Simon Jeffery, Trainer and Holistic Life Coach
Simon Jeffery is the Owner and Manager of Winners 2000 Fitness Limited. Formed in 2000, Winners 2000 has grown into the largest chain of Fitness Clubs in the South West. Its base in Teignmouth Road Torquay was followed by a new site at Modus Business Park in Paignton and a 3rd club at Greenhill Way in Newton Abbot. The ethos at Winners 2000 is simple; to improve the quality of lives of all the members who use the club. Winners 2000 sets standards in all areas, having the best equipment, the cleanest gym, and most importantly, the best staff who work passionately and diligently to provide members with a perfect experience each time they come to train.
Simon puts his success down to the amazing support he has from both his business partner, Ben Longrigg and the key colleagues with whom he has had the fortune to work, like Jon Ellery, Hannah Bryant, Dean Turner, Helen Collins, Dave Fuge, Luke Simons and all the current team at Winners 2000.
Winners 2000 also has many junior projects and partnerships with local schools, including voluntary projects with children with learning difficulties and in care. Winners 2000 has been active in the community since its inception, raising over £50000 in the past decade for schools like Combe Pafford, Mayfield and other worthy causes.
Simon was awarded the WABBA Instructor of the Millennium Award in 2000, recognising him as the best student that organisation had produced.
In 2002, Simon was one of the first coaches in the UK to implement the Metabolic Typing Nutritional Program to his clients, that has now been recognised by the world’s leading natural doctors (Mercola, Chek) as the bible for how to feed people effectively.
In 2000 Simon began working wit the the then 15 year old Mike Williamson, now a regular starter in the Premier League for Newcastle United, and critical part of the team that won the Championship in 2010 to return to the PL. Simon organises Mikes strength and speed training, and has taken Mike from a 4th division apprentice all the way to where he is now (read more on athletes page).
In 2007, to prove the results available to athletes naturally, Simon coached colleague Helen Collins to a British Fitness Championship, competing as a natural athlete against competitors who were chemically assisted. Helen also placed 10th in Europe the following year, again competing totally naturally against mostly drug assisted athletes. (The allpowercomesfrom.com way is always health first, natural and does not condone drug use in any way). More on the athlete’s page.
Simon is quick to tell people that these are both prime examples of what can be achieved if basic principles are followed; namely Focus, Hard Work, Attention to Detail and perseverance. He explains that although neither Mike nor Helen were particularly talented or genetically gifted, they achieved their goals regardless, hence why he holds their achievements up to others looking to excel.
In 2010 Winners 2000 was awarded the “Torbay Together Business of the Year” Award recognising their contribution to the community and enterprise through tough economic times.
Simon continues to study all aspects of health and fitness. He has travelled to over 200 gyms worldwide including some of the most famous in the USA, Golds and Muscle Beach in LA, City Gym in Sydney, Metroflex in Texas, Westside Barbell in Columbus and many many more. All with the goal of meeting the best coaches and trainers and learning the techniques they use.
Simon has also met with numerous College and NFL strength and conditioning coaches to learn how the world’s most elite athletes are prepared.
Simon is currently at work on his first book, a combination of information about physical development, and how to build a business from the floor up.
A word from….
Whatever you’re athletic, aesthetic or health goals, there are constants to be applied to their accomplishment. Although genetics will play a part, they are perhaps less important that people realise. There are a huge number of variables to consider that each need to be correctly analysed and addressed for you to get where you want to be. For example:
Perhaps the single the most important thing any coach can do for a client is help them establish and clarify WHAT THEY WANT, WHY IT IS IMPORTANT, and to work through the process of HOW I DO IT.
Focus – Perhaps the single the most important thing any coach can do for a client is help them establish and clarify WHAT THEY WANT, WHY IT IS IMPORTANT, and to work through the process of HOW I DO IT. I have my own system of goal setting (the document can be found on the articles page) which helps you to work through each role in your life, and assign goals to that role. An ecology check helps ensure they are really what you want, and then a steps and deadlines exercise is where “the rubber hits the road”.
It is very common to find women with serious hormone imbalances through nothing but poor nutrition, women unable to fall pregnant due to not eating enough protein and fats, and over eating carbohydrates.
What should I eat?
