Specialties:  Whole-body conditioning.  Rebuilding broken athletes. Corrective training programs. Pain relief.

• Certified Personal Trainer—International Fitness Professionals Association; National Academy of Sports Medicine.
• Seven years nutritional consultant for Whole Foods.
• Over 9,000 hours of personal training experience.
• Functional Fitness trainer since 2004.

If you’ve ever felt a bit uneasy, un-helped or even flat weirded-out by the things you’ve seen around you in a typical gym, or by the conventional instruction you’ve received there, then Rich O’Neill would understand completely. Rich worked as a trainer for one of the most popular national chain gyms for three years. He saw how the process too often squeezed people into boxes—everyone was either muscle gain or fat loss—with little regard for their individual issues or long-term health. He found it difficult to help people, perhaps like you, who knew something was missing. And Rich could see in their eyes something of himself, something that just knew there was something more out there.
 
With a fervent desire to learn more, do more, offer more, Rich began to burn the midnight oil. He searched and studied the mind-blurring array of exercise theories and approaches. He weeded out glitz and focused on practical anatomy. He wanted to know how to get his client with the knee problem back on her bike, how to get the guy with sciatica out running again. He began to see how properly coordinated movements, beyond single isolated movements, held the key. And that search led him to Sam Iannetta’s cutting-edge work in Functional Fitness. This unifying system unlocked the breakthroughs in pain patterns he was looking for.
 
So as Rich helps you unlock your own breakthroughs, you’ll feel the quick benefits of his long study. He has spent hundreds of hours shadowing and training under Sam Iannetta, master trainer and founder of Functional Fitness. It is this unparalleled system of movement pattern analysis that Rich enthusiastically opens up for you, all infused with his own humor and energy. Now with over 9,000 hours of personal training experience, Rich links this system up precisely to your goals. And whether you first aim at injury rehabilitation, injury prevention, strength, sports performance, weight loss or general conditioning, Rich shows you not only how to achieve that, but also how to gain the fundamental functional mobility that lets you keep it—every day.
Another health benefit you get with Rich O’Neill is his nutritional expertise. He spent over seven years as a consultant to customers in the nutritional supplement department at Whole Foods Market in Boulder, Colorado. From his Whole Foods training, Rich can enhance your workouts with suggestions on nutrition and supplements that support your wellness and sports performance. He brings this knowledge to his practice at Functional Fitness. His truly unique style uses all of his experience to help you get your own unique best out of life. This full picture of you in your life informs Rich’s enthusiasm and commitment to providing fun, fresh and energetic workouts that build your own energy, self-encouragement and commitment to your workouts.

Rich has extensive experience in athletics, dating back to his youth with a background in mountain biking, snowboarding, competitive basketball, baseball, and lacrosse. He knows what it is to get in the “zone.” So he naturally wanted to test Sam’s system on himself. He said, “When I first met Sam and was introduced to his system, I was amazed at how effective he was at improving people’s health and fitness levels by using relatively straightforward exercises and movements.” After fully engaging with the system, he was even more amazed. He found that Sam had pushed him to physical levels of strength, power, coordination and speed that he had never anticipated.

On a lark, Rich recently competed in auditions for the “American Gladiators” TV show during their recent nationwide search for competitors. Without any specific preparation, he was very successful in the physical challenges, advancing round after round before the final decisions were made. Rich felt that although the try-outs were designed to test the competitors’ physical aptitude, nothing that was required was especially difficult for him. He attributes this to the work he has been doing at Functional Fitness. “I was surprised that my consistent workouts with Sam kept me at a much higher fitness level than many of the other competitors. Sam has taught me the value of incorporating everything imaginable into my workouts: strength, speed, agility, dynamic flexibility and stabilization exercises. I truly felt I had a fitness advantage in this process.”

As it turns out, the gang of cumulative challenges we all face day-to-day bumps us around like the obstacle course of “American Gladiators.” But if you want to take life on with a smile, the way Rich does, get with the guy who’s excited about helping you gain that feeling of staying strong, capable and confident in whatever life throws at you. Rich’s energy is your ally. The phone is your friend. Pick it up.