ABOUT APEX PERFORMANCE.
Coaching built from experience, education, and a belief in preparation.
Apex Performance exists to help everyday people become more capable athletes.
The idea started long before Apex had a name.
Our Founder, Atharva Shah began his career working as a trek leader in the Himalayas. While leading treks, he repeatedly saw people arrive in the mountains without the physical preparation required for what lay ahead.
They weren't necessarily incapable. They simply didn't know they had to prepare, or how to prepare.
The result was often the same: difficult days, unnecessary discomfort, poor experiences, and sometimes a decision to never return to the mountains again.
That stayed with him.
He began to realise that many people didn't struggle because they lacked potential. They struggled because they hadn't been given the right preparation, structure or guidance.
That became the foundation for his approach to coaching.
FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO PERFORMANCE.
Apex Performance originally began as Apex Mountain Performance, with a specific focus on preparing people for trekking, mountaineering and high-altitude objectives.
Over time, our focus expanded to working with runners, hybrid athletes, HYROX and obstacle-course athletes, and people simply looking to become stronger, fitter and more capable.
The environment may change - a mountain, a race course, a gym, or everyday life—but the underlying principles remain remarkably similar.
BUILD THE CAPACITY. PREPARE FOR THE DEMANDS. ADAPT TO THE INDIVIDUAL. PLAY THE LONG GAME.
That's what Apex Performance is built around today.
THE PERSON COMES FIRST. THE PROGRAM FOLLOWS.
We don't believe in taking one system and trying to make every athlete fit into it.
Every athlete comes with a different training history, goal, lifestyle, schedule, experience level, strengths, limitations and capacity to recover.
That's why Apex takes a bottoms-up approach.
We start with the person in front of us, establish what they need, and build the training around them.
The programming is individualised, but the principles behind it are not arbitrary.
Our coaching is grounded in exercise science, strength and conditioning, endurance training and the practical application of those principles over time.
SCIENCE PROVIDES THE FRAMEWORK. THE INDIVIDUAL DETERMINES THE APPLICATION.
PLAY THE LONG GAME.
Meaningful performance doesn't come from constantly doing more.
It comes from doing the right things consistently, progressing with intent, adapting when necessary and giving the body enough time to respond.
We want the people we coach to become more capable - not simply for their next race or expedition, but for whatever comes next.
THE GOAL ISN'T JUST TO GET YOU FIT. IT'S TO BUILD AN ATHLETE WHO CAN KEEP IMPROVING.
ATHARVA SHAH
Founder, Head Coach
Atharva is a Mountaineer, Trek Leader and Adventure Athlete turned Performance Coach.
Starting at the age of 3, he played a wide variety of sports - Gymnastics, Lawn Tennis, Table Tennis, Football, Cricket and Field Hockey. What he most excelled at, and played for the longest time, was Basketball, which he started at 5 and played until 18 at the state level, when a horrific knee injury changed the course of his athletic journey.
After a year long recovery from surgery and rehab, he was drawn to the world of adventure and endurance sports.
After a brief stint of his early career as a Trek Leader, he is now fully into coaching.
He has done over 80 hikes and trails, of which he has led about half, a couple of expeditions, and loves lifting weights, long distance trail running, hiking, climbing and mountaineering.
0+
Hikes & Trails
15+
Years in Sports
2
Expeditions
Credentials
ACSM Certified Running Coach
Certified through the American College of Sports Medicine's marathon training certification program, with coaching principles applicable across distances - from the mile and 5K through the marathon.
Strength & Conditioning Education
Currently preparing for the NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) examination, alongside continued study in strength and conditioning and exercise science.
Continued Education
His coaching education draws from established work in concurrent and hybrid training, endurance performance, strength and conditioning, and mountain performance. Most influential areas of study include the work of Alex Viada and Alec Blenis on hybrid training, and Scott Johnston and Steve House on mountain and alpinism training.
He also spends exorbitant amounts of time listening to some of the best podcasts, reading the best books, and deep-diving into research papers in the exercise science, endurance and strength and conditioning fields.
YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT BEFORE YOU START.
Tell us where you are, what you're working towards, and what you need from a coach. We'll figure out whether Apex Performance is the right fit for you.