As an athlete, I started as a footballer and trail runner. From an early age I had a passion for endurance sports, and spent much of my late teens running around the Yorkshire Wolds. After a few big football-induced injuries, I decided to move into something a little more forgiving, yet even more addictive…cycling. I now spend my free time cycling in the Yorkshire dales and competing in the odd road race.

 

I have been professionally involved in strength and conditioning since 2007. Initially this was through my role as a personal trainer at a Total Fitness in Wakefield, where I began delivering fitness sessions for Ossett Town AFC first team and under 18s. This was basic stuff, but it was immediately clear that these athletes were nowhere near conditioned to be the best they could be. From here, I continued to combine personal training and fitness coaching for a few years, which led to a role within further education teaching sports coaching and fitness.

 

Alongside my teaching role, I continued to deliver personal training and strength and conditioning services. At the college, I was responsible for training youth athletes (16-19yr olds) for four years, developing performance in rugby union, basketball, golf and cross country running. During this time, I developed a passion for working with individuals and began to take S&C more seriously, slowly reducing the personal training side of my services.

 

For me, there is something much more engaging about the 121 coaching experience with performance athletes and I thrive off the inquisitiveness of individuals in that environment. This has driven me to complete an MSc in Strength and Conditioning at Leeds Beckett University, achieving a distinction, which has underpinned my experience with academic accreditation.

 

Over recent years, I have continued to work with a range of individual athletes in several different sports. Through my knowledge of endurance performance, I have more recently become a huge advocate for strength and conditioning as an often-untapped source of performance enhancement for endurance athletes.