Heath Croll: Playing It Forward for Maximum Potential

Heath Croll: Playing It Forward for Maximum Potential

By Leonard Shapiro

It happens all the time. An appreciative adult talks about their own personal path to a successful career with its roots planted back in middle or high school by a revered teacher or a coach who saw something special in them that eventually blossomed years later.

That’s how it was for widely-regarded Middleburg fitness trainer and coach Heath Croll, a native of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania who now operates his own business, RAMP Athletes, working with 40 to 60 clients a week ranging in age from 6 to 76. RAMP stands for Reaching Athletes Maximum Potential.

Heath Croll

Participants in one of Heath Croll’s classes.

Croll ran track in high school until he hurt his knees as a sophomore. His middle school and then high school athletic trainer “was always around and helping me,” Croll recalled. “I chose to get into it because of him. I knew right away in college that I wanted to get a degree in health and physical education.”

Unable to compete at that level, Croll instead earned bachelors degrees in both health and physical education and sports administration along with a minor in coaching. He also holds certifications through the Certified Physical Preparation Specialist (CPPS), National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA).

His website, rampathletes.com, offers more insight into his motivation, that he’s “dedicated to helping others, regardless of age or experience, reach their full athletic potential. Heath believes that everyone is an athlete, whether they play competitive sports or not, and that a safe and effective strength and conditioning program is the basis for achieving each individuals fitness goals.

“He specializes in youth training and has developed unique programs geared towards the specific needs of young athletes ranging from 6-18 years old. In addition to teaching safe and proper training techniques, his programs go beyond physical education by helping to promote confidence, teamwork, and respect.”

Croll’s professional life began with an internship at a YMCA “where you basically had to do everything, swimming with the kids, even babysitting. It was a lot of fun.”

That was followed by stints as a trainer at LifeTime Fitness and Gold’s Gym, and a move to Colorado where his wife, Amy, who grew up in Northern Virginia, went to study psychology at the University of Colorado.

That’s when Croll started RAMP in 2010 in Boulder, “where there were rock climbers all over the place,” he recalled. They eventually decided to return to Virginia, where Middleburg had always been a “dream” location for Amy. She grew up riding hunters and jumpers in Northern Virginia and still rides when she’s not also operating her own pilates studio in Leesburg. They have two sons, seven-yearold Zander and Marcus, 3.

Croll does some of his one-on-one training work at Amy’s Leesburg location. He also handles most of his group training at a facility in Dominion Valley in Haymarket that includes a gym, a pool and a basketball court.

He’s had plenty of success stories, including one female Auburn swimmer who has competed in the Olympic trials. And he’s also proud of his work with a 76-year-old woman who “just wants to be in shape and live her life with no aches and pains. Longevity is the new catchword.”

“I’ll train the kids,” he added, “and then their parents will come in and say, ‘can you train us, too?’” Yes.