Taygan Robson is the founder and director of 1INC Consulting, a multi-disciplinary online performance practice. A semi-professional racer across mountain biking, Xterra off-road and adventure racing in South Africa for nearly two decades, he has built his career around the interplay of performance, recovery and nutrition. Having completed his BSc in Strength & Conditioning with Setanta College, he is now a student on the MSc in Sports Injuries and Return to Performance Management.

Below, Taygan discusses how his own racing shaped his career, the practice he has built, and what returning to Setanta for postgraduate study has added to his work.

From the Race Course to Performance Science

Taygan’s own competitive career was the doorway into performance science.

“I have been involved in sport since I was young, but it was my own racing career that pulled me into performance science. I competed in mountain biking, Xterra off-road and adventure racing across South Africa from 2006 to 2024, racing semi-professionally and winning numerous races in my age category. That level of training taught me firsthand how much performance, recovery and nutrition depend on each other.

I built my qualifications around that experience: a BSc in Strength & Conditioning, a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance Nutrition through IOPN, and now dual master’s degrees in Sports Injuries & Return to Performance Management and Sports Nutrition. Twenty years of competing and studying alongside each other is the foundation everything I do now is built on.”

Running a Multi-Disciplinary Practice

Taygan’s practice brings several specialisms together under one roof.

“I am the founder and director of 1INC Consulting, a multi-disciplinary online performance practice covering Pure Science Performance, Sports & Clinical Nutrition and Prehab. Every client starts with a 45-minute consultation with me personally before being directed to the right practice.

My week is a mix of consultations, reviewing training data and load metrics for athletes on Pure Science Performance, writing post-session recommendations and working alongside our Registered Biokineticist, Strength & Conditioning Trainer and Registered Dietitian across the team. I also work part-time as an embedded performance scientist and nutritionist with the Dash Youth Elite MX Racing Team, and spend part of most weekends scheduling clients’ programmes a week in advance, or on my own MSc coursework and research.”

Career Highlights

“Founding 1INC Consulting and building a genuine multi-disciplinary team has been the defining achievement of my career so far, moving from consulting alone to directing a team of qualified specialists across performance, nutrition and rehabilitation. Being brought on as a performance scientist and nutritionist with the Dash Youth Elite Racing Team was another key moment, applying my studies directly with competitive athletes on a weekly basis.

On a more personal level, working through a significant back injury over the last two years gave me a firsthand understanding of the rehabilitation side of my work that no textbook could teach. Injuries are never linear, and this has changed how I approach every return-to-performance case since.”

Why Setanta

Returning to Setanta for postgraduate study was a natural step for Taygan.

“I completed my BSc in Strength & Conditioning through Setanta, so it was a natural place to return to for postgraduate study in sports injury and return to performance. By that stage I already had years of practical experience through my own racing, coaching and training athletes and clients, and through building 1INC. I wanted to formalise that experience with a stronger academic and evidence-based grounding, particularly around sports injuries, load management and return-to-performance criteria.

Setanta’s flexible, applied model meant I could study properly while still running these practices full-time, which was essential. I needed a programme that fit around my work rather than the other way around. Most importantly, balancing that with my family made flexibility non-negotiable, and Setanta’s model let me study properly without taking time away from my daughter.”

Theory That Applies Directly

“What I have valued most is how directly applicable the content is. Every module ties back into real consulting situations rather than staying theoretical. One concept that has had a real impact on 1INC is the acute:chronic workload ratio, and structured load-management thinking more broadly.

It is now embedded across how I periodise every athlete on Pure Science Performance, not just those returning from injury. It directly shaped how I implemented the VALD ForceDecks and Dynamo assessments within my Prehab practice, and has given me a far more evidence-based way to justify training and rehab decisions rather than relying purely on experience.”

Advice for Others

“Get as much real, applied experience as early as possible. Don’t stay narrowly in one lane; combine disciplines where you can. Some of the most useful insight I have gained came from living through the athlete side of things myself, through training, racing and my own injury and rehab process.

Pair that practical grounding with proper academic study, since the two sharpen each other. Build relationships with good practitioners around you early too. I couldn’t do what I do at 1INC without the physiotherapist, biokineticists, S&C trainers and dietitian I work alongside. Nobody does this well entirely on their own.”

Looking Ahead

“I am focused on completing this MSc alongside my MSc in Sports Nutrition at the University of Portsmouth, and continuing to grow 1INC as a globally accessible, evidence-based practice. Beyond that, I want to keep growing on both fronts: sharpening the business side as 1INC scales, and going deeper academically into the clinical and research side of performance and rehabilitation, whether through business-based study or a Doctorate in Performance and Injury Rehabilitation.

The goal stays the same either way: to bring the standard of practice found in elite sport to athletes and active individuals at every level, wherever they are.”

Learn more about the MSc in Sports Injuries & Return to Performance Management.