Sam Bock's development work with top athletes and coaches produced a wide range of world leading innovation and equipment for improving athletic speed and power for most sports. This included providing: coaching & advanced athletic training techniques and programs; metabolic testing and nutrition chemistry programs; designing special racing and competition equipment — including sprint shoes for the world’s fastest sprinters, hockey skates for NHL players, and Olympic bobsleds; as well as developing motor-specific training equipment, special sport training apparel, and sport training facility designs.
The following is a partial list of athletes, coaches and trainers who have used Paragon’s wide range of services and products.
Joe and Sam Bock met in 1993 on the sprint track in Calgary where Sam was training Paragon’s bobsled athletes. Sam provided Joe with off-season training to do in Ithaca, N.Y. to help him rehabilitate a knee injury.
Joe introduced Sam to Gary Roberts, Craig Berube, who wanted to improve their speed and power, andAl MacInnis, who had missed half the previous season with dislocated hip.
They, and others including Cory Stllman, all trained together for the summer with Paragon’s training programs, speed training apparel, and targeted nutrition that emphasized sport specific power/speed and regenerative nutrition to help them perform better and extend their careers. In addition to hours in hot and cold tubs, they patiently endured hours of nutrition training concerning the importance of organic sources of essential fatty acids & other nutrients, as well as how to avoid pesticides, other toxins, and unwanted hormones. They also learned which nutrients were important to muscle and central nervous system activity and recovery. Over that summer after training Gary and Craig would take turns providing their houses for hot & cold tubs, lunch and power shakes for recovery. They had strong seasons, and over the next 2 years all left Calgary to sign some of the first big contracts in hockey.
Ultimately Nieuwendyk played 20 years, Roberts 21 years, Berube 17 years, and Al MacInnis 23 years. Al Macinnis was awarded the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenceman at age 35.
Has since worked with Paragon frequently over the past 18 years both as a NHL player and coach. Paragon became re-involved training professional hockey players after the 2000-2001 season when Craig decided he wanted to get faster in order to further prolong his career, as the NHL was becoming much faster and he had only played 38 games for the New York Islanders, and 22 games the season before that with the Washington Capitals.
Craig was the first NHL player to use Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts in his off-season sprint training. This helped him make the Calgary Flames at age 36 and play 66 games in the 2001-2002 season.
The following year Craig became the first hockey player to combine Paragon’s weighted skating with MSR split training. The results he achieved were unprecedented. After 17 years in the pros and at age 37 he improved his speed an amazing 6 meters down the ice, outskating Mikal Rynberg and many other great skaters in timed sprints in that summers training. He went from being a slow skater to one of the fastest in just 8 weeks with this revolutionary new training equipment. The following year he played 55 games for the Flames, including his 1000, which his friends in the NHL marked by giving him a Harley Davidson Fat Boy.
Career highlights: 17 years in the NHL, 1 of only 2 players w/ 1000+ Games & 3000+ Penalty Minutes (the other is Dale Hunter), helped coach the Phantoms to the 2005 Calder Cup and the Flyers to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
Long history with Paragon first began in the summer of 1993 when we first provided coaching, training programs and targeted nutrition, as discussed above. Gary has since become the NHL’s most outspoken athlete on the importance of training, nutrition, and organic foods to performance.
Due to its extensive environmental research, Paragon has always been concerned about heavy metal contamination in fish and pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements, as stated in Sam Bock’s 1999 Presentation to the Canadian Senate on toxins in the food chain. Gary was the first NHL player to use many of Paragon’s advancements in metabolic testing. This helped Gary and many other players after him to discover their own mercury poisoning from those fish oil supplements and other foods. Paragon then designed nutritional interventions to detoxify these athletes and maximize their subsequent performance.
“I’ve been buying my meat from Beretta Organic Farms since 2000. In my work now as a hockey life-coach for elite young players, I supply them with an organic post-workout meal.” As well, each of his players receives a nutirion package that includes an organic food choice list and organic recipes.
“If I hadn’t taken such good care of myself nutritionally, I wouldn’t have played until I was 43. It was as much about what I did off the ice as what I did on it.”
Paragon helped Gary with much more than just nutrition. In 2002, after Paragon had developed its first weighted running and skating programs, and with hockey becoming even faster, Gary began working with Paragon’s latest MSR training when playing with the Maple Leafs. Craig Berube’s training success the year before (see above) provided Gary with the incentive to use Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts, and weighted skate training programs. They enabled him to get into the best shape of his life, and in half the time. He improved his speed down the ice dramatically (by 3 meters).
However these training and skating programs require lower skating mechanics, and Gary was still skating higher than he desired in his high-cut Graf 709. Fitting Gary with proper skates had been a problem in his later career. Invariably the newer, stiffer skate boots would overly restrict his ankles preventing him from getting into a lower more powerful skating position. The following summer Gary trained in Missions in an attempt to get to a lower position. However those skates left his legs too unstable, leading to excessive energy use and constant fatigue.
In November 2003, he decided he needed to do something about his Missions, having scored practically no points until then. He called Sam in to analyze his skating and to try to solve the problem. It was quickly evident the skates provided no lateral support.
To solve his problem, Sam worked with Graf’s chief skate designer to build a Paragon-designed Graf hybrid from 2 different models, that further incorporated a V-notch between the 4 & 5 eyelets to provide a skate that flexed to allow more effective dorsi-flexion required for a lower, longer more powerful stride. Two weeks later Gary was skating in the Paragon/Graf 749 V-Notch. Not only did this allow him to quickly turn his season around, he was also named to the All-Star Team for the first time in 11 years.
(Side note: While Gary’s V-Notch skates allowed him to skate well, the V-notch in the 749 side walls would eventually cause the sidewalls to break down after about five weeks of constant pro use. At that time Graf had problems consistently aligning blades from one pair to another which led to groin strains each time Gary needed to switch into a new pair of skates, as his muscles needed to adjust for a different blade alignment with each pair. Unfortunately Gary was never able to get a skate company to build him a proper skate after that. After years of skate problems he was finally forced to retire. This led to the search for a permanent, viable solution, that several years later would result in Paragon’s new skate patent.)
