Some trainers get specific about their sports

For Katie Ingram, golf these days is far more about science and marketing than it is about recreation.

Ingram, an owner of Sierra Bodyworks in Reno, spends hours with golfers, analyzing their swing, talking about their problems on the course and developing a customized fitness program to cut strokes off their game.

She's not alone in her fitness focus on aficiandos of a single sport.

As more big fitness centers open across northern Nevada, smaller players increasingly look to carve a niche for themselves with sports-specific training.

"The golf-specific program sets me apart," says Ingram, who says it accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of her fitness clients.

The program: Increase flexibility, improve stability, add strength, then develop power in a golfer's swing.

"Flexibility is a huge key," Ingram says. "Flexibility is the key to mobility."

She's also developed a second speciality: Training women who want to participate in triathalons. Again, the work combines one of Ingram's passions with a desire to develop a distinct spot in the increasingly crowded fitness market.

Taking a slightly different approach, Zach Davis decided that he wouldn't focus on an individual sport when he opened Progression Fitness in Reno this autumn.

Instead, he's looking to build skills mental as well as physical among youngsters and adults who want to become elite athletes.

"We work with the gladiators," says Davis. "We don't need the kids whose parents are looking for a photo op."

Intense, timed workouts are conducted in loud music as Davis seeks to duplicate the stress of athletic performance. Clients range from snowboarders to boxers.

For youngsters, Davis says Progression Fitness focuses on the basics speed, strength and agility they'll need for football, soccer or other sports. For adult athletes, the program places greater focus on development of mental endurance.

Some bigger fitness centers, too, look to build on sport-specific training to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

At Double Diamond Athletic Club in South Meadows, for instance, owner Mike Shirley removed three racquetball courts and remodeled the space to house a franchise of the Parisi Speed School.

The school's program is designed exclusively for youngsters from age 7 through college whose parents pay $30 for a one-hour session to develop speed, strength and agility.

While those are important attributes for young athletes, Shirley says only about a third of those who attend the school participate in athletics. The parents of most, he says, worry that kids aren't getting enough exercise as schools cut back on physical education programs.

The Parisi Speed School also helps Shirley muscle up his business.

Parents who enroll their kids for conditioning are likely to sign up for memberships in Double Diamond Athletic Club if for no other reason than their hope to provide a good role model for their kids.

And as the northern Nevada fitness market gets crowded with new entrants ranging from Gold's Gym to Anytime Fitness, Shirley says the Parisi School provides a marketing edge.

"It gives me something new to talk about in the community," he says. "It's been a good way to differentiate myself."