ELITE TIPS FOR THE EVERYMAN
The team at Performance Ground are on a mission to bring advanced sports-specific training to the recreational athlete. Drop in to pick up new skills – with a six-pack bonus
The training secrets of highlevel sports teams tend to be closely guarded, safe from the prying eyes of competition. Now London’s Performance Ground is spilling the beans. Having opened earlier this year, the venue offers cutting- edge advice set against a #gymporn backdrop of pristine lifting platforms and bright bumper plates. It’s enough to get any workout enthusiast racing to lace up his lifters.
Led by director Tristan Baker, the gym’s methodology centres on research from the English Institute of Sport. “If a technique has been validated in published literature it will better benefit any level of athlete – from professional to recreational,” he says. “There’s a reasons fads burn out.”
Their approach is adaptive, rather than based on any set philosophy. “Simply putting your body in a state of stress will force it to improve,” says Baker. “Whether you’re a powerlifter looking to add more weight or a desk jockey training to fix his posture, the principle applies.”
Here you’ll leave the bro-split of ‘chest day’ and ‘legs day’ to the bodybuilders. Instead, expect to truly master the barbell with Olympic lifts and build power with plyometrics. “Our aim is to educate people that they don’t have to train in monotonous ways. There’s more to the gym than a squat rack and the bench press.”
To further your physical education, PG also provides its members with expert seminars, lifting masterclasses and on-site physiotherapy. With this level of elite assistance at your disposal, the physique of a pampered pro sportsman is within reach, if not quite the salary. Well, not yet anyway.