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trained by world-class trainers? Are world-class athletes
his state in rugby union. With 12 years of experience in the industry, Greg has a unique background in health and fitness. In this edition Greg shares his experiences with high performance athletes. He has worked with a range of elite athletes and clients including international javelin throwers, international waterpolo players and performers in the West End. Here, Greg shares his thoughts on how a trainer must adapt when working with this niche group.
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As a personal trainer, making the transition to working with high performance clients and elite athletes is not always as straight forward as first thought. There are many differences that you as a trainer will need to consider. Elite athletes differ drastically to the general public and not just in their physical state.
As a general statement, in my experience athletes and high performance clients enjoy the gym and being challenged to see a direct result from their work and outputs. This can again be seen as an opposite to the general public who ‘occasionally’ see their work and output at the gym as a means to an end – a
EPs Operations Manager Greg Small is also a practising and licensed REPs member who has represented
validation for the cupcake they had at lunch. Throughout my years of training athletes I have learnt that taking the scientific approach to lifting will always yield results. So what makes an athlete an athlete? My own view on what an elite athlete or high performance client is is an advanced performing competitor in sport; or an extremely well conditioned member of the public that understands the benefits of athletic performance and advanced training techniques.
Training these athletes and high performance clients varies considerably against the demand of the general public. Variances such as training time, training load, training duration and overall time under tension are all variables that need specific understanding by the trainer to develop the smallest of gains that can potentially result in silver medals turning to gold. Advanced training techniques that are often seen in the performance world and not seen in gyms are: l Forced repetitions l Hypobaric sessions l Lactic threshold sessions l Pre-fatigue method l Negative loading l Chain training
Understanding the biological response to training and truly understanding functional anatomy is a must for any trainer looking to move into the world of performance. Without a working knowledge and understanding of these fundamentals; overload and potential injury can appear very quickly.
A poor technique deriving from poor footwear or uneven lifting platforms can lead to a hip level discrepancy, which can then lead to back pain and putting an athlete out of competition.
The mental state of an elite performer also varies considerably to that of the general public. The rituals that we often see by Olympic weight lifters, javelin throwers and also those competing in a team specific sport are habitual that put the athlete into either a ‘fired up’ state or one of ‘relaxation’, all which yield a positive result against performance. The elite performer understands the mental state they require for optimum performance.
Understanding your clients’ mental conditioning and your ability to develop positive ‘rituals’ pre and post performance will aid you dramatically in ensuring your client/athlete will continue to improve in performance and avoid the nasty ‘plateau’.
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