Core Values
Intellectually Honesty
I believe it is my responsibility to honor scientific values as I acquire new ideas, analyze those ideas, and communicate them to my audience. I am committed to critical thinking about my own practices and exploring ideas that counter my own.
Willingness to Challenge Ideas
I’m open challenging my current methods and practices based on both scientific and practical evidence. This allows me to constantly improve by evaluating my methods and ideas.
Purposefully Creative
My creativity comes from a need to add value to existing ideas and expand my own knowledge.
Passionate
Fitness and Training are a huge part of my life. This isn’t just a job or a hobby to me, it’s my passion. My purpose is to use this passion to elevate our industry and set the bar for trainer’s education.
Driven & Motivated
To provide the industry with the tools and resources that I wished were available to me.
Differentiators
1. Providing practical solutions to real world issues to help trainers.
2. Critical and individual thinking allow for growth as a professional.
3. Respectful of the scientific process, but excited and passionate about the application of knowledge and the results it produces.
4. A Bruce Lee philosophy to training, “Take what is useful and get rid of the rest.”
5. Delivering specific results through a variety of methods – not tied to one system or philosophy of training.
6. Constantly improving and learning while evaluating methods for practicality and results driven application.
7. Simplifying the complex.
8. Published in over 30 major health and fitness magazines as well as contributing to peer reviewed publications such as the NSCA’s Personal Trainer Quarterly.
9. Author of Strength Training for Fat Loss (Human Kinetics 2014) and Building Muscle and Performance (Human Kinetics 2016).
Position Statement
For trainers that are looking for a results driven approach to training and fitness, Performance U is a resource that provides practical solutions to real world issues that trainers face by delivering information, methods and techniques that have been challenged in the trenches.
For the fitness enthusiast that wants to optimize their training, Nick Tumminello is a coach who works with a small, select group of clients to create individualized training programs specific to each client’s unique goals, abilities and needs through his hybrid approach to training.
Nick’s Story
“A bit of an outsider…”
That’s how Nick Tumminello describes himself in the fitness industry. He’s an independent thinker who avoids falling in line with the crowd. His goal is to provide practical solutions that deliver specific results.
Nick’s hybrid approach to training allows him to leverage the tools, knowledge and skills of many disciplines and methods to help his clients and to educate other trainers how to deliver results.
As early as his teenage years Nick knew that he wanted to be a trainer. His early influence came from his mother, growing up in a gym watching her prepare for bodybuilding competitions. She’ll tell you that “Nick grew up on iron and sweat.”
As a way to connect Nick and his mother attended fitness events and conferences from the time he was 16 years old.
Personal training is the only ‘real job’ nick’s ever known. But, his story isn’t common. Not being one to fall in line with the crowd Nick never attended college or got a degree. He graduated high school as an average student. He worked hard to accumulate a lot of on the job experience and despite his distaste for structured education Nick was very interested in learning.
After being fired from his first two personal training jobs due to his independent thinking and lack of needing to ‘fit in’ he went off on his own to start a business.
Training and fitness aren’t a hobby to Nick. This is a profession that he’s very passionate about.
It would be easy to confuse Nick as a ‘science guy’ due to his ability to challenge thoughts and ideas, the way he respects the scientific process and critical thinking. However, he’s most excited by the application and end results that the information he learns and the ideas he creates can produce. “Studies and research are great, but if there is no practical application there is no need”
Nick’s approach to many things can be described in three words…
Hustle and Muscle.
This is applied in training, business and intellectually for Nick.
Training:
Nick’s hybrid, mixed approach to training allows for the possibility that you can look great and perform great at the same time with a calculated and specific approach to training.
Business:
Hustle – To build your influence and grow you need to put in the work. It’s about adding value to the field and not simply taking from it.
Muscle – Teaching with passion and conviction, putting everything into what you do. Meeting the best standards is an important part of Nick’s approach to running his business.
Intellectually:
Hustle – It requires you to constantly challenge your ideas and be open to being challenged by others. You’re not defined by your ideas and it’s okay to adapt and adjust based off new information. That’s what makes you a lifelong learner.
Muscle – You must think critically while having a trained body and mind. Being able to analyze information and understand how to apply that information. Strong skepticism of the information you learn will help you filter the useful from the not useful. You’ll need a thick skin and to be tough in a field where there are so many opinions.
Contact
You can contact Nick directly through his personal email at NickTumminello@gmail.com.