Paragon also helped Gary to quickly recover form numerous injuries and prevented him from requiring hip surgery that may have ended his career three year earlier.
Later in the 2005 off season Gary developed chronic hip pain. By August, for more than 4 weeks he had been having difficulty sleeping, could not push when he skated, and was limping when he walked. He was diagnosed with a torn hip labrum by three different leading hip surgeons. All said he needed surgery to correct the painful problem. He would have missed the first half of his season, possibly ending his professional career.
Paragon disagreed with the surgeons’ diagnosis, as Gary’s pain was not in the hip but on the very outside of his hip where a number of muscle tendons insert to the hip. The symptoms he was experiencing were indicative of multiple muscle spasms due to over-zealous off season training that had created a debilitating and chronic tendonitis at the hip insertion.
Sam traveled to Gary’s home for one week of therapy and rehabilitation training. Upon arrival Gary could not walk properly, no less skate. A 15 minute hot bath followed by a 1.5 hour treatment of deep tissue massage immediately located several spasmed muscles, which were treated with massage, A.R.T., and hip mobility stretching. This was followed by alternating hot and cold tub treatments to flush his tissues and reduce inflammation.
He was able to sleep well that night, and the next day, after heat treatments and massage, started therapeutic squat training with no more than 85 lbs to re-strengthen his atrophied glutes and related skating muscles. He also did a few other general strength exercise and some very light and slow interval-style skating. This was followed by another hour of massage and stretching, followed by alternating hot and cold treatments.
The following day the entire process of heat, massage, weights, skating, more massage, and hot and colds was repeated, but with slightly heavier 135lb squats, and slightly faster and longer interval skating. The third day was the same with no more 185 lb squats and slightly faster and longer interval skating than in the previous session.
The fourth day we repeated the entire process again, but took a rest day from weight training, and did more skating which was dramatically improved, with Gary capable of reaching 80-90% of top speed with no pain.
On the fifth day we repeated the entire process again, but with slightly heavier 225 lb squats, and our first light sprints and longer faster interval skating. At this point Gary was skating effortlessly.
On the six day we repeated the entire process again, but with slightly heavier 285 lb squats, sprint drills and a full out 2 on 2 scrimmage for 20 minutes.
Gary then resumed normal training at this point, avoided surgery. Two year later he became the oldest player in NHL history to score two goals in a playoff game.
Career highlights: 22 years NHL, All Star, 50 goal scorer, 1989 Stanley Cup winner, NHL record for oldest player (43) to score 2 goals in one playoff game. Gary played over 1,200 NHL games in his career, recording 438 goals, 910 points, and a +/- of +229.
Al MacInnis joined the training group Gary Roberts had organized with Bock after Gary and Sam met through Joe Nieuwendyk in 1993. MacInnis had dislocated his hip the season before and was interested in getting as strong as he could. He was ultimately the strongest and most powerful of all the Calgary Flame athletes training with Paragon. His 19 pullups, speed on stairs, and running on the track was the best of the group.
He was also the first Paragon athlete to do weighted-skating — to further strengthen his hip. This was Paragon’s very first experimental training with weighted skates, and we hadn’t yet learned it was necessary to skate with and without weight in the training sessions. Initially, when he removed the weights his skating timing was off a bit. However, within a couple of weeks he had his normal timing back with much stronger legs and he had one of his strongest seasons, scoring 81 points in 75 games. The following year he signed with the St. Louis Blues for US$14 million for four years, making him the fourth highest player in the NHL.
MacInnis would play another 10 years, 23 NHL seasons for Calgary and St. Louis, finishing with 1,274 points, and ranking third all-time in goals, assists and points amongst defencemen. An eye injury suffered early in the 2003—04 NHL season forced McInnis into retirement.
Career Highlights: 1989 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player of the playoffs after leading the Flames to the Stanley Cup championship. 13-time All-Star. Winner of the Norris in 1999. Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007. Fourth defenceman in NHL history to score 100 points in a season.
He tied Bobby Orr’s Ontario Hockey League (OHL) record for goals by a defenceman, and won two OHL championships and a Memorial Cup with the Kitchener Rangers as a junior. MacInnis was most famous for having the hardest shot in the league. He famously split goaltender Mike Liut's mask with a shot. He was an all-star on defence as Canada won the 1991 Canada Cup, twice participated in the Winter Olympics, and was a member of the 2002 team that won Canada's first gold medal in 50 years.
Was introduced to Paragon by Craig Berube. Re-signs with the Pittsburgh Penguins and begins working with Bock and quickly gets into great shape. Already a good skater, Mark, then 39 years old used Paragon’s coaching, MSR sprint training, weighted skate training, metabolic testing & targeted nutrition to improve his speed and conditioning in an effort to extend his career.
However he is looked over for the main line-up, is not playing regularly, and his shooting percentage drops to a career low of 5.6%. Frustrated with how things are going, Sam suggests Mark start practicing sharp shooting with 50-100 pucks a day to get ready for his next assignment.
In December Mark’s placed on waivers and is claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers. In his first game against his former team, he scores the game-winning goal in a shootout. He then scores 40 points in 53 games with Atlanta with a 14.4 shooting %.
After scoring 45 points in 62 games with the Lightning in the 2008—09, Recchi is traded at the deadline to the Boston Bruins. He scored his first two goals for the Bruins three days later. On July 2, 2009, Recchi re-signs with the Bruins to a one-year deal and becomes the leader in points and assists among active NHL players. Recchi serves as an alternate captain during the season, playing 81 of 82 games in the 2009—10 season.
During the 2010 NHL playoffs, Recchi becomes third oldest player to score a playoff goal, behind Chris Chelios and Gordie Howe, and also becomes the oldest player to have a multi-goal game in the playoffs, (breaking Gary Roberts record set 2 years earlier) when he scored two goals in a 5-4 OT loss to Philadelphia in Game 4 of the second round. After suffering defeat in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Philadelphia Flyers, instead of retiring Recchi re-signs with the Bruins for a further year.
The next season Recchi scores twice against the Florida Panthers to get his 1,500th NHL career point. Later that season, in Game 2 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, Recchi, now 43, becomes the oldest player to score a goal in a Stanley Cup Final. In Game 3 he scores the final two goals of his career. Recchi also leads the team in scoring during the Finals series. On June 15, 2011, Recchi becomes a three-time winner of the Stanley Cup and joins Frank Foyston, Jack Walker, Mike Keane, Claude Lemieux, Hap Holmes, Al Arbour, Gord Pettinger, Larry Hillman and Joe Nieuwendyk in winning three or more Stanley Cups with three different teams.
Career highlights: 3 Stanley Cups. 7 All-Star games. Second longest span between Stanley Cup wins (1991—2006), at fifteen years. His 123 points (53 goals, 70 assists) in the 1992—1993 season is the Flyers regular season scoring record. Oldest player to record 5 assists in a game on March 1, 2009, at 41 years, 28 days. 13th player in NHL history to score 1,500 points during his career. Oldest player to score a Stanley Cup Finals goal on June 6, 2011, at 43 years, 126 days. Second oldest player to hoist the Stanley Cup after Chris Chelios. One of only ten players in modern day NHL history to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams. One of just 11 players in NHL history to play in four decades ('80s, '90s, '00s, '10s) ... Scored ten-plus goals in 22 consecutive seasons and 15-or-more in 20 of the 22. Is the 30th player in NHL history to have both 1,000 NHL points and 1,000 career PIMs.
The NHL 2010 #1 draft pick, is the son of Steve Hall who was a CFL wide-receiver turned Canadian National Team bobsledder. Steve and Sam Bock were teammates, training partners, and co-founders of Paragon. Together they helped develop many of the top athletes to compete for Canada’s national bob program.
Taylor owes his success to his father Steve, who was one of the most focused, hardest working athletes in sport. Steve was also highly analytical, a natural coach, and self starter. He only started playing serious football as a sophomore in college, and just a few years later was playing in the pros. In 1987 he made Canada’s national bobsleigh team. In 1990 Steve took on another new challenge and became a driver. In 1992 he and Jeff Ingram set a world track record on the Calgary Olympic track in a bobsled designed by Bock and built by Bock and Hall. It is still the only Canadian-designed sled to achieve that feat.
Steve’s many accomplishments in sport are being upstaged by Taylor, who has been immersed in Paragon’s advanced training methods his whole life. He owes his prowess to his parent’s willingness to sacrifice and to Steve’s constant provision of the best coaching, speed training, and periodization from the time that Taylor was a young boy and first showed a genuine interest in sports. In addition to his own backyard rink, Taylor had the same advanced athletic training and disciplined mental preparation that allowed many records to be set by Canadian bobsled athletes.
At age 9, Taylor was the first child to use Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts. The following year he used his advantageous speed to score 55 goals in 11 soccer games and 65 goals in his first serious hockey season. As a 12 year old he was moved up to play with the 14 year olds. Hall captured a Bantam AAA Calgary city championship with the North East Canucks during the 2004—05 season.
Taylor first used Paragon metabolic testing and targeted nutrition when he was 14. In 2005—07 Hall played Bantam and Minor Midget hockey for the Greater Kingston Predators of the ODMHA league. Hall was named to the ODMHA Midget AAA All-Star team. After the season, Hall was the second overall choice in the 2007 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Priority Selection by the Windsor Spitfires.
At 16 Hall made his OHL debut in 2007—08, scoring a team-high 45 goals and adding 39 assists for 84 points, third in team scoring. He was named OHL and CHL Rookie of the Year after the season.
Hall also won gold three times in 2007-08, as a member of Team Ontario at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge; as a member of Team Canada at the 2008 IIHF World U-18 Championships where he was fifth in tournament scoring, with nine points in seven games; and as a member of the Team Canada squad at the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
During the 2008—09 OHL season, Hall scored 38 goals and 52 assists for 90 points. During the OHL playoffs, Hall had 16 goals and 20 assists, and won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as Playoff MVP. He scored the game winning overtime goal in the fifth and deciding game of the OHL Finals. At the 2009 Memorial Cup, Hall recorded 8 points in 6 games, as the Spitfires defeated the Kelowna Rockets 4—1 in the final. Hall was awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as Tournament MVP.
Hall made Team Canada for the 2010 World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan, the lone draft-eligible player selected to the final roster. He scored a hat-trick in an 8 - 2 win against Slovakia, and finished tied for 3rd overall in scoring with 6 goals and 6 assists in 6 games.
In May 2010, Hall helped lead Windsor to their second straight Memorial Cup. Hall was awarded the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as Memorial Cup scoring leader, and his second straight Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP, the first player in its history to repeat.
Taylor made his NHL debut on October 7, 2010, as the Oilers defeated their arch-rival Calgary Flames at Rexall Place. Hall's first NHL point, an assist, came in his second game, against the Florida Panthers on October 10, 2010, Shawn Horcoff redirected Hall's shot in front of the net. His first NHL goal came on October 28, 2010 against Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Hall has since been named to the NHL All-Star Game on five occasions. In his second season with the Devils in 2018, Hall won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, becoming the first Devils player in franchise history to win the award.
Developed as a defensive specialist through much of his career, Conroy was twice a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward. In 2001-2002 Conroy established himself as the Flames' first line center alongside Jarome Iginla. The pair developed good chemistry, and became best friends. Conroy scored career highs with 28 goals and 75 points, while Iginla reached the 50-goal plateau for the first time and led the league in scoring. Iginla credited Conroy for making his breakout season possible. Conroy was named a finalist for the Selke Trophy for a second time.
In 2002—03, Craig Breube’s final season with the Flames, Conroy was the Flames second-leading scorer in with 59 points. Conroy wanted to keep playing as long as he could and after that season was introduced to Paragon by Berube. Already a fast skater, Craig used Paragon’s coaching, MSR sprint training, weighted skate training, metabolic testing & targeted nutrition to improve his speed by a further 3 meters down the ice.
