We are happy to feature this guest post contributed by Coach Daniel Heller, a regular contributor here at coachdjtaylor.com. We’re excited to share his knowledge and skills with our readers! Please read more about Coach Daniel below. You can also connect with him on Instagram at @coach_danielh.

We welcome submissions from other coaches who would like to be guest contributors. All guest contributors must hold certification from NSCA, CSCCa, or NASM. Five or more years of professional experience is preferred. Please send all submissions to dj@coachdjtaylor.com and include a reference sheet, a bio, and a photo. We will let you know as quickly as possible if your submission will be published.

Strength and Conditioning — know the technical definitions of these words, but also know what they mean to you. Strength is not just your physical ability to produce force through your neuromuscular system, but also your ability to be resilient both physically and mentally. When it comes to conditioning, most people will think of interval training or long distances in some aerobic sport, but we have the knowledge and toolset to apply the ideas of conditioning to the psychology of living things: we are conditioned to think and behave certain ways.

So many of us became strength and conditioning coaches because our hearts were broken because of sports. Whether it was due to an injury or our careers running out, we became lost, with nowhere to go next, trying to put together the pieces of what was left of our existences. Somehow we were introduced to the weight room, then we were led down a path of formal education, acquiring a degree that gave us the necessary background to understand the mechanisms that go into becoming an athlete.

I have worked with athletes in ice hockey, figure skating, lacrosse, mountain biking, soccer, tennis, and equestrianism. Each sport has its own set of circumstances that Strength and Conditioning Coaches can recognize and effectively work with to enhance their performance and guide them to meet the demands of their sport with greater efficiency. 

It is these coaching opportunities that make me proud to call myself a Strength and Conditioning Coach. Growing up as an athlete with a coach who taught me to understand the uniqueness of human movement through ice skating made me a better hockey player. My father taught me to watch human movement with specificity through the eyes of a farrier, and my mother showed me how to learn about other cultures through a lens of social and medical anthropology.

Who taught you to notice the ways humans move? Who showed you how to pay attention to athletes and the ways they engage their sports? So many coaches and teachers and mentors have helped form us into who we are today. We are Strength and Conditioning Coaches with unique stories. We have all traveled our own paths to get to this point where we are able to help other athletes become better at what they do. Even our broken hearts have been used in ways that others have benefited from. 

We need to be proud of who we are and the work we do. Because others have poured their energy and knowledge into us, we can pour energy and knowledge into our athletes. We can teach them the meanings of strength and conditioning so they know they are working on more than their physical bodies and athleticism. And maybe one day some of the athletes we work with now will find their way to the gym and a formal degree and become Strength and Conditioning Coaches too. This career is built on legacies, and maturation of generations that comes with time. We are patient observers applying the lessons from the past into the future. Relying on scientific principles to answer fundamental questions about athletic performance. Keep a journal with your observations and questions. You will come back to it in the future.

Daniel Heller is an adventure enthusiast with a passion for performance that he brings to everyday. If you have the chance to see him on a trail in the Pacific Northwest you’ll be sure to be greeted with a smile and a huge hello. The mountains are his happy place and you’ll know it by his exuberant presence.

The uniqueness of his upbringing has naturally formed his fusion of art and science in his practice of coaching and consulting. With an inquisitive approach to working with people he gives them the space to find their own way while never allowing them to stray too far off the beaten path. Being there to guide them back by retracing their steps to learn from their experience.

Daniel also enjoys photography, so he’s providing all of images for his posts on coachdjtaylor.com. We’re so glad to feature his words and images here!

You can learn more about Coach Daniel and his work at www.DanielJHeller.com and feel free to contact him at Daniel@Ironwood-Fitness.com and on Instagram at @coach_danielh.

Daniel Heller, MSc, CSCS,*D, RSCC
Strength & Conditioning Coach
Ironwood Health & Fitness LLC
USA Hockey Level 4 Coach
USA Cycling Level 2 Coach
PMBIA Level 1 Instructor
FMS Level 1 & 2