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• May 5, 10

• FILEX 2010

  Last weekend Filex 2010 was held at the Sydney Convention Centre.

  Filex is an action packed three days with lectures and seminars being conducted on all aspects of the Health and Fitness Industry. Running at the same time as the fitness convention is the trade show which in my opinion showcases some of the best and worst aspects of our industry.
  The Fitness Convention is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and attracts some world class presenters form all corners of the globe. It is a great opportunity to get exposed to many ideas and concepts from some of the worlds best with sessions on business development, leadership, personal training, group fitness, aqua, club management and nutrition.
  You may not agree with all the information that is presented at these types of events, but as one of my mentors recently told me, you need to “Be a Sponge” in these situations or situation that presents a learning opportunity. Soak up as much information as possible, you can then later review the information and dissect it for ideas that are useful but if you go to these events with a closed mind or preconceived notion you may miss a valuable learning opportunity.
  During the convention we were asked to present a 90 minute session on athletic development. I was lucky enough to have Rob Leslie’s help with the session and he displayed his Olympic lifting skills. Also we were very honoured to have the great Ollie Scott join our presentation. Ollie conducted a 10 minute session on movement preparation and nervous system up-regulation.

  

  FILEX 2010 - Rob , Ollie and Corey

  Our session focused on “The Rate of Force Development” and the role it plays in positive transfer to sport. For those who attended our session we thank you for your participation and hope to see you again soon.

  In the coming weeks I will share with you the ideas and concepts that we presented during Filex 2010.

  • Posted on the 05.05.2010, Permanent Link
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• Interview with John Quinn – Part 2

  Following of from our previous blog, below is Part 2 of the interview with elite coach John Quinn. View PART 1 here.

  John shares some of his ideas on strength and speed development.

  CB: Ok what about strength development what are you strategies you use with your athletes?

  JQ: My thoughts are we need to stimulate the muscle first; we might stimulate the glutes and hammys by doing a single leg squat then I want to get them to apply that stimulation into an explosive type exercise like a 20-meter sprint.

  Or it could be a max squat with a vertical jump

  An incline bench press and a medicine ball throw

  Strength training opens the gateway for speed development

  CB: So you use a lot of complex or contrast training in strength development?

  JQ: Yep we use a lot of complex type training. Sure there are guys in the gym who are big and waddle around the gym but most of them waddle slowly and unless that strength can be converted in power it is useless.

  Power = speed x strength

  Many people are more worried about how much they can lift; I am not too concerned about that as I am about the speed and getting that strength at speed.

  I also like training in the superset or paired exercise format.

  CB: That is a great example of transfer and how our training needs transfers to improvements in performance in the sport or activity and t is not about the numbers we put up in testing. One sport I am currently involved in is Soccer, their culture is not one of strength training, they see little value in it and it is a constant battle to get them to see the benefits in it. I know you spend some time with the Socceroos so you know what I am talking about. Why do you think that is?

  JQ: They don’t understand strength development and how to correctly apply it to training, they have the perception it is in the gym that is non-specific to their performance, it is definitely a cultural issue with soccer.

  All it will take is one team to adopt a strength and speed approach and for them to get success then everywhere will want to take this approach.

  CB: Ok a couple of quick ones to finish. Who is going to win the AFL flag this year? I don’t think your boys from Essendon will feature to highly?

  JQ: I think the Western Bulldogs will win the AFL grand final and I think they will play Geelong

  Parramatta will win the NRL Grand final not Melbourne, not sure who they will play but I am a big Parramatta fan and I can’t believe you a boy from Wagga doesn’t support Parramatta.

  CB: Well John your on your own there, I agree the Western Bulldogs will be definitely hard to beat this year but Eagles are my tip for the NRL.

  We thank John for his time and willingness to share his insight into coaching and athlete development.

  You can visit John’s website www.quinnelitesports.com.au

  

  • Posted on the 05.05.2010, Permanent Link
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• Mar 31, 10

• Interview with elite coach John Quinn

  John Quinn is a true leader in the coaching field, he has been training some of the world’s best athletes for over 25 years. John is pictured here at an AFL draft advising coaches on their draft selections (normally he has a smile on his face and not such a serious look)

  

  He has worked with athletes and coaches across sports as diverse as track and field, swimming, AFL, rugby league, tennis, cricket and soccer.

  Just a few of John’s accomplishments include:

  • Team coach for the Australian track and field team at the Sydney Olympic Games
  • Head fitness coach and High Performance Manager for Essendon Football Club (AFL)
  • Australian fitness coach for two International Rules Series (AFL)
  • Head Conditioner with the Socceroos in 2006 in a friendly competition in Kuwait
  • High Performance Coach for AFL All Stars Team
  • Strength and Conditioning coach in the Indian Cricket League

  John is one of those guys who I could talk to all day about training methods.

  If you are an up and coming strength and conditioning coach or personal trainer who deals with athletes or anyone who wants or has performance goals you should take the time to read this interview. This is your chance to learn from one of the best and gain some valuable insight on what it takes to be successful in the field sports conditioning.

  Corey Bocking (CB): John can you just give everyone a quick over view of how and where you got started as a coach?

  John Quinn (JQ):

  In 1985 is started work in Sydney working with Little Athletics as a development officer but at the same time I was coaching elite track athletes. At this time I was studying a sports science degree at NSW University, at that time there were only a few sports science courses, may be one Sydney and one in Wollongong.

  I graduated in 1991, before I had graduated I was offered a coaching position with the AIS as a sprint coach, however I was told I had to go to either Hobart or Townsville for 1 year before heading to Canberra. I chose Tasmania and in hindsight it was one of the best decisions I have made. Many people would of thought that would have been a demotion but it turned out to be one of the greatest learning experiences I have had.

  The Tasmanian Institute was very progressive and insightful; the athletes were very focused and eager. We had a lot of challenges other bigger Institutes didn’t have because of our size. We had to coach hard to get results (as we only had a small squad), as we were a small program we had to continually justify our program for funding.

  These challenges force you to think laterally to get the best results, one of the challenges was to win the locals over as they viewed my position as transient and to overcome that was a challenge.

  This experience has taught me many lessons though, including;

  • Resourceful
  • Resilience
  • Commitment
  • Ability to see solutions not problems
  • Dedication

  That 1 year I was to spend in Tasmania turned into 6!

  I was then approached by the Essendon AFL club to be the fitness co-coordinator. I told them I have been trained to coach and that’s what I wanted to do, I didn’t want to be a coordinator, I saw my role more than just putting out witches hats, it may have been just a title but I wanted to be known as a coach not a fitness coordinator.

  At this time I think I was the first fulltime fitness (strength & conditioning) coach in the AFL. My philosophy was to coach the individual but also to coach the whole person, not just focusing on them as athletes but them as people.

  So I started with Essendon Football Club, my next challenge started, I had never seen a game of AFL coming from NSW I wasn’t interested in AFL, even when I moved to Tasmania it was there on in the background but essentially it was just white noise. So as soon as I learnt what colors Essendon were and where Essendon was on the map I had to work out what I was going to do. So I just started watching games and see what was involved and what we could improve. One of the coaches wasn’t that impressed with a new fitness coordinator coming in. I remember a coach coming into my office with a big box he said, “These are all the old programs the previous fitness coordinator used”. I said thanks and asked for his for help and if he had any tape, he said “sure why” I said to tape this box up!.  I always thought if I was going to go down I was going to go down my own way. That box sat under my desk for many years whilst I was at Essendon, it became very symbolic for me.

  Within 2 years of being at the club we won the flag.

  Those things we changed in 1999 are now commonplace in clubs.

  We introduced;

  • Specific training
  • Repeated effort
  • Olympic lifting, which was not common in 99
  • Weight training platforms, Eleiko bars as they spin quicker
  • We were measuring the speed on the lifts
  • Decreasing excess body weight
  • Stability strength.
  • Recovery – contrast baths.

  My philosophy was to have the club as a mini Institute of Sport.

  By the end of my time at Essendon I had gone from being fitness coordinator to high performance manager, and we had a staff of 28 (part-time and fulltime staff) Dr’s, physios, psychologists, skill acquisition specialists strength and conditioning and massage therapists.

  Now I don’t think this is a good thing, often other my drop off because they think someone else is taking care of it; I found you also lose a bit of your spontaneity and control.

  My biggest fear for strength and conditioners and the industry is that we are moving too much towards evidence based training, and we are losing the art of coaching. We are now in a situation where everything has to be poked and prodded and we are trying to justify our position by the science of training and in the process the art of coaching is becoming rarified. There is a trend where people are more concerned about having another qualification to their name or having a paper published which is moving away from the art of coaching.

  There is also a defensiveness and a trend for people to be defending their territory and having to justify why a player may or may not be fit or injured we are not good at working together and sharing information and helping others.

  One thing I can’t understand is why people feel they have to defamation and criticise others work they try and gain their strength by taking it from others

  CB: Yes that always amazes me, I travel a lot and talk to many coaches and trainers and some you hear just want to criticise and run down other methods, essentially I think it just their insecurity coming through which is really disappointing.

  JQ: Definitely their insecurity, I think this comes from the fact we have an over supply of people, these people are over qualified and under experienced, unfortunately it is a trend in professional sport.

  For example, Melbourne University have just spend $65 million on a exercise physiology department, that has everything from altitude training lab, recovery centre’s and strength and conditioning, so this Uni will be graduating 100’s of so called experts.

  I recently had a guy doing some work for me, this guys I very smart has his honors degree and came highly recommended. I had him write a program I said a client is coming in and he has “X” issue and these are his notes I will be back in 30 minutes can you give me a sample program. I came back 25 minutes later and his pen was frozen and looked on his piece of paper and it had a few notes scribbles it said- squats, lunge, upright row and abs.

  Many of today’s graduates, these experts are totally inept in practice.

  CB: I want to talk philosophy, as it is always an interest of mine to find out what top coaches philosophies are?

  JQ: For me being able to show the individual what they are capable of, turning that ability into a reality, coaching someone to do something they can do is easy, coaching them to do something they can’t yet do that’s the goal.

  For this the individual needs to;

  • Believe in themselves
  • Know themselves
  • What they are
  • Who they are
  • What they can achieve

  But the ultimate success is balance in life, if your striving for excellence but it costs your relationships with your friends and family, then it is not success. Often you see these type of individuals if the sport goes they are no longer a worthy person and struggle in life and this is a disgusting thing to see. These people often feel they are defined y their sport which is a big mistake.

  You know their are no secrets in training you are over in the UAE and they may think that what your doing new, but there are no new ideas, people who think there is a secret to training are kidding themselves!

  CB: That’s funny I often have this conversation with my good friend Paul Watson who like you is a very experienced coach, many young people who he comes into contact want to tell him the secret to training and the truth is there are so many ways to achieve the same result

  JQ: You can do things a certain way and get a great result, but works for one person will not work with another. When an athlete or client can’t perform what your asking them to do its not them that has the issue, it  is you as a coach who aren’t giving them what they need to succeed. You may have the secret but that secret may work for one person, it is like going to work with only one tool in your tool box, now I would rather go to work with my tool box full of different tools I can use.

  CB: Facilitating team and personal Leadership was a big part of what you initiated during your time at Essendon, I know you took some trips to Japan how was that experience and what were you trying get out of the trip?

  JQ: We took two teams to Japan one in 2004 then in 2006. The goal of the trip was to develop the players as people, and to take them away and provide them with different experiences and give them the chance do address the issues confronting the club and issues confronting the individuals. We were able to look at these being removed from out normal circumstances. One of the activities we did was we took the team to the fish markets in Tokyo, now these fish markets are the biggest in the world and in fact if you take the next 7 biggest and add them up it is still not as big as this. They sell $20millions worth of product everyday. The players were up at 4.30am observing all that was going on what the auctioneers were doing the people moving the fish and the people bringing it in. the lesson learnt from this experience was that everyone at the markets had a role to play and each person had to focus on their own role for the markets to be successful. The benchmark for the markets was $20million a day and if they didn’t hit that target that was considered a bad day. Players learnt if your job was to bring the fish in you have to do that and not worry about what others were doing, you need to focus on your role not what other were or were not doing.

  The lesson learnt here was focus, the players need to focus on their own role and not worry what their teams were or were not doing and lose their own focus or worry that the umpires aren’t umpiring the game they thing they should or the crowd is saying about the team or what the score board read, you need to focus on your role within the group.

  By the time we left we had discussed here different issues of life and their experience it was one of the most powerful experiences I have had in a team environment.

  CB: Did Kevin Sheedy get involved in this?

  JQ: No he didn’t but he tells me know he wish he had, the CEO at the time came with me and loved the experience. One of the most pleasing things to come from these trips is past player tell me that those trips made a big impact on their lives not just as footballers.

  CB: What advice would you have for young up and coming strength and conditioning coaches?

  JQ: The degree and qualifications is their license to start, after they have their qualification they then start their apprenticeship, which should take about 10 years. They need to start at the bottom, learn the practical applications and put yourself in as many practical situations as possible. It is not good enough just to go to little A’s they need to commit to applying practical skills. They need to interact with players and be able to bring the best out in the interact with parent and board members. They just need to throw themselves into as many different situations as possible. It doesn’t matter if you are coaching the under 9’s or under 20’s judge yourself by how you improve the bottom 5 players not weather you win the championship, that is a true measure of you as a coach being able to improve your bottom 5.

  CB: We have spoken a lot about communication and philosophy and most successful coaches will emphasis how important these skills are, as it doesn’t matter how much know if you can’t communicate that to your clients?

  JQ: That is true I know some of the smartest people in the world but they are bloody useless because they can’t get the best out of themselves little know get the best out of others.

  You do really need to hone your craft and know the technical aspects of the sport and not to get over gimmicky; you can’t confuse gimmicks with technique. You need to be able to communicate a complex skill in the most simple and basic form and then be able to take that skill and individual to a different level. Each person is going to be different so sometimes you need to think laterally. You do also need to realize your not going to get it right a 100%, 100% of the time and you need to be able to accept that.

  CB: What motivates you someone who is at the top of the field, where do you get your inspiration and professional development?

  JQ: When you stop looking for perfection that’s a signal that coaching has pasted you by and it is time to look to get into another role.

  Firstly, motivated people motivate me!

  I was recently work with a young kid who has a navicular injury, we were doing a pool session, he had never done a pool session before so I told him to take it easy, but I could just see that this kid gave 100%. I could see he was spend after about 40-45minutes as he went out to hard, he was at the pool with his head in his hands breathing heavy I said that might do us today he turned to me and said “Quinny don’t worry about how I look, you just tell me what to do and I will do it!” that motivates me, this kid I think will be drafted next year, so that motivates me.

  To take an athlete to a new level you need to take yourself to a whole new level.

  I look outside the world of sport, to the world of business, the same principles and flaws are applied in business, their results are measured in dollars where ours are measured in results and wins and losses. I am always looking at what strategies the business world is using that can be applied in sports.

  I am motivated by new technologies in sports.

  Secondly networking, taking yourself out of your comfort zone, doing things that many people aren’t willing to do.

  You know what I am talking about

  Going to India and meeting a group that has no idea who you are, your starting from scratch, with a group that English is not their first language.

  These opportunities are really examples to get outside your comfort zone and force you to think on your feet.

  When you get into your comfort zone you must do something that continually takes you out of your comforts zone to develop your skills.

  CB: We have talked a lot about coaching philosophy which is great, what about speed development, can you share your thoughts on developing speed for a team sport such as AFL and also speed development in Athletics say the 100meters

  JQ: In team sports it is not about speed it is about acceleration from 1-8 steps and turning agility into speed and having an athlete who can accelerate again, again and again.

