Mike Perry

Founder and Co-Owner

Mike is the founder and co-owner of Skill of Strength.

In his twenty plus years as a Personal Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach, he has trained clients of all ages and abilities, including athletes represented in the MLS, NFL, MLB, UFC, Bellator MMA, PLL, NCAA, and various other professional sports leagues.

In addition to running Skill of Strength, Mike has lectured and presented for Perform Better, The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and the American Academy of Sports Medicine. He works as a consultant to several other gyms, teams and fitness franchises where he runs in-house seminars for their staff, presenting on topics such as:

  • Barbell training
  • Kettlebell training
  • Speed and power development 
  • Optimizing conditioning for athletes
  • Program design 
  • Volume and load management for athletes.
  • Long-term athletic development for youth athletes
  • Return to play protocols for ACL rehabilitation

Mike is also a lead instructor with Functional Movement Systems (FMS) and works for Pavel Tsatouline’s company, StrongFirst. He is a StrongFirst Senior Instructor (Kettlebell Instructor) and SFL instructor (Barbell Instructor) for StrongFirst.

Mike is the co-founder of Principles of Program Design, an educational platform for Personal Trainers and Strength and Conditioning coaches.

You can also hear more from Mike on two weekly podcasts.

He hosts The Principles of Performance Podcast with his good friend and colleague, Eric D’agati. Mike and Eric discuss the art and science of optimal health, fitness and performance through interviews other coaches, gym owners, clinicians and more.

Mike also runs The Minimum Effective Dose Podcast with his longtime friend and colleague, Brett Jones. The hosts take weekly deep dives into different topics around training principles and methods, recovery strategies, performance and life.

In addition to being a strength coach, Mike is involved in the local Lacrosse community where he works and volunteers with youth lacrosse players.

Credentials

  • National Strength and Conditioning Association – Certified Personal Trainer – (NSCA-CPT)
  • Strongfirst Senior Instructor
  • Strongfirst Barbell Lifter- (SFL)
  • USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach- (USA-W)
  • USA Track and Field Coach (USATF)
  • Functional movement screen certified specialist (FMS 1+2)
  • Certified Kettlebell Functional Movement Specialist (CK-FMS)
  • FMS Lead Instructor