I have had the luxury of working with many great athletes at the highest level and sometimes when people see my background they think that it’s the only type of clients I want.

However, while working with World Class athletes may feed an ego, it’s not always the biggest challenge.

Why?

Sometimes, these athletes are performing so much sport specific training and participate in so many competitions, that they have very little time and energy left for strength and conditioning.

As for what constitutes the “ideal client” I could not say it better than top strength coach, Alwyn Cosgrove (www.alwyncosgrove.com):

“The thing I always tell my clients and athletes is this: I don’t care where we’re starting from. Whether you’re squatting 600 or benching 150, your current state is irrelevant to me. What I’m concerned with is your drive and desire to achieve your goals. If you’re willing to dedicate your time and energy to becoming a better lifter, then you’re exactly the kind of person I want to work with.”

Sometimes the Universe will send you an unexpected type of athlete/client to challenge you, and maybe push you in a direction you have hestitated to go.

However, it’s importantt that we also take our time to specify - in detail - the type of client/athlete we are seeking.

Which type of client/athlete should you seek?

The ones that need YOUR unique skills and personality the most.

The ones whose goals take you sligthly outside your comfort zone.

To your success,
Karsten Jensen

Two of my former clients/athletes, Danish Pro badminton players, Kamilla Juhl and Thomas Laybourn just won the World Championships in mixed doubles.

I worked with Kamilla for about 3 years - from the beginning when she came to the traing centre as a young talented player- and with Tomas for two years.

For Kamilla and Tomas, their year long commitment to become the best has paid off.

Tomas is extremely fast and explosive and his main focus, as far as strength training, was stabilizer endurance and tendon strength.

Kamilla, on the other hand, is a tall player and on top of building strength, we focused a lot on agility, for example, with many variations of multi-directional lunges and sled draging.

To your success,
Karsten Jensen

PS: Get your copy of “Combination Exercises” here to learn two powerful variations of multi- directional lunges.

Have you seen “Tyson”, the movie?

It’s amazing and highly recommended, with a couple of great insights for World Class strength and conditioning:

1. Cus D’Amato taugth Tyson that “speed kills” and Tyson combined his heavyweight power with a middle-weight’s speed into an unbeatable combination evident in his early fights.
2. When D’Amato had convinced Tyson that he could become the World Champion, Tyson put boxing before EVERYTHING ELSE - a level of commitment needed to become World Champion (this type of commitment is also mentioned in Arthur Dreschlers Encyclopedia of Weightlifting.)

Along with his unquestionably “dark side”, Tyson comes across as a great human being, with a trait I have seen in many World Class athletes, the ability for reflection and self-analysis.

If your main memory of Tyson is of him biting off Evander Holyfield’s ear, you need to see this movie.

To your success,
Karsten Jensen