Ryan H.

My coaching experience began 7 years ago. I was an IFPA-CPFT (International Fitness Professionals Association - Certified Personal Fitness Trainers) for 4-years, then an ACE-CPT (American Council on Exercise - Certified Personal Trainer) for 2-years, and now I am both an NSCA-CSCS (National Strength & Conditioning Association - Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist) and an MDS-I (Multi-Directional Speed Instructor). That's 7 years of experience, and growing! I obtained my Bachelor's Degree in Exercise Science (focused in physiological studies) from the University of Akron as well. Graduation was December 2013 for me. While at the University of Akron, I participated in 2 internships as well. The first was with The University of Akron's Olympic Sports Strength & Conditioning programs (essentially, this is strength & conditioning for every sport except for football). The second was with Akron Children's Hospital Sports Medicine: Sports Rehabilitation Center. At Akron Children's, I was shadowing Athletic Trainers and Physical Therapists to learn about growth & development patterns in youth, common injuries and their causes, as well as how to use strength & conditioning for injury prevention. With this education and experience, I have been working at Pinnacle Sports in Medina, OH since November 2012. While still in my undergraduate studies, I was a part-time personal trainer and SAQ (speed, agility, and quickness) coach. As of August 2014, I have been the full-time Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Pinnacle Sports. Since having acquired the full-time spot, it has been my charge to pursue continued education in the field to further develop the strength & conditioning programs at Pinnacle Sports, and grow the programs to reach more and more athletes.

In sports, I played 13 years of baseball (8 years as a catcher/center fielder), 8 years of golf (3 years on the varsity team in high school), 8 years of snowboarding (middle school, high school, and into college), 5 years of mountain biking (enduro format racing), 2 years of football (middle school), 3 years of MMA, and 2 years of intramural lacrosse. During my adolescent years, I was good at sports but never truly applied myself. I was given enough freedom by my parents to do what I wanted, but was not necessarily guided in my sports as much as I would have liked to have been. It wasn't until during college when I was playing intramural lacrosse that I blew out my ACL and partially tore my meniscus that I had a reality check. This major injury took me into surgery and then physical therapy. Through my physical therapy, I had an amazing therapist that got me back on my feet and stronger than ever before. It wasn't until this time that I truly focused myself on strength & conditioning, in order to positively impact the lives of others. I switched my major in college from Computer Network Software Engineering to Exercise Science after this experience.

Each session takes a holistic approach to developing to complete athlete. In order, we'll work on foam rolling (and other self-guided myofascial release exercises), muscle activation, generating stiffness and good landing technique, speed & agility, power & strength training, and then finish with a short metcon (metabolic conditioning) and cool down. Every bit of each training session is planned along with a periodization for developing strength & power. Even though every session is planned, every exercise/drill has appropriate regressions (step back) and progressions (more advanced) to suit the needs of each individual person. Every athlete participates in the same session (1-hour blocks) but performs their session based on their needs and sport. In this regard, every athlete receives a truly individualized program within this group training, sports performance program.