Oct 13, 2026 · 46 min · 13 segments
In this episode, Michael Barrington shares his journey in strength and conditioning within cricket, discussing training strategies, workload management, and industry evolution. Listeners will gain…
What are some of the biggest changes you've seen in the S&C industry over the last decade since when you started?
Yeah, I think, um, obviously the, the impacts of, of social media and, um, what's available to people now is probably the, the two things that I go to straight away in terms of you open up your Instagram or you open up your Facebook or LinkedIn for that matter, and you'll find 50 videos in there of people saying, "This is, this is best exercise," or, "This is something that I really like doing." And you obviously have great discourse around people's preferences from that point of view.
But I just think the amount of information that's available across all platforms now, um, from all different sources is massive.
And that's obviously as, as strength and conditioning has become, I guess a more, uh, a more, a more popular industry.
But it's also obviously have more resources go into it across the board, so you've got more people doing it.
I think the population of strength and conditioning coaches, I'd be fascinated to see the numbers both here in Australia but also internationally in terms of the grow- It feels like there's been a huge growth in the number of coaches, which then I, I guess means that there's more people looking at the same sort of problems and the same sort of situations and providing obviously their opinions on, on things.
I'd say that the, like even the ASCA, I think, has progressed massively over the last 10 years.
It's, uh, a very professionally run organization, huge PD opportunities.
You see every week there's so many different opportunities popping up all over Australia.
And then obviously you've got the UKSCA, you've got NSCA over in the States, so it feels like there's all these opportunities popping up all over the world from a PD point of view and a, and experience point of view that whether it was because I was naive or whether it was because I wasn't involved in the networks and things like that when I first started, but it just feels like there's so much more availability now from a, from a strength and conditioning point of view and, um, yeah, that's probably, probably been the big changes from, from my point of view.
How do you go about balancing the science of training and the art of coaching?
You can get very carried away with the science in terms of the programming and the, and the sets and the reps and trying to create these perfect systems.
But then I think it's always just trying to, trying to come back to ultimately it's, it's a relationship game and we spend a, a hell of a lot of time with these players.
So you get these great opportunities to not just do the science, but also understand them a- as humans and work out what they like and what they don't like and, and talk to them about strengths and weaknesses and where they see their game progressing.
So I think that from a, from the art point of view is really, really important, but still understanding the, the principles and the basics of S&C and probably coming back to those more regularly than not.
'Cause again, it is very, very easy to go down the rabbit holes and you end up with such a specific sort of system in place that any disruption in that system sort of falls over.
So again, it's probably a, it's a continuing work on for me is sort of finding the balance between those things.
Probably being where my feet are in terms of from a coaching point of view and providing energy and being a, being a sort of a source of information that athletes can, can come to and they feel, feel like they're open in terms of how they're asking questions and divulging information and things like that.
But then obviously trying to get better from a, from a science and you're always thinking of, "How can I make this better? How can I make this more efficient?" Sometimes, "How can I make this more simple? What do I need to get rid of in my, in my programming or, or in my sessions or in my weeks?" What, why am I doing that session? Is, is that a redundant session? Is it just for me, or is it, is it something I f- I think is really important for the athletes? Again, probably I'm always bouncing those questions around.
What are some of the biggest changes you've seen in the S&C industry over the last decade since when you started?
Yeah, I think, um, obviously the, the impacts of, of social media and, um, what's available to people now is probably the, the two things that I go to straight away in terms of you open up your Instagram or you open up your Facebook or LinkedIn for that matter, and you'll find 50 videos in there of people saying, "This is, this is best exercise," or, "This is something that I really like doing." And you obviously have great discourse around people's preferences from that point of view.
But I just think the amount of information that's available across all platforms now, um, from all different sources is massive.
And that's obviously as, as strength and conditioning has become, I guess a more, uh, a more, a more popular industry.
But it's also obviously have more resources go into it across the board, so you've got more people doing it.
I think the population of strength and conditioning coaches, I'd be fascinated to see the numbers both here in Australia but also internationally in terms of the grow- It feels like there's been a huge growth in the number of coaches, which then I, I guess means that there's more people looking at the same sort of problems and the same sort of situations and providing obviously their opinions on, on things.
I'd say that the, like even the ASCA, I think, has progressed massively over the last 10 years.
It's, uh, a very professionally run organization, huge PD opportunities.
You see every week there's so many different opportunities popping up all over Australia.
And then obviously you've got the UKSCA, you've got NSCA over in the States, so it feels like there's all these opportunities popping up all over the world from a PD point of view and a, and experience point of view that whether it was because I was naive or whether it was because I wasn't involved in the networks and things like that when I first started, but it just feels like there's so much more availability now from a, from a strength and conditioning point of view and, um, yeah, that's probably, probably been the big changes from, from my point of view.
How do you go about balancing the science of training and the art of coaching?
You can get very carried away with the science in terms of the programming and the, and the sets and the reps and trying to create these perfect systems.
But then I think it's always just trying to, trying to come back to ultimately it's, it's a relationship game and we spend a, a hell of a lot of time with these players.
So you get these great opportunities to not just do the science, but also understand them a- as humans and work out what they like and what they don't like and, and talk to them about strengths and weaknesses and where they see their game progressing.
So I think that from a, from the art point of view is really, really important, but still understanding the, the principles and the basics of S&C and probably coming back to those more regularly than not.
'Cause again, it is very, very easy to go down the rabbit holes and you end up with such a specific sort of system in place that any disruption in that system sort of falls over.
So again, it's probably a, it's a continuing work on for me is sort of finding the balance between those things.
Probably being where my feet are in terms of from a coaching point of view and providing energy and being a, being a sort of a source of information that athletes can, can come to and they feel, feel like they're open in terms of how they're asking questions and divulging information and things like that.
But then obviously trying to get better from a, from a science and you're always thinking of, "How can I make this better? How can I make this more efficient?" Sometimes, "How can I make this more simple? What do I need to get rid of in my, in my programming or, or in my sessions or in my weeks?" What, why am I doing that session? Is, is that a redundant session? Is it just for me, or is it, is it something I f- I think is really important for the athletes? Again, probably I'm always bouncing those questions around.
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