Today’s episode features French physical preparation coach Jérome Simian. Jérome has wide-ranging knowledge in working with athletes and has one of the most holistic training philosophies in the world.
He has been a physical preparation coach to athletes gaining 22 major championship medals in track and field as well as the European record in the men’s heptathlon in Kevin Mayer. He has also worked with high-level athletes in Tennis, Skeleton, Ice Dancing, and Golf amongst other sports. I first heard of Jerome through his writings on Charles Poliquin’s website ( Choosing the Right Exercise, 5 Things Experts in Strength Coaching Do ) and was highly intrigued by his methods, as I could see many of them resembled what I had seen from Jay Schroeder. The fact is that Jérome has been mentored, and uses methods largely from both Schroeder, as well as Charles Poliquin, who are respectively two masters of the industry.
As such, I was truly excited to have a conversation with Jérome. His methods work, and he gets great results where many other coaches will stagnate. Kevin Mayer has impressed many as he has continued to get faster into his mid-20s, where many multi-eventers simply get stronger and throw things farther in these years but can’t jump any higher or run any faster.
As the industry is learning, getting stronger doesn’t mean you get faster or jump higher, especially at a particular point. It is here that many coaches just keep pushing barbell maxes because it’s all they have. Jérome’s work is so incredible because he is always finding ways that athletes can improve and push their limits, and his work in track and field shows that he gets dynamic results. On today’s podcast, we talk about the construction of Jérome’s training philosophy, fixing weak links in athletes, intention-based movement and problem solving, and what his training sessions look like.
Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.
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Key Points:
- Jérome’s background as an athlete and what got him into coaching
- Jay’s connections and mentorships from Charles Poliquin and Jay Schroeder
- Jérome’s take on barbell training and 1-rep maxes
- Fixing weak links in athletes and screening
- Intention based movement ability of the brain and how it related to coaching and programming
- What training sessions with Jérome look like
- Assessment and correction of stalled motor patterns for speed performance
“I have an obligation to results, I don’t have an obligation to means, let’s face it, Americans are in love with weight training.”
“There’s no hiding in track and field (performance), it’s cruel but it’s fair”
“(With the iso-extremes) You can change the way the brain sequences contraction and relaxation of muscles, and that’s what movement is”
“The term long duration isometrics, confuses everybody, that’s not what they are”
“In long-duration iso’s you get out what you put in, it’s not holding 1-2-3-4-5 minutes, it’s you only have this much time to create a change”
“I lost a few athletes at the beginning (when I made the switch to extreme isometrics)”
“You have to look for (an athlete’s) limiting factor, always”
“The brain changes the feedback loop until you hit a goal and then commits that to memory; it’s that information that gets back to the brain, I try to change it to give it everything it needs to have to hit its goal”
“There is a lot more discrepancies in (running form) between distance athletes and athletes running 100m”
“Local/isolated weakness doesn’t really happen; it’s more in the way people are generally organized”
“There are some things all athletes must be able to know how to do no matter what your sport is. Your hip flexors and hip extensors must know how to antagonistically contract and relax”
“Always do what you need most first in a workout”
About Jérome Simian
Jérome Simian started his coaching career in 1998. Since then, he has coached athletes to compete in seven Olympic games, to World and European medals, as well as national records and dozens of national championships. His experience ranges from track and field to professional rugby, to figure skating, to mention only a few.
In a country where good athletes are helped for free and coached by the federal system, his private practice was built on helping those who did not fit the standard performance requirements. That often meant helping them return from injury all the way back to high-level performance. His methods are therefore results-based.
If the methods look different, they are. They were born of a constant quest for sports improvement, not just fitness exercise progression. Results cannot afford the constraints of dogma or traditional thinking. This quest is fueled by the study of the fundamental subjects of physiology, neurology, and current research, but also by information gleaned from coaches that have demonstrated superior results.
Jérome has worked with athletes holding 22 major championship medals and 7 national records in track and field. European record in the men’s heptathlon. He is the physical prep coach of high-level athletes in Tennis, Skeleton, Ice Dancing, and Golf amongst other sports.
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