Refereeing takes a special type of person to turn it into a career but that’s exactly what NRL referee Grant Atkins has done.

Since beginning as a referee in his local Penrith district at the age of 14 he has climbed the ranks to reach the professional ranks and finished the 2017 season refereeing in the Rugby League World Cup.

It’s a tough job that requires both physical and mental training. Atkins explains referees are put through the ringer in the pre-season much like the players. They’ll be asked to row at full pace while being told information they’ll later have to recall.

Just like all humans, referees do make mistakes, and Atkins says that refereeing requires them to be able to compartmentalise their decisions and move on from any mistake they make.

On top of everything, communication for them is key. They need to be able to communicate with players, their fellow on-field officials as well as the bunker.

Throughout this episode Atkins talks through how he ended up with the whistle, what it takes to referee in the NRL, the type of preparation he goes through and how he handles the pressure of the job.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is the major piece of tissue providing stability to the knee joint. When it tears it’s hard for someone to walk let alone sprint, jump, land and change direction.

Similarly, ankle injuries are incredibly common in athletes and can keep them out anywhere from one week to six months.

For physiotherapist Mick Hughes, his job is to get his athletes back to full function and fitness.

In years gone by the default treatment for an ACL injury was surgery and then waiting nine months for it to repair. Nowadays Hughes says, they can assess the extent of the injury and rehabilitate the injury by strengthening the muscles around the knee and working with the athlete to return them to play without surgery.

Interestingly, an athlete simply collapsing is the most common cause of ACL injuries from amateur leagues to the professional levels. It can occur from an awkward landing or their foot getting stuck in the ground as they pivot.

Ankle injuries, much like ACLs, mostly occur from non-contact situations. The majority of ankle injuries occur from the ankle rolling inwards and the three ligaments on the outside being injured.

Recovery times can vary with the most severe often involving the tearing of the ligament fibres as well as bone bruising and cartilage damage.

Hughes explains throughout this podcast ways these common yet devastating injuries can be prevented and treated if they do occur.

Even for amateur-level athletes the focus is no longer simply on the passing of time for the injury to repair. It’s now about ensuring the athlete has the same function and performance in the joint they had before the injury and, in some cases, stronger surrounding muscles in order to provide more stability.

Mick has previously worked with A-League clubs, NRL teams and netball clubs.

Mick can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and via his website.

If you would like to contact me I am on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and you can email me on brainandpowerpodcast@gmail.com.

Stevens was always interested in athletics and took naturally to discus and shot put.

In 2005 she went to the World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, collecting gold. The following year she took gold in the World Junior Championships in Beijing before taking Bronze in that year’s Commonwealth Games.

By 2009 Stevens reached the top of the sport when she became the youngest ever female discus World Champion at the age of 21.

She set her sights on the London 2012 Olympics to achieve her ultimate goal of Olympic gold. However, she was unable to find her peak form, finishing 12th overall.

Stevens speaks about her mental preparation and how she has changed her approach since the disappointment of London. Where she used to be concerned with how far she needed to throw, she now concerns herself with preparing as well as she can, allowing her to be focused on competition day.

This episode focuses on how one of Australia’s greatest field athletes prepares herself to perform on the biggest stages, how she ensures she’s physically and mentally ready and how she deals with pressure.

Stevens goes through her physical strength and conditioning which involves weights, high intensity cardio and plenty of throwing. Interestingly she says many discus and shot put throwers have similar attributes to NFL linemen, meaning they are incredibly explosive, often matching sprinters over 40 metres.

Dani can be found on Instagram while you can catch me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at www.brainandpowerpodcast.com.

A talented junior he represented the Junior Kiwis at the age of 18 and played for the New Zealand Warriors Under 20s side in 2008. Come 2009 and he was playing in the NRL for his boyhood club.

After two years in the NRL he took up an option to head to England with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats for the 2012 season where the initial move was difficult.

He only spent a season in England before returning to the NRL with the Penrith Panthers and linking up with former mentor and Warriors coach Ivan Cleary. There John played the best and most consistent football of his career.

He was rewarded with a spot in the Cook Islands’ 2013 World Cup squad where he played all three matches for the side.

In 2014 he went a step higher and made his debut for the New Zealand Kiwis in the ANZAC Test. A week later his season ended due to an ACL injury.

In 2016 he signed with the Manly Sea Eagles but didn’t take the field. It was during this season John began weighing up his options.

He no longer felt a passion for football and while he signed on with Mount Pritchard in the NSW Cup for the 2017 season, rugby league was no longer what he wanted to be doing.

Throughout 2016 he worked alongside NRL players and long-time friends Corey Norman and James Segeyaro on their clothing company - YKTR.

