Philosophy
You can read about my background here, but this is my basic philosophic approach to this website and how I endeavor to apply it.
STRENGTH & CONDITIONING
Obviously this is a huge topic and one on which I hope to write extensively about. However, if I were to summarize my professional S&C philosophy in the most succinct manner possible it would be this;
- Think before you act
- Movement over Muscle
- Skill before Workload
- Quality over Quantity
- Mobility balanced with Stability
- Stability before Strength
- Strength before Speed
- System Capacity before System Power
- Process over Randomness
- Objective over Subjective
- Attitude over Apathy
- Humility over Ego
- Team before Self
- Integrity above all
COACHING
I have always felt that I have been given some great opportunities in my career, and thankfully I have been able to make the best of them. As a Coach I feel a responsibility to be a good educator, to ensure that my message gets through irrespective of learning style, intellect or communication challenges. Over the last ten years I have been fortunate enough to hold roles that by necessity have significantly influenced my peers. In that capacity I have developed the "coaching ideal" that I aim to educate with humility, respect, passion and creativity, in a manner that helps others reach their very best and ensures they avoid the pitfalls, errors and straight out "screw ups" I have made along the way.
NUTRITION
I'm not a Sports Dietician but after 20 years in professional strength & conditioning I have an opinion about what works and what doesn't. Equally I have a view on what is effective for the 40+ crew. My principle beliefs are in a "food first" approach. Good animal based proteins and fresh fruit and vegetables are the cornerstones. Supplements have their place but not at the expense of food as the primary nutritional driver. So I will at times share these opinions and that is what they must be treated as...opinions. Professionally I always employ Sports Dieticians and at the elite end of sport I would always defer to the appropriately skilled Sports Dietician to ensure that all bases are being covered.
SOCIAL MEDIA
As a relative newcomer to the world of e-commerce, the general advice I have been given is to get my message out there and constantly “in the face” of the proposed market. The most pertinent example would be the marketing ideal of “tweeting” 5-6 times per day.
Now from my perspective I see plenty of people doing just that. However my impression is that much of what is being communicated is largely rubbish. While this is undoubtedly a rather wide-ranging statement (Professor Tim Noakes would be an example of a high volume, high quality tweeter), my objective is not to be perceived as one of THOSE people who barrage the market with endless useless content.
My policy is that I will communicate when I think I have something to contribute. As I am interested in a number of divergent but related populations (developing S&C coaches, high level performance, 40+ fitness) some of my posts may not be of specific interest to you and I apologize in advance if at times you receive information that is not directly related to your field of endeavor. That being said hopefully whatever I publish may at least stimulate some different thinking.
As far as frequency goes I will endeavor to post to the blogs as regularly as I can. As a full time high performance manager/strength and conditioning coach in the AFL time is not a commodity I often have a lot of during the Australian summer (pre-season training period).
QUESTIONS
Where possible I will address questions as they are forwarded to me. However, time being in as short supply as it is, I may not be able to address every questions and for that I apologize.
PERSONAL TRAINING PHILOSOPHY
Go as hard as I can as often as I can! That said, I have a pretty full-on job, a wife, an 9yr old commando, and an athletic pre-teen at home, so training opportunities at times are not what I'd like them to be (can you hear the violin in the background!). Hence, the "go as hard as I can as often as I can". I have a terrible habit of not warming up and neglecting mobility. This only ends in me failing to lift at an intensity I would like to, so suffice to say, most of the time I have to ensure I am diligent with warm up and mobility. I enjoy lifting heavy stuff, in multiple planes of motion, at multiple speeds, running "off piste" and in soft sand (as much as my knees can handle), surfing whenever I can and I eat a diet that is predominantly consistent with a LCHF / Paleolithic model.
Anything else I can think of we'll learn along the way.
JW