Whether it was the recent match cancellations or school ending the 15’s & 16’s proved they had bundles of energy during Saturday’s TLA Footie athlete session.
Yep, I am part of a family business that imports scotch (RARE DRAMS ye ken) to B.C & Alberta. Yep, I was just recently in the beautiful island of Islay in Scotland with my mum (pictured here alongside yours truly) and my dad (taking picture) with the soul purpose of tasting as many different whisky’s as possible from the famous distilleries of Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol ila, Bowmore, Lagavulin, Laphroig and Ardberg. And yep I have turned the TLA/Micro Footie office into a scotch room where clients can sit down and if the desire is there, pour themselves a dram. People may might suggest this enthusiastic love for whisky is a bit contrarian to the healthy lifestyle I promote. I say rubbish and just view on:- you may be pleasantly surprised – …
With Christmas approaching pour yourself a dram or two: Slainte Mhath.
Despite the snow, our semi-private youth soccer sessions went ahead. Session 1 (U-14’s) started off with some soccer ping pong followed by: mini band warm up-a challenging skills circuit, thinking exercises to develop creativity followed by athletic movement and fitness. Sessions for select players take place weekends and every afternoon M-T-W.
R E C O V E R Y S T R E T C H T H E R A P Y w/Scotty
A new exciting trial feature at TRAIN LIKE AN ATHLETE
*Scotty McGinley will be developing a new role within TLA as our exclusive in house
Recovery Stretch Specialist
Recovery Stretch with Scotty is an inclusive component of the new 2017 programming to Silver and Gold clientele. Scotty will be available every Wednesday at select times between 6am-10am to privately treat adult clientele with FST stretch sessions and other recovery modalities. He will also be available from 4pm-6pm to treat our youth athletes. Clients can schedule Scotty privately (recommended) or get individually treated and stretched in between their workouts.
Just imagine. You are feeling tight hamstrings or shoulders. Usually you would just do a few stretches or wait it out and see what happens. Not anymore. Book your stretch session(s) with Scotty and he will take you to the scotch room while Jason is training clientele and sort it out. Feel fantastic for your big match or living.
Please note: The FST stretch sessions is a one of kind in-house service usually reserved for professional athletes. Every TLA client: if they are feeling any knocks, sore points or tight areas which need addressed should take the opportunity and book a private recovery appointment. This is the ultimate in pre-habilitation. The FST sessions do not count as a training session and are considered a bonus of being a TLA silver of gold client. (drop in clientele do not count for this service) Clients can use the FST sessions as frequently as necessary. I have done a session and can verify how effective they are which brought on the idea.. The only caveat is clients must book. I will have a diary in the scotch room. Just add your name or email Scotty. Sessions must be done on the half hour between 6-10 am (Adult) and 4-6 pm (Youth athletes) on Wednesdays only. No exceptions
R E C O V E R Y S T R E T C H T H E R A P Y w/ Scotty
For all of our train like an athlete clientele, Recovery module 1 starts September 26 and runs until September 30. The idea is to enjoy some muscular stretching, open up, work on the core and give the body a “breather” from lifting so we can smash the next phase with renewed vigour.
The athletic Stephana Arnold will be leading Monday’s sessions. (Knowing the discipline of a ballerina we highly recommend clients arrive on time and bring their own mat.)
Tuesday train like an athlete will be designing a series of body weight circuits as well as boxing & skipping as our form of ESD.
Wednesday Trainer and FST specialist Scott McGinley will be offering a recovery session utilizing the roller, bands and balls.
Thursday will be a repeat on Tuesday a series of body weight circuits as well as boxing, skipping & moderate running as our form of ESD.
To cap off a brilliant week, on Friday Stephana will be end Recovery 1 with a series of stretches and exercises that will have you prepared for Phase 2.
During our recovery week clients can attend as many sessions as they want/ they just have to make sure they stick to their usual training times.
Cars are always driving by the train like an athlete studio and micro footie office. Some of the cheeky ones roll down their windows and say ” hey Crossfit doesn’t use soccer balls!”
“That’s cause we ain’t crossfit!”
Every afternoon and weekend semi private and private training sessions for the soccer player take place at our wee boutique studio (+micro footie office) on 3282 East First Ave.
Complimenting Micro Footie – Train like an Athlete is the only company in BC that offers focussed semi private or private soccer training for soccer players on a consistent basis.
The goal is simple: develop soccer players into athletes.
The Celtic coaches have received it, Canadian National, HPL, Metro and developing players have received it, Whitecaps Youth have received it.
The reaction is always the same.
In the minds of soccer players and coaches who have received it, our service, on this one particular thing, is the best!
(Just check out some of their testimonials.)
Why?
Two words: coaching and intensity.
Coaching: the coaching is instructed and led by TLA owner Jason Kyle founder of Micro Footie and partner with Celtic Football Club – Technical director of KLM in the Fall and Winter-and head coach for Vancouver, BC Summer Games 2016. FIFA B qualification + mentorship with EXOS Performance Jason brings his twenty years of coaching expertise into each session. Part of this coaching includes advice on nutrition-recovery with suggestions-assessments and fresh ideas a player can add to highlight their game.