Nutrition is perhaps the most mis-understood aspect of health and physical development. Most “diets”, slimming clubs or so called experts are just those who got lucky in having success with 1 or 2 people they prescribed a diet too, and then were ignorant and arrogant enough to tell everyone it would work for them. Decided what is optimum nutrition for you right now is a combination of your genetics, heritage, how you have lived your life to this point, and the goals you have set. The “Stress” epidemic of the 21st century can have a huge effect on the body’s ability to use sugar, glucose, glycogen, efficiently, and is the most common cause of weight gain (after lack of exercise). The endocrine environment (hormones) is another area that needs a great deal of attention. IT is very common to find women with serious hormone imbalances through nothing but poor nutrition, women unable to fall pregnant due to not eating enough protein and fats, and over eating carbohydrates. In men, low testosterone is often now a failing of the testes, but a failing of the liver to filter excess estrogens in the blood stream causing a negative feedback loop for the body to shut down testosterone production. Although blood work is required to confirm this before treatment/protocols can be prescribed, this is just to highlight the closeness of the link between food, hormones and the ability to achieve goals.
Recovery
I have met very few coaches worldwide who have planned recovery for athletes and clients, it’s a huge failing. The recovery of any muscle after exercise, as well as the nervous system, takes time, and there is no exact science to determine it. For high intensity NEURAL lifting, the nervous system can take up to 6 times longer than the muscle tissue to recover. There are ways to speed up recovery, both local (muscle) and system (CNS), and these should be included in your weekly plan. Food, supplements, meditation, sleep quality, they all should be organised if goals are to be achieved.
The real skill of exercise prescription is in the coach being committed enough to their career, to study and gain experiences with clients and other coaches, that develops their instincts to know when to push, when to pull back. Far too many so called experts are hurting clients through nothing more than sticking to some pathetic instructors manual put together by some geek in an office who never did a tyre flip or rope climb in their life.
Exercise Prescription
It comes this far down the list because without the other variables in place, it is more likely to cause you harm than allow you to be successful. I would doubt if 90% of the exercise programs produced in gyms today are effective, in that trainers are not qualified or experienced to the degree they should be when working with people’s health. Designing an effective training plan takes into account the clients goals, current position, previous experience, available time and ability to recover. An assessment should be made as to how much heavy lifting (under 5 reps) can be completed, any structural imbalances they may have (chiropractic assessment is a great tool here) as well as cycling the intensity of their exercise sessions. The closer a client gets to genetic potential; the longer the period of nervous system recovery will be required. Advanced systems such as the Conjugated Method have taught us to pay far more attention to the effects of resistance training on the nervous system, and its importance to overall health and development, than the local soreness from exercises. The idea of a program being prescribed for 8 weeks, and asking clients to complete the same machine exercises will in most cases produce no results, and in some, send them backwards. The real skill of exercise prescription is in the coach being committed enough to their career, to study and gain experiences with clients and other coaches, that develops their instincts to know when to push, when to pull back. Far too many so called experts are hurting clients through nothing more than sticking to some pathetic instructors manual put together by some geek in an office who never did a tyre flip or rope climb in their life.
In my experience, there are many trainers/coaches who proclaim their talents through the odd star performer, maybe a professional athlete or someone who looks “perfect”. The truth in the majority of cases is that it was the trainer who got lucky, in that they got to work with someone with so much of a genetic advantage, that they could have prescribed horse manure and ballet and they would have got results (no disrespect to ballet, great discipline, my daughter loves it).
I think in these cases, “Ignorance really is bliss”. Trainer develops faith and confidence in their methods, which comes across when they talk to nervous and apprehensive clients, who obviously feel a certain trust and belief in what the trainer says. So, they follow these unscientific plans, based purely on the fact that “it worked for him in the picture with an 8pac”. They guy in the picture could be chemically enhanced, airbrushed, or just have ridiculous genetics.
Working directly with people and helping them improve their health and happiness is the most rewarding career there is. Winners 2000 has been a fantastic business that has delivered to both its members and also to the community and is something I am committed to continuing for many years to come. As I progress in my own development and my own career, I learn more and more skills that allow me to achieve even more success in my work.
My advice to anyone who is not happy with their current state of health and mindset is very simple:
Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to change for it, make your plans, and GO TO WORK.
Enjoy my site,
Simon
To contact: simon@winners2000.co.uk
