Josh Clarke Personal Trainer
Josh has been into sports his entire life; starting at the age of 3 with trampolining and working his way through a number of sports. He tells Sundried how his passion for sport helps him be a fantastic strength and conditioning coach for his clients.
Please tell us about sporting events you have taken part in or have coming up.
I am a young athlete with a lot of experience in track and rugby. In my past sporting career I have competed nationally in Athletics, Trampolining, and Fives; and reached the Great Britain training squad in American football and Diving. In 2010, I converted solely to American Football at university and have since spent most of my football career playing for the London Warriors. This year, I will be embracing the new challenge of playing American Football abroad; moving to Finland to carry out my dreams. As well as playing football I coach it to newer players and train athletes through Strength and Conditioning. It is what I love to do and will be looking to continue doing this with the free time I have away from playing, training, and studying football for myself. The better I become, the more I am able to give back to those around me; and help my team in a drive to success.
Tell us about your journey to fitness? Where did it all start?
What are your training goals now?
My goals are quite simple: avoid injury, become stronger, become faster, be as powerful as possible, and stay healthy.
Tell us one unusual fact we wouldn’t know about you:
I had my broken wrist re-set when I was 14, out of surgery and without any gas or air. I have a very high pain threshold!
What would future you, tell yourself when you were starting out?
Don't ever be scared to follow your dreams and do what you want to. Go all in and commit to it, you never know where you will end up.
Do you follow a specific nutrition plan? If so, what/when do you eat?
Shockingly enough to some people... No I don't! I love to eat, and I do it a lot! I pretty much eat what I want to, when I want to; HOWEVER, I have developed good eating habits over time. Generally speaking I avoid all processed foods and eat quite a lot of protein to assist with muscle development. A good rule to live by is "know what you're eating and how it is made".
What do you do to keep your clients motivated? Do you have any top tips to keep motivated?
Do what you love and love what you do. Being a strength and conditioning coach I have a big emphasis on my clients truly being involved in the lifestyle of training, as well as the sessions themselves. By doing this you will notice the small changes and find things enjoyable, not a task or hard to stick to. The small changes you see will motivate you to keep pushing for more.
Talk us through your training regime.
Most of my weeks currently include 6-8 sessions and follow the same general plan: Monday - AM, stretch and core; PM, Track training, Tuesday - S&C weight session 1 Wednesday - AM, stretch and core; PM, Track training, Thursday - S&C weight session 2 Friday - S&C weight session 3 Saturday - Track training and football drills Sunday - Football drills (if not done on Saturday) or REST This will soon be changing to become more intense, before starting my football season.
How do you keep your fitness knowledge up to date?
Being connected to numerous athletes I am very often asked for help on challenging cases to assist with their development and rehab/prehab needs. Due to them being specific to the individual, they are often new and sometimes puzzling. This means I have to stay up to date on new and innovative training techniques and theories, to stay on top.
What are your top 3 trainer tips?
Train "smart"! (Don't follow something because it's a new craze or you want to "always go beast mode"). Eat well and often. Understand and listen to your body and its needs.
If you could only do one workout for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Due to my background, it's hard for me to answer this question; from an S&C aspect, I couldn't possibly pick just one. However, if backed into a corner it would be an Olympic Lifting workout. There are so many aspects to the 'Clean and Jerk' and the 'Snatch' that the benefits of these workouts are huge. From muscle building to power development and fat burning; there's nothing you can't do with it!
Why work with Sundried?
One of the reasons I enjoy coaching alongside playing football is I like to give back to people, as I could not have made it anywhere along my journey without the help of others. I have a great respect for the charity work that Sundried do and their ethics as a whole. Every step of the way, Sundried give back to the people they work with and are working to make changes for our future generations. As both an athlete and professional I have a commitment to my clients, athletes, and followers to only support and display products and companies to which I myself truly believe in. Based on Sundried's philosophies and ethics, I strongly support them and it is my pleasure to work with them.
Favorite fitness quote:
Do what you love; love what you do.