Born out of friendly banter at their sharehouse, their clothing company was co-founded by all three of them with John taking on the role of web designer, marketer, social media manager and everything in between.

John talks throughout this interview about his decision to walk away from rugby league, a sport he’d played his entire life, and focus on building a clothing business from the ground up, including the many challenges and difficulties he’s faced being an entrepreneur as well as an athlete.

For more information on YKTR you can visit their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages and their website.

Jerrad worked hard though, determined to make it as a professional footballer. Although originally an outfield player, Jerrad found himself between the sticks when his team needed a goalkeeper and quickly found he enjoyed the position.

As a teenager he moved to the Gold Coast to play with the Sunshine Coast in 2008 and then the Brisbane Strikers in 2009 in the National Premier Leagues Queensland. In 2010 he realised his dream when he debuted for Gold Coast United.

But professional football is a tough world and Gold Coast United failed financially putting him and his teammates out of work in 2012.

As luck would have it, the Western Sydney Wanderers had just been given approval to join the A-League and Jerrad now found himself based in the west.

Jerrad was part of the Wanderers squad that took out the League before falling to the Central Coast Mariners in the grand final.

Football business again saw Jerrad move on with him heading to Hong Kong before going to Perth and then back to the Wanderers.

Jerrad speaks about his work off the field, what he does to ensure he’s ready to take the field when called upon as well as what it takes to be a professional footballer.

He has also taken his passion for nutrition and preparation and turned it into a program that teaches aspiring athletes how to apply themselves off the field to prepare for a professional career called The One Percenters.

By the middle of 2016 he was a Paralympic Gold Medalist.

Heath contracted Transverse Myelitis as a child - a neurological condition that inflames the spinal cord - and became a paraplegic.

Although confined to a wheelchair, Heath was as active as could be and enjoyed his sport. At the age of 14 he took up wheelchair tennis and found he not only enjoyed it but was good at it.

After four years though Heath decided a career in tennis wasn’t for him and concentrated on a regular career.

A decade later he decided he’d have a crack at making it in wheelchair tennis and enlisted a tennis coach as well as strength and conditioning coach Christian Woodford (who I interviewed in Episode 005).

It was early 2015 and Heath made progress incredibly quickly, qualifying for Australia’s 2016 Paralympic Team.

Playing alongside good friend Dylan Alcott they won Paralympic Gold in the wheelchair doubles.

Since then Heath has climbed the tennis rankings to currently sit fifth in the world with his target to be number one - a position currently held by Alcott.

Heath talks about his challenges throughout his career, his comeback to tennis and winning gold as well as his goals into the future.

Heath can be followed on Facebook here.

Christian’s episode can be accessed here.

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Rebecca Hay is a sports dietitian with over two decades experience as well as being involved in Masters cycling and was involved in international sailing.

With many years of experience in research and practice behind her, Rebecca is incredibly knowledgeable in sports nutrition with an ability to bring simplicity to an industry which often has many different, contradictory voices in it.

In this episode Rebecca talks through balanced diets, eating for performance, making weight and consulting on The Biggest Loser Transformed.

Rebecca also works with The Athlete’s Kitchen, a business designed to bring the expertise of experienced dietitians to the regular public.

The Athlete’s Kitchen can be contacted via Facebook and their website.

A premiership winner in 2011 with the Warilla Gorillas and Michael Cronin medalist for the competition’s best and fairest player in 2010, Volkanovski took up Mixed Martial Arts in 2012.

After going 4-0 as an amateur, Alex turned professional and won multiple local titles in the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight classes before becoming a two-time Australian Fighting Championship featherweight champion.

He amassed a 13-1 record with a 10-fight win streak before signing on with the premier international MMA company, the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2016.

Since debuting in the UFC in November 2016 he’s extended his win streak to 12-0 and will take on Humberto Bandenay at UFC Sydney on November 19.

Volkanovski talks through his move to MMA, what goes into preparing for a fight and what he’s focusing on in the cage.

Alex explains his motivations and his ambition to climb to the top of the featherweight rankings and challenge for a title in the UFC.

You can find Alex on Facebook and Twitter.

Woodford has built his business from the ground up in Melbourne and focuses on injury prevention as well as performance enhancement. For the past 15 months he has had former NRL player Sandor Earl in the gym preparing for a comeback to the professional rugby league ranks.

Christian is incredibly passionate about the fitness industry and has a wealth of information and research behind him.

He also speaks about his time working for Maryland University in the United States which gave him an insight into how Australian sport can improve their junior athlete programs.

Christian is incredibly knowledgeable in the area of injury prevention and developing an athlete’s posterior chain for improved performance. He wants to ensure the fitness industry is backed by research and experience.

View the WSSC Facebook page here and Christian’s page here.

