Meet Marc Brown, Strength and Conditioning coach and a running specialist at PerformancePro. In and amongst the PerformancePro team of coaches, we have a good number of specialists too. For example, as well as coaching our clients in strength and conditioning on the gym floor, you can often find Marc Brown helping clients with their running technique.
We caught up with Marc, literally, to find out more…
Life before PerformancePro
Marc grew up in Kent and went to school in South East London, where he was massively into sport and competed seriously in football, cricket and cross country running. In his final year at Loughborough University, Marc realised that as soon as he finished his studies, he wanted to become a personal trainer,
“I knew for sure because of my keen interest in fitness and the fact that I enjoyed helping friends and family with their training.”
Back in 2004, just four months after graduation, Marc started as a gym instructor in a gym chain and soon became a mobile personal trainer around London, working in parks and from clients’ homes. In 2009, he started to work from W1, coaching clients within the area, before joining the PerformancePro team in 2013.
Marc has been specialising in coaching runners for several years now and this is definitely where his passion lies,
“I feel most runners don’t implement enough strength and conditioning into their training. They focus solely on clocking miles. I really want to share with runners the benefits of S&C training and show that when done correctly, it makes them faster, more efficient and less susceptible to injury.”
Marc Brown and PerformancePro
For Marc, it was PerformancePro’s commitment to education and self improvement that attracted him to the organisation and its team,
“These are a big part of PerformancePro’s approach. I knew I would be challenged to increase my knowledge and become a better coach, rather than simply coasting.”
Equally important are the people and the place itself,
“The best thing about my day is that I get to work with interesting and motivated people in a friendly gym environment. I’ve always enjoyed working here.”
And away from the gym?
Marc lives with his wife in the Kentish suburbs. Obviously he’s a runner but he’s a keen golfer too. And away from playing sport, he plays the acoustic guitar, enjoys reading and always has a good box set on the go too!
Marc’s fitness
Marc runs three or four times a week and lifts weights once or twice a week. There is usually a running race booked in his diary and he enjoys squeezing in a Parkrun on a Saturday morning too when he can. His own training is extremely important to him,
“I like to keep fit and healthy as it massively improves all other areas of my life. Personally, I find it’s essential for my physical and mental wellbeing.”
This sense of perspective can also be seen and felt when Marc outlines his tips and advice when it comes to training:
Top 3 Do’s
- To get results, you have to be consistent and patient with your training. There are no shortcuts.
- Get other areas of your life organised so they can compliment your training. Nutrition, stress levels, sleep etc contribute massively to whether you succeed or not
- Get a good coach. They’ll guide you, motivate you and create accountability so that you can gain the best results possible
Top 3 Don’ts
- A common problem is that people who haven’t trained in a while get carried away when they start, and they do too much, too soon. This will lead to injury or simply burning out and losing interest after a short time. Chip away and play the long game!
- Don’t think you can out train a poor diet and lifestyle, you can’t!
- Don’t take up a form of training that you dislike as you won’t be able to keep it up in the long term. Find something you enjoy and go all in
Inspiration
To stay up to date with the latest science and training methods, Marc follows a lot of top coaches and fitness influencers on Instagram such as Yann Le Meur, Eric Cressey and Science for Sport. He also enjoys reading business-related books and listening to various podcasts such as ‘The Tim Ferriss Show’ by Tim Ferriss and ‘The School of Greatness’ by Lewis Howes.