Conroy was having another good year in 2003—04 when he suffered a torn knee ligament. To fully recover as quickly as possible, he followed a special recovery program developed by Bock. He was soon lifting 300lbs in the squat rack, and still finished second in team scoring when he scored 47 points despite missing 19 games with the knee injury. The Flames qualified for the 2004 playoffs, their first trip to the post-season in eight seasons. Conroy was a key player for the team as they upset the top three seeds in the Western Conference, the Canucks, Red Wings and San Jose Sharks en route to a heart-breaking seventh game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final. He finished second on the team in playoff scoring with 17 points.
Craig proved to have similar durability as other NHL players who learned Paragons training and nutrition systems. He scored 542 points, played 1,009 games in 16 seasons in the NHL, and was the second oldest player in league history to reach that milestone. He scored his 500th career point on January 3, 2009, when he assisted on Todd Bertuzzi's game-winning goal in a 3—2 win against the Nashville Predators, and finished the year with 48 points.
Was introduced to Paragon by Craig Berube when they played on the Flames together. Already a very fast skater, Steve used Paragons coaching MSR sprint training, weighted skate training, and metabolic testing &targeted nutrition to improve his speed by a further 2.5 meters down the ice.
Paragon also provided Steve with specially sharpened & polished skate blades with significantly enhanced glide for Calgary’s playoff run to the 2003 Stanley Cup Final.
Was introduced to Sam Bock while they were both playing pick-up hockey in Montreal. David had just turned 18 and had received a tryout with the Lewiston Maniacs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. David used Paragon’s metabolic testing & targeted nutrition and MSR weighted split training to get ready for his tryout. David not only made the team, but became an overnight sensation, leading his team to the Memorial Cup, and in scoring, finishing with 83 points in 70 games: 39 goals, 44 assists, +37. He was 1st amongst all QMJHL rookies in goals and +- and was selected for Junior Team Canada for the 8 game series against Russia, where he finished 4th in scoring. That summer St. Louis drafted him 26th overall in the 1st round. A few months later at 19 he became the 3rd youngest player in Blues history to make the team. Among 2007 NHL Entry Draftees, Perron is third in career points (behind Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner)
Was introduced to Paragon by Craig Berube when he played for Craig on the Phantoms. Fred used Paragonsweighted skate training, and metabolic testing &targeted nutrition to help improve his game, and make it to the Flyers.
Was introduced to Paragon by Mark Rechhi. Darryl used Paragon MSR sprint training, and metabolic testing & targeted nutrition.
All used Paragon metabolic testing to improve their nutritional balance and performance.
Began training in Paragon’s speed training apparel in 1993. He also wore Paragon designed adidas sprint shoes.
Donovan started training in Paragon’s apparel after meeting Sam Bock while trying out for the Canadian Bobsled Team. From that point on he wore the apparel daily en-route to his World and Olympic championships and records. Adidas was licensed to produce Paragon clothing for Donovan.
Paragon then designed Donavan’s ultra-light adidas sprint shoes for the World’s Fastest Man Race against Michael Johnson, who was wearing Nike sprint shoes Paragon also helped design. The Donovan Bailey shoe project led to Paragon’s design work on the Adidas Sydney 2000 line of track shoes.
Career Highlights: 1996 100m Olympic Gold in 9.84 OR & WR, 1995 100m WC Gold, 3 straight 4 x100m world titles -1996 4 x100m Olympic Gold, 1995 & 1997 4x100 WC Gold, winner World’s Fastest Man race against Michael Johnson on June 1, 1997.
Used Paragon designed adidas sprint shoes when he switched over to Adidas from Reebok.
Used Paragon’s metabolic testing & analysis and nutrition to help recover from a strained hamstring and win Canada’s first ever World Championships medal in the Men 400 meters at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, winning a bronze medal, and setting a new national record of 44.44 seconds.
Career Highlights: 400 meters Bronze at 2005 Helsinki World Championships. 400 meters Gold at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain with a Canadian-record time of 45.67
Used Paragon targeted nutrition to relieve chronic hamstring cramping and win Gold in the 4 x100m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. His 9.02 world record time for the backstretch stood for 12 years, until Jamaica’s Michael Frater ran 9.01 in Jamaica’s 37.10 WR run in Beijing in 2008. Glenroy also tested Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts (see MSR testing results).
Career Highlights: 4 x100m Olympic Gold, 3 straight 4 x100m world titles -1996 4 x100m Olympic Gold, 1995 & 1997 4 x100 WC Gold, 3-time Olympian, summer and winter Olympian, set 9.02 WR for fastest 4 x 100m backstretch. CDN national team Sprint coach.
Set his 200 & 400m WRs wearing ultra-light asymmetrical sprint shoes designed by Paragon and Nike (see MSR testing results). Paragon predicted Michael’s margin of victory one year ahead of time based on the test results seen while doing the research that produced the shoe.
Career Highlights: won four Olympic and 8 World Championship gold medals. Holds 400m WR & 4 x 400m WR. Set WR in 200m and Indoor 400m. 200m 19.32 stood for 12 years. Only male athlete to win 200m and 400m at the same Olympics.
Used Paragon’s MSR weighted shoe inserts in training prior to his breakout year as a 100m sprinter, and later used Paragon’s metabolic testing & analysis.
Career Highlights: Nick was a 2-time Olympian who won the 100 meter national title four times and once in the 200 meters. His biggest moment as a sprinter came in 2003 when he ran 10.03 and knocked off the then American world record holder Tim Montgomery in Mexico, making Nicolas the third fastest Canadian in history behind Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey who share the national record of 9.84. He also ran a 6.56 60m.
Renowned in the Track & Field world for his knowledge of advanced training, and was the first world class sprint athlete to successfully test our new MSR weighted shoe inserts (see MSR testing results).
Mark first tested the inserts In September 2001 after meeting Paragon’s Sam Bock at the IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Edmonton.
