Frequency of Training for National Water Polo Team with Alan Warner

Chapter Overview:
0:00 – Introduction
0:12 – Who is Alan Warner
2:47 – Alan’s water polo journey
4:44 – Junior National Water Polo Team
5:47 – The most memorable training for Alan
11:51 – How did Alan and his team adapt to a new training environment
15:14 – How Alan got into LPS Athletic
21:41 – How AAS and LPS Athletic helped Alan’s coaching career
29:52 – What is Alan’s vision
37:35 – What does DOMINATE mean for Alan

Clance: Alan Warner. Welcome to Dominate Discussions.

Alan: Thanks, Clance. Thanks for having me.

Clance: You know, tell the people who you are and what you do.

Alan: So I’m Alan and I’m originally from Barbados. I came here when I was 18, 19 to do university, originally. And I’ve stayed on a lot since then and eventually built myself a career in Strength and Conditioning. Before that, I actually did a lot of research within the medical field. I’ve always had a passion for exercise, but also science as well, too. Right. So I’ve kind of blended them a little bit from early on.

But before that, you know, before I even came here and a big part of the reason why I’ve always been in exercise and now as a strength coach is I always had too much energy as a kid, according to my mother. And she said, Look, at four years old, we gotta find some for you to do because of too much energy.

So they put me to swim. My mom and dad put me to swim, and I never really looked back since then. So I started swimming at four and then did my first competition when I was seven.

Clance: Seven? Competition? So it’s kind of funny, right?

Alan: Yeah.

Clance: Even though you’re from the islands from Barbados, surrounded by water. Black guy, swimming doesn’t really connect, but it should.

Alan: It should anybody really. I know for sure there are a lot of people who don’t swim or can’t swim that well with water around, but you know, I think my parents saw it as a life skill and opportunity that, you know, we all had to have, so they put me in it and I succeeded in it. Like I said, I started competing when I was seven. It was in a few different swim clubs, but ultimately I saw myself or a kind of blossom more as like a sprinter. I just, in a note that’s my-

Clance: So what are the distances?

Alan: 50 meters for freestyle and 50 to 100-meter freestyle and then butterfly, same thing and breaststroke, but more so the freestyle and butterfly events, and I continued along that path from when I was seven competing. And then I actually made the national team when I was 11.

Clance: Oh. Wow! 11 years old on a national team. That’s crazy.

Alan: That was what I was doing.

Clance: Being grown men.

Alan: Yeah. You know, it goes, man. I was in and out. I trained hard and it worked out and it was freestyle premiere that I was there for to do the sprint work.

Clance: Okay.

Alan: So that was representing Barbados.

Clance: And how far did you go on a national team?

Alan: So, yeah. So I went to the KSC games for Barbados and I was on the swimming team until I was about 15. And then, you know, for me, I actually found a little bit more passion outside of swimming just itself. So in the off-season for swimming, sometimes we would do a lot of dry line work, but there was also water polo teams that were playing, right?

So one summer I decided, you know, let me try this just for fun. You know, off-season was about like from July, so June to August. So I just tried it one day and loved it. And then it just transitioned into a water book. I don’t, I just kind of liked the fight behind it, not just physical, but like the actual drive, working with a team non-stop.

Clance: So that team comradery?

Alan: Yeah, yeah.

Clance: Water polo is like, it’s pretty, it’s pretty aggressive, it’s a tough sport. People don’t realize how aggressive water polo is or like demanding on the body. Like people trying to drown your ass.

Alan: The thing is that the referees can only call what they see half the time. But you know, when you look at higher levels, you see to have underwater cameras as well too. You see about 60% of the game is going on underneath the water, where people are holding you, pushing you, tugging you again, and punch whatever the case is because they’re about getting that ball and getting it in the net, right?

