Hello friend.
Welcome to the ramblings of The Brakeman. My name is Greg Cackett and I am The Brakeman.
That is to say, I’m not literally The Brakeman, there are lots of us. Brake-women too. It is not just me competing against me on the world stage and rewarding myself with how brilliant and clever I am.
Even though that would be great.
No, I just mean in the context of this platform, I am The Brakeman. In this age of inclusivity I did toy with the neutral, ‘The Brakeperson’ as a title, but it sounded so soul-crushingly PC that I thought I’d leave it as-is. Brakeman sounds better I reckon and, after all, I literally am a brake-man. That is not to say my content shouldn’t appeal to all. Just to get that out there so I’m not trolled before I’ve even begun.
“somebody love us.”
It’s a fun opportunity to put across the lesser-reported people in the Bobsleigh arena because we have some of the world’s most exceptional, and underrated, athletes.
Generally the focus and press are on the pilots (in lots of cases deservedly so, most do a great job), but I thought it would be nice to compile some fun and insightful content from the perspective of the war horses who give the pilots the velocity they need to win.
The platform will interview world-class guys and girls and try to bring perspectives from all competing nations. As brake-people, we don’t always get much recognition and I’d like to remedy that.
I will be using The Brakeman's Corner as a means of venting my profound thoughts, which occur on an almost thrice-weekly basis, and answering questions on subjects ranging from training, to performance, to life on the road/at home, and everything in between that people may find useful or valuable or just sort-of amusing.
I promise I will write the whole truth and nothing but the truth and, at times, it may be a little rude. Having said that, I will never seek to offend. Unless I think it’s really, really funny.
“As with my largely dormant Twitter account, all controversial thoughts are Lamin Deen’s, his home address will sit in the footer of every article I write, so feel free to let him know what you think.”
I will endeavour to keep the articles short and sweet, though I think the style and format will evolve as I go and as I get responses and feedback on how much you’re all hating it. As much as I want this to be fun, I also want it to be valuable.
I love speed and power training. It’s fun to read about, fun to include in your workouts, and - in my humble opinion - the most satisfying to see training progress in.
All performance training-based articles will be based on anecdotal evidence (it worked for me) and anything I put forward that’s not explicitly empirically backed to elicit performance gain, I will denote as such.
I'm not putting out peer reviewed literature but I will reference where appropriate. Plus I've got guest articles in 'The Brake Presents' to cover that base.
I think one of the worst things we’re seeing these days, and most pervasively, on social media are the ‘influencer performance gurus’. These people sit on their toilets (or other area for thinking, again, anecdotal), cogitating over ideas for insane exercises coupled with lengthy look-how-plausible-I-can-make-this-exercise-sound-with-my-bamboozling-array-of-anatomical-vernacular captions that delight the uneducated masses. It is a shameless ploy to sell their wares to people who don’t have the physical education they (may) have had and they should be avoided at all costs.
In fact, it’s just occurred to me that that sounds like an article in itself, so I’ll shut up and move on.
Basically, take what you want from me but remember, nothing is gospel. Not even insta-coach’s single leg bosu balance speed jump wobble bar power clean and press which will innervate the suburban sling and maximise contraction of the reverse dorsimus.
ok wrap it up.
So, anyway, you’re here either because you’re morbidly curious about whether or not someone with high-functioning concussiony melty brain (HFCMB - a medical term I have just this second coined) can write, or you’re my mum.
If it’s the former, I will do my best to entertain and educate in not-so-equal measure. There will be training discussion, advice and videos. I’ll give as much love and attention to my braking colleagues as possible and share their journeys with you. I’ll also show you the inner workings of my tiny little brain and hopefully when normality resumes after this mad situation we find ourselves globally (COVID), you’ll all still feel the need to keep 2 metres away from me. I will certainly see that as a job well done.
If it’s the latter, stay out of my room.
Thanks for being a part of the team, I hope you enjoy.
The Brakeman - Greg Cackett OLY
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