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#VikingTrained

About Us

Viking Performance Training LLC is Morgantown’s elite world-class strength and conditioning center available to all athletes, adults, kids, and anyone looking to reach their maximal potential- whether with strength or general fitness, personal training, or team training.

Our Team

Viking Performance Training (VPT) is home to the most experienced and certified Strength & Conditioning coaches and Personal Trainers in West Virginia with one goal in mind – to help you or your family reach the highest levels of fitness and performance! 

Opened by former West Virginia University championship strength coach Jerry Handley, coaches have worked directly with kids from elementary school and PreK up through college and athletes including:

  • Division I athletes and National Champions
  • NBA, NFL, MLB, and Professional Soccer draft picks
  • Olympians in Soccer, Rifle, Swimming, and Wrestling
  • Professional strongmen and championship level powerlifters
  • Mixed martial artists, boxers, and jiu-jitsu competitors
  • Adults wanting more energy, to lose weight, get toned, and feel stronger!
  • National level Speed & Agility Camps

#VikingTrained:

Helping you become the best you can be – for athletics, for life.

Being #VikingTrained means one thing above all else – you will be trained and coached to be the best version of yourself. Trained for your goals, trained for your sport, trained for your life.

That means whether you’re looking at training for your middle-school 3-sport athlete, a high school athlete looking to increase their chances of a scholarship to college, or a parent in your 40’s looking to take back control of your health, fitness, and confidence – then a #VikingTrained program will be designed exclusively for you.

Increase your vertical jump.
Viking Flight School – Future #VikingTrained athletes routinely come to us wanting to increase their jumping power – basketball, volleyball, football, soccer, gymnastics, and more all want more height in their jumps. With our specific approach to finding the weakest links in an athlete’s jump, improving jumping technique, and training for explosiveness off the ground – #VikingTrained athletes, parents, and coaches routinely send us pictures of our athletes jumping head and shoulders above their competition.

Strength is the foundation of all performance.

Getting stronger in the correct muscles and movements allows everything else to get BETTER, and makes YOU the dominating force in your life.

Decrease injuries?

Better performance, decreased risk of injury, and faster return to performance. All are #VikingTrained traits.

Improved speed and agility? Faster first step? 

The #VikingTrained coaching method uses professional level speed and agility to train all athletes. Using a holistic workout approach with specific warmups, explosive plyometrics, and progressive training for Speed and Agility drills before the strength training in most workouts, athletes use the best science available in modern training to get faster where it counts – on the field and on the court, consistently

Help your team reach #Championship Levels?

We take price in the nearly immediate effect and improvement we see our teams and athletes achieve on the field. Several of our teams have skyrocketed straight to championship games after becoming #VikingTrained, without having been to those games in years. It’s an edge we know we can help anyone create.

Take out stress and gain confidence?

Viking Performance Training is known as one of the most positive environments our clients ever experience (just check out our reviews on social media!). The positive and supporting atmosphere combined with the effectiveness of the training, and total body activity, are perfect for becoming less stressed while gaining confidence, no matter who you are.

Help you lose weight, feel the strongest you’ve ever been, and enjoy the hell out of working out again?

If you’re motivated, it’s not what CAN #VikingTrained do…

…it’s What WILL #VikingTrained do for you? 

#VikingTrained

Coaches & Trainers

Since opening the doors of Viking Performance Training in 2014, #VikingTrained programs and staff have coached numerous kids and adults of all ages, all types, all backgrounds, including team and individual High School State Championships, National Champions, professional athletes, and world championship competitors

Many committed athletes have made their first varsity team, while over a MILLION DOLLARS in scholarship money has been earned.

The best part? The confidence and price that has been earned by the athletes and clients.

Nothing beats that.

Jerry Handley

Jerry Handley

Owner and Head Coach

  • CSCS, SCCC, Barwis Methods Master Performance Coach
  • 2x Best Selling Collaborative Author
  • Co-Host of the “Asymmetric Habits” podcast, with Jonathan Pishner of Apex Counseling
  • M.S. Exercise Physiology, M.S. Athletic Coaching Education, USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach
  • Former Championship Strength and Conditioning Coach for West Virginia University (2004-2014)
  • USA Powerlifting WV State Chair, MAS Wrestling USA WV State Chair
  • West Virginia University Professor of Strength and Conditioning (2005-2016)

Jerry Handley is the founder and head coach of Viking Performance Training LLC. Jerry was a strength and conditioning coach for West Virginia University for over 10 years, where he was directly responsible for the strength, conditioning, speed, and agility of some of WVU’s most successful athletic programs of all time. While at WVU, Handley worked with every varsity sports program through his career.  Viking Performance trained teams and individuals have won state championships, national championships, and competed in world championships since beginning their Viking Performance training.

“What fuels me the most? Helping people of all ages train to become their best self.”

Handley’s found his true passion since opening Viking Performance Training, a passion centered around helping everyone achieve their physical fitness and athletic goals, particularly school-aged athletes! Handley has coached multiple Olympians including Gold & Silver medalists, and his athletes have found success on the international level, with multiple athletes winning Gold at the prestigious Pan-American Games. Handley-trained teams have totaled 11 conference championships and 2 National Championships while at West Virginia University in various sports. Handley was also involved in an assistant role for WVU football’s 2007 Gator Bowl and 2006 Sugar Bowl title, as well as WVU basketball’s 2005 Elite Eight and 2009 Sweet Sixteen seasons.

