Chris Carmichael Bio

Chris Carmichael is the founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems, Inc. (CTS). Named the US Olympic Committee’s Coach of the Year in 1999, Chris formed CTS in 2000 to make world-class coaching accessible to athletes of all ability levels. Innovation has been a driving force throughout Chris’s career as an athlete, coach, and entrepreneur; he’s played a leading role in advancing the use of power meters, aerodynamic testing, altitude training, online coaching tools, and specific training methods for time-crunched athletes.

 

 

Through Chris’s leadership, CTS immediately established itself as the premier destination for personal fitness, nutrition, and life coaching; a leadership position the company has held throughout its 12-year history. To ensure that CTS Athletes receive the best expertise and customer service, Chris created an unsurpassed education program that develops the highest-trained coaches in the industry. With a network of more than 80 coaches, the thousands of athletes working with CTS have full access to an unmatched base of knowledge and experience.

To make hands-on coaching interaction more accessible to the public, Chris pushed to open regional training facilities. Currently, athletes can experience CTS coaching, camps, and testing services in Colorado Springs, CO; Tucson, AZ; Brevard, NC; and Santa Ynez, CA. Innovation has always been a core component of Chris’s business philosophy, and in 2009 he introduced The Endurance Sports Club at Carmichael Training Systems in Colorado Springs, CO. The Club is a fully-equipped, state-of-the-art fitness center oriented specifically to the needs of the endurance sports community.

On the way to building a multimillion dollar coaching and multimedia business with more than 50 full-time employees, Chris also authored seven books, including the New York Times Bestseller, Chris Carmichael’s Food for Fitness (2004) and his newest title, The Time-Crunched Triathlete (2010). His unique perspective on performance appears in his monthly columns in Bicycling Magazine (’05-present), Triathlete Magazine (2010 – present) and Outside Magazine (’05-’08), and the broad appeal of his message has seen him featured in Time, Business 2.0, Inc., and Forbes Small Business. The company has also released more than 20 full-length training DVDs featuring workouts led by Chris Carmichael and other CTS Coaches.

Chris has also been very active in television, with appearances on the NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, The Early Show, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN, 60 Minutes, The Discovery Channel, ABC’s World News Tonight, and other venues. From 2001-2005, he served a daily on-air commentator for the Outdoor Life Network’s (now Versus) Tour de France coverage. And in 2006, Chris was the host of the Me vs. Me television show on the Fine Living TV Network. In 2009, Chris appeared in Race Across the Sky, a documentary about the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race. 

 

 

• 2011 Local Organizing Committee Chair for the Colorado Springs Prologue, USA Pro Cycling Challenge
• 2009 Kennedy Laureate Award, John F. Kennedy University
• 2004 USA Cycling Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2004 Colorado Entrepreneur of the Year, Celebrate Technology
• 2003 US Bicycling Hall of Fame Inductee
• 2000 Outside Magazine "Ultimate Coach" Award
• 1999 US Olympic Committee "Coach of the Year"
• 1999 USA Cycling "Coach of the Year"
• 1999 VeloNews "Coach of the Year"
• 1992, 1996 Olympic Coach, Cycling
• 1986 First American Team in the Tour de France, 7-Eleven
• 1984 Olympic Team Member, Cycling

• Lance Armstrong
• George Hincapie – 5-time Olympian, Tour de France stage winner
• Ed Moses – Olympic Gold Medalist, World Record holder – swimming
• Peter Reid – 3-time Ironman World Champion
• Saku Koivu – Captain, Montreal Canadians Professional Hockey Team
• Served as the US Cycling Coach during the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and athletes under his direction have won 33 Olympic, World Championship and Pan American Games medals.

PRO ATHLETES WHO WORK OR HAVE WORKED WITH CTS

• Lance Armstrong
• Craig Alexander – 2008, 2009 Ironman World Champion
• Normann Stadler – 2004, 2006 Ironman World Champion
• Carl Edwards – NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series driver
• Ryan Trebon – 2-time US National Cyclocross Champion
• Katerina Nash – 3-time Olympian, 2-time USGP Cyclocross Champion
• Max Papis – NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, 24 Hours of Daytona Champion
• John Murphy – 2009 USPRO Criterium Champion
• Bjorn Selander – Team Radioshack

• The Time Crunched Triathlete: Race-Winning Fitness in 8 Hours a Week (Velopress, 2010)
• The Time Crunched Cyclist: Fit, Fast, and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week (Velopress, 2009)
• Five Essentials for a Winning Life: The Nutrition, Fitness, and Life Plan for Discovering the Champion Within (Rodale, 2006)
• The Carmichael Training Systems Cyclist’s Training Diary (Penguin Putnam, 2005)
• Chris Carmichael’s Fitness Cookbook (Penguin Putnam, 2005)
• Chris Carmichael’s Food for Fitness: Eat Right to Train Right (Penguin Putnam, 2004) Reached #6 on the New York Times Best Seller List in 2004.
• The Ultimate Ride: Get Fit, Get Fast, and Start Winning with the World’s Top Cycling Coach (Penguin Putnam, 2003)
• The Lance Armstrong Performance Program: Seven Weeks to the Perfect Ride (Rodale, 2000; revised 2006)

• Microsoft
• General Electric
• Nike
• Carnegie Science Center
• UBS Financial
• AMD
• Boston Scientific
• Dow Corning
• The American College of Sport Medicine
• Yale University
• The Tony Robbins Group
• Autoliv
• UNISYS
• UK World Class Coaching Conference
• Global Coaching Conference for the US Olympic Committee

• 1984 US Olympic Team Member – Cycling
• Was a member of the first American team (7-Eleven) to race the Tour de France in 1986.