The Athlete Coach Podcast: Recent Episodes
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The Athlete Coach Podcast is hosted by Dan Akenhead and aims to explore the success, motivation and training methods of some top athletes and industry professionals.
This is episode 5 of season 2 and In today’s episode I talk to Laura Andrews who is lead performance nutritionist at Arsenal football club. We talk about Laura’s start within performance nutrition, her philosophy, being adaptable to the nutritional needs of the individual, the importance of nutritional education, how to adapt your nutirtion for when you’re injured. How to break down your macros and energy intake dependent on your goal, applying sport nutrition principles to everyone and finally what supplements will really have an effect. I really found recording this episode incredibly insightful and how to simplify your nutritional outlook can be the key to unlocking success. Thanks to Laura for her time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you aWelcome to the Athlete coach podcast. I’m your host Dan Akenhead. This is episode 5 of season 2 and In today’s episode I talk to Laura Andrews who is lead performance nutritionist at Arsenal football club. We talk about Laura’s start within performance nutrition, her philosophy, being adaptable to the nutritional needs of the individual, the importance of nutritional education, how to adapt your nutirtion for when you’re injured. How to break down your macros and energy intake dependent on your goal, applying sport nutrition principles to everyone and finally what supplements will really have an effect. I really found recording this episode incredibly insightful and how to simplify your nutritional outlook can be the key to unlocking success. Thanks to Laura for her time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening. t the next episode and thanks for listening.
Welcome to the Athlete coach podcast. I’m your host Dan Akenhead. This is episode 4 of season 2 and In today’s episode I talk to Rhodri Jones, a former professional footballer and now mind fitness coach. The concept of improving your mindset to increase performance, resilience and grit has always been an interest of mine and because its not something that is tangible or on the face of it not objectively measurable it is often neglected so it is a real honour to have someone of Rhodri’s calibre on the show We talk about his start in football in Manchester United and how injuries mental and physical stopped his dream, his career in presenting and broadcasting and his now career in helping your mind work for you, and making sure to develop intrinsic motivations, the fixed and growth mindset debate, some simple strategies to destress but with the constant message that improving your mindset is a very individual process, how failure can be a gift……I really found recording this episode incredibly interesting and beneficial, hope you enjoy, lets get into it. Thanks to Rhodri for her time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening.
This is episode 3 of season 2 and In today’s episode I talk to Mica Moore who is a former Welsh champion sprinter and recently competing really well in the 2020 British indoors, she is also a bob sleigher competing at the Winter Olympics in 2018. We talk about how integral her family have been in her development including her father coaching, her love of training and the specifics of her strength & conditioning and nutrition, how she fits her training round work, how lockdown forced her to focus on what she wanted to do, her transition to bobsleigh and how the subtle training differences to sprinting and her incredible story to fund her route to the olympics. Thanks to Mica for her time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening.
This is episode 2 of season 2 and In today’s episode I talk to Graeme Thomas who switched to rowing at the age of 20 and has already won multiple medals at world and European championships predominantly in the quadruple scull. We talk about his desire and passion to be a professional sportsman starting with rugby and transitioning to Rowing, his work ethic and growth mindset, having to learn the technical aspects of rowing a lot later than most, the specific strength and conditioning elements for rowing, his career to date, bouncing back from surgery, his disappointment at the 2016 olympics but incredible response to it is inspiring. He also has a great story about one of his world championship medal. I hope you enjoy the episode, lets get into it..Thanks to Graeme for his time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening.
Welcome to the athlete coach podcast. I’m your host Dan Akenhead. This is the start of the second season and just like the 1st season I’ll be talking to athletes and coaches about how they got into their sport and their subsequent journeys. I delve into the specifics of their thoughts on Strength & conditioning, nutrition, recovery and mindset and what they do within these foundations to make sure they’re in peak condition. We had some great guests on last season and I’ve got some amazing people lined up for this one so stay tuned. Today I welcome Sophie Hitchon Great Britains hammer record holder who since recording the episode has sadly announced her retirement from the sport but has to be congratulated on an amazing career where she excelled at junior and U23 level with golds at world and European championships in that age group and culminating in a bronze at the Rio olympics in 2016. We talk about her upbringing with her family taking her to athletics nights trying most events until she tried the hammer, her change to training in America, building a coach athlete relationship, general and specific training for hammer, how her success at a young age motivated to get even better, how she deals with disappointment, her advice for people in sport, her very simple and effective approach to nutrition, getting the basics right with her recovery. Thanks to Sophie for her time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening.
In today’s episode I talk to Abigail Irozuru, who is a Great British Athlete specialising in Long Jump. Excelling at youth level with Commonwealth youth games gold medal and competing at the highest level for over a decade. She is also a Law graduate and Director of Amplify learning which provides coaching, tutoring, mentoring, motivational speeches and resilience and wellness courses. I really enjoyed this one and you’ll immediately register Abigail’s enthusiasm when it comes to training, recovery and a marginal gains approach. She always wants to learn and improve on her way to the Tokyo Olympics. We talk about what her background, studying full time as an athlete, the injury setbacks and what she did to get through them physically and mentally, we go through reasons for her retirement and coming out of retirement and how, against all odds, managed to achieve a personal best after a long period out of the sport. We talk about my favourite subject - the weight room - and what she does to develop power and spring to take her out to 6m 80cm + and finally her 3 key bits of advice for aspiring athletes that are truly inspiring. I hope you enjoy.
In today’s episode I talk to Dr Tim Gabbett, who has over 20 years experience working as an Applied Sports Scientist with athletes and coaches from a wide range of sports. I met Tim about 4 years ago where he consulted the team I worked with and his time and expertise were invaluable. He holds a PhD in Human Physiology and in Applied Science of professional football. He’s worked with elite international athletes over the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and 2006 and Olympic Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008. He continues to work as a Sports Scientist and Coaching Consultant for several high performance teams around the world. He has also published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and has presented at over 200 national and international conferences. We cover a range of subjects focussed around the papers he’s written and his practical experience including acute and chronic loading and what that means, the floor, ceiling, basement analogy and how to use it to your advantage, wearable technology, The multifactorial process of assessing training load, we get into some good urban myths that Tim does his best to debunk and the relationship between recovery and training. This episode was really enjoyable to record and Tim does a great job of simplifying what could be considered complicated processes for everybody to understand. I hope you enjoy.
In today’s episode I talk to Nick Winkelman, who is the Head of performance and science at the Irish rugby football union and previously worked at EXOS in America - one of the world leading sports performance companies.
Nick is one of the leading strength & conditioning coaches in the world; with publications in leading journals, a well renowned published book on coaching language and one of the most passionate coaches I have ever met. We go into detail on how he builds relationships and collaborates with people he works with, the ins and outs of sprint mechanics and specifically his work on external and internal cueing - which can help with any movement (not just sprinting), The EXOS pillars (which heavily influenced how I developed the athlete coach foundations) and how they can help anybody from a pro sportsman to someone wanting to be healthier and finally his insightful views on the 3 key attributes to accelerate physical and mental development.
This episode is for any coach, player or person who wants to learn from one of the best in the business about human performance.
In today’s episode I talk to Ellis Jenkins, the Cardiff Blues Rugby captain and former Wales Captain.
Ellis is one of the best flankers in the world, coming through the Cardiff Blues Academy, he quickly made a name for himself captaining the U20 Wales team to runner up position in the 2013 Junior World Cup and making his debut for Wales in 2016 and captaining Wales in 2018.
We talk through about his work ethic and determination to get to where he is, his family’s support, the emphasis he puts on his nutrition and recovery, how he handles his captaincy role, Rugby-life balance, the brutal 2 year injury he endured and about the mental fortitude he had to create to get through the long process and finally his career aspirations. As with every guest he gives his 3 points for any aspiring sportsman or rugby player. This is a great episode which really delves into the mind of player through the highs and lows of sport.
Thanks to Ellis for his time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening.
In today’s episode I talk to Nick Littlehales who is the leading elite sport sleep coach to the biggest names in the sporting world, including British Cycling and Team Sky's recording-breaking cyclists, top Premiership and international football teams and players, Rugby Union and Rugby League, and Olympic and Paralympic athletes. He is Chairman of the UK Sleep Council and a former professional golfer, he has thirty years' experience in the world of sleep science, and has spent sixteen years working with elite athletes. His proven approach to achieving the optimum night's sleep is endorsed by leading professionals in sport and business. We talk in-depth about his 7 key sleep recovery indicators which . Good Sleep time and efficiency is the best restorative and recovery process you can implement but there are still 67% of UK adults having disrupted sleep so there needs to be a big overhaul of the value that is put onto sleep. This episode can provide you with a great blueprint on how to improve your sleep patterns and overhaul some of the outdated thought processes around sleep. You can really tell Nick’s passion for the subject matter in the episode and it is absolutely contagious. I hope Hope you enjoy the episode, I’m sorry about the end of the episode where there’s quite a sharp cut off unfortunately I had some technical issues.
Thanks to Nick for his time and I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and that it gave you some inspiration or information that you can put into action. See you at the next episode and thanks for listening.
In today’s episode, I talk to Declan James - the newly crowned English Squash champion.
The sport of squash is one of the most dynamic and intense sports you can play. Talking to Dec you really get a sense of the solitary nature of the sport and how Dec has taken it upon himself to develop physically, mentally and emotionally through reading, mentors and practical application. We discuss how he has identified what it takes to be the best and achieve his goals and how he pursues it ruthlessly. We go into detail of how it all started with his family taking him to the gym and turning pro very young, how certain physical attributes are vital to reaching the top of the game. His views on developing routines and habits to learn self awareness can help anybody - sportsman or not. Discussing Dec’s aspirations of Top 10 and advice to any sportsman looking to improve and make it to the next level is truly inspirational.
Today's episode is with Jo Muir, the supremely talented modern pentathlete. I’ve always been interested in a sport which has so many different disciplines I’ve always wondered how they train for all of them. So it was great to find out from one of the most exciting prospects in the world of modern pentathlon.
We talk about seeing lockdown as an opportunity rather than a hinderance, the ins and outs of modern Pentathlon, her journey into the sport, and how consistency is key.
In this episode, I talk to Fraser Dingwall - former England U20s Rugby captain and current Northampton Saints player.
Fraser has had an exciting career so far. His most successful season to date has been 2019/20, where he was nominated for the Premiership Rugby Cup's Breakthrough Player award and scooped the Saints Young Player of the Season award. This did not go unnoticed on the international stage, with Fraser earning the call up to England's training squad ahead of the 2020 Six Nations.
In this episode I talk to Claire Cashmore MBE, who has been one of the most successful Paralympic athletes of the past decade - winning multiple Paralympic medals and breaking world records.
I talk to Claire about growing up with a disability and how sport was able to grow her confidence and worked as a form of escapism, the Paralympic movement was such a powerful force that is changed her life.
Today I’m talking to Antti Kontsas who is the trainer for Sebastian Vettel a former Formula 1 champion.
Antti is an extremely well read and practical coach and one of the most experienced Formula 1 coaches on the circuit. It was really interesting to gain some insight about how Formula 1 drivers prepare and what physical and mental attributes it takes to be in the fastest races in the world.
Today we are talking to Adam Dixon, the Great Britain Hockey Captain who talks us through his career. Starting from a young age and being encouraged by his father and friends to pursue the sport further, with incredible success at club level with Beeston and international success with England and Great Britain playing in the olympics, world cups and winning European gold - he truly is one of the greatest players of his generation and it was a true pleasure to talk to him.
This is the first episode of The Athlete Coach Podcast and is with Phil Burgess - Olympic Silver Medalist in Rugby 7s at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Some of Phil's thoughts on mindset is incredibly inspiring and to the point. His journey is interesting and powerful - going from student athlete to the 15s game, to 7s, to Olympic success, and really shows what hard work and effort can achieve.
Head over to theathletecoach.com for more!
Music by Arron Croft.