Mark did two personal tests. First he ran weighted 160m hills ahead of kids he was training. In just a few weeks his times improved dramatically.
He then did a second more rigorous test, this time following a Paragon training protocol on a training trip to Australia with close friend and training partner 110mH world champion Colin Jackson. To prepare for the trip, he ran weighted hill workouts 3 times per week for two weeks before leaving. Upon arriving in Australia he followed Paragon’s program. The first week he ran three 300m workouts - these were with top women sprinters training in the group. He rapidly gained strength and was feeling strong enough after that to run 200s and 300s with the men the following week. Since he was turning in some impressive times, at the beginning of the 3rd week, he decided to see where he was in the 100m even though he had only been on the track for 2 weeks. Incredibly he was able to run nine 100m sprints that day, each one progressively faster then the last. He started at 11.5, and finished the last one in 10.5 even though he cramped up late in the sprint. At age 40 despite no massage, and no prior speed work Mark was able to produce that surprising performance with only a few weeks of training under his belt.
Career Highlights: 100mH Olympic gold, 50m hurdle WR holder, 3-time Olympian.
Brad was coached by Sam Bock & John Cannon and used Paragon’s training program, targeted nutrition, and speed training apparel. Brad was a true student of the game of sprinting and helped Sam refine the use of MSR training for sprinting. He was the undisputed master of the Paragon’s MSR split jump and was the inspiration for the development of Paragon’s split machine apparatus which was developed years later and has revolutionized athletic training (see MSR testing results).
Career Highlights: 4 x100m 1998 Goodwill Games champion, 4 x 100 NCAA champion, 2nd 1999 Pan Am Games 4 x100 3rd in 100m at the 1997 Canadian championships behind Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey. 100m PB 10.10
Under Coach Ihem in 2007 at age 30 used Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts, training program and targeted nutrition to make an amazing Indoor comeback . After just 14 weeks of training and only 3 races he led off to win 4 X 400m Indoor World Championships gold, running the fastest split time of the competition. His time would have been good enough for Silver in the 400M Open had he been entered (see MSR testing results).
Career Highlights: 2003 World Indoor Champion 400m, 2003 World Outdoor Champion 400m, 2006 World Indoor Champion 4 x 400m, US Olympian, 4x400 world record holder in 1998.
In 2006 at age 35 under Coach Ihem used Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts, training program, metabolic testing & analysis and targeted nutrition to run 10.06, just off his PB of 10.05 run 7 years earlier. He also finished 2nd in the 200m World Athletics Final that year (see MSR testing results). The following year at age 36 he competed for Jamaica’s powerhouse Olympic track team for his third time.
Chris was one of the most under-rated sprinters with true speed and endurance. He is one of the few, if not the only male athlete in history to finish 2nd in the Olympic 4 x 400 final (splitting 44.73!), and 4th in the Olympic 4 x 100M final at the same Olympics. This feat was accomplished in Sydney in 2000.
Career Highlights: 2001 World Championship Silver medallist 200m, Sidney 2000 4 x 400m Silver medalist, Sidney 2000 4th place 4 x 100m, 2006 World Athletics Final Silver medallist 200m, 3-time Olympian Jamaica.
Anslem Young, a Montreal track & field coach and good friend of Bock, approaches Sam about training Nigel Romeo, an older 34 year old Trinidadian immigrant who has always loved training and running. Bock is currently working with Pascal Caron a full time Olympic team athlete. Nigel is recently married, has a new baby, little money, no car, and works long hours in a foundry that is a 2-hour bus ride away from the track. For these reasons Bock is concerned about Nigel’s potential to compete with the nation’s best who are full time athletes and able to fully rest and recover to progress to higher levels. Anslem still feels Nigel still has ability to improve despite his age and the long hours he is working. Bock agrees to take him on.
Nigel begins training with Caron and uses Paragon’s weighted shoe insert technology and nutrition plan. Just 10 weeks later in December he runs the fastest 300m of the young 2002-03 Canadian indoor track season, despite not being able to train properly for the 300m sprint due to a lack of proper training facilities in Montreal. It’s literally his first attempt at the distance in either a practice or a race. He runs a second faster than his previous best ever run. More incredibly he achieves this despite commuting 2.5 hours a day on a bus and working his 40 hour /week job in a foundry pouring lead into moulds.
Two months later in February Nigel runs a full ½ second faster to the indoor 300m to finish the season at #2 in the nation, improving from his #35 national ranking the year before.
Was a CFL wide-receiver turned Canadian National Team bobsledder. Steve and Sam Bock were team mates, training partners, and co-founders of Paragon. Together they helped develop many of the top athletes to compete for Canada’s national bobsleigh program.
Steve was one of the most focused, hardest working athletes in sport. Also highly analytical, a natural coach, and self starter, he only started playing serious football as a sophomore in college. A few years later he was playing in the pros. In 1987 he made Canada’s national bobsleigh team. In 1990 Steve took on another new challenge and became a driver. In 1992 he and Jeff Ingram set a world track record on the Calgary Olympic track in a bobsled designed by Bock and built by Bock and Hall with the help of Dave Meyer at Aero-Tech in Calgary, Paragon’s fabrication shop. It is still the only Canadian designed sled to achieve that feat.
Steve’s many personal accomplishments in sport have been recently upstaged by his son Taylor Hall, the NHL 2010 #1 draft pick. Taylor owes his prowess to his parent’s willingness to sacrifice and to Steve’s constant provision of the best coaching, speed training, and periodization from the time that he was a young boy and first showed a genuine interest in sports. In addition to his own backyard rink, Steve provided Taylor with the same advanced athletic training and disciplined mental preparation that allowed many records to be set by Canadian bobsled athletes.
Career Highlights: CFL wide Receiver with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, member of Canadian National Bobsled team, 2 Man World Track record on Calgary Olympic bobsleigh track. Coached son Taylor to 2010 NHL #1 draft pick.
