Brendan McBirnie
Brendan McBirnie
Bio
My love for fitness and sport started at a young age and by the age of nine I was playing football, tennis, cricket and doing cross-country. In secondary school I fell in love with rugby and never looked back. With rugby being such a physically demanding sport that requires speed, strength and power, I started devoting some time to strength training until I was attending the gym most days with like-minded rugby players.
My academic focus at school was science and biology, particularly relating to the human body and how it functions. When it came to selecting a university degree I naturally chose B.Sc Sport Science, where I majored in human physiology and biochemistry.
What Do I Do?
After completing my honours in Sport Science I partnered with my old athletics coach and we built a small private gym with the main aim of providing sportsmen and women with structured training plans or rehab programs.
While all accommodated for a range of different sports conditioning, my particular interest was rugby conditioning. Rugby is such a unique sport requiring size, speed and agility. It encompasses all training methods and also requires a good understanding of periodisation, which was another interest of mine. Understanding periodisation and how the body responds to stress formed the basis of our training philosophy at the gym.
I now don’t play rugby anymore, but I am still an armchair coach. My training has shifted to focus mainly on trail running and regular strength training to maintain my fitness.
Qualifications
- B.Sc (Hons) Sport Science, Sports and Exercise – University of Johannesburg
- CSCS – International Sports Sciences Association College of Exercise Science
- Certification in Periodization – Training for Sport
- Rugby Coaching Level 2 – World Rugby