https://www.just-fly-sports.com/ The Just Fly Performance Podcast is dedicated to all aspects of athletic performance training, with an emphasis on speed and power development. Featured on the show are coaches and experts in the spectrum of sport performance, ranging from strength and conditioning, to track and field, to sport psychology. Hosted by Joel Smith, the Just Fly Performance Podcast brings you some of the best information on modern athletic performance available. Thu, 07 May 2026 14:17:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Blubrry PowerPress/11.16.3 Joel Smith, Just-Fly-Sports.com false episodic Joel Smith, Just-Fly-Sports.com joel.smith.7@gmail.com Just Fly Sports LLC Just Fly Sports LLC podcast https://feeds.podcastmirror.com/~images/2362181778163485.jpeg https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/ TV-PG Weekly de04086a-b77c-59a7-8088-39650f24e9a8 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-514/ Thu, 07 May 2026 11:30:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40424 Today’s podcast guest is Ryan Banta. Ryan is a leading sprint coach at Parkway Central High School, known for blending sport science with practical training. He has guided athletes to multiple state championships and national-level success, and is the author of The Sprinter’s Compendium. In this episode, Ryan shares his unconventional path from politics to coaching, and how early success, and failure, shaped his evolution. He reflects on moving from ego-driven outcomes to athlete-centered development, emphasizing joy, community, and long-term retention. Banta dives into the growth of his “critical mass” system, blending speed, rest, and adaptability, while highlighting the importance of mentorship, self-reflection, and continual learning in building both performance and meaningful athlete experiences. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and Lila Exogen. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ryan Banta 514: Ryan Banta on Evolving Speed Training Systems full 1:30:32 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153866823&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F514_Ryan_Banta_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-1" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-513/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:35:22 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40416 Strength coach Dario Saisan joins to discuss how AI and research are evolving the field. We dive into biomechanics, skill acquisition, and why the next generation is moving toward adaptive systems that sharpen human intuition. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dario Saisan 513: Dario Saisan on Foot Training, Deceleration, and Elastic Mechanics full 1:29:25 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153849151&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F513_Dario_Saison.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-2" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-512/ Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:50:28 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40405 Today’s podcast guest is Håkan Andersson. Håkan is a veteran Swedish sprint coach with over 40 years of experience developing elite sprinters, jumpers, and team-sport athletes. Based in Sundsvall, Sweden, he has coached national record holders and Olympic finalists, and has played a key role in the evolution of Scandinavian sprint training. For today’s podcast I join Håkan to explore the evolution of speed training, from early interval-based systems to modern high-velocity methods. We discuss the role of resisted and assisted sprinting, mechanized training tools, and how different athlete “types” respond to various workloads. Håkan shares insights on acceleration mechanics, overspeed training, and balancing intensity with long-term development. The conversation blends history, science, and practical coaching wisdom for building faster, more resilient athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Topics 0:00 – Introduction and Background 5:34 – Evolution of Sprint Training Methods 7:16 – Environmental Influences on Performance 11:12 – Shifts in Sprinting Training Philosophy 14:14 – The Rise of Modern Sprinting Techniques 17:11 – The Mechanics of Resisted Sprint Training 24:08 – The Impact of Training Machines 27:47 – Exploring Overspeed Training Techniques 29:52 – Practical Applications of Assisted Sprinting 32:47 – The Impulse Problem 36:08 – Understanding Sprinting Mechanics 39:04 – The Future of Sprint Training 43:57 – Thoughts on Sprinting Strategies 1:08:20 – Håkan's Upcoming Plans Håkan Andersson Quotes "You try to do the best out of what you have, right? And if you focus too much on that [limitations of the environment], you're never going to succeed anyway." "Remote coaching doesn't really work, you know. ...It's what you do every day that counts." "I think your environment dictates how you train and your training program and so forth." "Resisted sprinting, it slows things down; it makes it a bit easier to work with technical details." "Resistive sprint, it can constrain the body into positions and timings that favors horizontal force acceleration. That is, of course, crucial for acceleration." "I really, really never liked heavy sleds, you know, because I found that it disturbed the rhythm of the athletes." "I find that below 10% decrement doesn't really give you enough stimuli." "The goal is always to keep the mechanics intact, you know, not to overload this so much." "Don't pull people to supersonic speed, but sometimes get exposed to almost competition speed. But never to go super maximum." About Håkan Andersson Håkan Andersson is a veteran Swedish sprint coach with over 40 years of experience developing elite sprinters, jumpers, and team-sport athletes. Based in Sundsvall, Sweden, he has coached national record holders and Olympic finalists, and has played a key role in the evolution of Scandinavian sprint training. Known for his practical, data-informed approach, Håkan blends traditional methods with modern innovations in resisted and assisted sprinting to optimize acceleration and speed development. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Håkan Andersson 512: Håkan Andersson on Acceleration, Elasticity, and the Future of Sprint Training full 1:09:13 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153831112&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F512_Hakan_Andersson.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-3" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-511/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:20:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40397 Today’s podcast guest is Mike Guadango. Mike is a performance coach and founder of Freak Strength, known for developing athletes from youth to the professional level across sports like baseball and football. A former All-American collegiate baseball player, Guadango blends strength, speed, and movement quality into a systems-based approach focused on long-term development, resilience, and high-level performance. In this episode, Mike breaks down his evolving approach to athletic development, emphasizing general preparation as the foundation for long-term performance. He discusses building capacity through high-volume med ball throws, tempo work, and progressive strength layers, alongside the role of isometrics and elastic training. Guadango also shares his perspective on fascia, intent, and movement quality, highlighting how simple, well-executed principles drive adaptation more than chasing trends or overly complex methods. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and Lila Exogen. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Topics 0:00 – Welcome Back, Mike Guadango 4:39 – Modern Lifestyle Challenges 10:40 – The Power of Fasting 20:56 – Sleep and Productivity 28:58 – Training Mindset and Mastery 36:33 – Intent vs. Result 42:41 – The Role of Environment 51:04 – Creating a Training Environment 1:06:43 – Training Individuality 1:30:24 – Coaching Philosophy and Bias 1:36:26 – The Role of Fascia Mike Guadango Quotes "The nervous system doesn't care about the weight; it cares about the intent." "Environment is the invisible coach. It's the thing that's working when you're not talking." "You can have the best program in the world, but if the energy in the room is dead, the results are going to be dead too." "Most people coach how they were coached or how they were successful as athletes. And that's usually the worst thing you can do for the person in front of you." "Mastery is not about knowing more things. It’s about knowing the same things at a much deeper level and understanding how they all connect." "We have to stop looking at training as just sets and reps and start looking at it as a way to manipulate the environment to get the result we want." "If you can’t get the athlete to buy into the process, the science behind the program doesn't matter. You have to win the person before you can train the athlete." About Mike Guadango Mike Guadango is a performance coach and founder of Freak Strength, known for developing athletes from youth to the professional level, including competitors in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and Olympic sport. A former All-American collegiate baseball player, Guadango transitioned early into coaching, where he trained under respected figures such as Buddy Morris and James Smith. He has served as a Director of Sports Performance at a high-level training facility and brings a holistic approach shaped by experience in both strength and conditioning and manual therapy, including work as a licensed acupuncturist. Through Freak Strength, Guadango continues to coach, consult, and educate, blending performance training with a systems-based view of long-term athlete development. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mike Guadango 511: Mike Guadango on First Principles of Building the Total Athlete full 1:45:48 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153814609&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F511_Mike_Guadango.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-4" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-510/ Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:42:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40381 Today’s podcast guest is Daniel Coyle. Daniel is a bestselling author and journalist known for his work on talent development and team culture. He is the author of The Talent Code and The Culture Code, and has written extensively on performance for The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. In this episode, Daniel Coyle joins the show to discuss why elite performance is rooted in relationships and shared environments. Using stories from Alaska to professional sports organizations, he explains the power of "connective pauses" and the importance of athlete ownership. The conversation bridges talent, coaching, and culture, constraint-led learning, and team rituals, as well as fostering resilience and creativity. This episode offers practical insights for coaches seeking to build more connected, adaptive, and high-performing athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance gear. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Topics 0:00 – Introduction to Dan's Journey 6:47 – The Value of Relationships 8:42 – The Power of Connective Pauses 12:14 – The Curiosity of Writing 15:20 – Individual vs. Group Dynamics 19:07 – The Role of Coaches 22:52 – Insights from the Cleveland Guardians 34:20 – Adversity and Team Resilience 40:48 – Learning from Each Other 48:15 – Creating Space for Play 54:19 – Embracing Exploration and Mess Daniel Coyle Quotes "The group brain's always better than the individual brain." "If you can get one plus one plus one to equal 10, whether that's on the coaching side or whether that's on the athletic side, all that happens in the space between people." "Relationships are what make us go." "Connective pauses, where we can feed the relationships, ends up being the simplest and the most powerful thing you can do." "The job of a coach is to identify really good questions and see where they lead." "It ain't about what you know, it's about the questions you explore with other people." "Community happens in moments. It's not made of information being exchanged. It's experiences." "Athletes develop themselves. You don't do development to someone." "Your job as a coach isn't to deliver answers, it's to create an environment where people can self-organize around obstacles and figure it out." "You don't get better when you're obedient. You get better when you own the process, own the effort, and fail and navigate and figure it out." "The relational piece is foundational to the whole thing." About Daniel Coyle Daniel Coyle is a bestselling author and journalist who explores the science of performance, talent, and group culture. He is the author of several influential books, including The Talent Code, The Culture Code, and The Little Book of Talent. His work focuses on how great performers and teams are built, blending neuroscience, psychology, and real-world case studies from elite sport, business, and military organizations. Coyle has written for publications such as The New York Times and Sports Illustrated, and is widely regarded as a leading voice on skill acquisition and high-performance environments. Joel SMith, Just-fly-sports.com, Daniel Coyle 510: Daniel Coyle on The Hidden Force Behind Great Athletes full 1:04:46 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153797716&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F510_Daniel_Coyle.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-5" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-509/ Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:44:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40371 Danny Lum is a Singaporean strength coach and sport scientist specializing in applied performance research. His work explores strength diagnostics, isometrics, and power development, and he is widely published and recognized for connecting sport science with practical coaching. In this episode, Danny explores the intersection of sport science and real-world performance. Danny shares insights from his research on isometric training, PNF stretching, and velocity-based training, emphasizing how different methods complement rather than replace one another. The conversation dives into squat depth, unilateral vs. bilateral training, and the role of variability in power development. Throughout, Danny highlights a key theme: effective training is individualized, phase-dependent, and built on understanding how the body adapts. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance gear. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Welcome to the Show 2:42 – Journey to Sprinting 5:10 – Strength Training Insights 14:38 – The Power of Isometrics 15:44 – PNF Stretching Explained 24:54 – Programming Isometrics 28:46 – Unilateral vs. Bilateral Training 36:33 – Velocity-Based Training 44:20 – The Importance of Variation 52:42 – Research on Isometric Strength 1:07:38 – Yearly Training Plan Danny Lum Quotes "When you lift heavy weights, if you have maximum intent, even though the external movement looks slow, there is rapid neural firing. It doesn't necessarily mean that slow movement during heavy lifting means you are not having a fast neural firing, which is relevant to sprinting." "For sprinters, when the knee is lifted up at the highest point, they don't just allow the leg to drop passively. They actually start developing force and hammer down right from the highest point. That is where your hip flexion angle is about 90 degrees. So if you're not strong at that position, then you're not maximizing the amount of force you can develop through the full range of movement." "If you're going to do static stretch during your warm-up, you might as well just perform isometric contraction at that position as well. That helps to not only activate your muscle, but you actually microdose isometric training every day." "You're strengthening your muscle at the long muscle length, and that long muscle length is where the muscular-tendinous system is most vulnerable. If you are not strong at that range, then your risk of injury just increases. But if you can get yourself stronger at the long range, you're actually protecting yourself." "If we are talking about loading the tissue itself...loading the muscle and tendon tissue, then doing unilateral work is probably going to benefit more because you can actually load the quads more by doing single-leg squat as compared to double-leg bilateral squat." "Having a variety of load actually gives greater adaptation. I think that why that's the case is because you allow the person to have a little bit of velocity focus and a little bit of force focus in the training." "If I contract rapidly, and I sustain for three seconds, because that allows me to build to a higher peak force, my strength actually increased more, and I also significantly increased my rate of force development. It allowed me to get the best of both worlds; both rate of force development and peak force actually improved." "Isometrics actually improved running economy more than plyometrics. My theory behind it is that runners, while they are running, is sort of like a low-intensity plyometric. So with a higher-intensity plyometric versus isometric, which is a totally new stimulus, they actually adapt more with the new stimulus as compared to plyometrics." "Today, the athlete might be able to lift 100 kilograms for five reps before he feels fatigue, and on a bad day, three reps. If I standardize in the program five reps every day, then on some days he might be overtraining, and that’s where velocity training provides the advantage. I’m still getting him to lift at his daily maximal of effort, but it’s self-regulated." "I don't really go too movement specific. Usually, I'll be more general in that sense because I prefer to build up the physical capacity rather than being overly specific. But having said that, most of the exercises have to be relevant to how they function." "Isometric training is probably the best way to improve angle-specific force generation capability. On the other hand, we also know that tissue adaptation is greater when training at longer muscle length. So you're actually stretching the muscle and the tendon a little more, and that will result in greater improvement in hypertrophy as well as greater tendon stiffness." "As they’re closer to the major competition, I’ll replace the dynamic heavy lifting with isometric training. I won’t replace everything, but I’ll replace part of it just so that they can recover better with a lower level of fatigue, so that leading up, they won’t have a fried central nervous system." About Danny Lum Danny Lum is a Singapore-based strength and conditioning coach and sport scientist known for his work in applied performance research and athlete development. He has held roles in both academic and high-performance sport settings, blending research with practical coaching. Danny’s work focuses on areas such as strength diagnostics, isometric training, unilateral vs. bilateral force production, and optimizing power for sport. He is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and is a frequent presenter at international conferences, bridging the gap between sport science and real-world coaching practice. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Danny Lum 509: Danny Lum on Isometrics, Elasticity, and Sprint Transfer full 1:09:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153781260&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F509_Danny_Lum.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-6" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-508/ Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:39:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40361 Sarah Miller is a strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Tech Athletics, blending a background in dance, theater, and stunt performance with collegiate S&C. Her work emphasizes coordination, rhythm, and adaptable movement alongside traditional strength and power development. In this episode, Sarah Miller shares her unconventional path from dance, theater, and stunt performance into collegiate strength and conditioning, and how those roots shape her coaching philosophy. She explores how movement is deeply tied to psychology, emotion, and rhythm, challenging traditional, overly mechanical approaches to training. The conversation dives into habit, inhibition, and awareness, emphasizing the importance of freeing athletes from rigid patterns and reconnecting them with more natural, adaptable movement strategies. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance gear. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) 0:00 – Introduction to Sarah 8:08 – The Art of Falling 9:40 – Movement and Psychology 13:04 – The Role of Rhythm in Performance 19:54 – Exploring Movement Patterns 25:02 – The Interplay of Mind and Body 30:51 – The Trying Self vs. Non-Trying Self 37:03 – Integrating Exploration into Training 42:45 – Movement Archetypes in Dance 51:56 – The Challenge of Bound Movement 1:02:22 – Coaching Individualized Movement 1:15:21 – The Complexity of Movement Quality Sarah Miller Quotes "If you don't have complete awareness of your own physicality, of what your body communicates, you don't know what things you're selling and how that's being read." "Psychology influences movement and what I call affective qualities of movement... even in something as basic and foundational as a squat, your mental state is going to influence your execution." "We often want to chase automaticity, but you can really become a slave to habit. There's really great freedom in being able to break from what is habitual, especially if you're unaware of what's happening in that habitual action." "If you believe that the body and mind truly are one, it's not that you just have a body that's controlled by your head or a body that influences your head... there can be an emotional reaction to doing something physical." "The trying self is just focused on achieving an end goal. Rather than being grounded in the present moment, rather than being grounded in your senses and having an awareness, you're in your head because you're thinking about something in the future. The non-trying self is entirely in the moment, grounded in the senses, aware of what it's taking in from a touch perspective, sound, and what it feels like." "I don't want you to focus on getting the rep up; I want you to focus on the process of getting there and feeling the right things." "Ideally, they're not rigid; they're expressions of movement. They give the color to movement. I do find that athletes naturally tend toward one or the other, both in their personalities and then in how they move." About Sarah Miller Sarah Miller is a strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Tech Athletics, where she works with collegiate athletes to develop speed, power, and resilient movement. She brings a unique background to coaching, having started in dance and theater before transitioning into stunt performance and strength training. Her path into S&C blends artistic movement, body awareness, and high-performance preparation, shaping an approach that values coordination, rhythm, and adaptability alongside traditional strength work. Miller’s coaching reflects a fusion of creative movement roots with applied sports performance in the collegiate setting. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Sarah Miller 508: Sarah Miller on Movement Archetypes and the Missing Layer of Athletic Development full 1:27:31 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153764526&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F508_Sarah_Miller_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-7" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-507/ Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:04:30 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40353 Richard Burnett is a sports performance coach with experience working across high-level athletic environments, including NFL Combine preparation, where he specializes in speed and power assessment, plyometric development, and preparing athletes for elite testing and competition. In this episode, Rich Burnett digs into reactive strength testing, jump feedback, and what really matters when evaluating plyometric ability in athletes. Rich explains the differences between tools like the Just Jump mat, force plates, and Plyomat, emphasizing that context and consistency matter more than chasing perfect numbers. The conversation then moves into single-leg RSI, asymmetries, NFL Combine prep, and how reactivity profiles can reveal sprint deficiencies. Rich also shares how he uses isometrics, band-assisted jumps, and single-leg testing to build faster, more explosive athletes with greater confidence and movement efficiency. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance gear. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction to Jump Testing 4:55 – Context in Performance Metrics 8:11 – The Psychology of Feedback 11:59 – Transition to Combine Training 16:10 – The Importance of Single Leg Testing 20:06 – Analyzing Reactive Strength Index (RSI) 32:02 – Asymmetry in Athletic Performance 36:24 – Gamifying the Test 44:59 – Band-Assisted Techniques 55:30 – The Power of Isometrics 1:01:51 – Single Leg Reactivity Insights 1:07:08 – Exploring the Plyomat Richard Burnett Quotes "As long as you're using a piece of tech consistently and coaching well and all the things are the same, that's really what it's all about. That's why Mike Boyle still uses the same deal from 15 years ago and will continue to use the same one because he knows what it's telling him." "The more information you start to uncover the more context you need. Whether it's inflated or not, I know like a 40-inch standing vert on the Just Jump mat is legit. And I also know a 36-inch is good. It still provided us with some key context to allow us to track improvement." "I love RSI as a teaching tool. It's fantastic because a lot of kids don't understand. It's still gluing us in to what's going on with the athlete, how their strategies are. It's helping them understand plyometrics to begin with." "It's also from a symmetry thing, really enlightening to see the difference between a left leg and a right leg when you're testing them independently. You're like, 'wow, that is a massive difference.' And let's remember the fact that this athlete has had two ACLs on this side." "Single leg ground contact time and why you do some of these single leg reactivity drills in the first place because you're dealing with mass in your whole body on one leg. Contact time being rewarded in that sense is not necessarily a bad thing at all. And we're just seeing this clear separation of some of our athletes because of their ability to be more reactive on one leg." "DRI factors in automatically what your initial jump height is. I love it because they want to self-select that. As opposed to stepping off of a box that you just maybe don't feel as confident in, self-selecting that initial jump and then rebounding just feels more confident, feels more engaging and fun for kids." "What I had seen is a really high correlation with single leg max RSI and sprint ability in athletes. Higher than force plate jumps, higher than pretty much anything else." "The step further is now the cyclical five hop where I'm having to really tolerate all of this landing force from my own jump height that I'm creating on the single leg five hop RSI. That's the one that I'm wanting to really flesh out even more to know who's lacking reactivity." "The sprinting is enough for them to get that midfoot forefoot work but there's no real need to specify some sort of plyo around that when they're sprinting already and we sprint so much." About Richard Burnett Richard Burnett is a sports performance coach and the creator of Plyomat, an innovative training system designed to enhance plyometric development, coordination, and reactive strength across a wide range of athletes. With a coaching approach rooted in movement quality and progressive overload, Burnett has built a reputation for blending traditional jump training principles with creative, constraint-based environments that challenge timing, rhythm, and elastic output. His work emphasizes not just how high or far an athlete can jump, but how efficiently they can organize force, absorb impact, and transition between movements. Through Plyomat, Burnett has introduced a practical framework for integrating plyometrics into both high-performance and general athletic settings, offering coaches a scalable system that supports everything from foundational movement literacy to advanced explosive training. His ideas and methods have been adopted by coaches working in team sports, track and field, and youth development, particularly those looking to bridge the gap between structured strength training and dynamic, game-relevant movement. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Richard Burnett 507: Richard Burnett on Reactive Strength and Explosive Isometrics in Combine Prep full 1:09:15 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=153156235&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F507_Rich_Burnett.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-8" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-506/ Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:28:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40345 In this solo episode, Joel Smith explores the principles of programming for speed and power training. Drawing from his own evolution as an athlete and coach, he discusses early influences like high-volume jump programs, Soviet-inspired plyometrics, and classic periodization models. Joel outlines five key programming systems: high-low structure, potentiation sequencing, weekly changeovers, factorization, and autoregulation, while highlighting common mistakes such as excessive volume, overemphasis on one training variable, and over-programming. He emphasizes balancing speed, strength, and capacity, keeping systems simple, and using tools like AI as a thinking partner rather than a replacement for coaching intuition. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 3:30 – Early Training Influences 18:50 – The Big Three: Speed, Strength, Capacity 22:25 – System 1: The High-Low System 31:14 – System 2: Potentiation-Based Training 33:38 – System 3: Australian Jumps & Factorization 38:53 – System 4: Bondarchuk’s Pyramid of Abilities 43:24 – System 5: Triphasic & Wave Loading 49:00 – Programming Mistakes 57:25 – Principles that Work 1:06:31 – Using AI as a Programming Sparring Partner Joel Smith Quotes "We have to zoom out and look at that more slow-cooked, patient, or planned process to get the big picture of things." "Training is not just going out and doing skills; it is doing a set structure over a set of time." "We should understand what it's like to have that high-end training day and how long it takes to recover from it because a lot of training setups don't really account for that." "How do you know which of those stakeholders is really, if we look to the 80-20 principle, 20% of the program being 80% of the neural stimulus? How do we know how that thing is contributing?" "To maximally simplify any training process, we want to achieve a polarization." "Doing those easy days really well is one of the pieces of the art of coaching that's not talked about so much." "The system of an athlete is an amazing thing; it can adapt to the simplest thing. That's actually what makes humans and training and adaptability pretty cool, we don't need that much complexity to adapt." "Do simple better. It's an important place to start and remind ourselves." "With aggressive programs, use them strategically, not permanently." "Don't live inside one system. I think it's valuable to have a few tools in the toolkit with the systems you're familiar with, so you know when and how to use them." "Make [AI] a sparring partner, challenge your thinking. If you can use it as play and challenge, don't let it do your thinking for you." About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and host of the Just Fly Performance Podcast, one of the leading podcasts in strength and conditioning and track and field coaching. A former collegiate strength and track coach, Joel has spent over a decade studying speed, power, and human movement. He is the author of multiple books and online courses on sprinting, jumping, and elastic training, and works with athletes and coaches around the world to develop more powerful and creative approaches to training. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 506: Joel Smith on Programming Essentials for Speed and Power Development full 1:07:44 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=152910022&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F506_Joel_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-9" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-505/ Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:07:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40331 Tyler Franklin is a strength and conditioning coach and physical education instructor based in Murray, Kentucky. He works with athletes to develop strength, speed, and resilient movement through practical training methods. Tyler is also the founder of Feed the Dogs, a platform dedicated to sharing ideas on athletic development and performance. On today’s episode, Tyler discusses building speed, intent, and athleticism through creative training environments. He shares how chase games, partner drills, and simple tools can drive higher effort and engagement than traditional drills alone. The conversation also explores balancing “fun and boring” training elements, teaching discipline through conditioning, and the philosophy behind Tyler’s Feed the Dogs approach; training athletes to be both fast and well-prepared for life beyond sport. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:28 – Journey in Physical Education 3:29 – The Music Connection 10:28 – The Art of Intent 14:12 – The Spectrum of Training 21:27 – Competitive Spirits in Class 26:36 – Embracing Fatigue as a Teacher 48:08 – The Art of Boring Workouts 50:20 – Feed the Dogs Philosophy 58:17 – Mixing Conditioning with Fun Tyler Franklin Quotes "Don't be a molded strawberry... let's meet the standard, let's infect others with good vibes, and don't bring someone down to your level." "I finally had come to terms with I am a physical education teacher and I need to start incorporating some of this stuff because kids love it." "The warmups for our sprints, it doesn't have to be so rigid and it's a perfect time to explore with some of the stuff we're doing." "We still time all that stuff to just reinforce that what we're doing is working. You've gained weight. You're running the same speed, but you've gained 20 pounds. Those are all PRs in my mind." "Don't ever stop doing athletic things. Don't stop sprinting, jumping. Because if you do, it's going to be a bugaboo to get back." "I'm all about doing hard things... you're going to do it and you're going to compete and it's going to be fun and then you'll realize it wasn't that bad." "Once you put the work in, I think that's a big factor of it is you got to kind of disassociate and just go out there and perform... The amount of hours that those guys put in, I think that's a huge thing is just go perform. Don't be the gold medal guy, just go do it." About Tyler Franklin Tyler Franklin is a strength and conditioning coach and physical education instructor based in Murray, Kentucky. Through his work with athletes and students, he focuses on building strength, speed, work capacity and resilient movement patterns that support long-term athletic development. Tyler blends foundational strength training with athletic skill work, emphasizing quality movement and practical methods that translate directly to sport. He is also the founder of Feed the Dogs, working a balance of important qualities in athletes. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tyler Franklin 505: Tyler Franklin on The Power of Intent: Speed, Chase Games, and Athletic Conditioning full 1:03:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=152736843&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F505_Tyler_Franklin.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-10" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-504/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 13:14:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40313 Today’s guest is Vern Gambetta. Vern is a world-renowned sports performance coach with over 50 years of experience across Olympic, professional, and collegiate sport. A pioneer in modern athletic development, he’s known for blending movement skill, strength, and long-term athlete development into a practical, coach-driven system. The more coaching and training leans into data points, KPI’s, rigid standards and an overly specialized model, the more true athleticism, movement and skill development gets choked out. By understanding all aspects of the athletic movement equation, we can give athletes a better total experience in their sport and movement practices. In this episode, Vern leans into his wisdom for a wide-ranging conversation on movement, skill, and the art of coaching. With over 50 years of experience across Olympic and professional sport, Vern shares insights on functional training, sport specificity, plyometrics, rhythm, and why skill expression, not rigid technical models, drives true performance. From jump rope to the dot drill to developing movement “signatures,” this episode is a masterclass in coaching the athlete in front of you. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 3:00 – The Birth of Functional Training 10:39 – The Nature of Fascia 15:33 – Training Spectrum 28:16 – General vs. Specific Movements 38:00 – The Art of Movement 49:31 – Rhythm and Movement 55:15 – Plyometric Training Perspectives 59:50 – The Role of Technology 1:13:16 – Sketching Athletic Sequences About Vern Gambetta Vern Gambetta is a pioneering sports performance coach, educator, and author widely recognized as one of the foundational voices in modern athletic development. With more than five decades of coaching experience, Gambetta has worked across track & field, baseball, swimming, cricket, soccer, basketball, and rugby at youth, collegiate, professional, and Olympic levels. A former track and field coach and longtime advocate for holistic athlete development, Gambetta helped popularize the concept of “functional training” in the 1980s, while consistently emphasizing that training must serve the demands of sport, not marketing trends. His work integrates biomechanics, skill acquisition, rhythm and movement literacy, strength training, and long-term athletic development into a unified system. Gambetta has coached at the Olympic level, worked in Major League Baseball, and served as a consultant to professional teams worldwide. He is the author of multiple books, including Athletic Development and Building the Complete Athlete, and is a sought-after international speaker known for blending science, experience, and practical coaching wisdom. Above all, Gambetta advocates coaching the athlete in front of you, prioritizing movement quality, adaptability, and lifelong development over rigid systems or trends. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Vern Gambetta 504: Vern Gambetta on Plyometrics, Movement, and Art of Skilled Athletic Development full 1:26:03 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=152561740&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F504_Vern_Gambetta.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-11" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-503/ Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:25:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40302 Today’s guest is Dan Cleather. Dan Cleather is a sport scientist, author, and lecturer specializing in biomechanics and strength training. He has worked across elite sport and higher education, helping coaches apply research to real-world performance. Dan is the author of The Little Black Book of Training Wisdom and The Little Blue Book of Training Wisdom, known for challenging conventional ideas and promoting evidence-informed coaching. If you search the internet for training methods and advice, you’ll invariably get a “do this, not that” mentality woven in your brain. The mark of true progress over time, and reaching athletic potential, is more about principles and management than it is picking all the “S-Tier” exercises. Being able to balance paradoxes, hone belief, refine movement and hone the dance of capacity and output defines the training of elite athletes and Olympians. In this episode, Dan discusses everything from developing exercise devices for astronauts in microgravity to the deeper philosophy of how performance truly evolves. We discuss Easy Strength, capacity versus skill development, fatigue as a motor learning constraint, and why adaptation is something we cultivate rather than force. The conversation weaves biomechanics, Tai Chi, Olympic lifting, and the yin-yang rhythm of training into a broader theme: great coaching isn’t about imposing perfection, but creating environments where flow, resilience, and high performance can naturally emerge. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Researching Exercise Countermeasures for Microgravity 2:51 – Recent Publications and the Learning Process of Writing 8:01 – The Science of Change and the Hierarchy of Coaching Skills 12:39 – Lessons Learned from Applying the Easy Strength Method 22:06 – Balancing Skill Building and Capacity Building in Strength Training 32:28 – The Benefits of Traditional Tai Chi Conditioning and Static Holds 45:22 – Historical Wisdom and Experiential Learning in Performance 1:02:15 – Leveraging Fatigue and Constraints for Relaxation and Flow 1:13:59 – The Yin and Yang of Accumulation and Intensification in Training 1:21:06 – Viewing Training as a Sustained Conversation with the Body About Dan Cleather Dan Cleather is a sport scientist, author, and lecturer specializing in biomechanics, strength and conditioning, and performance analysis. With a background in both applied coaching and academic research, Dan has worked extensively in elite sport and higher education, bridging the gap between theory and practice. He is the author of The Little Black Book of Training Wisdom and The Little Blue Book of Training Wisdom, where he challenges conventional thinking and promotes evidence-informed coaching. Dan is known for his clear, analytical approach to training science and his ability to translate complex biomechanics into practical strategies for coaches and athletes. Zac currently treats clients and consults internationally, while continuing to produce educational resources aimed at elevating the standard of movement practice in both clinical and performance settings. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dan Cleather 503: Flow, Force, and the Art of Change in Athletics with Dan Cleather full 1:28:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=152382776&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F503_Dan_Cleather.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-12" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-502/ Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:22:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40289 Today’s guest is Zac Cupples, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, a physical therapist and strength coach known for bridging rehabilitation and performance. He’s the founder of ZacCupples.com and is respected for translating complex concepts around respiration and movement mechanics into practical tools coaches and clinicians can immediately apply to improve efficiency, reduce pain, and enhance performance. The bridge between sports performance rehab is an important one. In the midst of movement mechanics that drive good rehab, and high intensity lifting, lies the knowledge that can help athletes make continual gains while staying robust and healthy for their sport. On today’s show, Zac explores how an athlete’s structure influences movement, strength training, and even injury risk. He shares his track background and how it shaped his coaching, then unpacks concepts like narrow vs. wide “ISA” builds, why some athletes struggle to feel their hamstrings in traditional lifts, and how tools like front loading, box squats, machines, and sprinting can solve it. He also digs into long-duration isometrics, mobility vs. flexibility, and finishes with a fun lightning round. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:23 – Early Athletic Experiences 5:36 – Muscle Activation Challenges 11:22 – Structural Constraints and Movement 25:17 – Rethinking Traditional Strength Training 29:17 – The Role of Machines in Training 36:54 – Weight Shifts and Mechanics 40:45 – Long Hold Activities in Rehab 53:21 – Internal vs. External Rotation 59:27 – Flexibility vs. Mobility 1:07:06 – Lightning Round Questions 1:14:04 – Future Plans and Coaching Focus Zac Cupples Quotes "You got to preserve moving fast because that's how you catch yourself from falling." "It assumes everyone has the same body but no two people are going to perform both of those movements the same way, and it's not going to load the same way." "I start the majority of people with a box squat, because the way I think about a hinge is it's different from a squat because the hips are going to be moving more along that horizontal path." "It's way more useful to think, am I moving up and down? Am I moving side to side? And then just pick exercises within what a person has available." "If someone can't produce certain rotations, and I know that you need those rotations to do this movement, you probably got to find something else to train that pattern within their constraints." "You just have to find the hinge variation that they can execute. And if they don't have much to do that, you have to create constraints." About Zac Cupples Zac Cupples, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS is a physical therapist, strength coach, and educator specializing in human movement, respiration, and performance optimization. He is the founder of ZacCupples.com and has become widely known for translating complex biomechanical and neurophysiological concepts into practical strategies that clinicians and coaches can immediately apply. Zac earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Marquette University and is board certified as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. He has completed extensive post-graduate education through the Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) and integrates principles of respiration, pelvic mechanics, thoracic positioning, and neuromuscular control into both rehabilitation and performance training. Through his online courses, seminars, and educational content, Zac has influenced thousands of clinicians and coaches worldwide. His work bridges the gap between rehab and high performance, helping athletes move more efficiently, reduce pain, and unlock higher levels of strength and speed through better positional awareness and strategic breathing. Zac currently treats clients and consults internationally, while continuing to produce educational resources aimed at elevating the standard of movement practice in both clinical and performance settings. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Zac Cupples 502: Zac Cupples on Hamstring Development and Athletic Movement Mechanics full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F502_Zac_Cupples.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-502%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-13" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-501/ Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:28:12 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40198 Today’s guest is Tanner Care. Tanner Care is a high-performance specialist, currently serving as the Director of Player Performance for the BC Lions (CFL) and the Director of Athletic Performance for the Vancouver Bandits (CEBL). Since 2023, he has also held the role of Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Simon Fraser University, where he oversees the physical development of athletes across 13 collegiate sports. On the surface, strength and conditioning is about increasing an athlete’s physical strength and capacities. To dig deeper and help athletes reach their highest potential, an understanding of sprint-specific forces, athlete archetypes, and dosage of inputs is essential. On today’s show, Tanner talks about his practical framework for elite athlete development. He shares how he integrates max-speed work into sport-specific drills, such as full-court basketball overthrows, and explains his “layered” coaching model, which progresses from foundational health and general capacity to more specific archetyping. The conversation also dives into the technical side of his toolkit, including the use of run-specific isometrics for sprint transfer, plyometric training, and how he balances force-velocity profiles across different athlete types. Ultimately, Tanner advocates for a “health-first” approach in the pro setting, favoring consistent, high-quality inputs over unnecessarily complex training schemes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and Lila Exogen. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:03 – Introduction to Athlete Classification 2:19 – Innovative Training Drills 6:26 – Understanding Movement Signatures 11:32 – Exploring Strength Qualities 19:53 – Classifying Athlete Strength 32:02 – Benefits of Single Leg Strength 45:17 – Adjusting Training Based on Athlete Type 49:30 – Implementing Quasi-Isometrics 56:25 – The Complexity of Training Modalities 1:04:17 – Foot Positioning and Athletic Outcomes 1:07:47 – Closing Thoughts and Future Plans Tanner Care Quotes On Speed in Practice: "So the problem I was trying to solve was how can we check these speed residual boxes within the constraints of practice." On the Priority of Training: "That's layer one health has to come before performance. So removing any potential inhibition." On Dynamic vs. Passive Screening: "I've seen so many people get on a table, assess passive hip internal rotation and say there's some kind of limitation. But when we see it dynamically at sports speed, it's like, oh, there it is." On General Movement Competency: "I can't tell you the amount of professional guys I have come in that like can't do like rudimentary plyometrics like they can't hop or bound stationary let alone locomotively" On Local vs. Global Issues: "Do we have a Ferrari? Do we have a Honda Civic? Do we have a Ferrari with a flat tire? Like, sometimes we just have to deal with local issues, not necessarily broad systems of improving the overall organism." On the Limits of Strength: "We know that the strongest individuals aren't necessarily the most forceful individuals. At some point, there's a clear cutoff." On Stiffness and Propulsion: "Rate of force development and stiffness isn't always a good thing if they don't have the propulsive qualities necessary to actually displace their hips horizontally" On Force and Sprint Performance“If you’re able to generate adequate force at adequate time and attenuate high braking force, that’s always going to correlate positively with sprint performance.” On Weight Room Philosophy: "I try to remove skill or as much skill as I can within the context of the weight room." About Tanner Care Tanner Care is a credentialed strength and conditioning professional specializing in elite athlete development across pro and collegiate levels. He currently serves as Director of Performance for the Vancouver Bandits (CEBL) and the BC Lions (CFL), overseeing strength & conditioning, load management, sport science, and performance nutrition to enhance athlete readiness and longevity. Previously, he was Head Coach of Strength & Conditioning at Simon Fraser University (NCAA), leading programs across multiple sports including men's basketball and track & field, where he built evidence-based training systems. Tanner holds RSCC and CSCS certifications (NSCA), is an EXOS Performance Specialist, and earned his Master's (MS(c)) from the University of Florida. His background includes roles like Head S&C Coach for University of Ottawa rugby. He contributes to the field as a SimpliFaster author, podcast guest on performance systems, and CSCA advisory team member. Passionate about sprint training, speed, and mechanics, he's a dedicated husband, family man, and 49ers fan. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tanner Care 501: Athlete Archetypes and Isometric Standards with Tanner Care full 1:08:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=152023105&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F501_Tanner_Care.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-14" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-500/ Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:33:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40189 Today’s guest is Paul Cater. Paul is a veteran strength and conditioning coach with over 25 years of experience spanning professional baseball, collegiate athletics, and high-performance team environments. Paul is known for blending traditional strength training with rhythm, timing, gravity, and a deeply relational, art-driven approach to coaching. His work challenges purely formulaic or data-driven models and puts the live training session back at the center of athlete development. In an era where training is increasingly automated, optimized, and reduced to dashboards and numbers, it’s easy to lose the human element that actually drives performance. This conversation explores how rhythm, feel, load, and coaching presence shape not just outputs, but adaptability, resilience, and long-term athletic growth. If you’ve ever felt that “something is missing” in modern training environments, this episode speaks directly to that gap. In this episode, Paul and I explore training as a live performance rather than a static program. We discuss using early isometric and axial loading as a readiness anchor, how downbeat rhythm and eccentric timing drive better outputs, and why chasing numbers too aggressively can undermine real performance. We dive into music, movement, art, and coaching intuition, and how creating alive, rhythmic sessions builds stronger athletes, and better coaches, without relying solely on rigid protocols or excessive monitoring. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and Lila Exogen. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Mountain Training Inspirations 6:00 – The Role of Community in Training 12:15 – Performance and the Observer Effect 23:27 – Shifting Training Protocols 32:32 – Balancing Data and Intuition 42:14 – Efficacy of Isometric Training 47:23 – Five-Minute Wonders 53:28 – The Art of Adaptation 57:44 – Embracing the Subconscious 1:28:06 – A Playlist for Performance Quotes from Paul Cater "We're really just trying to create meaning with our training, to justify it to other people, or wives, or coaches, or whatever, but also to really harness what the weight's doing or the external stimulus is doing for us" "I do approach it like it's a performance. A coaching session. And if you pawn so much off to the to the robotics or the formula, it becomes almost like it's a prison." "20 minutes of rolling around on the ground and trying to do the stretching warm-ups- I've just almost eliminated those. Full stop. I can't remember the last time I did an active dynamic or same static stretching things like that." "Can you match time, and beat? ...And that's really everything, because what else is there in the transfer of training if it's not related to that timing tempo and rhythm" "I use the tech throughout the session quite heavily actually, but I don't use it as the primary validator or guider." "The world's greatest warm-up for me is always, we've called it bartending. Where the progression is how much can you hold on your back for five minutes... I just do whatever. Walk around. Rules, you just can't touch the bar to the ground." "Get to that at that perfect point where you feel the adaptation happen then you walk away, and you don't need to do anymore. Like what's the minimal dose you need to do?" About Paul Cater Paul Cater is a veteran strength and conditioning coach with over 25 years of experience working across professional baseball, collegiate athletics, tactical populations, and high-performance team sport environments. He has served in leadership and performance roles with organizations including Major League Baseball, NCAA programs, and private high-performance facilities, and is known for his ability to blend high-intensity strength training with rhythm, coordination, and ecological skill development. Paul’s coaching philosophy emphasizes gravity, timing, and rhythm as foundational drivers of athletic performance. Rather than relying solely on rigid programming or isolated testing, his sessions are built around early exposure to meaningful load, isometric and inertial work, and rhythmic constraints that reveal readiness, alignment, and intent in real time. His work integrates elements of sprint mechanics, change of direction, elastic strength, and movement artistry to create training environments that are both physically effective and psychologically engaging. Currently working in a collegiate performance setting, Paul is deeply interested in coaching as a live, relational craft; treating each session as a performance that develops not just outputs, but awareness, adaptability, and ownership in athletes. His approach bridges traditional strength training with concepts from sport, art, music, and survival movement, offering a perspective that challenges purely automated or data-driven models of performance. Joel Smith, Paul Cater 500: How Rhythm and Isometrics Transform the Warm-Up with Paul Cater full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F500_Paul_Cater_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-500%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-15" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-499/ Thu, 22 Jan 2026 15:35:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40175 Today’s guest is Martin Bingisser. Martin is the founder of HMMR Media, one of the most trusted independent voices in throws and track & field education. A former competitive hammer thrower, Martin blends firsthand experience with deep historical and technical insight to analyze training methods, athlete development, and coaching culture. Through articles, videos, and interviews, his work bridges elite practice and practical coaching, earning him respect from coaches and performance professionals around the world. In a world of rapid-information delivery and short attention spans, the wisdom of master coaches is becoming increasingly rare. Martin has spent substantial time with two legends in the coaching world, Anatoliy Bondarchuk and Vern Gambetta. Spending time discussing the work of the past, and wisdom through the present is a critical practice in forming an effective coaching viewpoint. On today’s episode I chat with Martin in a wide-ranging conversation in coaching lessons on efficiency, adaptability, and performing under pressure (two throws, no warmups, huge crowds). We transition into Bondarchuk’s training philosophy: exercise classification, consistency, “strength” as sport-specific force production, and why weight-room PRs can distract from performance. The episode closes with motor-learning insights on rhythm, holistic cues, and how Vern Gambetta’s “general” work complements specificity. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Martin’s background and training lens 7:05 – Why eccentric strength matters 15:40 – Isometric intent and force expression 24:30 – Tendons, stiffness, and elastic qualities 33:50 – Managing fatigue in strength training 42:15 – Applying eccentric and isometric work 51:20 – Athlete readiness and daily adjustment 1:00:10 – Long term development and durability Quotes from Martin Bingisser "You think, okay, big heavy rock, like it's all about strength. And instead it's about efficiency." "Even the most simple sport that looks like it's all about strength, it's not really just about strength." "It's measurable strength versus this kind of adaptable strength that can fit into different situations." "Is strength how much I can move on a barbell, or is strength how much force I can create in the ring?" "No one is saying you don't have to be strong. Everyone agrees you have to be strong. It's just how do we define strength? and how do we define that? Because all these guys are strong. They're just strong in different ways." "We're doing all the categories the whole year and you need to have that general stuff in there too. So you look at our program throughout the year, we put a lot of work into those general categories, but they're not the highest priority. And we're not doing stuff in the specific preparatory or the general preparatory stuff that's going to hinder our first priority stuff." "Probably 80% of the benefit of Bondarchuk's program comes down to two or three key things. And you can apply those to any type of program. It doesn't have to be Bondarchuk's methods, but one of the big ones is just consistency." "If I see something I like, I try not to say very much except do that again. Like, I don't care what you had to think about to do that, but just do that again. Like that's just reinforcing, those good habits." "Am I just trying to copy a good thrower or am I trying to find a solution that'll fit my athlete? ... But if you don't understand what they're trying to get out of it, you're just trying to copy what you see the video of, it's useless." About Martin Bingisser Martin Bingisser is the founder of HMMR Media, one of the most respected independent platforms covering throws, strength training, and track & field performance. A former competitive hammer thrower, Martin combines firsthand athletic experience with a sharp analytical eye to break down training theory, competition trends, and athlete development across all levels of the sport. Through HMMR Media, he produces in-depth articles, interviews, videos, and educational resources that bridge the gap between elite coaching practice and accessible learning. His work is known for its clarity, historical context, and willingness to challenge oversimplified narratives in modern training. Martin has collaborated with coaches, athletes, and federations worldwide, and his content is widely used by throws coaches, sport scientists, and performance professionals seeking thoughtful, evidence-informed perspectives. His approach emphasizes long-term athlete development, technical mastery, and the craft of coaching; making him a trusted voice in the global track and field community. JoelSmith, Just-fly-sports.com, Martin Bingisser 499: Martin Bingisser on Specific Strength and Training Transfer full 1:21:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=151663069&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FMB_Nest_1_Audio-esv1-90p.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-16" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-498/ Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:25:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40166 Today’s guest is Aaron Uthoff. Aaron Uthoff, PhD, is a sport scientist and coach whose work sits right at the intersection of biomechanics, motor learning, and sprint performance. His research digs into acceleration, force application, and some less conventional forms of locomotion, including backward sprinting, with the goal of connecting solid science to what actually works on the field, track, or in rehab. Backward running shows up all the time in warm-ups and general prep. Most of the time, though, it’s thrown in casually, without much thought about what it might actually be doing for speed, coordination, or tissue loading. In this episode, Aaron walks through his path into performance science, which is anything but linear. From skiing in Montana and playing desert sports, to football and track, to a stretch training horses in Australia, his journey eventually led him to research mentors in Arizona, Scotland, and New Zealand. That broad background shows up clearly in how he thinks about movement. One of the big takeaways from our conversation is Aaron’s overview of research showing that structured backward running programs can improve forward acceleration and even jumping ability. We also get into how backward running can be used as a screening and coordination tool, and where it fits into rehabilitation, including what’s happening at the joints, how muscles are working, and how to progress it without forcing things. We finish by digging into wearable resistance, including asymmetrical loading, and why this emerging tool may have more upside for speed and movement development than most people realize. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and Lila Exogen. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Topics 0:00 – Aaron’s background and coaching lens 6:40 – Seeing movement through posture and orientation 13:25 – Why breathing changes how athletes move 20:45 – Tempo, rhythm, and shaping better movement 30:10 – Constraints based coaching and problem-solving 40:55 – Sprint mechanics without over cueing 51:20 – Using environment to guide adaptation 1:01:30 – Blending strength work with movement quality 1:12:15 – Coaching intuition, feedback, and learning to see Quotes from Aaron Uthoff "Backwards running is about 70 % of the speed of forward. 60 to 70 % of the speed of forwards running. So whatever your maximum speed forward is about 70 % of that backwards for somebody who's been doing it for a little while. So just there tells you that there's not going to be the same magnitude of force as there is with a forward sprint." "If you've got anterior knee pain, which happens with lot of plyometrics, jumping, you think a lot of court-based sports, jumping track-based sports, things like that, you can simply reduce their patellofemoral joint loading by having them go backwards." "What we see that I love preferentially is that we actually get really high hamstring activation concentrically, which is not the case with forwards running." "I've got an injured athlete who had a hamstring injury and just wasn't able to decelerate his shank when he was sprinting forwards. So I had him run backwards. And what that's done is that's trained his hamstring concentrically to basically contract really, really quickly without putting that undue eccentric stress onto the joint on the muscles." "I think it's a good screening tool to see, well, where are they at from a coordination proprioceptive perspective? And you might have somebody that's super duper fast going forwards, but you know, if they actually can apply that skill, then you know, their proprioception is likely off a little bit." "By removing that vision... you're just having to tap into a different system a little bit more. And I find that that's one of the things that allows athletes to really expand their skillset majorly. "Backside mechanics plays a large role in the elasticity that's going to happen and the power that you're to be able to deliver on the front side of the body. And if you shorten that up or you're inefficient or uncomfortable in that space, then you know, backwards running is a really cool way to learn how to do that in a way that is a little bit safer at a slightly lower speed where it's a new drill." "I want you to be racing your belly, basically your belly button and your chest are going to be racing to the finish line. But unlike forward running, I want your belly button just to slightly win. And that just puts them into a posture that allows them to have that, that slightly lean, but still be upright." "Another thing I really like is I want them to stack their hips, basically their ribcages on top of their hips. They've got nice intra-abdominal pressure to allow that elastic recoil to happen through the core." "I think there's a lot more spinal engine utilized intensively with a backwards run than we might realize. And that's one of the major things I'm seeing. So we integrate a lot of spinal engine work into our drills just to help with the ability to carry that in. "If you actively, concentrically contract the hamstring and try to kick that heel out back behind you, and use that as a leading mechanism, then that allows your hip flexor to act concentrically more powerfully as well as it comes down. So you're able to train the anterior side of the thigh much more exclusively." About Aaron Uthoff Aaron Uthoff, PhD, is a sport scientist, researcher, and coach focused on human movement, sprint mechanics, and motor learning. He holds a doctorate in kinesiology, with research centered on how neuromuscular factors influence speed, coordination, and efficiency. He is especially known for his work on acceleration, sprinting, and unconventional locomotor strategies such as backward running, and how these methods affect force application, tissue stress, and motor control. His work blends strong scientific foundations with practical coaching insight, making it highly relevant for track and field, team sports, and rehabilitation environments. Alongside his research, Aaron works closely with coaches and athletes to translate complex biomechanical and neurological ideas into simple, usable training concepts. His approach values curiosity, experimentation, and respecting how the body naturally adapts when it’s exposed to new movement challenges. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Aaron Uthoff 498: Aaron Uthoff on Backwards Running and Linear Sprint Speed full 1:09:26 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=151481917&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F498_Aaron_Uthoff.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-17" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-497/ Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:15:10 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40152 Today’s guest is Hayden Mitchell, Ph.D.  Hayden is a sports performance coach, educator, and researcher specializing in movement ecology and pedagogy, helping coaches design environments that support learning, resilience, self-actualization, and sustainable athletic performance through play and exploration. There is a great deal of conversation in sports performance around methods, including exercises, drills, systems, and models, but far less attention is given to coaching itself. Coaching methodology quietly shapes how athletes experience training, how they relate to challenge and failure, and ultimately how fully they are able to express themselves in performance. On the show today, Hayden speaks about exploring how coaching and physical education shape not just performance, but the whole human being. Hayden shares his path through sport, teaching, and doctoral work, including how life experiences changed his approach to leadership, control, and play. Together they discuss movement ecology, value orientations in coaching, such as mastery, learning process, self-actualization, social responsibility, and ecological integration, and why environment often matters as much as programming. The conversation highlights rhythm, joy, and exploration, along with practical ways coaches can use restraint, better questions, and playful constraints to help athletes own their development. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Hayden’s coaching background 6:42 – Learning through experimentation 13:55 – Movement quality versus output 21:18 – Constraints based coaching 30:07 – Strength that transfers 39:50 – Variability and resilience 48:26 – Developing youth athletes 57:41 – Decision-making under fatigue 1:06:10 – Simplifying training programs 1:14:22 – Long term coaching philosophy Quotes from Hayden "You start to develop more like moderate to really big like teaching orientations where you take away the command, you stop begging for repetition to be perfect and you allow things to become messier in due time." "For me, it's like discovering what somebody is afraid to do." "Whenever I get an adult who's in their like 50s or 60s, we're going to crawl. You have to have a certain charisma about this and you have to laugh and you have to do it with them. You got to be a willing participant in your own way. But once they do that, man, it lights them up." "If I'd just released them to dance, because they love to groove, they love to feel themselves, it would have gotten them into a position of real readiness and their nervous system would have been lit up instead of me exhausting them because we needed that perfect small-sided rondo warmup that everybody else is doing." "An athlete dancing is a joyful athlete and a joyful athlete is tuned in. I don't think there's too many things that offer more value than getting into rhythm throughout a session, before a session, after a session, you gotta feel into your body like that." About Hayden Mitchell Hayden Mitchell, PhD is a sports performance coach, educator, and researcher whose work sits at the intersection of movement ecology, pedagogy, and human development. He has coached and taught across a wide range of settings, from youth and collegiate sport to military, adaptive populations, and general fitness, working with ages 4 to 90. Hayden holds a doctorate in Human Performance and Sport Pedagogy and focuses on how environment, values, and teaching behaviors shape learning, resilience, and performance. His work emphasizes play, rhythm, and self-actualization, helping coaches and athletes move beyond rigid systems toward practices that develop both performance capacity and the whole human being. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Hayden Mitchell 497 497 Play is Not a Break: The Science of Learning through Chaos | Hayden Mitchell full 1:17:46 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=151307807&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F497_Hayden_Mitchell.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-18" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-496/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 14:16:24 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40141 Today’s guest is Dustin Oranchuk, Ph.D. Dustin is a sport scientist focused on sprinting biomechanics, speed development, and force production. Known for blending research with practical coaching insight, his work explores how isometrics, elasticity, and coordination shape high-performance sprinting and athletic movement. Isometric training is one of the “original” forms of strength training, and in the modern day has become one of the most popular areas of discussion and training methodology. Although the practice has exploded, it often lacks an understanding of physiology of adaptation with various methods. In this episode, Dustin explores the evolving world of isometric training, including the origins of isometrics. We discuss differences between pushing and holding contractions, tendon and neural adaptations, and modern applications in performance, rehab, and longevity. The conversation also dives into eccentric quasi-isometrics (EQIs), motivation and measurement challenges, and how coaches can intelligently integrate isometrics alongside plyometrics and traditional strength work. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:11 – Strength Training Beginnings 5:38 – Evolution of Isometric Training 8:38 – Modern Applications of Isometrics 9:52 – Neural vs. Morphological Adaptations 15:45 – The Importance of Long Holds 19:42 – Combining Isometrics and Plyometrics 39:22 – Exploring Eccentric Quasi-Isometrics 47:10 – Periodization and Isometric Training 1:05:48 – Future Research Directions 1:13:00 – Closing Thoughts and Reflections Quotes from Dustin Oranchuk "We can predict performance fairly well from a test where we're actually not moving at all." "I think the main evolution is getting a little bit less towards building peak strength for barbell purposes and a little bit more universal utility for rehabilitation and longevity." "Using isometrics at a variety of different muscle lengths and different contraction durations to try and rehab after a pectare or a quadriceps strain or something like that." "The general or the more popular goal with the longer muscle length movements, or lack thereof, would be morphological adaptations." "Instead of matching a position, you're just trying to get the most sort of bang for your buck out of the isometrics as far as causing hypertrophy, or being able to target tendon rehabilitation, or build work capacity, or some other sort of little bit more morphological adaptation." "Tendons tend to need a certain threshold of intensity to get noticeable or meaningful adaptations. I think it's probably somewhere around 70 % of MBIC or max isometric contraction of a pushing ISO." "It's okay for our SNC work to not look obviously like anything we do on the field." "You can create a really good weight room environment where there's camaraderie and there's competitiveness without any objective measurements." "Pushing into a rack is almost always going to be able to be done at a higher intensity than holding something." About Dustin Oranchuk Dustin Oranchuk, PhD, is a sport scientist specializing in speed development, biomechanics, and force production in sprinting and jumping. He holds a doctorate in sport science and has worked extensively with elite athletes across track and field, team sports, and high-performance environments. Dustin is widely known for his research-informed yet practical approach to sprint mechanics, isometric training, and elastic performance, bridging laboratory insights with real-world coaching application. Through consulting, research, and education, he helps coaches and athletes better understand how force, stiffness, and coordination influence maximal speed and performance. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dustin Oranchuk 496: Dustin Oranchuk on Isometrics, Force Production and Elastic Performance full 1:13:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=151160749&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F496_Dustin_Oranchuk.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-19" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-495/ Wed, 24 Dec 2025 15:10:02 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40133 Today’s guest is Kevin Secours. Kevin is a veteran martial arts coach, author, and former security professional with decades of experience across Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, and Russian Systema. Holding five black belts (including an 8th-dan), Kevin has worked extensively in real-world contexts while also teaching meditation, solo training, and strength rituals. He is the author of Rituals of Strength and Unconstrained, and is known for blending martial tradition, modern training theory, psychology, and philosophical inquiry into human development and resilience The conditioning and tempering of the body in striking sports can draw interesting parallels to collisions needed in jumping, sprinting and landing activities. We can also draw many lessons and ideas from the exercise tradition that goes back centuries with martial arts practice. By understanding combat training disciplines, we can draw out universal application for general movement and performance. In this episode, we explore the deeper purpose of physical training through martial arts and sport performance. Kevin reflects on early experiences with body hardening, cold exposure, and Zen-influenced practice, examining where such methods build resilience and where they become self-destructive. Drawing parallels to sprinting, jumping, and strength training, we discuss collisions, long isometric holds, ritualized discomfort, and fatigue as tools for cultivating awareness, reducing excess tension, and supporting longevity. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Martial arts origins and body hardening 17:48 – Body tension, trauma, and reading the athlete 28:23 – Isometrics, Soviet methods, and slow strength 33:58 – Journaling, drawing, and learning through reflection 45:02 – Mindset, adaptability, and mental speed 56:46 – Representativeness, ritual, and resilience 1:04:26 – Simplify versus deconstruct in training 1:12:25 – Microdosing discomfort and daily resilience 1:17:24 – Comfort seeking and modern training challenges Quotes from Kevin Secours "We refer to it as a calculus of violence. What are you willing to risk for the payoff?" "It's a meditative practice. You're learning the surfacing, and the alignment, and the variability. And you're learning the modulate, how much power you put in, that we all have enough to destroy ourselves." "It's what's called Wolff's Law. You put the bone under stress and the bone is going to thicken." "Some shortcuts are great. Efficiency is amazing, but some things just take time." "You can't just mimic the weights and mimic the reps and hope to get the same result." "The first thing you need to know is you're not buying this rank. It will be given if it's earned." "It was largely psychophysical. Long marathon sparring, long marathon holds and positions, cold water exposure, long meditation right back into fighting. So it was a roller coaster of physical and emotional." "Training should not be trauma." "Don't for a second think they wouldn't have wanted warm showers if they could have had them. Yeah. We are comfort seekers." "You have to educate to understand why you're doing what you're doing. You have to rehearse. So you practice under incrementally growing resistance and then you culminate in a pressure test." About Kevin Secours Kevin Secours is a martial arts coach and author focused on practical skill development, resilience, and real-world application of movement and combat principles. Drawing from decades of training and coaching experience, his work bridges traditional martial arts, modern performance thinking, and personal development. Kevin is known for clear teaching, depth of insight, and an emphasis on adaptability, awareness, and lifelong practice. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kevin Secours 495: Kevin Secours on Rituals of Strength and Movement full 1:18:35 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=150982139&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F495_Kevin_Secours.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-20" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-494/ Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:57:05 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40124 Today’s guest is Quintin Torres, a strength and performance coach specializing in Marinovich/Heus inspired training methods. With a background in martial arts, Quintin focuses on movement quality, coordination, and individualized methods that help athletes build strength that truly transfers to sport. So often in athletic development, it is only the “hard” or easily quantifiable qualities that we look to develop. Although these are vital, sport itself (even output sports) live “in between the cracks” of maximal outputs, and then movement quality. Training rarely looks to infuse a full spectrum of athletic qualities, yet programming such as that put forth by Marv Marinovich years ago, does capture many of these dynamics. On today’s show, Quintin and I explore the Marinovich nervous system training philosophy, contrasting “soft” qualities like reactivity, rhythm, coordination, and perception with traditional hard metrics such as max strength. We discuss why MMA has embraced these methods, the limits of barbell-centric programming, and the importance of observation, experimentation, and individualized coaching. The conversation emphasizes training transfer to sport, creativity, and maintaining athlete adaptability, longevity, and engagement beyond chasing isolated numbers. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Quintin’s background and entry into nervous system training 6:18 – Why Marinovich methods resonate in MMA 10:04 – Soft qualities versus hard qualities in performance 16:11 – Assessment driven training and athlete context 27:05 – One on one coaching versus group models 31:41 – Training quality, group size, and real world constraints 40:12 – Foot strength, barefoot work, and bottom up thinking 1:13:09 – Strength without compression and alternative tools 1:25:55 – Manual resistance and simple coaching tools 1:27:41 – Teaching, sharing, and coaching philosophy Quotes from Quintin Torres "The primary difference behind, say this training methodology to your traditional strength and conditioning methodologies, is that it prioritizes the development of soft qualities just as much as the development of hard qualities." "Soft qualities is like your rhythm, your timing, your fluidity of movements, your speed, your reaction time, your coordination on top of how much power you can develop." "We don't have any technology to measure how fluid an athlete is moving, how quickly they can acquire new skills." "We focus on very key areas of the body to enhance these mechanisms that makes an athlete talented. Foot strength and neurological drive, muscle elasticity, fluidity of movements." "We don't need you better at training. We need you better at your sport, better at the way you move, better at the way you acquire skills and better at you execute those skills under pressure." "A lot of it's based on athletic assessment and what you can observe as a coach will kind of determine how you develop training methodologies for that athlete." "Everything is trying to influence the nervous system to become more reactive and to adjust to chaos." "Barbell does not equal maximal strength. Barbell is just a tool to try to achieve a neurological drive at maximum strength on the force velocity curve." "When you go into different tools, now you can acquire different qualities when it comes to your strength, your speed, your force generation." "These kettlebells, these barbells, these dumbbells, they're very limited on what you can do as far as developing maximal strength, speed strength, strength speed, or 1RMs." "Sports performance community are not being trained on how to be sports scientists anymore, just coaches." "You got to try new training methods, do experiments. That's why I started diving deep into evo sports system with Jay Schroeder, because honestly, I was getting bored." About Quintin Torres Quintin Torres is a strength and performance coach with a deep background in mixed martial arts and combat sports. A former competitive MMA athlete, he specializes in nervous system–driven training methods influenced by the Marinovich system, emphasizing reactivity, coordination, and movement quality alongside strength. Quintin works closely with fighters and athletes to individualize training based on biomechanics, perception, and sport demands, helping them build resilient, adaptable performance that transfers directly to competition. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Quintin Torres 494: Quintin Torres on Reactive Strength and Applied Power Development full 1:28:22 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=150839930&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F494_Quintin_Torres.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-21" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-493/ Thu, 11 Dec 2025 21:40:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40115 Today’s podcast is a solo episode on keys to athletic longevity and ability. This isn’t just a “stay strong as you age” show, but rather, speaks to principles of comprehensive embodiment of the movement and strength training process. Here I break down 10 core principles for true athletic longevity; physically, mentally, and creatively. Drawing from decades of coaching, training, and personal evolution, I explore why mastery of bodyweight skills, seasonal training rhythms, and “doing more with less” are essential as athletes age. I dive into the power of games, community, mythos, and ritual in keeping training joyful and sustainable, and explain how reflection, visualization, and a generalist mindset unlock deeper layers of performance. Whether you’re 18 or 68, I share a roadmap for staying explosive, engaged, and young at heart; so your training stops feeling like an obligation and starts feeling like an adventure again. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) 0:03 - Introduction to Athletic Longevity 1:09 - Mastery of Bodyweight Strength 7:15 - Doing More with Less 14:48 - Beyond Output: The Joy of Training 33:28 - Working with the Seasons 41:15 - Community and Gameplay 43:04 - The Mythos of Training 54:06 - Reflective Practices for Growth 1:02:29 - Staying Young at Heart 1:05:21 - Conclusion and Training Opportunities Quotes from Joel “Longevity is not about chasing numbers. It is about staying able.” “Minimalism forces your body to become smarter instead of stiffer.” “When you stop obsessing over the output, you rediscover the joy of the process.” “If you follow the seasons, your training stays fresh and your body stays adaptable.” “Gameplay brings out movement qualities you cannot coach in the weight room.” “Your training story matters. It keeps you showing up long after the numbers stop improving.” “Reflection is the anchor that keeps your training aligned with who you are becoming.” “Staying young at heart is as much a training strategy as it is a mindset.” About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports, a leading education platform in speed, power, and human movement. A former NCAA Division I strength coach with over a decade of collegiate experience, Joel has trained athletes ranging from high school standouts to Olympians. He hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, one of the top shows in the sports performance field, and is the author of multiple books on athletic development. Known for blending biomechanics, skill acquisition, and creative coaching methods, Joel helps athletes and coaches unlock higher performance through elastic strength, movement literacy, and holistic training principles. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 493: Joel Smith on 10 Keys to Athletic Longevity and Peak Performance full 1:05:55 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=150674795&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F493_Joel_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-22" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-492/ Thu, 04 Dec 2025 13:38:45 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40099 Today’s guest is Dr. Jarod Burton. Jarod is a chiropractor and sports performance coach focused on neurology-driven movement. He blends manual therapy, strength modailities, and nervous system training to unlock better mechanics and athletic output. His work centers on identifying and clearing the neural limits that hold athletes back. In training, there are many layers to human performance and athletic outputs. One critical layer is the power transmission of the nervous system, and how to unlock this ability in all athletes. Many athletes naturally have a more adept system, while others may need more bridges to reach their highest levels of performance. In this episode, Jarod speaks on how his approach has evolved since entering clinical practice. He shares how he uses flywheel training to teach rhythm, “the dance” of force, and powerful catches rather than just concentric effort. He and Joel dig into spinal mobility, ribcage expansion, and even breakdance-style spinal waves as underrated keys to athletic freedom. Jarod then simplifies neurology for coaches, explaining how posture reveals brain-side imbalances and how targeted “fast stretch” work, loud/sticky altitude drops, and intelligently high training volumes can rebalance the system and unlock performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 - Jarod’s background and early coaching lens6:55 - Internal vs external focus and simple cues13:40 - What good movement feels like20:10 - Speed shapes and improving posture29:18 - Blending strength with elastic qualities41:02 - Breathing mechanics and better movement options52:37 - Pelvis function and creating better positions1:00:15 - Skill acquisition and training that sticks1:11:48 - Programming principles and individual needs1:19:40 - Coaching philosophy and athlete communication Jarod Burton Quotes "Most of the time when people get into the flywheel there's a learning curve and I like to think of it as it's a nice dance." "One of the biggest things I love about flywheels is that you can get a very powerful stick, like a very powerful impulse, like catch and then redirection of energy." "The most important part is actually the patience and the catch at the very bottom. So you might squat up super fast and then you squat back down, but the flywheel is still turning and you're waiting for it to grab. And then as soon as it grabs you, then that's when you stick and then powerfully redirect the force." "When you're getting that rapid catch and change of direction, you're getting your muscles to rapidly fire at a lengthened state, which would just also further help them recover." "A postural pattern will reveal a side of the area of the brain that's underactive or overactive." "When the system gets sensory overloaded, it down regulates the motor system. And so if I can keep the system balanced out, the motor system is going to be upregulated and it's going to be functioning at a much higher level." "I always tell coaches, let's do 59 seconds of assessing and 59 minutes of training, essentially." "Once you understand and you see all these individuals posture, you don't unsee it. And within four seconds, you know exactly how to train somebody." "How your posture lies will tell you exactly which direction the muscles need to go to reset tone. And that's essentially all we're doing is when you reset tone, it rebalances out the brain." "It turns out that a lot of the exercises that we do don't even come close to mimicking the same amount of stimulus that you get in a baseball throw." "What I would find that would create the most amount of stimulus or the fastest rate coding high motor unit recruitment was rapid stops where you're basically catching something and you don't move." About Jarod Burton Dr. Jarod Burton is a chiropractor and sports performance coach who lives in the intersection of clinical practice, neuroscience, and high-performance human movement. A student of neurology and motor learning, Jarod works to uncover the hidden nervous system constraints that influence posture, coordination, elasticity, and power expression in sport. His methods combine manual therapy, joint mapping, sensory integration, and movement-based diagnostics to create individualized solutions that free up range, recalibrate neural rhythm, and unlock athletic speed, strength, and resilience. Jarod is passionate about a holistic philosophy of performance; one where the brain, body, and environment work in concert to reveal the best version of the athlete. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jarod Burton 492: Jarod Burton on Simplified Neurology and the Dance of Power Output full 1:17:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=150473637&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F492_Jarod_Burton.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-23" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-491/ Thu, 27 Nov 2025 14:10:21 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40087 Today’s guest is Reinis Krēgers, a former champion decathlete turned track and physical education coach. Reinis is dedicated to building complete movers: fast, coordinated, confident athletes who understand their bodies. His training blends classical sprint development with exploratory tasks, helping athletes develop physical literacy and long-term adaptability. In sports performance, we often fixate on exercises, cues, and optimizing micro-qualities in the moment. What we discuss far less, yet what often separates the elite, is the role of play, creativity, and culture. By looking closely at events like the pole vault and hurdles, we can see how a developmental, curiosity-driven approach benefits athletes of every sport. In this episode, Reinis shares the remarkable story of losing a finger, training exclusively with his non-dominant hand, and still setting a shot put PR. This opens the door to a rich discussion on cross-education, novelty, and how the brain actually learns movement. We explore play-based coaching, pole vault as a developmental super-tool, contrasts between Eastern and American coaching philosophies, youth sport creativity, and sustainable tendon development. It’s a conversation full of insight, storytelling, and reminders of what truly anchors a lifelong athletic journey: curiosity, joy, and the art of falling in love with movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) 0:00 – Early upbringing in Latvia and falling in love with movement 6:18 – Play, curiosity, and environment driven athlete development 14:50 – Injuries, setbacks, and choosing to continue competing 23:40 – Czech training experience and constraints based coaching 33:05 – European versus American development and long term athlete philosophy 45:10 – Games, novelty, and bringing play back into training 59:47 – Specialization mistakes and the importance of multi sport development 1:11:48 – Plyometrics, bounding, and gradual tissue adaptation 1:22:40 – Injury lessons, tendon health, and the value of long term gradual loading Quotes from Reinis Krēgers "In art of coaching, there has to be that mystery a little bit in some ways." "I give a lot of constraints to kids for sprinting purposes, for actually developing their form and awareness in space. I try to explain them the constraint that you're developing something, you're developing the brain." "The mess is good. The more mess the better, really. And embrace it. It's about changing the value system for coach, I think, and an educator." "The world record holder played a lot. Why do we dare to say that we shouldn't?" "Elite athletics is that like you just need to put in hours and reps and sets over years. Cumulative training effect: if you stay in the game if you don't have many disruptions and interruptions of training you should get somewhere like it's a formula." "I was the oldest but the healthiest because they never took out sprints all year long. You're doing accelerations in off season four times a week." "It will basically increase the recovery, the nervous system recovery if you do the opposite hand or leg." About Reinis Krēgers Reinis Krēgers is a Latvian track and physical preparation coach known for blending classical sprint mechanics with modern movement ecology. With a background in athletics and physical education, Reinis has built a reputation for developing athletes who are not only fast, but exceptionally coordinated, elastic, and adaptable across environments. Drawing from European sprint traditions, plyometric culture, and cutting-edge motor-learning principles, Reinis emphasizes rhythm, posture, and natural force expression before “numbers.” His training sessions regularly weave together technical sprint development, multi-planar strength, and exploratory movement tasks, giving athletes the bandwidth to become resilient movers rather than rigid specialists. Reinis works across youth, club, and competitive settings, helping sprinters, jumpers, and team-sport athletes gain speed, power, and physical literacy. His coaching is marked by clarity, intentionality, and an ability to meet athletes where they are, building them from foundational movement quality toward high-performance execution. Whether on the track or in the PE hall, Reinis’ mission is the same: develop confident, capable movers who understand their bodies, enjoy the process, and carry a lifelong relationship with athleticism. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Reinis Krēgers 491: Reinis Krēgers on Play-Based Athleticism and Elastic Power Development full 1:35:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=150264325&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F491_Reinis_Kregers.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-24" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-490/ Thu, 20 Nov 2025 14:00:28 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40078 Today’s guest is Austin Jochum. Austin Jochum is the founder of Jochum Strength, a former All-Conference safety turned performance coach known for playful, movement-rich training. He blends strength, speed, and adaptability to help athletes build real-world capability and enjoy the process. So often, coaches inadvertently play by the formal “rules” of coaching, through substantial instruction, within smaller boxes of training. Gameplay and sport itself are the ultimate example of task-based stimulation, chaos, and problem-solving, and the more we learn from it, the more effective our training can become. In this episode, Austin Jochum and I explore how coaching transforms when you trade rigid cues for play, stimulus, and athlete-driven learning. We dig into why intent and novelty matter, how to “win the day” without chasing constant PRs, and the power of environments that let athletes self-organize. Austin speaks on his recent dive into improving his Olympic lifting, and subsequent improvement in explosive athletic power, along with the masculine and feminine nature of the snatch and clean and jerk, respectively. Finally, Austin also breaks down the JST Olympics—his team-based approach that’s exploding motivation, competition, and performance in the gym. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) 0:00 – Austin’s background, wrestling influence, and early training lens 8:12 – How wrestling shaped his coaching, problem-solving, and creativity 14:30 – Working with movement constraints, unpredictability, and the “maze” idea 22:40 – Why he prioritizes exploration over instruction 31:18 – Building athletic bandwidth through games and environmental design 38:01 – Touch on wrestling in training and contact-oriented movement 45:10 – Heavy rope training, rhythm, and full-body sequencing 52:46 – Hiring coaches and building culture inside his gym 1:01:37 – Athlete intuitiveness, imitation, and imitation-driven learning 1:10:55 – Recovery methods, cold exposure, and principles behind them 1:18:42 – Breathing mechanics, sensory awareness, and relaxation 1:24:52 – Tempo, rhythm, and “feel” in athletic movement 1:30:48 – Coaching philosophy and where Austin is heading next Quotes from Austin Jochum "That was a big coaching shift for me is like working for the athletes in front of me and what their feedback was versus working for the Boyles, working for the head strength coach, working for the head sport coach, working for the head administrator that just wants to see pretty straight lines and their program regurgitated over and over again." "Why can't today we give them a benefit, a reason to show up and have fun so that we can get to those long-term gains." "It's all LARPing like we are LARPing as strength coaches when we do that and I don't know if it's just like they're not aware enough to realize they're LARPing, but it's like it's a video game they are playing and it's like they're trying to play off that they know something more than other people." "You should not be here to correct an athlete's foot placements on a skip when it's like, man, when is that, when is that applicable?" "The thing that works is getting intent and being excited for your training. If you're not excited to go Olympic lift, they're not going to work." "You're going to become a faster athlete if you PR in your sprints every other week. Like why are we not going and approaching it that way to get that high stimulus out of the athlete?" "If you can stack days of your wins, I'm telling you, you get the athletes way more stimulus and they're way more psychologically ready." "Once I got to like 350 on my clean and got to like 225 on the snatch, I stopped noticing the direct benefit, just because it was a strength deficit. I stopped noticing the direct benefit to my sprints and jumps. Now the benefit comes when I'm hitting that 65 to 85 % range." About Austin Jochum Austin Jochum is the founder of Jochum Strength, a performance coach known for blending old-school grit with modern movement science. A former University of St. Thomas football player and All-Conference safety, Austin built his philosophy around “training the human first,” emphasizing play, adaptability, and athletic expression over rigid templates. His coaching blends strength, speed, breathwork, and movement variability, creating athletes who are not just powerful—but resilient and skillful in chaotic environments. Through his in-person gym in Minnesota, online programs, and the Jochum Strength Podcast, Austin has become a leading voice in community-driven athletic development, helping athletes and everyday movers reconnect with their bodies, build real-world ability, and enjoy the process. 490: Austin Jochum on Engineering an Elite Training Stimulus full 1:15:25 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=150071196&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F490_Austin_Jochum.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-25" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-489/ Thu, 13 Nov 2025 13:53:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40064 Today’s guest is Bill Smart. Bill is a sport scientist and physical preparation coach specializing in elite fight-sports performance. As the founder of Smarter Performance and the Strength & Conditioning lead for the CORE MMA team, Bill integrates cutting-edge evidence with real-world high-performance systems to enable combat athletes to show up on fight day in optimal physiological condition. Much of the conversation in sports performance hinges on speed and power development, or conditioning, as a stand-alone conversation. Sport itself is dynamic and combines elements of speed, strength, and endurance in a dynamic space. Training should follow the same considerations to be truly alive and effective. In the episode, Bill shares his journey from cycling and rowing to combat sports. He discusses how long isometric holds develop both physical and mental resilience, and their implementation in his programming. The conversation dives into muscle-oxygen dynamics, integrating ISOs with conditioning, and how testing shapes his approach. Bill also explores flywheel eccentrics, fascicle-length development, and why sprinting is a key element for maintaining elastic power in elite fighters. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses 30-50% off all courses until December 1, 2025. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com) Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Bill’s coaching journey and early mentors 6:04 – The importance of movement observation and intuition 11:35 – Why athletes plateau and how to identify limiting factors 20:42 – Strength training principles that actually transfer 30:01 – Using movement variability and play in training 40:36 – Coaching communication and creating connection 52:09 – The role of curiosity and creativity in coaching longevity 1:00:55 – Key lessons from years of coaching experience Quotes from Bill Smart "I know Gus and Angus Ross, who is one of my colleagues at HPCNZ he talks about those long ISOs as being basically your average motivated athletes training method because it's uncomfortable you've got to be very motivated to move through it." "Soon as there's a bit of like involuntary muscle action, you're probably in quite a productive place in terms of timeframe." "The cognitive element is something that gets brushed over a little bit, especially from scientific populations, which is interesting because essentially the brain governs everything that we do." "I do think that it's quite common that we often disassociate cognitive from physical." "Breathing is one of those other things that plays a large role in some of the efficiency components." "Whatever the intervention is matches what we need for the sport and not an excess. And for fighters a lot of the times, conditioning is definitely not something that's lacking. So it's it's great to have these other means to elicit some of that." "Skills training is like the absolute most important thing. So basically all training from a conditioning or strength standpoint needs to be maximally efficient to get to design results for an athlete." "The primary area that you find mixed martial arts athletes will fatigue is the upper body because of like all the clinch work, the grappling work." About Bill Smart Bill Smart is a sport scientist and physical preparation coach specialising in elite fight-sports performance. As the founder of Smarter Performance and the Strength & Conditioning lead for the CORE MMA team, Bill integrates cutting-edge evidence with real-world high-performance systems to enable combat athletes to show up on fight day in optimal physiological condition. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bill Smart 489: Bill Smart on Isometrics, Flywheels, and Elastic Power Development full 1:03:06 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=149895485&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F489_Bill_Smart.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-26" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-488/ Thu, 06 Nov 2025 13:56:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40042 Today’s guest is Sam Elsner. Sam is a former NCAA Division III national champion thrower turned motor learning writer and educator. He’s the author of The Play Advantage and creator of the Substack CALIBRATE, where he explores how humans learn movement through play, perception, and environment design. Sam brings a rare blend of elite athletic experience and deep skill-acquisition insight to help coaches and athletes move beyond drills toward true adaptability and creativity in sport. As athletic performance is largely driven by weight-lifting. It digs into maximal strength and force-related outcomes in such excess that all other elements of athleticism are negated. Skill learning and high velocity movement are the wellspring of sporting success. As such, having a balanced understanding of the training equation is critical for the long-term interest of the athlete. On today’s podcast, Sam and I dive into how athletes truly learn to move. Sam traces his journey from WIAC throws circles to Cal Dietz’s weight room, why a rigid “triphasic for everyone” phase backfired with a soccer team, and how ecological dynamics and a constraints-led lens reshaped his coaching. Together we unpack the strength–skill interplay, 1×20 “slow-cook” gains versus block periodization, the value of autonomous, creative training application. We touch on youth development, culture, and team ecology, plus where pros are experimenting with these ideas. This episode is loaded with both philosophy of training and skill learning, along with practical takeaways in program design. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:18 - Early training experiences and triphasic background 5:44 - Implementing triphasic as a young coach 11:22 - The failure of rigid block periodization 17:49 - Vertical integration and maintaining all qualities 24:58 - Discovery of the ecological dynamics lens 29:57 - Why skill learning changed his view of strength 35:43 - 1x20 as a slow cooking strength framework 43:15 - Autonomy and stance/position freedom in the weight room 52:38 - Culture, environment, and how athletes learn 1:00:43 - Highlight play examples and perception-action 1:14:23 - Constraint-led models in team sport settings 1:20:55 - Where to find Sam’s work Quotes "I use track and field as a segue to bettering my performance and my physical capabilities for football, getting prepped for that." "Traditional skill development or coaching really kind of hindered my capability of my ceiling." "I've always had that overarching question in my head of how do I bridge the gap between practice and game day performance?" "At the time I thought it was drill, rudimentary rote repetition type practices. I'm here today, I'm on the complete opposite end of that on what I believe." "In order to do true Westside, you got to be in Columbus, Ohio at Westside with Louis Simmons or his very close people that he talked with. Otherwise, everything else is just an iteration of Triphasic. It's your own paintbrush on the canvas." "Everything works to a point and it's not just like this way versus this way. No, there's integration. Everything that we do in life is blended together." "If you're able to get younger individuals being able to explore and play, I think later on in their life, they'll be able to be that like "gifted athlete" and be able to allow to come up with their own artistic way of doing things." "I'm in that bank of the more sports, the better as a younger age, like multi-sport athlete, no specialization." "I tried to implement triphasic trainer right away, block periodization and it blew up in my face because it was their preseason work. They're slower. They're not able to adjust on the pitch or anything like that and they're just like slow and just non-athletic." About Sam Elsner Sam Elsner is a former NCAA Division III national champion thrower from the University of Wisconsin-Stout who has transitioned into a leading voice in motor learning and skill acquisition. A six-time All-American and 2018 discus champion, Sam brings a deep, first-hand understanding of performance and training into his current work, exploring how athletes truly learn movement rather than just repeat drills. Now writing the popular Substack CALIBRATE and authoring The Play Advantage, Sam bridges neuroscience, ecological dynamics, and lived athletic experience to help coaches and performers unlock adaptability, creativity, and “feel” in sport. His work reframes coaching from rote technique toward curiosity, environment design, and the art of human learning in motion. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Sam Elsner 488: Sam Elsner on Rewiring Athletic Performance and Movement Learning full 1:22:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=149727318&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F488_Sam_Elsner.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-27" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-487/ Thu, 30 Oct 2025 13:28:51 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40031 Today’s guest is Ben Simons. Ben is a British performance coach and two-time Olympic bobsledder with a background in sprinting and sports science. A former World Cup gold medallist, he’s now focused on helping athletes develop speed, power, and coordination through evidence-based, real-world training methods. Ben blends biomechanics, motor learning, and nervous-system training to build explosive, adaptable athletes. Many speed training topics and conversations focus exclusively on the most stimulating possible methods; fewer get into individual factors, athlete adaptability, and how that speed and power training evolves with the needs of the athlete. On today’s show, Ben and I discuss asymmetry, rhythm, and “aliveness” in sprint and power development. We explore when to let unique mechanics—like Byanda Wlaza’s galloping stride—run their course versus coaching toward a technical model. Ben gets into the general speed training lessons he gained from bobsled, and shares why he now favors yielding isometrics, unilateral strength, and med ball throws over heavy lifts, emphasizing longevity, reflexive strength, and movement variability. We finish with how curvilinear sprints, pool work, and playful, multidirectional movement help athletes stay reactive, adaptable, and pain-free. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Asymmetry, gallop running, and what to do with extremes 12:25 – Air-time vs ground work: why the stuff in the air transfers to sprinting 16:08 – From long jump and 4x100 to bobsled trials and the push track 19:57 – Retirement, coming back, and the management needed for longevity 24:04 – Achilles management, playing sport, and the power of movement variety 31:09 – Practical coaching advice: get people back into the sport they love 41:31 – Curvilinear sprints, feeling safe, and bringing play into rehab 45:53 – How bobsled pushing changed Ben’s acceleration and posterior chain 52:28 – Hamstring training, velocity, and the limits of eccentric volume 59:46 – Practical tools: tank sleds, prowlers, glute-ham machines, and Zurcher split squats 1:08:19 – Why Ben minimized compound max lifts and what he uses now 1:24:46 – Programming for mature athletes: living off the strength bank and using yield isometrics  Quotes from Ben Simons "Almost all speed coaches are going to try and move their athletes back towards that perfect technical model." "Kicking a ball thousands of times in your development... you very quickly fall into your dominant leg." "One of the arguments with traditional A's and B's is that you're isolating one side and you're changing the learning process there because you're actually taking a reflexive action, which is the cross-extensive reflex that you get in a dribble." "Modulating the pain is a huge piece within that rehabilitation because you're not going to compensate as much when you feel less pain." "Just making sure we stay in touch with that reflexive part of the movement, you know, in the coupling phase, in the amortization is key." "When you're upright pushing a bobsleigh... you have got to put that impulse through the sled itself. So it does feel like there's almost a punching going on with your handles." "If you get him into a glute ham raise... can really feel that pelvis position under duress which is a great way to teach people where they are in space because a lot of people just don't understand the tension that they need within that pelvis and lumbar to get it neutral." "I think in developmental stages, it's definitely those compound lifts and max strength methods are the easiest way to make gains in strength and output... But I just wonder once that money is in the bank, how far you need to pursue them." About Ben Simons Ben Simons OLY is a British performance coach and former Olympic bobsledder with a background in sprinting and sports science. A two-time Olympian (Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018) and World Cup gold medallist, Ben spent a decade representing Great Britain on the international stage, competing in over 120 events. Before bobsleigh, he was a Welsh indoor 60 m champion and studied sports science at Cardiff Met, experiences that laid the foundation for his lifelong focus on speed and power development. Today, Ben brings that elite-sport experience to his work as a strength, speed, and performance coach. His approach blends biomechanics, motor learning, and nervous-system training to help athletes move efficiently and perform explosively under pressure. With an emphasis on coordination, recovery, and data-driven methods, Ben coaches athletes and teams across sports to bridge the gap between research and real-world performance, developing complete athletes who are as resilient and adaptable as they are fast and strong. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ben Simons 487: Ben Simons on Speed Training and the Art of Explosive Longevity full 1:35:54 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=149571683&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F487_Ben_Simons_01.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-28" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-486/ Thu, 23 Oct 2025 13:16:47 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40021 Today’s guest is Cody Hughes. Cody is a strength and performance coach at Farm & Forge in Nashville, blending over a decade of collegiate and private-sector experience into a practical, athlete-centered approach. His work bridges foundational movement with modern tools like VBT and GPS tracking, always anchored by the belief that health drives performance. With the rising influence of technology in training, it can become more difficult to look clearly at the core facets of athletic force production, as well as how to optimally use technology to fill gaps, inform decisions, and even motivate groups. On today’s episode, Cody traces his shift from heavy-loading bias to a performance lens built on force management, eccentric RFD, and training that actually reflects sport. We unpack depth drops vs. “snapdowns,” why rigid “landing mechanics” miss the mark, and how movement literacy, variability, and velocity drive speed and durability. On the tech side, we get into velocity-based training (VBT) as a feedback and motivation tool, using it to gamify effort and auto-regulate load, and knowing when to remove the numbers to protect recovery and intent. Leaderboards, incentives, and smart stimulus design all matter, but Cody keeps it clear that data supports the human element that produces real power. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 – Early lifting story and the hip replacement turning point 5:31 – Coaching development, biases, and error-driven learning 19:29 – The snapdown debate: context, progressions, and purpose 25:44 – What eccentric RFD tells us about athletic durability 30:42 – Strength as expression: assessments and force-plate logic 42:31 – Movement literacy and using competitive, decision-rich drills 49:30 – VBT explained: feedback, governors, and gamification 56:50 – When to hide feedback: elite athletes and psychological load 1:01:35 – Where VBT shines: youth and early training ages 1:25:28 – Wrap up and where to find Cody Quotes from Cody Hughes "You gotta have a minimum of like 135-140 minutes a week of training to be effective to get some type of minimum effective dose." "Movement efficiency is everything to be able to express any type of movement skill." "Too many people running high school weight rooms are simply sport coaches that felt like they know what they're doing. They pull out a manual from what they did or they think that they used a very shallow thinking model of X football team won X amount of games, therefore their program must work." "If you can't explain what you're doing with your program... it's just this carbon copy. It's a dead static program, not a living environment or a living complex system where you're making decisions based off of your kids." "Performance coaching... it's such an art. There is no straightforward answer, like period." "Load is inversely correlated with speed. Great. So now we can match velocities to the type of stimulus we're looking for on top of trying to gamify the training in order to amplify the stimulus of the training that already existed." "If you stand on a force plate, I can take three measurements with propulsive power, breaking power at MRSI and learn a lot about what you can do and how you express it." "You don't just want to reward the fast kid because if the fast kid may always be the fast kid, they need to be incentivized to try to be a more fast kid." About Cody Hughes Cody Hughes, MS, SCCC, CSCS, PSL1, is a strength and performance coach at Farm & Forge in Nashville, Tennessee. A former collegiate athlete with more than a decade of coaching experience across NCAA Division I and II programs, high schools, and the private sector, Cody brings a practical, athlete-centered approach to performance training. His work focuses on building strong movement foundations, using technology like velocity-based training and GPS tracking to inform programming without losing the art of coaching. At Farm & Forge, Cody leads programs for athletes ranging from youth to professionals in sports such as football, hockey, and tennis. Whether guiding a developing athlete or a veteran player, Cody’s goal is to help each individual move well, train smart, and perform consistently at their best. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cody Hughes 486: Cody Hughes on Principles of Athlete Centered Power Development full 1:27:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=149417519&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F486_Cody_Hughes.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-29" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-485/ Thu, 16 Oct 2025 12:57:35 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=40010 Today’s guest is James de Lacey. James is a professional strength and conditioning coach and the founder of Sweet Science of Fighting, a leading platform for combat sports performance. He has coached in professional rugby leagues across New Zealand, Europe, and the United States, and has trained athletes in MMA, boxing, Muay Thai, and BJJ. Through Sweet Science of Fighting, he delivers evidence-based programs and education for fighters and coaches worldwide. Strength training for athleticism typically focuses on sets, reps, and general forces, but rarely gets into aliveness and skill management of the resistance itself. The former is great for building basic physical competencies, but in integrating the latter, we can breathe more life into a performance program. On today’s show, we dive into James' approach to building athletic strength and power across multiple mediums. We explore how Olympic lifting, especially pull variations, connects to real sport actions, and how striking and collision sports highlight the importance of timing, rigidity, and effective mass. We also break down resistance methods like oscillatory work, flywheels, and accentuated eccentrics, focusing on their alive, reactive qualities rather than just load. These principles carry into speed and power training, including plyometrics and sprinting, with rhythm and movement quality as a central theme. The episode makes strong connections between field sports and combat sports, showing how momentum, relaxation, and rigidity at impact shape performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:56 - Olympic Lifting Philosophy and Sport-Specific Implementation 4:26 - The Role of Bar Flex and Slack in Block Pulls vs. Rack Pulls 7:03 - High Block Work for Impulse and Technical Refinement 12:22 - Oscillatory Training and the Limits of Maximal Strength 24:49 - Upper/Lower Body Dissociation for Fluid Movement and Game Speed 52:25 - Controlled Eccentric Overload using Flywheel Technology Quotes "High pull was probably my favorite variation of all time, just because you're supporting heavy loads, you're having to maintain positions over the bar, and then you're having this violent extension pulling it vertically." "I found snatch variations tend to be easier on the shoulders for a lot of athletes, like especially in rugby and stuff. They're not actually that easier to learn than the clean variation because the front rack is so difficult for so many people." "The power rack holds the bar, whereas the blocks hold the plates. You have no slack. So it just makes it way harder." "I stole from Vern (Gambetta) the power lunge and lean. So like the medicine ball out in front, and as you step forward, you kind of rotate over, and it's like continuous. And then the same thing overhead and lean. Those two, I use those on warmups all the time. They're great." "Regarding the actual eccentric, people will say it's not eccentric overload because it gives you the same as what you put concentrically. But you can modify the way you either do the concentric or the eccentric to be able to create the overload." "I think a lot of these machines, the best applications are in the eccentric overload stuff, because you're limited with traditional lifting where you either have to do super heavy loads, multiple spotters, or weight releases." About James de Lacey James de Lacey is a professional strength & conditioning coach and the founder of Sweet Science of Fighting, a leading platform for combat sports performance education. He holds a Master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Science and has worked as an S&C coach in professional rugby leagues across New Zealand, Europe, and the United States, as well as with MMA, boxing, Muay Thai, and BJJ athletes. Through Sweet Science of Fighting, he creates evidence-based programs, courses, and research breakdowns focused on strength, power, conditioning, and technical performance for fighters and coaches. His work bridges sports science with the practical demands of combat sports, making high-level training methods accessible and applicable worldwide. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, James de Lacey 485: James de Lacey on Rhythm, Reactivity, and the Art of Athletic Power full 1:13:46 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=149255707&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F485_James_De_Lacey.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-30" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-484/ Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:22:00 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39996 Today’s guest is Manuel Buitrago. Manuel is a PhD, along with being the founder and director of MaStrength, a global education brand dedicated to authentic Chinese weightlifting. Since launching MaStrength in 2014, he’s taught 100+ seminars worldwide, authored Chinese Weightlifting: A Visual Guide to Technique and Chinese Weightlifting: Technical Mastery & Training There are many misconceptions in the world of strength training, especially as the lens of a skeletal pressure-based view is not included in modern training systems. When skeletal pressure dynamics are understood, it allows us to see why athletes prefer particular variations of lifts, how and why they fail lifts, and what aspects of the lifts themselves lead to better athletic outcomes. On today’s episode, Manuel speaks on the practicalities of weightlifting and how it carries over to sport. He compares powerlifting and Olympic lifting from a technique and transfer standpoint, and gets into how body shapes, breathing, and set-ups affect a lift. Manuel also touches on connective tissue and why it matters for performance and durability. From this episode, you’ll learn concepts about the Olympic and powerlifts that can not only improve lifting performance but also facilitate a better transfer to athleticism and movement ability. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer at thedunkcamp.com Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 - From gymnastics and powerlifting to Chinese weightlifting 3:34 - First Olympic lifting exposure via IronMind footage and Pyrs Dimas 5:40 - The Chinese team’s systematic approach that sparked the study abroad 9:30 - Breathing, shapes, and the funnel concept for lifting 26:15 - Bottom-up squats: why weightlifting squats differ from powerlifting squats 30:45 - Training near the hip and block work to bias upward, explosive shapes 41:08 - Squat jerk versus split jerk - body shape, femur length, and selection 54:34 - Box squats, touch-and-go versus deloading - individualize by athlete shape 58:29 - Practical breathing cues to create and switch the funnel shape 1:07:24 - Applying shapes to sport - who benefits from which strategies Quotes "When you do the lifts, it's not just one shape you need because you have to go up, but you also have to go down. "If you're breathing like a power lifter in the start position, you're making your job more difficult." "In weightlifting, the squats happen after the catch. So all of your squats are from the bottom up actually." "People who overhead squat from the rack, they're not going to get as deep. They're not going to bend the same way as they would in a snatch because the snatch is unweighted when you get under it." "People would blame the nervous system, it's like, does not help me in real time when I'm coaching athletes. I need something else and the shape is easier to see." "You totally can bend bone, you know, and they do bend throughout the movements." "All of it is working together. And so you have to find a way to put it all together rather than try to separate it because you'll get lost." About Manuel Buitrago Manuel Buitrago, PhD, is a coach, author, and the founder/director of MaStrength, where he teaches the techniques, theory, and programming principles of Chinese weightlifting to athletes and coaches around the world. He launched MaStrength in 2014 and has since delivered more than a hundred seminars and training camps internationally while building a widely followed library of articles, videos, and social content on Chinese methods. Buitrago holds an honorary weightlifting coaching credential from Chengdu Sports University, reflecting years of study, mentorship, and translation work with Chinese sports scientists and coaches. He is also a certified USA Weightlifting coach and referee. His books—Chinese Weightlifting: A Visual Guide to Technique and Chinese Weightlifting: Technical Mastery & Training—distill the system’s technical model and practical programming into accessible resources that have been translated into multiple languages. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Manuel Buitrago 484: Manuel Buitrago on Olympic Lifting, Pressure Mechanics and Explosive Athleticism full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F484_Manuel_Buitrago.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-484%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-31" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-483/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 12:27:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39984 Today’s guest is Jack Barry. Jack is the founder of JB Performance and a former ABCA DIII All-American (York College, 2021) who played at Salisbury University. After college, he worked at Tread Athletics, then built a remote+in-person coaching model. Jack has coached athletes from high school to pro levels, appeared on Baseball America’s 90th Percentile, and hosts the “Just Rippin’” podcast. On today’s episode, Jack speaks on athletic potential as a function of work capacity with quality, deliberate practice. We unpack the mental side of training, how visualization, targeted self-talk, and timely pattern breaks calm performance anxiety and restore confidence. He also touches on how athletes thrive when they develop a unique identity, balance effort with recovery, and treat mindset and mechanics as equal partners. This is a dynamic episode, at the intersection of pitching skill and global human performance concepts. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:20 – From college ball to new competitive outlets4:10 – Work capacity, family influences, and cross-training7:10 – Adapting training: speed, volume, and specificity10:01 – Aerobic contributions in racket and throwing sports15:46 – Provoking reactivity: stumble drills and innate responses23:16 – Pattern breaks, the yips, and the "be sexy" mentality27:44 – Reactive throwing drills to clean the arm action31:15 – Pre-movement cues and subtle distractions to speed action43:21 – Visualization with highlight reels to build confidence52:25 – Essentialism in training: less and better59:50 – Start with less, progress intelligently1:00:25 – Barefoot training and simplifying the lower half Quotes "I'm probably not going to be the strongest guy in the gym, but darn it if I'm not going to have one of the highest VO2 maxes and work capacity and be able to cook you on the track." "If you want to get faster, if you want to increase your work output, you have to approach those two different sessions in the same way." "If you do want to get faster, if you do want to be able to run further for longer at faster paces, you need to kind of split up the focuses of each one of those training sessions and supplement them in throughout the week." "Racket sports with throwers, especially a lot of crossover there but as far as like the work capacity point definitely a lot easier to sort of program in or give to guys to when you give them like a competitive outlet." "Conditioning for court sports is miserable. If you put us indoors and you just give us lines that we have to go back and forth on for 200 times or whatever for an hour straight. That's the physical sport representation of the looney bin essentially." "The reactive component to pitching is completely unreactive in the sense that you start every play with pitching. You have 20 seconds in between throws and you're throwing to a stagnant target." "You need to verbalize it in order to give it less of an importance or a significance. I'm going to use the Y word." About Jack Barry Jack Barry, CSCS, is the founder of JB Performance, where he helps pitchers turn efficient mechanics and smart workloads into game-day velocity and command. His process blends slow-motion video breakdown, individualized drill progressions, and clear week-to-week plans that are simple to follow and easy to measure. Jack’s focus areas include strength & conditioning, throwing mechanics and workload management, pitch design, and mobility. Jack Barry Performance Before coaching online, Jack played college baseball at Salisbury University, then continued his career at York College (PA), where he earned ABCA Division III All-American honors in 2021. After his playing career, he joined Tread Athletics, sharpening his player-development chops inside a high-feedback, data-aware environment. BachTalk+1 Jack has been featured on Baseball America’s 90th Percentile podcast and hosts “Just Rippin’,” where he talks shop with coaches and athletes. He’s worked with pitchers from high school through the professional ranks, delivering concise feedback after each bullpen—what to keep, what to change, and exactly how to practice it—with objective checkpoints (velo, strike %, spin/axis when available) and long-term arm-health planning. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jack Barry 483: Jack Barry on Confidence and the Art of Instinctive Athleticism full 1:09:23 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=148924779&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F483_Jack_Barry.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-32" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-482/ Thu, 25 Sep 2025 15:29:05 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39971 Today’s guest is Romain Tourillon. Romain is a sports physiotherapist and researcher specializing in the foot–ankle complex, with clinical leadership at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center, La Tour Hospital (Geneva). His PhD at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne examined foot muscle strength and sport performance. It’s important to train the lower legs in athletes, but the question is what type of training is best, especially when it comes to working the toes and forefoot, versus more general calf and shin work. In this episode, Romain discusses his research on forefoot biomechanics and performance. He shares training that boosted MTP (big-toe) flexion strength ~28% in trained athletes and explains how stronger forefeet enhance sprinting, cutting, and jumping via better force transmission and stability. We also cover injury prevention, targeted foot/ankle exercises, challenges in measuring toe strength, and where 3D analyses may take the field— with practical takeaways for coaches and athletes throughout. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses Check out the newest mini-course, Sprint Drills Reloaded on how to maximize sprint drills, their specific strength development, building of major sprint actions, along with better integration of sprint drills into sprinting technique. The special intro sale ends July 1st. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com/courses/sprint-drills-reloaded) Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:00 Building a PhD Protocol from Real-Life Training 4:46 Using Everyday Objects to Innovate Foot Training 8:16 Surface Texture and Proprioception in Barefoot Work 11:27 Breaking Down Romain’s PhD Research on the Forefoot 16:22 Gym and Home-Based Protocols for MTP Flexion 22:11 Measuring Toe and Forefoot Strength Accurately 31:20 Mobility of the Forefoot and Its Role in Force Production 37:31 Results: How 8 Weeks of Forefoot Training Changed Performance 43:54 Explaining the Improvements in Cutting, Jumping, and Sprinting 53:01 Linking Forefoot Strength to Ankle Stability and Injury Prevention 58:23 Isolated Toe Training vs. Global Foot and Calf Training 1:15:09 Designing General Foot-Ankle Programs for Teams Romain Tourillon Quotes "One of my philosophy as a rehab coach is also you know to I would say be able to do all the exercises that I can give to your athletes. Also because you understand a little bit the feeling and the intensity or the way that you have to do it." "There is no good or bad exercise, there is just some parameter that you really have to focus on but you can really have different kind of way of targeting things." "From proprioceptive things we know that the foot and ankle really have the ability to change its biomechanics regarding to the surface that you are in contact with." "We know that if it helps you, your brain will know that and after you've put an ankle which turn off a little bit just to have a kind of economic things." "The idea of the PAG was really to... I would say investigate the role and the function of the forefoot flexion strength." "Those muscles are pretty sensitive to angle and to dorsiflexion. So changing the angle of the ankle, so putting your ankle into dorsiflexion or plantar flexion, change the force length relationships of the extrinsic to flexor." "We don't have an ISO. It's what I say. We don't have an ISO kinetic for the toes. So we don't have any gold standard." About Romain Tourillon Romain Tourillon, PT, PhD, is a sports physiotherapist, researcher, and educator focused on foot–ankle biomechanics in health, injury, and high performance. He leads the foot–ankle service at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center (La Tour Hospital, Geneva) and consults with elite athletes. Romain earned his PhD at Université Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne, with work centered on metatarsophalangeal (MTP) flexion strength and its links to sprinting, cutting, and jumping performance. His publications and talks translate cutting-edge research into practical assessment and training methods for coaches and clinicians. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Romain Tourillon 482: Romain Tourillon on Forefoot Training, Toe Strength, and Athletic Development full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F482_Romain_Tourillon.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-482%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-33" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-481/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:40:15 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39959 Today’s guest is Sam Portland. Sam is a UK-based athletic performance coach and creator of Speed Gate Golf and the Sports Speed System. After a career in professional sport, he now consults with athletes and teams while mentoring coaches toward healthier and more sustainable careers. Sam has worked with athletes from Premiership Rugby, American football, the Olympics, and beyond, and also runs a grassroots “combine program” designed to fill key gaps in long-term athletic development. In this episode, Sam unpacks the evolution of modern athlete performance, highlighting the role of rhythm, movement, and overlooked details of transfer from training to sport. From the simple power of a jump rope to the deeper psychological layers of coaching, Sam’s insights spark critical thinking and creative training solutions. This is a conversation packed with practical takeaways, helpful for any coach or athlete. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:41 – Jump rope, rhythm, and movement foundations. 8:17 – Start with sport specificity: enroll in the sport first. 16:07 – Reject the bloat — prefer simple, efficient training. 23:13 – Simplicity wins: fewer, better training "flavors." 26:58 – Depth over width in warm-ups — give athletes time to groove. 31:09 – End positions are consequences — focus on what happens between them. 33:31 – Beware shiny systems — find what actually transfers to sport. 38:34 – Make training game-relevant: play, don’t just test. 40:37 – Play-first approach: teach skill through sport-like practice. 45:35 – Threat removal and the neurology of speed. 54:32 – Warm-up blueprint and the Sports Speed System (book). Quotes from Sam Portland “It's elastic driven… it requires lots of coordination, lots of timing. You have to be able to sit in this pocket of rhythm.” “I actually just ordered a heavy rope as well for conditioning… let's put it on steroids.” “What first module… needs to be enrolled in a sport? Because that's how you're going to be actually working backwards from the principle of specificity.” “Our profession is incredibly bloated in terms of… how much ownership of adaptation can we keep hold of and attribute to our job without them just playing sport.” “Now her best dish has three—that’s where we need to be heading.” “We're going to play in sport, Joel. That's what we're going to do.” “When you can get that speed not afraid, guess what—you've got space for sport.” “Secret is consistency. Don't change on that at all because that is your tick box.” “Residuals don't matter for team sports.” “The book was written as a field guide…if a 14-year-old picked it up could I make myself better? Yes. If a 20-year coach picked it up could they improve with nuance? Yes.” About Sam Portland Sam Portland is an athletic performance coach from the UK, the creator of speed gate golf and the Sports Speed System. Following a lengthy career in professional sport, he now consults with athletes/teams and helps guide coaches to happier, healthier, and more financially fulfilling careers. Sam has worked with premiership rugby, American football, Olympic athletes, and international competitors across a plethora of sports, including hockey, bobsleigh, and track and field.  Aside from this, Sam keeps in touch with the grassroots aspects of athlete preparation by hosting his ‘combine program’. This program is a long-term athletic development program that fills the essential gaps in physical literacy that are not fulfilled at school or by club sports. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Sam Portland 481: Sam Portland on An Evolution of Sport Speed and Movement Training full 58:44 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F481_Sam_Portland.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-481%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-34" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-480/ Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:21:54 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39948 Today’s guest is Phil Nash. Phil is a Manager of Coach Education at EXOS. He is a seasoned strength and conditioning professional who leads EXOS’s efforts to develop and educate coaches worldwide. Phil specializes in bringing practical, science-based training methods—like plyometrics and medicine-ball work—into performance systems, and regularly shares his expertise at major industry conferences On today’s show, we dig into training models ranging from the force–velocity curve to the idea of infinite games, exploring how these frameworks influence the way we view athletic performance. Phil offers his perspective on blending structured training with the freedom of play, highlighting adaptability and growth as central themes in coaching. This episode provides clear, practical insights for coaches and athletes alike on building both physical capacity and mental resilience. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer Use code “justfly20” for 20% off of LILA Exogen Wearable resistance gear at www.lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 5:12 – Phil’s Journey into Coaching and Performance Training 12:40 – Exploring the Interplay of Science and Coaching Art 22:18 – Building Strong Athlete-Coach Relationships 32:07 – The Role of Autonomy and Curiosity in Development 43:51 – Balancing Physical Preparation with Mental Readiness 55:46 – Using Constraints to Guide Skill and Movement 1:07:12 – Learning from Mistakes and Coaching Growth 1:18:09 – Phil’s Reflections on Longevity and Evolving as a Coach Quotes from Phil Nash “Coaching isn’t just applying science; it’s interpreting it through the lens of people.” “Relationships are the glue that holds performance together.” “Curiosity is the foundation of growth; for athletes and coaches alike.” “Constraints aren’t restrictions; they’re invitations for creativity.” “Mistakes are part of the process; if you’re not making them, you’re not pushing boundaries.” “Longevity comes from curiosity and humility, not from clinging to old ways.” About Phil Nash Phillip Nash, MS, CSCS, currently serves as Manager of Coach Education at EXOS, the global, science-driven performance company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. With a background in strength and conditioning (as indicated by his CSCS credential), Phil leads initiatives that shape and elevate the training and development of performance coaches across EXOS’s network of facilities and educational platforms. Phil's role centers on designing and delivering innovative coach education programs that empower trainers, therapists, and performance professionals to implement EXOS’s holistic training system—built on Mindset, Nutrition, Movement, and Recovery- in diverse settings ranging from elite athletics to corporate wellness. He is frequently involved in delivering performance education sessions at major industry events. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Phil Nash 480: Phil Nash on The Infinite Game of Athletic Performance full 1:16:35 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=148418549&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F480_Phil_Nash.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-35" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-479/ Thu, 04 Sep 2025 13:37:57 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39938 Today’s guest is Tim Shieff. Tim is a former world champion freerunner and Ninja Warrior competitor, and the founder of Way of the Rope. After years of high-level competition, he discovered Rope Flow as a way to restore rhythm, coordination, and resilience in movement. Today, he shares this practice worldwide, blending athletic creativity with a simple, sustainable philosophy: low-tech equipment for a high-tech body. In this episode, we explore the transformative power of diverse movement practices in athletic training. From track and field to parkour, breakdance, swimming, and rope flow, we explore how these disciplines shape skill development and reveal the qualitative aspects of elite sport movement. Tim also shares his journey from traditional sports to discovering the benefits of innovative movement, offering powerful insights on how athletes can unlock agility, strength, and resilience by taking a holistic approach to training. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 5:36 – Exploring Yoga, Biomechanics, and Training Through Injury 10:43 – Discovering Movement Connections Through Slow Practice 23:26 – Parkour Training as a Unique Learning Process 31:41 – Balancing Intensity, Recovery, and Longevity in Training 42:08 – The Value of Gentleness in Building Strength 53:30 – Using Constraints to Improve Movement Awareness 59:08 – Applying Martial Intent and Precision in Movement 1:01:31 – Rope Flow as a Tool for Coordination and Rhythm 1:11:17 – Integrating Jump Rope and Rope Flow into Athletic Training Tim Shieff Quotes “Yoga gave me a way to keep moving through injury—it wasn’t about doing less, it was about moving differently.” “When you slow things down, you start to feel the sequencing. That’s when you notice where the leaks are.” “Parkour taught me adaptability. It’s not about repeating drills, it’s about solving problems in movement.” “If you chase intensity every session, you won’t last. Longevity comes from balancing work with recovery.” “Strength doesn’t always come from force. Sometimes it comes from gentleness and precision.” “Constraints are teachers. When you take options away, athletes discover new solutions on their own.” “You have to train both ends of the spectrum—the slow and the fast, the gentle and the intense.” “Martial intent is powerful. Every move should have purpose, not just be going through the motions.” “Rope flow is rhythm in motion—it’s about learning how to coordinate without overthinking.” “Jump rope gives you stiffness, rope flow gives you fluidity. Together, they balance each other.” About Tim Shieff Tim Shieff, founder of Way of the Rope, is a former world champion freerunner turned movement innovator. Born in Connecticut in 1988 and raised in Derby, England, Tim first expressed his athletic creativity through breakdancing before transitioning into a professional freerunning and parkour career. He rose to prominence by winning the 2009 Barclaycard World Freerun Championship and competing in international events like Red Bull’s Art of Motion, along with TV appearances on MTV’s Ultimate Parkour Challenge, American Ninja Warrior, and Ninja Warrior UK, where he captained Team Europe in the USA vs. The World specials. After years of competition, Tim began struggling with chronic injuries, which led him to explore biomechanics and new approaches to movement. In 2018, he discovered Rope Flow through inventor David Weck, an experience that became a turning point in his career. Inspired by the practice’s ability to restore rhythm, coordination, and flow, Tim trained extensively with Weck before bringing his own vision to life. In 2020, with Weck’s blessing, he launched Way of the Rope, an educational platform built around programs such as “8-Weeks to Fluidity,” which help people rediscover athleticism and body awareness through rope-based movement. Beyond physical training, Tim’s philosophy is rooted in simplicity and sustainability. He believes in the mantra, “Low tech equipment = high tech body,” and his team crafts ropes from recycled materials with biodegradable packaging, reflecting a deep commitment to both people and the planet. By making his work accessible worldwide and offering flexible pricing to those in need, Tim has transformed Way of the Rope into more than just a training method—it is a mindful, ethical practice dedicated to helping individuals move with freedom, fluidity, and purpose. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tim Shieff 479: Tim Shieff on Exploring Fluidity, Coordination, and Sustainable Performance full 1:22:39 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=148247604&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F479_Tim_Shieff.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-36" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-478/ Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:57:21 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39923 Today’s guest is Dr. Michael Schofield. Mike is a New Zealand sports scientist and track and field coach with a PhD in biomechanics and strength and conditioning. He has coached athletes to Olympic, World Championship, and Commonwealth Games finals in the throws, while also developing national-level sprinters and weightlifters. His strength and conditioning work spans multiple sports, from golf to stand-up paddleboarding. Mike has done substantial research in, and is a subject matter expert in the role of connective tissues in athletic movement and force production. This podcast explores the crucial functions of connective tissue in athletic performance. We examine how tendons, ligaments, and fascia support movement, prevent injuries, and contribute to force production. Mike also disperses exactly what fascia and connective tissue does, and does not do in animal (and human) movement profiles. Through the podcast, Mike reveals the mechanisms of connective tissue and how understanding it can improve training outcomes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 2:10 – The Role of Connective Tissue 5:27 – Exploring Elasticity in Motion 7:25 – Muscle vs. Fascia: A Complex Debate 16:14 – Understanding Strength and Sequencing 23:49 – The Importance of Movement Literacy 36:13 – Fascial Lines and Their Impact 44:31 – Training the Fascial System 49:14 – Functional Training Insights 54:31 – The Role of Balance in Performance 57:26 – Understanding Tendon Stiffness 1:14:04 – Compliance vs. Stiffness in Athleticism 1:18:55 – Training Strategies for Different Athletes Michael Schofield Quotes “Connective tissue is not just scaffolding—it’s an active part of how force is transferred and how movement is sequenced.” “Elasticity is rhythm. It’s the ability to recycle energy instead of relying on constant muscular effort.” “When we talk about strength, we’re really talking about sequencing. If you load too heavy too soon, you can actually break the sequence.” “Movement literacy comes before strength. If an athlete can’t explore movement, then the strength they build is fragile.” “Fascial lines are not rigid anatomy—they’re adaptable patterns. They change depending on how you move.” “The fascial system responds to rhythm, variability, and oscillation. It’s a spring system, not a muscle system.” “Functional training is not about copying sport skills. It’s about training qualities that transfer.” “Balance is contextual. Sometimes you challenge it, sometimes you support it. Machines can actually help you wire high rates of force by providing stability.” “Tendon stiffness isn’t about being tight—it’s about efficiency. It’s how well you can store and release energy.” “Every athlete needs a different recipe of compliance, stiffness, sequencing, and raw strength. There’s no one-size-fits-all.” About Michael Schofield Dr. Michael Schofield is a sports scientist and track and field coach from New Zealand, specializing in biomechanics and strength and conditioning. He holds a PhD focused on track and field throws and a Master’s degree in strength and conditioning with an emphasis on golf performance. Over his coaching career, Dr. Schofield has guided athletes to Olympic, World Championship, and Commonwealth Games finals in shot put, discus, and hammer, while also developing national-level sprinters and weightlifters. His expertise as a strength and conditioning coach spans a diverse range of sports, from stand-up paddleboarding to golf, applying a scientific yet practical approach to improving athletic performance. Driven by a passion for both research and applied coaching, Dr. Schofield continues to bridge the gap between cutting-edge sports science and the daily realities of high-performance sport. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Michael Schofield 478: Michael Schofield on Tendons, Fascia and Elastic Recoil in Athletic Movement full 1:35:51 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=148088155&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F478_Michael_Schofield.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-37" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-477/ Thu, 21 Aug 2025 12:37:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39915 Today’s guest is Boo Schexnayder. Irving “Boo” Schexnayder is a world-class coach and consultant with over 44 years of experience in track and field. Renowned for producing 26 NCAA Champions and 8 Olympic/World Championship medalists, he co-founded Schexnayder Athletic Consulting and founded the Track and Field Academy. A former LSU coach and USA Track and Field leader, Boo’s expertise in biomechanics and training design extends to multiple sports, making him a sought-after mentor worldwide. It's common to think that, as time moves forward in any discipline, that discipline becomes better. What seems to define much of athletic performance and sport itself is that outputs become the priority while movement quality and literacy become watered down. On today’s podcast, Boo gives wisdom into the process of comprehensive athletic development by leaning into general strength and movement training. He goes over his movement batteries, scramble circuits, training diversity, and tempo sprints. Boo also gives his take on the use of supramaximal eccentrics, covers hamstring injury prevention strategies, and discusses his sprint-float-sprint protocols, alongside a sea of further training wisdom. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:25 – The evolution of general strength since the 90s 23:12 – General strength across track and team sports 28:47 – Adding multi-directional work for linear athletes 37:18 – Managing tempo volume for higher intensity 42:50 – Polarized training over middle-ground tempo 44:14 – Using tempo for restoration, not breakdown 47:24 – Short sprints on low days to cap tissue load 48:50 – Eccentric overload within a balanced profile 57:08 – Sprinting and mobility for hamstring resilience 1:12:02 – Setting fly-float-fly zones by max velocity 1:12:52 – Coaching lessons that shaped training design Quotes “General strength is nothing more than organized calisthenics, hurdle mobility, medicine ball, and weight room circuits—things that prepare the athlete to do more specific work later.” “The problem is when coaches think more volume automatically means more adaptation. In reality, more often means less intensity, and intensity is the driver.” “You can’t just live in the weight room and call that athletic preparation. The body has to move in multiple planes and directions to be resilient.” “Sprinting itself is the best hamstring exercise—done well, it’s the most specific and most protective thing you can do.” “Tempo is not about running people into the ground. It’s about rhythm, relaxation, and restoration.” “We’re not trying to build superheroes in the weight room—we’re trying to build athletes who can apply force efficiently in their sport.” “Acceleration is simple: push hard, push long. Max velocity is rhythm and posture—completely different skills.” “Short accelerations, 10 meters or less, can safely live on low days. They touch speed without adding unnecessary tissue load.” “Coaches get too enamored with exercises. What matters is how the training fits into the bigger puzzle.” “The art of coaching is not how much you can add, but how much you can subtract while still making the athlete better.” About Boo Schexnayder Irving “Boo” Schexnayder is an internationally respected coach and consultant with over 44 years of experience in training design and biomechanics. Best known for his 18 years with LSU Track and Field, he is recognized as one of the greatest field event coaches in NCAA history, producing 26 NCAA Champions, 18 Olympians, and 8 Olympic or World Championship medalists, while contributing to 13 NCAA team titles. Beyond his success on the track, Boo co-founded Schexnayder Athletic Consulting and has been a leading voice in coaching education, serving as program director of the USTFCCCA Track and Field Academy and holding leadership roles with USA Track and Field. His expertise extends into professional and collegiate sports across football, basketball, soccer, golf, and volleyball, where he has designed programs for speed, power, and rehabilitation. A former mathematics teacher from Vacherie, Louisiana, Boo is known for blending science with simplicity, earning global recognition as a mentor, educator, and one of the most trusted figures in athletic performance. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Boo Schexnayder 477: Boo Schexnayder on General Strength and the Art of Comprehensive Athletic Development full 1:17:00 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=147929915&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F477_Boo_S.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-38" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-476/ Thu, 14 Aug 2025 17:04:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39903 Today’s guest is Kathy Sierra. Kathy Sierra is a computer scientist, author, and horse-movement innovator who bridges neuroscience, learning psychology, and equine training. Co-creator of the award-winning Head First programming series and founder of the JavaRanch community, she later turned her expertise in intrinsic motivation toward her lifelong passion for horses. Through her Panther Flow approach, Kathy helps horses and riders unlock confident, curious, and expressive movement, sharing her work worldwide through courses, workshops, and writing. In training and movement, drilling “perfect form” is standard practice. The more we get into how humans learn, the more we realize that “perfect form” is a myth, and learning is a far more complex venture. Using both differential learning (variety) and constraints helps athletes hone in on their own optimal (and robust) technique, without needing to constantly be looking for one “perfect” way to do things. This is not only true in animals, but also in humans and in machine learning. On this week’s episode, Kathy covers aspects of training horses using the same motor learning concepts that work best in humans. She also goes into how and why robots learn to move better based on constraints, trial and error, versus a “perfect technique” type of programming. This is a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion on human movement, learning, and sport skill. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:06 – Introduction to Horse Training Insights 11:16 – Discovering the Community of Movement 21:40 – The Power of Natural Movement 32:19 – Emotions in Movement and Skill Acquisition 41:22 – The Impact of Coaching on Authenticity 53:51 – Techniques for Encouraging Movement Exploration 1:00:23 – The Power of Pattern Interrupts 1:11:34 – The Role of Exploration in Coaching 1:15:18 – Adapting Like Animals 1:22:42 – Embracing Novelty for Movement 1:29:25 – The Myth of Optimality 1:35:18 – Serendipity in Learning Quotes “If they don’t feel safe, they’re not going to move in a way that’s authentic or open.” “Sometimes the best thing you can do as a coach is to wait and watch before you say anything.” “You can’t cue someone into confidence—it has to be experienced.” “When the environment invites them to explore, you don’t have to force the learning.” “I’d rather see ten different solutions than one perfect one that only works in one situation.” “Novelty wakes up the system. It changes the way they see and feel the task.” “If all you ever give them is the ‘right way,’ you’re taking away their ability to problem-solve.” “The emotions tied to the movement are as important as the mechanics.” “Animals adapt because they have to. We can train people to do the same by giving them variety.” “Sometimes the magic happens when the plan gets interrupted.” “There’s no one optimal way—there’s only what works for that body in that moment.” “When they discover it for themselves, it sticks in a way no amount of instruction can match.” About Kathy Sierra Kathy Sierra is a trailblazer who bridges technology, neuroscience, and horsemanship. Trained in exercise physiology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and later in computer programming at UCLA, she built a remarkable career in tech as co-creator of the award-winning Head First programming book series, founder of the JavaRanch community, and instructor in interaction design for intrinsic motivation at UCLA Extension and Universal Studios. After years of shaping how people learn complex topics, Kathy turned her attention to her lifelong passion for horses, creating Intrinzen and later Panther Flow, an approach to equine movement and motivation rooted in neuroscience, learning psychology, and pain science. Inspired by her experience rehabilitating her own horse, Panther Flow emphasizes intrinsic motivation to help horses rediscover confidence, curiosity, and joy in movement. Today, Kathy shares her work through courses, workshops, and writing, helping both horses and humans move with more freedom, expression, and resilience. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kathy Sierra 476: Kathy Sierra on Movement Mastery in Horses, Humans, and Robots full 1:42:48 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=147775258&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F476_Kathy_Sierra_Podcast.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-39" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-475/ Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:37:41 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39886 Today’s guest is Tim Riley. Tim Riley is the Director of Sports Performance at Kollective in Austin, where he leads one of the nation’s top NFL off‑season training programs and works with elite athletes across the NFL, NBA, PLL, and AVP. He also serves as a Lead Performance Coach with C4 Energy and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Texas Men’s Lacrosse team. Beyond the weight room, Tim shares his knowledge through his podcast, Coach Em Up, and his social media platforms. On today’s podcast, Tim speaks on how he synthesizes the complexities and possibilities of training into his intuitive process. On the show, we cover numerous items of speed and strength training, digging into the daily training process. We also cover the help and use of strength machines, conditioning, capacity, training stimulation, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:00 – The Need for Simplicity in a Complex Coaching World 6:08 – Is Complexity Distracting Us from What Actually Matters? 11:55 – What Are Athletes Actually Feeling During a Drill? 18:42 – How Do We Make Coaching Feel Less Robotic? 25:30 – What If the Goal Isn’t Perfection, But Exploration? 32:09 – Can We Trust Athletes to Self-Organize? 39:46 – When Do We Step In, and When Do We Step Back? 47:22 – How to Handle “Messy” Reps and Unscripted Movement 54:11 – Are You Coaching for Output or Adaptability? 1:01:18 – Letting Go of the Illusion of Total Control Tim Riley Quotes “I try to make our training something that gets them excited to walk into.” “We’re not playing for points in a warm-up. It’s okay to do things that look a little messy.” “The more you can create an environment where they’re not thinking about the constraints, they’re just immersed in it, the better the movement.” “It doesn’t always need to be, ‘You did this wrong. Do it again.’ It can be, ‘What did you notice? What did you feel?’” “You don’t always need to be the one solving the problem. Sometimes they’ll solve it better than you can.” “The more we can back out and just watch, the more we start to learn about what the athlete actually needs.” “We’ll run circuits that don’t have a ‘right way’—just a way that feels good and makes them think.” “I’ve had athletes say, ‘That felt smooth,’ and that’s more important to me than what the data says.” “I’d rather build something that sustains energy over time than something that just looks impressive on paper.” “A lot of athletes don’t need more drills—they need more ways to engage with what they already know.” “We’re not trying to fix people. We’re trying to help them organize themselves better.” “When they start to ask their own questions about movement, that’s when I know something is clicking.” About Tim Riley Tim Riley is the Director of Sports Performance at Kollective in Austin, TX, where he leads one of the nation’s premier NFL off‑season training programs and works with athletes from the NFL, NBA, PLL, and AVP. He also serves as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of Texas Men’s Lacrosse team and is a Lead Performance Coach with C4 Energy, designing strength and performance initiatives for athletes nationwide. Launching his career in 2017 through NPTI under Professor Dave Boetcher, Tim has since built Tim Riley Training LLC and earned certifications including NASM, Precision Nutrition, and USAW. Mentored by leaders such as Mo Wells, Trey Hardee, and Dr. Pat Davidson, he has developed a reputation for precision in off‑season and in‑season regimens. His holistic philosophy blends physical preparation with mental resilience, and he extends his impact through his podcast, Coach Em Up, and his social media platform @timrileytraining. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tim Riely 475: Tim Riley on Intuitive Speed and Strength Training Concepts full 1:03:28 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=147608443&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F475_Tim_Riley.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-40" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-474/ Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:09:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39865 Joel Smith speaks on 12 reasons why athletes and coaches may hit a plateau in their performance programs. These include: 1. Lack of stimulation in the training environment 2. Too much stimulation in the training environment 3. Not enough creativity or novelty 4. Lack of a clear plan 5. Too much weightlifting 6. Not enough weightlifting 7. Monotony from failing to wave training loads 8. A lack of representative play and exploration 9. Deficits in skill learning 10. Programs that feel too constricting 11. Athletes not feeling truly seen or heard 12.  Gaps in belief and motivation In this episode, we’ll unpack these elements one by one, while also exploring practical methods coaches and athletes can use to break through these plateaus and unlock new levels of performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:10 – Lack of Stimulation in the Training Environment3:18 – Too Much Stimulation in the Training Environment6:00 – Not Enough Creativity or Novelty7:36 – Lack of a Clear Plan10:20 – Too Much Weightlifting12:12 – Not Enough Weightlifting13:44 – Monotony from Failing to Wave Training Loads16:00 – A Lack of Representative Play and Exploration18:25 – Deficits in Skill Learning20:47 – Programs That Feel Too Constricting23:00 – Athletes Not Feeling Truly Seen or Heard25:03 – Gaps in Belief and Motivation Quotes “Lack of this stimulation threshold can be the thing that's keeping an athlete from breaking through to the next level of their performance.” “If you simply put a timer out, you’re timing your sprint now, maybe you’re still by yourself, but it’s actually timed. If I took an untimed sprint and a timed sprint and I put a GPS on that and you weren’t aware of it, but those timed sprints are typically, unless you’re overthinking, going to be faster than just running fast for the sake of running fast.” “When I take competition as well as a task and a little bit of a problem to solve and I mix those together, I can get things that really can stimulate athletes almost beyond what the individual pieces can do.” “The art of creating stimulus within a single training session is a very powerful thing.” “One of the best ways to warm up to dunk a basketball is to play pickup basketball 20 or 30 minutes. You’re feeling more activated and ready to go than just about any traditional canned activation series.” “I believe in those systems that actually are overly stimulating that a lot of that is also a coach is super intense, but can’t shut it off. You need to be stimulating, you just have to be able to shut it off and understand when and how to rest.” “Creativity in coaching and training is simply the ability of a coach to reinvent themselves in their training program and to deliver the basics in a new and fresh way.” “A lot of times those switches to another training group are met with instant gains and progress, and a lot of that instantaneous gain is just simply the novelty. It’s the change.” “Before you can break the rules you have to know the rules.” “Weightlifting itself initially is going to be a really powerful and good stimulus to the athlete, but you’re going to get to a point where the continued strength gains are more about squeezing and stiffness and compression than they are stimulating neuromuscular coordination.” The goal is to rely on the sport itself, to rely on speed itself, to rely on jumping itself, primarily more than how can I lever this weightlifting exercise to get me a little bit more.” One of the biggest deficits in ultimate athletic performance is how we learn, how we put together skills, and how we use things such as differential learning, constraints, analogies, and amplifying the error.” About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance and track coach in Cincinnati, Ohio. Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast and has authored several books and coaches in both the high school and private sectors. Joel was a strength coach for 8 years at UC Berkeley, working with the Swim teams and post-graduate professional swimmers, as well as tennis, water polo, and track and field. A track coach of 17 years, Joel coached for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club for 7 years and also has 6 years of experience coaching on the collegiate level, working at Wilmington College, and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. He is currently coaching high jump at Milford High School. Joel has coached 4 national champions, multiple All-Americans, and NCAA record holders in track and field. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance at Rio in 2016. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 474: Joel Smith on 12 Reasons Athletes Plateau in a Performance Program full 1:01:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=147428992&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F474_Joel_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-41" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-473/ Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:06:48 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39837 Today’s guest is Michael Zweifel. Michael is the Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach at UW–La Crosse, now in his fourth season with the program. He previously founded Building Better Athletes (BBA Performance) in Dubuque, Iowa, training athletes from youth to pro levels. Michael also coached at Clarke College and the University of Dubuque. A former record-setting wide receiver, he won the 2011 Gagliardi Trophy and still holds the NCAA all-divisions career receptions record (463). In athletic development, the “5 S’s of performance”: Strength, Speed, Stamina, Suppleness, and Skill are often brought up. What tends to be the case is that those 5 elements are weighted in that order, with skill mentioned, but rarely or ever studied in how to improve it. On today’s show, Michael discusses his own creative approach to skill development in American football players with an emphasis on building artistry and adaptability in his players. He speaks on the nature of constraint-based coaching that helps athletes improve their arsenal of movements on the field, as well as their decision-making skills amid chaos. We also touch on the crossover between basketball and football, and ultimately, the art of long-term development of skill in one’s sport and as an athlete in general. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:12 – Programming for High School vs. College-Level Athletes 5:03 – Balancing Strength and Movement Skill in Team Settings 11:09 – Developing the Skill of Lifting in Young Athletes 15:34 – Rethinking Readiness: Performance vs. Output 19:43 – Using Split Squats and Progressions for Movement Quality 26:30 – Training the Foot and Ankle Without Overengineering It 31:58 – Prioritizing Play and Variability in Movement Prep 36:30 – Gaining Buy-In Through Fun, Autonomy, and Context 44:52 – Avoiding the Trap of Over-Cueing and Technical Obsession 50:33 – Defining Transfer: Performance, Practice, and Perception 55:51 – Evolving Coaching Philosophy with Experience Quotes “I think we overplay how technical we have to be early on with lifting. It’s not wrong to be technical, but it can almost create fragility in the way we approach training.” “The lift is the skill. So when we coach that, it’s not just about strength—it’s about how you coordinate, how you stabilize, how you organize your body under load.” “I think fun and autonomy are critical. If an athlete walks out of a session with a smile, I don’t care how perfect the sets and reps were—they’re going to come back and buy in again.” “You can tell when someone’s trying to feel their way through a movement—that’s when you know you’re doing something valuable.” About Michael Zweifel Michael Zweifel is in his fourth season on the UW–La Crosse football staff in 2025, serving as the Eagles' Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach  Prior to UW-La Crosse Michael founded and led Building Better Athletes (BBA Performance) in Dubuque, Iowa, coaching athletes across youth, high school, college, and professional levels. From 2013 onward, Michael also contributed as the strength and conditioning coach for Clarke College baseball and as the wide receiver coach at the University of Dubuque (Iowa) beginning in 2022. A standout athlete, Michael won the 2011 Gagliardi Trophy as the nation’s top NCAA Division III football player. He holds NCAA records—including 140 receptions in a season and a career-total 463 receptions across all divisions. He earned his bachelor’s degree—summa cum laude—in exercise science from Dubuque University in 2011 and completed his master’s in kinesiology at the University of Texas at Tyler in 2015. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Michael Zweifel 473: Michael Zweifel on Athletic Artistry and Movement Intelligence full 1:04:36 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=147265797&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FMZ_Podcast_473.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-42" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-472/ Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:03:24 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39820 Today’s guest is Will “Hoss” Ratelle, former All-Big Sky linebacker turned strength and conditioning coach, with experience at the University of North Dakota, the NFL, and the CFL. Known for his intense, results-driven training style, Hoss blends his pro football background with evidence-based methods to build size, speed, and resilience in athletes. He’s also the creator of popular programs like “Hoss Concurrent” and a respected voice in the online performance space. Most fitness and training education tends to be rigid, centered around fixed sets, reps, heart rate zones, and prescribed loads and timing. While this structure has value, athletes eventually need to move beyond it and enter a more adaptive, natural rhythm of training. Sets and reps can serve as a starting point, but great coaching gives training a feel, one that fosters ownership, problem-solving, and deeper athlete engagement. On today’s episode, Will Ratelle shares practical strategies for building training protocols that allow for flexibility and athlete autonomy. He discusses how to keep athletes dialed in during strength and power work, while also diving into topics like hamstring rehab, velocity-based training, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 0:12 – Transitioning from College S&C to Academia and Private Sector 5:41 – Training Adjustments for Harsh Winter Environments 9:35 – The Role of Giant Sets in Strength Training 15:11 – Building Competition and Problem-Solving into Small Group Training 18:05 – Time-Based Plyometrics for Better Autoregulation 22:50 – Applying Time-Based Models to Jumps and Olympic Lifts 27:21 – Minimalist Approach to Accessory Work in Training 30:54 – Using Velocity-Based Training for Autoregulation 41:25 – Hamstring Rehab Strategies Using Sled Work and Sprint Progressions 44:37 – Perspectives on Nordics and Eccentric Hamstring Training Quotes [27:37] “I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with accessory work. It’s just, do we need to be spending 45 minutes doing it after we’ve already done our main lifts and jumps and throws?” [9:59] “I try to keep the training process as simple as possible because it’s really easy to complicate things.” [11:40] “I’ve gravitated more toward giving people time constraints and letting them auto-regulate how much work they do within that time.” [23:01] “I think jumps and Olympic lifts lend themselves well to time-based prescriptions because the output tends to fall off naturally as people fatigue.” [15:42] “Competition tends to bring out the best in people. If you structure things in a way where it naturally encourages people to compete, it’s a win.” [45:06] “I’ve started to care less and less about Nordics being the answer for hamstring health. I just think sprinting is the best thing we can do.” [31:30] “Velocity-based training is helpful because it provides objective feedback—if you’re not hitting the numbers, there’s no argument to keep pushing.” About Will Ratelle Will “Hoss” Ratelle is a dedicated strength and conditioning coach with deep roots in collegiate athletics and professional football. Rising from a standout linebacker at the University of North Dakota, Ratelle earned All-Big Sky honors twice and set single-season tackle records before transitioning into a professional football career, with stints on special teams in the NFL (Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs) and a return to linebacker with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders After earning his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from UND (2015), Ratelle moved into coaching, completing internships in the UND Strength & Conditioning Department (2015–2017). He played a pivotal role in developing the football program’s speed and agility systems during a historic 2016 Big Sky championship season. Fully integrating into the staff, Will served as Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach, supporting football, men’s and women’s tennis, basketball, and volleyball teams Certified by the CSCS and CSCCA (2019), Ratelle combines elite athletic experience with practical training protocols. He is known for crafting holistic programs that fuse Olympic lifting, sprint/plyometric development, and fundamental athleticism, aimed at maximizing size, strength, speed, and resilience. In addition to his coaching roles, Will actively shares his expertise through published articles (e.g., SimpliFaster), podcasts, and TrainHeroic programs such as “Hoss Concurrent” and “Hoss Project 2.0,” training countless athletes to build robust, multi-sport athleticism across platforms Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Will Ratelle 472: Will Ratelle on Giant Sets and the Art of Adaptive Training full 48:43 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=147101630&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F472_Will_Ratelle.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-43" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-471/ Thu, 10 Jul 2025 13:22:39 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39783 Today’s guests are Cameron Josse and Joel Reinhardt. Cameron Josse is an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Detroit Lions. He’s previously led training at DeFranco’s and worked in college football at Auburn and Indiana, training athletes across the NFL, NHL, UFC, and WWE. Joel Reinhardt is the Director of Football Performance at Lafayette College. He’s coached at San José State, Stanford, UMass, and Nicholls State. Both Cameron and Joel are field leaders in applied performance, data-driven programming, and athletic movement for physical preparation in American Football. Details in athletic preparation change from the level of high school to college to professional. On today’s episode, Cameron and Joel speak on the nature of contact and collision preparation in their athlete populations, with a specific emphasis on the use of the ground and rolling patterns. They discuss the specific game demands of football, especially on the college and pro level, and how to prepare athletes for 25,000+ weekly yards of total on-field movement. They break down their approaches to speed, direction change, and capacity building work, with these ideas in mind. This was a show with lots of wisdom on helping players fully meet the needs of their sport. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Exogen wearable resistance. Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:57 – In-Season Program Differences: NFL vs. College Strength Cycles 4:48 – Navigating Player Relationships with Private Trainers 15:57 – Adapting Contact Prep and Agility for Different Levels 32:38 – Tempo Running as a Foundation for Training Camp Readiness 37:44 – Total Yardage and Conditioning Strategy in Football Preparation 50:16 – Designing Multi-Directional Conditioning Sessions That Mimic Football 58:28 – Integrating Multi-Directional Movements in Conditioning for Athleticism 1:03:46 – Reframing Speed Development Within Annual Training Cycles 1:10:04 – Shifting Focus: From Pure Speed to Building Complete Players Quotes "Some of the better athletes on the team are not necessarily the fastest, but they are the ones who seem to control their bodies the best." - Cameron Josse "The ground is undefeated." - Cameron Josse "It's not about making the strongest guy, the fastest guy, any of that. It's about helping foster the best player you can." - Cameron Josse "If I have a wide receiver who adds half a mile an hour to his top speed over six months, sweet—that's a significant difference in a comeback route if he can push the guy off or have an extra half yard." - Joel Reinhardt "If a player is telling me that there's someone that makes them feel their best, I personally feel as though I would want to get in touch with that person just to learn about what they're doing." - Cameron Josse "Sometimes it's interesting to be like, oh, I wouldn't even think to do that because I'm doing it with 30 guys at one time." - Joel Reinhardt "If you're not working backwards from the game, I just don't know what you're doing." - Cameron Josse "When people say, 'How much should I run? How much should I sprint?' I always say it's based on whatever team you work with in the team setting." - Cameron Josse "If I have a team that is able to maturely execute good extensive tempo, it just opens up more avenues from an overall training perspective." - Joel Reinhardt "You're not just thinking about speed, power, strength, somebody that's isolated by motor abilities or qualities. You're thinking systemically, how am I creating the best integrated system of a player that I can?" - Cameron Josse "Recognizing the time of year and educating the guys around like, 'Hey, we had 26,000 total yards this week and you hit 94% of your all-time best speed—you don't need to be disappointed by that.'" - Joel Reinhardt "I always think it's funny when people try to decelerate on the balls of their feet like the same foot strike you'd have in acceleration. It's literally the opposite of accelerating—you need whole foot pressure." - Cameron Josse About Cameron Josse Cameron Josse is currently serving as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Detroit Lions. Cameron brings a wealth of experience shaped across collegiate and professional domains. Following a successful seven-year tenure in the private sector as Director of Sports Performance at DeFranco’s Training Systems (2014–2020), he transitioned into collegiate football, first with Auburn and then Indiana University, where he shaped high-level training programs for athletes in the NFL, NHL, UFC, and WWE. His portfolio showcases expertise in sport‑specific speed development, neural training, and integrated performance planning, skills he continues to leverage on the Lions sideline. A PhD candidate and specialist in athletic performance, Cameron’s methodology bridges scientific rigor and field-tested application. At Indiana, he spent three seasons refining football performance systems before his NFL appointment . Known for his insights on sprint mechanics and speed training, he regularly shares expertise through clinics and masterclasses. With the Detroit Lions, he works alongside a dynamic strength and conditioning staff—led by Mike Clark—bringing a modern, data-driven approach to athlete development and recovery. About Joel Reinhardt Joel Reinhardt is the Director of Football Performance at Lafayette College. Joel brings a wealth of experience in strength and conditioning, having coached at programs like San José State, Stanford, UMass, and Nicholls State. At San José State, he served as both Assistant Football Athletic Performance Coach and Sports Science Coordinator, where he led injury return-to-play efforts and helped shape comprehensive training plans. During his time at Stanford, he worked with some of the best collegiate athletes in the country, developing performance systems that translated all the way to the NFL—including for players like Rams kicker Josh Karty and Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee. Joel’s coaching journey started after his playing days as a wide receiver and team captain at St. Olaf College, followed by a graduate assistantship at Springfield College, where he earned his master’s in strength and conditioning. He’s a coach who blends data-driven training with hands-on coaching, emphasizing injury resilience, individual development, and long-term performance. Joel is originally from Eagan, Minnesota, and now lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Lauren, their young son Lincoln, and their dog Boo. His background, from small-school football to cutting-edge performance science, makes for a unique and practical perspective on what it means to truly develop athletes. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cameron Josse, Joel Reinhardt 471: Cameron Josse and Joel Reinhardt on Movement, Speed, and Capacity Building in Football Performance full 1:20:38 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=146922695&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F471_Cam_And_Joel.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-44" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-470/ Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:54:54 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39774 Today’s guest is Jay DeMayo, Jay is the longtime strength coach for men’s basketball at the University of Richmond and the founder of CVASPS—the Central Virginia Sport Performance Seminar. He’s known for connecting top minds in sport science and coaching, and for his practical, athlete-first approach to physical preparation. Where the emphasis of an athletic performance program can easily be centered from a narrow perspective, Jay considers a wide variety of inputs, from an athlete’s underlying structure and positional abilities to their perception of workout adjustments, to specialized exercises and technical training elements. In this episode, Jay digs into the principles he uses to prepare athletes for the demands of the game. From a foundational perspective, he discusses building work capacity and progressing split squats. On the power side, he shares his take on Olympic lifts and French Contrast training, while also addressing the role of autonomy and individualization in his approach. Throughout the show, Jay unpacks practical tools and coaching strategies that drive long-term athletic development. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 8:21- Tailoring Training Methods for Athlete Engagement 11:01- Unveiling Louis Simmons' Strength Training Insights 14:24- Enhancing Basketball Players' Performance Through Tailored Training 21:37- Personalized Exercise Selection for Enhanced Performance 27:55- Engaging Exercise Progressions for Effective Training 30:22- Mastery of Bottom Position for Exercise Gains 34:49- Empowering Athletes through Autonomy and Structure 40:02- Enhancing Lift Performance through Positioning Techniques 49:28- Maximal Expression Circuit Training with Olympic Lifts 59:19- Hormone Spikes in Squat Training 1:14:38- Tailored Stimuli for Optimal Physiological Response 1:17:31- Strength-Speed Emphasis in Athletic Training Program Quotes "If you can find a little bit more engagement with them, you get a little bit more effort. And again, if intent drives adaptation, they. Then that's what matters." - Jay DeMayo "We probably don't want that the average for a 20 person basketball team to be what dictates the drill when one kid could run 0 meters and another kid could run a thousand meters." - Jay DeMayo "I think, though, that the, you know, we talk about therapeutic things and all that all the time as well. And we talk about how motion is lotion. Right. Like, it helps you get things going and get things moving and this and that. So sometimes just getting out of their way and letting them kind of work their way through things is the best thing for them too." - Jay DeMayo "We could talk about potentiation and this, that, and the third with it (with French Contrast) my favorite saying at the end of the bench is every time it works, it does. And the guys seem to love it. Yeah, I've never been yelled at about that day." - Jay DeMayo (Speaking on the oxidative split squat method) "So we take a week to build to it. We start with two sets of 10 per leg. And it's just a two count up, two count down. So it's a 40 second set, 40 on, 40 off." - Jay DeMayo "But I've got at least four guys that I know that when they get their plug and play for whatever that lunge strength exercise is on game day plus one are gonna pick oxidative split squats." - Jay DeMayo About Jay DeMayo Jay DeMayo is the founder of the Central Virginia Sport Performance Seminar (CVASPS) and a veteran strength and conditioning coach at the University of Richmond. With over two decades of collegiate coaching experience, Jay has become a respected voice in the field of physical preparation, known for his integrative and athlete-centered approach to training. At Richmond, he works primarily with men’s basketball, guiding athletes through long-term development with a blend of performance science, coaching intuition, and practical innovation. Through CVASPS, Jay has built one of the premier sport performance events in the world, bringing together top coaches, scientists, and therapists to share cutting-edge insights and applied wisdom. A passionate educator and connector, Jay is also the host of the CVASPS Podcast and author/editor of several eBooks on high-performance training. His work reflects a relentless pursuit of context, clarity, and continual improvement in sport preparation. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jay Demayo 470: Jay DeMayo on Oxidative Split Squats and Building Power in Position full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F470_Jay_Demayo.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-470%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-45" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-469/ Thu, 26 Jun 2025 14:08:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39759 Today’s guest is Hunter Eisenhower, Associate Head Coach for Sports Performance at Arizona State Men’s Basketball. With experience in the NBA and NCAA, Hunter blends force production qualities, data analysis, and variability-driven human training methods to build explosive, adaptable athletes. He’s the creator of the “Force System” and a thought leader in modern athletic performance concepts. Most athletic performance training is centered around outputs. Movement abilities and qualities are discussed, but there isn’t much quantification process that goes towards an athlete’s raw abilities, such as variable jump strategies alongside stiffness and compliance competencies. On today’s episode, Hunter shares his approach to offseason prep using general physical means that build that “human strength”—developing capacity alongside movement variability. Hunter also breaks down how he quantifies an athlete’s movement capacities and library, their ability to, balance rigidity and compliance in line with force plate data. We wrap with ideas on foot training and using variable surfaces to meet the demands of dynamic sport. This is a great look at training beyond just big lifts—into the true movement needs of the game. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses Check out the newest mini-course, Sprint Drills Reloaded on how to maximize sprint drills, their specific strength development, building of major sprint actions, along with better integration of sprint drills into sprinting technique. The special intro sale ends July 1st. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com/courses/sprint-drills-reloaded) Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Main Points 2:00- Sandbags, Suffering, and the Mental Edge 6:00- Let Hard and Fun Coexist in Your Program 10:19- The Importance of Variability in Program Design 12:53- Early Off-Season Program Design 19:27- Rewild Your Program: Crawl, Climb, Wrestle, Hang 23:28- Rethink GPP: Don’t Just Prep to Lift—Prep to Move 30:20- Break Barbell Monotony with Sandbags 34:49- Sleds Are a Movement Tool—Not Just a Finisher 41:03- Measure Movement Options—Not Just Output 48:39- Don’t Confuse Explosive with Efficient 54:31- Train Variability by Changing the Rules 58:05- Cue for Change: Let the Jump Reveal the Strategy 59:50- Start with the Foot—It Tells the Whole Story 1:05:07- Polish Boxes, Stall Bars, and DIY Creativity Quotes "The polarity in a training program I think is just like so powerful and so important." - Hunter Eisenhower "You, like, learn to appreciate the fun whenever you have to do the suck." - Hunter Eisenhower "And the way I structure (early off-season) is we go, we go a human force day, a slow force day, a human force day and a slow force day. And we just do that throughout a four day training schedule." - Hunter Eisenhower "A lot of people consider GPP like high volume, squat, hinge, push pull; to me, I think GPP is like going back to the absolute ground level, like basics of just like children, what they would do, they're crawling, they're climbing, they're doing gymnastics and flips, they're, they're roughhousing." - Hunter Eisenhower "It's like bigger, faster, stronger. It's like the, the old adage. Then I was thinking like, is that really the goal with elite athletes? Like, is the goal to increase outputs?." - Hunter Eisenhower "If their only strategy that they can rely on is rigidity, maybe I can begin to infuse some of this compliance." - Hunter Eisenhower "If your foot can't get into a position, the rest of your body won't be able to get into a variable position."- Hunter Eisenhower "I love that with like lunge variations because it's like, no, don't just step in a different way. Like contort your body in a different position. And I think that that exposed them to positions they've probably never been in before." - Hunter Eisenhower About Hunter Eisenhower Hunter Eisenhower is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Arizona State Men’s Basketball, bringing a dynamic, force-based approach to athlete development. With experience in the NBA (Sacramento Kings), G League (Stockton Kings), and several NCAA programs, Hunter blends science, intent, and creativity to enhance performance. He played college basketball at Seattle Pacific University. At ASU, Hunter applies his “Force System” methodology—a framework combining data analytics, plyometrics, strength training, and play-based movement to build powerful, adaptable athletes. His work emphasizes not just raw output, but how athletes express force in real-game contexts. A frequent podcast guest and educator, Hunter continues to push the field forward while living in Tempe with his wife Leah, and daughter Elsie. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Hunter Eisenhower 469: Hunter Eisenhower on Building “Human Strength” and Athletic Movement Capacity full 1:06:45 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=146589334&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F469_Hunter_E2.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-46" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-468/ Thu, 19 Jun 2025 16:46:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39738 Today’s guest is running and movement coach, Lawrence Van Lingen, a world-renowned movement coach known for helping athletes move better by blending scientific principles, psychology, biomechanics, and intuitive coaching methods. He’s worked with a range of athletes, from Olympians and elite runners, to everyday movers to unlock efficiency, fluidity, and performance. Running and what we would refer to as “functional strength” are closely related. Strength-based movements that train the gait cycle are amongst the most natural and effective versions available. In working the keys that make for better propulsion and effectiveness in locomotion, we can get insight into better strength practices in general. In this episode, Lawrence van Lingen shares how crawling, backward movement, foot training, and resisted walking can strengthen critical elements of the gait cycle. He explores the connection between natural rhythmic movement and running performance, the ways fear can disrupt quality motion, and how play and curiosity drive better movement learning. From syncing strides to music to mobilizing the feet, Lawrence offers a range of practical, creative methods to enhance coordination and speed. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Check out the newest mini-course, Sprint Drills Reloaded on how to maximize sprint drills, their specific strength development, building of major sprint actions, along with better integration of sprint drills into sprinting technique. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com/courses/sprint-drills-reloaded) Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 3:30- Barefoot Origins: Impact on Human Movement 9:40- The Impact of Fear on Athletic Performance 20:55- Enhancing Running Performance Through Rhythmic Variation 29:00- Syncing Music Tempo with Physical Movements 37:38- Optimizing Athletic Abilities through Strong Hips 40:08- Enhancing Running Mechanics Through Resisted Walking Exercises 42:19- Enhancing Movement Quality through Central Patterns 45:51- Enhancing Ankle Mechanics Through Foot Mobility 52:35- Enhancing Mobility Through Unique Movement Practices 59:06- Enhancing Muscle Activation and Injury Prevention 1:12:02- Enhancing Running Mechanics Through Foot Mobilization Quotes (12:55) "If you cut a chicken's head off, it still runs around, you know. So those are your central pattern generators…. a lot of running or bipedal movement is just totally ingrained in us and you know, and our heritage from anthropology." - Lawrence van Lingen (14:47) "Trust your movement better...that sort of deep, unshakable trust in your movement patterns that you really want on big occasions, that's what the big athletes have got." - Lawrence van Lingen (19:28) "When I was in South Africa with African runners, these guys, there was no coaching, no drills, and it was very, very organic and it was just amazing. I mean, money can't buy the beauty and, and the elegance and the grace that they moved with." - Lawrence van Lingen (27:37) "You have to relax into competence and let go to express yourself. And when you're forcing and trying too hard, it just doesn't work." - Lawrence van Lingen (32:10) "I like to say curiosity and play and neuroplasticity requires play and curiosity. And you, when you're in a parasympathetic mode, you tend to be curious." - Lawrence van Lingen (42:36) "Solve movement patterns as high upstream as possible because the consequences downstream tend to fall into place." - Lawrence van Lingen (1:17:23) "The line of force production is big toe, VMO, glute, max. And if you've got VMO issues, your first met head's not finding the ground." - Lawrence van Lingen About Lawrence van Lingen Lawrence van Lingen is a globally recognized movement coach known for his unique ability to blend biomechanics, biology, mental states, and intuitive coaching into transformative movement practices. With over two decades of experience working with elite athletes, high performers, and everyday movers, Lawrence helps people move with greater ease, efficiency, and purpose. Drawing on his background in sports science and chiropractic care, Lawrence developed a distinctive approach that focuses on restoring natural movement patterns, improving structural integrity, and enhancing overall body awareness. He is the founder of the Anatomy of Movement series, which breaks down complex concepts into accessible, actionable insights for coaches, therapists, and athletes alike. Lawrence’s work has taken him around the world, collaborating with Olympic teams, professional cyclists, runners, and top-tier fitness organizations. His coaching style is intuitive, precise, and deeply rooted in the belief that how we move reflects how we live. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Lawrence Van Lingen 468: Lawrence Van Lingen on Gait Specific Strength and Fluid Movement Patterns full 1:21:06 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=146428283&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F468_Lawrence_Van_Lingen.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-47" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-467/ Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:03:12 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39723 Today’s guest is Rett Larson, strength coach for the German Women’s Volleyball Team and creator of the "No Zombies" training philosophy. Rett coached Olympic medalists with China and the Netherlands, blending energy, rhythm, and purposeful movement into world-class performance. As sport expands into an increasingly more high-pressure, early specialization event that can easily suck fun and joy away, there grows a need for a "counter-culture" within athletic performance. Not only does a "physical preparation" process for athletes that is joyful and gamified lead to more fun within a training session, but it also develops important athletic qualities, within that umbrella of "fun" that may not be possible in more "traditional" sessions. Rett Larson is spearheading an active, engaging approach to the physical preparation process for athletes with warmups designed for joy, engagement, and a comprehensive stimulation of athletic qualities along the way. On today’s episode, Rett speaks on a variety of engaging tools and gamifications in the warmup process for both thermogenic and neurological preparation. He goes into his take on partner exercises and isometrics, and the process of using a physical challenge to "sneak" strength and skill elements in the program. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Wearable Resistance Gear. Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 6:12- Enhancing Athlete Performance through Innovative Training 20:06- Rope Flow in the Warmup Process 25:19- Team Bonding through Partner Exercises and Gamification 29:39- Athletic Development through Diverse Warm-Ups 31:24- Engaging Training Games for Athletic Development 38:00- Enhancing Motor Learning Through Novel Activities 48:14- Isometric and "Sneaky Strength" Exercises 54:50- Tennis Balls as a Powerful Warmup Tool 1:05:36- Animal-Inspired Safari Warmup Routine 1:14:35- Dynamic Movement Enhancement with Wearable Resistance Gear Rett Larson Quotes (5:30) "I like this idea of breaking the script of what athletes expect." - Rett Larson (8:59) "Are we not trying to get to a place in team sports, at least where we have vulnerability? Are we not learning that vulnerability and looking like a little bit of an idiot in front of your teammates and, and knowing that everybody gets theirs at some point? And that is, that's, that's also something we should be striving for." - Rett Larson (20:06) "In the thermogenic bucket goes a lot of almost like movement puzzles to steal some Ido Portal: if it's the tennis ball on a string, a stick in their hand." - Rett Larson (21:00) "Similarly, the rope flow stuff fits really nicely in that bucket because it is really challenging to unlock some of these very difficult movements that get your body rotating, certainly get you hot and sweaty, but it also feels like you are leveling up every time you actually conquer it." - Rett Larson (29:45) "The great thing about warmup is you get to be competitive in a, in an extremely low stakes environment; when I'm programming the weight room well, it's not just my twitchy, 23-year-old phenom whose parents both played volleyball that wins every event. There should be enough variety in the weight room that we're getting winners all over the place, that we're manufacturing celebrations from every single person on my team in a given week or a couple of weeks or month." - Rett Larson (31:16) "I'm manufacturing smiles, I'm manufacturing the joy that I think you and I understand can come out of the weight room." - Rett Larson (51:20) "I'm trying to hide grinding strength within either other fun games or, you know, include like having it be a part of the fun as much as possible." - Rett Larson (54:30) "The great thing about tennis balls is that there's, they can be used for all of it is they can be movement puzzles, they can be balance challenges, anything that you need them to be." - Rett Larson (1:00:38) "There's no reason that coaches shouldn't be actually actively trying to find more moments, more memorable things that stick with athletes, that make you a remarkable coach, that not for nothing, like, why not be original?" - Rett Larson (1:13:10) "I don't have five favorite shoulder exercises. I have 50 favorite shoulder exercises. I believe in throwing a bunch of different challenges at the shoulder and making that shoulder adaptable and good at all of them." - Rett Larson About Rett Larson Rett Larson is the strength and performance coach for the German Women’s National Volleyball Team, where he brings his trademark "No Zombies" philosophy—emphasizing purposeful movement, emotional engagement, and dynamic energy to every training session. Before joining Team Germany, Rett spent seven years in China, first as Project Manager for EXOS-China, supporting Olympic teams preparing for the 2012 London Games. He then joined the Chinese National Women’s Volleyball Team, helping guide them to victory at the 2015 World Cup and a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He later served as strength coach for the Netherlands Women’s National Team, contributing to multiple podium finishes. Prior to his international coaching career, Rett spent a decade with Velocity Sports Performance, eventually becoming Director of Coaching at their U.S. headquarters. Known globally for his innovative, rhythm-based warmups and blend of Eastern and Western methods, Rett is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for high-performance teams worldwide. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rett Larson 467: Rett Larson on Movement Puzzles, Sneaky Strength and Cultivating Joy in Training full 1:20:15 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=146223290&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FRett_Larson_467.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-48" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-466/ Thu, 05 Jun 2025 12:35:07 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39712 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-466/ Today’s podcast guest is Stefan Holm—Olympic gold medalist and one of the most elite high jumpers in history. Standing just 5’11”, he cleared over 140 bars at 2.30m or higher, won the 2004 Athens Olympics, and holds an indoor best of 2.40m (co-owning the “height jumped over head world record). Now a coach for Sweden’s national team, Holm brings deep insight into jumping training and performance at the highest level. On today’s episode, I ask Stefan about his early life as an athlete, and formative sporting experiences, along with the tree of coaching that led to his own training methods. Stefan covers his history with high jump variations, plyometrics, strength training, technique development, and much more on today’s show. As Stefan is now a coach, he also discusses his philosophy based on his time as a world-class competitor. This is not only a great show on training ideas, but also a great opportunity to study one of the best of all time in their given sport discipline. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and LILA Wearable Resistance Gear. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Stefan Holm 466: Stefan Holm on Training Methods of a High Jump Legend full 1:12:34 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=146039753&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F466_Stefan_Holm.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-49" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-465/ Thu, 29 May 2025 15:33:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39699 More show notes athttps://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-465/ Today's podcast features Ty Terrell, Director of Strength and Conditioning for Oklahoma Men’s Basketball. Ty brings deep experience from the NBA, having led performance programs for the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks. He specializes in athlete development, performance testing, and biomechanics-driven return-to-play protocols. Ty has been mentored by Lee Taft and Bill Hartman, and has a unique fusion of abilities and methods in human performance. Typically, the goal of athletic performance training is based on increasing outputs, muscle size, and aerobic capacities. Less emphasis is given to athletic movement qualities, how the body creates space for motion, and the process of loading and releasing energy. In understanding both outputs and movement dynamics, a more comprehensive training experience can be provided. On today’s podcast, Ty speaks on optimizing the phases of athletic movement, particularly the “unloading” and reversal phases of squat and jump patterns that are often missed in training. He discusses the balance and interplay of movement-oriented training with strength and output capabilities. From a practical perspective, Ty gets into the nuts and bolts of unweighting methods, opening space in squat and hinge patterns, working absorption and propulsion with cables, step-up dynamics, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ty Terrell 465: Ty Terrell on Optimizing Loading Patterns in Athletic Movement full 1:14:57 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=145873566&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F465_Ty_Terrell.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-50" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-464/ Thu, 22 May 2025 09:30:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39684 Today's podcast features Tony Holler. Tony Holler is a veteran high school track and field coach, renowned for his "Feed the Cats" sprint training philosophy. With over 40 years of coaching experience in both track and football, Holler has become a leading voice in athlete-centered speed development. He is the head track coach at Plainfield North High School in Illinois, where his teams have consistently produced elite sprinters and state champions. He is also the co-founder of the Track Football Consortium, a popular coaching event that bridges the gap between sprint and team sport development. In a day where the methods are many, Tony Holler has created a training system where he keeps the simple things simple, but off-sets that simplicity with a variety filled “X-Factor” training day that runs like a power-oriented basketball practice in many ways. On today’s podcast, Tony speaks on his formative experiences as an athlete, young coach, and teacher that have led him to his current positions in coaching. Tony speaks extensively on his X-Factor workouts, inspiration from his dad’s basketball practices, and the keys to the variability in both plyometrics and wicket variations that define the training day. He also speaks on X-Factor paving the way for a simpler, competitive speed workout on the following day. Tony also touches on how the “feed the cats” methods have influenced the successful distance program at Plainfield North, along with many other nuggets of wisdom. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 8:37- Competitive Coaching Styles in Track and Field 16:59- Fostering Passionate Learning Environments for Success 22:06- Sports Engagement and Flow for Long-term Passion 32:04- Color-Coded X Factor Athletic Training Program 43:54- X Factor Workouts for Recovery and Performance 50:29- Transitioning from Survival to Performance Mindset 59:49- Optimizing Sprint Performance Through Varied Techniques 1:02:08-Enhancing Speed with Varied Wickets in Training 1:08:16- Focused Timed Sprints for Effective Performance 1:12:30- Optimizing Coaching Practices for Large Groups 1:15:01- Intentional Training for Optimal Athletic Performance 1:22:07- Optimizing Cross Country Runs for Peak Performance Quotes: (4:45) “Baseball is not a hard sport, but they made baseball hard for us” - Tony Holler (5:50) “I grew up with this weird mix of Neil Young and General Patton” - Tony Holler (13:00) “There is no defense in track… it’s not a zero-sum game, which I love” - Tony Holler (20:30) “I think like and love come before excellence” - Tony Holler (32:10) “In basketball, my father would start practice with stations, and stations were things like we jump back and forth over a balance beam, and then we go forward, back and forth. And then the next station was jump rope, and the next station was lateral slides back and forth, touching the lane lines. And we do that kind of thing in X Factor because what I have found is that basketball players seem to be the healthiest, most durable track athletes.” - Tony Holler (35:30) “Our favorites are the extreme ISO lunge that we do not do for five minutes. We do it for more like a minute. You know, maybe we're not cooking the steak long enough. But this is very important. Always err on the side of less.” - Tony Holler (00:44:15) “I color code our speed workouts and our X factor workouts as yellow, which to me means caution. And that caution is don't let today ruin tomorrow. Almost always the day after an X factor workout is a sprint workout for us” - Tony Holler (47:40) “Speed is repetitive. X factor is very much flex” - Tony Holler (49:00) “All my track practices are gamified. I don't think my guys are nervous at meets because we win and lose in practice” - Tony Holler (50:29) “There's kind of an inverse relationship between survival mode and performance mode.” - Joel Smith (1:02:12) “We do wickets as a part of our, our X factor. The wickets, it is the only thing we do on X factor days that you could say, well that looks like sprinting to me.” - Tony Holler (1:15:01) “I've never had to ask for effort.” - Tony Holler (1:17:15) “When we're doing 10 speed drills, that's, that's five seconds apiece. That's, that's 50 seconds of work. So what does that work have to look like?” - Tony Holler About Tony Holler ​Tony Holler is a veteran high school track and field coach, renowned for his "Feed the Cats" sprint training philosophy. With over 40 years of coaching experience in both track and football, Holler has become a leading voice in athlete-centered speed development. He is the head track coach at Plainfield North High School in Illinois, where his teams have consistently produced elite sprinters and state champions. A passionate educator and sought-after speaker, Holler has influenced thousands of coaches across multiple sports through his clinics, writings, and online content. He is also the co-founder of the Track Football Consortium, a popular coaching event that bridges the gap between sprint and team sport development. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tony Holler 464: Tony Holler on Isometrics, Wicket Variations and The Art of X-Factor Training full 1:24:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F464_Tony_Holler.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-464%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-51" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-463/ Thu, 15 May 2025 15:03:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39671 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-463/ Today's podcast features Mike Robertson. Mike Robertson is the co-owner of IFAST in Indianapolis and host of the Physical Preparation Podcast. With over 20 years of experience training athletes from the NBA to everyday clients, Mike is known for blending biomechanics, strength, and smart programming to get real-world results. He’s a respected educator and a leader in the performance training space. The more advanced we get in the world of functional training, human movement, and biomechanics, the more difficult it can be to manage our programming. Having a set of basic principles and foundations for movement coaching helps us to serve a wide variety of athletes throughout their seasons and careers. On today’s episode, Mike speaks on the nature of his programming, and how he treats the primary squat, deadlift, bench, and split squat movement patterns with the needs of an athlete in mind (with particular emphasis on off-season pro athletes). Mike goes into concepts on braking and propulsion and how to use the weightroom to impact this balance of forces, hinge mechanics, lessons from coaching youth sports, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio (gymstudio.com). Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mike Robertson 463: Mike Robertson on Braking, Propulsion, and Quality Movement in Athletic Strength Development full 1:20:43 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=145480553&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F463_Mike_Robertson.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-52" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-462/ Thu, 08 May 2025 13:33:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39661 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-462/ Today's podcast features Matt Aldred. Matt is the head strength and conditioning coach for basketball at the University of Michigan. He has international expertise and a diverse background in sports he has worked with through his previous stops in NCAA strength and conditioning. In addition to his strength and conditioning experience, he is certified in fascial abrasion technique and Frederick stretch therapy, in addition to a sports massage background. Matt has also co-authored the Fascial Mechanics for Sport course alongside Danny Foley. In building a performance program, it must ultimately be centered around the needs of the athlete. Athletes need to be as ready as possible on game day. Some athletes need more mass and physical strength. Others need more conditioning and body composition management. Others need more fluid and adaptive movement capabilities. Many athletes enjoy and benefit from providing their input into the program. These facets of performance make athletic development more dynamic than just “get them strong and I did my job”. On today’s podcast, Matt talks about many aspects of building an athlete-centered program, highlighting training the spectrum of muscular strength and tissue quality, over to dynamic, high-velocity training with a priority on athletic qualities. He also speaks on training variability (such as “every rep different”), multi-planar training, basketball game demands, athlete autonomy, wearable resistance training, and much more. This show puts many pieces into place of a comprehensive approach to athletic development, encompassing so many facets of improvement in the field. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s GymStudio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Matt Aldred 462: Matt Aldred on Advancing Athlete-Centered Training Concepts full 1:19:54 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=145269663&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F462_Matt_Aldred.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-53" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-461/ Thu, 01 May 2025 18:39:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39647 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-461/ Today's podcast features Bob Thurnhoffer, Assistant Track & Field Coach at the University of Louisville. Bob brings nearly two decades of NCAA Division I coaching experience, with past stops at New Mexico, Loyola Chicago, and UIC. His athletes have earned multiple All-American honors, NCAA qualifications, and school records. Bob is also known for his deep knowledge in training for jumps and is a respected voice in the track and field coaching community. On today’s episode, Bob speaks on the formative experience of his past work training speed and power at an NCAA DI school in the confines of a hallway. He also goes into plyometric training concepts, and acceleration development, as well as some of his key complex training methods in the weightroom. Bob also digs into the importance of general strength in his program, along with the nuts and bolts of his weekly training setups for sprint and jump athletes in this fantastic resource on speed and power development. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s GymStudio and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials, Elastic Essentials, or Speed ID courses, go to justflysports.thinkific.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bob Thurnhoffer 461: Bob Thurnhoffer on Formative Sprint, Strength, and Plyometric Concepts full 1:08:50 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=145096833&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F461_Bob_ThurhofferE1_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-54" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-460/ Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:24:45 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39624 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-460 Today's podcast features Austin Einhorn. Austin is a movement specialist recognized for his pioneering work in athlete development and injury prevention. As the founder of APIros Performance, Austin's coaching philosophy emphasizes biomechanics, human function + evolution, and adaptability to build resilient athletes who can withstand the demands of high performance. He has worked with athletes across major sports leagues, including the NFL, MLB, NBA, and Olympic programs, and is continually pushing the boundaries of athletic performance and injury prevention systems for athletes. There are a wide variety of systems and available philosophies on athletic performance and injury prevention. With so much information available, assembling a human-centered viewpoint of how we innately move and adapt is a critical step in forming a better lens of coaching and training. On today’s episode, Austin discusses his first principles when it comes to athlete assessment and training intervention. He digs into aspects of athletic hip extension, pushup and overhead patterning, and foot motions, along with the variability concepts in training and performance. This was a thought-provoking podcast with one of the brightest minds in the industry and is a must-listen for anyone looking to build more robust, adaptive athletes for any discipline. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s GymStudio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Austin Einhorn 460: Austin Einhorn on First Principles for Building Unbreakable Athletes full 1:27:53 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=144895309&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F460_Austin_Einhorn.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-55" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-459/ Thu, 17 Apr 2025 12:30:06 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39613 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-459/ Today's podcast features Laurent Meuwley. Laurent is the Head Coach for sprints, hurdles, and relays for the Netherlands. A former Swiss national coach and European Athletics Coach of the Year, he’s known for guiding world-class athletes like Femke Bol and Dutch relay teams, pioneering the “Flyers vs. Diesels” sprint-type analogy and his comprehensive approach to training. Often in sprinting and speed training education, we get a small piece of the equation based on our social media algorithms or our immediate training culture. To fully understand speed training, we must look at both speed and environmental coaching concepts that span cultures. On today’s podcast, Laurent discusses speed building on the level of the weight room, overspeed, speed endurance, and individual training factors. Laurent also talks about building a relay-based culture and a powerful training environment, along with many more nuances of building elite sprinters. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s GymStudio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Laurent Meuwley 459: Laurent Meuwly on Strength and Speed Concepts in Dutch Sprint Development full 1:01:13 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=144697794&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FLaurent_M_EP_459.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-56" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-458/ Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:46:16 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39598 Today's podcast features Anthony Cockrill. Anthony is the Director of Volleyball Sports Performance and Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Performance at SMU. Previously at the University of Houston, he’s coached athletes across multiple sports and has a strong focus on explosive strength development, getting notable vertical jump training results with volleyball athletes. There are different layers to the strength equation, and not all types of lifting will offer equal adaptation for athletes. In understanding key differences between full and partial ranges, as well as a focus on the concentric, isometric, and eccentric adaptations to the lift, we can better design a program that allows athletes a maximal bandwidth to adapt to the demands (and chaos) of their sport. On today’s podcast, Anthony discusses the nuts and bolts of his training program, with a specific focus on squatting methods, range of motion concepts, and building strength, particularly through the eccentric phases of a lift. He also covers yearly planning, plyometrics, gymnastics, in-season training, and the physiology concepts behind his methods. This was an informative, and incredibly practical podcast on all things vertical jump and explosive strength development for athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s GymStudio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Anthony Cockrill 458: Anthony Cockrill on Squat Dynamics in Explosive Strength Development full 1:25:30 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=144415799&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F458_Anthony_Cockrill.