Was Paragon’s most successful bobsled athlete. At 235 lbs he was one of the fastest big men in the world. He and team-mate Jack Pyc dominated bobsled pushing for several seasons and were considered # 1 & 2 in the world. Together they helped prove that speed was the most important element in Bobsled pushing.
Coached by Sam Bock, they led a group of athletes that first tested Paragon’s training programs, speed training apparel and targeted nutrition. During the 1993-94 season the team set 18 straight world push records — one in every race of the long 5 month season, including both the 2 and 4 man events at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. MacEachern is still the only 2- man brakeman in Olympic history to push faster than every other nation’s four-man Team. The following season Dave and Jack took Pierre Lueder’s team and the Canadian program to new heights, becoming the first team in World Cup history to win all three overall titles – two-man, four-man and combined – in a single season. The next season Dave won Silver at the 1996 World Championships with Pierre. He capped off his career with the 2-man Gold Medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics with Pierre. Dave and Lueders partnered to win approximately 20 World Cup medals for Canada from 1993 to 1998.
Dave now runs Elisport and continues to help many top athletes reach the top of their game, including Brad Richards, NHL 2003-04 Playoff MVP and Stanley Cup Champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning, other NHL players Grant Marshall, Adam McQuaid, Nathan McIver, and LPGA Professional Lorie Kane. Dave also shared his training knowledge with Andy O’Brien, who coached Sydney Crosby.
Career Highlights: 1998 2-man Olympic Gold, 1996 2-man WC Silver, 1994 Bobsled Push WR & OR holder, 4th 1992 4-man Albertville, Multiple World Cup Winner, 3-time Olympian.
Won Canada’s 1st World Cup 2-man Gold medal with Pierre Lueders, stunning Olympic champion and legend Gustav Weder of Switzerland and the rest of the field by coming from the 3rd seed to win with the fastest start, which tied the word push record for Calgary’s track.
Jack won 19 world Cup medals for Canada with Pierre Lueders, Chris Lori, and Dennis Marineau.
Jack and team-mate Pascal Carron ran the fastest known electronic 20m times, a full 10th of second faster than Donovan Bailey (50m world record holder) and 2/10ths faster than Ato Bolden when they were tested by Bock for the adidas sprint shoe project.
Jack and team-mate Dave MacEachern dominated bobsled pushing and were considered # 1 & 2 in the world for many seasons. Coached by Sam Bock, they led a group of athletes that first tested Paragon’s training programs, speed training apparel and targeted nutrition. During the 1993-94 season the team set 18 straight world push records — one in every race of the long 5 month season, including both the 2 and 4 man events at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. The following season Dave and Jack took Pierre Lueder’s team and the Canadian program to new heights, becoming the first team in World Cup history to win all three overall titles – two-man, four-man and combined – in a single season. Jack capped off that season winning Silver at the 1995 2-man World Championships with Pierre.
Career Highlights: Canada’s 1st ever 2-man World Cup Gold medal, Canada’s first ever world push record, 1994 Bobsled Push WR & OR holder, 1995 WC Silver medallist, Multiple World Cup winner, 3-time Olympian.
In August 2001, used Paragon’s new weighted shoe inserts, MSR training program, coaching, and targeted nutrition to break Donovan Bailey’s 8 year old National Bobsled Team sprint records set in 1993. Pascal was more than 2 meters ahead of any other athlete after only 30 meters of top speed testing.
Pascal bench pressed 425 lbs., deep squatted over 500 lbs. to the floor, and then smashed the world push record at Calgary’s indoor training center, pushing an unprecedented 11ths of a second faster than any other individual competing that day. At only 178 lbs. the time he pushed was as fast as many nation’s 4-man teams.
Pascal and team-mate Jack Pyc also ran the fastest known electronic 20m times ever measured, a full 10th of second faster than Donovan Bailey (50m world record holder) and 2/10ths faster than Ato Bolden when they were tested by Bock for the adidas sprint shoe project.
Career Highlights: 1994 Bobsled Push WR & OR holder, Multiple World Cup winner, 2 time Canadian Olympian.
Was also one of the world’s top bobsled athetes, a 4 time Olympian, and Canadian world junior team 4 x100m member. Canada's modern movement in bobsleigh began in 1989-90 season when Ken and the rest of Chris Lori's four-man crew won the overall World Cup title — a first for Canada. Ken won Canada’s first ever World Cup medal with Chris Lori, John Graham and Doug Currier in 4-man in the season ending World cup in March 1990. Ken finished 4th in four-man in Albertville in 1992 with Chris, Cal Langford and Dave MacEachern, missing the Bronze by just 11/100ths. 10 years later Ken won Bronze in the 1999 4-man World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo with Pierre Lueders.
For many years Ken was prone to hamstring injury, and was notorious for winning a World Cup and suffering an injury 2 weeks later. Then In July 1999 he began Paragon’s MSR running training at 230+ pounds despite having plantar fasciitis. He trained with 150-200m tempo runs in flats only, and used no spikes as they hurt his foot. 6 weeks later Ken PB’d for 30m without doing any speed training. That 1999-2000 season for the first time in his career he won more than two World Cup medals in a season, winning 5 medals in his first five races, including 2 Golds.
Career Highlights: Canada’s first ever World Cup medal with Chris Lori in 4-man in 1990, Multiple Bobsled World Cup winner, 4-time Canadian Olympian, 4th 1992 4-man Albertville, 1999 4-man WC Bronze medalist.
Was recruited on Kevin Tyler’s advice and initially trained on technique by Paragon. A power-lifter who had never sprinted, both his ability to learn technique and his disciplined approach quickly allowed him to develop into a good sprinter and a great sled pusher who represented Canada in two Olympics. He finished 9th in 2-man in 1992 in Albertville behind Dennis Marineau, and 11th in 4-man in Lillihammer in 1994 with Chris Lori.
Used Paragon’s training programs, speed training apparel and targeted nutrition to improve his speed and power. This helped him to win bronze with Chris Lori at the 1993 4-man Cortina World Cup and make Canada’s 1994 Olympic Bobsled team.
