Why?
Why is the first question you need to ask yourself when thinking about training. I work out and indulge in a variety of sports because it fulfils my life. Life changes constantly, growing and evolving in different areas, changing jobs, traveling and learning. At Gym21 close to city center of our capital Ljubljana, we focus on learning. Everything concerning functional training, breath work techniques and building habits in a form of daily rituals.
Top reasons Why people decide to get a personal trainer are:
- getting in better shape
- build muscle and a better physique
- prepare the body for sports
- want more mobility
- losing weight
- feeling good
I believe that for whatever reason we decide to workout, the main goal is training our body for the optimal performance in our environment. Today’s lifestyle is so easy and comfortable, we are no longer required to move our bodies. There is an easy way out of every single problem, there is a pill for every condition, so why should you even put effort into training?
By taking shortcuts every chance possible, we deprive ourselves of the true meaning of life. A quote from Alan Watts describes this perfectly. “To travel is to be alive, but to get somewhere is to be dead. Therefore the meaning comes from effort, and the feeling we get after a good workout is priceless. The struggle, the sweat and the pain from exercising, is instantly rewarded by the feel – good calm after a great training session.
Learning and evolving
My approach to coaching involves upgrading the What with the Why. Understanding how to perform an exercise is essential, but I believe it is very important to know why we are doing it. Going to the gym seems boring to some people, it did to me as well at the beginning. Throughout the last 20+ years of wakeboarding, my preparations for the season evolved. I never do the exact same training routine twice. There are so many things we can work on at the gym. Strength, balance, agility & speed, movement, mobility, stretching or yoga to name a few. Therefore with every training session I conduct with my clients, we always learn something new. There is a new challenge every time therefore going to the gym is always interesting. Whether that means learning small tricks, improving balance or working on strength. Besides improving our physical body, we constantly fire and wire new connections in the brain. Neuroplasticity is the brains ability to change, adapt and grow due to our experience.
How?
I achieve my best form of living by building, diversifying and constantly challenging the body as well as the mind. Besides the fact that only lifting weights in the gym is boring, I believe there is so much more we can do for the body. In the search of the best way to prepare for my next season I worked with dozens of personal trainers & physiotherapists. While looking for knowledge on how to prepare, how the body works and what the best diet is, I also got my AFP personal trainer & nutritionist license. Understanding the human body, how it can move and what the basic movement patterns are gave me a whole new perspective on training. I combine a variety of styles, draw my inspiration from different sports and workouts.
Personal training at Gym21 which is equipped with style and all of my favourite props for functional training. We define our goals, then proceed with focus on the style of training required for achieving them.
Getting in shape for a specific sport, we focus on performance, build extra strength on the areas needed. In every case we want to improve our body skills. I do a lot of mobility, more movement, agility, speed and even animal flow exercises.
If there are certain restraints in the body we do some more stretches and mobility exercises. Keeping our body shape strong is very important, so I put a lot of attention on balance and core strength. Either way I like to mix things up, so we get the full spectrum of improving the body.
About me
Born and bred a sportsman. My life has always been all about sports and adventure. Spent my younger years as a professional alpine skier, having up to 150 days a year on snow. Later on I switched my passion to summer sport called wakeboarding and not a year later also started snowboarding. My fondest memories come from traveling around the world, from Philippines and Thailand, to Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Jordan and all over Europe.
I am curious about everything, especially sports, fitness, nutrition & neurology. While living the life of a professional wakeboarder, I also worked part time as a cable park operator and wakeboard instructor for more than 10 years. Organised wakeboard camps throughout the summer, for a few years even coached four young aspiring athletes. I also spent a couple of winters in Kranjska Gora as a ski & snowboard instructor. Coaching five year olds their first turns, all the way up to perfecting turns from experienced skiers and learning new tricks with snowboarders.
Later on I worked as the head of design at a friends company. Always knew my time at a normal 9 to 5 was very limited. Love spending time with people who have a real passion for life. Whether that means creation through sport, or any other form of art. I think of sport as an art form because every individual, especially in freestyle sports has their own style and persona to it. Been drawn to wakeboarding since day one, and I love expressing myself through the intensity and beauty that it brings in my life. Since I can remember, my biggest goal was to prepare my body for peak performance in any area of life. Now the second one is, to teach other people how to bring their best out of themselves.