Todd Downing

Experience: 12 years of working with athletes

Certifications:
-National Academy of Sports Medicine
-Apex Nutrition

Favorite sport: Wrestling

Other sports: Football, Baseball, Track & Field, & Cross Country

How I got here (the condensed version):
Once I finished my successful college wrestling career, I dove right into coaching at the high school level. It was there that I soon became involved in training athletes from various athletic backgrounds during the summer as a favor to my fellow coaches. I soon realized that no matter how different each sport was, compared to the next, the training preparation in the off season had many similarities. I started out doing sport-specific training as a hobby when I wasn’t coaching wrestling. However, after years of doing it, I came to the realization that I was great at it, so I decided to turn it into a life long career.

My final thoughts:
I thrive off of learning things with a 'hands on' approach, and I will never have a client perform a movement that I haven't tested 20 times on my own. I continue to keep an open mind and learn from many others who have pioneered the sports training industry before me. I realize that in order to be successful and gain the respect of today's athletes, you have to do so much more than read a book, take a test, and give your credit card number. You MUST walk a mile in their shoes, treat them like an equal, and be willing to learn as much from them as they would learn from you. Unfortunately, there are individuals who should choose to do something else versus coach or train athletes. They hurt situations more than they help, and should leave the training process up to PROFESSIONALS!

Fit-Athlete differs from the competition for two main reasons:
1) Many years of "hands on" experience as an athlete, coach, and Fitness Professional. The methods,theories, and principles used daily have been developed through study and reinforced by true 'TRIAL & ERROR'......NOT JUST BY READING A BOOK AND TAKING AN EXAM. It's imperative to practice what you preach as well as lead by example.

2) The true understanding of a healthy athlete. We constantly analyze every angle of every lift, every step, and every throw to maximize gains and minimize injuries.