So, and it’s funny, some of my friends have come before to come to the tryout and play, which is all good, but some people that didn’t fully realize that we were treading water. They thought we were just, the pool was shallow in them, but the pool’s eight feet deep, right? So a game that runs an hour-long stoppage time usually quarters ends up being, you know, roughly 15 minutes with stoppage time, even though it’s an 8-minute quarter. So we’re in the water, we’re working.

Clance: All the time?

Alan: All the time.

Clance: Nonstop?

Alan: And for me, I just gravitated towards it and I transitioned from swimming a bit more so, and then they stuck with that from 16 until I was 28, 29.

Clance: So how far did you go in water polo?

Alan: So I was recruited eventually to join the junior national team for water polo, with my swimming background. I already had good speed. So it was really just to learn the technical aspects of the sport. So I went for the junior national team and then eventually the senior national team, we traveled through many regional tournaments, CISC Caribbean and Central American Games, Commonwealth. So we went pretty far when it came to water polo, but I’ll definitely say that with some of the most demanding training we’ve ever had to do when it came to a sport.

Clance: Let’s get into that a little bit about that demanding, like, so all the years of training and, you know, and specifically working with water polo. To you, what or when was the most memorable time of training? Tell me a little bit about that.

Alan: So we always in the summer, that’s when they would lay on the volume in terms of training, right? Summer camp.

Clance: Off-season training?

Alan: Off-season. Yeah. They just give you everything. Right?

Clance: Right.

Alan:And for people who are not as familiar with water polo countries, like Serbia, who actually won the gold medal this year in the Olympics versus Greece. So Serbia, Hungary, like there is some of the top teams in Greece you’ll see worldwide.

Clance: Okay.

Alan: So we actually were fortunate enough to have a Serbian coach, we did also have a Hungarian coach at different times, but this specific time I’m talking about was a Serbian coach we had. And I forget it was like yesterday. So he showed up, you know, it was a Saturday and he just came to see what we would, what we practiced like for a scrimmage, standard star scrimmage.

It was good. And then he said, Okay, all right, come Monday morning, we’re starting a whole new way of training. Right? And he was supposed to be there for two weeks. I was like, all right, well, let’s see what this is about, right?

Clance: Two weeks, no big deal.

Alan: Two weeks, you know, I’ve trained a lot, but so Monday morning he said, be at the pool, 6:00 AM. 6:00 AM. All right. Fine. So make sure you bring plenty of hydration and stuff to do, like dry line work, right? Weights and stuff. So 6:00 AM we start and we did a dry line for an hour and a half, right? That was the introduction, 6 to 7:30. And after that, we maybe had like 30 minutes, 45 minutes rest for a little bit, putting a little bit of fuel. And then he said, Okay, sunblock.

So at this point, we’re all like, what are we going to do next? So he set out to that we were going to hop in the pool and we just want to build your aerobic base. So we swam from 9:00 AM until about 11:30, almost 12, just-

Clance: An hour and a half to two hours?

Alan: Two hours. Just conditioning, different types of-

Clance: Sorry. 9:00 AM to-

Alan: 9 to 11:30.

Clance: Wow.

Alan: So it’s two and a half.

Clance: Two and a half hours to three hours. Crazy.

Alan: Yes. So we were in the pool doing conditioning, longer distances, some sprints towards the end, and then a little bit of ball work at the end.

Clance: Right.

Alan: So, you know, 6:00 AM. I know it was pretty much midday, you know, in Barbados midday sun. Even 10:00 sun is rough, but you know, we’re in the pool for pretty much like three hours. So burnt out to this point. So he said, All right, good. You go home and come back to the pool at 6:00 PM.

Right? So get home, you know, I was so tired. Sometimes you just, you just passed out. So you’re just tired. You got to sleep, you got some food in you, you come back 6:00, and then we scrimmage from 6:30 until 8:00 PM, right?

Clance: So 6:30, another two and a half-hour session? So 6:30 to 8 PM, an hour and a half session?

