Trey Zepeda

Trey Zepeda was busy in his youth, growing up as a rodeo kid on a ranch in southern Texas while participating in many different sports.  He remembers training for football, basketball, baseball, and track and field.  However, during his time at Ottawa University in Kansas, Zepeda narrowed his focus to football and baseball.  

Prior to his collegiate career, Zepeda gained valuable knowledge that would lead him to his current profession in weight training.  During his junior year of high school in Vanderbuilt, Texas, Zepeda came in contact with Dave Goodin, a professional body builder and personal trainer.  Goodin taught Zepeda the techniques for and the reasoning behind various exercises during training periods.  Zepeda attests that “some of the things I took from those early sessions [with Dave] are what I still use with my athletes now, [specifically] the principles of what a lift is and how those movements apply differently to the body.”

Zepeda had gained a strong weight lifting base from Goodin, and it propelled him within the weight room.  He excelled in comparison to his peer during his time at Ottawa.  During this time, there was a lack of scheduled team training sessions, and so Zepeda would often time help and teach his own teammates.  “I didn’t realize it then, but I was actually coaching [my peers] and not even knowing it,” said Zepeda.

 After college, Zepeda played professional football in the arena and European leagues as a linebacker, before enduring a career-ending shoulder injury.  With his football career moving into the past, Zepeda turned to the radio industry and used his business degree during his transitional period away from athletics.  

In 1995, Zepeda discovered that weight training was a legitimate profession, and he so reconnected with Goodin at Hyde Park gym in Austin, Texas.  Zepeda assisted Goodin in managing the gym, in addition to interning at The University of Texas’ strength and conditioning department.  A few years after he began his internship with the Longhorns, Zepeda was hired as the assistant strength and conditioning coach.  His primary sports currently include men’s track and field, men’s golf, and men’s swimming. 

Zepeda’s main concern as a coach is finding the strength weaknesses of his athletes at Texas.  Once he has determined each athlete’s specific weakness, Zepeda uses his experience in Olympic and power lifting, as well as his functional movement science knowledge, to enhance performance and adjust movement discrepancies for each athlete.  As a result, Zepeda’s influence in the weight room has assisted in three top five finishes at the NCAA Golf Championships, including a 2012 National Championship in men’s golf, four NCAA Championships in men’s swimming, as well as numerous NCAA and Olympic track and field champions during his tenure with the Texas Longhorns.