our mission

The mission of Rugged Athlete LLC is to lead from the front in facilitating a new era of human performance in wildland firefighting

Rugged Athlete’s Founder: Austin Womack

My Story -

After 5+ years of being a professional strength and conditioning coach, including 2 seasons of coaching in professional baseball, I became a wildland firefighter in 2019. Going from S&C to wildland was an absolute shock for me in terms of the limited resources wildland firefighters had access to related to physical health and training.

In my first season I was able to immediately experience first hand all the ways my background and experience in strength and conditioning helped me on the fireline. I was also able to help a ton of guys on my crew with their fitness and injury prevention.

I knew with my education and passion for coaching that I could be a valuable resource for more than just guys on my crew, so Rugged Athlete LLC was born to be the go-to resource to help wildland firefighters all over the country.

Education

- BS Kinesiology - Hendrix College (4 year member of baseball team)

- MS Exercise Science - Pittsburg State University

Certifications

- Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists (CSCS) - NSCA

- Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitator (TSAC-F) - NSCA

- CrossFit Level 1

- Functional Range Conditioning (FRC)