Meet the Team
Ron Potocnik
Prior to becoming a personal trainer in 2001, Ron enjoyed a successful career as a sales manager for the nation's largest trade show contractor. His passion for personal fitness and athletics coupled with a strong desire to help others achieve their personal fitness goals lead him to leave a promising business career and become a personal trainer.
After graduating from Valparaiso University where he started at wide receiver for the VU football team, Ron trained and competed professionally for the Goldwin Track Club in Boulder, Colorado. While training with and competing against elite track and field athletes and coaches Ron posted a personal best 46.0 seconds in the 400 meters. In addition to Ron's athletic background, he also coached men's and women's track and field for Benedictine University.
Ron's commitment to fitness goes beyond personal training. In 2005 he began a mission to accomplish several personal fitness goals that would demonstrate overall fitness and not merely a concentration on one specific area of the body or on one specific sport:
- Ran the mile in under five minutes and thirty-seconds (5:27)
- Dunked a basketball
- Bench pressed 225 pounds 12 times
- Ran the 40 yard dash in 4.46 seconds
- Completed 27 chin-ups
- Drove a golf ball 320 yards
- Hit a baseball over 400 feet
Matt Ulrich
Matt Ulrich has recently returned to Chicago and joins the TWR team after playing two exciting years in the National Football League. He is originally from the Chicagoland area, a product of Streamwood High School, where he earned a football scholarship to Northwestern University.
As a history and education major at Northwestern, Matt was a three year starter on the offensive line earning the rank of team captain as a senior in 2004. He helped the team reach two bowl games and became a Big Ten Champion in 2000. Through hard work and dedication in the gym on and off the field, he became a three time IRON CAT, an award bestowed only to athletes achieving the highest level of strength, speed, and overall conditioning. Matt was recognized as the best conditioned athlete at Northwestern University in 2003. This success snowballed in 2004 when Matt was acknowledged as a National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American and Honorable Mention All-Big Ten.
After his senior year, Matt went on to join the Indianapolis Colts in April of 2005. He accrued two years on the active roster for The Colts and played in twelve games. In February of 2007, he reached the pinnacle of the football world as he acquired a championship ring and became a member of the World Champion, Super Bowl XLI Indianapolis Colts.
In addition to his athletic career, he has trained athletes at the amateur, collegiate, and professional levels. Matt eagerly joins the TWR team in hopes that the success training and fitness has brought him can help others achieve their own personal fitness goals.
In the fall of 2007 Ron and Matt created a new division, Winning Edge Athletics. WEA is a unique opportunity for young atheletes to gain the physical edge they need the next time they take the field. To learn more about WEA click here.
Dale "DB" Barr
Dale's love for sports and passion for teaching and coaching has been part of his life dating back to childhood. At Millard North, one of the largest high schools in Omaha, Nebraska, Dale was a three year varsity letterman in three sports – the only person in his class to accomplish that feat. He started at Quarterback for the football team, Point Guard for the basketball team and Centerfield/Pitcher for the baseball team. At, Millard North, Dale was also a member of the National Honor Society. After a successful high school career Dale turned down small college scholarship offers to try and walk-on at the University of Arizona. His baseball career would eventually bring him back to Omaha where he earned a Finance degree from the University of Nebraska while coaching at the high school level.
After college, Dale continued his love for athletics by participating in the country’s elite collegiate summer leagues, where he played against future and current NBA and MLB athletes. Outside of sports he enjoyed a successful career in the mortgage sales industry while getting to experience living in Denver and Phoenix, before settling here in Chicago in 2003. His passion for athletics first brought him to Train With Ron as a client. Then in the summer of 2007, with the mortgage industry influx an opportunity arose that allowed him to leave the corporate America and get back to his athletic roots. Now, as a personal trainer at Train With Ron, he gets to help others achieve their personal goals in one of the most unique training environments in the country. TWR is one of the first private personal training facilities in the country to offer innovative training styles and techniques and is great for people of all levels from top-flight athletes, to people who just want to stay in shape, to those who need to get in shape.
Dale has just recently begun his mission to accomplish Ron's "Everyman's Decathlon"....stay tuned.