Alan: Yeah. An hour and a half roughly, right? So that was it. So it was Monday morning and that was three, Monday morning, Monday morning again, and then Monday afternoon. So on Monday, we had three sessions, right? And then it went like that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So by the time we hit Friday, we had trained-

Clance: So that’s 15 sessions?

Alan: 15 sessions and then Saturday was two, and Sunday was also two. I think it was one but by the end of the week-

Clance: 18 sessions, 18 to 19 sessions for the week?

Alan: In one week.

Clance: Wow.

Alan: In one week. So, you know, a lot of it was how much can you take? How much are you willing to put in? You know, I remember all of those guys that I trained with like I know those teammates, those teammates by their cap numbers, because those as a goalkeeper or center forward, you know, I’d be making passes to them nonstop. And we had that for two weeks. That kind of training.

Clance: How did you guys feel or maybe, I don’t know, how did you feel after the first week? Like just going through that if you’re not used to that and just to break that down, I think that’s really important. That’s why we’re spending so much time, that amount of volume, right? That amount of crazy volume for that first week. How was it?

Alan: It was rough because we had done doubles before, but we were doing triples and we did triples for-

Clance: But have you done it for that like that long from 9:00 AM to 11:30? That’s a lot of time in the water.

Alan: It’s a lot of time in the water. So, you know, 15 sessions by the time we hit Friday and then Saturday, we had long beach swims. So even more conditioning and then scrimmage at night, right? So it was rough. And I think at certain points he wanted to see, you know, could he break anybody?

But, you know, he found this group of like 11 Caribbean guys. Boys at that time. We were like 17, 18. And, you know, we just stuck it in, you know, everybody was pretty much shredded by the end of two weeks, but we stuck it out. You know, some people-

Clance: Just ripped, you looked good and fit.

Alan: Yeah, but at the end of the day, like I could bring any one of those guys and they could tell you like that experience for them, not just for their ability to get better in water polo, but just to translate that to whatever you do around you. Like, do your best, no matter how are you feeling, no matter how tired you might be, you still got to put in some kind of effort because in a team setting, an environment, you know, like there are people dependent on you, right?

So I know that any one of those 11 guys, I can call them at any point when they know that there’s going to be a response. Much like when they’re in the pool training to be towards me and they look towards me for a past, they know the past is coming.

Clance: You guys are so in sync.

Alan: Just move like that, right?

Clance: So that two-week block training is something that you remember for the rest of your life, like yesterday. And now how did your team adapt or perform after that two-week training?

Alan: Yeah. So, for us, we had a senior, a much senior team as well, too at that point. So by the first week, you know. We were able to start to keep up with them a little bit better, but at the end of the second week, we were more or less running circles around these guys. And I’m sure when they hear this, they’ll be like, come on. But it was the truth because we were not able to hold our own junior team.

Yeah. So we were junior going into the senior, right? So we wrote to hold our own a lot better. We were able to be physically stronger to water. Our tactical sense of the game was much more improved because we had been doing this three times a day, like doing skill work, doing ball work, doing drills on the board, and the coaches going through everything we need to do. So it was ingrained at a much faster rate for us. So, and then after that tapered us into the Caribbean and Central American games where we got a bronze medal. And that was a metal that we hadn’t collected in a while.

Clance: Wow.

Alan: So, you know, that then would catapult us to be able to go towards Pan-American games and so on, right. So for us or performance went through the roof, it was brutal training, but you know-

Clance: So brutal training.

Alan: Yeah.

Clance: Okay. And after that brutal training, you guys dipped a little bit?

Alan: Yeah.

Clance: And then you rebound to a new level. Adaptation. That was, that is what I call adaptation taking to the extreme and things like that, you know, nuggets like that. I don’t feel that a lot of coaches really understand in terms of, Oh, you need, oh, you need to, you know, you need to take a day off or you’re trading too much, or I’m too tired.

