Strength Coach Leo's Story...

Growing up as a young kid in San Jose, California, I played sports like most kids my age, but was never really good at any of them. I vividly remember "double days" my freshman year and having to do some basic agility/plyos. The coach had 5 bags lined up in a row and we had to hop over them with both feet without stopping. Sounded easy enough, until it was my turn. I go to hop over the first bad, and my left foot goes up first followed by my right foot. I thought to myself "what am I doing?" I tried again, and the same thing happened, except this time the head coach noticed it. "Leo!! Hop with BOTH of your feet!!" coach yelled. I eventually got it after almost 8 weeks of trying...

In high school, I ended up playing football all four years and joined the wrestling team my junior and senior year. The first year out of high school, I helped coach varsity football as a wide receiver's coach. It was tough getting respect from some of my previous teammates who were still on the team. This was my real first taste at coaching, and I knew I wanted to do this at some level.

During the following few years I attempted to play junior college football, but my left knee had a different opinion my first year when I sprained my MCL, and my right knee made it clear, through injuries to both my right MCL and ACL, that I should stop playing at the collegiate level.

Fast forward a few years to where I'm at Cal State Long Beach joining the Rowing team. During the two years that followed, I really got to learn what real teamwork was. One thing about rowing, is that you cannot be successful unless everyone is on the same page.

Once I was done with rowing, I started to focus my time on becoming a Strength and Condition Coach at Cal State Long Beach. I started as an intern, learning proper lifting technique, program design, and was able to work with 13 of the 16 scholarship teams at the school. During that time, I was able to be around some great athletes like Evan Longoria (MLB) & Troy Tulowitzki (MLB).

During my time at Cal State Long Beach, I was able to work with Dr. John Garhammer, a National Strength and Conditioning Association Hall of Fame Strength Coach, and noted weightlifting biomechanist, who has numerous publications on Olympic Weightlifting technique for the snatch, and clean and jerk.

I also started to work at a an athlete academy called Champions Quest, where I really started to grow as a coach. In the 4 years I spent there I worked with middle school, high school, college and pro athletes across various sports.

In 2008, I decided to get my master's degree at University of Nevada Las Vegas, and continue to grow as a strength and conditioning coach. I was able to work with 8 of the 16 scholarship teams including volleyball, football, and track & field to name a few.

Once I completed my master's, I was asked to become an assistant volleyball coach and Strength & Conditioning Coach at Arizona Western College. You must understand, I have never coached volleyball, or played volleyball up to that point. I decided to get out of my comfort zone, and give it a shot. During my time there, I was in charge of strength and conditioning for volleyball, softball, and assisted with football and men's and women's basketball. In the 3 year period that I was at Arizona Western College, the volleyball team made it to the national tournament (first time in 9 years), every volleyball player was offered a scholarship to a 4 year school, while the team received academic all-american recognition every semester, while the softball team also made it to the national tournament (first time in 10 years) and the year I left, they were the #1 seed going into the national tournament. While I will never take credit for what my athletes accomplish on the court or field, I hope I was able to make a positive influence on each and everyone of them.

In February of 2014, I had the chance to move back to Las Vegas and become a Nutrition and Exercise Counselor for a medical group. My knowledge of nutrition grew exponentially and I also had the chance to work with a very knowledgeable doctor that was the Director of Physician Certification and Training for medical group.

In the meantime, I was able to work with some local high school athletes and still put to practice what I have learned over the last decade while also implementing the additional knowledge of nutrition.

The time has finally come that I take my experience and help athletes learn the fundamentals of movement, get stronger, run faster, and OPTIMIZE their ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE so they don't have to get yelled at for not jumping over a bag with both feet.

If you feel that you would like to get better and would like to learn more, contact Coach Leo.