Other Handley trainees include Olympic runners, shooters and wrestlers; a 1st-Round NBA Draft Pick, MLB draft picks, National Strength and Conditioning All-Americans, twenty women’s and men’s professional soccer players, Pro and World Championship level strongman competitors, powerlifting champions, international swimmers, and MAS Wrestling National Champions. Many of the athletes Handley has trained still hold school records.

Handley has Master’s Degrees in Exercise Physiology as well as Athletic Coaching Education. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, as well as a Strength and Conditioning Coach Certified through the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association. Jerry has worked alongside some of the nation’s top strength coaches, including several years with Mike Barwis (former WVU and Michigan Director of Strength and Conditioning, founder of Barwis Methods), Chris Allen (Director of Strength and Conditioning at Arizona), and Mike Joseph (Director of Strength and Conditioning at WVU). Jerry’s work with Barwis has earned him a Level 8: Master Performance Coach distinction.

“My personal philosophy is this – once a person takes ownership of their decisions and reactions in life, then they have control of their life.  The present and future they want can be theirs, but it takes a decision, and a commitment to the actions that will create that future.  Big actions – massive actions. Commit to working towards your goals in big ways, using that aggressive patience, and your goals will become you.” – Jerry Handley

Paul Mouser

Paul Mouser

Strength and Conditioning Coach

  • Bachelor of Science, Athletic Coaching Education from WVU

  • Area of Emphasis: Strength and Conditioning

  • Minor in Sport and Exercise Psychology

  • Minor in Personal Training

  • WV State Chairperson for Strongman Corporation 2014-present

  • Former State Chairperson for USA Powerlifting (2017-2020)

  •  

    Dad jokes like you wouldn’t believe

    Paul joined Viking Performance Training as a full time coach in January of 2020, but his affiliation with the facility goes back to the opening in 2014. Paul has been the most active strongman promoter in the United States in recent years, hosting more events than anyone else in America, with many of those events taking place right here at Viking Performance Training. Paul has extensive experience competing in the sport of strongman, while also enjoying some powerlifting meets and grip-sport events long the way. Paul’s coaching passions aren’t just limited to brute strength endeavors however, as this WV native has long enjoyed working with people of all different ages, ability levels, and with a variety of fitness/performance goals. Paul is particularly proud of the work he has been able to do with people trying to lose weight, battle chronic illnesses, and/or regain function in their daily lives. 

    “If a task is difficult, uncomfortable, or exhausting, there is a good chance it will get you closer to your goals. It’s my goal to help people along the way, give them the guidance they need, and dare I say help them enjoy the process. You focus on your consistency, your effort, and your attitude, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Jordan Rodriguez

Jordan Rodriguez

Strength and Conditioning Coach / Intern Coordinator

  • Bachelor of Science, Exercise Physiology from WVU

  • Areas of Experience: Strength and Conditioning, Physical Therapy

  • Former WVU Teaching Assistant

  • May actually squat more than you

Jordan began coaching at VPT in January 2022 as a professional intern in the WVU Exercise Physiology program, where she was then hired on as a full-time staff member in May of that year upon completion of her internship.

In addition to being an invaluable coach at the gym, Jordan is in charge of Viking’s Internship Program which aims to give student & professional interns the tools they need to get experience with high-level strength & conditioning as well as general fitness training, and making sure they progress steadily through our Professional Development Course.

Jordan first got involved in strength training during early high school, and was a member of the WVU Powerlifting team through college. Since graduating Jordan has added competing in strongman to her strength sport profile.

Jordan is a WVU graduate from the Class of 2022 and has a B.S. in Exercise Physiology as well as two years of experience working in Physical Therapy, and has also been a WVU teaching assistant for their strength and conditioning courses.

Saveena Cole

Saveena Cole

Strength and Conditioning Coach

  • Associate of Applied Science from Coastal Pines College, Georgia
  • ASFA Certified Personal Trainer
  • Hobbies – powerlifting and being the nicest trainer in existence

Saveena joined the Viking Performance Training staff in the summer of 2023 after leaving the medical field to pursue her goal as a fitness trainer. 

Dan Arthurs

Dan Arthurs

Strength and Conditioning Coach

  • Currently studying for Sports Management degree at West Virginia University with a Minor in Physical Training and Performance
  • NASM Certified Personal Trainer
  • WVSSAC Certified Coach
  • Best hair on staff for now (sorry Jordan, sorry Saveena)

Dan’s VPT experience dates back to the summer of 2017 when he joined the gym as a Strength & Conditioning client for hockey performance after 8th grade. Continuing to be a client for years, Dan became an intern while in college at WVU for the Summers of 2022 and 2023 before being hired as an official coach August 2023.

Dan played hockey for 16 years, including 2 years of collegiate hockey for WVU, leading the team in points both college seasons. Dan was also named an NSCA 2020 All-American Strength & Conditioning Athlete of the Year.

 

Viking Performance Training

141 Green Bag Road, Morgantown, WV 26501
(304) 216-7496
vikingperformancetraining.com

Gym Hours

Mon: 7:30 am – 8:30 pm
Tue: 9:00 am – 8:30 pm
Wed: 7:30 am – 8:30 pm
Thu: 9:00 am – 8:30 pm
Fri: 7:30 am – 8:30 pm
Sat: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm