Nathan Cardinal – head Sports performance coach

Education

A.S. Physical Therapy Assistant, Concorde College

B.S. Kinesiology, California State University, Fullerton

Certifications

Physical Therapy Board of California Licensed Physical Therapy Assistant

NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Achievements

Nathan graduated Cum Laude from CSUF with a B.S. in kinesiology – strength & conditioning. His education has

taught him how to apply the principles of strength and conditioning with the science of kinesiology to athletes and people who want to optimize their health. Through his program at CSUF, he acquired extensive knowledge in sports performance programming and exercise periodization. He is also a licensed physical therapist assistant after deciding he wanted to develop an injury rehabilitation and prevention component to his repertoire.

Experience

Nathan has worked with a wide range of populations. In the past he’s worked with friends and family to gain more experience in personal training. He then spent a year training high school basketball players in adjusting and redesigning their workouts and warmups. This allowed him to work with athletes in a sport he is passionate about. In addition, he has worked with adults with developmental disabilities, doing exercises catered to each individual’s abilities.

Interests

The reason Nathan fell in love with kinesiology and sports performance training is because of basketball. He started playing in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. Nathan isn’t jut only into the physical component of training, but also the sports psychology portion. He’s very interested in seeing how much the mind influences a person’s performance when stress starts to creep in. This interest in sport psychology has led him to practice meditation. He’s been meditating daily since 2018 and will probably continue doing so for the rest of his life. Nathan has been playing guitar since he was eight years old and uses this as his artistic outlet; playing for personal enjoyment and friend’s weddings. Another interest he enjoys partaking in is reading books and articles on topics such as philosophy, sports psychology, science, and self-development.

Personal Philosophy

In school, Nathan was taught to challenge the norm. His professors pushed him to question the status quo and ask, “Why? What does the data say?” Training is very individualistic. A certain approach might work for some people and be disastrous and dangerous for others. Being an adept trainer is being able to make those decisions and observations. Nathan’s goal is also to educate the athletes he works with so they can better understand how their body’s work. By doing this, the clients get to learn and apply the ‘why’ behind the program.

Nathan strives to be in the present moment. Whether studying, training, or working, he aims to be here now to enjoy the little things. Matthew 6:34 says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.” Nathan’s aim is to live a life of integrity, mindfulness of his shortcomings, and efforts of improving upon these weaknesses by 1% everyday.

“Heath is accepting and perceiving reality on reality’s terms.” So whether you’re a 5-star recruit or a weekend warrior, Nathan wants to make you achieve your elite.