WDM Coaching

WDM Coaching I'm Aaron, with 15 years of coaching experience, a BSc in Strength and Conditioning, and UK Athletics Level 2 Endurance Coach certification.

Specialising in Hyrox and running coaching, join the community to smash your goals.

Recovery has become one of the most measured parts of training, yet it is often one of the most misunderstood. Athletes ...
15/06/2026

Recovery has become one of the most measured parts of training, yet it is often one of the most misunderstood. Athletes now have access to HRV scores, readiness scores, resting heart rate, sleep data, bar velocity and a growing list of metrics that promise to tell them whether they’re ready to train. The problem is that no single metric can tell the whole story.

Recovery isn’t a number. It’s a picture.

A low HRV score doesn’t automatically mean you’re fatigued, just as a good readiness score doesn’t automatically mean you’re prepared for a hard session. Every metric has limitations, which is why looking at them in isolation often creates more confusion than clarity. The real value comes when multiple pieces of information begin telling the same story.

How you feel still matters. Sleep quality, motivation, muscle soreness, stress and general freshness provide valuable context that technology can’t always capture. Physiological metrics such as HRV and resting heart rate can then help identify how the body is responding to training and life stress, while performance measures such as bar velocity, jump performance or session outputs show whether you’re actually able to express force and perform at your normal level.

When those pieces start to align, confidence in the decision becomes much higher. If subjective measures are positive, physiological markers are stable and performance metrics are where you’d expect them to be, there’s a strong case for pushing on with the planned session. If several markers are trending in the wrong direction, it may be time to adjust the plan before fatigue starts making decisions for you.

The goal isn’t to collect more data. The goal is to make better decisions. Recovery monitoring works best when it helps answer a simple question: how much stress can I successfully absorb today?

That’s where the coaching sweet spot usually lives.

3 years ago if you’d have told me this is where I’d be at I’d have laughed. But here we are ridiculous numbers, my mind ...
15/06/2026

3 years ago if you’d have told me this is where I’d be at I’d have laughed. But here we are ridiculous numbers, my mind is blown. I’m sure I’ve missed people too 🤦🏻‍♂️


Nicodemus Pharisee
Nichola Watson
Simon Derby
Mikey Tranent - Online Coach
Rhiannon Dobbs | Online Hyrox & Lifestyle Coach
David Roig - Online Coach & Athlete
Dan Jackson
Jade Booth | Fitness Coach
Aiden Glasgow
Ewan Applewhite
Sinead Boyd

Ged McGrath
Jordan Kane | Hyrox Athlete | Coach
Hannah Lavery - NEXT LEVEL LIVERPOOL
Kyle ⏐ Hybrid Fitness Training Coach
David Guerin
Lewis Mulhall
bradleywilkie01

Having a season goal makes sense. Whether it’s breaking 60 minutes, qualifying for Worlds, or making a podium, it gives ...
13/06/2026

Having a season goal makes sense. Whether it’s breaking 60 minutes, qualifying for Worlds, or making a podium, it gives your training direction. It helps you understand where you’re trying to get to and whether you’re moving the right way over months, not weeks.

Where people go wrong is when that season goal becomes the target for every race.

The reality is HYROX doesn’t work like that. We’ve all seen it. One course is fast, another isn’t. One venue has great sled conditions, another feels like you’re dragging a house. Sometimes it’s cool, sometimes it’s roasting. Sometimes the run course flows, sometimes you’re turning every five seconds wondering who designed it.

Yet people still show up with a spreadsheet telling them exactly what pace and splits they need to hit, as if the environment is going to cooperate.

Over the years, I’ve become less interested in finishing time alone and more interested in what it took to produce it. Those aren’t always the same thing.

You can run a faster time and execute the race worse. Equally, you can run a slower time and think it’s the best race you’ve ever put together. Better pacing, better decisions, less panic, better station management, more control when things get uncomfortable. Those are often the signs you’re becoming a better athlete.

The clock tells you the outcome. It doesn’t tell you the cost.

That’s why I prefer training by numbers and racing by feel. Use numbers in training to measure progress. On race day, use that fitness to make good decisions based on what’s actually happening, not what you hoped would happen when you entered six months ago.

Anyway, you’ll all ignore this, send the first run, try to win the Ski, and turn the sled push into a maximal strength event. Then, with about half an hour to go, you’ll suddenly rediscover the concept of consequences.

Have a season goal.

Race the environment.

For the last two years we’ve had Performance and Podium.They’ve helped athletes qualify for World Championships, stand o...
12/06/2026

For the last two years we’ve had Performance and Podium.

They’ve helped athletes qualify for World Championships, stand on podiums and set PBs all over the world.

But there were still things missing.

What happens when you’re injured?

What happens when you race halfway through a block?

What happens when you want reduce your volume, or step up to more, need extra recovery, or lower impact?

So we’ve spent the last few months building something bigger.

One system.
Multiple pathways.
Built to adapt around your training, racing and recovery.

The WDM Complete HYROX System launches 1 July.

More details coming soon.

One of the biggest mistakes I see in HYROX training is athletes treating fitness like a fuel tank.The assumption is simp...
11/06/2026

One of the biggest mistakes I see in HYROX training is athletes treating fitness like a fuel tank.

The assumption is simple. If I can build a bigger engine, I’ll race faster. And while fitness absolutely matters, it’s only part of the equation. Two athletes can have almost identical physiological capacity and still produce very different race times because one of them uses that capacity far more efficiently than the other.

That’s where fuel economy comes in. How much energy does it cost you to run at race pace? How much does your heart rate drift after the sleds? How much does your breathing spike after burpees? How much does your technique fall apart when fatigue starts to build? The athlete who can complete the same work for less physiological cost will almost always come out ahead, even if their engine isn’t technically bigger.

This is why so much of HYROX training should be focused on efficiency. Easy aerobic work, controlled threshold sessions, movement quality, pacing, and strength endurance all improve your ability to do more with the fitness you already have. The goal isn’t simply to build a bigger engine. It’s to make sure you’re not wasting fuel every time the race asks a question.

This isn’t a scientific graph.You could argue over whether HYROX should sit slightly higher, slightly lower, slightly mo...
11/06/2026

This isn’t a scientific graph.

You could argue over whether HYROX should sit slightly higher, slightly lower, slightly more to the right or slightly more to the left and you’d probably have a valid point. The purpose isn’t to create the perfect classification of every sport. The purpose is to illustrate a coaching concept.

What I find interesting is where most people think HYROX sits compared to where it probably sits in reality.

Many athletes train as if HYROX belongs much closer to CrossFit. They see sleds, lunges, farmers carries and wall balls and conclude that getting stronger must be the answer. Strength absolutely matters, but only up to a point. Once you’re strong enough to handle the race demands efficiently, the biggest performance gains usually come from improving your aerobic capacity, lactate threshold, movement efficiency and ability to maintain output under fatigue.

That’s why HYROX doesn’t sit beside marathon running, but it doesn’t sit beside powerlifting either. It occupies that awkward middle ground where you need enough strength to express your fitness, but not so much that chasing ever bigger numbers in the gym becomes the limiting factor.

The mistake isn’t being too strong. The mistake is continuing to solve endurance problems with strength interventions when strength stopped being the problem a long time ago.

HYROX training should create fatigue.If you’re trying to get fitter, stronger and more resilient, there needs to be enou...
09/06/2026

HYROX training should create fatigue.

If you’re trying to get fitter, stronger and more resilient, there needs to be enough stress to force adaptation.

The problem is that a lot of athletes either panic at the first sign of soreness or ignore every warning sign until they’re injured.

Neither is particularly useful.

Some muscle soreness is normal, especially after a new exercise, an increase in volume, or a hard block of training. That’s often just part of the adaptation process.

Being sore all the time isn’t.

Easy days aren’t there because your coach is feeling generous. They’re there because adaptation requires recovery.

The skill is learning the difference between expected training fatigue and signs that something needs adjusted.

A bit sore after a tough session? Probably normal.

A ni**le that’s getting worse every week, soreness that never settles, declining performance, poor sleep, or feeling permanently beaten up? Different conversation.

Not every ache means stop training.

Not every ache should be ignored either.

The goal isn’t to avoid fatigue.

The goal is to manage it well enough that you can keep training consistently for months and years.

That’s where the real progress happens.

Most athletes don’t need more flexibility.They need positions they can actually control under load, fatigue and speed.Ra...
09/06/2026

Most athletes don’t need more flexibility.

They need positions they can actually control under load, fatigue and speed.

Range without control looks impressive until sport gets involved.

Most HYROX warm-ups are either:* absolutely nothing or* a full conditioning session before the race even starts.The goa...
08/06/2026

Most HYROX warm-ups are either:

* absolutely nothing
or
* a full conditioning session before the race even starts.

The goal isn’t to arrive at the start line tired and dripping in sweat like you’ve already done half the event.

You want to feel warm, sharp, loose and ready to hit race pace without the first run feeling like a complete shock to the system.

Simple works.
The race is the hard part.

What’s your normal warm-up routine before HYROX?

Most athletes understand that training needs to be challenging.Where a lot of people get themselves into trouble is assu...
07/06/2026

Most athletes understand that training needs to be challenging.

Where a lot of people get themselves into trouble is assuming that harder is always better.

In reality, the body adapts best when the challenge is just beyond what you’re currently capable of handling, not so far beyond it that recovery becomes the problem.

Think about spicy food.

If all you’ve ever eaten is korma, you’re probably not building much of a tolerance for spice. There’s nothing wrong with korma. It’s enjoyable, comfortable, and predictable. But if your goal is to handle hotter food, eating the same mild curry every Friday night probably isn’t going to move the needle very much.

At the other end of the spectrum, if you’ve spent years eating korma and decide to jump straight to a vindaloo or a phall, you’ll probably get through it.

You’ll sweat.

Your eyes will water.

You’ll spend the evening questioning your life choices.

The problem is that surviving it doesn’t mean it was productive.

The next day your guts are in pieces, your ar****le feels like it’s been attacked with a flamethrower, and you’re not in a rush to repeat the experience.

Training works much the same way.

Too many athletes bounce between those two extremes. They’re either doing work that’s so comfortable it doesn’t really drive adaptation, or they’re repeatedly throwing themselves into sessions that generate far more fatigue than fitness.

The sweet spot sits somewhere in the middle.

Korma → Rogan Josh → Bhuna → Madras → Vindaloo.

Each step is challenging enough to force adaptation, but manageable enough that you recover, adapt, and come back ready for the next one.

That’s how most successful training actually works.

Not through occasional heroic efforts that leave you broken for a week, but through the gradual accumulation of manageable stress over months and years.

The goal of training isn’t to see how much suffering you can survive today.

The goal is to apply the greatest load you can consistently recover from.

That’s where adaptation tends to happen.

Address

Antrim

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when WDM Coaching posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category