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-57" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-457/ Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:13:39 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39589 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/ Today's podcast features Bren Veziroglu. Bren is a movement educator, blending scientific principles with personal exploration in his teaching. He has studied globally with top instructors across disciplines, emphasizing scalability, engagement, and physicality in his approach. Bren is an outspoken proponent of the constraint-led approach to sport, particularly in the martial arts. In many sports and strength training programs, skill development is often reduced to rigid drills and dry repetition. While foundational qualities like strength and endurance can be trained straightforwardly, complex skills require a richer, more dynamic approach—one that embraces the full range of movement our bodies are capable of. Research consistently supports a learner-centered, constraint-led method as being more effective for long-term learning and performance. In this episode, Bren dives into the integration of traditional strength and mobility work with dynamic movement and motor learning concepts. He shares practical insights on skill acquisition, mobility, jump training, and the role of partner-based work in foundational strength exercises—offering a fresh perspective on how we can build more effective and engaging training environments. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s GymStudio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bren Veziroglu 457: Bren Veziroglu on Building a Movement-Rich Training Program full 1:04:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=144142118&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F457_Bren_V.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-58" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-456/ Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:35:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39579 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-456/ Today's podcast features Mike Bruno. Mike is the Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Performance at Clemson University. Mike has both a sports performance and massage therapy background, with an approach influenced heavily by Bill Hartman’s biomechanical model. He has worked with a wide variety of sports, including track and field, and currently oversees golf and tennis at Clemson. Human movement is composed of more than just muscle and neural signals. It is also heavily influenced by athletes’ strategies to move pressure through their unique skeletal structures. By understanding the role of structure on speed and movement abilities, we can also better understand ideal training modalities and progressions for each athlete. On today’s episode, Mike speaks on speed and power training through the lens of pressure management and skeletal structure. He talks about different structural archetypes and their needs in the weightroom, as well as how these archetypes lend to various performance outputs on the field of play (focusing on track speed and performance). With many anecdotes from the world of track and field, this episode draws numerous links between strength, speed and individual training factors. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Lila Exogen Wearable Resistance Gear. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mike Bruno 456: Michael Bruno on Skeletal Dynamics in Athletic Speed and Power Development full 1:22:40 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=143856746&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F456_Mike_Bruno_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-59" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-455/ Thu, 20 Mar 2025 18:13:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39570 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-455/ In today’s solo episode, I break down 10 essential keys to building a well-rounded athletic performance program. These programming elements are often overlooked or omitted in favor of a more "machine-based" training approach. I’ll cover both the specifics of sets, reps, and training structures, as well as key principles that enhance stimulation, learning, engagement, and focus—crucial components for an athlete's overall experience. By refining both stimulation and the athlete’s attentional "spotlight," we can create training that feels more dynamic, engaging, and effective. The keys to a more complete program, are as follows: Embrace Constraints and Limitations Study Physical Education (Instead of only “Sport Science”) Integrate Rhythm and Music Work Polarities and Waves Use Complexes Embrace Uncertainty Understand the Performer Environment Relationship Test and Use Leaderboards Use Risk Train Yourself Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 455: 10 Keys to a Complete Athletic Performance Program full 1:03:38 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=143565141&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F455_Joel_10_Keys.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-60" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-454/ Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:35:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39551 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-454/ Today's podcast features Steffan Jones. Steffan is a trailblazing fast-bowling coach and ex-pro cricketer, known for his integrative, creative, data-backed training methods. A former Somerset and Kent bowler with over 200 wickets, he’s the last dual-sport pro from English cricket and rugby. With degrees in Sports Science and coaching certifications, Jones founded Pacelab, blending biomechanics and constraint-led training. He’s coached for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and joined Ludimos in 2024 as Strategic Advisor, pushing fast bowling into the future. Among the various training sub-modalities, isometric work stands out as a low-risk, high-reward method that minimally interferes with an athlete’s high-speed capabilities on the field. In today’s episode, Steffan explores a range of topics related to isometric training and athletic performance, with a special focus on fast-bowling velocity. He discusses both long-duration and overcoming isometrics, offering insights on how to incorporate these techniques into sport-specific training programs. Additionally, Steffan delves into complex training methods, pre-fatigue strategies for elastic output, and collision-based training concepts. This episode emphasizes key principles for blending general strength with elite sport performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Steffan Jones 454: Steffan Jones on Isometric Training Integration in High Velocity Skill Development full 57:13 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=143262323&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F454_Steffan_Jones_1.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-61" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-453/ Thu, 06 Mar 2025 16:13:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39542 Today's podcast features Jeremy Frisch. Jeremy is the Director of Athletic Performance at Teamworks Sports Center in Acton, Massachusetts, specializing in youth athletic development. The former owner of Achieve Performance Training, Jeremy is a field leader in youth movement, physical literacy, and long-term athletic development. Jeremy has been a frequent podcast guest and is a source of constant inspiration for training not only younger athletes but those of all ages. We live within a broken modern sports system (in most countries). Much of sports performance, and athletic development follows suit. Formalized speed training designed for older athletes tends to get pushed down on children far too early. Athletes are continually denied the chance to be athletes, to be autonomous movers, decision makers, and experience the full joy of sport. Not only this, but in that deprivation, we cut ourselves off from the fullness of what we could consider speed training, for any athlete. On today’s episode, Jeremy speaks on key principles to driving intent and multi-lateral ability in speed training for young athletes, and as they progress through their careers along with the pitfalls of early intensification and “speed training” kids like adults. He also covers many elements of athletic development, such as rhythm, crawling, rolling, strength training, and the development of aerial ability. All this, along with a discussion on the motivation factors of 80’s training movies, was an enjoyable conversation with Jeremy Frisch that is fundamental to the long-term development of athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeremy Frisch 453: Jeremy Frisch on Foundations of Athletic Speed and Movement Ability full 1:38:53 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=142983569&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F453_Jeremy_Frisch.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-62" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-452/ Thu, 27 Feb 2025 12:55:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39519 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-452/ Today's podcast features Jon Stea. Jon is a strength and performance coach based in Vancouver with over a decade of experience developing athletes from youth to the professional level. Jon combines coaching practices with an overarching philosophy of sport and movement concepts. As modern society advances, youth sports and adult movement practices are becoming increasingly rigid and specialized. Many athletes struggle to progress in their sport and lose interest once their competitive careers end. Adults engage in community-based fitness but often miss the opportunity to explore their full movement potential and the deeper fulfillment it brings. Understanding why we train and how to empower athletes in their unique process is more crucial than ever. On today’s episode, Jon speaks on building a creative, authentic coaching process that gives athletes room to fail, learn, and grow, expanding their abilities over time. He discusses the importance of connection and environment in sports training, games, and movement challenges, gets into motor learning concepts, and speaks on the overall art of coaching athletes for their long-term success. This is a conversation that our current sports, and sports performance world, demands that we have, to offer athletes room to not only be better in their sport but move and play as their authentic selves, in their chosen practice. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials, Elastic Essentials, or Speed ID courses, go to justflysports.thinkific.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jon Stea 452: Jon Stea on The Power of Authentic Movement and Human Connection full 1:06:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=142666786&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F452_Jon_Stea.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-63" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-451/ Thu, 20 Feb 2025 13:33:12 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39507 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-451/ Today's podcast features Christian Thibaudeau. Christian is a renowned strength coach with over 25 years of experience. He has worked with athletes from 28 sports, including pros and Olympians, and was Head Strength Coach at the Central Institute for Human Performance. A former national-level weightlifter and bodybuilder, he has authored multiple books and has been a prolific writer for T-Nation. He has developed the Neurotyping and Omni-Rep systems, amongst many other contributions to human performance and athletic development. The majority of training programs, particularly for athletic performance are mostly gas, and very little brakes. They work mostly propulsion while minimizing early stance and reciprocal motion capabilities. They tend to hover on external outputs and bar velocities but do little to cultivate internal awareness of one’s own body. This podcast is all about the value and history of training at both isometric, lower training velocities, along with combined methods (reps + isometrics) for the sake of skilled movement performance and longevity. Christian digs into the history of the martial arts and bodyweight training methods, and goes into a variety of training techniques to round out one’s weak points, maximize body awareness and build more robust athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the Lila Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Christian Thibaudeau 451: Christian Thibaudeau on Mastering Isometrics, Bodyweight Strength, and Training Velocities full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F351_Christian_Thib.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-451%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-64" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-450/ Thu, 13 Feb 2025 14:38:59 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39495 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-450/ Today's podcast features James Wild, a Research & Development and Speed Consultant with Harlequins Rugby Club and a Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Science at the University of Surrey. With expertise in biomechanics, skill acquisition, and motor learning, James has worked with athletes of all levels, including medal-winning teams at major competitions. He is also an author and holds a PhD in biomechanics and motor control of sprint acceleration. While many approaches exist for speed training, less attention is given to individual movement strategies. Athletes accelerate differently based on sport, movement background, and physical attributes. James discusses his quadrant system, which categorizes acceleration strategies based on flight/ground time and stride frequency vs. step length. He also covers injury trends, plyometrics, sprint technique, resisted sprints, motor learning, and more. It was great having James back—this episode is essential for anyone interested in speed training and individualized performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the Lila Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, James Wild 450: James Wild on An Evolution of Speed Training Individualization full 1:05:48 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=142111687&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F450_James_Wild.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-65" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-449/ Thu, 06 Feb 2025 14:51:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39484 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-449/ Today’s podcast features Kevin Mulcahy. Kevin is an experienced sports and S&C coach and owner-operator of the Design the Game Project. He has worked with various sports teams, athletes, professionals, and clubs across three continents, for over 30 years. Kevin takes a multi-lateral focus on human movement, skill development, and S&C, led by a deep interest in ecological dynamics and the constraints-led approach to coaching and motor learning. Extremely common to have conversations on speed training. It is rare to have conversations on the practical integration of speed training into actual sport tactics. It’s easy to hit the status quo of improving maximal lifts or running athletes through timing gates and seeing better times. It’s more complex to seek an integrated model that fits speed into the constraints of the game itself, but also a more integrated, creative, and ultimately rewarding process. Today's episode explores Kevin’s approach to game speed training, skill acquisition, and tactical advantages through constraints. He also discusses using games and sport variations to enhance athleticism and tactical ability. Additionally, we get into ideas on acceleration, deceleration, aerobic capacity, and sport-specific tactical demands. This episode ties together key concepts to deepen our understanding of physical preparation and athletic movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio (https://www.gymstudio.com). Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com Kevin’s Blog and Coaching Cohort Coaching Cohort - https://design_the_game.circle.so/join?invitation_token=78d7c7051905c5fa074bdef6dd3da8d8b739c6df-19412d20-3159-41ea-9397-9ec14685a7e7 Substack Blog - https://open.substack.com/pub/kevinmulcahy Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kevin Mulcahy 449: Kevin Mulcahy on An Evolution of Game Speed Development full 1:21:11 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=141852656&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F449_Kevin_Mulcahy.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-66" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-448/ Thu, 30 Jan 2025 13:26:54 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39468 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-448/ This episode features performance coach and tendon specialist Jake Tuura. Jake is an experienced coach and educator focusing on athlete hypertrophy, vertical jump improvement, and patellar tendinopathy rehabilitation. He spent seven years as a collegiate strength and conditioning coach as well as time in the private training sector. Connective tissue is critical in athletic movement and performance, but its relationship to both performance and the rehab process is still evolving. New research is continually coming out that is molding our understanding of what is really happening “under the hood” in training, and how to optimize processes to maximize tendon health and performance. On today’s podcast, Jake explores tendon science alongside athletic performance concepts. He covers ideas on animal tendon properties, age-related tendon changes, tendon stiffness vs. compliance, and the collagen matrix. On the performance end, Jake talks about the impacts of various training means on tendon adaptation, particularly various forms of isometric training, heavy strength training, plyometrics, and more. This was an awesome show connecting the latest tendon science with practical training solutions for healthier tendons and better athletic movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials, Elastic Essentials, or Speed ID courses, head to justflysports.thinkific.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jake Tuura 448: Jake Tuura on The Latest in Tendon Science and Applied Training Methods full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F448_Jake_Tuura.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-448%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-67" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-447/ Thu, 23 Jan 2025 13:07:12 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39458 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-447/ Today’s podcast is with Scott Salwasser. Scott is a sports performance specialist at EXOS, and previously served as the Head of Athletic Performance for Bishop Lynch High School, along with stops at numerous NCAA DI institutions, as well as work in the private sector. Scott is a field leader in assessment protocols and training methodology for physical preparation, speed, and combine development. As technology continues to push forward, and the data that comes with it, it’s crucial to have practical methods to apply technology to training in a meaningful way. Scott has a strong background in technology/assessment protocols, but is deeply practical and puts coaching and applied techniques at the forefront of his system. On the podcast today, Scott speaks on his experiences and transition away from sports performance in the NCAA, and talks on athlete assessments for speed and movement abilities, asymmetries, and meeting the evolving needs of an athlete over time. Scott has a great sense of what it takes to distill technology and advanced concepts into the needs of athletes in a performance setting, and it was great to catch up with him for this episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s “Gym Studio” and the LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and the LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Scott Salwasser 447: Scott Salwasser on An Evolution of Speed and Movement Assessment full 1:12:29 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=141327350&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F447_Scott_Salwasser.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-68" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-446/ Thu, 16 Jan 2025 14:52:26 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39438 Today’s podcast is with Eamonn Flanagan. Eamonn Flanagan is the Lead Strength & Conditioning Consultant at the Sport Ireland Institute, where he oversees strength and conditioning support for Ireland’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes. He holds a Ph.D. in Sports Biomechanics and spent over a decade in professional rugby, working with the Scottish Rugby Union, Edinburgh Rugby, and the Irish Rugby Football Union. Eamonn appeared on episode #250 and has just created a new course on plyometrics in conjunction with Sportsmith Training methods such as extensive plyometrics and reactive strength testing have become more common in training team sports. At the same time, it’s easy to lose sight of the whole in athlete development when chasing plyometric variables too far. On today’s show, Eamonn explores the application of plyometric training, including the impact of surface type on performance, the Reactive Strength Index's role in assessment, and strategies for optimizing reactive strength. We also cover plyometric intensity, using extensive plyometric methods, and tailoring programs to individual needs, concluding with balanced approaches to training and performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Eamonn Flanagan 446: Eamonn Flanagan on Reactive Strength and Individualized Jump Training Concepts full 1:14:58 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=141041238&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F446_Eamonn.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-69" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-445/ Thu, 09 Jan 2025 14:22:08 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39406 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-445/ Today’s podcast is with Cal Dietz and Mike T Nelson, authors of Triphasic Training II. Today's podcast features Cal Dietz, of the University of Minnesota and co-author of Triphasic Training, and Dr. Mike T. Nelson, a leading expert in exercise physiology, neurological training concepts, and metabolic flexibility. Sports performance is like a tree in many respects. It starts with standard strength training methods, then branches out and integrates varying aspects of total human performance. From the period between the original Triphasic Training to Triphasic Training II, Cal has worked through many aspects of athletic performance, interconnecting physiology and neurology. Mike’s work spans many interconnected aspects of human performance, and compliments Cal’s work with physiological underpinnings. On today’s podcast, Cal and Mike share insights from their new book, Triphasic Training II, focusing on optimizing human performance for athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike. Primary topics in this episode will be practical neurological training concepts, the origin and evolution of the GOAT drill, evolving warmups and training integrations, athletic capacity building, oscillatory training, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Lila Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cal Dietz, Mike T Nelson 445: Cal Dietz and Mike T Nelson on Training Neurology, Oscillatory Reps, and Triphasic II Concepts full 1:24:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=140785787&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F445_Cal_Mike.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-70" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-444/ Thu, 02 Jan 2025 15:04:47 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39394 Today’s podcast is a Q&A episode with Joel Smith. Topics include the role of roughhousing games for individual sport athletes, sandbag training, and rhythm-cadence in movement. Joel explores youth sports trends, breaking jump plateaus, and the benefits of flywheel loading. He also covers infrasternal angle training, rotating speed and plyometric days, and integrating team play with weekly speed work. This, plus, a discussion on the value of band resistance in sports training rounds out this comprehensive conversation on optimizing athletic performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 444: Joel Smith Q&A on Dynamic Learning, Speed Programming and Training Aliveness full 1:13:00 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=140547813&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F444_Joel_QA.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-71" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-443/ Thu, 26 Dec 2024 15:10:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39381 Today’s podcast features Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus. Bill Hartman. Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and in-demand educator with his modern approach to human mechanics and training. Chris Wicus is a health and performance professional with 15 years of experience, a former professional ultimate frisbee player, and a 2nd-degree black belt in karate. He has coached a wide variety of athletes across 17 sports and has been mentored by many top experts in the field. Bill and Chris host the “Reconsider” podcast together and speak on various cutting-edge approaches to human movement in a way that prompts thinking on existing processes in the field, and how to move forward with current understandings of training and biomechanics. One key link between on-field performance and weight room training is the dynamics of propulsion through the gait cycle. Bill and Chris often use the example of cutting mechanics—going into and out of a cut—which applies to sprinting, jumping, throwing, strength training, and directional changes, highlighting human movement as a series of turns, rotations, and gait phases. Today's podcast dives into the dynamics of propulsion and the gait cycle, linking field performance with weight room training. Bill and Chris explore "into and out of the cut" mechanics as they apply to sprinting, jumping, throwing, strength training, and directional changes. They compare change of direction to acceleration and top-end speed while discussing propulsion's impact on breathing, reciprocal motion, orientation, performance, and injury prevention. This was a truly illuminating episode and one that garners numerous notes and insights. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bill Hartman, Chris Wicus 443: Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus on Propulsion Dynamics in Athletic Movement full 1:20:43 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=140308797&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F443_Chris_and_Bill.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-72" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-442/ Thu, 19 Dec 2024 15:12:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39368 Today’s podcast features David Grey. David is the founder of David Grey Rehab, where he works with clients from all walks of life. David’s specialty is assessing his clients' gait cycle in depth to develop a plan to help restore the movement or movements they struggle to perform.  David has learned under many great mentors in the world of human movement, athletic development, gymnastics, Chinese martial arts, and biomechanics, and is an expansive thinker, blending many elements of human movement together in a down-to-earth way we can all resonate with. Although there are some differences between rehabilitation and performance strength and power training for athletes, there are also a lot of similarities and connections. The more we can understand good training from both worlds, the more effective our programming and outcomes can be. On today’s episode, David speaks on various aspects of foot training, along with both targeted and overcoming isometric adaptations. He also gets into concepts of loading and intensity in the rehab space, and what tends to be missing from many rehab programs. David covers this and much more in this practical and informative episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, David Grey 442: David Grey on High Performance Foot Training and Isometric Concepts full 1:05:51 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=139960835&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F442_David_Grey.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-73" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-441/ Thu, 12 Dec 2024 13:53:45 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39354 Today’s podcast features Katie St. Clair. Katie St. Clair is a seasoned strength coach, educator, and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the fitness industry. She is the founder of Empowered Performance, a program and academy designed to elevate the standards of coaching through an in-depth understanding of biomechanics, anatomy, respiration, and creative thinking. Katie's work focuses on empowering other coaches and movement professionals to create transformative experiences for their clients by fostering a love of movement. The human body is a highly intricate system, with countless ways to approach its training—whether focusing on mechanics, mental aspects, muscles, or connective tissues. Every part is interconnected, with systems and joints working harmoniously to create movement. In today’s episode, Katie delves into training patterns centered around the feet and hips, as well as the exploratory process she uses to deepen her understanding of movement and training strategies. She highlights the significance of understanding connective tissue behavior and its foundational role in performance programs. Additionally, Katie discusses the importance of incorporating ballistic and athletic movements into programming for all types of individuals, alongside other key principles of human performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Katie St. Clair 441: Katie St. Clair on Feet, Hips, and Connective Tissue Principles in Movement Performance full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F441_Katie_St_Clair.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-441%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-74" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-440/ Thu, 05 Dec 2024 13:51:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39344 Today’s podcast features Eric Guthrie, Director of Strength and Conditioning at George Washington University. Eric has over a decade of experience in sports performance, working with a wide range of sports. He currently works directly with lacrosse and gymnastics. A graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in Health & Human Physiology, Eric was a standout punter for the Hawkeyes, where he served as a permanent team captain and even earned an opportunity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Play-based training is on the rise in athletic development, and for good reason. It is a primal and effective way to deliver, not only a high level of stimulation and salience (attention) to the session but also to create memorable and joyful experiences for the individual. The key with any tool is to understand how to use it in context, achieving a balanced and effective use. On today’s episode, Eric digs into his keys in building movement challenges for athletes, using play for conditioning and movement qualities, and facilitating a program that continually scales into an athlete’s growing needs. He goes in-depth on how he chooses the degree of play and variability in a program, and how to build training with all parties in mind, sport coach, strength coach, and athlete. We also dig into some awesome mind, body, and environmental factors in training, conditioning, and performance. This was a practical and insightful podcast on one of the most powerful existing tools in athletic performance, the power of play. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Eric Guthrie 440: Eric Guthrie on Movement Challenges and Athlete Driven Development full 1:12:27 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=139339752&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F440_Eric_Guthrie.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-75" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-439/ Wed, 27 Nov 2024 15:05:56 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39298 Today’s podcast features Derek Hansen. Derek is a renowned International Sport Performance Consultant with over 35 years of experience working with athletes across all levels and disciplines in speed, strength, and power sports. Derek started in Track and Field and continued in sports performance to work with numerous athletes in the NFL, NBA, MLS, and NHL, along with Olympic medalists. As the former Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Simon Fraser University—NCAA's first non-U.S. member—Derek now specializes in speed development, performance planning, and return-to-competition protocols. If we zoom out and scan decades of fitness and human performance, we see methods go in, and out of style. In our current realm of athletics, we have put speed and power outputs heavily under the microscope, while energy system development and aerobic training have been played down (along with general physical education and physical competencies in young athletes). In looking at injury rates and longevity of athletes, it’s important to take a look at where we may be pushing too far, and where gaps need to be filled. On today’s episode, Derek covers the pendulum swing, and the importance of aerobic development, even in speed and power-seeking athletes. He also gets into the modern direction of acceleration training, as team sport training has moved into heavier resisted training protocols, relative to the past. Derek also touches on the artful side of training and coaching, mindfulness, overspeed sprint training, simplicity of programming application, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Derek Hansen 439: Derek Hansen on Pendulum Swings of Resisted Sprinting and Aerobic Development in Sports Performance full 1:30:50 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F439_Derek_Hansen.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-439%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-76" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-438/ Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:57:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39270 Today’s podcast features sports performance coach, Vern Gambetta, owner of Gambetta Training Systems. Vern is a globally respected leader in sports performance training, with over five decades of experience in coaching and consulting across multiple sports. Gambetta has profoundly influenced the field of athletic development, and his innovative approaches to functional movement, strength training, and sport-specific conditioning have shaped the practices of coaches, trainers, and athletes worldwide. It's interesting to think of the idea of “nothing new under the sun”, in physical training. Vern has been through half a century of training means and methods, using methods both popular and forgotten. So often in our own training and coaching journies, we look back and think “That was a great training series, I should do that again”! In this episode, Vern speaks on complex training (although as he mentions, he just calls it training), getting into spectrum training, and the evolution of his leg circuits. He talks about his history with isometric training, along with PNF concepts that are highly effective, but forgotten by many performance coaches. He also gets into priming and potentiation, rhythmic aspects in training, looking at training transfer through the lens of track and field, and much more in today’s episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Justf-ly-sports.com, Vern Gambetta 438: Vern Gambetta on Isometrics, “Spectrum-Training” and Rhythm, in Athletic Development full 1:25:39 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=138774017&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F438_Vern_Gambetta-enhanced-v2-90p.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-77" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-437/ Thu, 14 Nov 2024 13:21:05 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39258 Today’s podcast features speed coach, Cody Bidlow. Cody is a track sprints coach, athlete, and founder of Athlete X and SprintingWorkouts.com. He has been a head track & field coach at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, AZ, and a coach at EliteU working with NFL combine prep athletes. An all-conference sprinter for Grand Canyon University, Cody has been a personal coach for professional MLB athletes, track athletes, and consults for coaches around the world. To sprint fast takes an immense amount of effort and focus. To sprint one’s fastest in their early 30s takes a deep understanding of the training process and individual factors that account for top performance. On today’s episode, Cody speaks on speed training in regards to his current sprinting personal bests at age 32, and how he has dialed his training in this recent year. We speak on many aspects of training on the level of intensity, essentialism, workout regulation, resisted sprinting, complex training, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cody Bidlow 437: Cody Bidlow on Breaking Sprint Barriers and Intuitive Training Concepts full 1:16:08 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=138515142&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F437_Cody_Bidlow_E1.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-78" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-436/ Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:35:06 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39248 More show notes at https:/www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-436/ Today’s podcast features movement-focused strength coach Julien Pineau, founder of Strongfit. With a background in sports ranging from competitive swimming to MMA and strongman, Julien started coaching in 1993 and opened his strongman-focused gym in 2008. Known for his integration of all systems of the body, along with his eye for human movement, he’s worked with athletes across various disciplines, pursuing growth both inward and outward. It's easy to get overly accustomed to the typical training tools we are provided with. What is now the standard of physical training on the level of barbells, dumbells, machines, and heavy linear conditioning, however, is quite different than the physical demands on a human in our native environment. In so many ways, training with a sandbag is a great equalizer, as it brings online, so many of our instinctive human systems, and reminds us of our innate function. In today’s episode, Julien explores human instinct and body intelligence in training, covering sensory aspects (myotomes) of hands and feet, the role of anxiety/frustration, isometrics, the nervous system, the heart's intelligence, bone loading, grip strength, and more. This insightful discussion touches on essential training and performance concepts. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio, Athletic Development Games, and the LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Sleeves. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Julien Pineau 436: Julien Pineau on Skeletal Loading, Sandbags and the Art of Instinctive Training full 1:29:06 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=138279499&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F436_Julien_Pineau.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-79" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-435/ Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:06:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39230 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-435/ Today’s podcast features coach and educator, Jamie Smith.  Jamie is the owner of Melbourne Strength Culture and has over a decade working in high-performance training. He has a variety of experiences in high-level strength and conditioning in both Australia and the United States and is heavily involved in the development and education for strength coaches. Jamie has a deep understanding of current biomechanical models and training frameworks, along with integration of “Bio Psycho Social” concepts for a complete training experience. Most methods focus on frameworks, technical models, sets, reps, and percentages. However, there’s little emphasis on the athlete’s subjective experience, which influences their results, learning, and enjoyment. In this episode, Jamie discusses building awareness and encouraging movement exploration to enhance athleticism. He emphasizes giving athletes ownership of their bodies and expands on the “bottom-up” training concepts from his last appearance, including the key “dials” of athlete experience. The show wraps up with his critique of conventional ideas of stability in athletic movement. This episode offers deep insights into human performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jamie Smith 435: Jamie Smith (Strength Culture) on Isometric Exploration and Challenging Traditional Strength Paradigms full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F435_Jamie_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-435%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-80" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-434/ Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:00:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39217 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-434/ Today’s podcast features Chris Kelly, the owner of Fitness Rehab and The Musical Athlete. He has extensive education in biomechanics and human performance systems. Chris balances health and performance while teaching clients to understand their bodies and manage movement efficiently. As a teacher, he has trained hundreds of professionals in topics like breathing mechanics, movement assessment, and exercise application. Many training conversations relate to what happens from the ground upwards, but not often do we discuss what occurs from the head, downwards in athletic movement. What happens at the level of the head, is also a mirror for what is happening in the chest, and hips, so knowing this area helps paint a greater picture of the total athlete. On today’s podcast, Chris covers aspects of airway, head, and neck as they pertain to sprinting and human movement, along with compensatory strategies that can power movement under conditions of fatigue. He also talks about the nature of reciprocal movement in force absorption, oscillatory training principles, and air-pressure-based principles of movement and performance. This show offers a unique and helpful lens by which to greater understand the big picture of athleticism and training methodology. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Chris Kelly 434: Chris Kelly on Airway Dynamics and Force Production in Athletic Movement full 1:31:32 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=137828838&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F434_Chris_Kelly.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-81" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-433/ Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:30:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39206 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-433/ Today’s podcast features Seth Lintz. Seth (“Pitching Doctor”) is a pitching and athletic performance coach.  He was a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB draft, carrying a maximal fastball speed of 104mph.  Seth has trained over a dozen individuals to break the 100mph barrier, using a progressive training system that prioritizes neuro-muscular efficiency, human psychology/brain-science, and intuitive motor learning concepts. To understand the fullness of our potential in any athletic discipline, we need to know not only our primary skill but also similar movements that can teach us more about that skill (outward) and the inner layers of our body and mind that dictate our movement quality and potential (inward). Seth fuses both of these in his approach. On today’s podcast, Seth covers his recent work with sprinting, locomotion, and postural balance, and how it fits in with training pitching velocity. We also get into a variety of special strength-oriented movements for sprinting and related throwing aspects, and cover layers of both environmental and internal factors that drive athletic movement to its highest potential. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Seth Lintz 433: Seth Lintz on Sprint Training and Instinctive Athleticism full 56:36 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=137603911&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F433_Seth_Lintz_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-82" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-432/ Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:32:59 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39194 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-432/ Today’s podcast features Brady Volmering. Brady is the owner of DAC Performance and Health. He is continually evolving and refining core concepts of athletic development and walks the talk in his personal body transformation and practice. Brady leverages bio-psycho-social principles and intentions in his process of helping athletes become the best they can be. He has been a multi-time guest on this podcast. Exercise and physical training are usually discussed from the perspective of physiological changes. Rarely are the mental/emotional and learning aspects brought into the equation. On today’s podcast, Brady discusses a variety of speed and strength training means, and how he looks to program them, not only on a level of physiological adaptation but on a level of intention and total stimulation to the athlete. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials or Elastic Essentials courses, head to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Brady Volmering 432: Brady Volmering on A Tool Kit for Building Athletic Power full 1:09:34 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=137328718&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F432_Brady_Volmering.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-83" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-431/ Thu, 03 Oct 2024 14:12:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39187 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-431/ Today’s podcast features Flynn Disney. Flynn is a parkour athlete and human performance coach known for integrating mind, body, and environment in movement training. Flynn combines his history as an athlete with an intensive study of human psychology and experience training animals to provide a unique and insightful perspective on training. All too often, training is thought of on the level of machine-like qualities. Sets, reps, drills, and coaching cues. Rarely do we consider those processes by which children and animals learn, or how the consideration of the total human can change the process by which we coach. Much of this also involves looking at what makes animals and humans both similar and unique, in their movement strength, and abilities. On today’s show, Flynn digs into the key differences between animals and humans from a perspective of reflexes and internal wiring, the role of reflexes in training, and examples in plyometric, running, and dynamic “spinal-engine” activities (and the value of “the worm” breakdance move, from an athletic perspective). He talks about the role of attentional networks, and training implications, the impact of risk on our reflex loops in training, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Flynn Disney 431: Flynn Disney on Reflexive Power and The Art of Natural Learning full 1:20:08 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=137005738&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F431_Flynn_Disney_1.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-84" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-430/ Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:34:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39171 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-430/ Today’s podcast features Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus. Bill Hartman is a physical therapist and in-demand educator with his modern approach to human mechanics and training. Bill has been an influential figure to many guests on this podcast, as well as my own views on training. Chris Wicus is a health and performance professional with 15 years of experience, a former professional ultimate frisbee player, and a 2nd degree black belt in karate. He has coached a wide variety of athletes across 17 sports and has been mentored by many top experts in the field. Bill and Chris host the “Reconsider” podcast together and speak on various cutting-edge approaches to human movement in a way that prompts thinking on existing processes in the field, and how to move forward with current understandings of training and biomechanics. So often in physical training, athletes are told to master the basics of “Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Etc.”, but unfortunately, within this framework, there is little to no consideration of how various body types have the capacity to carry out those lifts, and what impact intensifying those movements will have on indivdiuals. On today’s show, Bill and Chris speak to the nature of the big lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), and how both “Narrow” and “Wide” ISA athletes (elastic and muscular) will be able to process those movements. We talk about the helical nature of our human design, and how it impacts movement preferences. We also discuss specific strength strategies for athletes who are more narrow and wide, and how to better tailor one’s overall strength program to one’s athletic needs. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bill Hartman, Chris Wicus 430: Bill Hartman and Chris Wicus on Elastic Athletes, Deadlifting, and the Path of Least Resistance full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F430_Bill_and_Chris.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-430%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-85" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-429/ Thu, 19 Sep 2024 13:32:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39159 Today’s podcast highlights coach, author, and educator Dan John. A best-selling author in strength training and fitness, including works such as “Never Let Go”, “Mass Made Simple”, and “Easy Strength Omni-Book.” Dan excels at transforming complex concepts into practical insights and has been a frequent guest on the show. He is one of my most significant influences in how I approach coaching and training. As I move forward in my coaching and training journey, I increasingly appreciate Dan’s methods and wisdom in deeper and more impactful ways. If you want to excel at athletics, then you can never, ever, get too far from the actual day-to-day and week-to-week process of training that unfolds over time. On today’s episode, Dan talks about navigating the peaks and valleys of performance along with managing daily training and competitive expectations. He also touched on the importance of athlete autonomy, and “figuring it out”, and trends in sports training. Ultimately, Dan speaks to the heart of that consistent, long-haul process by which champions are made, which is the core message of today’s episode. Dan is a legend, and it’s always fantastic to have him on the show. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dan John 429: Dan John on Training Mastery and the Champion’s Process full 1:08:32 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=136363769&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F429_Dan_John.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-86" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-428/ Thu, 12 Sep 2024 13:27:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39143 Today’s episode features Lee Taft, a leading expert in sport speed development. Lee has accumulated wisdom, not just in sports performance, but also in physical education, and sport coaching.  Lee has been a multi-time guest on the podcast and is a regular consultant and mentor to many professionals in the field. We regularly consider building speed and athletic movement on the individual level, but there is often a gap when it comes to determining how to use that speed in context of other players, decision-making capabilities, and in the game itself. Lee is not only a leader in building individual speed components, but he also zooms out to engage athletes on those levels of basketball skill through his sport coaching expertise. In today’s episode, Lee emphasizes the importance of speed and movement for team coordination, focusing on burst training, fast breaks, and press situations. He gets into partner competitions and multiplane movement drills while honing decision-making exercises to improve overall performance. He also discusses creating environments that encourage aggressive play and empowering athletes to take risks with the removal of external judgment. Finally, we cover practical tools like sprint workouts, partner drills, and resistance bands to help build athletic skills and confidence. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and athleticdevelopmentgames.com. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Lee Taft 4428: Lee Taft on Breaking Barriers in Team and Individual Speed Development full 1:07:47 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=136104019&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F428_Lee_Taft.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-87" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-427/ Thu, 05 Sep 2024 13:38:16 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39123 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-427/ This week’s podcast features Dr. Pat Davidson, an independent trainer and educator based in NYC. Pat is the creator of the "Rethinking the Big Patterns" lecture series, a former college professor, and one of the most insightful coaches in fitness and human performance. With a diverse athletic background that includes strongman competitions, mixed martial arts, and various forms of weightlifting, Pat brings a wealth of experience to the table. He has been a guest on several previous episodes of this series. We live in a world of total information overload. We are continually given “10 drills” and “3 tips” but without a greater framework of understanding the complex system of the human body. Training in the modern age can be seen, in a way, as a swamp of methods, as well as lots of noise with various attention-grabbing headlines and social media posts. Having the principles and framework for what is important and how it fits into one’s worldview or training model is a shining light through that swamp, and it is one we must develop as we grow in our coaching and movement journeys. Today’s podcast with Pat digs into the story of training and motivation. We discuss the Hero’s journey in training and cover decision-making, learning, and mastery in coaching. We then discuss the model by which Pat has evolved to understand the complexity of the body in motion. This episode finishes with a great continuing discussion on the principle of “ground” in athletic movement at development at the end of the episode. Pat is a deep thinker, and you always walk away with concepts to help you evolve your own process on a more profound level. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dr. Pat Davidson 427: Pat Davidson on The Hero’s Journey of Training and Human Performance full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F427_Pat_Davidson.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-427%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-88" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-426/ Thu, 29 Aug 2024 12:37:28 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39115 This week’s podcast is with Ken Clark and Cory Walts. Dr. Ken Clark is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at West Chester University, specializing in the mechanical factors of athletic performance and injury prevention. With over a decade of hands-on coaching experience across various levels, Ken also teaches Biomechanics, Kinetic Anatomy, and Motor Learning. Cory Walts is the Director of Strength & Conditioning at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has led successful sports performance programs since 2019. A finalist for the NSCA College Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award, he is highly certified and experienced in the field. Speed training, for team sports in particular, is an evolving method, specifically in how athletes are profiled and bucketed into training needs. There are more and less complex ways to do this. With the increased emergence and leaning into technology-assisted models, starting with a basic understanding of speed development principles across groups is essential. On today’s podcast, Cory and Ken discuss speed training for team sports in light of „low-tech” solutions and simple bucketing systems. We discuss critical differences between team sports and track and field athletes and the appropriate expectations for technical models. Ken and Cory discuss various speed training methods, including mini-hurdles, resisted sprint variations, stride frequency variations, environmental training considerations, and more. This was a great, practical show on developing methods in sprint development. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials or Elastic Essentials courses, head to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dr. Ken Clark, Cory Walts 426: Ken Clark and Cory Walts on Applied Speed Profiling and Training Methods full 1:03:15 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=135616539&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F426_Ken_Clark_Cory_Walts.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-89" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-425/ Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:00:56 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39098 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-425/ This week’s podcast is with David Durand. David is a coach and author of "B.E.T. On It: A Psychological Approach to Coaching Gen Z and Beyond." He combines his expertise in coaching, strength and conditioning, and psychology to help athletes achieve their full potential. Through his company, Real Development LLC, he provides insights that address athletes' physical, mental, and personal growth, mainly focusing on the challenges faced by Gen Z. David advocates for a holistic approach that emphasizes the nervous system's role in enhancing performance and mental well-being. As technology and social media have facilitated a drastic change in the world, along with the prevalence of mental health issues, coaching athletes in Generation Z (currently ages 11-26, or under age 27 for current coaches in most situations) demands that we understand how stress impacts the training process. On today’s podcast, David speaks on aspects of the nervous system in light of modern life and technology and how we can use ideas based on Polyvagal Theory to help athletes have a training experience that gives them maximal benefit in their athletic journey. David’s concepts are a must-understand for those who work with young athletes, but the same concepts resonate with humans of all ages. In this show, David specifically covers how breathing, vision, and touch can drive beneficial responses from the body to the brain, providing mental and emotional benefits to the athlete. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, David Durand 425: David Durand on Balancing the Nervous System in Gen Z Athletes and Beyond full 1:20:09 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=135288110&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F425_David_Durand.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-90" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-424/ Thu, 15 Aug 2024 13:10:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39062 This week’s guest is Rick Franzblau, Assistant AD for Olympic Sports Performance at Clemson University. Rick has a tremendous understanding of athletic movement, both from the technology and biomechanical aspects of the human movement equation. He has worked with a wide variety of sports and athletic movement patterns and has a unique understanding of the specific demands sport requires. Sport performance has been anchored in strength training via barbells or dumbells since its inception. The addition of needed muscle mass, power production, and slow-speed injury resiliency is a key aspect of improved performance. At the same time, each added modality to the sport movement equation has a trade-off to it. Where heavy squats, presses, and deadlifts improve one’s general force production capabilities, they have the trade-off of various skeletal restrictions and compensations that may not be in an athlete’s best interest at some point. On the show today, Rick speaks on biomechanical concepts, such as skeletal compression, orientation, reciprocal motion, and pressure dynamics, and how they relate to what he sees in their on-field performance. He then goes into training concepts related to squatting, Olympic lifting, waterbag training, and more, and how strength means can become an ideal fit for an athlete’s structure and needs in their sport movement mechanics. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rick Franzblau 424: Rick Franzblau on Strength Mechanics for Athletic Optimization full 1:18:05 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=134864615&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F424_Rick_Franzblau.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-91" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-423/ Thu, 08 Aug 2024 11:21:47 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39043 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-423/ This week’s guest is Adarian Barr. Adarian is a former college track coach, inventor, educator, and international speaker on human movement. He co-authored “Let Me Introduce You” with Jenn Pilotti. Adarian has been a primary mentor of mine in athletic movement and has made various appearances on this podcast. Where much of athletic performance and track world focus on enhancing movement through generalized cues or techniques, Adarian works in the world of joints and levers to understand the nuances of movement. Through these nuances, we can better understand training theory, cueing, and exercise application. On today’s podcast, Adarian discusses recent Olympic races, the role of the feet, shins, and arms in movement, hamstrings, isometrics, and much more. This was a deep dive into important nuances of the total movement equation, and discussions with Adarian are always a tremendous learning experience. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to: Lilateam.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Adarian Barr 423: Adarian Barr on Force Application, Levers, and Joint Mechanics full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F423_Adarian_Barr.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-423%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-92" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-422/ Thu, 01 Aug 2024 12:16:02 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=39031 This week's guest is Joel Reinhardt. Joel is an Assistant Athletic Performance Coach and Sports Science Coordinator for San Jose State Football. He has extensive experience from his previous roles at Stanford, UMass, and Nicholls State, where he was involved in sports performance and sports science. Joel has been a previous guest on this podcast and has an intuitive and data-based approach to preparing athletes for the specific demands of sport. As the integration of training with on-field practice becomes more prevalent, the dynamics of physical preparation are undergoing a significant shift. The weekly layout of a team sport preparation is now mirroring the systematic approach of a track and field cycle, addressing key qualities throughout the week based on specific areas of emphasis. This evolution is a key aspect of today's discussion with Joel Reinhardt. Joel has built brilliant training systems based on sports science and the integration of key athletic qualities. In today's episode, Joel covers many aspects of physical preparation in football, emphasizing key attributes that lead to improved robustness and game speed. Joel also discusses the nuances of multilateral speed and deceleration, weekly training layouts, overcoming fear and downregulation, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by gymstudio.com, plyomat.net, and athleticdevelopmentgames.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Joel Reinhardt 422: Joel Reinhardt on Advancing Game Speed Development in Football Preparation full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F422_Joel_R.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-422%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-93" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-421/ Thu, 25 Jul 2024 14:11:51 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38988 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-421/ This week’s guest is Piotr Maruszewski. Piotr is the Short Sprints and Hurdles Coach at the UMCS University of Lublin, Poland, and has held the position of Polish Athletics National Team Coach, where he prepared athletes for major events at the international stage, as well as being a current speed climbing national team coach. Piotr is a strength and conditioning Coach with solid track and field roots, specializing in multi-sport speed development. Piotr has studied from many of the greatest coaching minds in the world and has helped athletes to incredible results. Although traditional strength training and sprint constraints can be effective, it’s important to question whether there are not more specific methods available. Of the many tools in the training toolkit, some of the most powerful include the family of fast eccentric and oscillatory isometric training. On today’s podcast, Piotr discusses the nature of rhythm in hurdling, an angular approach to sprinting, and takeaways from his learning with Adarian Barr. He also discusses bodyweight isometric holds and special strength training methods for his athletes, centering around how he works the fast eccentric and isometric overloads for the elastic and muscular archetypes. Piotr has learned from many of the greatest minds in the world of training and has gotten tremendous results from his brilliant integration. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio, and the Plyomat Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to: Lilateam.com The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Piotr Maruszewski 421: Piotr Maruszewski on Oscillatory Isometrics and Angular Sprint Training full 1:24:58 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=133497202&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F421_Piotr_Maruszewski.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-94" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-420/ Thu, 18 Jul 2024 11:20:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38922 Rob Assise is a jumps coach and mathematics teacher at Homewood Flossmoor High School (2023 Illinois State Track Champions). He is also a writer, a regular “Track Football Consortium” speaker, and a multi-time guest on this podcast. In addition to high school sports, he owns the private training business Re-Evolution Athletics. Having good reactivity in the feet carries nuance with it. Some athletes can use their feet exceptionally well for sprinting or straight-ahead pursuits. Others have foot dynamics that allow them a better conversion of horizontal energy to vertical. Ultimately, the goal is to understand why athletes use their strategies and find areas of improvement specific to the individual. On today’s podcast, Rob covers ideas on intersections of sprint and jumps training in track and field, athletic asymmetry, plyometric coaching, speed and power complexes, and a nuanced discussion on the nature of foot placement in sprinting and plyometrics, on the level of both performance and injury prevention. Rob is a humble and experienced coach, and I’ve always loved having a chance to sit down and talk training with him. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio, and the Plyomat Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to: Lilateam.com The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rob Assise 420: Rob Assise on Foot Dynamics and Explosive Athletic Development full 1:10:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=133293266&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F420_Rob_Assise.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-95" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-419/ Thu, 11 Jul 2024 11:24:12 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38909 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-419/ Andrew Paul is the Director of Performance and Rehabilitation for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is both a sports performance coach and a physical therapist.  Andrew has learned from a variety of performance and biomechanics experts and has a deep knowledge of individual factors in athletic movement, training, and performance. Individual factors in athletic movement and understanding the nuance of training in the athletic equation are where the future of training and performance is heading. At high levels of sport, this understanding becomes increasingly important to maximize players' health and vitality while catering to their primary performance drivers. Last time on the show, Andrew talked about the difference between propulsive and absorbing actions, as seen on court and in training. For this episode, we dig into Andrew's take on movement screens and how particular types of athletes tend to be biased to excel in those tests. We also deeply discuss forefoot and rearfoot-oriented elastic athletes and mid-foot dominant athletes and how these aspects play out in court movement and training. This was another fantastic discussion with a brilliant performance mind. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio, and the Plyomat Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to: Lilateam.com The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Andrew Paul 419: Andrew Paul on Movement Screens and Foot Dynamics in Athletic Performance full 1:11:05 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132994785&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F419_Andrew_Paul.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-96" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-418/ Thu, 04 Jul 2024 12:57:15 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38901 Chris Korfist and Dan Fichter are this week’s guests. Between the two of them, they have decades of successful coaching in the world of track and athletic performance training. They have each had a substantial journey in their study of human performance, and have made a substantial impact on the field in the process. Many years ago, Chris and Dan were on the podcast talking about the “DB Hammer” system, and how it impacted aspects of their speed and power training, particularly the individualizing aspect of auto-regulation and “drop-offs”. For today’s podcast, Chris and Dan get into details of their evolving approach to speed training, particularly on the level of complexes, and the methods they use to break limiting barriers of their athlete’s full potential. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio, and the Plyomat Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to: Lilateam.com The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Chris Korfist, Dan Fichter 418: Chris Korfist and Dan Fichter on Complexes, Coordination and Breaking Sprint Barriers full 1:17:14 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132943446&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F418_Chris_Dan.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-97" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-417/ Thu, 27 Jun 2024 15:32:50 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38882 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-417/ Today's podcast features a Q&A with Joel Smith. Questions this round revolve around facets of sprint complexes, jump training, reactive strength, youth sports, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio (https://www.gymstudio.com), and the Plyomat Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to: Lilateam.com The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software.  Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 417: Joel Smith Q&A on Sprint Complexes, Jump Training, and Dynamic Coordination full 1:05:39 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132893937&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F417_Joel_QA.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-98" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-416/ Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:22:49 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38867 Today's podcast features Chris Chamberlin and DJ Murakami. Chris Chamberlin is the Head Coach and Director of Education at Weckmethod and has over 15 years of coaching experience. He is a leader in innovative thought in the fitness industry, focusing on movement efficiency, and works with athletes and individuals of all levels. DJ Murakami is a coach with over 15 years of experience in various movement practices like bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, strongman, movement culture, rock climbing, and more. He has created training courses like Chi Torque and the Predator Protocol, and mentors coaches and fitness enthusiasts through his organization, Human Strong. Various methods exist to understand human body function, including respiration, joint position, and movement assessment. Julien Pineau's "Torque Chains" simplifies this process, focusing on muscle layout and sensation of movement. Chris and DJ, incorporating ideas from Julien and David Weck (coiling), created a course called "Torque Chains." This course explores movement using internal and external torques ("fire" and "ice"), variations of these torques, and transitions between modes during complex movements. In today's episode, Chris and DJ delve into "fire" (ET) and "ice" (IT) torque chains. They discuss their applications for different populations, exercise implications, strengths vs. weaknesses, muscle chains' relation to psychology, running applications, and more. These concepts offer a profound understanding of body function, presenting an effective approach to movement analysis. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Chris Chamberlin, DJ Murakami 416: Chris Chamberlin and DJ Murakami on Applied Muscle Torques in Movement and Performance full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FChamberlin_and_Murakami.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-416%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-99" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-415/ Thu, 13 Jun 2024 12:47:25 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38853 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-415/ Today's podcast features Andrew Sheaff. Andrew is a swim coach, most recently working at the University of Virginia where the Cavaliers won multiple NCAA team championships.  He is also the author of ‘A Constraints-Led Approach to Swim Coaching’, a book that examines how to build skills organically during the training process.  He is currently consulting with clubs and coaches to help them improve their skill development strategies.  On the last show Andrew spoke on empowering the technical development of the athlete, free from overcoaching, as well as how to create lasting change in technique and performance. On today’s episode, Andrew talks about timing and central motion factors in athletic movement, optimizing constraints for individual athletes, the art of scaling constraints up and down, aspects of over-speed and under-speed methods and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr and Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Andrew Sheaf 415: Andrew Sheaff on Constraints and the Art of Individualized Speed Development full 1:09:50 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132822291&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F415_Andrew_Sheaff.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-100" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-414/ Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:40:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38837 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-414/ Today's podcast features Liz Gleadle. Liz is a three-time Olympian, high-performance consultant, and TEDx speaker. After retiring in 2022, Liz had a transformative epiphany, recognizing the profound impact of emotions on posture, movement quality, and power production. At that moment, she decided to "un-retire" and train with a whole new approach to rewire her mind and movement patterns for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. There is a wealth of material in training and coaching on exercises, sets, reps, parameters, and "positions" athletes should be in. In general, much of movement training is based on static ideas, positions, or black-and-white constructions. The reality of movement, training, and performance runs much deeper, is more connected, and has a far greater richness to it. On today's podcast, Liz speaks on her process of infusing dance, flow, and connection into the throwing javelin while also leveling up athletically. Liz digs into key aspects of training: "training side-quests," connectivity, overcoming fear in movement, and facilitating a dynamic ecosystem of training, learning, and growth. Liz has an expansive perspective on the deeper process of athletic movement, and this episode pushes into a new and powerful space of human performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr and Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Liz Gleadle 414: Liz Gleadle on Javelin and the Dance of Athleticism full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132781704&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F414_Liz_Gleadle.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-101" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-413/ Thu, 30 May 2024 12:46:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38816 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-413/ Today's podcast features strength coach, educator, and consultant Justin Lima. Justin owns the Strength Coach Network and has extensive experience as a strength coach in American Football across the B1G, ACC, Ivy League, and CAA. He holds a Ph.D. in health and human performance and has significantly contributed to the development of numerous coaches and athletes. In athlete development, zooming out and viewing the entire training process is crucial. Understanding a sport's skill and physical demands is essential for effectively complementing an athlete's sport play with strength, speed, and conditioning programs. In today's episode, Justin discusses balancing a speed program with sport, the nature of in-game speed, 1x20 strength programming, alternative power training methods, and the importance of collaboration between strength and sport coaches. Justin is a comprehensive and practical thinker and communicator, offering a profound perspective on the sport training process. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr and Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Justin Lima 413: Justin Lima on Applied Speed and Power Development full 1:16:44 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132684990&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F413_Justin_Lima.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-102" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-412/ Thu, 23 May 2024 13:00:24 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38801 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-412/ Today's podcast features NBA performance coach Andrew Paul. Andrew is the Director of Performance and Rehabilitation for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is both a sports performance coach, as well as a physical therapist, and utilizes his wide-ranging expertise in his position. Andrew has previous experience in the NCAA, as well as with military special operations, and was named the NBSCA strength coach of the year in 2022-2023. As the sports performance profession moves forward, we are understanding that training is not a one-size fits all experience, while finding new ways to classify athlete archetypes, exercise classifications, and how to piece it together to meet the needs of an athlete. Part of what makes training and coaching enjoyable is seeing the diverse range of athletic movers, and the optimal exercises and concepts by which to create their programming. On today's podcast, Andrew discusses key differences between muscular and elastic movers in basketball and related training implications. He goes into propulsive and absorption-based exercises, range of motion concepts based on athlete types, and how to assign individualized training based on strengths, weaknesses, and the needs of an NBA season. He also speaks on slow-tempo work, connective tissue health, foot training, and much more on this information-dense podcast. Andrew is pushing the envelope in high-performance training, and I really enjoyed this conversation. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-Fly-Sports.com, Andrew Paul 412: Andrew Paul on Performance Concepts for Elastic and Muscular Archetypes full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132650955&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F412_Andrew_Paul.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-103" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-411/ Thu, 16 May 2024 13:38:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38759 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-411/ Today's podcast features coach Tim Anderson. Tim is the co-founder of Original Strength and has been a personal trainer for over 20 years. He is an accomplished author and speaker known for streamlining complex ideas into simple and applicable information. Tim is passionate about helping people realize they were created to be strong and healthy. He has written and co-written many books on this subject, including The Becoming Bulletproof Project, Habitual Strength, Pressing RESET, and Original Strength Performance. Tim's message is simple yet powerful: We were created to feel good and be strong throughout life. Many systems, philosophies, and assessments start with clients and athletes feeling broken, while Tim's work blends a positive message with functional strength and restorative movements. The longer I go through my journey as a coach, athlete, and mover, the more I value Tim's work, and I have incorporated many of his ideas into my own methods and programming. On today's episode, Tim and I discuss fluidity of movement, body tension, and creativity, followed by a discussion on utilizing a variety of speeds in training. Much of our talk centers around the benefits of slow movements and how these can, in turn, benefit much higher velocity motions, as well as ideas on how these fit in training complexes. Tim speaks on this and much more in this episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tim Anderson 411: Tim Anderson on Dialing the Spectrum of Speed in Movement and Performance full 59:11 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132587697&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F411_Tim_Anderson.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-104" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-410/ Thu, 09 May 2024 12:23:07 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38741 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-410/ Today's podcast features coach Bobby Whyte. Bobby is an athletic performance and basketball skill enhancement trainer in northern New Jersey. He trains players from multiple sides of the athletic equation (strength, speed, skill, general physical development) and has been known for the "good drill" ideology and training system. In the world of modern sports performance, coach Bobby Whyte's approach stands out for its comprehensive nature. It's not just about 'speed' or 'skill ', but a balanced integration of all aspects of athleticism. This approach reassures athletes that their training is not one-dimensional, but a wide-spanning pyramid of development. In today's episode, Bobby speaks on his process to help take basketball players to the edge of their ability, speaking from his perspective as both a basketball skills coach and athletic development coach. This show hits on filling the right bucket an athlete needs, at the right time, taking an integrated view on transference to the game itself, versus a more compartmentalized view. He also keys into the 7 first principles he uses, and refers to, to help push athletes to the overall edge of their ability. Also discussed are the importance of unstructured play, creativity and fun in the development process. I love these conversations because they help to push the envelope of how the entire athlete training process unfolds, not only on a singular skill or strength side of things. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bobby Whyte 410: Bobby Whyte on Training at the Edge of Athletic Ability full 1:20:56 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132538798&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F410_Bobby_Whyte.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-105" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-409/ Thu, 02 May 2024 12:09:16 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38717 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-409/ Today's podcast features sprint coach Jack Edwards. Jack is the coach and company co-founder with Track Speed Development and is experienced in club and high school track coaching. He runs the "Metamorphosis Track Project" page on social media, is the creator of the "Acceleration Monster" training manual, and can often be found at the Bankstown athletics track in Sydney. Jack works closely with individuals from diverse backgrounds and age groups, ranging from national-level competitors to newcomers in track and field. Jack's coaching approach underscores the significance of individual observation, athlete identity, and tailored strategies to optimize each athlete's s movement and performance. It is easy in sprint training (or general athletic performance) to focus on the "micro" or isolated aspects of athletic performance training. It is easy to treat all athletes the same in programming and cueing. Although a general structure must exist in training groups, it must also be understood what drives each athlete's performance engine, their ideal cues and communication strategies, and related training constraints and exercises. In today's episode, we delve into the unique coaching approach of Jack Edwards. He shares insights on painting a comprehensive picture of the athlete, considering the driving mechanisms of their movement, psychological factors, and adaptation in sprint training. Jack also discusses the importance of developing an athlete based on their needs, their "superpower ", and "identity", bringing the power of story into the sprint training equation. We also explore the concept of coaching based on big picture elements, versus a "micro" approach. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of these topics and more in today's episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jack Edwards 409: Jack Edwards on Athlete Centered Speed Training full 1:02:12 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132481424&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F409_Jack_Edwards.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-106" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-408/ Thu, 25 Apr 2024 14:06:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38692 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-408/ Today's podcast features Kevin Mulcahy. Kevin is an experienced sports and S&C coach and owner-operator of the Design the Game Project. He has worked with various sports teams, athletes, professionals, and clubs across three continents, for over 30 years. Kevin takes a multi-lateral focus on human movement, skill development, and S&C, led by a deep interest in ecological dynamics and the constraints led approach to coaching and motor learning. Sport and the process of athlete development has undergone a major shift in the last 3-4 decades. Where free play used to be a hallmark of young athletes, the majority of athletic development now happens in the realm of supervised, cognitively overloaded, and hyper-accelerated practices and games. This aspect of sport (and sports performance) does get talked about, but the nuances of how things should actually change from both a developmental aspect are rarely discussed. On today’s show, Kevin gives his perspective on ideal athlete development from an ecological and environmental point of view. He lays out the difference between the dominant “cognitive” approach to coaching and training, relative to an ecological approach. Kevin also gets into skill development, game-play and the importance of motor learning, and an overall athlete-centered, approach to training. Kevin’s experience crosses many of the traditional lines drawn in athletics, and as such, helps us to form new connections and understand the athlete development process on a deeper level. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kevin Mulcahy 408: Kevin Mulcahy on The Evolution of Athleticism and Skill Development full 1:19:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132333578&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F408_Kevin_Mulcahy.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-107" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-407/ Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:31:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38646 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-407/ Today's podcast features Cameron Josse, Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Auburn University. With experience at Indiana University Football and DeFranco’s Training Systems, Cameron has worked with athletes from various levels and sports like NFL, NHL, UFC, and WWE. A former football player at the University of Rhode Island and current PhD candidate at Jean Monnet University, Cameron's approach to performance training is both practical and comprehensive. As we move forward in sports performance training, there is more data around speed training for athletes than ever, as well as corresponding logistics and systems. We are understanding that physical preparation is not a one-sized fits all approach, not only between sports, as well as within positions in a single sport. By better understanding key aspects of speed development on an individual level, as well as in knowing the evolving role of strength training over time, we can better serve the needs of the individual athlete. On today’s episode, Cameron will cover the process of optimizing resisted sprint protocols in college football athletes, as well as important individual differences he sees between positions and maximal speed ability. We will cover strength training in light of long term athlete speed and power development, sprint biomechanics and injury prevention, as well as concepts of integration between strength and sport skill staffs. Cameron is a brilliant coach with an expansive view of the training process. This conversation is a valuable addition for anyone interested in long term development of speed and athleticism. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at Teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cameron Josse 407: Cameron Josse on Optimizing Speed and Strength in Football Development full 1:28:59 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132171074&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F407_Cam_Josse.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-108" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-406/ Thu, 11 Apr 2024 16:50:50 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38610 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-406/ Today’s podcast features Rafe Kelley, owner of Evolve Move Play. Rafe has studied and taught a multitude of movement practices spanning gymnastics, parkour, martial arts, weightlifting, and more for over 20 years. His passion is to help people build the physical practice that will help make them the strongest, most adaptable, and most resilient version of themselves in movement and life. Rafe has had a profound impact on my coaching and training philosophy and has helped me expand my views on the totality of the bio-psycho-social model of movement and human performance. Much of modern training is overly prescriptive, reliant on drills, and overemphasizes winning. This leads to practices with a reduced learning potential, a downplay of creativity, and a lowered ceiling of movement and skill potential. It also leads to less engaging practices in general. In today’s episode, Rafe delves into his unique methods and teachings that foster creative and adaptable athletic movement. He explores the interplay of constraints and play in sport and skill training, underscores the significance of creativity and improvisation in movement (and how to cultivate it), and shares insights on the role of joy in movement. Rafe also touches upon collaborative movement training, rough-housing, dance, and movement improvisation, and how these elements can shape better learners and movers in their respective sports or movement practices. By gaining a deeper understanding of play, exploration, and constraints, we can unlock the full potential of human performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr, the Plyomat, and LILA Exogen. Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off of any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer head to lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at plyomat.net Evolve Move Play invites you on a journey to rediscover this primal joy through our Roughhousing programs. Each tailored to meet different needs, these programs offer a unique blend of physical skill-building, emotional bonding, and pure, uninhibited fun. Check out these programs and more at evolvemoveplay.com/courses/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rafe Kelley 406: Rafe Kelley on Empowering Athletic Movement Potential full 1:21:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=132046508&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F406_Rafe_Kelley.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-109" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-405/ Thu, 04 Apr 2024 15:26:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38598 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-405/ Today's podcast features Austin Jochum. Austin is the owner of Jochum Strength and is a strong proponent of athlete centered, play based, robust physical training. Austin was a former D3 All-American football player and a hammer thrower (MIAC weight throw champion) at the University of St.Thomas. Austin has been a multi-time guest on the podcast, and every conversation with him has been both enjoyable and enlightening. Much of sport coaching and training today takes place in a “fractured” version of ultimate training and performance. The balance point of training is shifted heavily towards “perfect technique”, drill work, and high output, low variability practices that reduce the movement solution potential of the athlete. This mentality feeds into sports performance, where singular physical markers (especially maximal strength) tend to be accelerated as fast as possible, rather than tending the patient, purposeful growth of the entire athletic library of skills and physical abilities. On today’s episode, Austin gives his take on the foundations of athlete-centered development model that prioritizes joy, the learning process, and long-term development. We discuss the role of play and exploration in achieving both one’s ultimate athletic performance, as well as enjoyment of the process. Austin goes into his take on games as a pre-cursor to prescriptive training measures, highlights the importance of confidence and emotional aspects of training, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Sign up for Austin and Joel’s live 1-day seminar in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 8th, 2024 at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/escaping-the-training-simulation-seminar/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Austin Jochum 405: Austin Jochum on Foundations of Athlete Centered Performance Training full 1:09:37 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=131921629&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F405_Austin_Jochum.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-110" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-404/ Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:23:14 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38577 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-404/ Today’s podcast features Scott Leech. Scott is the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Rhode Island. He oversees football, women’s tennis, and women’s track and field and manages all strength and conditioning aspects for the department. Scott is a former football captain and earned academic honors at Springfield College. Agility training is far more than cones, ladders, and tires. It is a multi-faceted training construct based heavily on task-based stimuli. Modern coaches are understanding in greater detail, the need to help players adapt to the tasks of the game. There is a place in performance where further strength and linear speed gains no longer move the needle for an athlete in their on-field play. At some point, a broader understanding of movement must be taken up by coaches who desire to improve transfer points in their performance program. On today’s podcast, Scott gets into the weekly breakdown of his speed and agility training program. He talks about how he pairs specific on-field perception and reaction tasks with more linear speed, jump training items, and strength work done in the gym. Through the podcast, Scott makes distinctions between games done for fun and for task-specific purposes, the role of exploration, as well as manipulation of variables in speed and agility games. This podcast will really expand your understanding of off-season training and performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Scott Leech 404: Scott Leech on Building a Total Game Speed Program full 1:12:34 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=131792032&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F404_Scott_Leech.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-111" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-403/ Thu, 21 Mar 2024 13:46:35 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38562 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-403/ Today’s podcast features Nicolai Morris. Nicolai is the Head of Performance for AFLW at Collingwood AFL club. She is also the strength and conditioning coach for World Champion and Olympic medalist high jumper Nicola Olyslagers (formerly McDermott). Previously, she worked as the Head of Physical Preparation of the Australian Women’s Hockey Team, NSWIS, and HPSNZ, working with NZ Rowing and leading NZ women’s hockey. She is an elite level 3 ASCA coach with a master’s in strength and conditioning and over 17 years of experience. Strength is far more expansive than what is gained from lifting barbells. It encapsulates a large number of qualities and abilities. When it comes to helping high-level athletes break through a performance barrier, what is needed is not simply “more barbell strength” but improving one’s total strength and movement package. Many forms of movement and strength can be employed to do this. This week’s podcast guest, Nicolai Morris, uses many strength and movement methods in her training. One of Nicolai’s athletes, Nicola Olyslagers, recently set the Oceanic high jump record at 2.03 meters (6’8”), and in today’s episode, Nicolai goes through the various strength and movement methods that helped set Olyslagers up for success on the high jump apron. Our discussion also deals with pole vault, swimming, and athlete autonomy. This episode was an expansive discussion on the role of strength and coordination in high jump training and beyond. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Nicolai Morris 403: Nicolai Morris on Gymnastics, Plyometrics and Elite High Jump Performance full 1:09:20 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=131658895&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F403_Nicolai_Morris.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-112" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-402/ Thu, 14 Mar 2024 13:14:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38552 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-402/ Today's podcast features Ryan Jackson. Ryan has been the Associate Director of Human Performance/Nutrition with TCU Football since December 2021. His duties include team nutrition education, counseling, and menu planning. As a performance coach, he works directly with quarterbacks, mids, and advanced athletes. Jackson has been involved in sports performance and nutrition on the NCAA DI level for over 15 years. Tendons and connective tissue are an important aspect of human movement. Yet, compared to muscle, there is relatively little objective data or research on their adaptive processes or key performance metrics. Skeletal structure considerations, such as Infra-sternal angle, also play a vital role in an athlete's movement strategy and muscle mass dynamics and are also something we are just beginning to learn and integrate into the training equation. In creating a total performance program, it is essential to understand not just the dynamics of muscle but also of bone and tendon. On today's show, Ryan will discuss the correlations found at TCU between the Achilles tendon thickness, Nordboard metrics, Fat-Free Muscle Mass, and training season. He will also discuss the differences in Achilles thickness between football positions and the implications for training well-roundedness. Finally, Ryan will discuss the infrasternal angle measurements and how these correlate to an athlete's lean muscle mass and potential for maximal functional muscle gain in the gym. This episode was an awesome deep dive into cutting-edge information about connective tissue and performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and the Plyomat For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ryan Jackson 402: Ryan Jackson on Tendon Dynamics in Football Performance full 1:32:22 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=131504714&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F402_Ryan_Jackson.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-113" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-401/ Thu, 07 Mar 2024 13:01:41 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38539 This week’s podcast guest is Angus Ross. Angus is a former Winter Olympian employed by High Performance Sport New Zealand. He works with track and field and several other Olympic sports, including sprint cycling, skeleton, squash, rowing, tennis, and more. Angus has a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Queensland and has been a multi-time guest on the podcast. He is an absolute wealth of knowledge on all things speed, power, and human performance. There is a lot that the world of sport can learn from track and field, but perhaps the most valuable lessons can be gained by studying the decathlon and heptathlon events. Most sports performance programs will jump, sprint, and throw, but the focused, competitive aspects of those events bring out the highest level of expression for pure outputs, along with the speed-endurance aspects. In today’s podcast, Angus discusses the relationship between the multi-events and the needs of team sports, including the dynamics of creating scoring tables in a performance program and the connective tissue development multi-event training brings about. He discusses the relationship between speedbag training and sprinting. He also gets into isometrics and elasticity, as well as plenty of case studies and examples of putting these principles into action. I always have fantastic conversations with Angus; this talk was no exception. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Angus Ross 401: Angus Ross on Neural Wiring, Elasticity, and Dynamic Coordination in Sport full 1:14:32 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=131373971&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F401_Angus_Ross.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-114" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-400/ Thu, 29 Feb 2024 13:09:37 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38521 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-400/ Today's podcast features Paul Cater, a seasoned strength coach with extensive experience in both professional and private realms. Beginning his journey in collegiate football at UC Davis, Paul later ventured into international professional rugby with the London Wasps for seven years. Following his rugby career, he spent a decade innovating strength and conditioning systems in professional baseball with the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Angels. With a research focus on performance and injury reduction in Seville, Spain, Paul now optimizes training methods for the tactical community and is designing "The Lab Monterey," a premier 'smart gym' in the USA. While training is often regarded as both an art and a science, the majority of time and resources are allocated to the scientific aspects, leaving the artistic elements overlooked. The art of training extends beyond communication with athletes, delving into the intuitive process of session unfolding and the natural processes of learning, movement, and community engagement. In today's podcast, Paul explores the alignment of performance with natural learning, emphasizing challenge and mimicry over verbal statements and rote recital of patterns. He details how to create an environment that breathes life into training sessions, fostering engagement, enhanced learning, and improved results. The discussion also covers the role of science in the context of "smart gyms" and how technology can liberate coach resources for more creative investments. In a rapidly evolving world, this podcast is a landmark exploration of understanding athletes and fostering a meaningful coaching process. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Paul Cater 400: Paul Cater on Dynamic Coaching and the Natural Learning Process full 1:19:01 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=131220056&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F400_Paul_Cater.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-115" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-399/ Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:35:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38485 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-399/ Today’s podcast is with Alex Kanellis. Alex is the founder of Landmine University. He is a former state champion wrestler, Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year (Football), and University of Iowa football player. He has been a scholastic strength coach, wrestling and football coach, as well as having spent time as a performance coach for Weck Method. Currently, Alex’s focus is on training youth wrestlers, as well as his work with Landmine University. Strength training for athletes is fundamentally basic. The powerlift variations, as well as Olympic lifts recruit a large amount of muscle mass and are fundamentally stimulating. At the same time, with the potential to be over-used, “functional” training has emerged, offering light-weight movements with high demands for balance and coordination. Landmine oriented training movements offer a happy medium in a high potential for force application, a rotational and arc-like orientation, as well as short learning curves (unlike the longer learning curve of the Olympic lifts). On today’s podcast Alex goes into his experiences that brought him into landmine training, and how he uses the method with athletes. He also gets into the advantages and unique aspects of the method, and touches on the transfer points to a number of athletic movements and practices. Alex touches on isometric landmine variations, as well as gets into GPP methods for young athletes in general, and what we can learn from the athleticism of wrestling and combat sports. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Alex Kanellis 399: Alex Kanellis on Explosive Rotational Strength Development full 1:01:04 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FAlex_Kannelis_399.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-399%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-116" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-398/ Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:45:36 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38308 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-398/ Today’s podcast is with Mark McLaughlin. Mark is the founder of Performance Training Center, and currently works as a physical preparation/strength coach in the Lake Oswego school district. Mark has had a diverse sporting history as a youth, and has been active in the field of physical preparation since 1997. Mark has trained over 700 athletes at all competitive levels, from Olympic to grade school athletes, and has worked with organizations such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA universities, high schools, and youth sports. On the last podcast, Mark spoke on his creative and wide-ranging approach to athletic performance, with an emphasis on movement training and athlete learning, as well as technology and the importance of the aerobic system in athletes. For today’s show, we center on a case study of one of Mark’s high school athletes who put 2 feet on his standing long jump and 11 inches on his vertical jump in just over 2 years time. Within this framework, we get into Mark’s ideas on athlete autonomy and feedback, jump training, progression and pacing of work, hill sprints, capacity, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mark McLaughlin 398: Mark McLaughlin on The Art of Total Athlete Development full 1:25:14 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=130956179&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F398_Mark_McLaughlin.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-117" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-397/ Thu, 08 Feb 2024 19:48:35 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38239 Today’s episode is a Q&A podcast with Joel Smith. Questions on this episode revolve around swim training, sprint training, plyometrics, and specific training means for athletic development. Much of my philosophy has gone towards motor learning and how athletes can intuitively learn explosive sport skills, that not only gets results, but is also sustainable over time. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 397: Joel Smith Q&A on Reactive Strength, Intuitive Athleticism and Swim Performance Methods full 1:09:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=130836549&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F397_Joel_Smith_QA.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-118" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-396/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 16:31:03 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=38082 More show notes at https://www.jsut-fly-sports.com/podcast-396/ Today’s podcast is with Graeme Morris. Graeme is an athletic development coach and leads the rehab program at Wests Tigers. He is the former head of strength and conditioning at AFL Field umpires, Western Suburbs Magpies and the Newtown Jets. Graeme has consulted for a variety of field based and combat athletes including world and Australian champions in Muay Thai. Graeme has experience designing and implementing strength and power in the gym, as well as speed, agility and conditioning on the field. In athletic performance, it’s easy to get trapped in one viewpoint of improved athleticism, when there are many aspects of good movement and decision making. Graeme has both a wide-ranging understanding of sport and physical training, as well as an ability to understand the role of each coach and specialist in the overall training process. On today’s podcast, Graeme speaks about his time training in the martial arts, and how that impacted his thought process in his recent return to traditional sports performance training. He also gets into thoughts on lateral and curvilinear sprint development, ideas on how to “micro-dose” athleticism in team sport athletes, ideas on staggered stance lifting, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Graeme Morris 396: Graeme Morris on Curvilinear Speed, Athletic Microdosing, and Learning from the Martial Arts full 1:06:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=130683476&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F396_Graeme_Morris.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-119" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-395/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:43:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37492 More show notes and transcripts at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-395/ Today’s podcast is with Romain Tourillon. Roman is a physiotherapist, researcher and educator carrying an emphasis on the foot-ankle complex in rehab and performance. He is engaged in a PhD thesis on the foot muscles role in sports performance, supervised by sprint research expert, JB Morin. Romain works as a clinician at the Swiss Olympic Medical Center at La Tour Hospital, and has presented at various congresses on aspects of foot and ankle performance. The foot is a massively important, and under-studied aspect of athletic performance, and considering the way the foot is trained and integrated makes an impact in the training program. For today’s show, Romain discusses the roles of the mid-foot and fore-foot in human movement, and gives training applications to optimize each foot section. He gets into the role of the toes in training, sensory input, intrinsic foot strength, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Romain Tourillon 395: Romain Tourillon on Foot Dynamics in Athletic Movement full 1:16:33 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=128829889&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F395_Romain_Tourillon.