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Minardi Training integrates challenging and invigorating components into your daily life - increasing and modifying them as you advance. The components will vary according to the individual athlete being trained. Whether it is road cycling, surfer yoga, Minardimetrics, or Vinyasa weight training, the components are always done with one consistent essential - they are done the Minardi way. That would be correctly (honed from my vast experience and work in the athletic field) and with a strong focus on proper posture and spinal alignment (stability and mobility). In addition, great attention is paid to heart rate monitoring during interval training.
Strength: the extent to which muscles can exert force by contracting against resistance (Minardi training, Vinyasa weight training).
Power: the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movements (jumping or sprint starting).
Agility: the ability to perform a series of explosive power movements in rapid succession in opposing directions (Minardi beach workout obstacle course, Minardimetrics).
Balance: the ability to control the body position, either stationary (surfer yoga) or while moving (Minardi cycling).
Muscular Suppleness: the combination of flexibility and strength. The ability to achieve an extended range of motion without creating stress on the connective tissue, i.e. tendons and cartilage (all Minardi training).
Local Muscle Endurance: the ability of single muscles to perform repetitions over a long period of time (cycling with Jimmy in the Rocky Mountains).
Cardiovascular Endurance: the heart and muscular system’s ability to sustain aerobic exercise for an extended period of time in the fat burning zones (cycling).
Strength Endurance: a muscle’s ability to perform a maximum contraction time after time (continuous explosive bounding through an entire beach workout).
Coordination: basic physical skills, putting it all together, our best weapon against injury (all of Minardi training).
Neuromuscular coordination: the Minardi athletes’ ability to find ease in the effort and the breath - effortless effort.
Awareness: speaking through our bodies. The ability to know one’s body better than one’s emotional/ intellectual stuff; a very important principle for self-actualization/ self-fulfillment. The Minardi athletes’ ability to empty the cup and observe.
Periodization: as the seasons change and the amount of sunlight changes so does Minardi training's intensity, duration in specific heart rate zones and types of exercises. This simple and effective approach provides injury prevention, maintains balance, and avoids over training which brings it all together. I modify the cycles to accommodate the Minardi athlete.
Name, rank, serial # etc.
James Warren Minardi aka Jimmy Minardi
Born: March 3,1962 – Southampton, New York
Graduated East Hampton High School: 1980
Ohio University, 1985
Cum Laude, Deans List, and
East Green Academic Honorary Graduate
BS Communications and minor in Military History.
Chapman University California Secondary Education, 1996 Teaching Credentials
32+ hours of post baccalaureate study from the following universities and colleges:
West Virginia Wesleyan
SUNY Cortland
San Diego State University
Mira Costa College
I presently live in East Hampton, New York, with my wife Jenna, my daughter Niya and my sons Sky and Pax.
Professional Experience
Body Wise international professional athlete: 1988 - 1996
Sponsored and endorsed by the following corporations & companies:
Oakley
Time
Cliff Bar
Bausch & Lomb
Pearl Izumi
Canari cyclewear
Campagnolo
Shimano
Cannondale
Serotta
North County Athletic
Profile Design
Carnac
FIR wheels
Mavic
Wheelsmith
Kohler Chiropractic
Encinitas Surf
SRP cycling components
Magic Motor Cycle Cranks
Spinergy
Salsa Cycles
DeFeet
East Hampton village ocean rescue: 1978 - 1985.
American Red Cross swimming instructor and water babies: 1984 - 1987.
1998 - present: Head lifeguard/ supervisor of East Hampton village lifeguards.
Public school teacher: 1990 -1997; during the off-season (and the first year after I retired from professional athletics), I was a part-time/ substitute teacher for the San Diego Public School system.
2000 - present: Minardi Training School of Surfing and Ocean Swimming
Co-Founder of The East Hampton Town Volunteer Ocean Rescue, Ocean Rescue Swimmer: 2000 - present.
Founder of East End Ocean Rescue LLC: a nonprofit; to train and provide money & equipment to ocean rescue organizations, in both the private and public sector: 2006 - present.
Body Building 1975 to 1986 and High School and College Sports.
I was introduced to lifting weights during the early to mid 70’s by my football, track coach and mentor, Mike Burns. He was an inspiration to me as I played football, wrestled, and, ran track. Lifting became a very important and instrumental part of my fitness/ wellness journey. My truly amazing high school coaches are the foundation stones of Minardi Training. This is where I learned much of the Minardi philosophy that my athletes hear quite often such as NFL - no free lunch and also, it’s not what happens, it’s how you deal with it. Coach Burns taught me how important consistency is and about pushing the limits. Every training session with Coach was 110% and complaining was unacceptable. Coach is responsible for the Minardism: NGU - never give up.
On the physical side, Coach and my training partner Jimmy Fischer taught me about high blood volume circuit weight training (this is a big part of the Minardi training system). They both taught me that before any weight training occurs, the heart rate needs to be just right so that the body is ready to accept the pressure of weight training. In this way, the muscles get the workout and not the precious connective tissue. My past experience and the basics I learned over 30 years ago (tweaked a bit) are all still instrumental parts of Minardi Vinyasa weight training.
I competed in over 40 bodybuilding competitions from 1980 to 1986 and always placed in the top 10; most notably, two NPC National Collegiate Championships in 1984 and 1985. I also had the opportunity to study and train with three amazing National Bodybuilding Champions: Dave Morris, Larry Kaye, and Bob Starron. They each taught me advanced body building training techniques and periodization scheduling which is utilized in many aspects of Minardi training. Having in place a great foundation from my former coaches made it easy for me to understand and absorb the vast knowledge and expertise of these bodybuilders. I was the president of the Ohio University Barbell and Fitness club for my last 3 years of college. When I became president of the club it had approximately a dozen members. By the time I graduated, we had over 80 members and were the most popular club on campus! During the Hockey season I played 3 seasons for the Ohio University Bobcat Hockey B team. After College, I competed in my final bodybuilding competition, Mr. New England, placing 4th.
