Meet the interns: Luke Hicks
It's that time already - we've got a fresh round of interns and we can't wait to introduce them to you. First off the bat is our man Luke.
Tell us about your interests, Luke.
I am very interested in sports. I love rugby league, American football and basketball and play them regularly. I am interested in spearfishing and freediving. I am interested in learning as much as I can about the human body.
Why did you apply to intern at Romero Athletics?
I saw it as a good opportunity to learn from Al and the team at Romero Athletics because I know how much knowledge they have in all aspects of optimising performance of the human body for the general population and for athletes. The coaches also have a lot of real world experiences that I saw as an opportunity to learn from. Also I thought the knowledge that I will gain can help me in my own personal development as an athlete.
What do you hope to gain from your internship?
I hope to learn how to coach and learn cues for a wide range of movements, learn all the movements progressions and regressions; and also learn how to spot flawsa in form for different movements and know how to correct movements. Specifically, I wanted to learn about training athletes and how to approach different athletes at different levels, also learn about which types of movements more closely relate to athletic performance. I hope to gain an understanding about how to approach mobility and which mobility/activation drills will effect body parts, how they will affect the body parts and know when to use them.
What’s your history with sports and training?
I have played rugby league since I was 6 years old and have played in many representative teams. I have also played high level softball as a junior, and played basketball, oztag, rugby union and many other sports just recreationally. I only starting training in the gym when I was 16, and this was to mainly get bigger to help me perform better in football, I started the same way as many kids do by following programs off bodybuilding.com to get 20-inch arms without putting much thought into what I was actually doing. Luckily quickly realised that the type of training I was doing would not benefit me in terms of athletic performance. I have learnt a lot in the last 2 years and hope to keep learning about pretty much everything to do with training.
What about your training now – what are your favourite exercises?
Currently I am only training for rugby league 2-3 time a week for my local club Woden Valley Rams, I am just coming back from a foot injury and enjoying training again; I will trial for Raiders U20’s at the end of this year. My favourite exercises in the gym are Overhead Press, deadlift and Squat.
Favourite athlete?
Allen Iverson (NBA) and Danny Bederus (NRL)
Hit us with your goals – in training and in life.
Read at least one book a month
L-sit to handstand
Overhead press 100kg
Play 10 games of 1st grade for Rams in 2017
Get a Credit or better in all units at university
Not miss a game due to injury in 2017
Learn as much as I can
What have you learned so far from interning at Romero Athletics?
I have learnt a lot about the scapula. Scapula stabilising and the position it should be in or move to during exercises. And exercises to develop muscles that will assist in scap stabilising. I have also learnt an approach towards mobility and ability to get into positions that involves more activating and stabilising joint rather than foam rolling and stretching.
I have learnt a lot about sprint mechanics, sprinting techniques and drills to improve these, a topic I previous knew little about.
I have learnt a number of cues for different exercises, and how to manipulate someone to get them into the correct position.
I have also learnt a number of new exercises, as well as exercises progressions and regressions.
The importance and impact of breathing on the body, another topic I previously knew little about.