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-120" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-394/ Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:43:00 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37474 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-394/ Today’s podcast is with Ian Markow. Ian is a personal trainer and movement educator based in Delray Beach, Florida, and founder of Markow Training Systems. Ian utilizes methods and philosophies from Functional Range Conditioning, the Postural Restoration Institute, and more as he works with clients from the general population to professional athletes. Ian is an internationally recognized expert in fitness, mobility, and human performance and has a number of educational programs, courses, and workshops. With the vast amount of information on corrective exercise, movement, and mobility training, knowing where to start and how to view the human moment equation can be challenging. As helpful as movement training can be, it can also easily create a training narrative that an athlete is dysfunctional, and promote a “nocebo” effect of movement limitations, as well as create an environment of high pressure on the part of the trainer to elicit particular movement and range of motion outcomes. On today’s podcast, Ian discusses taking a practical perspective that centers on what an athlete can do rather than what they cannot and the simple gateways he manages to engage with the individual's breathing, mobility, and alignment. He also gets into ideas on managing more superficial movement abilities versus more deep-seated structural elements, gives his take on assessments, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ian Markow 394: Ian Markow on A Practical Approach to Mobility, Breath and Movement Training full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F394_Ian_Markow.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-394%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-121" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-393/ Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:40:44 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37354 Today’s podcast is with Christian Thibaudeau. Christian is a Canadian strength coach with over two decades experience, is a prolific writer, and has worked with athletes from nearly 30 sports. He is the originator of training systems such as the NeuroTyping system and Omni-contraction training. Christian is a wealth of training knowledge, and in addition to his extensive experience, he walks the talk in his training, competing in weightlifting and bodybuilding. I always enjoy having Christian on the show, as he is an absolute wealth of knowledge in multiple areas of human performance. I’ve had a significant number of revelations across my time speaking with Christian that have had a profound impact on my approach to programming and training. On the episode today, Christian talks about aspects of the nervous system and training stress, both in shorter-term cycles and waves of work, as well as year-to-year recovery concepts to restore the body and mind. Christian also covers ideas on training to failure, pre-fatigue and muscle activation work in relation to athletic skill development, loaded stretching for strength, and more. This was an awesome show, and it’s always great to have Christian on the podcast. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Christian Thibaudeau 393: Christian Thibaudeau on Loaded Stretching, Pre-Fatigue, and Nervous System Management in Athletic Development full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F393_Christian_Thibaudeau.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-393%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-122" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-392/ Thu, 04 Jan 2024 13:35:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37340 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-392/ Today’s podcast is with Dr. Keith Baar, professor at UC Davis and renowned tendon training researcher and expert. Professor Keith Baar received his PhD from the University of Illinois, and over the last 20 years, Keith has worked with elite athletes, as the scientific advisor to Chelsea Football Club, USA Track and Field, Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, British Cycling, The English Institute of Sport, Leicester Tigers Rugby, and the Denver Broncos. He also spent time as an assistant strength coach with the University of Michigan football team where he was an undergraduate. Keith first guest appearance on this podcast, was on the role of various exercise velocities and tendon health, and was an extremely popular episode. Tendon training is crucial for overall health and performance, as tendons rely on loading for adaptation. Isometrics, a potent tool, are key to a robust training program. In this episode, Keith Baar explores tendon tissue adaptation trends and how different forms of isometrics and training methods optimize tendon health and high-tension capabilities. He delves into the impact of both low-speed and high-speed loading movements, emphasizing the compounding effects achieved by combining them for enhanced performance. Dr. Baar discusses essential concepts like tendon remodeling, the body's protective mechanisms, and the optimal sequence for training to realign and remodel tendon tissue. Drawing from examples in swimming, running, and rock climbing, he highlights the integral role tendons play in shaping training and performance outcomes. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dr. Keith Baar 392: Dr. Keith Baar on Isometrics and the Evolution of Tendon Training full 1:28:02 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=128230606&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F392_Keith_Baar.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-123" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-391/ Thu, 28 Dec 2023 12:00:36 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37152 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-391/ Today’s podcast is with Vern Gambetta. Vern is currently is the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems, and a seasoned coach in athletics, coaching techniques and physical preparation methods, with a career spanning over 50 years.  Vern is recognized internationally as an expert in training and conditioning for sport having worked with world class athletes and teams in a wide variety of sports. He is a popular speaker and writer on conditioning topics having lectured and conducted clinics in Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe. There are two side of the coin in coaching, and while the maximal strength and data-based side is heavily emphasized, the more creative, adaptable and “functional” side of human performance is far less built out in programming. That base of knowledge and core process is certainly important, but it can choke out problem solving, fostering adaptability, while developing a creative, dynamic process. In this episode, Vern delves into the fundamental elements of training athletes for optimal performance. He explores the intricacies of his training system, drawing on historical references and influences. Vern articulates his perspective on maximal strength training and emphasizes the significance of rhythm, tempo, and flow in the training process as well as cultivation of movement quality and long-term athlete longevity. Additionally, Vern highlights the crucial role of creativity in coaching, underscoring the continuous refinement of coaching systems and observational skills over time. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fy-sports.com, Vern Gambetta 391: Vern Gambetta on The Art Form of Athletic Development full 1:23:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=128094265&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F391_Vern_Gambetta.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-124" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-390/ Thu, 21 Dec 2023 13:38:15 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37142 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-390/ Today’s podcast is with Logan Christopher, strongman, author, owner of Legendary Strength, and CEO of Lost Empire Herbs. He has been a prior podcast guest speaking on mental training and giving an expansive view of the components of strength in the human being. Logan has written several books, including “Mental Muscle” and “Powered by Nature,” which I have found to be impactful, alongside numerous other manuals on human movement, performance, and mental abilities. Logan is an expert in using the natural machinery of the body in connection with our environment to help us reach our highest potential as humans. Logan’s work has had a substantial impact on my own training experience, especially on the mental and herbalism ends of the equation, areas that I wouldn’t have spent much time engaging with otherwise.  One of the low-hanging fruits in both athletic performance and general well-being in daily life is an awareness and understanding of one’s breathing patterns. As Logan has said in previous podcasts, “You are always mental training” whether you are aware of it or not, you are also training your breath, whether you are aware of it or not.  The question then becomes, how aware of the breathing patterns that you carry are you or your athletes? In today’s episode, Logan discusses his approach to breath training for human performance and vitality. He also talks about the inspiration he has drawn from Joseph Greenstein, also known as the Mighty Atom, on the level of breath training, and the Atom’s mastery of the mental, inner game in his strongman pursuits. Within this, we discuss the regulation aspects of the body, as it pertains to feats of strength, and the process of working with those regulators in exhibiting feats of strength. We finish the show discussing integrating one’s mental and emotional states into physical training means, such as sprinting.  Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Logan Christopher 390: Logan Christopher on Breath Training and Breaking Mental Barriers in Human Performance full 1:10:51 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=127914963&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F390_Logan_Christopher.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-125" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-389/ Thu, 14 Dec 2023 14:47:20 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37117 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-389/ Today’s podcast is with David Kerin. Dave is the USATF chair of men’s development, and also chair for men’s and women’s high jump.  Dave’s coaching career began with 14 years at the HS level followed by 14 years of collegiate coaching where an athlete set a still-standing NCAA DIII championship record in women’s high jump.   A requested speaker and published author, he is perhaps best known for his work: “What is the most direct means to achieve strength gains specific to the demands of jumping events”, as well as the popular article: “Fixing the Right Problem”.  David appeared originally back on episode #58 of the podcast in its “classic” days. Curvilinear sprinting is a critical aspect of sport movement, and is also becoming more popular in training, and for good reason.  Lateral and rotational aspects of movement are not only critical for sport, but also engage a greater fullness of the body in a training environment. On today’s podcast, David goes into the defining elements of curvilinear sprinting, and what this means, not only for track and field high jump, but athletic movements in general.  He also gets into the importance of observing and coaching athletic movement from a 3D perspective, and gives ideas on how to do so, as well as the evolution that technology is making in that direction.  Today’s podcast gives us a wonderful perspective on a more complete picture of athletic movement and performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, David Kerin 389: Dave Kerin on Curvilinear Sprinting and Rotational Dynamics in Athletic Movement full 1:01:50 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=127823017&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F389_Dave_Kerin.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-126" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-388/ Thu, 07 Dec 2023 15:47:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37089 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-388/ Today’s podcast is with Devin Hayes.  Devin is the Pitching Performance Coordinator with the Detroit Tigers.  He has worked in both baseball coach and physical preparation roles at Middlebury College, and has worked in the private sector, training athletes from high school to major league All-Star level.  Devin currently plays for the Irish National Baseball Team and has included javelin throwing in his athletic repertoire. When we learn skills in one area of human performance, we can become more understanding of them all.  A key area of development in human performance is found in the realm of overhand throwing.  By understanding the rotational and linear aspects of the throwing pattern, we can not only achieve better throwing results, but we also gain awareness of an important element of athletic function in general. On today’s episode, Devin shares his experiences transitioning from baseball pitching to javelin throwing.  He gives the lessons learned from various forms and constraints of overhead throwing, and digs into the elastic and rotational aspects of pitching.  A main point of discussion is that of letting athletes find their path versus when and how to intervene in coaching, and finally Devin chats about relaxation techniques, and shaking movements to enhance throwing performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Devin Hayes 388: Devin Hayes on Multi-Lateral Throwing Development and the Road to High Velocity full 1:23:27 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=127707554&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F388_Devin_Hayes.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-127" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-387/ Thu, 30 Nov 2023 12:00:56 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37082 Today’s podcast is with Chris Bramah and JB Morin. Chris is a consultant Physiotherapist and Researcher at the Manchester Institute of Health & Performance, specializing in biomechanics for injury prevention, especially in running-related concerns like hamstring strains. With over a decade in elite sports and a Ph.D. in biomechanics, he collaborates with World and Olympic Medallists, providing consultancy services focused on sprint running mechanics and their connection to hamstring strain injuries for clients. JB Morin, a full professor and head of sports science at the University of Saint-Etienne, brings over 15 years of research experience. Having published 50 peer-reviewed journals since 2004, he is a world-leading researcher in sprint-related topics, collaborating with top sprinters like Christophe Lemaitre. As a two-time previous podcast guest, JB shares valuable insights applicable to team sports, including his expertise in force-velocity profiling and heavy sled training. Sprinting and sports injuries are complex. Hamstring injuries are common, yet there is not one “unicorn” of a risk factor that determines whether or not an athlete will sustain one. As the roadmap of injury risk is continually unfolding, understanding what is happening from the coaching practices and observations, sports science, and research lenses can all work together to improve our global understanding of building fast and robust athletes. On the episode today, Chris and JB go into various running factors that play into robust sport running performance. These range from force-velocity profiling elements to kinematics and sprint technique, and rotational-based factors. This was a podcast that really digs into the sprint injury equation on a detailed and informative level. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, JB Morin, Chris Bramah 387: Chris Bramah and JB Morin on Sprint Biomechanics and Advancing Injury Risk Factors full 1:15:27 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=125705197&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJB_and_Chris.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-128" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-386/ Thu, 23 Nov 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37067 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-386/ Today’s podcast is with Sam Wuest.  Sam is a licensed acupuncturist, jumps coach and teacher of internal martial arts residing in San Jose, Costa Rica.  Sam combines modern strength & conditioning with Traditional Chinese Medicine/movement arts in his movement practice, and is the creator of the “Meridians Move” system.  He is a former Division I athlete and coach of NCAA national champions and national medalists in track & field.  I first met Sam at a “Be Activated” seminar, and he has been a two time guest on the podcast in the time afterwards. In the world of movement and athletic performance, we spend a lot of time learning about muscle tension, force production and how to maximize outputs.  At the same time, we spend very little time learning about the opposite end of the spectrum, how to relax muscles, optimize resting tension, breathe and recover.  Even if we spend a smaller portion of our training time on the recovery aspect, it still is critical to understand the “soft side” of movement.  If we don’t spend time on it, we will move more poorly, take longer to recover, and impede our movement longevity. We occasionally see those athletes who are able to compete at a high level of movement skill, and even power output into their late 30’s and early 40’s, but we don’t spend much time considering the factors behind their performance.  On today’s podcast, Sam goes into the ideas of movement quality, elasticity, stress, breathing, therapy, and more that can help us achieve better movement capabilities, later into life.  This podcast is also a lens by which to observe the entire process of training, but seeing both ends of the tensioning and relaxation spectrum. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Sam Wuest 386: Sam Wuest on Elasticity, Tension-Relaxation and Keys to Athletic Longevity full 1:12:13 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=123154752&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F386_Sam_Wuest.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-129" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-385/ Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37050 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-385/ Today’s podcast is with Alex Lee.  Alex is the owner of Circadian Chiropractic & Sport in Sarasota, Florida. He grew up outside Boston and entered the health realm after recovering from several long-standing injuries through a combination of chiropractic care and neurologically-based physical training. Alex played and coached baseball in Europe and Australia for four seasons and ran two private facilities for 3 years following a D1 college baseball career. When he is not doing 5-minute hangs or helping clients achieve a higher quality of life and movement he is intently observing his cats, golfing, or bronzing at Florida Gulf beaches with his wife. If we really break it down, we have two “ends” of the human (and therefore athlete) performance spectrum.  On one, we have the ability to generate high tension and forces, and on the other, we have the ability to sustain those forces over longer periods of time.  We can liken this to short and maximal isometric holds on one end, and then long, sustained holds on the other. Where central nervous system drive and aggression fuel the former, the ability to relax the body and reach a more “flow” state of being drives the latter.  In general, we tend to spend a lot more time considering methods to improve short holds without a balancing element on the sustained side of things.  Ultimately, we need to understand both to reach our highest athletic and physical potential. On the podcast today, Alex goes into aspects of long isometric holds on a physical and mental level, and how he incorporates them in his training programs.  Alex details the factors and benefits of being able to sustain longer holds, and what that means for athletic and human populations in general. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Alex Lee 385: Alex Lee on Hangs, Isometric Holds and Neurological Efficiency in Human Performance full 1:18:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=122408433&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F385_Alex_Lee.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-130" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-384/ Thu, 09 Nov 2023 14:24:57 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37043 Today’s podcast is with athletic performance coaches Hunter Eisenhower and Mike Sullivan. Hunter Eisenhower is the head of men’s basketball performance at Arizona State University, previously spent time with the Sacramento Kings, and has worked in several NCAA S&C departments. Hunter played college basketball for four seasons at Seattle Pacific University. Mike Sullivan is a speed and performance coach at TCBoost Sports Performance in Chicago, IL. At TCBoost, Mike works with a wide variety of athletes, from youth to professional, and transitioned to the private sector after time in collegiate strength and conditioning. Most recently, Mike was at UC Davis and spent time at Illinois State, Notre Dame, and Texas. For a long time in sports performance, weight room strength has been considered the top priority and method of measuring strength and power outputs. At the same time, bodies in motion produce incredibly high forces in jumping, sprinting, and landing (eccentric and reactive forces). Understanding the nature of elasticity and reactivity, and how to measure and train it in greater detail is a must-know for anyone looking to improve athletic abilities. If you were to list three of my favorite sports and human performance topics, they would be: Play, Jumping, and Sprint Development. Today’s show will be getting into these topics, primarily digging into key markers that highlight usable athletic force production, centering around altitude drops onto force plates. We’ll also cover aspects of sprint training from a standpoint of observation and technique, relative to technology readouts, as well as overspeed methods. Finally, we’ll get into Hunter and Mike’s use of play, games, and “aliveness” in their warmups. This was a fun and practical episode from which a wide range of coaches and athletes can find new and valuable ideas. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr.com platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, goto lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Hunter Eisenhower and Mike Sullivan 384: Hunter Eisenhower and Mike Sullivan on Exploring Elasticity and Athletic Force Production full 1:18:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=122346687&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F384_Eisenhower_and_Sullivan.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-131" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-383/ Thu, 02 Nov 2023 14:15:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=37027 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-383/ Today’s podcast is with Mat Boulé and Jeff Moyer.  Mat Boulé is an osteopath and posturologist educated in functional neurology muscle activation techniques, and is the founder of the IP institute.  Mat combines innovative and well-known techniques such as Posturology and Functional Neurology elements to balance the body.  Jeff Moyer is the owner of DC sports training in Pittsburgh, PA.  Jeff has been a multi-time guest on the show, appearing as a solo guest in three shows and on three roundtables.  His expertise includes elements such as Soviet training systems, motor learning, skill acquisition, pain reduction and reconditioning, in addition to neurological concepts as they relate to athletic performance and human movement proficiency. Human beings are complex organisms.  Movement is a multi-faceted action, made up of muscular actions, fascial tensegrity, connective tissue transmission, pressure and fluid dynamics, and of course neuromuscular control that is also connected to one’s senses and the outside environment.  To have a complete understanding of athletic movement and performance, it is helpful to have a working knowledge of the neurological components of movement, including foot skin sensitivity, vestibular function, vision, and sided-ness to name a few. Today’s podcast digs into those neurological elements that can contribute to performance.  Mat and Jeff discuss how they assess and train clients and athletes with these principles, discussing the use of sensory tools, rolling and rocking variations, balance and foot training, as well as the role of a well-functioning neurological apparatus in skilled athletic movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeff Moyer, MatBoulé 383: Mat Boulé and Jeff Moyer on A Neurological Approach to Posture and Athletic Movement full 1:02:33 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=122267050&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F383_Moyer_Boule.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-132" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-382/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 13:19:50 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36995 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-382/ Today's podcast is with Tyler Yearby. Tyler is the co-founder and director of education at Emergence, a leading company in sport movement and skill development education. He is a Former NCAA strength coach who has delivered over 200 domestic & international continuing education courses, workshops, and conference presentations in 12 countries. Tyler has worked with a wide range of athletes, from youth to professional, and is currently pursuing his doctorate in sport and exercise at the University of Gloucestershire (UK). Sport (and the subset of physical training) is defined by how we build and adapt skills over time. Ultimately, both the joy of movement and its eventual mastery are rooted in motor learning and skill acquisition. The sign of coaching where these elements are applied effectively is not just "using textbook principles" but, more so, a total feeling of aliveness and joy in the process of mastery. This is where learning and skill acquisition transcends being something learned in a classroom and is a regular, interactive experience on the part of the coach and athlete. For today's podcast, Tyler goes into important topics that cross the worlds of motor learning and coaching in general. He discusses his take on learning "the fundamentals" for athletes, the significance of "prompts" over traditional "commands" during training sessions, and explores these ideas for both the weight room and sports skills alike. Tyler also delves into the concept of self-organization, examining when it's beneficial and when it could hinder performance. This fantastic conversation has implications for both strength and skill coaches or anyone who wants to understand movement and skill building on a deeper level. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tyler Yearby 382: Tyler Yearby on Fueling Aliveness in Athletic Performance and Skill Development full 1:00:36 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=122176282&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F382_Tyler_Yearby.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-133" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-381/ Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:15:33 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36984 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-381/ Today’s podcast is with biomechanics and rehab specialist, Alex Effer.  Alex is the owner of Resilient Training, and has extensive experience in strength & conditioning, exercise physiology and the biomechanical function of the body.  He also runs educational mentorships teaching biomechanics to therapists, trainers and coaches.  Alex has been a previous guest on the show speaking on many aspects of gait, and the links between common gym movements and locomotion. For the amount of talk that goes into particular exercises, or exercise variations, very little goes into looking at human biomechanics first, as a base layer by which to base exercise selection.  We also spend little time understanding how two athletes may ideally perform the same movement differently, to optimize their own leverages.  We also often hear, or see exercises or training methods designed to improve external rotation, but tend to overly generalize the roles of “knees in/out”, or “inside edge/outside edge”. By understanding more about the biomechanical basis of force production, and how structure determines our base of support, we can achieve not only a better exercise selection process, but a better understanding of athletic movement in general. On the show today, Alex gets into important concepts on how humans produce force in movement, and how the internal and external rotation of joints creates effective motion.  This leads into how various body types have different bases of support, and what this means for programming squat and lunge variations, as well as implications on the level of various kettlebell swing and catch exercises.  This was an in-depth show that will change your lens on the way you see squat and lunge setups across a breadth of athletes in training. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Alex Effer 381: Alex Effer on Force Production Strategies, Lunge Dynamics and Base of Support Concepts full 1:30:05 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=120874128&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F381_Alex_Effer.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-134" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-380/ Thu, 12 Oct 2023 14:46:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36957 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-380/ Today’s podcast is with movement coach Aaron Cantor. Aaron is a bodyworker, personal trainer, yogi, and movement generalist. He grew up in Japan and Brazil, and has traveled the world, learning from a variety of teachers and movement experts. Aaron has taught in the US and internationally, and works through a variety of game-play, movement, and story-telling-based methods. He is currently a coach for Evolve Move Play, while also working on his own movement coaching and teaching practice. In training, movement, and competition, we have both an “outer game” and an “inner game” at work. The outer game is relatively straightforward and the most common way we tend to interface with movement in the modern world. This includes the game’s rules and also leads into the external methods of instructing that game, such as telling individuals where to put their limbs in space, what motions to make, and what strategies to choose. The “inner game” approaches movement from a fun, connection, feel, and exploration perspective. Training requires some sort of numerical target of improvement (outer game), but at the same time, elite performers that have the “inner-game” skills that gives them a more complete package. Human performance is a combination of both outer and inner elements. By understanding the nature of the “inner” aspects of training, how to explore movements more fully, how to connect more deeply with our own bodies and our environment, we can achieve a more integrated and dynamic training process and, even more importantly, find more joy in sport and movement, and connection with ourselves and others. On today’s podcast, Aaron and I discuss the key aspects of training the inner game of movement, through an exploratory and intuitive process. These principles can apply to any realm of movement, from strength training and general fitness, to running and sprinting, to team sport skill applications. Most of what we study in the space has to do with the “outer game,” so taking time for the inner aspects of movement helps us to paint a more complete picture of the total process of training, play, and competition. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Aaron Cantor 380: Aaron Cantor on Exploring the Inner Game of Athleticism, Movement and Skill Development full 1:07:07 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=120779355&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F380_Aaron_Cantor.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-135" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-379/ Thu, 05 Oct 2023 13:56:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36947 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-379/ Today’s podcast features Clifton Harski. Cliff has been in human performance for two decades and is highly active in movement education, leading over 450 workshops and certifications since 2011. Cliff is the COO for the Pain Free Performance Specialist Certification while developing and running the Functional Kettlebell Training Certification. Cliff developed a small group training fitness franchise, Fitwall, which had 7 locations across 5 states prior to Covid. He has over 15 certifications in movement training, strength and conditioning, and a masterful and inter-connected thought process on all things human movement, strength and performance. What is interesting with the human performance, strength and conditioning model is that it hinges heavily on things that a number can be tied to. Physical strength is very easy to track through various gym maxes, and conditioning is just as simple, based on whatever key test a coach decides to use with their group. At the same time, “movement” requires a greater intuition of the entire process of athleticism. For today’s podcast, Clifton discusses how he looks at the human performance industry in light of movement + strength + conditioning, and not just the latter two. He gives his model of the 3A’s (be able, be athletic, be adaptable, talks about the role of movement variability in training, speaks on rotational kettlebell training concepts, movement coaching, and much more. This episode puts the entirety of human performance coaching into perspective from an individual who has seen a massive range of training methods and philosophies. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Clifton Harski 379: Clifton Harski on Athleticism and Adaptability in the Human Performance Model full 1:22:09 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=119135089&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F379_Clifton_Harski.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-136" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-378/ Thu, 28 Sep 2023 14:57:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36917 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-378/ Today's podcast features Jarod Burton. Jarod is a performance specialist, chiropractic student, and health coach. He got his coaching start working with Brady Volmering of DAC baseball and has spent recent years coaching, consulting, and running educational courses in the private sector. Jarod focuses on engaging all aspects of an athlete's being, providing the knowledge for the individual to thrive in their domain. In Jarod's first appearance on the podcast, he spoke on work capacity development and the limits of how far athletes can push themselves on a level of training volume, with many mental concepts as a vital governor. In considering training, it is constructive to look at the complete bio-psycho-social factors before going too far into judging what an athlete can and cannot do. As Jarod said on the last show, "It's so silly to put it in this tiny box and say, 'You can only run 10 sprints.' Then the athletes start believing the fact that if I run more than 10, I'm going to break down." On today's episode, Jarod goes into a topic that he touched on in the last episode: the role of perception in building game speed and athletic ability. The level of the bio-psycho-social and perceptive elements strongly influences speed, and game-like stimuli can dramatically affect an athlete's sprint capacity. We dig further into these concepts for today's show and talk about game-specificity in speed training, impacts of environment perception on movement, variability and randomness in training, the role of play and exploration relative to outputs in training, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jarod Burton 378: Jarod Burton on Integrating Athlete Perception and Game Speed Development full 1:08:51 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=118999503&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F378_Jarod_Burton.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-137" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-377/ Thu, 21 Sep 2023 12:21:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36904 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-377/ Today’s podcast features Irving “Boo” Schexnayder. Boo is regarded internationally as one of the leading authorities in training design. As co-founder of SAC, he brings 42 years of experience in the coaching and consulting fields to the organization. He is most noted for his 18-year term on the LSU Track and Field staff and has coached 18 Olympians and 7 Olympic/World Championship medalists. Boo has also been very active in the consulting field, working in NFL player development and combine prep and consulting for individuals, high school programs, collegiate programs, professional sports teams, and several foreign NGBs in the areas of training design, jump improvement, speed training, rehabilitations, and specialized programs. He is a routine podcast guest and a listener favorite on topics of athletic development. Boo has greatly influenced my view of training and human performance. He is one of my favorite guests and is an incredible teacher who has a skill for taking complicated ideas and putting them in perspective for coaches to use in a straightforward manner. On today’s podcast, Boo and I talk about proprioception in light of complex training, problems with obsession with drills versus high-speed, whole athletic movement teaching, reflexive leg action in jumping and sprinting, pelvic and lumbar mechanics in running, Olympic lifting thoughts, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Boo Schexnayder 377: Boo Schexnayder on Elasticity, Proprioception and Motor Learning Concepts in Athletic Development full 1:13:13 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=118896984&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F377_Boo_Schexnayder.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-138" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-376/ Thu, 14 Sep 2023 18:51:48 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36888 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-376/ Today’s podcast features a question and answer series with Joel Smith.  Questions for this podcast revolved heavily around the transfer of various strength protocols and systems to speed and athletic performance, as well as many elements on speed training, jumping and footwear/fascia concepts. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 376: Joel Smith Q&A on Strength-Transfer, Rotation, and “Fascial” Concepts in Speed and Athleticism full 1:07:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=118771419&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJoel_Smith_376.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-139" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-375/ Thu, 07 Sep 2023 13:11:09 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36852 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-375/ Today’s podcast features sports performance coaches Rich Burnett and John Garrish. Rich Burnett is the President and Director of Athletic Development for Triple F Elite Sports Training in Knoxville, TN. He is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Athletic Assessment Technology, known more commonly as Plyomat, and has over 10 years of experience working in high school, and NCAA DI strength and conditioning.  John Garrish is the Director of Athletic Development & Performance at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida, and the school’s Head Track and Field Coach.  John was voted the 2022 National High School Strength Coach of the Year by the NHSSCA and has been a two-time guest previously on this podcast, speaking on a variety of plyometric and speed training topics. The standing vertical jump, or “countermovement” test is a very popular method of assessment for athletes and has been for some time.  What the standing vertical leap test doesn’t tell you, is how fast an athlete gets off the ground, which is generally what matters in sport, more so than how high an athlete can reach.  Reactivity is also a general coordination ability where athletes can both anticipate the ground and coordinate the proper muscle activation sequences to rebound themselves back into the air, which is critical for a variety of athletic jumping, throwing, cutting, and overall movement tasks. On today’s show, Rich and John will get into how they train reactive ability in plyometrics, with respect to ground contact times, and the function of power that being able to get off the ground quickly provides.  We also discuss the differences between double and single-leg reactive strength tests and measurements, and how they correlate to athleticism, as well as the differences between simple plyometric movements based on contact time, versus more complex and coordinated movements, such as skips and gallops. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr, and the Plyomat For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr.com training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rich Burnett, John Garrish 375: Rich Burnett and John Garrish on Reactive Strength Development in Plyometric Training full 1:07:53 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=118038695&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F375_John_Rich.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-140" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-374/ Thu, 31 Aug 2023 19:48:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36818 Today’s podcast features strength and parkour coach, Chris Scott.  Chris has a degree in Sports Therapy and works at “Jump” gym in the UK.  Chris is an accomplished athlete in the parkour and acrobatics realm, who also holds a high level of bodyweight strength, doing single-arm pullups, and deadlifting in the realm of 3x bodyweight. Parkour, as a sport, is one that not only highlights adaptability to one’s environment but is also remarkably “plyometric” in nature.  The leaps that parkour athletes make resemble long and triple jumps in track and field but in a highly variable fashion.  The learning that comes out of variability, makes parkour a sport whose plyometric component can be highly transferrable, or a “donor sport” to other more traditional athletic endeavors. Chris’s skill as a parkour athlete has allowed him to train and perform extremely high depth drops and depth jumps, dropping from over 8 feet in the air, into a landing.  Chris has used the recent winter to explore an emphasis on the high-intensity drop training variable, to see how it transfers into other aspects of his reactivity, athleticism, and strength.  Training drops have played a large part in the preparation of other athletes, such as Adam Archuleta, owner of one of the NFL Combine performances of all time. On today’s podcast, Chris talks about the results of his high drop training and has it has impacted his athleticism.  We also go into single-leg drop training compared to double-leg drop training, and the related implications. We also discuss the impacts of drop training in general, seasonal training aspects, experiential aspects of parkour-type training, variability in jumping, “impulse” training, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr, and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr.com is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr training software. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Chris Scott 374: Chris Scott on Pushing Plyometric Limits and Understanding Adaptability in Explosive Training full 1:17:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=117206105&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F374_Chris_Scott.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-141" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-373/ Thu, 24 Aug 2023 13:13:30 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36725 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-373/ Today’s podcast features trainer, lifter of heavy and varied objects, and philosopher of movement, DJ Murakami.  DJ has over 15 years of experience in the coaching realm with a wide history of movement practice, including training in bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, strongman (rock lifting), movement culture (such as Ido Portal), rock climbing, and more.  DJ has created training courses such as Chi Torque, the Predator Protocol, and others, and mentors coaches and fitness enthusiasts through his Human Strong training organization. As life, in general, becomes more disconnected from our actual reality (think of relationships via social media, decreasing amount of exposure to nature/outdoors and local community), we can also consider how this has impacted the process of physical training. Where we used to move purposefully as part of the daily routine, our “innate” physicality has now been replaced by treadmills, indoor training spaces, lines/lectures/laps, and the reduction of training to either the simplest of drills or fancy movements that try to replicate sport, without actually being sport.  The more we can regularly connect physical movement to the meaning and motivation behind it, not only will we have a better present-moment experience actually moving, but we can also find ourselves becoming stronger and better conditioned in the end result. On today’s podcast, DJ speaks importance (and oftentimes, lack of) of consequence and danger in many of our modern tasks and exercise activities, as well as the difference between play and formal training.  He also goes in-depth on how we regulate our training from a mental, emotional, and social standpoint, and how this goes into fatigue, our music selection, “mental toughness”, and DJ’s own training methods. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr, and the Plyomat For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr training software. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing.  Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, DJ Murakami 373: DJ Murakami on Exploring the Social, Motivational and Inner Factors of Physical Training full 1:16:25 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=116645039&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F373_DJ_Murkami.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-142" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-372/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:35:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36656 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-372/ Today’s podcast features sports performance coaches Sheldon Dunlap and Jeff Howser. Sheldon Dunlap is currently serving as a Strength & Conditioning Specialist with MARSOC (Marine Special Operations Command). Previously, he has worked at the collegiate level coaching a wide variety of sports at UC Davis and Duke University.  Jeff Howser is a speed and performance coach with strong roots in track and field.  He spent 20 seasons as Duke’s speed and conditioning coach and has trained a variety of team sports and high-level track and field athletes.  Jeff was a world bronze medalist in the 110m high hurdles and a multi-time ACC champion. When you look at all of the possible training variations out there today in strength and athletic performance, you realize that a great majority of our modern training has been done in some way, shape, or form, many decades ago.  One method out there that is more recent in nature is partial range, oscillatory repetition methods with barbells for the sake of improving athletic speed and power. Sheldon appeared way back on podcast #131 speaking on his integration of oscillating reps, into the Triphasic system pioneered by Cal Dietz.  Sheldon originally learned the oscillating method from Jeff Howser (who also learned it from Cal’s influence). On the show today, Sheldon and Jeff will be speaking extensively about the nuances of oscillatory strength training for athletics.  We’ll be covering repetition style, percentage of 1RM to utilize, integration into the rest of the program, seasonal aspects, tendon concepts, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr, and the Sprint Acceleration Essentials Online Course. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials course, head to justflysports.thinkific.com TeamBuildr.com is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr training software. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeff Howser, Sheldon Dunlap 372: Sheldon Dunlap and Jeff Howser on Oscillatory Strength Training for Speed, Strength and Power Development full 1:16:04 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=114759403&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F372_Jeff_Howser_Sheldon_Dunlop_.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-143" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-371/ Thu, 10 Aug 2023 13:14:33 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36340 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-371/ Today’s podcast features performance coach and tendon expert, Jake Tuura.  Jake currently works as a coach and educator who specializes in hypertrophy for athletes, vertical jump development, and patellar tendinopathy rehab.  Jake was a collegiate S&C coach for 7 years, with further experience in the private sector at Velocity Training Center. Performance training is, at its’ core, simple, but within it contains many factors.  The tissues involved in training include not only muscle, but bones and connective tissues.  These tissues experience loading, not just in a linear manner, but also from a torsional perspective, based on pressure.  While muscle tissue is by far the most commonly discussed of the muscle-bone-tendon triad, in understanding more about the tendonous and bony structures, and how they adapt to load, we can have a more thorough understanding of performance and rehab concepts. For today’s episode, Jake Tuura covers many aspects of tendon health and performance.  These include the connective tissue impact of training on hard surfaces, different elements of tendon tissue (collagen fascicles vs. the interfascicular matrix), the impact of variability on tendon health and performance, strength training vs plyometrics in tendon development, long-term developmental concepts of connective tissue in training, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr, and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers.  I’ve continued to hear great things about the Teambuildr platform, and whether you are looking for an in-house training portal or an online training hub, be sure to check out Teambuildr training software at teambuildr.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jake Tuura 371: Jake Tuura on Full-Spectrum Tendon Training and Performance full 1:22:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=112744094&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F371_Jake_Tuura.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-144" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-370/ Thu, 03 Aug 2023 13:27:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36293 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-370/ Today’s podcast features coach and educator, Jamie Smith.  Jamie is the owner of Melbourne Strength Culture, a strength and performance-based gym in Australia.  Jamie worked at high-level S+C in Australia and the US prior to starting his coaching business with Strength Culture.  Now he is heavily involved in coach development and education for strength coaches. Jamie has a truly expansive viewpoint on how we consider training in light of more global concepts.  In performance training, we must look at human beings on a complete (holistic) level.  To do that, it’s helpful to look at prominent and long-established fields of human collaboration and research, medicine to be exact.  In medicine, the “biopsychosocial” model was conceptualized in 1977 and has been prominent, particularly in pain science. On today’s podcast, Jamie talks about both the biopsychosocial and top-down/bottom-up models and how to integrate them into a training model.  Without considering the importance of mindset and culture, as well as “bottom-up” (using intuition in the training process) coaching, athletes are not going to get the possible level of result or enjoyment of the journey.  As Jamie says on the show, building awareness in the athlete or client is one of the most important things you can do, and by defining the overarching structures of the BPS and top-down vs. bottom-up training, we can better understand how our program is actually landing with those we train. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jamie Smith 370: Jamie Smith (Strength Culture) on The Bio-Psycho-Social Lens in Human Performance Training full 1:15:50 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=111810661&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F370_Jamie_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-145" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-369/ Thu, 27 Jul 2023 13:07:20 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36269 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-369/ Today’s podcast features human performance coach, Brady Volmering. Brady is the owner of DAC Performance and Health. His focus is on increasing the capacity of the human being.  Brady continually digs into what “training the human being” actually means and how that relates to improvements that go beyond the general, into specific sports performance and even one’s daily life.  He walks the talk on a high level through his own personal workouts and regularly discusses his training philosophy on his Instagram page.  Brady was a guest on episode 291 of the podcast talking about “human” level physical preparation, and high-volume training concepts. On the podcast today, Brady talks about his single leg depth drop practice, the recent changes he made in his programming to physically transform himself across the past year, and then how he has taken those programming concepts into his training for athletic populations.  As an already well-trained athlete, Brady’s progress is incredible to see, and the methods he used are simple in nature, and also relatively non-traditional in terms of the typical “rules” we put on training.  We also touch on oscillatory reps, high-frequency training, mind-body awareness, “wins and losses” in training, and more, in this episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear, and the Sprint Acceleration Essentials Online Course. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials course, head to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Brady Volmering 369: Brady Volmering on Shattering Strength and Power Barriers with Non-Traditional Training Methods full 1:27:53 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=111033676&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F369_Brady_Volmering.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-146" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-368/ Thu, 20 Jul 2023 12:46:39 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36256 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-368/ Today’s podcast features Jason Feairheller (fare-heller).  Jason is the Co-Owner and strength coach at Function and Strength in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, and has been training athletes since 2007.   He is the host of the Speed and Power podcast and has lectured on strength and conditioning as an adjunct professor at Immaculata University.  Jason has a passion for speed and athletic movement training and is a sought-after speaker on the topic of multi-directional athleticism.  He has developed the course “Improving Game Speed Through Multi-Dimensional Plyometrics”. Humans are complex and so is in-game movement.  One topic that I’ve considered ever since the start of this podcast was the idea of actually coaching change of direction and sport-speed techniques, versus decision-making being the priority, and then letting game-play dictate how athletes choose to technically move in space. Jason’s passion has been all forms of speed and movement in athletes, and on this podcast, he goes into the fundamental principles of change of direction versus agility (perception) training, and how each method works into his athletic performance programming.  Jason will also get into his use of plyometrics, and methods that quantitatively measure change of direction outputs, his take on deceleration training mistakes and misconceptions, agility games, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jason Feairheller 368: Jason Feairheller on Multi-Directional Speed and Power Development full 1:07:16 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=109559776&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F368_Jason_Feirheller.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-147" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-367/ Thu, 13 Jul 2023 15:28:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36238 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-367/ Today’s podcast features Bill Hartman.  Bill is a physical therapist, and in-demand educator in his approach to restoring a pain-free lifestyle, and understanding the governing principles of movement.  He has been a mentor to, or has inspired the knowledge of many previous guests on this podcast, particularly in regards to movement biomechanics, infra-sternal archetypes, and the compression-expansion model.  Bill owns IFAST Physical Therapy in Indianapolis, Indiana and Co-owns Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training with Mike Robertson, where he works with clients ranging from very young athletes to professionals. It is very interesting to look at how we approach the nature of “muscle weakness” and compensations in training.  