Akross The Middle was created to serve those that want the best and are willing to commit the time, work & money to achieve greatness. Our purpose is to provide a path for highly motivated people who are interested in The Sport of Fitness, Olympic Lifting, and or Personalized Program Design.
Akross the Middle Athletics was founded in 2010 and is the vision of Coach Matt Major. Coach Major began coaching at CrossFit Ventura aka West Coast Strength and Conditioning in the fall of 2009. Coaching was always a distant dream for Coach Major until the opportunity to coach was presented to him. For well over a year, Matt spent his time coaching group classes, Olympic Lifting workshops and private training sessions at CFV.
During the summer of 2010 Matt began to desire more, so in September of 2010 Akross The Middle was born. While Matt considered CrossFit Ventura home and truly loved the athletes he was able to work with on a daily basis, as each week passed it became increasingly clear that it was no longer the right place for Matt to coach.
As a passionate individual and coach, Matt viewed his time spent coaching as a valuable opportunity to share his passion with others. In addition, Matt viewed this time as a unique opportunity and gift to change lives. If an athlete had a desire to improve or change, in Matt's mind, there was nothing that would or should be able to stand in the way. However, obstacles began to be put in place that took away Matt's ability to do the things he loved. One morning in early 2011, Matt woke up dreading his day; for the first time coaching felt like a job. With this, Matt knew that it was time to move on.
In late 2010, Akross The Middle was born and in February 2011 Matt officially resigned his position at CrossFit Ventura and committed 100% of his time and efforts to Akross The Middle.
In realizing the dream of becoming a coach; Matt also found a passion for helping others. He also rediscovered his love for fitness and specifically olympic lifting. As Matt's passion for coaching grew, Olympic lifting began to take a front seat and a unique specialty of Coach Major. Matt also began to take an interest in personalized program design. In doing this Matt not only discovered a talent he never knew he had, he also discovered a true passion that gave him another way to help others.
More about the story behind ATM Athletics & the first ATM blog post:
The name Akross the Middle was inspired by Matt's days playing middle-linebacker. The term is something anyone who has played or understands football can relate to. As a middle linebacker Matt's job was to protect the middle of the field and punish anyone who came through it! One of the things that he was known for was his hard hits & focused mindset. He took great pride in protecting the middle of the field; that said, he learned to truly respect those fearless competitors that came through and continually challenged him...
There in lies the inspiration for Akross The Middle---The Fearless Competitor! At ATM Athletics our intention is to only work with those who have the desire, work ethic and commitment to being the best they can be... in other words that fearless competitor!
