Charles Poliquin is recognized as one of the Worlds most accomplished strength coaches who attributes his success to the quest for the “magical training program”. His drive to find the Holy Grail of strength training began as a child when he heard his calling in the library instead of the church. Here is his story.
Early Years
« I was raised a French-Canadian Catholic, which meant that I had to go to church every Sunday, or… I would burn in hell, according to the Catholic shame/guilt dogma. But at age 14, I decided that I had heard enough of the boring parochial stories and I walked straight past the church to the library where I first heard my calling to learn kinesiology, the study of the body in motion. I was hypnotized by the first article I read about joint dysfunction.
« My karate sensei had already introduced me to strength training, so I looked up exercise articles as well. Soon I had read everything written in French. I barely spoke English so every Sunday, English-French dictionary in hand, instead of going to church, I read every weight training, kinesiology, nutrition book I could. I actually learned to say, “Does pronation increases brachialis recruitment?” before I learned how to say, “Where is the bathroom?” in English. Soon after earning a graduate degree in exercise physiology came and I began coaching athletes full time for their strength training programs
Looking for the Magical Program
« In 1982, still in search for the “magical program”, I figured that success leaves clues, so I began to look at patterns amongst successful coaches. My quest took me to Germany, the former Soviet Union, Finland, and the US as I searched for the leaders in training who were producing top athletes. I believed that someone had come up with the “magical program”, I just had to find it. Without my naive belief I would not have accomplished all that I have.
« The biggest mistake in believing there was a magical training program that worked for everybody, all the time, and forever got me to be successful in strength coaching.
« Inspired by Bruce Lee’s advice to: Use what is useful, reject what is not, I have incorporated years of research and experience to create the elite Strength Sensei education training program so my students can save time, money and energy in their training endeavors.»
Career
Charles’ quest has lead him to produce hundreds of medals, wins and personal bests for many elite athletes in over 17 different sports including athletes from summer and winter Olympics, the NHL, NFL, ……. He is known worldwide for producing faster and stronger athletes.
As the creator of Poliquin Performance Center, Charles spent years teaching coaches worldwide a better way of getting results with their clients.
Now as Strength Sensei, he shares his acquired knowledge and wisdom with the emerging leaders in the strength and conditioning field.
Now after decades of disciplined research and training he has refined his craft so he can educate the dedicated few that want to maximize their learning so they can bring their results back to their athletes
Charles now dedicates his time to educate strength coaches from around the world so they can produce world-class athletes.