Doug Harney began his competitive lifting career 25 years ago as a member of the All-Marine Powerlifting Team in the United States Marine Corps. Between 1983 and 1993, Doug competed alternately in powerlifting and bodybuilding, winning several state, regional, national and international competitions, including the 1993 Natural Universe, America’s highest national competition for drug-free bodybuilders. In 2002, when Doug turned 40, he returned to powerlifting competition in the Masters class; since then, he has won the Indiana State Powerlifting Championships; the American Open Powerlifting Championships; set the Indiana state bench press record; placed fourth in the Masters Nationals Powerlifting Championships; placed first in the AAU World Push-Pull Championships; set the Florida state bench press record; placed first and third in 2004 and 2006, respectively, in the WNPF World Powerlifting Championships; and won the AAU World Powerlifting Championships in 2007. When he introduces his athletes to strength training, Doug draws on his extensive personal knowledge of correct lifting form, safety, program development, etc.
With several years of competitive powerlifting and bodybuilding under his belt, Doug began his professional career in strength and conditioning coaching individual Olympic, professional and collegiate athletes and private personal training clients at exclusive Southern California clubs, working alongside some of America’s leading trainers, including Earl Maynard, former Mr. America; Scott Livingstone, former Mr. USA; and Dr. Scott Connelly, developer of MET-Rx and owner of California’s Club MET-Rx.
Also, at USA Karate in California, Doug taught alongside Bob Borrows, former world middleweight champion in Tang Soo Do and sparring partner of Chuck Norris. A black belt in Tang Soo Do, Doug incorporates the spiritual and physical discipline of the martial arts into his coaching methods.
In the mid-90s, as he obtained a Master of Science degree in sport psychology from Purdue University, Doug served as strength and conditioning coach for athletes in 11 different NCAA sports, including Mike Alstott and Drew Brees who went on to play in the NFL. At Purdue, Doug studied under Professor Joan Duda, one of America’s foremost teaching and practicing sport psychologists. In his coaching, Doug employs sport psychology methodologies to motivate his athletes, prepare them mentally for games, teach them to visualize and successfully execute their game-time skills, help them handle success and failure, and show them how to deal with the stresses of high-level competition. Doug’s concurrent graduate studies in exercise physiology and his years of experience as a rehabilitation therapist allow him to help injured athletes return to their game as quickly as possible, while preserving their health and longevity.
Next, Doug moved to Istanbul, Turkey, and traveled extensively throughout Europe as the strength and conditioning coordinator for Efes Pilsen, Turkey’s premier professional basketball club. During Efes Pilsen’s 1998-9 “dream team” season, Doug introduced new strength and conditioning methods to the athletes. He incorporated strength training, Olympic lifting, circuit training, jump training, plyometrics, stretching, on-court basketball drills, and on and off-court conditioning. Before home and away games, he led the athletes through their warm-up stretching and on-court drills. Throughout the season, he made recommendations regarding nutrition and supplementation. Numerous American players overseas sought out Doug for advice on everything from proper eating, to sound weight lifting technique, to rehabilitation of injury.
By the end of the season, Efes’s players had made significant gains in strength, power and agility. These training gains translated directly into heightened physical confidence and ability on the basketball court. Hidayet Turkoglu and Huseyin Besok trained particularly hard and significantly improved their level of play. Besok ended the season as the second leading rebounder in the European League. Turkoglu later became the 16th pick of the 2000 NBA Draft and currently plays for the Orlando Magic.
Upon returning from Europe and deciding to reside near Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, Doug began training several local athletes, including an Olympic hopeful triple-jumper; three Olympic hopeful sprint cyclists; three national-level gymnasts; a former college basketball player preparing for a professional contract; and several impressive local high school athletes. In just a few months, Doug realized that the Bloomington area generates a disproportionately high number of elite athletes and that these athletes need to be significantly stronger, faster and better in order to excel at their sport and make it to the next level.
Toward that end, Doug established Hyperformance—professional strength and conditioning services designed to maximize the performance of Olympic, professional, collegiate and high school athletes from Bloomington, all across America and around the world.
In August 2000, Doug completed construction on a training facility featuring all the best weight training, Olympic lifting, cardiovascular and plyometric equipment. This private, dedicated facility, in conjunction with the world-class venues of Indiana University, comprised a superior training environment for Doug’s comprehensive, dynamic approach. One of Doug’s first clients was Sean May, who after training with Doug for eight months won Indiana’s highest basketball honor, Mr. Indiana Basketball 2002, was later the NCAA MVP while playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels, and is now playing for the Charlotte Bobcats. Doug also proudly trained the Team Major Taylor cycling team for its first Indiana University Little 500 appearance.
Late in 2005, Doug headed for the Sunshine State to become the Director of Sports Performance for the Velocity Sports Performance franchise in Orlando, slated to become four large-scale facilities in the metro area. At Velocity, Doug utilized turf, court and track, a fully equipped weight room, and athletic performance and SPARQ testing equipment, to take his athletes through the active dynamic warm-up, energy system development, acceleration, maximum velocity and strength training components of the Velocity program. The Orlando metro area offered Doug a much larger pool of highly talented athletes, and the great weather and quality of life desirable for drawing professional athletes and hopefuls for off-season training and NFL combine preparation. Doug also contributed to Velocity by writing a new basketball team training strength program incorporated at Velocity locations nationwide.
In January 2008, Doug completed build-out on a new boutique fitness training studio located in beautiful Lake Mary, Florida. Now open for business, Hyperformance Heathrow caters to an exclusive clientele drawn from the affluent Heathrow, Markham Woods Road and Lake Mary communities, as well as the many elite athletes who call Central Florida home. Hyperformance Heathrow offers professional personal and performance training with a focus on superlative customer service, generous client amenities, an inviting and inspiring exercise environment, and a spirit of joie de vivre.