Trained with Paragon over a number of years while in university. A wide receiver with the University of Calgary Dinos football team, Mo had natural speed, competed for Canada in bobsled, and then went on to play wide receiver in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Wore Paragon speed training apparel while competing for the Canadian National Bobsleigh team. He was a 3-time Olympian with a best finish of 11th with Chris Lori’s 4-man team in Lillehammer.
Used his natural driving ability and Paragon’s MSR training programs, speed training apparel and targeted nutrition to silence all the critics, develop his speed and power, and win 2 Canadian 2-man Bobsleigh Championships.
A neighbour of Sam Bock and Steve Hall when they were roommates, Tom became interested in the sport. However at the time he was skinny and out of shape. He literally got up off the couch one day and decided to start training. Five years later he won his first Canadian 2-man title. Two years after that he won a second 2-man title, beating Olympic champion Pierre Leuders in the process.
Tom’s finished 16th in the 1999-2000 Word Cup 2 —man standings with 12th place World Cup finishes in both St Moritz and La Plagne Albertville.
Often trained with Paragon while competing for the Canadian Bobsled Team. Steve later helped test Paragon’s MSR training equipment, turning in remarkable workouts and performances on the running track during a comeback to bobsledding. His detailed feedback helped fine tune the optimum way to train with this revolutionary training equipment. He also squatted 749lbs using Paragon’s targeted nutrition program. Unfortunately a knee injury suffered while jumping over a high fence ended his remarkable comeback.
Career Highlights: 9th in 4-man 1997 World Championships and 10th in 4-man Nagano World Cup with Pierrre Lueders, Jack Pyc, and David MacEachern.
Used Sam Bock & Paragon’s coaching, training programs, speed training apparel and targeted nutrition to come from nowhere and upset many of the worlds top bobsledding nations at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.
Dudley was a Jamaican military helicopter pilot who became the most successful bobsled driver to compete for Jamaica. He and his brother Chris Stokes, a sprinter, were the unrelenting & driving force behind the development of the Jamaican Bobsled Team since its inception in 1988.
The Olympic effort gained a tremendous boost with the addition of Wayne Thomas and Winston Watt to the team. Watt was a natural athlete and Jamaican Army shot put champion, Thomas had 10.5 100m speed at 235 pounds, and 6’3” Chris Stokes had run 10.18 at the University of Idaho. The key was to figure out how to get them all effectively training and working together.
The Jamaican Bobsled Team website states, “The single most important decision made during this period was the retention of Sam Bock as national coach. Time was short; the Olympics were weeks away and much work had to be done. Bock’s focused; no-nonsense, intransigent style fit the times well.”
Sam had just 7 weeks to attempt to take the team to the next level at the upcoming Olympics. The Team used every resource he & Paragon could provide, including coaching, bio-mechanical analysis, training programs, apparel systems, and nutrition chemistry programs to maximize their development in such a short period. Bock also rented several sets of the most competitive steel runners for the sleds, and hired friend Stu Thorpe to help him coach Dudley with his driving. The team trained 4-8 hours per day, at one point for 2 weeks in total isolation in the former East Germany at a special push training facility.
Sam taught Dudley new methods for analyzing & driving the sled that quickly paid of with times that were 1.5 seconds quicker in a sport where 1/100ths of second make a difference. In a tune up race for the Olympics, Dudley drove the team to a very respectable finish at the 1994 European Championships on the challenging Albertville Olympic track.
Sam also reengineered the 4-man sled’s pushbars, and at Lillehammer 4 weeks later, the Jamaican team surprised everyone with its recently developed world class start and fast driving. The team pushed the sled as fast as the Olympic gold medallists from Germany, and Dudley drove the highly technical track very well. On the second day of that race, and final day of the Olympics, they shocked everyone by placing 10th in both runs — ahead of the 2-man bronze medallist Huber of Italy, former Swiss national champion Christian Meili, and a slew of other powerful teams. Jamaica finished in 14th place, cracking the ‘Top Fifteen’ 1st seed teams, beating the Americans, French, Russians and one of the Italian teams, all future and past Olympic medal winning teams. Their Lillehammer performance was one of the biggest upsets in Bobsleigh and Winter Olympic history.
The following season Jamaica claimed its first medal at the World Bobsled Push Championships in Monaco, winning a bronze medal in the 4-man competition. Paragon continued to develop Jamaica’s bob team for the next 3 years.
Won the right to push Jamaica’s two-man sled in Lillehammer. While it was very close between Wayne, Winston Watt and Chris Stokes, Wayne’s tremendous top speed at 235lbs earned him the job.
Ultimately became one of the most powerful crewman in the world, bench pressing 480lbs at just 210lbs. As a bobsled driver, Watt went on to win 2-man gold and 4-man silver at the 2000 World Push Championships. In 2001, he repeated in 2-man and placed 4th in 4-man. In December 2001, he won Jamaica’s first International bobsled race in Lake Placid. Watt had the fastest 2-man bobsled push at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. Paragon-developed athletes were the fastest pushers for 3 Olympics in a row from 1994 — 2002.
Career Highlights: 2002 Bobsled Push World & Olympic Record holder, 3-time Jamaican Olympian. Only Jamaican to ever win an international bobsled race, member of the 1994 Lillehammer Jamaican Team that upset the United States, Russia, France and one Italian team at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.
His Swiss bobsled team used Paragon speed training apparel for warmup and training.
Career Highlights: Weder was the most dominant bobsled driver of his era. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he won four medals with two Gold (Two-man: 1992, 1994), one Silver (Four-man: 1994), and one Bronze (Four-man: 1992). Weder also won eight World Championships medals with four Golds (Two-man: 1990, Four-man: 1989, 1990, 1993) and four Silvers (Two-man: 1989, 1991, 1993; Four-man: 1991). He was World Cup champion four times (Combined men's: 1988-9, 1990-1; Two-man: 1988-9, Four-man: 1990-1).
Known for his intensity, Weder would videotape every one of his bobsleigh runs he raced on and study those videos for hours.
His Italian bobsled team used Paragon speed training apparel for warmup and training.
