Barry Heyden

Member

Barry Heyden is the father of 5 children and has been together with his wife Zakiya for 16 years and married for 11 years. They met in NYC while Barry was waiting to have dinner with his longtime friend and mentor Dusty Baker who was in town managing the Chicago Cubs. Barry was born in a small town in Western New York called Westfield, NY and moved to South Florida when he was 5 years old. He spent most of his free time outside his academic work playing outdoors, organizing sports games, enjoying nature and making friends. He became a certified scuba diver at the age of 18 and worked as a carpenter along with being a lifeguard through college. After suffering an injury playing baseball in California and recovering holistically Barry has been on a mission to share with others the importance of keeping the body healthy and learning new methods to do so. He grew from this injury to reach his boyfriend dream of working in Major League professional baseball. Through his education and ability to develop strong interpersonal relationships Barry has reached many goals and personal accomplishments if life and business. He presently resides with his family in Manhattan.

Barry Heyden worked with AlterG for over 12 years and still does business consulting with them. He has helped to introduce AlterG technology to almost every Pro/College and Military facility in the USA. Since the early days of AlterG, Barry has played a major role in educating and training AlterG employees, along with international distributors. He was introduced to the AlterG while working as the Director of Sports Performance at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in Manhattan. Barry spearheaded the development of the Hospital for Special Surgery Sports and Human Performance Center from November 2006 to 2008.

Barry has also been on the forefront of Blood Flow Modification training and became one of the first early gurus and certified Kaatsu specialists in the USA. He has developed the powerful combination of using AlterG unweighting with BFM for recovery and performance training. He has spent time with Dr. Sato and the original Kaatsu staff from Japan at the Harvard Medical Center International Conference. He has trained and educated many individuals, Pro/College and military programs on BFM training.

Barry completed his Exercise and Sports Science Degree with an emphasis in Sports Nutrition/Biomechanics from the University of Pittsburgh and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He currently employs his accomplished academic, testing and clinical background in the development of training regimens designed to efficiently and effectively realize the predetermined objectives of both the athlete and fitness enthusiast.

Barry has also volunteered with the Police Athletic League and continues to do so with the Harlem Knights and Harlem Little league baseball organizations along with the Children’s Aid Society in teaching and training kids on fitness and conditioning for tennis as well as injury prevention for both tennis, basketball and baseball in Harlem, New York.

From 2001 until 2006, Barry was the former owner/founder of Athlete International in Greenwich, CT and Westchester, NY. His presence was instrumental in bringing Athlete International to a high level of achievement. Prior to this, Barry has been at the forefront of progression training methodology for major league baseball. After three successive years (1994-1996) with the Pittsburgh Pirates(intern) and Texas Rangers (Minor League Director of Strength and Conditioning), Barry was hired to be the Director of Strength and Fitness Conditioning in 1997 for the New York Mets. Acknowledging one of the lowest injury ratios in all of professional baseball, the Mets had five years of success while Barry was with them from 1997 to 2001 which helped the Mets go to the 2000 World Series.

Barry has also served as a consultant with both the men’s ATP and woman’s WTA Professional Tennis Associations in past years.

While attending college Barry helped develop fitness and wellness programs at St. Frances Hospital, Edgewood Tennis and Racquet Club in Pittsburgh PA, worked for the physical therapy department at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and helped with developing a world class facility the UZONE in Phoenix, AZ. Barry has been a leader in developing Sports Specific and Functional Training regimens that have become a standard for training programs throughout the Nation and World.

Recognized as a leader in the health, fitness and athletic development industry, Barry has established himself as a popular international speaker and author. “Conditioning for Baseball Done Right”(NIKKAN SPORTS SHUPPAN, Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo, Japan) has become an industry standard in Japan for training baseball players. Barry also served as a consultant for Bobby Valentine in developing the Conditioning Programs for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan.