The Temple Of Success
Through my years as a coach I have developed a unique coaching philosophy to aid all my athletes on their performance journey, to build their own 'Temple Of Success'. Whilst there are hundreds of both physical and mental techniques and skills that we focus upon, the Temple gives us a simplified outline of what a training programme will look like.
As a coach I believe in an athlete-centered approach, with all of my programmes specifically tailored to every individual athlete’s specific needs and goals.
As I’m sure you may have already discovered on your athletic journey there is no single magic formula that works for everyone. By working together with open and honest communication, using my four pillars of coaching success, together we will build and execute a bespoke programme for your success.
The Art of Coaching
I call the base of the temple the 'Art of Coaching'. It is the amalgamation of the world of sports science and the world of coaching experience. This foundation is the culmination of my accrued knowledge and experience with which we build your training plan.
In laying this foundational base we will first of all get to know each other, understand your physical and mental goals, and start to put together the basis of the plan. This usually takes the form of a video call, phone call, or coffee meeting to make sure we are both aligned in our thinking and my style of coaching is a good fit for you.
Depending on how much experience and recent physiological data available we will normally start off every plan with a test week to give us an accurate idea of where you are physically.
The Four Pillars
01
Consistency
Consistently doing the RIGHT training is the key to successfully building a strong and resilient athlete. Being consistent will affirm you are doing the right things, and you are with the right coach. If there is consistency from the start, you are much more likely to have consistency at the end.
As a general rule of thumb in endurance sports if you do the correct training and work in a consistent manner then you will find improvement that will last.
There is a big difference between being consistent and just training everyday.
That’s not to say you can just do the same thing over and over again and expect a good result – it needs to be progressive, sustainable, and flexible – my other three pillars.
02
Progression
The key to every plan working well is starting in the right place and then building from there. Endurance training is built around the concept of progressive overload – where we gently increase the stress on the body, and allow recovery to illicit the desired physical response. As an example a programme may include a block of three weeks where the training volume will increase followed by a week of lesser volume. By having a structured and correctly progressive plan will ensure you get results and reduce the risk of injury. This brings us on to my next pillar – Sustainability.
03
Sustainability
I’m looking for athletes to have a lifelong love for whichever sport they choose to pursue. It’s essential for every plan to be sustainable for it’s duration, and beyond, in order to be safe and get results. The last thing that I want is for an athlete to become burnt out during or after a goal has been reached.
In all programmes there is a big emphasis on appropriate training + recovery. Recovery, active or static, is the glue that holds all your training together, and must have the dedicated time allotted to it. This brings us to the final pillar – Flexibility & Balance.
04
Flexibility & Balance
You could have the greatest training programme on the planet set for you, but if it does not constantly react and is not balanced towards your life situation it will never work. Creating an appropriate training programme is one thing, implementing it is another.
Things happen in life that you must react to every day, the same is the case for a training programme. We must be flexible and be willing to change. As a general rule I encourage athletes to think of the training rule of three – what did I do yesterday, what am I doing today, and what am I doing tomorrow. For example if you get stuck in a late work meeting it may be more beneficial for you to skip your PM run, and walk up ready to fully commit to the session the following AM.
Training is a balance. Not just between training sessions and recovery, but everything else in between as well: psychology, nutrition, family, work, time, and most importantly life itself.
Performance
The top of the Temple is Performance.
Whilst mosts plans are aimed for a specific event or race, when we refer to 'Performance' it applies to every single training session as well. We want every session to be the Performance - this does not mean every session is going to be the hardest and fastest you've ever moved. Performance for us means completing every session with the specific goals and intentions set for said individual session. If we can complete these minor performances they will culminate into the strongest possible performance on race day.
Performance is the culmination of technique, skills, and physical & mental adaptations that we will learn and develop through the training plan.
Performance is individual - you do not have to break a world record to have the best performance. As part of every plan we will set goals that are challenging yet appropriate for every athlete in their chosen sport.
At Wright Coaching I believe that every athlete is an individual and will work with them to build a training programme that works specifically for them. I promise every athlete of every age and ability that I will commit myself to you as an athlete, and ask that you do the same to me as a coach.
If you’d like to read more about the programmes I offer please head to the 'What I Do' page.
If you’ve got any questions for me I’d be happy to answer, please contact me here.