Ben Griffin’s Podcast

Nathan Parnham is an athletic performance coach, with a career spanning in excess of 20 years. He has extensive experience in the development setting, having also crossed over into the professional ranks, including some time spent working with the Parramatta Eels and the Australian women’s rugby union 7’s team. He is currently the Head of Performance Development, at Brisbane Grammar School. He also has a book out, The Sporting Parent, which he wrote to help parents, teachers, and community coaches navigate their way through the confusing world of kids sport. We discussed a range of topics relating to coaching, training and life.

Sarah Hervert is a strength and conditioning coach, based in Brisbane. She completed a PhD in Sport and Exercise Science, in 2017. In 2018, she opened Foundations Performance and Rehabilitation, which she continues to own and operate. She also lectures at the University of Southern Queensland. Amongst other things, we discussed Sarah’s journey through the industry and what life is like for a private sector strength and conditioning coach. Sarah shared a lot of great takeaways for young strength and conditioning coaches.

Peter Howard is an Exercise Physiologist and Nutritionist, based in Canberra. We discussed his journey to get to where he is now, as well as Peter talked about why he does what he does. We also discussed a range of topics relating to training, coaching and nutrition.

Jorge Kapeen is a professional boxer, based in Canberra, Australia. We discussed his boxing career, his current work role, as well as some of the personal struggles he and his family have faced.

I provide 4 training tips that you can begin to put into practice immediately, to help decrease your likelihood of suffering hamstring injuries.

Matt Vickery is a Strength and Conditioning Coach, who runs his own coaching business, based in London. He has over 25 years worth of industry experience. We discussed a range of topics related to coaching and training, including the use of social media by coaches and some of the current coaching and training trends.

Chris Dikranis is a Strength and Conditioning Coach, at Woodford Sports Science Consulting (WSSC). We discussed how Chris came to work at WSSC, as well as we discussed a range of topics relating to coaching. Despite being quite young, Chris has a lot of coaching experience, so it was interesting to listen to his insights.

Toby Banfield is the Head of Performance, for the Sydney Kings (a professional basketball team that play in the Australian national league; the NBL). Toby and I studied together at the University of Canberra. We discussed Toby’s journey since graduating. Toby talked about how his previous roles with the Newcastle Falcons (an English rugby team) and with the Chiefs (a New Zealand rugby team), prepared him for his current role at the Kings. He explained what being the Head of Performance for the Kings entails and how he’s adjusted to being in the role.

In this episode, I had a chat with Jamie Smith. Jamie is the owner of Melbourne Strength Culture. Jamie talked about his progression from his early days, working as a personal trainer in a big commercial gym, to now owning his own gym. We discussed his time spent in the USA; he talked about what he learnt over there and how that has influenced his coaching and the way his gym operates. Jamie was good enough to go into quite a bit of detail in regards to how Melbourne Strength Culture operates and why they operate that way.

Kerryn Roadley is the Operations Manager at Woodford Sports Science Consulting (WSSC), as well as Christian Woodford’s personal assistant. In this episode, we discussed Kerryn’s background and how she ended up at WSSC. Kerryn talked about what it’s been like managing the gym, from an operational standpoint; she talked about some of the issues they’ve faced and plans they have going forwards, to continue growing the gym. Kerryn is also a part owner of Mac Iron Fitness and the owner of Bright Smile Co. We discussed how she came to own these businesses and her plans for them going forwards.