Hasbrouck Heights is known for its close community and its much celebrated success in sports. Now five guys, who all hail from the borough, are a good example of both as they have taken their longtime friendships from coaching and training together along with their love for training and athletics and have put it all into overdrive.

Athletic Overdrive, that is. It’s the name of their brand new fitness center located just down the road from Heights on Valley Boulevard in Wood-Ridge. Brian Regan, John Valenti, Jeff Seidel, Frank Valente and Chris Onorato are all co-owners of this center which offers something more than the average fitness center.  

The center offers programs for high school-aged athletes teaching them how to train properly and how to excel at their sport, Regan, currently a Wayne resident, said. They also cater to everyone from youngsters with programs like Little Man Extreme which eases kids into stretching properly to adults with classes such as Zumba, yoga and piloxing.

One of the techniques they use in their training comes from the many years four of the guys have spent developing methods through their years of training and from coaching high school sports.

Valenti now of Wood-Ridge, and Seidel, Valente and Onorato, all Heights residents, all coach Hasbrouck Heights track and Regan explained that  over the years Valenti began to develop a different type of athletic training known as Overdrive, a hardcore training theory that prepares athletes to perform competitively.  

Valenti, who is in his 18^th year of coaching, said years ago he began to add elements of the Strong Man dynamic to his training program. In fact Seidel was one of the kids Valenti used to coach and he calls him a success story of his training.   “It’s Strong Man training with our own twist,” Valenti explained.

As the center’s website states, there are two main components to the training – “a motivated coach and trainer willing to devote time to the athlete’s goals and an athlete that is willing to work hard with no regrets.”

The concept behind what is known as “odd object” training is to work with objects that move with the athlete and give a little, Regan said. When one is on the football field he is not bench pressing but lifting  and doing squats or overhead lifts with alternative “odd objects” such as water jugs, or bags or kegs filled with sand which help with coordination which is something weights alone won’t do.

For student athletes the center also offers speed and agility and dynamic/plyometric training. They also offer programs for full teams where they can come in as a group and get into different sections of the room doing different forms of training working together as a team.

Regan said they also want to be a part of the Hasbrouck Heights and Wood-Ridge communities offering clinics and hopefully even CPR courses.

Athletic Overdrive held its grand opening this past Saturday which featured a special appearance by former New York Giant and Super Bowl winning player (with Tampa Bay) Roman Oben.