And did you like how tired were you during those two weeks? And I know that I’m taking a little long on this, but it’s important, you know, if you really want true adaptation, true performance, you want true results. You have to go, you have to suffer a little bit. You gotta go through the pain. Like, you know, I think one time you told me that you were so tired, you didn’t want it, you couldn’t even eat, you couldn’t even look at food.

Alan: Yeah. And that’s true. I mean, I was hungry, but my body was just so depleted and, you know, you get miserable, you get short-tempered, but you know, you still got to show up, you know, it’s like, I think if it, you know, the path to success is, there is no elevator. I mean, maybe at the outset, you may make some quick gains.

It seems as though you’re rising. But when you hit that plateau where you hit a wall, you go climb stairs, right? Cause the goal is where the goal is, right? So you’re tired and now you’re climbing stairs. Who wants to do that? Nobody wants to do that unless you really want what you want. So you got to just go after.

Clance: So I love that, man. Thank you for sharing that story. Take us into now that, you know, Alan here, Alan the strength coach. How you basically, you know, got into meeting LPS, through AAS and so on and so forth? And give us your experience.

Alan: Well, I guess due to pandemic, I guess had its own way of bringing people into my space. So it was my cousin Selena, who actually, I realize you use the coach like 20 plus years ago.

Clance: Years. Years ago.

Alan: So I was just talking to her one day to see how she’s doing. And you know, she asks me, where am I? You know, I told her the work I was doing as a strength coach. And she said, man if you want to be working with like some serious athletes if you want to see what strength coaching is about, you got to call Clance. All right, I don’t know Clance, but just give me his number. Let’s see what happens, right?

So then that’s when I had reached out to you, and then I feel like it was shortly after that, you know, we had a lot of the lockdown here, but I was still looking at ways to further my work because initially when I went onto the website LPS and that’s one thing you told me, you know, what to really research and see what you have to offer. I was like, this place is different, but it just seems like everybody’s going after it, which is how I trained.

So when I logged on the current and things, it can really come in as well, I still saw the opportunity to learn more. I’m always reading something. So that’s where it came across the AAS course, right? So, I jumped on it and pretty much just like blocked out time in my schedule every day, and it’s like, I gotta do a block of this every day. And that’s how I ended up doing it and there was a period where things are reopened and then I was at one.

Once they finished the theory component of it, which I will say was challenging because I’ve done certifications before where you get like a 70%, 80% and you know, those certifications are good, but in the AAS I was, you had to get everything correct. And it was like, you either know it or you don’t. And for me, I actually found that was valuable because if you go and give somebody a recommendation for a specific exercise and you’d already know what’s going on or you’re not sure, then it could run into problems, right? So after the theory, then there was the opportunity to do the internship when things open for a bit.

Clance: That’s why we ran into problems because of COVID, everything was locked down. We will not certify anyone fully until we do a practical. But that’s actually how we got brought together in terms of you inquiring about coming in and just, you know, learning, once we got it reopening for professional athletes, we’re allowed to train, you started to come in and observe.

Alan: Yeah, exactly. So I came in and observed, but I’m a big believer in it, I don’t like to give people things. I haven’t trained myself. So I came in and turned. Yes. But I know like after this, the sessions were done, you know, I would do a workout. I would snatch, I would clean, I’d squat, push press. I’d do all the bench press, the supinated.

Everything that was in the program. Because for me also since me getting back into the pool, more so as a swimmer, I was just saying, you know, I was training. I was doing the strength where I felt fast, but I hadn’t really gotten the speed and strength endurance I needed for the end of the race. So I say, you know, as I’m doing this, let me see how this could help me improve what it was feeling in the water, right?

Clance: Right.

Alan: And it made a difference within like, you know, four weeks coming off the wall was faster. My reactive ability off the blocks pulling in the water was a lot easier. My mobility was increased. I was already pretty strong, but, you know, I didn’t have that full range of strength and elasticity, that explosiveness, I felt like that was missing. So, you know, that’s for me, like I saw it, I practiced it and I just kept doing it until-

Clance: The proofs, the proofs that you put it. You saw it, you didn’t just do the theory. I watched you. You went through it. You did the programs, right? You did the phases, structural balance, AAS one, phase two, phase three, right? Tapered and repeat.

