“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” — John C Maxwell
I was having a conversation with someone today and he said “that is a really interesting journey you have witnessed — you should tell that story.” So here is that story.
For those who don’t know me, I have been in the human performance space since my early teens. I have lived and breathed it for decades. I love every aspect of it — the science, the old age ancestral wisdom, the experiences, the learnings, the results, the discomfort and the human growth!
I’ve seen a lot over the years and would say I have developed a lens to see where improvements can be made to optimise performance outputs.
The WTA Tour — 1990s
Back in the 90s I was on the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tour in the era where Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova were belting it out for the #1 singles ranking.
I had just come off my own professional triathlon career and was helping a few tennis players with their fitness. I remember clearly walking down the hall of the Australian Open and Steffi was walking towards me — I was amazed at how ripped she was. She didn’t look like the typical female tennis player. In those days women rarely touched weights for strength training as it was considered only for the men. Steffi and Martina started the movement for women in tennis to start training in the gym.
Within the next 5 years, only the top 10 players could afford to have someone on the road with them to guide their off-court fitness. I was then travelling with Ai Sugiyama for 6 years, assisting her to her #8 in singles and #1 in doubles rankings.
Nowadays all players in the top 100 are working with a conditioning specialist and tournament sites are equipped with all the latest equipment — it is now an essential part of keeping their human operating system in peak form.
The Action Sports Industry
The other evolution I witnessed was in the Action Sports industry in the 90s to early 2000s — BMX, Skateboarding and Motocross athletes. I worked with most of the top athletes over a 20-year span.
At the start, it was taboo for these athletes to participate in anything but their sport. Their sports were more of a culture and you didn’t mess with that. So when I started working with some of the world’s best I was sworn to secrecy.
Over time as more and more sought out my services, word got out and it slowly became accepted. I then had rock stars, billionaires and other high performers contacting me — they wanted to function like an elite athlete.
Skateboarding and BMX are now Olympic sports and they train like high performance athletes.
The Corporate Opportunity
So why does this matter to you? I’m now getting the same excitement and visceral feeling for the opportunity that lies within the Corporate sector — the opportunity to implement Human Performance programs.
Most organisations are experiencing what these two groups experienced in the early days: we know we need to do something to improve but we don’t know what. Change is hard but “it’s the only constant we have.”
Starting at a foundational level of what the human body needs — quality sleep and optimal recovery — gives you a strong base on which to build other performance protocols. If you don’t take care of the foundation, you’re creating the leaning tower of Pisa.
We need to know how to increase our human performance so we can keep up in this crazy, busy, high-tech, neural-overload world!
As you pioneer new ways of wellbeing in your organisation, make sure the message comes from a place of care — a safe environment where you can all evolve and grow together.
Each organisation I work with has their unique signature to wellbeing, which is really important. If you’re not sure where to start, book a discovery call with me so I can help you map this out.
– Alex