Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel Solis.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
During my junior year at Lamar High School, I had an eye-opening experience when Tom House, the well-known pitching and QB mechanics specialist, visited to give a seminar to our baseball team. His innovative approach to training, with a strong emphasis on rotation and the unique needs of rotational athletes, immediately intrigued and inspired me.
He returned to Lamar several times for additional seminars, each visit reinforcing my fascination with his techniques. The summer after my freshman year in college, I had the incredible opportunity to spend time training with Tom House, further deepening my understanding of his methods. I spent two months at USC, shadowing and learning from him, an experience that had a lasting impact on my training philosophy.
Inspired by his mentorship, I began training my teammates at San Jacinto College, where I was playing baseball. I was able to implement what I had learned from House with my teammates and it made a huge difference in our training results.
At 17 years old, I met Loren Landow, another influential figure in my journey, who became a role model for me. Loren is a strength and conditioning specialist that has worked in the NFL for several years and now works with Notre Dame’s football team. He also has a performance facility in Denver where I have sent my employees to learn. Loren has been a huge part of the growth that I have experienced as a business owner.
By the fall of 2016, I opened my own gym, which has since produced 28 MLB draft picks since 2017 and a Heisman finalist. Today, my facility has over 100 athletes, ranging from elementary school to professional athletes, all benefiting from the foundational principles I learned from Tom House and Loren Landow, and the things that I learned along the way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Transitioning from being a coach to running and operating my own business was a significant challenge. The shift from focusing solely on training athletes to managing a business brought a host of new responsibilities and difficulties. One of the biggest struggles I faced was realizing that not every employee was the same. I had to learn as an employer how to best care for each of my employees and navigate our differences professionally.
Another struggle I faced early on was training athletes who were my own age. At 22, I wanted to enjoy the same experiences as my peers, but I had to balance this with maintaining professionalism and authority. Building credibility with parents was also a major hurdle due to my young age. To establish a solid reputation, I often gave away free sessions, proving my expertise and commitment to the athletes I trained. Despite these challenges, each struggle taught me valuable lessons and contributed to my growth as a business owner.
As you know, we’re big fans of SP Training HTX. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m the founder and operator of a specialized training facility that focuses on developing elite athletes. My facility currently trains over 100 athletes, providing tailored programs that enhance their athletic performance. I’m known for my commitment to athletic development as a whole, we are committed to the entire athlete not just their performance. Because if you have played sports before, you know that your teams success rides on more than just size and strength. My innovative training techniques, and my ability to build a strong rapport with both athletes and their families has allowed me to successfully build a reputation for excellence and dedication in the sports training community.
The bulk of our clients are high school athletes and the sports range from baseball to lacrosse to golf and more. We are blessed to have a wide range of athletes and are striving to continue to grow every day. But I think that there is a discrepancy in girls sports and the importance of training outside of the sport. So many high school boys sports have entire strength and conditioning programs, months before their season even starts, and the majority of girls sports cannot say the same. It is hard to create an emphasis for something that has never been prioritized before but that is what we try to do with our female athletes. That is something that I would like to continue to work on, making a difference in the world of high school girls sports and the lack of training emphasis there is on resistance training.
Our facility offers group training as well as one on one private training for all ages. While we primarily train athletes, the facility also has some adult training and general fitness training. Our coaches will work closely with you and your goals to develop a program that matches your wants and needs. They perform evaluations to determine what it is you need and maybe where you have some imbalances or discrepancies that need attention. Our coaches care about you and your training goals and will work with you to help achieve those. We also have a few amenities and resources available to our members. We have a sauna and cold plunge, which are both great for recovery. We also have batting cages that are available to rent. We are a family friendly facility, if you are coming in with your son or daughter to train, you are also welcome to hop on the treadmill or get a quick workout in. We work with you to make sure you are getting what you want out of the experience.
What are your plans for the future?
My biggest goal for the future would be to increase the amount of female athletes we have in the gym. As I mentioned earlier, there is not a lot of emphasis for girls to focus on strength and conditioning but that doesn’t mean it is any less important for them. I am working with local high schools and coaches to try to build that emphasis and show the importance of training for female athletes.
Female athletes often don’t see a weight room until they get to college to play their sport and that should not be the case. My goal is for the girls to want to get into the weight room, to want to squat and bench press and get strong and fast. There is a misunderstanding about lifting weights and getting bulky, especially for women. Just because you lift weight does not mean you will be jacked and huge, and I think that myth deters a lot of girls and women from the weight room. I would like to flip that narrative and allow women to understand it’s actually empowering to lift weights and be strong. It also sets these women up for life; so often, when young female athletes never make it into the weight room they are all of a sudden 25 years old and wanting to exercise, but afraid to go to the gym because they don’t know what to do or how to do. It’s time for that to change and there are a lot of great coaches and social media users trying to break that narrative, but it takes a village.
Pricing:
- Group Classes for High Schoolers: $25 per class
- Private Sessions: $60-$110 per session (depending on frequency and coach)
- Group Classes for Elementary and Middle School: $20 per session
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.solisperformance.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sptraininghtx/
- Twitter: https://x.com/sptraininghtx
Image Credits
Tucker Cascadden, Stacey Jamieson, Alivia Doolan