Alan: All the time.

Clance: Right?

Alan: Still doing it.

Clance: So to me, that’s huge. It’s not about just talk, talk a lot of times, everything that I do, everything that programs and exercises I’ve done myself. So when I see a coach going through it because there’s not only that, you know, there’s sets, there’s reps and whatever, but people forget the mental component. When you can connect the mental, going through it, easier to communicate with the athlete, going through an AAS. Cause AAS is different, right?

There’s a huge mental component for it and if you’re not, and that’s one of the biggest things that people don’t understand, that’s going to that component. That’s why I love that story or what you’ve been through. And I can see the difference in you amongst all the coaches I’ve observed and trained in so on and so forth, you know, because I had to call Selena and say, Is this guy for real?

You know, you’re dedicated, you work hard, you’re smart. I tell you books to read, you go buy it. And you show me that and you read it and then you execute it to me, that’s very important. And going through the exercise is going through the pain and suffering, and the mental struggle is very important. I have a saying, I don’t trust anyone who hasn’t been through it physically. I just can’t completely trust you as a coach. You know, that’s just a fact and I take that simple principle through life.

You know, people have to suffer with you a certain way or be through certain things for you to actually trust them a hundred percent. That’s just the way it is, right?

Now, I guess I lost track just a little bit, but the main thing is, tell me how AAS or, you know, being at LPS right now, we’re open and so on and so forth. How is that helping your coaching and so-and-so forth?

Alan: So it’s, it’s been tremendous. I think, first of all, just to tack onto the last part you just said with the mental aspect. Unlike other programs, I’ve done Olympic weightlifting, has a huge psychological component to it. It’s very different to deadlifting, which is still difficult, or bench pressing or squatting, but you’re just moving the way up and down primarily, right?

When you got to pick this weight up, I bring it to your shoulders or throw it over your head, you know, you gotta be fast, you gotta be explosive, you gotta be mobile. It plays with your mind sometimes, and you’re just like, gotta pick up this weight again, right. So, but outside of that, I think coming here to LPS has been huge because there’s that culture of just good was not acceptable. Like you just had to be your best.

And you had to challenge that best every time you show up, whether it was on the platform for me or whether it was coaching. It could be one detail I want to work on and focus on, but there was always that desire and also encouragement. You know, between yourself, between Jeremy, between all the other coaches we have here, that it was like, you gotta level up.

So I see LPS less of like as a gym and more as like a place of growth, like an institution. Like if you want to become a strength coach, a well-renowned strength coach, and really up your game, wherever you’re at, gotta go to LPS, because you’re going to be challenged. You’re going to be pushed. You’re going to be uncomfortable because that’s where you grow and that’s what I found the biggest value here.

And that’s why I kept showing up during my internship. And I just, was like, I’m not going to go anywhere else and just keep going cause it’s for me, I’ve seen myself transform as a coach through that as well, too. And you know, it’s huge also for me to see, you know, a brother as well too, who’s gone through all the ranks and see you as the head of creating AAS and LPS, you know? So it’s very inspirational to see your brother get to that level and, you know, just keep helping them out, right? I feed off of that.

Clance: I appreciate that. Thank you. And you know, to touch on that point, there are so many different points I want to talk about before I even go to that point and to go back a little bit.

Alan: Okay.

Clance: That’s the root of our system is what is not tested, does not improve, there’s two twice a week. You’re testing, that’s the mental component. I come from a powerlifting background when I used to run track, deadlifts, bench, and so on and so forth. I get it, deadlift squat bench. You think we utilize weightlifting because I like it? I’m here for one thing—what works. And you got these clowns out here, running around with, you know, little gimmicks and trying to make. My job is not to make the athlete comfortable. My job is to make the athlete better. That’s what we’re about when you get into this gym.

