Functional Training Institute

The next High Performance Mental Skills intake is now open.

For sports, fitness and performance coaches, there are moments where the physical program does not explain everything.

An athlete can be prepared, capable and technically skilled, yet still struggle when pressure rises, confidence shifts or the moment starts to feel bigger than the task.

This program is designed to help coaches better understand and support that layer of performance.

Across 6 live online sessions, Coach Tarek Michael-Chouja and Jay Hedley will guide coaches through practical mental skills tools that can be used inside real coaching environments.

Tarek brings his experience in functional training education, coach development and the connection between the inner game and outer performance.

Jay brings more than 20 years of elite mental performance coaching experience across Olympic, professional and international sport, with a deep background in mindset, identity, communication and performance under pressure.

Together, they will explore pressure response, state management, confidence, communication, consistency, decision-making and athlete ownership.

This is not about turning coaches into psychologists. It is about helping coaches better support the human side of performance that already shows up in sessions, games and client behaviour. 🎙️

After our conversation with Andrew Cipriano, a few ideas continue to stand out.

The episode explored the mental side of performance through culture, communication, state and athlete ownership, and it gave coaches plenty to reflect on beyond drills and tactics.

Jay spoke about the shift from external authorship to internal authorship, helping athletes move away from relying only on outside validation, pressure or opinion, and towards greater ownership of how they think, respond and perform.

Andrew’s idea of “state before performance” was another key moment. An athlete may have the skill, understand the plan and prepare well, but if their state shifts under pressure, the performance can shift with it.

Tarek’s reflection on stepping back and letting athletes play without making judgments brought the coaching lens into focus. Sometimes the work is not about adding more instruction. It is about creating the space for athletes to think, decide and build responsibility through the game.

This is where mental skills become practical. They are not separate from coaching. They live inside the moments where confidence drops, pressure rises, communication misses or ownership needs to grow. 🎙️

Coach Tarek recently spent time at Beyond Activ in Thailand, connecting with fitness, wellness and performance leaders from across the region.

FTI Global has been involved with Beyond Active since 2019, and it continues to be a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with industry friends, meet new people and be part of the conversations shaping the future of fitness education.

Tarek was joined by Jacq, FTI Global’s Global Head of Education, and was also there as part of the StickFit Global team, supporting their work across cognitive training, group training and seniors training.

It was a few days filled with great conversations, plenty of laughs and some memorable moments with people who care deeply about where the industry is heading. 🔥

A big thank you to everyone who made the event such a valuable experience.

What do you enjoy most about fitness industry events, the learning, the networking or the people you meet along the way?

New 5.0-star Review: "教練介紹如何使用運動器材方法和動作好詳細，教學的互動方式令氣氛好輕鬆和趣味"

New 5.0-star Review: "detail"

A fantastic session with the Evolution Wellness and Fitness First Malaysia team, with Jacq, FTI Global’s Global Head of Education, guiding the group through the Fundamentals of Movement Preparation.

For coaches, movement preparation is much more than getting people warm.

It is the part of the session where you can help clients and athletes build focus, improve readiness, connect to their body and prepare for better movement quality before the main work begins.

Jacq was in his element with this awesome team, sharing practical coaching ideas around how to make movement preparation more structured, purposeful and useful inside real sessions.

A big thank you to Evolution Wellness and Fitness First Malaysia for the energy, focus and commitment to ongoing coach development. We love seeing teams invest in the details that help create better coaching experiences. 💪

What do you think coaches should pay more attention to during movement preparation?

A huge congratulations to the latest group of FIT HUB Indonesia coaches in Jakarta, who are now certified Strength and Hypertrophy with Barbell Coaches through FTI Global.

This was a fantastic group to work with. They brought energy, focus and a genuine willingness to learn into every session, while continuing to ask questions, refine their coaching eye and challenge themselves through the practical work.

For FTI Global, this is what coach education is all about. It is not just completing a course or receiving a workbook. It is about helping coaches deepen the way they think, cue, observe, communicate and apply training principles with the people they work with every day.

A special mention to the FIT HUB team for bringing their best across the program and keeping Jacq, our Global Head of Education, on his toes throughout the sessions. That kind of engagement makes the learning environment stronger for everyone in the room.

We are proud to continue supporting the development of coaches across Indonesia and are already looking forward to the upcoming sessions in July across Surabaya and Bali. 🔥

Congratulations again to the FIT HUB Jakarta team.

What do you think makes the biggest difference in coach education, technical knowledge, practical application or the quality of questions coaches bring into the room?

The swing and clean may both start with the kettlebell handle, but they ask the body to solve very different movement problems.

In Part 14 of our illustrated kettlebell series, Coach Tarek explores how the handle connects the athlete to the bell, and how that same connection changes depending on the movement.

In the swing, the handle helps create rhythm and momentum. The bell travels, the hips drive, and the athlete learns to manage the flow of force through the hinge.

In the clean, the handle becomes part of a transition. The athlete has to control the path of the bell, manage timing and guide the movement into the rack without letting the bell crash or pull them out of position.

This is where kettlebells become such a useful coaching tool. They do not just ask for strength. They ask for timing, control, awareness and a better relationship with how the tool moves. 🔥

Credit to Pheasyque.com for the incredible artwork behind this series.