As a young kid, Roy learned how to work hard from his mom- a single mother raising 3 kids and looking after her own mother. Roy absolutely loved sports. Playing sports, watching sports, the whole deal. Roy played baseball, basketball and soccer growing up, both for school/park league, and AAU. He stood out from other kids his age because of his skill and hand eye coordination- most likely a product of the endless hours practicing on his own at the park he grew up across the street from. Roy noticed early on that there was a big discrepancy between the level of competition and the exposure to opportunities between the ball he played in the inner cities and his experience with traveling teams. He also found that kids on his traveling teams seemed to have a lot more wealth, resources, and privellege.
Roy attended Minneapolis South High school, where he played soccer, baseball and basketball. Roy made the varsity baseball team his freshman year, and quickly realized that if he wanted to be succesful at that level, it wasn’t enough to be skilled anymore, he had to get bigger, stronger and faster. Naturally, Roy turned to his local gym. Roy worked extremely hard on his body, and was very disciplined when it comes to nutrition. However, Roy worked hard, not smart. His school did not have a strength and conditioning coach, and he couldn’t afford a private trainer. Roy was left doing whatever he (a 13 year old) thought was best, and inevitably he didn’t get the best return on investment.
Roy did see benefits from working hard in the weight room, he was always one of the best conditioned athletes and he learned how to work hard- but he struggled to gain weight, get faster, and get stronger (things his coaches were always telling him he needed to do.) Roy ended up having a great high school career, acheiving captain status for both the baseball and basketball teams, and making the All-City baseball team 2x, but didn’t recieve any offers to play college sports.
Roy went on to attend the University of St. Thomas, where he studied exercise science and psychology. Throughout his time at UST, his passion for performance training continued to grow. He was relentless about studying and learning best practices to get results. He did various internships, and developed the foundations of the training philosophy he still follows to this day. In 2019, Jen and Roy got certified as personal trainers and founded In-Tension Training, but that was just the beginning. Roy started working with athletes at his local gym and honing his abilities to increase sports performance for any given individual, in any given sport. In December of 2020, Roy graduated with a bachelors degree in exercise science and psychology, and passed the exam to become a certified strength and conditioning specialist. He was now to the point where he was training athletes in small groups, and working with higher caliber athletes. In spring of 2021, one of the athlets Roy worked with was drafted in the 4th round of the NFL draft.
In summer of 2021, Roy felt that he needed more space and better resources in order to best serve his athletes. Accordingly, he took a job with Twin Cities Orthopedics/Training HAUS, running their brand new
facility in Vadnais Heights, MN. Nearly all of the athlets Roy was working with at the time followed him there. After 1 year of working for Training HAUS, Roy gained experience organizing and implementing events and programs, training full teams, helping with NFL combine prep and operating a full scale sports performance facility. Despite having “success” in terms of achieving lots of things, Roy wasn’t happy with his day to day life. He felt he was working too much, not being paid enough, and that being a sports performance coach wasn’t a good fit for him as a full time career. He did a lot of self reflection about what he valued most and how he wanted to spend his time and live his life, and he ended up applying to Nursing School.
Roy was accepted to the University of St. Thomas Masters of Nursing Program, and went back to his alma mater in fall of 2022. Roy is still very passionate about using health, wellness and sports performance as a tool to increase accesibility, create opportunties, and help people realize their potential. He will continue to offer online coaching and sell programs online as he pursues a career in nursing. Roy is helpful that his new role as a f nurse and independent performance coach will be one that brings him joy and allows him to empower as many people as he can, particularly those who need it most.
Jen was first introduced to strength and strength sports by her father, in their makeshift basement gym. She loved going down there and watching her dad squat, bench, and deadlift, while she learned basic movements like push-ups and pull-ups.
Growing up, Jen played a handful of sports, from wrestling to soccer. She zeroed in on Volleyball and Track & Field in high school, while still strength training and competing in powerlifting with her dad in the off-seasons. During her senior year of high school, she knew that she wanted to pursue personal training and learn as much about different training philosophies and programming methodologies as possible.
Jen went on to become a certified personal trainer and help hundreds of clients achieve thier goals while she herself was busy competing in powerlifting and olympic weightlifting. After earning her Masters degree and starting a career in tribal law, Jen has taken a step back from coaching to focus on her career and her personal life. She still helps behind the scenes with In-Tension, and will always be Roy’s partner.
At In-Tension Training, we use training as a tool to harness discipline, cultivate growth, and foster strength in all aspects of life.
Copyright © 2023 . All Rights Reserved. in-tensiontraining