Dubai: One of the top strength and conditioning coaches in the world has voiced his willingness to help top-level athletes from the UAE prepare for important events such as Olympic Games.
"We could have started something with them [UAE athletes] maybe at least a year ago. Being so close to the [2012] Olympics, one cannot create magic in this short period of time. But I would help out willingly," Jorge Bonnet, a five-time Olympian told Gulf News here yesterday.
"Even if they [UAE athletes] want to do something for Brazil 2016, I am more than willing to help as Purmotion [Bonnet's invention] is all about leaving behind a legacy. I am not here selling these machines.
"I truly believe there is a cheaper way to achieve performance. I believe in continuous performance improvement. And those athletes who embrace it can achieve. As a coach, I can do only so much. But more than this, it needs some sort of effort and commitment from the individuals."
Matter of commitment
Bonnet believes it is possible to have top-level athletes from the UAE competing and winning medals, provided there is a willingness to work for this.
"Most people think that it takes special skills to be at the level of an Olympian. It's just a matter to commiting to doing something to leave a legacy behind, and it's about doing something extraordinary. Once you commit that you really want to be good at something. then it's merely showing it in action," he said. "Usually when it comes to athletic performance there are three main factors: eat, train and rest. And any deviation of these three will create some kind of imbalance. You can train very hard, not rest a lot and don't eat well, and the outcome can be disastrous."
As the founder of PurMotion, Puerto Rican Bonnet has used his extensive international athletic experience as a judoka competiting at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics and as a bobsledder at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Games, to design products that promote performance, as well as increasing overall health and well-being.
"PurMotion started about three years ago. As an athlete I was unhappy with the different mentalities and methods in training and I sought to make a change. My career was committed to making this change, though I did not know exactly how, but I was committed to finding the answers," Bonnet said.
"Simply put, PurMotion is ‘train the way you move, the way you play' and the magic is in the movement and the tools that we use — the human body."
