. White “PEP” Grant three times. Karen’s passion for quality delivery of health and fitness content fueled her desire to create a written curriculum that integrates a standards-based program with fitness, health and nutrition academic content, intentional fitness, and motor skills. Thus, Focused Fitness® and the FIVE FOR LIFE PROGRAM® were born. Karen is considered an expert in Physical Education Curriculum, and under her leadership, Focused Fitness® has produced over 30 curriculum instructional resources and software to assist school systems in taking a coordinated approach to Quality Physical Education. With Karen’s guidance, over 50 school districts around the country have acquired PEP Grant funding and built innovative curriculum frameworks that now sustain Quality Physical Education and Coordinated School Health.


Perspective: The goal of Focused Fitness® is to develop curriculum that builds an appreciation for and the habit of living a fit, healthy and active life. We want students to love fitness, and be fascinated with how their bodies respond to exercise and activity.  By changing the focus of instruction to improve fitness levels and understand health, fitness, and nutrition concepts, students become more motivated and able to learn traditional skills faster due to improvements in strength, balance, endurance and enhanced self-esteem.


 

 

Ron Malm, COO

Ron Malm, COO

Ron is the implementation arm of Focused Fitness.  An elementary physical education teacher for over 10 years in Spokane Public Schools, Ron understood the need for quality physical education and co-wrote the Five for Life Program.  As skilled as he is at understanding and writing, Ron is even better at communicating the Five for Life Program to other physical educators.  He is extremely energetic and is well-known throughout the industry, drawing hundreds of spectators at his speaking engagements and never doing the same thing twice.  

 

Perspective:  The Five for Life Program is intrinsically motivating because it is about the student.  It is geared to help them achieve their goals without being compared to anyone else. Each student performs pre-fitness measurements in the fall, sets goals for improvement, and performs post-fitness measurements in the spring. Students compete against their own past performances to reach their fitness goals. With this focused approach and realistic goal-setting everyone can be successful. Units and lessons are carefully designed so that health and fitness concepts are blended into activity time.