Odd E Haugen

Business Owner

The Training Hall

 President and Head Coach: Valhalla Strength Sports, LLC d/b/a/The TRAINING HALL™ by Odd E. Haugen the Official MAS Wrestling USA Training Center is a culmination of a lifetime passion for strength athletics and business.  The Training Hall™ is dedicated to training and preparing amateur and professional strength athletes for competition but will also feature individual and group training for the general public.  The Training Hall has existed as a not-for-profit training group since 2003.  Also:President: MAS Wrestling North America, LLC d/b/a/MAS Wrestling USAOdd Haugen is a business executive with passion for strength and fitness.  Prior to retiring from his role as COO and Co-Founder of dotFIT, LLC, he had various roles within 24 Hour Fitness, He was the CEO of the 24 Hour Fitness operating entities in Europe with nearly 140 clubs before joining Neal Spruce as COO of the Apex Fitness Group.  Haugen joined 24 Hour Fitness via the merger with Gym Masters, Inc. (GMI) in early 1996.   As a principal shareholder and founder of GMI, Mr. Haugen grew the company from its one 6,000 square foot club beginning in Richmond, California, to a chain of clubs with gross revenue of $10,000,000 plus per year.  Prior to merging with 24 Hour Fitness, Inc. GMI was honored three years in a row as one of Inc. 500’s fastest growing companies in the nation.  Mr. Haugen was featured on the cover of Club Industry’s June, 1993 issue.Mr. Haugen is a graduate of McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) with a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and the University of California at Berkeley with a MBA in Finance.  He parlayed his skills and education into a successful career as the owner of a real estate brokerage and investment firm in California.  In 1985, Mr. Haugen joined his passion with his avocation to open his first Gold’s Gym at Albany Hill (Richmond), California. One gym led to the next, and he was soon to open others in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and Marin County. As a side note, Mr. Haugen was crowned the Strongest Man in America at the 1999 A.F.S.A.  U.S.A. Full Strength Championship in Las Vegas and Hawaii’s Strongest Man in 2000, 2001 and 2002.  Athletic Performance - 3x World's Strongest Man Competitor; 1999 USA Strongman Champion (1999 Strongest Man in America), 3x Hawaii's Strongest Man; twice runner-up in Norway's Strongest Man; 3rd Place in 2011 Masters World’s Strongest Man; Runner-up 2013 US Open MAS Wrestling Championship and have competed in several Mas-Wrestling World Cup Competitions; 2013  World Champion in Armlifting (both Rolling Thunder and DOH Apollon’s Axle Deadlift); 2017 &2019 World Champion in Armlifting (Rolling Thunder, DOH Axle Deadlift and Saxon Bar Deadlift).  Awarded Master of Sport by Armlifting Professional League (APL) in 2019.  Multiple world and national titles in Powerlifting including WABDL Masters World Champion in both Bench Press and Deadlift; Inducted into AAU Strength Sports Hall of Fame; Inducted to McDaniel College Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 for excelling in Football, Wrestling and Track & Field during his college tenure; Won the titles Mr. Norway junior (1968) and Mr. Norway senior (1970) and competed in the 1968 IFBB Mr. World contest in the sport of Bodybuilding.