Contextual strength & coordination training, traditional strength training and intelligent science with John Pryor (Senior S&C Coach at Rugby Australia [Wallabies])

This week’s Pacey Performance Podcast sees me speak to Rugby Australia’s Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach, John Pryor, who has worked with the Wallabies, the Japanese national Rugby Union team and holds a master’s degree in health science. With his background in track and field and combat sports, John has an incredibly wide-ranging knowledge about strength and conditioning, contextual strength and coordination training.

John explains his background and his influences, which include Warren Young and Charles Poliquin, Vern Gambetta, Eddie Jones and Vern Gambetta. He also talks about his time working with Eddie Jones in Japan, and the point of difference for coaches who are taken seriously and seen as authentic by athletes and employers alike.

This makes this week’s podcast a must-listen for any coach wanting to learn what catches people’s attention, the basics of Frans Bosch's methodologies, and how there’s no substitute for experience in strength and conditioning training.

Topics:

• The difference in mentality between Rugby League and Rugby Union
• Why there’s a right and wrong time for athletes to question their training
• What’s changed in the industry between 1988 and today
• How it can be beneficial to minimise the information available to us
• The coaches John Pryor would seek out personally
• Developing points of differences in young coaches
• The essential skills every coach needs to find a job
• The coach that inspired John to take up strength and conditioning training as a career
• Techniques and equipment used during his master’s degree
• The ‘speed-bound index’ – what it is, and how it increases sprint speed
• Co-ordination in sprint training and its importance
• The bad training habits it can be easy to get stuck with
• Working with Eddie Jones in Japan and how he got results
• Change direction sessions
• The biggest mistake seen in strength and conditioning training