That’s why we implement the exercises, whether you like it or not in this gym. If you can’t physically do it based on your structure, injuries, or whatever, that’s a different story, but you’re going to do it, or you find another gym because I know it’s going to make you better. It’s going to make you much more durable injury-free, and it’s going to elevate your performance. It’s a fact, right?

So that’s why we came up with AAS system. And not only through the program, I’ve implemented the system of AAS, but through our culture, you know, that’s why we have a culture of getting better, growth, research, education, study. We don’t want dumb coaches, right? We want coaches who want to be better. We want to better themselves, therefore better the athlete. And it goes all around and people feed off that, you know, it’s important to stay on top of what’s going on, be knowledgeable, and so-and-so.

So thank you for that and I appreciate that. And that goes into a place of mentorship. That’s what I loved about working with Charles. And Charles Poliquin always pushes me to be better. You know, he was more aggressive. He gave me a book. I had to finish that book in at a certain time cause he was checking on him, he was quizzing me, and asking me questions. He was doing that because he saw, that was his form of mentorship. He saw something in me, so he pushed it and drove it out of me. You know what I mean? And I think the, like for me, the mentorship-apprenticeship approach, being on-site, you know, at the gym, watching, what’s doing, not just being in the textbook, the textbook is totally different from being in the environment.

We have to get back to that type of mentorship-apprenticeship approach because there’s little things and I’ve said it. I said it over and over again. I hate when coaches come in here and they’re not paying attention. There’s so much that you can learn from paying attention and watching. And that’s what I appreciate when I see you here, you’re always observing, you always paying attention. You always ask them questions. You’re always trying to understand and I try and I give you time and try to get you to answer. And I try to answer those questions because I see that you’re hungry to grow and that’s important for people like me.

We don’t want to waste our time with clowns who just want to come in and don’t want to really learn and grow, right? We want this to be the best. So we want the best strength coaches. So we, our job is to make you the best you can be.

Alan: Yeah, I appreciate that. And it definitely felt that was the bar from day one. I mean, even from when I first contacted you and they said, you know, as a strength coach, growing their career, you know, like what are some of the best resources that you had used, for example as you started out, you know, and you’ve the sent me, I still have them, you know, the book by Komi, Strength and Power in Sport, and then Science and Practice of Strength and Conditioning by Satorski.

Clance: Foundational.

Alan: And I got these books and I opened them and I was like, oh, this is this different level, right? Because I’ve been told to read other stuff, but not on that level of, you know, scientific, muscular adaptation current within the body, and then implementing it in a training setting. In a systematic manner that helps athletes reduce their injuries. That helps athletes be more explosive and, you know, you see the transformation constantly.

Clance: And you know, the thing is that there’s a lot of times, it’s just, there’s a stigma of, Oh, it’s just easy coming out and throwing him, throwing her on some weightlifting some weeks.

But you thought you had a pretty good level before you got in here as a strength coach.

Alan: I thought so, but you know, perception is everything right? So, yeah.

Clance: Man, Allan, I see great things for you in the future. I know you’re heading to medical school. We were aware of, you know, it was great having you, I know we may have LPS Barbados, but I’m so happy for you to getting accepted into medical school. You know, communicating with someone like you is very helpful for my growth because I’m a continual learner. And you know, because we’re studying certain things now and, you know, I read that book like three times, but I’d go back to read that book by Komi, Strength and Power, which everyone listening, get that book. That’s the foundation. Streng and Power in Sports by Komi, right?

Still stands the test of time because things that, because I’m reading the book at a different angle, now I’m pulling out different information to support the information that certain nonsense that’s going on strength and conditioning or in a sporting world right now. But my point is, man, or my question is, do you, you know, what’s your vision? Like, what do you, at the end of the day, what do you Allan want to do?

