Our Approach

If there is one thing that we have learned as both athlete and coach, it is that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to coaching. Too many coaches offer a cycling training plans that follow a set template or push all of their athletes to train exactly like they did when they raced. If the athlete happens to have the exact same make-up, the plan works, but for most it’s a recipe for burnout and falling short of personal potential.

The only common approach that we apply to all of our athletes is to take the time to get to know them as individuals. We don’t just hand you a rigid six-week training block and wish you luck. From experience, working with athletes from World Champions to local club riders, we know that the training block is only a small part of the program. Most top endurance athletes actually do very similar training. What separates the champions from the rest is how they approach all sides of their preparation. To reach your peak potential, we will take you far beyond the training plan: from nutrition to recovery, from fitting training into your daily life, to how you envision your next race.

This means that the perfect preparation program can’t be made in a week after a single phone call. This is why we won’t offer “one-off” training plans and require at least 3 months with each athlete. The perfect plan is built through commitment and trust. We have to get to know you – as an athlete and individual – your goals, your skills, and how the sport fits with your life. Conversations, training reports, power data, and race performances are all ways we personally and scientifically learn about you. It is a process and the road can be bumpy, but as long as you know where you want to go, we are committed to getting you there.

We believe that peak performance and results are the outcome of trust, risk, and commitment. This means trust in both yourself and your coach. The ability to take a risk and to calculate risk. And most important, commitment, not just to working hard, but to open, honest communication, giving and receiving feedback and learning to fully commit yourself to whatever you choose to do.

We also understand that commitment is a two way street. Many aspiring athletes seek out team, provincial or state coaches only to end up feeling like one cog in a very large set of gears. While many of these coaches are very high level, their obligation is first and foremost to the interests of their team and employers, not to the team members. The commitment of PCC coaches is, first and foremost, to you, the athlete. No matter your level or objectives, we work with you and for you.

Our Coaching Philosophy

Over many years of working with elite athletes at the highest levels of competition, Houshang Amiri has developed a philosophy to training based on six fundamental principles. They are the guiding principles of all coaches at PCC:

• Individualized Approach: Elite coaches must develop an acute awareness of how each individual athlete’s body and mind work and how they react to training and competitive situations. There is a tendency, especially in today’s Internet world, to employ a ‘one-size fits all’ approach to training. This does not work for any athlete looking to achieve their top performance level.

• Flexible Training Programs: We believe there is a real danger in mapping out every day of your training for the next six weeks. How can we know how you’ll feel on Wednesday five weeks from now? Perhaps you’ll have a particularly stressful day and the planned workout will just dig you deeper into a hole. Our training plans centre on period and weekly goals. We give you the tools and knowledge to map out your own week and adjust as “life” inevitably crops up.

• Meticulous Preparation: Meticulous planning, preparation and delivery that address all sides of the athlete are the keys to success in any sport. They separate the leaders from the rest. We create “living plans” that grow with the athlete.

• Monitoring and Recovery: Houshang emphasizes active monitoring and careful attention to recovery as critical building blocks in a training plan to minimize injuries and over-training issues.

• Feedback: Training plans must be refined on a continuous basis, with the proper, analytical use of heart rate and power meter data. Monitoring devices are nothing more than gadgets if the information they provide is not used appropriately to adjust training.

• Winning Character: The best physical conditioning alone will not put an athlete on the podium consistently. To compete successfully you must have the character of a champion on and off the bike. One of our most enjoyable tasks as coaches at PCC is to help you further develop and express this character... it is something that will benefit you (both on and off the bike) more than any interval session ever could.

Why Hire Us?

At PCC, we apply experience gained from years of working with athletes at the highest level. Whether you are an Olympic hopeful or a local club rider, we approach you with the same commitment and trust. Through this commitment we have helped our athlete achieve the highest levels:

• 14 medals in MTB World Cup competitions in 2008
• Silver Medal at the 2008 UCI Men’s Road World Championship in ITT, and 7th place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics
• Multiple Commonwealth Game and Pan-American podiums
• Many of Houshang’s athletes have participated in the last 3 Olympics
• Multiple world championship titles

We are also experienced coaching athletes from a distance. Many of our top athletes are on the road for most of the year. Through frequent communication, training files and detailed plans we help our athletes achieve the same quality of training they’d get at our cycling centre.

Getting Started

The first step to reaching your full potential is to choose from one of our programs. But, remember that this is only the first step. True to our word, we’re not going to rigidly stick you to a preset plan. Right from the get go, we’re going to set up an introductory call and questionnaires so that we can start getting to know you and build the right plan for you. Click here to learn more about our programs or contact us to talk with one of our coaches directly.