W


Steven Clegg instructs a trainee at the Olympic Sports Gym


e first introduced you (in last year’s November M&F)


to Michael Clegg, the former Manchester United defender who is currently the strength and conditioning coach for Sunderland FC; we then gave an overview of the entire Clegg clan at the family’s Olympic Sports Gym in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester and followed this with an in-depth interview with the father of the family and patriarch of power, Michael Clegg senior, who was the strength and conditioning coach for Manchester United’s first team for a decade. We then wrote about the


impressive strength feats of strong- man and former international weightlifter Mark Clegg and last month profiled Shaun Clegg, a teenage weightlifting prodigy with a chance of qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games. To complete our series of articles on this remarkable family we met Steven Clegg, a former Manchester United youth and reserve team player who is now developing a scientific approach to training that develops both mind and body. Steven thinks training the mind will be the next big thing and he and his dad are leading the way by creating a sports performance innovation lab in the family gym. Here Steven talks about his time at Manchester United as player and coach and his ideas on training the mind and body.


M&F: What was it like being brought up in such an athletic and success- ful family? STEVEN CLEGG: From as far back as I can remember my dad has owned the gym. He bought it 27 years ago now and


164 MUSCLE&FITNESS


my first memories are of me being here at the age of five or six. Dad used to make us run to it with him from our house, which is about two miles away. At first we couldn’t make it all the way; we used to run part of the way and then walk the rest. I was about eight years old when I could finally run the full two miles. He used to get us to train and I started Olympic lifting at the age of nine. He taught me how to lift weights properly.


M&F: How did your weightlifting develop? SC: I competed in my first competition when I was 12. It was a North-West competition then I progressed to


under-14 and under-15 level and won two British Olympic lifting titles. From then I took my strength and power into different sports.


M&F: Which sports did weightlifting prepare you for? SC: I joined Sale Harriers athletics club and did javelin and shot put. I competed at the English Schools Championship and came 4th. I’m not the biggest but I did OK compared to some of the bigger competitors. At school I won sportsman of the year twice, which is rare. I’ve always been into training and fitness. Being at the gym has always been part of my life.


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