Alan: So for me, you know, a big part of it, there’s two fold. One is my own personal aesthetic, but one is, you know, career-wise. So I start with the career-wise. And I think it is something that come up in one of my first days of internship. And I was talking to you, you know, even from then, you know, I said kind of an idea of what I saw my goals as being biopsy. You know, what’s the area, what’s the gap when it comes to strength and conditioning, as in communicating with other fields, allied health, you know, physio, chiro, sports medicine, and a lot of it was really the communication at a level of this accessible to everybody what we’re doing here and how it benefits the athletes that interplay with all those fields.

So for me, I want to know going into medicine with a focus in sports medicine for me, I consider myself strength coach, strength coaching first, but I want to help close that gap between strength and conditioning, sports medicine, the other allied health, but kind of seeing it from that site as well too.

But I think having a better understanding of how to apply knowledge and strength first, I think was critical. I don’t really see it being done other ways before or started like that way. So for me, I want to start to help athletes like that become more injury-resilient, become more dominant in their sport and understand, have these fields understand all of what we’re trying to do. So that’s ultimately what I want to be able to do to really close that communication gap between strength and conditioning, sports medicine, other allied health.

Clance: Where did that passion come from?

Alan: Oh, well, funny enough strength coaching for me and well, strength coaching passion and then the communication of it. So for me, I actually sustained an injury playing water polo when I was 19 and it wasn’t even, it wasn’t doing weights. A lot of people was like, oh, you know, you injured yourself lifting some weights. No.

Clance: Yeah, weights always get the bad name.

Alan: Actually I was in a game and I was a goalkeeper. So it wasn’t even contact, right? So what happened is that oftentimes when a player comes up to shoot, they’ll fake the ball. So they went to shoot the ball, said to the left fig the other direction. So what happened is, as I dove one direction, they had to suddenly change direction to the left. And it just kind of felt this just immediate pole in my back and played the rest of the game. You know. It kind of had to have below the pool and, you know, so I created that kind of pressure within the environment, no contact. So I was totally, you know, you can either do physio or you got to, sorry, you got to start where to pull, do physio, or if you continue playing at that rate, then you know, you might have to get surgery on your back, right?

And at that age, I was like, I wanted to just ignore them, ignore them, and just play. But I said, you know what, let me just try the strength, work the physio. And it went on for like six months, but by the end of it, I said, This can’t be the end.

And I feel like that’s what sometimes can happen. You’d finish that initial treatment and then you just kind of relapse. So I started looking at the different ways and research and other different ways to get my back strong, to get my core strong.

That’s where I found machines like the reverse hyperextension, and I started doing a bit of that. I did all a bunch of different core exercises to the point where I know like I don’t get back pain. Like I used to. And I see people who are my age always complaining about back pain. And they said, man, you never really, really seen back pain until you had a herniated disc, right?

Clance: And coming into this system, you were worried about that?

Alan: I was concerned because it was an injury I had, historically. And I was able to avoid any issue and a lot of my clients have been, I’ve been able to help them with my box because I had it personally. And I saw strength coaching as a way to improve your body’s resilience, wherever you had it. And to just also to get away from the label of the diagnosis. And I think that goes to a deeper level where sometimes you say, Oh, I got a bad back.

You have a bad back. You are not a bad back. There’s a difference in distinction. Like it’s part of what’s going on right there with you, but it doesn’t have to be your level. It doesn’t have to be, you know, you have a bad wrist or bad shoulder and you’re just going to hold onto it. What are you going to do to grow and get over that mindset?

Clance: And what did you do to grow? How much are you squatting now?

Alan: Well, right now 485 is my squat. Trying to get towards that 500.

Clance: 485 on a history of coming from that herniated disk.

Alan: And my back was fired enough.

Clance: Back squat 485, that’s 500. How much do you weigh to really dial that in a little bit?

Alan: 220. So a hundred kilograms, right? So close to 2.25 bodyweight.

Clance: So almost 2.25 bodyweight.

Alan: Yeah. So, but for me, that’s where my initial passion for exercise came from and the science behind it. I know, tying it together with a path blended with medicine and strength.

