This episode of the podcast is with owner of Health Matters, Seán Kinane.

Health Matters is a Dublin-based health and fitness company, specialising in VO2 and metabolic testing, nutritional therapy and corporate care. The company work with a wide array of sports people and general population clients, from elite, international athletes to recreational runners.

We had a conversation around the importance of low intensity training and why it is commonly neglected by just about everyone. We also managed to touch on how Seán likes to present the data with his different clientele, how nutrition and under-fuelling can have a negative impact on performance and the challenges of testing triathletes and team-sport-athletes.

This is a great episode for anyone that's interested in taking ownership of their performance. It will hopefully help you to understand why optimising your training and recovery should be made a priority, if you want to get the best out of yourself.

You can find out more about Seán and Health Matters over at myhealthmatters.ie

This episode of the podcast is with Australian Sprint Coach, Jack Edwards.

Jack coaches international athletes, team-sport athletes and members of the general public down in Sydney, Australia. He operates a growing athletics coaching company with his two mates, called Track Speed Development. He has also previously represented Australia at the Junior Commonwealth Games in the 100m Hurdles.

He manages his time between, coaching, competing and his day job as a secondary school English teacher. As a result of his background in education, he brings a unique perspective to coaching, delving deep into the psychology of learning and the "how" of movement execution.

We chatted about hurdles, sprinting and acceleration in great detail, as Jack outlined a few things that he believes athletics coaches have traditionally gotten a little wrong in the past.

We went deep on hip extension, ankle stiffness, ground contact positions, timing and acceleration.

We talked about how he's come to his conclusions around sprint coaching, success he's achieved and how he goes about teaching his athletes the basics.

Jack is an incredible thinker, coach and I have no doubts that he will achieve great success as he transitions from teaching into full-time coaching over the next few years. 

You can find out more about Jack and Track Speed Development over at the Track Speed Development Instagram Page

This episode of the podcast is with expert performance coach, Dr. Fergus Connolly. 

He is one of the world’s foremost performance coaches with over 20 years experience working with high performers in elite corporate, sport and military. Dr. Connolly has experience working in almost every major sport, previously consulting with San Fransisco 49ers, Dublin GAA, Munster Rugby, Liverpool FC, New York Knicks, Welsh Rugby Union, University of Michigan and many more.

Myself and Fergus had a fantastic chat around all things high performance, touching on how he defines it, how he has developed his holistic approach, why it is more advantageous to become a generalist over a specialist and the powerful lessons he has learned over the 20 years he has been in the industry.

There is tonnes of value in this conversation and as a result it went on a little longer than planned. However, if you manage to listen to the whole thing, I have no doubts that you will gain an incredible insight into the mind of one of the industries most successful practitioners.

This episode of the podcast is with Online S&C coach and Antrim inter-county football star, Eoghan McCabe.

Myself and Eoghan had a fantastic conversation around the challenges that he's faced in developing and running his online business, EMC Performance Academy. We also spoke about the many benefits of transitioning to the online space and what motivated him to make such a massive change.

We then went on to discuss the great work that he's been doing with his clients in relation to speed development, education and behaviour-change.

Finally, we discussed his own training schedule and how he manages to operate the business, whilst also playing elite inter-county football with Antrim in Division 3 of the National Football League.

This episode of the podcast is with founder of Davey Nutrition, former Dublin GAA & Leinster Rugby Performance Nutritionist, Daniel Davey.

Daniel and myself had an incredibly poignant conversation around the importance of having a purpose in your work and how he has built a community around his brand, Davey Nutrition.

We also chatted about achieving autonomy in one's professional career and life in general, guiding his clients towards making real, meaningful changes and the importance of active listening.

Daniel is releasing his second book quite soon, and he is currently in the process of transitioning his whole business online, vacating his roles with Leinster Rugby & Dublin GAA. So, these were two interesting talking points, amongst many more throughout our chat.

This conversation left me feeling energised and motivated, whilst also feeling like I'd learned some valuable lessons from a deep-thinker and an intelligent practitioner. 

I hope you guys enjoy it and hopefully see some great value in this educational piece of content.

You can find out more about Davey Nutrition over at daveynutrition.com

This episode of the podcast is with Arsenal Academy Strength & Conditioning coach, Charlie Norton Sherwood.

Charlie was incredibly brave to give a candid reflection of his early years in the industry, outlining the mistakes that he made as a young coach, in relation to not taking care of himself and saturating his life in S&C with a view to furthering his career.

We chatted about how this issue arises all to often with young S&C coaches and give some advice around what we would do differently if given the opportunity to enter the industry as a fresh-faced newbie again.

We also talked about the value of internships, finding what works for different athletes, driving intent in the weight-room, change of direction in youth football and Charlie's new role at the Arsenal Academy.

This special episode of the podcast is to celebrate International Women's Day, and is with Women in Sport officer for Athletics Ireland & International Athlete, Lilly-Ann O'Hora.

Myself and Lilly-Ann chatted about her own performance in the 100m Hurdles at the recent Irish National Indoor Championships, as well as how competing in such a highly-competitive field has motivated her to reach new heights again and again.

We talked about the great place that Irish athletics finds itself in at the moment, with so many stars on an international level. And we also touched on how she is working to increase participation in Irish athletics for both female and male athletes.

We touched on the absence of female coaches at an elite and sub-elite level, as well as talking about the many barriers that they face on a personal level, as well as the micro-aggressions that they may experience in the coaching industry.

We finished up by chatting about what can be done in the future to level the playing field in terms of exposure and opportunities given to both male and female sport.

I hope that you all enjoy it, and pick up a few lessons along the way. Happy International Women's Day to all of our female listeners!

This episode of the podcast is with chartered physiotherapist and S&C coach, Donie Fox.

Donie operates out of his own private practice, RTP Physio, based down at St. Judes GAA club, where he also coaches hurling and camogie.

We chatted about self-employment, communication with clients, the importance of community for small businesses and personal development within the industry.

This one was a great chat, with a top-class practitioner, so I hope you all take something away from it.

You can find out more about RTP Physio over at https://www.rtp.physio/.

This episode of the podcast is with University of North Dakota, S&C coach, Will Ratelle.

Will leads the S&C program at the university for both basketball and volleyball, whilst also assisting with their football program. He also brings a unique perspective to the role, given that he has experience as a professional football player in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs.

His private S&C service is booming and he is an absolute king in terms of social media marketing, with an array of in-depth, informational videos on his Youtube channel.

We chatted about social media, medicine ball throws, velocity-based training, periodisation and achieving buy-in in the weight-room.

A great one to kick off season 2, I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I did.