Intensity: In our TLA studio (which is conveniently next to three soccer fields) we will see a soccer player either privately or semi-privately in a session with six players or less. In this environment, when players are under the spotlight receiving quality coaching: a lot can be achieved in a 90 min session. The first 30 minutes of each session includes skill development and ball mastery exercises with the ball inc. analysis. The next 15 minutes of the session focusses on movement skills (yes, movement is a skill) on a players running and agility. In this component we will work on athleticism. The last 45 mins players players hit the studio for some serious resistance. The music is curated by our youth athletes who love their hip hop for extra motivation and bang it starts: a progressive strength component that involves spatial awareness, resistance, balance and core alongside a strength program that targets the whole body.
90 mins have passed and we are done. Magic!
This kind of 1-2 punch will make the mind, spirit and body go wow and give any player an edge.
We are inviting players to try these unique training sessions. Find out why they might be great compliment to a high level soccer players regime: whether it’s in season or as an off season team training regime.
For in season players we recommend 1x per week.
For off season programming we recommend 3x per week.
Are you ready to Train Like an Athlete? Here’s what you need to do:
STEP 01 – TLA Starting Block
Complete the Starting Block to prepare for TLA sessions (mandatory for all new clients).
4 one-on-one sessions & 1 group performance session
$259 + taxes
STEP 02 – TLA Performance
After the starting block you’re ready to train.
Choose from 1 to 3 sessions/week (or unlimited if you’re up for it). The optimal times to register for Performance sessions are at the beginning of April, July, Sept & January. These are the entry points for each Micro-cycle (see below)
MICRO-CYCLE
We all agree that athletes have the most natural and beautiful looking bodies, flowing gracefully from muscle to muscle as a finely tuned system for athletic achievement.
Athletes achieve this through the use of what is called a micro-cycle: TLA uses 4 seasonal twelve week micro cycles per year. Each micro cycle is a multi dynamic training plan aimed at getting results within a specific time frame. This is the technique that TLA uses to give you that beautiful, natural poised athletic body. Train like an Athlete will give you both the body and mind of an athlete.
If u had a blank canvas and could fill with an ideal training week how would this ideal training week look?
Whether it was running, cycling, lifting, movement or football skills I know I would have just one criteria.
The criteria: To be in an environment that switches me on.
Example.
A few evenings ago I had a football (soccer) practice with a group of very wild boys.
Wild boys you say! How wild? I could only politely describe this group one way.
These are the kind of boys that George Orwell wrote about in the novel Animal Farm.
In the past I had seen these particular boys decimate the ego’s of grown well educated men with their dodgy behaviour and disruptive antics of mischief.
In a past album Beyonce claimed to be fierce. Uh, uh. That ain’t fierce. These lads were fierce.
So fear mongering was this team coaches would take turns just so they could avoid training these boys.
I knew I was next.
Team A.F. didn’t disappoint. From the get go it was game-on.
When I gathered them around to discuss the lesson plan they were flicking their buddies ears, bouncing balls and looking at me like I was the stupidest man on the planet.
After this painful introduction of utter uselessness I got them going. In the very first exercise they were given boundaries to stay within.
Within 10 seconds a quarter of the group went running past the boundaries, another quarter of the players were randomly kicking their balls high in the air. Meanwhile, the other half looked as if they would rather be anywhere else in the world. Their body language suggested a sewing class would be more enjoyable.
Even worse, all the parents were watching. (The parental attendance watching our practice in particular was unusually high. I think it became ongoing entertainment for the parents to see their children make grown men whimper so effectively )
There was only thing I could do. I had to switch them on.
The first thing I did was get them together in a huddle and give them what I call a pleasant row. In front of their parents I told them they would be an embarrassment to their own blood line if they carried on this way. I told them that if they decided to misbehave in my session they could sit down and watch (it was belting of rain). By this point they were a wee bit scared and definitely switched. Quite pleasantly so were their parents. You could almost hear the parents think “my Johnny better not embarrass me.” Now that they were switched I had to flick the switch up to on. At this point I used all of my coaching experience to get them moving.
\\Result//
By the end of the hour it turned out to be a brilliant session. The wild boys were taking absolutely every piece of activity and coaching advice into their rebellious wee hearts. The energy previously expended into being disruptive was now catapulting forward to developing. The boys were learning–they were giving it–and they were playing hard. At the end each player shook my hand and said thank you with the fateful words…”see you next week coach.”
Ha.
For all I know they might be planning the entire upcoming week at school lunch on how to get coach Jase back. Regardless, for this week at least, I enjoyed the experience.
Going back to the original part of the story and the whole point of this post really:
If this particular group of boys were not in an environment that switched them on the end product would never have happened. They would not have had a good training session–they would not have sweated like they did–they would not have learned like they did–and they definitely would not have been as engaged.
This is important to digest because for the majority of us, training is just not fun. There is other things we’d rather be doing. (Dentist/talking to your Aunt/board games!!!) If exercise wasn’t meant to be so damn good for us, any sane person would rightfully avoid the self inflicted masochistic torture altogether. However, when you are switched on I cannot think of anything better. (Ok, ok I can think of one thing better).
Anyway @ TLA we switch you on.
We are open!
1470 Venables has been TLA’s roots since 1999. As we say goodbye to the end of an era, we say hello to a new beginning at 3282 East 1st Ave.
The new location is primed with mountain views, outdoor parks like Rupert, Sunrise and Empire Fields — a fresh new slate but more importantly completely different feeling with a new fitness solution for our clients.
Doors are open and we have more classes available starting this month — see our schedule for full details.