Clance: And man, I love that. And I really want to hammer that in, because I think that a lot of help, a lot of people who you are not the bad back, you just got to find a way to work with the bad back and you worked around it. And I have to say it wasn’t the easiest struggle, but you tackled it, you went through the work, and you’re way more resilient. Your core is strong. Your back is solid. Right? And you’re at, you’re probably the strongest you’ve ever been.

Alan: Oh, yeah, for sure. I’ve been strong for, but since coming here and my strength levels, my explosiveness has gone up, my speed has gone up because I’ve been doing the training. I think, you know, weights and training and strength training, it’s a metaphor for life. You want to get better, you know, for some people, the bar might be heavy. So are you gonna just say, just give up on that, but what are you going to do to grow and get past those initial barriers? Right? And you play that to whatever you do outside of a physical environment like this, right? And that’s where, like, it’s not just, and that’s the way like this facility. It’s not just high-performance training, it’s a high-performance mindset and you gotta dig deep when you don’t want to dig deep.

Clance: And that’s what it is, man. I’m not, you know, you know, cause a lot of people look at it, look at dominate and say, oh, you know, we want to dominate. Yeah, of course we wanna dominate. We want to win. I don’t want, we want winners, but it’s about you. Are you looking in the mirror and dominating your fears?

You know, cause the strongest obstacle everyone on this earth has is their mind. They have a task, they have a goal. What are you willing to sacrifice? All right. I don’t like presentations, right? I don’t like standing up in front of people and talking, but I have to, that’s my fear, that’s my determination, that’s my thing, I have to dominate.

So every individual has to overcome things that they, you know, stopped doing things that you just liked doing and do the things that you don’t like. So you can be better, you know, that’s the end of the day, that’s to me, that’s what dominate means. You got to dominate your mind.

So on that note, what does dominate mean to you?

Alan: To me dominate means it’s simple in my mind, in practice is different, but for me, it’s, you know, you set a goal and you rise towards it every single day. Consistency compounds. So whether you’re doing one method, you may get to a certain point in that path. You may have to find a different avenue and go down the path towards the same goal, but you never just kind of, you know, hold up and say, you know, what is a little too difficult for me? Right. Or whatever the case is, maybe you just have to reach out and ask for help. I’m the kind of person that would just kind of keep going, keep going. I think you just got to get to the goal, find a path, stick to it, and be as consistent as possible.

If you need help, you got, you got to ask for help. But you know, for me, I think of it as well too is you know, the reason why you don’t always reach out, ask for help and stuff like that. Like I know what my goal is so if I share it at whatever level of surface level, you know, I’m more interested in having a team and a legacy around me, of people who heard that, who felt it and are willing to pick up the hammer and start building it rather than, you know, clapping at the end.

You know, you can clap at the end, everything, that’s all good. We can all celebrate, but you know, are you willing to show up and help grow the brand? Whatever, you know, and for me, that’s one of the things I felt when I came here, I was like, okay, this resonates with me. What can I pick up and do?Whether it’s initially helping athletes with their load management or helping somebody to learn to snatch, clean, because at the end of the day, I know this type of training and building athletes, making them stronger, whether it’s on the strength side or in the medicine side or the sport nutrition side, it’s gonna be a huge part of what I do.

I know, yes as I start medicine, but I still see this as a very much a continuation of the relationship with LPS. And you know, this is not, I’m no longer here. This is, you know, helping build the online presence, helping build how you’ve helped build me. Like I said, mentorship is important and key, and it’s huge to have a mentor like you, a brother get to the highest levels, you know, so as much as I can feedback in. That’s what I’m invoked so at the end of the day,

Clance: I appreciate that, man. Much love. Champions are made in the dark!

Alan: That’s right.

Clance: Oh, sorry. I forgot about the bike! Yo man, much love. This brother right here, telling you man, he’s onto his way to big things.

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