João Magalhães
Sport Scientist and Strength & Conditioning Coach. Founder of Nex Performance.
Background
BSc and MSc in High Performance Training from Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (Lisbon), with a postgraduate degree in Strength & Conditioning and NSCA CSCS certification.
Started in the field in 2016 as assistant coach and strength & conditioning coach for the U14 and U16 basketball squads at Benfica, with parallel personal training experience. Worked with junior golfers between 2018 and 2019, and during the master's joined Benfica LAB as a sport science intern, supporting young athletes across futsal, handball, basketball, roller hockey and volleyball.
From 2020 to 2022, Sport Scientist at the science department of Sporting Clube de Portugal. Since 2022, Customer Success Specialist at Catapult Sports, supporting professional clubs in GPS integration and training data analysis. In parallel, strength & conditioning coach for junior tennis players at Workoutdoor, and former guest lecturer at Instituto Piaget de Almada in 2023 and 2024.
Nex Performance is where science, technology and the field meet — a service built for clubs, academies and athletes.
Education
MSc in High Performance Training
Faculdade de Motricidade Humana
2017–2019
Postgraduate in Strength & Conditioning
Faculdade de Motricidade Humana
2016–2017
BSc in Sport Sciences
Faculdade de Motricidade Humana
2013–2016
Certifications
- Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) — NSCA
- Advanced Course in Sports Rehabilitation — Academia Clínica Dragão
- Weightlifting Coach Level I — FHP
- Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate — Google
Professional Experience
- 2022 — Present
Customer Success Specialist
Catapult Sports
- 2026 — Present
S&C Coach (Tennis, juniors)
Workoutdoor
- 2023 — 2024
Guest Lecturer
Instituto Piaget de Almada
- 2020 — 2022
Sport Scientist
Sporting Clube de Portugal
- 2018 — 2019
S&C Coach (Golf, juniors)
Personal training studio
- 2017 — 2018
Physiology internship
Sport Lisboa Benfica — Benfica Lab
- 2016 — 2017
Assistant Coach & S&C (Basketball)
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (U14, U16)
Why Nex
Nex Performance was born from a realisation built up over more than ten years in the field: while clubs with professional structure use data to decide, many developing clubs have athletes, capable coaches and willingness — but lack a clear system to turn what they see into consistent decisions. Nex exists to provide that structure, combining proprietary technology with a methodology designed for daily training: simple, practical and built to be used.