In 2013, professional rugby league player Sandor Earl’s career came to a shuddering halt. He was charged and found guilty of using and trafficking banned substances and suspended for four years by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

At 23 years old a rising career was put on hold and Earl was left two choices. Give up on ever returning to the NRL. Or bide his time and prepare to launch a return four years later.

The former Canberra Raiders winger chose the latter and headed to Thailand to give himself time and space aware from the fishbowl of Sydney.

While overseas Earl branched out into entrepreneurship, owning a cafe and two gyms and learning what it takes to run businesses successfully.

After two years away from home, he returned to Melbourne via Sydney, selling off his Thai businesses and setting up an F45 Training franchise in Melbourne.

Earl speaks of growing up in Sydney and getting the chance as a teenager to play for his boyhood club, the Sydney Roosters, under NRL legend Brad Fittler.

He adds a real human aspect to the now infamous supplements saga that he was caught up in alongside the Cronulla Sharks and Essendon Bombers.

The former winger also speaks about the challenges operating small businesses alongside training for an eventual return to the NRL, often working up to 16 hours a day.

A big thank you to Sandor for being so candid and finding time in his busy schedule to have a chat.

Also congratulations to him for breaking the Woodford Sports Science Consulting deadlift record.

Sandor's official Facebook page can be found here.

After hiring Rocky II on VHS and then watching all the others he embarked on an off-season training regime that saw him pack on the muscle to go from the bench to star back-rower.

Murphy’s career was sadly cut short with him on the cusp of turning professional but he took the disappointment and used it to fuel his passion of fitness and rugby league.

He began his personal training career by bouncing around from gym to gym, client to client and just making ends meet. Eventually he settled at one gym and began planning to turn his true passion into his job.

In 2016, the League Fit Academy was born in Sydney’s inner west with Murphy concentrating on developing teenagers into rugby league players.

Murphy displays the dedication and passion needed to succeed in entrepreneurship and launching a gym.

Throughout this podcast Joe explains his idea behind League Fit, the challenges he faced during the 2000s as he tried to make his name in the industry and confronting the doubters who told him there wasn’t a market in Australia for dedicated rugby league gyms.

Entering its second summer in operation, League Fit has gone from strength to strength with Murphy’s clients and their parents telling him about the improvement not only in their physical performance but their discipline and commitment outside sport.

So how does Fanning cope with times of high stress and perform at the top of his game? He works with stress management and breath control specialist Nam Baldwin.

Based on the Gold Coast, Nam runs Equalize Training Company and has clients including Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore, the NRL’s New Zealand Warriors and business professionals.

While the boardroom and rugby league field may seem worlds apart, Nam says the body will react the same way regarding his stress situations by engaging the flight or fight response.

He focuses on teach his clients how to control their breathing, which in turn lowers their heart rate and helps them control stress, allowing them to make well thought out decisions while under fatigue.

Nam has also begun applying the principles of the “Ice Man”, Wim Hoff, who trains in sub zero temperatures. While Nam doesn’t go to quite the same extremes, he believes subjecting the body to cold temperatures brings on many of the same flight or fight responses and requires high levels of concentration to avoid panic.

This discussion goes over how Nam coaches his clients, what his principles are for managing stress, how he has developed his training over time and how he’s gone about establishing a successful business that has grown to be recognised all over the world.

You can follow Nam on Instagram and visit his website here.

The judge gave him a choice: go to jail or join a boxing gym. Christian opted for the latter and began a career that has taken him around the world.

In this first episode I chat to Christian about his teenage years and what led him to start the now world renowned THUMP boxing courses followed by HIRT (High Intensity Resistance Training).

As Christian explains, THUMP started on the second floor of a mechanic’s garage with the bare essentials and grew to being taught in 12 countries and the course material translated into six different languages.

He started the business as a way to earn some extra money while studying at university in his mid-twenties and sold it to a group of investors in 2013.

Since then he’s founded HIRT and applied the research and science he’s learnt across a Masters in Exercise Sports Science to challenge the accepted norms of resistance training.

Ask him if you should concentrate on cardio and weights training and he’ll say you can do both at once, despite what’s often preached in “broscience”.

Christian’s focus is on increasing muscular time under tension, pushing muscles to momentary muscular failure and concentrating on heavy, compound movements. In other words, Keep It Simple Stupid.

A session with Christian will see his clients pushed hard over just a 25 minute period through only 3-4 basic exercises and no treadmill in sight.

I have applied many of Christian’s HIRT principles to my own training and regularly find myself out of breath and fatigued a lot faster than when I completed sessions between 60 and 90 minutes.

Big thank you to Christian for agreeing to the interview. If you’re a trainer looking to do a HIRT course then you can view the website here.

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