Career Highlights: Huber competed in four Winter Olympics and won two medals in the two-man event with one Gold (1998, shared with Leuders and MacEachern) and one Bronze (1994). His team won two World Championship medals in the two-man event with gold in 1999 and silver in 1997. His team won the Bobsleigh World Cup championship three times (Two-man: 1991-2, 1992-3; Combined men's: 1996-7). Huber became a coach of the Italian national team in 2008.
His American bobsled team used Paragon’s bobsled push coaching, shop facilities, and speed training apparel for warmup and training.
Career Highlights: Brian Shimer competed in five Winter Olympics, winning the bronze medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002. Shimer also won three World Championships bronze medals, one in the two-man event (1997) and two in the four-man event (1993, 1997). He won the 1992-3 World Cup championships both in the four-man and the combined men's events. Shimer was head coach of the US men's bobsleigh team that won 4-man Gold in 2010.
Played eight years in the CFL and NFL as a defensive back. In 2002 he used Paragon’s MSR sprint training, targeted nutrition and coaching to recover from a severed Achilles tendon and run a 4.2 40 yards.
Trained with Paragon over a number of years while in university. A wide receiver with the University of Calgary Dinos football team, Mo had natural speed, competed for Canada in bobsled, and then went on to play wide receiver in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Of the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL used Paragon sprint training apparel for practices and games when the weather got cooler in the Fall.
Coaches numerous world class track athletes from his base in Southern California. Originally from Nigeria, he and Sam Bock first met at the 2001 IAAF Track and Field World Championships, where his athlete, Chris Williams of Jamaica, won Silver in the 200m. Coach “Black” Ihem was intrigued with Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts, however at that point only Canadian athletes were allowed to use them.
5 years later in 2006, Coach Black and Bock planned training protocols for Chris Williams and Tyree Washington.
In 2006 Coach Black and Chris Williams, 35, used Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts, training program and targeted nutrition to run 10.06, just off his PB of 10.05 run 7 years earlier. He also finished 2nd in the 200m World Athletics Final that year (see MSR testing results). Two years later at age 37 he competed for Jamaica’s powerhouse Olympic track team for his third time.
In 2007, at 30 years old Tyree Washington of the USA was considered by most to be past his prime, having run his personal bests of 20.09 in 1999 and 44.28 in 2001. However, under Coach Black, Tyree used Paragon’s weighted shoe inserts, training program and targeted nutrition to make an amazing Indoor 400m comeback . After just 14 weeks of training and only 3 races, he qualified for the Moscow Indoor World Championships in the 4 x 400. He led off to win Gold, running the fastest split time of the competition. His time would have been good enough for Silver in the 400M Open had he been entered (see MSR testing results).
Was a nationally ranked 400m sprinter who became Canada’s best bobsleigh breakman at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, pushing the 3rd fasted time (5.26) of the 2-man Olympic competition with David Leuty. Kevin then became Canada’s top 400m sprint coach, and the only Canadian coach to develop a 400m World Championship medalist. Kevin is currently the Strategic Head of Coaching and Development UK Athletics.
Kevin, Sam Bock and Steve Hall all met while training for bobsleigh. Kevin was first to introduce Bock and Hall to the basics of sprint mechanics, which he had learned from Charlie Francis. This began years of intensive research to develop the fastest sprinters on an all-natural drug-free programs and produced Paragon’s revolutionary training programs, MSR training & equipment, metabolic testing & targeted nutrition. Paragon’s Jack Pyc and Pascal Carron would use all this new technology to ran the fastest known electronic 20m times, a full 10th of second faster than Donovan Bailey (50m world record holder) and 2/10ths faster than Ato Bolden when they were tested by Bock for the adidas sprint shoe project.
Tyler subsequently used Paragon’s metabolic analysis and nutrition programs with his top 400m sprinters Shane Niemi and Tyler Christopher. Christopher used Paragon’s metabolic testing & analysis and targeted nutrition to help recover from a strained hamstring and win Canada’s first ever World Championships medal in the Men 400 meters at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, winning a bronze medal, and setting a new national record of 44.44 seconds.
A renowned strength and conditioning coach who spent 5 years with the NHL’s Florida Panthers. He was introduced to Paragon by Gary Roberts. Andy has used Paragon’s research services and metabolic testing & analysis to enhance the performance of many athletes he has trained, from hockey players to swimmers. Andy is best known for his role in the development of Sidney Crosby, having worked with Crosby from the age of 13 well into his NHL career. O’Brien has worked with over 100 NHL players, as well as a variety of Olympians in various sports, including world champions and world record holders. Andy is now the Director of High Performance at Edge School and Director of the Duckett Performance Centre, the athletic training centre on the Edge School and Jim Davidson Sports Complex campus.
Is the strength and conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and helped guide them to a Stanley Cup and 2 back to back finals. Mike was introduced to Sam Bock by Gary Roberts and has used Paragon’s metabolic testing and analysis. “What you put into your body is absolutely what you get out of it, in terms of how you look and how you feel and how you perform…. If you look at the different diets out there, I don’t think there’s one program that fits all. I think you need to find out how you metabolize your macronutrients — your fats, proteins and carbs…. I think you have to be aware of what you eat, and be aware of how you feel after you eat a certain carb or a certain protein — do you feel energetic or lethargic after you eat certain foods? If it’s lethargic, you may want to take a closer look at what you are eating.”
Has been a strength and conditioning coach for the Montreal Canadiens, Florida Panthers, the Ottawa 67s, Gary Roberts and many players. Lorne was introduced to Sam Bock by Gary Roberts and has used Paragon’s metabolic testing and analysis.
Is the Florida Panther’s strength and conditioning coach and has used Paragon’s metabolic testing. He replaces Andy O’Brien who left the Panthers to purse a new opportunity as the director of high performance at the Edge School in Calgary.
He has worked extensively with both National Hockey League and American Hockey League players. Slaunwhite completed a Doctor of Chiropractic from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in June 2009 and also earned a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Dalhousie University in 2003.