From childhood football, to strength training, to Loughborough, to a season inside Leyton Orient's first team — every step has reinforced why I coach.
I came into coaching through my own training. Football was the constant from a young age, but I've always enjoyed challenging myself in different ways — high-intensity intervals, racquet sports (padel is a recent obsession), pushing to see what the body's actually capable of.
I knew early on I wanted a career in sport. I spent years reading about strength training and experimenting with my own programmes long before I studied it formally. That eventually led me to Loughborough, where I graduated with a First-Class BSc (Hons) in Sport Science, Coaching and Physical Education. The degree gave me the framework for what I'd been doing by feel.
While I was studying, I spent a year at Leyton Orient FC as a Sport Science Intern with the first team — a season that culminated at Wembley. That year taught me things I couldn't have picked up in a lecture: speed and power development in a competitive schedule, load management across a squad, how neuromuscular training actually plays out week to week. It reinforced why the science matters, and why communication and individualised coaching matter just as much.
Alongside pro football, I've coached young people — 11-16 year olds in a football talent centre — helping them build the movement foundations that set them up for the long term. Getting the basics right (the hip hinge, the push, the pull, the rotation) matters more than most people realise, whether you're chasing performance or just trying to move with more confidence.
The reason I coach is simple: I enjoy helping people realise what they're capable of. Seeing someone grow stronger, hit goals they didn't think were possible, or just start enjoying training more — that's what motivates me every day.
Evolve pulled me in because it takes coaching seriously. Personal, considered, no gimmicks. It felt like the right home to keep learning and coach the way I want to coach.
The things that show up in how I coach — in sessions, in programming, and in how I work with the people I train.
Every exercise on your programme is there for a reason — not because it looks good, but because it moves you towards what you're actually trying to do.
Before we build a plan, we see how you move. What's tight, what's weak, what's over-compensating — the assessment shapes everything that follows.
A programme is a starting point, not a script. If something isn't landing on the day, we adjust — different variation, different tempo, different focus.
Every session opens with mobility and muscle activation targeted to what you're about to do — priming the tissue and the nervous system so the main work lands harder.
Strength, power, plyometrics, tempo work, prehab, conditioning — used in combination rather than in isolation, sequenced so each supports the next.
My philosophy in one line. I trial the programmes I write, and when things get tough I'll train alongside you rather than watch from the sidelines.
Along for the journey. I'll run the programmes I write, and when things get tough I'll train alongside you rather than watch from the sidelines. Age isn't a barrier either — if there's a will to improve, I'll meet you where you are.— Toby, on his coaching philosophy
