Going Hollywood

Last week I started working on a project that is slightly different than my typical gig (my typical gig being working with high performance athletes). A good friend and mentor of mine - Joseph Horrigan - referred a client to me out of Los Angeles. Vancouver is commonly referred to as "Hollywood North" due to the high number of film and TV productions being shot in our fair city. Joe had started with the client in LA and eventually passed him on to me to ensure that he follows the training program and gets fit for a movie being shot in Vancouver. This client shall remain nameless for professional purposes, but he is one of the top actors in the business right now (in case you were wondering).


So, how is working with a Hollywood star versus a sprinter or football player different, you may ask? Obviously the goal setting stage may be different. One client (the actor) may be more concerned with aesthetics and general health, while the athlete client is framing his or her goals in terms of sports performance (strength, power, speed or a combination of these variables). The training itself can vary as well. While the actor client works at a steady moderate pace, in most cases, the athlete client will push the intensity to a point which would kill a normal human being. This is not to say that the actor clients do not work hard - in fact, my current client works hard from start to finish. However, his lack of conditioning coming into this project does limit his ability to lift heavy, run hard and recover quickly. What may be very easy for a well-conditioned athlete may be quite difficult for him.

One of the perks of working with actors is that they tend to be charismatic individuals who have a lot of interesting things to say - great stories, good sense of humour, etc. A lot of my athletes are great people and can be a lot of fun, but they simply aren't quite as polished as the movie stars. I consider myself to be quite articulate, insightful and cerebral at times (when I'm not watching Ultimate Fighting on TV) and enjoy high quality conversation. And the great thing about my current client is that he doesn't mind delving into all sorts of topics, providing his honest point of view. So, even if the workouts aren't of the world-class variety, the time passes easily because of the quality of discussion.

While I have no personal experience with acting - I never took drama class in high school - I always wondered how hard it would be. I mean, how much work does it take to be a good actor? I certainly know what's involved in training for a world class 100m or a professional sports team. The more time I spend with my actor client, the more I am coming to realize that attain a high level of performance in any field takes a lot of hard work. Acting is no different. Actors - like athletes - reach the pinnacle of their career by having natural ability and talent, and combining those qualities with a good work ethic. This means thousands of hours honing their skills, hundreds of hours going over their script, many more hours rehearsing their parts and putting themselves in the right frame of mind. Sometimes their work involves changing themselves physically - putting on weight (fat or muscle) or trimming down. Robert DeNiro's work in 'Raging Bull' is a perfect example of the lengths actors will go to add physical credibility to their role, whether it's depicting a well-trained boxer at the peak of his career, or an overweight ex-champion.

For me, working with my current client has been a mind-expanding experience. It is obvious that acting, like any other profession, has it's hard workers and floaters. I'm fortunate enough to be working with one of the hardest workers in the business. It clearly has transferred over into other aspects of his life and has made my job as his trainer a much easier and more enjoyable experience.

dh

Close and Getting Closer: Canadian Championships 100m

Well, we accomplished what we set out to do. By we, I mean myself and my sprint athlete Nathan Taylor. We wanted to make the 100m final at Canadian Championships and put down a good time to help with funding for next year. Nathan qualified for the final and finished 8th overall in the final. In the semi-finals of the 100, Nathan finished in a time of 10.36 seconds, beating his personal best by 0.02 seconds. He had run 10.32 in the heats, but the time was assisted by a 3.1 m/s wind (2.0 m/s or less is allowable).

It has been a long time coming for Nathan. Back in 2001 at the Canada Games, Nathan ran 10.38 seconds to win the 100m and set a new Canada Games record. Obviously, he thought it was the start of things to come. Perhaps by 2004, he would be ready for the Olympic Games. Unfortunately for him, his career did not blossom as envisioned. His collegiate career was plagued with mediocre times and lacklustre performances. He was lucky to run faster than 10.70 seconds. Nathan did manage to secure some high performance grades and move on to a masters degree at Simon Fraser University.

I first started working with Nathan back in September 2005. I think we both knew that he was capable of much better than 10.7's and 10'8's. It was just a matter of getting some quality speed work under his belt. Watching him run some simple accelerations and move the weights in the weight room, you could see that he had a good amount of fast twitch fibre. It was now up to me to make sure that his fast twitch muscle were trained appropriately. Short acceleration work, with a solid weight program and some technical adjustments would be the solution to his four year drought.

Needless to say, the indoor season started off well in January 2006 with a personal best time in the 60m of 6.74 seconds. This result was attained through acceleration work to 40m in a hallway on a roll-out track surface. Not bad. Once we moved outdoors, training continued to be a challenge with poor weather conditions and headwinds playing havoc with our plans. We seemed to be stuck in the 10.6 zone, whether because of rain, wind, cold weather or a bad combination of all of the above. The one time when we had perfect conditions (Tuscon, AZ), the timing system broke down. But, we continued to plug away, with the faith that we were on the right track -- but just in the wrong competitions.

On Friday, August 4th, 2006, everything came together with Nathan's 10.32 and 10.36 runs. Unfortunately, those runs had a profound impact on Nathan's nervous system, and he was flat for the final, running a 10.58 second 100m with no wind. Regardless, we are happy with his efforts and know that he is capable of running faster. Next season, we simply have to make a better effort to seek out optimal conditions for both training and competitions. It will require considerably more funding, an area that we must work on in the off-season. However, we certainly have much to look forward to.

dh

Simply Happy to be a Part of It - Adam Braidwood's Rise in the CFL

I read a great story today from the Edmonton Sun. One of the athletes that I had the pleasure of working with is making the most of his opportunity in the Canadian Football League. Adam Braidwood - a product of the determined efforts and keen eye of Robert Holland, football conditioning guru - is making headlines in Edmonton with his talent, desire and great work ethic. It's nice to have the opportunity to work with athletes with these qualities, as it almost always results in rewards for everyone involved.

You can see the Edmonton Sun article here.

Key quotes from Derek Van Diest's article are those made by head coach, Danny Maciocia. They point to the character of Adam, who gained a starting spot when one of his defensive linemates was thrown out of a game for unsportsmanlike conduct.

"I'm happy with Adam," said Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia. "He's playing his heart out. And even when he's making mistakes, he's making them at 100 miles per hour."

"Everything he does is correctable," agreed Maciocia. "He's the type of guy that won't make the same mistake twice."

Adam is one of those athletes that take every bit of feedback you give them and translates it into improvements. He is a no nonsense guy who is not looking for short-cuts. He wants to get down and do the dirty work, because he knows that it will only benefit him in the long run. Coach Holland was gracious enough to get me involved with Adam and assist them with speed work in preparation for Adam's combine testing. The experience was definitely a pleasure and gave me the opportunity to be involved in the further development of a talented athlete and great person.

Clearly Adam knows what it takes to move ahead in his sport. Although Adam was passed over in the NFL draft, his latest advances show us that he very well could have made waves in the "League". When he made the move to Edmonton and was going through training camp, he was suprised to find that many of the players he was competing against had already spent time in the NFL. I look forward to watching Adam's evolution in the CFL and see where it takes him. Perhaps the NFL is still in the cards. I suspect that if he does get a shot in the league to the sout, he will make the most of it and suprise more people.

dh

Find more on from the Edmonton Sun on Adam here.