GENERAL APPROACH: Training is scaled to your abilities and tailored to your goals:
1. Structural strength foundation (powerlifting and bodyweight movements)
2. Functional, complex movements (involving core, breath, multiple joints)
3. Progression with variation (conditioning a range of load, rep, and movement variations, while maintaining strucured, measurable progress)
4. Safety, effectiveness, and efficiency: First biomechanics, then conditioning, then intensity
5. Identifying "weak links in the chain"*: This is where you'll get your highest return-on-investment in training results
EQUIPMENT: For travel to your location (we can also schedule at local gyms or rec center) I own a professional olympic weightlifting set (Pendlay barbell, bumpers, change plates), a kettlebell set from 12kg-32kg, gymnastics rings, plyo bands suitable to assist in a variety of bodyweight movements, jump ropes, and most important - the right knowledge and a stopwatch.
NUTRITION: "Let food be your medicine, let your medicine be food." - Hippocrates. Nutrition is the molecular foundation of your health and athletic performance. In today's world, there are many diverse and contradictory claims on nutrition and health. I've spent thousands of hours researching health and fitness, right down to datasets in peer-reviewed studies. The bottom line is, if you really want to understand anything in this world, you cannot trust headlines and bylines and media reports. I've found that even published scientists sometimes make invalid conclusions based on their own data. However, I am a teacher at heart, and am able to offer simple, holistic science-based dietary recommendations, research areas for those keen to study for themselves, and seminars/workshops for those interested in a more in-depth look at nutrition, health, and performance. I will always be honest with you about the limits of my knowledge, and the difference between opinion and fact.
For reference, the ten general physical skills - a lens through which to view general fitness:
- Flexibility
- Endurance (cardiorespiratory endurance, or "cardio")
- Stamina (muscular endurance, aka strength-endurance)
- Strength (in our view, the productive application of force)
- Power (speed-strength in any given movement, or in a systemic sense, total work divided by time)
- Speed
- Agility (speed of transition between movement patterns or directions of travel)
- Coordination (the execution of movement patterns)
- Accuracy (how close to target; precision is a related concept: repeatability of accuracy)
- Balance
Four metabolic pathways:
- Phospagen/creatine: 1-10s burst power
- Glycolitic/Anaerobic (sugar): up to 2min max effort
- Oxidative/Aerobic: constantly in use, can sustain lower instensity efforts for hours-days
- Lactic acid: A by-product of anaerobic exercise and often viewed only as a negative factor, lactic acid is actually a dense energy substrate which we can train the body to utilize more efficiently, increasing stamina and work capacity