  Having a fast 20-30 meters (sprint test) is irrelevant because it rarely happens in a game and if you can’t run at top speed whilst bouncing the ball there is no use having that speed.

  The focus is to teach speed over smaller distances.

  Agility is often confused with speed, but there is no correlation between speed and agility. Can you maintain that speed whilst changing direction and bouncing the ball? Can you apply this speed to the game?

  Track athlete is different lets say the 100meters

  We need to teach them to start then accelerate to the 50-60 meter mark; I think Usain Bolt has pushed this mark out further. Then we need to be able to hold maximum velocity to 80-90 meters and to maintain speed as much as possible as we are decelerating from 90-100meters.

  Teaching each component is a challenge

  For example, teaching maximum velocity has many components we need strength, posture, core strength technique. Training a sprinter is a challenge.

  It is the most complex simple skill to get someone to run the 100meters at maximum speed.

  Next week Part 2 of the interview with John Quinn. John shares his thoughts on strength and endurance training in team sports and putting a yearly program together.

  You can visit John’s website  www.quinnelitesports.com.au

  

  • Posted on the 31.03.2010, Permanent Link
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• Mar 12, 10

• Laureus Sports Awards

  Wednesday 10^th April 2010, Laureus Sports Awards were held in Abu Dhabi. Laureus Sports award are the most prestigious awards in world sport, essentially the sports world’s Oscars www.laureus.com

  

  Laureus promotes the use of sport as a tool for social change and celebrates sporting excellence.

  Laureus’ core concept is simple, brilliant and daunting: to create global awards that recognise the achievements of today’s sports heroes; to bring sportspeople together; united in achievement but divided by sporting code and then, once that community is brought together, put their reach and the support and investment of Laureus’ Founding Patrons and Partners to work by supporting a message that can help social projects around the world who are using sport as a tool for social change. That message, simply, is Laureus Sport for Good.

  We were lucky enough to be apart of the day, all be it a very, very small part. We were asked to conduct a football (soccer) clinic for a group of local schools children as part of the sport for good foundation. We were told some of the visiting sporting super stars would be joining the session, we weren’t told who, just to expect some sporting royalty and to get them involved in the session.

  It was a lot of fun, challenging at times as some of the children didn’t have the best English and my Arabic is not that great. I am not sure if the school kids actually knew who a lot of the sports stars were, but we were blessed to have some of the all time greats join us on the pitch.

  Great Australians such as Layne Beachley, Cathy Freeman and Dawn Fraser, Dawn still gets around the football pitch quite well.

  The legend Daley Thompson, and rugby greats Butch James, Morné du Plessis and the great Hugo Porta also joined us. They were all great people and great fun, in this clip you will see Hugo Porta the Argentine Rugby legend show his soccer skills, you can see why he has been described as Argentina’s greatest ever Rugby player.

  The only downside of the event was unfortunately we couldn’t get tickets to the event unless we wanted to pay $5000 USD, somehow my 100 first grade games with Wagga Tigers Football Club didn’t open too many doors….

  • Posted on the 12.03.2010, Permanent Link
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• Mar 4, 10

• Hi from Dubai!

  Hi from Dubai!

  I am currently in the United Arab Emirates, mostly Dubai and Abu Dhabi conducting a series of trainer and coach seminars during the month of March.

  

  Dubai Sports City

  The Dubai Sports City (www.dubaisportscity.com) pictured above is the training base of our Dubai based courses. This facility is a sight to see, and construction still is not complete!

  Trips like this provide me with a greater perspective on things (both professionally & personally) we often take for granted back home in Australia, these include:

  • The Australian Fitness Industry is truly at the forefront of training, education and business development and how important a regulating body is for the industry.
  • There are many Australian Personal trainers doing some great work around the world. Many of these trainers are getting paid very well to deliver training that the Australian consumer takes for granted, as there are so many great trainers in Australia.
  • A great coffee is hard to find!
  • Australia is truly the greatest country in the world to live in.

  

  Starbucks never tasted so good. Cheers!

  • Posted on the 04.03.2010, Permanent Link
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