Personalised coaching
Programmes designed around your goals, your training history and the hours you actually have — not a template with your name on it.
About
Elite sport methods, applied to your context.
I'm Training Science Lead at the UK Sports Institute — a current role, not a past one. Two Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and multiple medals across them. I also teach performance planning and periodisation on the Altis MSc. Ian White Performance is where that work reaches endurance athletes outside the system.
Philosophy
A protocol that worked in a study ran on a particular population, under particular controls.
No two performance journeys are the same
Which is why I combine two things that are often treated as alternatives. A systematic approach, built on evidence-based training and performance science — and a person-focused one, in which the training is adapted to the individual and the life they're fitting it around.
A protocol that works in a published study was run on a particular population, in particular conditions, with particular controls. Knowing that is the difference between applying the evidence and copying it. That judgement is most of what I do.
I care about this equally for athletes aiming at world-level success, for weekend athletes, and for anyone trying to push their own boundaries. The physiology is the same. The context is what changes.
Olympic sport
Two Games, and the years in between
Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, as part of the UK Olympic sports system — and, more importantly, the four-year blocks either side of them. That is where the methods on this site were tested: on athletes whose whole programme depends on the physiology being right, under the kind of scrutiny that finds out quickly whether it is.
Very little of it is exotic. Most of the advantage in elite sport comes from doing ordinary things precisely, measuring what you assumed, and being willing to change the plan when the evidence says so. That transfers to an age-group athlete almost unchanged.
How I work
Performance optimisation
What I've learned from years in elite sport, applied so you train smarter rather than simply more.
Science-driven, source-cited
Evidence-based methods with the reasoning written down. The Performance Hub exists so you can check the sources yourself.
Teaching it, not just doing it
Performance planning and periodisation on the Altis MSc. Explaining a method to other coaches is a harder test than using it, and it keeps the reasoning honest.
Physiology is only useful where the training actually happens. Most of what I know came from being there while it did.
Qualifications
Accredited and registered
- Chartered ScientistBASES-accredited sport scientist
- SENR PractitionerSport & Exercise Nutrition Register
- Ironman Certified CoachEndurance coaching certification
- TrainingPeaks Accredited CoachPlatform accreditation
- MSc & BSc, University of ExeterSport & Exercise Science
- PG Dip, Institute of Performance NutritionPostgraduate diploma
- UK Anti-Doping Educator & AdvisorUKAD
Work with me
Take the next performance step.
Tell me what you're training for and where it's not working. I read every enquiry myself.