Copyright © Max Icardi 2014
Max Icardi
Functional Training Coach
Biography
I've always knew I wanted to become a personal trainer. Well, that's not entirely true. When i was about 5yrs old I wanted to be a garbage collector, just because they could hang at the back of a moving truck. But let's say that after that phase I made my mind pretty clear that my life would have been into sports. I've been a talented biathlete, a national champion in Decathlon and later enjoyed an international rugby experience but strangely enough I've never dreamed of a professional athlete's career. I started my medical studies at the University of Turin just before moving to Scotland where I studied sports & exercise physiology and got my BSc in Sports Medicine in 2002. It was during my studies that I got deeper and deeper fascinated with functional training. A love at first sight that influenced the rest of my professional career when i moved to Belgium two years later and I opened one of the first personal training studio of the country based entirely on the principle of functional training.
Experience
2015 - The 'Functional Trainer' certification is offered by 4 university colleges in Belgium and the The Netherlands.
2013 - The 'Functional Trainer' certification becomes an official Postgraduate course at University college Torhout
2012 - Opening of an innovative personal training studio with 2.000 sq.m of 'outdoor playground' area
2009 - Creation of the 'Functional Training Academy': workshops and trainings for fitness professionals
2008 - Creation of the “Functional Training Network” , now counting 25 members in 3 countries
2006 - Opening of a private personal training studio in Antwerpen, currently hosting 5 personal trainer
2005 - Creation of “Move to Live” BVBA (2004), a Personal Training and Fitness Consulting company
2004 to 2005 - Freelance Master Trainer in Fitness First Brussels & Antwerp
Responsible for the education of Personal Trainers at “Fitness Academy” (Ghent)
2003 to 2004 - Personal Trainers’ Coordinator in Fitness First (Brussels).
2002 to 2003 - Physical trainer of Rugby Colorno F.C., 1st Division in Italy, gym manager and medical consultant.
1999 to 2002 - Physical trainer of the University of Glasgow Rugby Club
Activity consultant in the Glasgow University Sports Centre
1996 to 1999 - Internship at the National Sports Medicine Institute in Torino (ITA)
Sports career
Currently enjoying tennis, cycling, mountainbiking, trailrunning...
2003 to 2011 - Rugby - different Belgian clubs (Arendonk, Antwerp, Turnhout...amateur level)
2001 to 2003 - Rugby – RFC Colorno (Italian 2nd Division, professional level)
1999 to 2001 - Rugby – Glasgow Hawks (Scottish Premiership, professional level)
1999 to 2001 - Rugby - Torino Rugby, Italian 2nd division
1992 to 1996 - Athletics - Italian champion U21 in Decathlon (1996)
Testing the new Vibram Vybrid for Vibram Belgium in the woods near Lille, Belgium.
Ecotrail Brussels - 80km RunBike
"Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans; rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen”