Potentia Performance
Do you want..
to prevent injury or be fitter for the next football season
fat Loss
“toning” more accurately known as hypertrophy (build muscle)
6 pack abs and learn how to eat appropriately
sport performance improvement
to move and feel better
Then you need us!!!!
Providing a professional, reliable and a science-based approach to training in a fast paced world where many people want quick fix abs, but true health requires a lifetime commitment to sustainable and realistic habits.
Potentia's clients include professionals working in the city, busy mums, professional entertainers, young aspiring athletes and professional athletes.
We're huge advocates of strength training, no matter your current level. Scientific studies show the many benefits that this style of training offers.
Philosophy
Long Term Outlook
It is our aim to make strength and conditioning training accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels.
Many of our clients have a background in football, however, much of the information displayed will also have great transfer to the general public.
Gradual and consistent improvement is what leads to greater long term health and wellbeing.
We focus on:
Efficient movement patterns
Increasing lean body mass
Dietary improvements
Sleep quality
Supplementation
Cardiovascular health
Strength and Conditioning
The most important outcome of an S&C programme is the reduction of injury. Injury is one of the most significant factors in reduced sports performance, loss of income, termination of contracts and increased depression in athletes.
It is not far fetched to say that injury can ruin people’s lives! It is therefore vital that as practitioners, we do our best to have a wide range of knowledge and experience to accommodate different athletes under different circumstances.
Then next facet of training outcomes is improved performance. Keeping clients and athletes fit allows them to train consistently. The skill and experience of the coach allows for an understanding of individual differences to produce training methods which will improve and enhance the athlete’s physical and sporting capabilities.
Anyone can train like an athlete
Training is universal, meaning people of all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life can and should train.
Training as often as an elite athlete is impossible for many, so we must maximise the time we spend training. The other 22 or 23 hours per day we spend outside the gym are just as, if not more important. How you eat, sleep and deal with daily stresses also play a huge role in how healthy your body is.
The majority of people just want to look and feel good, but they have to deal with day to day stresses of work, children, lack of sleep, lack of recovery and inadequate nourishment. At Potentia, we approach personal training with a broader look at client health.
Richie’s training is applicable to each and every person, regardless of their level of skill or experience. Moving correctly and improving heart health will allow us to lead longer and happier lives.
Meet Richie
Coaching & Personal Training
With 10 years in professional football clubs, a Master’s degree in Strength & Conditioning, UKSCA Accreditation and a UEFA B license in football coaching, Richie has dedicated his life to helping people at the highest standard possible.
Richie expects the clients and players he coaches to always strive for the best in everything they do. Perfection is rarely attainable, however, maximum effort is something that everybody can produce.
Results rarely happen automatically, we must drive forward consistently for change to occur.
As a Player
Richie’s main attributes were speed, strength and a fantastic desire to win. Richie was capped for the Republic of Ireland at U21 level while also scoring on his debut for the senior B team against Scotland.
He began his professional career at Shamrock Rovers, then moved to Scottish Premier League team Dunfermline Athletic in 2003 in their most successful season in 40 years. The team reached the Scottish Cup Final against a Celtic team with Henrick Larsson, in his final game for Celtic.
At Aberdeen, Richie played in their most successful period since Alex Ferguson was Manager, where he played in the UEFA Cup against Atletico Madrid, boasting a galaxy of stars such as Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan.
Qualifications
Masters of Science in Strength and Conditioning - 2019
UKSCA Full Accreditation
Poliquin Level 2 strength coach
Level 3 personal trainer
UEFA B Coach
UEFA B Youth Level Coach
Richie's Journey
Born in Dublin in a working class area, with not-your-average Irish upbringing, being half Nigerian, my circumstances and experiences were different to many of my peers.
I had many negative experiences, as young men do, but I believe they ignited a fire in me and forged my will to succeed.
I tested many sports as a youngster, from boxing to Gaelic football. However I settled with football, the English kind, which wasn’t too popular in our Irish school system.
This was the sport I felt I was physically and mentally suited to. Football gave me the feeling of a level playing field with my peers and the rest of society.
It didn’t matter how old you were, how much money you had or what reputation you had on the street. On the football pitch, you were only worth the performance you produced then and there.
Luckily for me, my grandfather had a keen interest in football, having previously played for Belvedere Boys, one of Dublin’s most famous clubs.
Each Year I progressed well, constantly being scouted by another team in a better division until I finally played at the top of the Dublin Schoolboy’s league where scouts, in their long trench coats, were huddled together trying to spot the next big Irish star.
At 14 I was selected to trial at Wolves, and performed so well, they invited me back.
Time after time, on my school holidays, I would travel to England alone, witnessing the speed, intensity and attitude of all these young English pro players. They made me feel like I was not at their level, but deep down I knew one day I could be.
I decided to go on trial for a different club instead, and we actually played Wolves. I had one of the worst games ever, up against a good friend of mine. After that game neither club wanted me, I had blown my one big chance to deliver a mighty performance.
Was it complacency or arrogance, because both clubs had shown interest initially, or was it just a bad day, I will never know.
I returned to Ireland heart broken. My boys team disintegrated and by 16 I had no club and was considering playing for my local team with some friends. Then, like a torch in the darkness, a coach from Belvedere, Padar Beehan, came to my door with an ultimatum. I could feel sorry for myself and continue my spiral out of control, or I could be a professional footballer.
I chose the latter, “I’ll see you Tuesday night at 7, don’t be late”, were the words that started my rise to a professional career.
My old school’s principal got me a job as an apprentice electrician and so my work life took off at the same time. From Belvedere I was brought to Shamrock Rovers by Jimmy Jackson and within 2 years I was in the senior team at 19 years old.
During the day I worked as an electrician but in the evenings, I played in European games, Cup finals and fought for a top of the league place.
Out of the blue, I was being bought by Dunfermline Athletic in the Scottish Premier League, where I would play against my heroes who I had been watching on tv the season before.
A huge factor in my excellent performances, resulting in my moves, was the support, encouragement and integration shown to me by the older players at all the clubs I’ve played for, in particular Marc Kenny and Terry Palmer at Shamrock Rovers.
Social acceptance is a factor neglected by many. It allowed a culmination of my skill, attitude, understanding and emotion to not only improve myself but also improve the collective.
Without this level of support, I do not know if I would have progressed as quickly.
I was then sold on to Aberdeen where, again, a hugely successful time for the club followed. We had a great squad, fantastic coaching staff and a huge fan base in the north of Scotland.
While playing for Aberdeen, I suffered my most significant life experience: I tore my hamstring from the bone.
As a young man, at 25 years old, I had endured an emotionally draining relationship break up with the mother of my son, I was just coming back from a broken shoulder AC joint when the hamstring injury occurred and I felt that my career at this club was cursed. Repetitive re-occurrences of the hamstring tear followed, and in what seemed to be a flash, the end of my contract came and went without a renewal.
I had hit rock bottom as a footballer. I had no deal, no money, no club, no family structure, no support structure and I had no confidence in the one thing that I could always rely on, my body.
I club hopped for a couple of years, arriving more and more de-conditioned after each subsequent injury as I was not following a training plan in between clubs or at the end of season. I was just jogging around on the streets trying to replicate the runs I would do in my club's pre-season.
Eventually this lack of conditioning caught up with me and I had to retire due to lower back problems and recurring hamstring tears.
I travelled to London where an old football colleague allowed me to stay with him, but realising I needed a source of income, I enrolled on a PT course.
An office job or going back to life as an electrician wasn’t going to be right for me. So I set about finding a reason why my body failed me and why I could not regain full fitness.
Working as a personal trainer for a prestigious gym chain, I became the PT manager and found a very rewarding line of work. No matter what though, football was always at the heart of my learning and future decision making.
I enrolled in my UEFA football coaching licenses and worked up to the B license, with only the A to go. Simultaneously embarking on a Master’s degree in S&C at St. Mary’s University, becoming a well-rounded coach who has many tools to choose from, became my ultimate aim.
With the knowledge acquired, I hope that I can prevent injury to players of all ages, improve performance levels of every player I come into contact with and ultimately set examples which will give players a high standard in everything they do in life, even if it is not in football, giving them the tools to succeed on their own life journey.