We wanted to take some time to share a few words from Coach Tony as he reflected on his time here at Global Human Performance. As one of our few coaches without experience in the world of running cross country and / or track and field, Coach Tony learned a lot about our runners quickly. We wanted to share a little bit about this experience. Though our members’ goals and activities are broad, running holds a special place in our hearts. 🙂
"My background in sport is not related to track and field, so when I started working at GHP I didn’t know much about the sport. Over the course of a year spent at GHP, I learned so much about the sport and about how to train “runners” in general. I would define anyone who is required to run or sprint in their sport as a “runner”. That’s every athlete. During my time at GHP, I heard many athletes and clients say, “I don’t need to train in the gym for running”. I disagree with that statement. As a performance gym, GHP is not the place to go get your biceps and abs popping out for the beach body. With a true focus on sport performance, we are here to get you better at what you want to do.
For the runner, there is so much we can work on in the gym and on the track (as you know, that’s a specialty of GHP). At GHP, I have learned about the technique required in order to actually run correctly. Simple technique coaching can improve running greatly, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. After focusing on technique, what else can you change? Let’s picture someone running. As they run, they are using muscles that help accomplish a certain task. Our job as coaches is also to make the muscle that you are using better, stronger, more resilient.
So, how can the gym help you on your run? Training the running specific muscles can help runners push farther on each step, cycle their legs faster, and also run longer because their efficiency is better. Don’t forget, now their muscles can handle a longer time under duress and then they can PR on your next race or run. Ask any client at GHP, they will show you their time and improvements.
The performance aspect is nice but it’s not the only thing that we work on in the gym. Another main training focus of the gym is to help our clients recover from injury while working proactively to mitigate injuries in the future. In this way, our clients - athletes or general population - will never have to worry about whether or not they can run their next race or participate in a certain activity. Working on our “target points” (common injuries) is something that we put a lot of time and attention into. We don’t want our clients pushing through pain to enjoy something that they love doing.
Working with so many other coaches who were runners gave me so much insight into the sport and helped me better understand how to coach those athletes. I’m grateful for that year of learning."
Thanks, Coach Tony!
Did you have a particularly memorable experience with Coach Tony in his time here? If so, let us know! We’d love to reflect on the many memories made with him at #GHP 🙂