MAF Method helps pro soccer player Allie Wisner transition to coaching and trail-running.
Allie Wisner can kick a soccer ball to the moon, but after playing at the top levels collegiately and professionally the world over she’s now more likely to be found coaching college players or running trails around Salt Lake City.
For several years now, the MAF Method has helped her find the balance between health and fitness.
Allie grew up in in the small town of Bozeman, Montana, along with her older brother Jay. For both of these athletes sports were a ticket to educational opportunities and a bigger world. Jay played football and started out at Saddleback Community College in California before moving on to play wide receiver at Auburn University.
Allie played club soccer as a youth, then followed Jay to California to play soccer for part of her high-school career. She then went on to to play at University of Utah. There she was part of the university’s first team to ever make it to the PAC-12 tournament — one of the toughest women’s soccer conferences in the United States.
Following graduation, Allie played for professional teams bouncing back and forth between overseas and the U.S. She played for pro teams in Belgium, Germany, Cypress and Japan, as well as Seattle and Orlando back in the states.
“When I was in college the current league actually folded so the popular thing was to go abroad,” she says. “By the time I was graduating the league had reformed. So instead of trying to play in the states I played in Belgium.”
It was when she was training with her brother in Seattle that he introduced her to Dr. Phil Maffetone’s work.
“Up until that point I had been running myself ragged every which way. That can happen in college and professional sports,” she says. “We started implementing this different mindset of Phil’s more on our recovery days. The more we learned I started making it a core and foundation of my fitness program.”
Allie says the transition marked a profound period of growth.
“I was doing OK, but both my brother’s and my outlook and perspective is to continue to grow. That’s always been his mindset and he’s passed that on to me,” she says.
She said while in Seattle they started training together using the MAF 180 Formula. Jay took the Two-Week Test to optimize his diet, and subsequently she followed suit and ended up going gluten-free and adopting a more balanced style of eating. Eventually she contacted Phil and he provided further coaching and counsel.
Now 27, Allie is transitioning from playing professionally to the next phase of her athletic life as a collegiate soccer coach, and she’s also found new joy in trail-running, which she says is a natural transition from the endurance work she’s done as a soccer player.
“It’s kind of my quiet place, my escape and meditation,” she says. “I can unplug from everything, go up in the mountains and be in my own space.”
She’s currently coaching soccer at her alma mater in Salt Lake. With this new career she’ll be introducing the MAF Method to a new generation of soccer players.
“Now I can pass on a lot of this knowledge and a big part of it is Phil’s stuff,” she says. “I love Phil. Working with him has changed my life.”
