Long before he was known as one of Atlanta’s pioneering farm-to-table chefs, Michael Tuohy learned an early lesson in his San Francisco kitchens: what you put into your body matters as much as what you put on the plate. Decades later, as the chef/owner of Atlanta’s celebrated Woodfire Grill, Tuohy applied that same philosophy to himself — signing up at Wellbridge Athletic Health Spa to get healthy, stay healthy, and keep pace with the demands of a chef’s life.

Tuohy arrived in Atlanta in 1986 and spent more than two decades building a reputation as one of the city’s most influential chefs, known for bringing a Northern California, farm-to-table sensibility to Southern dining. His restaurant Woodfire Grill, which he owned from 2001 to 2008, drew national acclaim for its locally sourced menus and open-kitchen energy — the kind of demanding, high-heat, high-stakes environment that makes a chef’s own health and stamina non-negotiable.

For a chef, the job doesn’t stop when service ends — long hours on his feet, early mornings at the market, late nights closing the kitchen.

That same discipline — sourcing the right ingredients, building something sustainable, showing up consistently — is what carried over from the kitchen to the gym floor, and back again.