For example, it is common to look at all compensatory action in the body as a “bad thing”, rather than looking at how the body actually uses compensatory action to produce force, or adapt to a particular sport skill, in addition to when that compensation might actually be a problem.  The human performance field has also looked at muscle weakness in isolation, rather than digging deeper into the underlying structural alignment of the body contributes heavily to what we are seeing out of muscle strength and function. In today’s podcast, Bill goes into the adaptive nature of the body and what it really means when we are seeing compensatory actions in movement.  Within this, Bill also gets into the nature of reciprocal, or more “locking” movement of joints, depending on the task an individual needs to accomplish.  Bill spends a lot of time talking about strength training, how it can be a positive, but also the dynamics of the interference effect that can lead to undesirable adaptations for athletes over time.  Bill also covers external rotation and pigeon-toed athletes, and the nature of power training for wide and narrow ISA archetypes, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, Exogen wearable resistance gear, and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials or Elastic Essentials courses, head to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Justf-fly-sports.com, Bill Hartman 367: Bill Hartman on The Adaptive Body, Force Production, and High-Performance Biomechanics full 1:40:49 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=107422274&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F367_Bill_Hartman.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-148" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-366/ Thu, 06 Jul 2023 16:39:20 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36215 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-366/ Today’s podcast features USA Football senior manager of education and training, Andy Ryland.  Andy has been with USA Football since 2010, has consulted with programs at every level of competition, and is widely recognized as a foremost expert on developing the fundamentals necessary for a successful shoulder tackle, as well as the developmental, and skill building process for athletes. He previously appeared on episode 170 speaking on a “humans first”, “athletes second”, “specialists third” approach to athlete development. In the process of developing athletes, it is easy to compartmentalize training components, ultimately to a fault in the overall process.  If we are working in a sport or skill building capacity with athletes, we should have a basic understanding of their physical capacities and capabilities, as well as how training adaptation and specificity work.  If we are working on strength and more base level movement components with athletes, we should have a handle on their needed skills and tactics on the field.  Ultimately, the more situations we can coach in, the more ages, and sports we work with, the better our overall intuition gets on the process of teaching skills, and guiding athletes to their highest potential. Andy Ryland has a deep understanding the developmental process that players need to succeed in their sport.  On today’s episode, Andy digs into key points on the art of athletic skill building.  A primary part of this is how he runs the “whole-part-whole” system, which can be adapted to more global, or strength based skills.  Andy discussing how to integrate “prescriptive extra’s”, or “work-on’s”, as well as micro skill development in sport and S&C.  He also covers key aspects of improving agility, teaching concepts in athletics, creativity in coaching, Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Andy Ryland 366: Andy Ryland on Intuitive Development of Skill and Athleticism in Sport full 1:05:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=105063708&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F366_Andy_Ryland.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-149" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-365/ Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:09:06 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36196 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-365 Today’s podcast features track and S&C coach, Matt McInnes-Watson.  Matt is the owner of Plus Plyos, an online coaching platform that provides plyometric training programs, courses, and systems for coaches and athletes. His initial coaching experience was as a track coach for jumpers and multi-eventers, which led him to work as the lead S&C coach for Itchen College Basketball in the UK.  Matt teaches and delivers seminars around Europe and the US, while working with athletes from football to figure skating, using his expertise in jumping and plyometrics to enhance performance. Plyometrics, in the general sense, are as old as time.  How we have classified them and integrated them into training for sport started with track and field, and now is branching out more and more into team sport.  Within both track and team sport, we have aspects of specificity, rhythms, coordination and integration that we can consider to really hone in our plyometric efforts on the ultimate progress of the athlete. For today’s podcast, Matt covers his background as a soccer player, and the role of swing leg dynamics in kicking, and in its link to jumping.  We talk about various plyometric combinations from the perspective of direction, height and distance, and how this factors into common exercises like bounding and hurdle hops.  Extensive plyometrics in team sports, especially in season, is a debated topic we cover, and we finish with Matt talking about the origin and implementation of the “deep tier”, or full range plyometric exercises. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Matt McInnes-Watson 365: Matt McInnes-Watson on Dynamic Plyometric Combinations and Patterning full 1:03:31 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F365_Matt_Watson.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-365%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-150" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-364/ Thu, 22 Jun 2023 13:42:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36178 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-364/ Today’s podcast features guest Mark Hoover.  Mark works for SimpliFaster in a coaching and technical consulting capacity and is the Director of Athletic Performance at Metrolina Christian Academy in Indian Trail, North Carolina. Coach Hoover started his career coaching football at both the high school and NCAA levels. After spending nearly 20 years in the dual role of sport coach/strength coach (including 11 years as a head football coach), he made the transition to full-time strength and conditioning in 2015. Mark is a growth minded coach who is continually evolving his training process.  Mark is continually evaluating his program based bettering one’s abilities on the field of play.  The qualities it takes to be a weight room warrior are not the same as the fundamental speed and decision-making elements happening in the game itself. As an individual who was better in the weight room than he was in sport, Mark has dedicated his own process in a different direction for those athletes he works with, doing what he can to ensure that they are adept movers, in addition to being strong and robust. On today’s podcast, Mark talks about his approach to building game speed, rehearsed vs. problem solving agility movements, the role of basketball in overall movement development, and we finish with a brief chat on the role of the 1x20 strength system in Mark’s program.  This show delved into some really important concepts of athlete development, and although it primarily discusses work done with high school athletes, the concepts are helpful for those on all levels of performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Sprint Acceleration Essentials. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials course, head to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mark Hoover 364: Mark Hoover on Evolving Concepts in Game Speed and Agility Training full 1:18:50 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F364_Mark_Hoover.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-364%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-151" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-363/ Thu, 15 Jun 2023 14:45:44 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36154 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-363/ Today’s podcast features track and speed coach, Chris Korfist.  Chris has been a high school coach in track and football for 3 decades with close to 100 All-State athletes.  He is currently the sprints coach at Homewood Flossmoor high school in Chicago, owns the Slow Guy Speed School”, and has consulted with professional sports teams all over the world, including the NFL, MLB, NBA, and Rugby League.  Chris has been a favorite podcast guest on this show and is constantly evolving and innovating his methods. Sprinting is a simple, yet complex topic, and one that requires a continual analysis of mechanics, exercises and training models.  There are many ways to train athletes, and with this in mind, it’s important to understand the “first principles” of any training system.  With many first principles taken from the brilliance of the “DB Hammer” training ideals, Chris has steadily evolved his training system, year over year, to the place where it is today. This past season, Homewood Flossmoor won the Illinois state track championship, and won the 4x100m and 4x200m dashes on their way to the title.  Chris’s adjustments to his speed training models worked well, with some athletes chopping off a second or more off of their 200m times from the previous year. On the podcast today, Chris starts by talking about his mental training approach, and some unique mental training elements of this past year’s team.  He then gets into the main changes he utilized this past training year, including reducing the speed endurance component of the work, and replacing it with some potent “AN2” bracket (30-40 second) specialized training for the sprints.  Chris also goes into how he would specialize the exercises for sprinters of different archetypes (stompers vs. slicers) and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-sly-sports.com, Chris Korfist 363: Chris Korfist on Advancing Training Models in Sprint Performance full 1:12:04 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FChris_Korfist_363_B.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-363%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-152" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-362/ Thu, 08 Jun 2023 12:18:00 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36144 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-362/ Today’s podcast features strength coach Kevin Hollabaugh. Kevin is a strength coach working at the New York Yankees Player Development Program, and is also the owner of Pro Force Sports Performance in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He has been working in strength and conditioning since 2009. He previously served as the director of baseball player development, and also currently an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati.  Pro Force SP happens to be only a few miles from my home in Cincinnati, and I’ve enjoyed spending time there to play ultimate frisbee games with pro baseball players, as well as observing the data-points and training process on the 1080 Sprint with Kevin and his staff. It's important to check your training process with some level of numbers and quantitative feedback to go with the qualitative process of coaching.  Amongst other training tools, Kevin has two unique machines that allow him to pin data to athletic movements, on the level of the Proteus motion and 1080 Sprint.  This show isn’t so much about those technologies and data points specifically as it is how Kevin has used the data to refine his speed and rotational training methods over time, how he now looks at training given those data-sets, and how it has evolved his programming.    In this episode, we’ll also talk about the Ultimate frisbee game variation that ProForce athletes love so much (as well as myself), balancing force vs. elasticity in swinging/throwing and sprinting, training weaknesses vs. strengths, and more.  Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kevin Hollabaugh 362: Kevin Hollabaugh on Assessing and Developing Rotational Power and Sprint Performance full 59:33 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F362_Kevin_H.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-362%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-153" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-361/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 16:34:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36132 Today’s podcast features David Weck and Chris Chamberlin of WeckMethod.  David Weck is biomechanist, and the creator of a number of inventions that work key characteristics of human locomotion and movement, including the BOSU Balance Trainer.  David started the WeckMethod as a project to inspire and educate individuals on the importance of optimizing's human balance through locomotion as he works to make “Every Step Stronger” for everyone. Chris Chamberlin is the Head Coach and Director of Education for the WeckMethod. Chris has over 15 years of coaching experience and a lifetime of personal practice in movement efficiency that has earned him recognition as a leader in innovative thought in the fitness industry.  Chris has both a creative approach to multi-planar training, as well as impressive “raw” strength levels in the traditional lifts. If you browse the internet, you will easily see a lot of “functional” training exercises, designed to catch eyeballs, that build neither strength, nor functional ability.  The key in the effectiveness of any movement beyond a basic strength exercise is in its patterning, and closeness to the key characteristics of human locomotion, swinging and throwing.  When you find movements that allow your body to truly feel more of what it uses in these core human patterns, you can then “port” that movement into the scope of your core strength and speed training. At the end of the day, whether you like the BOSU Ball or not, David’s keen observations of the core components of human movement have played a substantial role for me in how I observe the twisting, side bending and general locomotive mechanisms of the human being.  Chris Chamberlin has taken David’s observation and creativity, and put his lens of practicality onto the total process.  On the show today, David and Chris talk about how the WeckMethod helped Chris’s big-lifts to get even better, tool usage as an essential aspect of human movement, primal movement patterning in respect to training volume, bending and twisting integration into more traditional strength methods, concepts on the foot, and much more.  Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To learn more about the Sprint Acceleration Essentials course, head to https://justflysports.thinkific.com/courses/sprint-acceleration-essentials Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, David Weck, Chris Chamberlin 361: David Weck and Chris Chamberlin on Rotation, Side-Bending and Tensional Balance in a High-Performance Training Program full 1:46:47 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F361_Weck_and_Chamberlin.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-361%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-154" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-360/ Thu, 25 May 2023 15:04:41 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36115 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-360/ Today’s podcast features strength and performance coach, Ethan Reeve. Ethan is the director of strength and performance for MondoSport USA.  He is the former president of the CSCCa, and has 44 years of experience coaching in college and high school ranks.  In addition to decades in NCAA athletic performance, Reeve was a SEC champion wrestler, and was the head coach of the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga wrestling program from 1985 to 1990, achieving 5 Southern Conference titles in 6 years. In the process of strength and conditioning/physical preparation; we can never get too far from the process of physical education and routinely observing the core qualities of athleticism An interesting element in sport performance, and sport coaching in the past decades is that, compared to the pre-2000’s era, there are less coaches now who have physical education backgrounds.  Perhaps, this is because, as the industry moves forward, physical preparation/athletic performance has swung more towards the quantitative aspects, than the “art” form of the process.  Maybe it’s that most strength and conditioning jobs are working with high school or college athletes who are “further” along in their athletic development.  Maybe it’s how the role and funding for physical education has been devalued over time.  Despite all of this, as I get older, the more and more I realize just how much physical education has to offer, not only young athletes, but also the thought process in working with more established ones, and I believe physical education, and multi-sport coaching principles (such as wrestling in the scope of today’s show) should be far more common-place in athletic development conversations. On today’s podcast, Ethan talks about his blend of the principles found in physical education and wrestling, and how these funnel into a sports performance training session.  He speaks on how he views physical training through the eyes of a wrestling coach (of which he was a very successful one) and the learning environment he looks to set up in his training sessions.  We discuss “belly up” speed training, key ground-based training movements, and other important principles of building a total athletic development program. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and Exogen wearable resistance gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ethan Reeve 360: Ethan Reeve on Physical Education, Dynamic Athleticism and the Movement Learning Process full 1:07:59 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F360_Ethan_Reeve.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-360%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-155" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-359/ Thu, 18 May 2023 13:09:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36105 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-359/ Today’s podcast features coach, writer and educator, Dan John.  Dan is a best-selling author in the field of strength training and fitness, with his most recent work being the “Easy Strength Omni-Book”.  He is known for his ability to transfer complex material into actionable wisdom, has been a many-time guest on the show, and is one of my single greatest influences in the way that I see the process of coaching and training.  As I grow older, coach more populations, and see the field evolve, I view and value Dan’s process and wisdom in new and even more meaningful ways. One of those tenants of Dan that means more in each coming year is that, at its core, our training and movements are simple… it’s just the years and years of consistent, dedicated immersion in training to fully bring out that simplicity, that “trip up” many people.  So often, we get caught up in the hacks, the shortcuts, and the “3 tips for X” within the social-media fist-fight for eyeballs. On today’s episode, Dan talks about a few important concepts that any coach or athlete needs to come back to over and over again in their process, including the power of “compression”, the power of less, and the power of withholding.  Dan speaks on this as it relates to cold track seasons (right before the 80 degree conference meet), and how it relates to the spark of coaching intuition that can happen in an environment deprived from one’s typical tools, and even how it can apply to our movement biomechanics. Dan also gets into the nuts and bolts of “snapacity” (snap + capacity) that defines the core of athletic movement (elasticity and the work capacity to sustain it), and the related key muscle actions he calls “The 3 P’s”.   Throughout the talk, Dan highlights the simple and core principles that drive training progress over time, as well tying in concepts on philosophy and personal growth that transcend training itself. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, and LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Gear. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dan John 359: Dan John on “Snapacity” and the 3P’s of Muscle-Action in Explosive Athletic Movement full 1:07:02 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F359_Dan_John.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-359%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-156" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-358/ Thu, 11 May 2023 14:05:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36087 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-358/ Today’s podcast features Mark McLaughlin.  Mark is the founder of Performance Training Center, and currently works as a physical preparation/strength coach in the Lake Oswego school district. Mark has had a diverse sporting history as a youth, and has been active in the field of physical preparation since 1997. Mark has trained over 700 athletes at all competitive levels, from Olympic to grade school athletes, and has worked with organizations such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA universities, high schools, and youth sports. The field of sports performance makes a lot of pendulum swings.  We go from over-conditioning athletes to denouncing conditioning.  From static stretching, to not stretching, to reconsidering stretching, to name a few.  In the process of the swings, we do trend upwards (such as saving athletes from over-conditioning based practices with poor motor learning tactics).  At the same time, I don’t believe we ask ourselves often enough if we are letting the pendulum swing too far. What I’ve found is that for every rule that seems to be created, there are instantly going to be athletes, or entire training groups that break that rule.  The only way to understand it all, is to constantly be expanding your viewpoints.  We need to look at the broader mechanisms of biology, psychology, motor learning, and the long-term developmental principles of athletes to really gain wisdom in our guidance of athletes and individuals to their highest potential. On today’s podcast, Mark talks about the polarity of his physical preparation process, on one end, giving the kids a dynamic pedagogical, free play-oriented training experience, and on the other, using technology to assess biological readiness markers and preparation levels for their sport.  Mark finishes the show speaking on aerobic readiness as a recovery marker for explosive sport training.  No matter where you are on the sport training spectrum, be it sport coaching, motor learning or purely physical development, there is a lot to be learned from Mark’s broad spectrum of knowledge in this episode.  This show connects physical preparation with a depth of true sports development Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mark McLaughlin 358: Mark McLaughlin on Play-Based Warmups, Athletic Mastery and Aerobic Capacity Building full 1:19:54 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F358_Mark_McLaughlin.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-358%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-157" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-357/ Wed, 03 May 2023 19:30:17 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36076 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-357/ Today’s podcast features podcaster, and educator, and physical preparation coach, Angus Bradley.  He coaches out of Sydney CBD, and co-hosts the Hyperformance podcast with his brother, Oscar.  Angus has a wide-spanning knowledge base from both in and outside of the strength and conditioning field, with a focus on inter-disciplinary over-arching principles.  He works with a diverse crowd from strongman to surfing and everything in between, has been a 2x previous guest on this podcast, and runs regular mentorships for strength coaches and personal trainers. Part of the fun of running a podcast, and seeking education from a wide variety of coaches is the ability to create links and connections between different fields of thought.  When we can observe multiple training camps saying similar things about the gait cycle, squatting, or breathing, we can level up our total coaching and training perspective. On today’s podcast, Angus talks about learning from fields outside of fitness, to become a better coach and overall student of life.  He also talks about links within the field of fitness, such as the positional and rhythmic relationships between Olympic lifting and sprinting.  A main talking point on today’s episode is Angus’s approach to training “early stance” in a physical development world where so much is devoted to training that ends up focusing more on “late stance” in the gym.  Angus shares his thoughts on how he approaches late stance type training, how he uses more “mid-stance” to train the knee, and also gives his thoughts on how good Crossfit boxes get a lot of trainees stronger than many strength coaches would often like to believe. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs and the Elastic Essentials Online Course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, go to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Angus Bradley 357: Angus Bradley on “Knees Behind Toes” Training and the Gait Cycle in Physical Preparation full 1:22:00 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F357_Angus_Bradley.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-357%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-158" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-356/ Thu, 27 Apr 2023 11:37:59 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36069 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-356/ Today’s podcast features Dr. John Cronin and Joe Dolcetti.  John Cronin is a sport scientist with a physical education and coaching background, who after getting his Ph.D, has spent most of the last 20 plus years at Auckland University of Technology.  He has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers on speed, power and strength, along with having the opportunity to train a variety of athletes and teams, ranging from youth development to world champion level. Joe Dolcetti has had a 35-year career in high performance sport coaching, science, and conditioning training across the globe.  As an inventor, he has developed, and launched Exogen®, the world’s most advanced wearable resistance.  All in all, Joe has worked with many of the world’s top sporting programs including the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, the English Premier League, UFC and many others. Sports performance training is making the shift from the classical “1RM” powerlifting mindset, into athletic speed development.  This is great, but there are still many holes to fill in the athletic equation.  We may obsess over bar velocities in the gym, but the gym is dominated by many force-oriented levers while sport is uses many speed-oriented levers (third class), such as limbs swinging in space.  At some point we must expand our training awareness beyond the what (basic force) into the where (placement), and in the process deepen our understanding on how the body produces high speed sport movement. On the show today, John and Joe get into their journey of high velocity resistance training for athletes (such as wearables including vests and ankle weights, and then sprint sleds).  We’ll talk about the differences between training “stance” phase of movement, and aerial elements, and how the latter is a missing piece of training the force-velocity curve.  Finally, we get into the development of the Exogen system of wearable resistance, and how it encapsulates principles of high speed and specific training adaptation. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, and LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Gear For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dr. John Cronin, Joe Dolcetti 356: Dr. John Cronin and Joseph Dolcetti on “Beyond Barbells”: Wearable Resistance and Rotational Momentum in Sport Speed Development full 1:14:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F356_Cronin_and_Dolcetti.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-356%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-159" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-355/ Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:16:30 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36060 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-355/ Today’s podcast features coaches Dan Back and Tim Riley. Dan Back is the founder of Jump Science and is a coach at Xceleration sports performance in Austin, Texas where he trains both track and team sport athletes. Dan has been a guest on episodes 263 and 337 of the podcast, speaking on sprint and jump topics. Tim Riley is the Director of Sports Performance at Kollective in Austin, TX where he supervises all pro, collegiate, and youth athletic development.  Tim currently oversees and conducts strength and conditioning sessions for NFL, PLL & AVP athletes. In the quest for improved athletic qualities, we often look at things in isolation.  We look at the most powerful training means, right now, to help us to achieve better performance.  For the best results, however, we need to broaden our view of training, and understand the qualities at the bottom (early athletic development) and the top (maximal strength and force training) to maximize potential.  We need to understand all of the iterations of skill and strength that come before the sprint, jump, throw, agile moves, etc.  you see on the field, and how everything works together in the grand scheme of training. On today’s podcast, Dan and Tim speak on their own early athletic experiences, the critical “base level” abilities explosive athletes need for a better vertical jump (as well as general explosive movement), where and how maximal strength work fits into the long-term development equation, warmup and game-based concepts, assessments, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, and LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance Training Gear For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Daniel Back, Tim Riley 355: Daniel Back and Tim Riley on Key Developmental Concepts of Explosive Jumping and Athleticism full 1:16:46 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F355_Dan_Back_and_Tim_Riley.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-355%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-160" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-354/ Thu, 13 Apr 2023 13:04:03 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36043 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-354/ Today’s podcast features Adarian Barr and Jenn Pilotti.  Adarian is a former college track coach, a multi-national movement consultant and educator.  Adarian has been a huge mentor to me when it comes to the integrated workings of the body in a variety of sport and movement skills and has had many appearances on this show.  Jenn Pilotti is a movement coach, author and educator who has been studying the principles of movement for over 2 decades.  Jenn’s movement disciplines include running, dance, soft acrobatics, and aerial arts. Jenn regularly lectures and teaches workshops for movement educators and curious movers. She co-authored "Let Me Introduce You”, along with Adarian Barr. Training the feet is a lot more than going barefoot a little more often.  In sport movement, and locomotion, we have collisions of the feet into the ground that need to be managed skillfully.  There is nuance to the “force production” into the ground.  Great athletes can manage collisions extremely well, in regards to the specific sport skills they are being called on.  They also have the tissue adaptation that matches the pressure they need to output within movement. In today’s podcast, Adarian and Jenn discuss their process when it comes to the operation of the feet in locomotion, and important distinctions that need to be made on account of points of pressure within the foot.  They chat on the differences between sprinting on account of collision management, as well as vibration, talk about the balance of sensory work and outputs in movement, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, LILA Exogen, and the Elastic Essentials Level II Seminar, July 14-15 in Cincinnati, Ohio (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/elastic-essentials-level-ii-seminar/) For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Adarian Barr, Jen Pilotti 354: Adarian Barr and Jenn Pilotti on Foot Training, Pressure, and Collision Management in Athletic Movement full 1:02:47 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F354_Jenn_Adarian.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-354%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-161" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-353/ Thu, 06 Apr 2023 13:04:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36031 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-353/ Today’s guest is neurology expert, consultant and personal trainer, Scott Robinson.  Scott is an Applied Movement Neurology Master practitioner and has worked successfully with all levels of neurological complexity in his time training and coaching a wide variety of clients.  Scott is a specialist in dealing with a variety of neurological issues, such as weakness, pain, range of motion and trauma to the emotional systems, amongst many others.  Scott is a former Taekwondo athlete and has more than 20 years of experience in Applied Movement Neurology. The element of training and performance that truly defines who has achieved their highest potential, is the mastery of their mental and emotional state.  The state of the mind, the way we drive attention to what we are doing, how we affirm our actions, and how we light up our neurological system all play a large role in the training results we get, how we enjoy the process, and ultimately how we grow from it on multiple levels. On today’s podcast, Scott Robinson talks about the power of self-affirmation and mental reinforcement in the roles of training and rehabilitation, as well as how novelty plays into those affirmations.  He also gets into visual training methods that link with physical training outputs, warmup methods to improve the neurological quality of the session, working with one’s subconscious mind, harnessing the placebo effect in training, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance, Lost Empire Herbs and Strength Coach Pro. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Scott Robinson 353: Scott Robinson on Driving Attention in Training and the Power of Self-Affirmation full 1:24:33 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F353_Scott_Robinson.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-353%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-162" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-352/ Thu, 30 Mar 2023 13:03:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36017 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-352/ Today’s guest is track coach Ryan Banta.  Ryan has over two decades of experience, is the author of the Sprinter’s Compendium, and is a MTCCCA Hall of Fame Coach. He is a frequently appearing podcast guest and writer on many popular track and field, and athletic performance platforms.  His teams have achieved substantial success, including winning the 2022 girls Class 4 Missouri State Championship. One of the beautiful things about working with human beings is that there are multiple ways to train athletes towards their highest physical potential.  Different coaches achieve success with different training parameters and exercise selections, mannerisms and personal styles.  At the same time, there are also some core philosophies to the entire process of training that are foundational to progression, and can make training more understandable.  Some of the over-arching principles that are helpful to study are those of core training cycle setup, training the “ends” vs. the “center”, and principles of progression and variety in a program.  By better understanding these core ideas, we can have a better idea of where we are starting, and where we are heading in a program. On today’s show, Ryan gets into the core philosophies and principles of the Critical Mass training program in track and field, which is a broad-spanning path of development from freshman to senior that incorporates a span of abilities ranging from hurdles to the 400m.  Ryan then gets into his speed training philosophy, taking a “centrist” path to speed, and how that differs from going “ends to middle”, or taking a block-based approach to a training season.  Ryan goes extensively into concepts around his 14-day speed training cycle, how he adds variety into his program, how he utilizes resisted sprinting, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, Strength Coach Pro, and the Elastic Essentials Online Course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ryan Banta 352: Ryan Banta on A “Centrist’s” Approach to Speed Development and the Critical Mass Philosophy full 1:15:59 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F352_Ryan_Banta.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-352%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-163" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-351/ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 14:02:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=36004 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-351/ Today’s guest is athletic performance coach and consultant, Sam Portland. Sam has had a lengthy career in professional sport, and is the creator of “Speed Gate Golf” and the Sports Speed System.  Sam provides mentorship and education to coaches, athletes and teams looking to further progress their abilities.  His combination of skills ranges from physical coaching, to sport coaching, athlete psychology and beyond. With the impending AI and technological revolution, we must ask ourselves questions regarding the nature of coaching, training and progression in athletics.  On one hand, we have numerical outputs and data points relative to an athlete’s abilities, workloads, and suggested training routes, and on the other we have the social-emotional and intuitive elements that are much more human by nature.  In a sense, what is the most human about coaching itself is the “conversation of training” that happens on multiple levels within any training session. For today’s podcast, we cover the types of intensity and mentality that go into playing various sports (such as Rugby vs. American Football), Sam’s take on sport training technology, such as force-velocity profiling, an athletes “speed age” and how athletes progress through each level, and finally, we’ll get into the 5 types of player archetypes that range from bodybuilder, to sprinter, and how coaches can identify and optimize training for each unique athlete they train.  This is a show that highlights how having experience and skin in the game, not only training, but also playing the game Today’s episode is brought to you by LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance, Lost Empire Herbs and Strength Coach Pro. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Sam Portland 351: Sam Portland on Player Archetypes and Assessing “Speed Age” in the Conversation of Coaching full 1:22:55 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F351_Sam_Portland.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-351%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-164" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-350/ Thu, 16 Mar 2023 13:04:46 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35880 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-350/ Today’s guest is Jeremy Frisch.  Jeremy is the founder and performance director of Achieve Performance Training in Clinton, Mass.  He has been a multi-time guest on the show on the topics of youth and long-term physical development, game-play, and the integration of all these things into a greater training philosophy.  Jeremy is one of my biggest influences in how I see and connect the child to scholastic to adult continuum of sport development and performance. As much as coaching is prescriptive on the level of exercises and progressions, it is even more intuitive in nature.  So often we seek the exact exercises, drills, and cues that will help athletes to achieve more specific strength or a better technique.  These are helpful in key situations for athletes, but we must also build and understand a bigger picture (by coaching in many different sport situations and developmental stages), which helps us break into more expansive ways of seeing the picture of athleticism. On today’s show, Jeremy gets into how his work from the spectrum of youth training, up to adult fitness has improved his general ability to coach and implement creative solutions for athletes.  He’ll cover important developmental steps in early childhood that lay a foundation for improved abilities later on, and then get into games, field size and game speed elements of sport.  Finally, we’ll finish off the show with a chat on concepts of creative and engaging training, as well as a take on how the traditional strength and conditioning type mentality may serve some athletes well, where others may find more confidence in their game and sport skill abilities. Today’s episode is brought to you by LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance, Lost Empire Herbs and Strength Coach Pro (strengthcoachpro.com). For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, head to lilateam.com and use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeremy Frisch 350: Jeremy Frisch on Game Speed Development and Creative Coaching Concepts full 1:14:11 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F350_Jeremy_Frisch.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-350%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-165" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-349/ Thu, 09 Mar 2023 14:07:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35869 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-349/ Today’s guest is Cody Bidlow.  Cody is currently the head track & field coach at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, AZ, and a coach at EliteU working with NFL combine prep athletes. Cody additionally owns SprintingWorkouts.com and the ATHLETE.X brand, where he runs educational content on speed and power training to a large audience.  He was an all-conference sprinter at Grand Canyon University, and continues to train and sprint competitively. I’ve had a lot of sprint and speed training shows as part of this podcast series.  Speed training is an important aspect of both track and field and team sport.  Additionally, the principles of training speed, pushing a human being to the limit of a skill they have been using their whole life, requires an integrative and thorough process, the principles of which can carry over to any athletic pursuit. For today’s show, Cody shares insights on motor learning concepts in sprinting, the consequence of overemphasizing sprint motions or strength training, the role of longer, more metabolic sprinting on total speed development, ideas on “impulse” strength in the gym, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by LILA Exogen Wearable Resistance, Lost Empire Herbs and Strength Coach Pro. For 15% off of Exogen Wearable resistance, follow this link to lilateam.com or use code: jfs2023 at checkout. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cody Bidlow 349: Cody Bidlow on Strength, Technique and Programming in Sprint Development full 1:22:16 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F349_Cody_Bidlow.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-349%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-166" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-348/ Thu, 02 Mar 2023 13:01:03 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35857 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-348/ Today’s guest is Austin Jochum.  Austin is the owner of Jochum Strength where he works with athletes and washed-up movers to become the best versions of themselves. He also operates the Jochum Strength Insider which is an online training platform for people trying to feel, look, and move better.  Austin has a diverse athletic background, from being an All-American lineman and MIAC indoor weight throw champion, to regularly pushing his movement capabilities to new levels in arenas such as rock climbing, dunking and slow-pitch softball leagues. An interesting thing about the “athletic performance” field is that traditionally, it doesn’t work on things that are highly “athletic”, as strength training protocols can be some of the more controlled elements in the entirety of an athlete’s training regime.  This control and scalable nature is often reflected in the way that rudimentary plyometric, speed and agility protocols are carried out at scale, as per the same nature as a controlled and measurable strength regiment.  Having a controlled strength stimulus for an advanced athlete who is already a master of their sport skill is a helpful tool for managing tissue strength and balance, but for developing athletes going into “sports performance” programs, the ability to improve one’s skill building ability in a meaningful, athletic, problem-solving and creative manner is often lacking. In today’s podcast, Austin goes into the breakdown of finding low-hanging fruits of athletic performance in athletes and the philosophy of creating “skill-building addicts”.  We also get into self-learning concepts, over-coaching, and then the nuts and bolts of his weekly flow of movement and game-speed building methods.  We also finish with a lightning round that covers a variety of topics and ideas Austin is working on right now in the training space. Today’s episode is brought to you by Strength Coach Pro (strengthcoachpro.com) and Lost Empire Herbs For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Austin Jochum 348: Austin Jochum on Creating Skill Acquisition Addicts in Athletic Development full 1:22:20 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F348_Austin_Jochum.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-348%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-167" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-347/ Thu, 23 Feb 2023 19:27:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35844 Today’s podcast is a Q&A episode with Joel Smith.  Joel is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance/track coach in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, has authored several books on athletic performance, and in 2021, released the integrative training course, “Elastic Essentials”. Questions for this podcast revolved around high velocity and oscillating exercise concepts, acceleration and sprint development, training arrangement, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Strength Coach Pro (strengthcoachpro.com), Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials Online Course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 347: Joel Smith Q&A on Oscillatory Exercises, Acceleration Development and Training Arrangement full 1:19:38 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJoel_Q_A_347.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-347%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-168" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-346/ Thu, 16 Feb 2023 16:14:01 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35836 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-346/ Today’s guest is Richard Aceves.  Richard is an innovative movement specialist with a diverse athletic background.  After a mountaineering near death experience at an early age, he worked his way back to health and training capacity, eventually working towards becoming an elite powerlifter, professional GRID athlete, and has experience in a variety of strength and movement practices.  Richard is a coach, mentor, education and pioneer in the world of movement in context of the human experience.  There are always going to be pendulum swings in any profession, and sport performance is no exception.  On the level of conditioning, success in sport is more about skill, tactics, speed, confidence than the adaptation acquired from grinding out tough conditioning sessions.  At the same time, there is a mental, physical and emotional gold that can be found, when the body is pushed to its limits.  Using physical exploration and stressors with purpose can provide a far fuller and more rewarding experience to each individual, allowing them to level up in new ways that go beyond sport, into life itself.  On today’s podcast, Richard covers his near-death experience and injury that kickstarted his journey into the inner aspects of human performance.  Throughout the episode, Richard covers the physical, mention and emotional aspects of training, and how training can be modulated to address each of these important elements of both athletic ability, and our human experience.  Richard goes into his warmup process, and breaks down the dynamics of a “good” and “poor” conditioning session, and how to better facilitate the conditioning process.  Being able to get into the “present-minded” state is one of the most important elements in both training, and in life, and Richard goes into this concept heavily in this episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by Strength Coach Pro and Lost Empire Herbs For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com/ Richard Aceves 346: Richard Aceves on Fusing Mental, Physical and Emotional Elements of the Total Training Process full 1:41:42 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F346_Richard_Aceves.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-346%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-169" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-345/ Thu, 09 Feb 2023 14:32:54 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35824 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-345/ Today’s guest is Nick DiMarco.  Nick has been the director of sports performance at Elon University since 2018, and is a leader in the realms of high-performance ideology.  He is both a former professional athlete (NY Jets and Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker in 2014), and has a Ph.D in Health and Human Performance.  In addition to being well versed in the intuitive aspects of athleticism, Nick is skilled at applying logical models to a high-performance training environment.  He has been a guest on multiple episodes of this podcast, speaking on the physical preparation process with a focus on American football. In the preparation of an athlete, all roads must ultimately lead towards the specificity, chaos and decision making of the sport itself.  The days of putting outputs on a pedestal (such as a squat max or “canned” SAQ score), are still with us, but integrative coaches are seeing the higher-links within the total training equation, and the win-loss column.  Ultimately, a good sports performance program never loses sight of the ultimate goal, which is to prepare players towards their sport as well as possible.  If you caught the recent episode with strength coach, turned football coach Michael Zweifel, this message likely hits on an even deeper level. On today’s show, Nick gives an overview on the Elon football team’s performance over the last few years, and the integrative factors that contributed to their recent success and low injury rates.  He gives his evolving take on the important elements to cover in preparing players for the speed and movement demands of the game of football, including acceleration, maximal velocity and agility/change of direction.  In this episode, Nick goes in depth on his weekly speed and strength training format, talks about the metrics he measures, gives his take on deceleration training, and much more.  Nick’s ideas are both cutting-edge, and incredibly pragmatic, useful for any sports performance coach. Today’s episode is brought to you by Strength Coach Pro (strengthcoachpro.com) and Lost Empire Herbs For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Nick DiMarco 345: Nick DiMarco on Speed, Specificity, and Maximizing What Matters in American Football Preparation full 1:03:43 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F345_Nick_DiMarco.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-345%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-170" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-344/ Thu, 02 Feb 2023 15:26:21 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35803 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-344/ Today’s podcast features Henk Kraaijenhof.  Henk has several decades of experience as a performance coach in a broad array of sports.  His coaching credentials include working track athletes such as Nelli Cooman (former 60m dash world record holder), Merlene Ottey, and Troy Douglas as well as elite team sport competitors. His specialties are physical and mental coaching, stress and stress management, technology, and the methodology or training.  In addition to world-level performance, Henk’s coaching has also bred longevity, as Ottey and Douglas ran world class times in their 40’s. In the current coaching age, it’s easy to think that because we are doing “new” looking drills, have increased our data collection, and have created various technical models of sport skill, we have a massive edge on what athletes were doing 50 years ago.  At the same time, general trends in injury rates and performance markers should have us thinking twice (for example, Bob Hayes running 9.99s in the 100m in 1964 on a chewed up cinder track).  At the end of the day, it is more “core” elements of training philosophy that stand the test of time, and help us to better understand the needs of the athlete in front of us. On today’s show, Henk digs into speed training through the decades, and how many perceived “new school” elements, are actually much older than we think they are.  He talks about how he approaches “technical models” of sport skill (sprinting specifically), coaching the current generation of athletes, and where our modern world is heading in general on the level of technology.  He talks about the skill of patience in our current coaching environment, and shares some key philosophical ideas on the nature of coaching track and team sport athletes, and what we can learn from nature itself.  Finally, Henk gives his views on his own current technology use in his coaching role. Today’s episode is brought to you by Strength Coach Pro (strengthcoachpro.com) and Lost Empire Herbs For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Henk Kraaijenhof 344: Henk Kraaijenhof on Athlete-Centered Speed Development and Timeless Training Principles full 1:11:48 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F344_Henk_Kraaijenhof.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-344%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-171" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-343/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 16:15:08 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35788 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-343/ Today’s podcast features movement focused strength and performance coach Julien Pineau.  Julien is the founder of Strongfit, which started as a gym, and is now a full educational program for coaches and fitness/movement enthusiasts.  Sports have been a part of Julien’s life since he was young, and he has athletic backgrounds in a variety of areas from competitive swimming, to mixed martial arts, strongman, and more. In 1993, Julien began his coaching career as a conditioning and grappling coach for the MMA gym where he trained and in 2008, he opened his own gym that focuses on strongman training. Julien has a fascinating ability to visualize and correct proper human movement patterns, and has worked with athletes from a wide variety of disciplines.  He is a man on a journey inward as much as he is outward. The current world of training seems to exist on a level of “exercise proliferation” much more than it does digging into the main principles of human performance and adaptation.  Coaches often times have their own favorite exercises and drills, and have athletes perform them to “technical perfection”, citing the ability to hit particular positions as a marker for program success. On today’s podcast, Julien Pineau goes into the fallacy of training athletes based on one’s preferred exercise selection, or technical positions, while rather viewing training on the level of the “human first”.  Julien views training on the level of the entire athlete, and has exercise principles starting with the “inner most” human mechanisms.  He gets into his ideas on internal and external torque chains extensively through this show, and describes how to fit muscle tensioning patterns to the needs of athletes in the realms of speed, strength and injury prevention. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Julien Pineau 343: Julien Pineau on Innate Movement Patterning in Strength and Sprint Performance full 1:44:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F343_Julien_Pineau.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-343%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-172" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-342/ Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:12:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35765 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-342/ Today’s podcast features Seth Lintz, a pitching performance coach, based out of Scottsdale, