“I didn’t just jump into the water to start my historic swim, and I didn’t just jump onto a bike to begin my 10,000-mile bike ride. Both events took more than 18 months of training. Swimming, biking, dieting and high-intensity weight training. I am now using everything I learned along the way to help my clients improve on their own fitness routines, and realize their own fitness goals.” - Nick Irons
Nick Irons knows about going the distance. He made national headlines at 25 when he became the first person in 70 years to swim the length of the Mississippi River, and the first to swim it with the locks and dams of its “modern” form. The video below is a one-minute trailer for a documentary film currenly being produced on Nick.
As an accomplished endurance and competitive athlete, Nick Irons and his team can help you accomplish your fitness goals.
Nick’s athletic career began as a High School All-American swimmer, after which he became an NCAA Division I level swimmer at Boston College. Soon after college, Nick became a coach for the master swim team, Southern California Aquatics (SCAQ), the largest adult swim team in the country.
However, the accomplishment for which he is best known began in 1997, when he jumped into the 56-degree water of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and took the first of more than a million strokes that pushed him down the longest river in North America. After four months and 1,550 miles of swimming, he climbed on shore in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Nick didn’t just make this swim for the challenge or the glory; but a personal mission to raise national awareness and funding for multiple sclerosis (MS) research, the disease his dad lives with. Nick followed up his swim with a 10,000 mile bike ride around the perimeter of the United States, also to benefit multiple sclerosis research.
Nick and his story have been featured on ESPN Radio, NPR, CNN, Good Morning America, The Montel Williams Show, and in The New York Times, The Washington Post Express, Metro Sports DC, The Los Angeles Times, USA TODAY, People, Triathlete and Fast Company magazines and a host of other national programs and publications.
Nick is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength Professionals Association (NSCA). This prestigious certification is given to a diverse group including strength coaches, athletic trainers, physical therapists, personal trainers, physicians, chiropractors, researchers, and educators. It is awarded to individuals who possess the knowledge and skills to design and implement safe and effective strength and conditioning programs.
He is also a certified conditioning specialist (CCS) through the National Strength Professionals Association, which features the HIT system of training (high intensity strength training) - one of the safest, most effective and time-efficient strengthening systems available.
