It is rare to see an Olympic athlete or profesional sports team without a Coach. Yes you can go to the libary, buy a book or get a schedule out of a magazine but that is not coaching! If you are striving to do the best you can with the time and resources you have, then you will benafit from having a Coach no matter what your level of performance is.

A Personal Coach will guide you and prevent you from making time-consuming, frustrating mistakes or worse - injury and burnout! I know it is not easy to find the right Coach for you en develop a coach-athlete relationship that is beneficial for you. That is why I challenge you to ask me questions about myself and my coaching and to do so with other Coaches. Find out their philosophy, their answers to all you questions.  I know and I do agree that the best Coach for you would probably be the one right on the Corner of your street! One you can drop in any time you want and you need. The Coach that has all the right credentials s - the right background and all. But in case you do not have taht Coach living on your block you will have to look elsewhere. See if my phylosphy fits your needs!

1. GOAL SETTING Exactly what do you hope to achieve this season or for your next big event? Consider working with the anagram “S.M.A.R.T.E.R” to help you plan out your goals before speaking with a Coach:

“S” is for specific – what exactly do you want to achieve? Do you want to simply complete an event or do you have a goal time in mind?

“M” is for measurable – can you set a marker against which you will try and set your targets? A top 10 finish? A sub60 min 40km TT?

“A” is for adjustable – despite your very best intentions and that of your coache, things don’t always go according to plan. Is there room for adjustment in your goals if necessary?

“R” is for realistic can you realistically expect to achieve your goal(s) given your current level of fitness?

“T” is for time based – when do you plan to start working towards your goal? How far away is your goal event? Does this fit in with the suggested time frame for your goal event?

“E” is for exciting – taking on the challenge of an big event requires serious commitment and dedication. This doesn’t need to overwhelm your life and we firmly believe that establishing balance in your training / social / family circle is key when planning for an event. One of the best ways of doing this is to keep your program exciting and enjoyable with short term goals to keep you “on the ball” and motivated, and finally 

“R” is for recorded – one of the processes of working with us is to identify your goals, write them down and have a permanent reminder of these goals everyday through our online training diary.

This is a superb way of keeping in touch with the coach and allowing for adjustments in your program to be made where necessary. If you don’t record and communicate your progress with me, how can we know what changes to make?

2. DURATION OF PROGRAM  Some people are happy enough to go from one season to the next without clearly identified goals or knowing which races they should and shouldn’t be doing. It is perfectly fine to race season-in, season-out, however, by clearly having a start and end point to each season based around a key event or several key races is critical for keeping you motivated and on track.

In my Coaching Plans section- you will see the duration of each plan. For most of my plans I do require a 3 month commitment, and will automatically go on for another 3 months. I do require a 4 weeks notice for each Coachings plan (except my Tacx Training Plan).

3. TRUST & COACHING STYLE Not every great athlete makes a good coach, nor does every coach suit every type of athlete. With Stapsport coaching, you can be assured that I have worked with a great number of athletes of varying ability and has always catered well to their needs and demands. I wouldn’t say that my coaching philosophy was for everyone, maybe just that I tend to attract likeminded athletes to my programs – who knows? I believe that I am very fortunate to have both trained and competed as an Elite athlete and as such have trained with and been coached by some of the world’s best athletes and coaches myself. I have Exercise Physiology, Biochemistry and Sports Nutrition, besides that I have Coaching Degrees in Running, swimming, cycling, Triathlon and weight training. I work (and have worked) with athletes of all kinds from juniors to Master athletes. From first timers to National Champions, European Champions and World Champions, yes even Olympic Champions.

I do work with the Tacx company in product resource and the development new trainers/software. Also I am featured on their website as “Your Coach”. Write a training article every month and create a all new workout every month.  

I believe that also being currently active and still competing in events myself (be it fairly lowkeythese days!) is also a big advantage of choosing to train with me – I’m certainly not one of those ‘detached’ coaching types! In a nutshell I would say that I am a reasonably orthodox coach, with respect to periodisation etc. I draw upon my many and varied training, racing and coaching experiences for the programs that I write. I would say that I definitely air on the side of “quality over quantity” – though don’t let that fool you into believing that my programs won’t ‘hurt’! I believe it is the quality of the training that you do that counts and the quantity of time that you then get to spend at home with your loved ones that matters. As such I am becoming a huge fan of training with “new technologies” (such as power meters on the bike and running pace / HRM monitors) as these give you the user optimal quantitative feedback on exactly how hard and how far you need to be going to optimise your performance in the minimum amount of time.  

When I now see people spending lots of money on a new set of wheels, or tons ( J ) on a flash new bike but then saying that a power meter is “just too expensive” I wonder if their priorities are right. We all like nice flash carbon fibre bits and pieces, but if your goal is to go faster, further and easier than you’ve gone before, none of these will help you unless you’ve developed your own capabilities to their fullest. Admittedly a tiny cycling power meter doesn’t look anywhere near as nice as a new set of titanium quick release skewers and you might initially think “how the heck is this going to make me go any faster or make my day at the Ironman any easier?” – but trust me, together with my knowledge, experience and passion for utilising these latest cutting edge technologies, it certainly will do! Will this numb your driving passion for simply getting out and doing “a run” or “a bike” free of all constraints?

Certainly not. You’ll appreciate why you are having to get up at 5:30 in the morning that much more and will also love the times when I factor in a low power / low HR  sessions where you go “back to basics” and simply workout for the simple joy of it. Trust me, I still have a foot planted firmly in reality! ;) Am I for you? Let’s try working together to find out!  

4. QUESTION, QUESTION, QUESTION… I live, sleep and breathe sport and would like to think that I have a pretty good grasp on what it takes to make you fitter and faster and to enjoy the whole process along the way. Andre Gide once said: “Believe those who are seeking the truth, doubt those who claim to have found it!” I believe that everyday I learn something new about the sport or one of its many associated ‘disciplines’, e.g. nutrition, strength training etc. I don’t claim to be an expert in all areas of cycling, but I would always ask you to challenge me with your questions and queries. If I can’t answer them immediately, you can bet your last cent that I’ll source the answer from one of my many friends, colleagues and contacts within the sport.  

5. FEEDBACK Its true to say that you will get as much out of one of my programs as you put into it. Most people’s determination and commitment once having signed up and paying for a program is unquestionable. However, consider this: as a coach (sometimes operating remotely from you) I can only provide a critique of your program in order to maximize the progress of your training if you have provided ample feedback on a daily or weekly timeframe of how you are progressing yourself. For that I do use an easy excel worksheet, easy for you and easy for me to evaluate. The thing is I do need it from you every week along with the Tacx files and or power files and or HR files.

SUBSRIBE Do not sign up yet - get in contact with me through my feedback page and ask me questions and then dicide if I am the righ Personal Coach for you! But just remember..... I can onky guide you - you will have to do all the hard work!