The Sprightly Spud

Chester based PT, Conor Chaney, is nothing if not passionate about his job. The tattoo clad trainer is knowledgable, attentive and emphatic in his coaching style, despite juggling his own fitness goals with duties as a coach and, most importantly, a dad. In a quest to discover his time management secret, I chatted to Chaney about all things careers, hybrid training and football failure.

The Grass Roots

“My earliest memories involve running around playing with friends”, Conor told me, when I asked when he first remembered enjoying fitness. A sports fanatic from the very beginning, Chaney was quick to admit that his early life revolved around football and athletics.

As is the case for countless young fanatics, he dreamed of a career in pro soccer. Unfortunately, this was not to be, so aged 17, Conor took kicked his “back up plan” into action, qualifying as a personal trainer.

“It turned out to be okay”, he laughed.

A Man with Many Hats

As a qualified fitness trainer myself, I am no stranger to the job’s challenges. Early mornings, late nights, and hours spent on your feet are key characteristic of the profession. What’s more, Conor described that true commitment to the role involves much more than creating progressive training programs;

“Caring about your clients more than they do” is the hardest part of the job, he said, and there’s “never really a day off”. Complete dedication involves supplementing countless hours in the gym with many more dwelling on how to achieve optimal outcomes for trainees. Additionally, he told me, setting boundaries can become tricky, as the lines between being a coach, therapist, and friend becomes blurred at times. Consequently, a “good PT needs to wear many different hats”.

‘Factr’, the small group personal training facility where Chaney shares his expertise, follows a method of ‘no quick fixes’, and is founded on a ‘shared vision to make a long-lasting difference’. Each session runs with a maximum of 6 people per coach, allowing for a 1-2-1 standard of service, at significantly lower cost to the individual than private PT. What’s more, you are striving towards personal goals, whilst still reaping the benefits of group exercise in the form of social interaction, accountability, and motivation.

Nevertheless, its certainly a rewarding profession. Conor’s unwavering devotion to his clients’ own goals, means he reaps the benefits. “Seeing and helping people succeed. Helping people become confident with who they are, and watching as they grow into the person they want to become,” make it all worthwhile.

What’s with the “Hybrid Hype”?

The phrase ‘hybrid training’ has become unavoidable in the fitness realm over the past few years. With figures such as Nick Bare, Fergus Crawley, Lucy Davis and Corinne Coffin littering our instagram feeds with dramatic feats that push the boundaries of athleticism (think deadlifting over 225kg then running 5km in under 20 minutes), the “hybrid boom” is certainly in full flow.

To clarify, Conor defined this concept as “the combination of two or more modalities of training. Typically strength training and running,”. He also confirmed that, technically, it could involve the combination of any fitness discipline, from CrossFit coupled with cycling, to pilates and powerlifting.

Offering the body multiple stimuli, rather than being irresolutely devoted to your ‘push, pull, legs’ split, can be extremely beneficial. Credited with increasing cardio capacity, longevity in health and training, and maximising the potential for the body to adapt, its easy to see why so many bodybuilders are ditching the ‘cardio kills your gains’ motto, and most runners have started to hit the free weights.

In the past two years, Conor has started to label his own training as ‘hybrid’, but in reality he was far ahead of the trend…

“You could say it’s the only way I’ve ever trained, as I’ve always ran for football and I’ve always lifted in the gym.”

This is the case for countless sports players, for whom strength and conditioning alongside practice is a fact of life. Rugby is also an example of a hybrid sport in itself, Conor said. It has “been around forever”, but includes running and strength elements.

For Chaney, variety is the spice of life when it comes to fitness;

“I enjoy seeing improvements in more than one modality”, he confessed, “trying to do both is like a puzzle”.

Inevitably, it makes for a more exiting and well-rounded regime, in addition to creating more opportunities to find goals and events to train for, as well as making training with friends more accessible.

“And training with others is so much more fun.”

“Why would you say so many people have taken up a hybrid approach to fitness?” I asked, keen to hear an expert opinion on the matter.

The response I received was detailed, thorough, and extremely logical.

Social media, and the popularity of Hyrox, were the main triggers of the “hybrid boom”, according to Conor, in addition to the aforementioned social opportunities that hybrid training can facilitate. Additionally, he said, for “body builders/gym goers in particular, hybrid training and competition has made what they enjoy training into a sport”, hence the ever growing popularity of CrossFit, which emphasises the importance of the team surrounding the individual.

The phrase ‘best of both worlds’, springs to my own mind, as Conor went on to highlight the fact that those previously in a monogamous relationship with the free weights area would likely have been struck by the endorphin high that cardio can bring. Likewise, dabbling in strength training may have runners and cyclists becoming fond of the aesthetic gains they were starting to see.

“In short,” he summarised, “social media hype, competition and excitement around new stimuli and ways of training has resulted in this Hybrid boom. Finally, the realisation that being just fast, or just strong is cool, but both is the holy grail.”

“Going slow to go fast”

Downsides to any kind of training are inevitable, but not inescapable.

“Its easy to overtrain.”

When fledgling cardio bunnies venture from the weights room, the potential to overload the CNS is high, leaving gym rats feeling not only humbled, but physically ruined, warned Chaney. Interval sessions and long runs can be particularly risky, as they are not only new, but intense too.

“I think people need more education around going slow to go fast when it comes to cardio and building up capacity.”

A strongman is not going to transform into a gymnast overnight, and rushing the process to becoming a hybrid weapon will be, quite frankly, counterproductive, potentially leading to fatigue, burnout, injury, and “plateau across all modalities.”

Hyrox and Half Marathons

Conor’s ‘next big goals’ only serve to confirm his status as the epitome of hybrid. Having taken part in Hyrox twice before, he has certainly caught the bug that took hold of 90000 athletes who competed in the “fitness racing” event last year, and will be hoping to smash his PB once again in Birmingham and London later this year.

“It’s tactical, it’s competitive, there will be strengths and weaknesses for everybody, it’s fast and hard,” he said, going on to state how impressed he was at the organisation of so many moving parts.

“From a coaching standpoint I really appreciate the complexity of that.”

What’s more, he titled it the best fitness event he’d ever done, thanks to the selection of categories making it accessible to everyone, from elite to beginner.

“The barrier for entry is so low but the ceiling is so high.”

May will play host to a different type of challenge for Conor and his quads of steel, in the form of the Chester half marathon.

Why choose one sport when you can do them all?