At 100 Year Athlete ©, we train people for a lifetime of mountain adventures.
As strength coaches and mountain athletes based in Park City, UT, we plan to ski, board, climb, bike, run, and hike into our twilight years – and we want you out there with us.
Our approach to training ageless athletes rests on three principles:
Evidence-Based Training
We draw on scientific studies, rigorously tested training methodologies, and experience with mountain athletes to design our programs. Everything we do in the gym has a purpose.
Train to Last, Not to Break
Getting your sweat on feels great, but going “hard” every day in the gym is a recipe for pain, injury, and retirement at a bingo table. We help you balance training and recovery to achieve longevity.
Adventure at Every Age
To train our best, we need motivation – new trips, peaks, races, and trails that remind us of why we love mountain sports. We encourage our athletes to keep checking off those bucket-list adventures. In this community, we train for a lifetime of adventure, one mission at a time.
Our COACHES
Ben Van Treese
FOUNDER, CSCS
Ben is the Founder of OTM and an expert on injury prevention and training for longevity in mountain sports. His approach starts with the joint health and mobility athletes need to perform their sport with technical precision and safety. He has worked with Olympic athletes and X Games competitors as well as professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, and NHL. He is the author of A Cyclists Guide To Back Pain: Why Stretching Won't Work And What To Do Instead.
Ben earned a BS in Human Nutrition and Exercise Physiology from Ohio State University and is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS®) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He has 15 years of experience in the field and is interested in the balance between performance and staying power in the mountains. These days, Ben is an accomplished rock climber (for a big dude) and chases fresh powder all over the Wasatch.
Born in Ohio, Ben grew up in a family of professional water skiers. His mother, a national champion several times over, raised Ben around elite coaches who fueled his interest in the power of training. By the end of college, though, Ben’s spine was fried from too many water skiing wrecks. That’s when he discovered Functional Range Conditioning (FRC), which not only enabled him to return to sport but motivated him to train people for longevity, not just short-term performance.
RebeCCA BALLSTAEDTs
Director of Online Training
A personal trainer for over 25 years, Rebecca is an “OG” of 100 Year Athlete Online. She set the bar for how we build trusting relationships with online clients and support their outdoor adventures. These days, she continues to train 100 Year Athletes and mentors our team of online coaches.
Prior to joining us in 2021, Rebecca founded and operated a CrossFit gym in Draper, Utah and ran her own nutrition consulting business. She is Kinstretch certified, a Certified Personal Trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), and a Certified CrossFit Level 2 Trainer. She also studied exercise physiology and nutrition at the University of Utah, where she played softball and rugby.
Rebecca has successfully trained athletes for tough expeditions—like summiting Grand Teton with 100YA partner The Mountain Guides. In the gym, her personal goal is to be ready for any outdoor challenge, whether that is hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim or signing up at the last minute for a marathon (she and Nick, her husband, have done six so far). Outside the gym, Rebecca loves to trail run, hike, snowshoe, and camp. She wakes up at 4:30 am every day, so don’t expect her to respond to anything after 8 pm.
Brian Allison
Strength Coach
Brian has lived in Park City, Utah since 2011 with his wife, kids and dogs. Prior to coaching masters athletes and skiers, he was a global sales leader in the high-tech world.
For Brian, the best day of the year is skiing two feet of powder in Little Cottonwood canyon. His favorite getaway is to Southern Utah at the end of ski season to ride mountain bikes, soak up warm weather, and see green plants.
Humble and understated, Brian probably wouldn’t want us telling you that he medaled in cross-country mountain biking and the 2000-meter row at the 2024 Huntsman World Senior Games. But he did.
RICHARD ELLIS
Chief Operating Officer
In 2018, Rich was a 29-year-old physical wreck who went to doctors’ offices with a two-page list of his injuries and surgeries that wouldn’t fit on the intake form. Beat up and discouraged, he tried to quit his gym in Park City, Utah. Ben Van Treese, who’d begun coaching there days earlier, convinced Rich to stay — and asked for 12 weeks to turn things around.
Since then, Rich has been able to snowboard and mountain bike (mostly) pain free. As COO at 100 Year Athlete, Rich’s mission is to bring longevity-based training to fellow athletes who’ve played a little too hard.
Born and raised near Chicago, Rich spent 20+ years practicing and teaching Shotokan Karate. Before launching 100 Year Athlete, he built a consulting business that provides strategy and writing services for entrepreneurs and investors.