In 1985 I moved to Santa Monica, California where I trained with the best bodybuilders in the world. I had the opportunity not only to train but also work sets with, observe and ask questions of (to mention a few) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Platz, Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbo, Ray & Mike Mentzer, Bob Paris, Sven Von Olsen, and Jimmy Morris. I worked and trained with former Mr. America, Ray Mentzer. Ray recognized my potential and was grooming me to be his staff trainer at his facility in Redondo Beach, California. Ray taught me a lot about his axis point theories, exercise science, overload training, and whole body workouts, which was all new to me. These are methods I still use today.
One of the most monumental influences was Jimmy Morris. Jimmy was a former Mr. Universe, Mr. America and Mr. Olympia, in addition to holding dozens of national and international titles. Jimmy and I became friends and then training partners. His knowledge and wealth of information is vast and immeasurable! Jimmy’s positive energy was the icing on the cake regarding my weight training education. He taught me so much about putting it all together. Most importantly, he taught me focus and patience while I weight trained. To sum it up, Jimmy is the real deal - one rock solid man. I am featured on his web site:http://www.gymmorris.com.
During this time I was also an avid rollerblader and played hockey in the Los Angeles full contact Men’s Hockey League. I played for the Washington Penguins and the Jr. Kings hockey program. Two things changed my life profoundly: In 1987, a good friend surprised me with a Miele racing bicycle. The second was that I had severely separated my shoulder in a hockey game that ended my playing career.
I returned home to NY for shoulder reconstruction. After the surgery, my surgeon recommended that if I wanted to retain my beach life style I should consider quitting ice hockey, and he encouraged me to start cycling to fill the void. It was the winter of ’87 and my arm would be in a sling for 3 months. I noticed a newspaper ad for the Mighty Hampton Triathlon, swim-bike-run. With my background in both swimming and running, I decided at that very moment that there was no better way to return to physical activity than with this challenge. It’s also when I began to study yoga, which became an integral part of my athletic career.
I scoured cycling, biathlon, and triathlon training books written (ironically) by athlete/authors who would, in later years, become both my training partners and fellow competitors. After doing well in my first race I moved to North County, San Diego in the fall of ‘87 for Grad. School. I had no idea that I was moving to the hot bed of athletic performance. I entered as many running, swimming, cycling, biathlon, triathlon and bike races as I could.During this time I raced and placed top 10 in over 85 races and won the Imperial Beach Trialthon. I benefitted from the excellent coaching I received as a 1/2 marathoner, and, as a 10k and 5k runner for UCSD (University of California, San Diego). Coach Ted Van Artsdale taught me a great deal and was simply amazing. Jim Audio at Elite Performance (another coach and contributor to my racing) taught me about periodization and heart rate. Famous cycling coach, John Howard, noticed me on a training ride and stated that I had a lot of potential. He recommended that I focus just on cycling and later became my coach. Ray Grimm of Body Wise International noticed me at the Carlsbad Triathlon and I soon had a professional athletic contract. It wasn’t long before I had accumulated over 15 sponsors and was endorsing their products.
With the help of many top coaches and professional athletes I moved into racing Pro 1/2 cycling. I accumulated over a dozen professional sponsorships. Over a 6 year period of full time cycling I had the honor to travel and race at most of the pro races in America. I was competing in well over 80 races a year with all of the cycling stars that I used to marvel over in the cycling magazines. I learned even more about proper training, bike fitness, nutrition, heart rate training and periodization programs due to the unprecedented access I had to all the top coaches and athletes in the world. I spent many hours interviewing them and collecting data to satisfy my own curiosity. I started cycling very late at the age of 28; all of my competitors started in their teens. So, my best weapon to make up for lost time, was information. Between ‘92 and ‘95 I also had a chance to race for 2 Swedish teams: Vasteras and Skelleftea Cycling Clubs. My final year as a professional athlete I spent racing in Europe. I was invited over by FIR Racing Wheels which was based in Long Buckby, England. This is where my coach there taught me the Minardism: don’t make a pig’s ear out of it. He believed American coaches made things too complicated. This was the pinnacle of my racing career; my performance earned me an upgrade from expert to elite class cyclist.
At my last race, the BCF (British Cycling Federation) President made it clear to me that I was always welcome to race in the UK. Reflecting on the plane ride home at the age of 36, I realized that I had completed my mission and that it was time to move on. I tried to return to American bike racing for the end of the 1996 racing season, but when you know every crack in the road at every race and what the racing announcer is going to say before he says it, then it’s the perfect time to retire. I decided to put all of my athletic experiences from the past 20+ years together and started Minardi Training in 1998.
Here is a list of professional coaches and athletes that I have trained with or been coached by. All of them have, in one way or another, had a tremendous influence on me and I am forever appreciative of the wisdom they have shared. Martin Graff
Craig Schommer
Tim Swift
Greg Lemond
Chris Huber
Greg Demgen
Nate Reiss
Steve Hegg
Marianne Berglund
John Howard
Steve Meiche
Vic Copleand
Norborto Consacara
John Durso
Roberto Gagalloi
Dr Arnie Baker
Ron Smith
Eddie “B”
Davis Phinney
Alex Stedia
Ron Kiefiel
Chris Horner
Scott Tinley
Chris Huber
Bart Bowen Graeme King Lance Armstrong
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