OFM - Key Persons
Barry Murray is a Performance Nutritionist that holds a BSc in Chemistry from University College Dublin and an MSc in Sports & Exercise Nutrition from Loughborough University. He specialises in endurance sports and has spent 10yrs researching and practicing fat adaptation. He currently works with professional cyclists, triathletes, distance runners and teams. Barry has been columnist for the Irish Independant newspaper, has featured on several national radio broadcasts and has presented seminars to various sports teams and corporate businesses around Ireland and the UK.
Barry is also a competitive endurance athlete himself and races competitively in ultra marathons and mountain running events and has represented his country at the World Ultra Trail Championships. He has won several national ultramarathons including the 2015 Wicklow Way 127km and Kerry Way 200km as well as many top placing in some of the toughest ultramarathons in Europe.
Ben has coached and trained athletes of various disciplines for the last 10 years. His passion started by writing training for himself and his fellow soldiers and then Special Agents. It was the early days of CrossFit and "functional training" and he jumped right in. Ben quickly saw that quality strength training was one of the foundations of tactical (and later mountain) athletes but that a solid aerobic base was also essential. During his time in the Army and later the FBI, he tested methods and programs on himself and others. That laid the foundation for the transition to formal coaching and training of athletes.
Over the last 10 years Ben has coached CrossFit Games Athletes, RedBull X Alps Competitors, ultra runners, alpinists, power lifters and tactical athletes from all services. These days he spend most of my time obsessing over how to move fast and efficient in the mountains. That obsession has led to some key tenants: quality not quantity time in the gym, progressive sport specific volume, recovery practices and sound nutrition based in OFM.
David Grech is an ultrarunner, golfer and cricketeer who "gets it" about OFM. He has successfully coached several Australian athletes in OFM including OFM Training Coach Tash Fraser, one of Australia's top female ultrarunners.
David fully understands the nuances of OFM and how to walk people through the process in a way that gets them into the "intuitive" mode of thinking which is key to OFM success. David is certified as a Pilates Instructor, Massage Therapist, Golf Instructor and is currently getting his degree in Nutrition.
Dr. Johnathan Edwards, MD , has extensive experience as a Sports Physician working with some of the world's best athletes in motorsports and cycling. This includes a 5 year stint as the team doctor for the Team Red Bull US Paris to Dakar Rally, race Doctor for the Tour of Dunkirk and personal physician to MMA fighter Miesha Tate.
Dr. Edwards is also a Cat 1 Cyclist himself and an ex-Pro Motocross Racer. He came to OFM after suffering a TBI and in using a ketogenic diet to heal he quickly learned of the performance limitations of keto. Now Dr. Edwards coaches all his athletes using the OFM Program including some of the top motocross riders in the US. Dr. Edwards brings a wealth of medical knowledge and clinical medical experience to the OFM Team.
Kaayla's been a guest on the Dr. Oz Show, PBS Healing Quest, NPR's People's Pharmacy, and has spoken at numerous health & wellness summits, podcasts and conferences, including Paleo f(x), Ancestral Health Symposium, and Charles Poliquin's Bio-Signature.
Naomi "Nomes" Land, is a successful businesswoman, mum, and wife on the north coast of Australia. Like David, Naomi "gets it" about OFM and has the special people skills necessary to yield results. Athletes under Naomi just seem to want to perform for her.
She is an athlete in her own right but also a Race/Event Director/Organizer as well as a Certified IronmanTriathlon Coach, Life coach, and Sports Power Coach/Weight Lifting. Additionally she is certified in Altitude Training and is currently getting her Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.
Leading the OFM Coaching Team is Peter Defty, the original developer of the OFM Program/Protocol. Peter pioneered the concept of fat adapted performance in 2000 first personally, then using running friends as guinea pigs then professionally when he joined Vespa.
From the onset athletes began to win, podium and set records using Vespa and the OFM protocol, however, these early successes were dismissed as anecdotal. Peter's athletes comprised the majority of the LCD cohort in the ground-breaking FASTER Study (Volek et.al.) A self-described empiricist (but one with a BS in Biology from UC Davis), Peter is constantly looking into and experimenting with how to further OFM to yield real world results.
Tash Fraser is one of Australia's top female ultrarunners. Since becoming a Vespa/OFM athlete Tash has experienced the consistent top performance OFM offers including the quick recovery/adaptation and being less prone to injury.
Through this experience Tash has worked with Peter to develop many of the run training templates to the OFM Run Training Program which we adapt to each individual's unique needs.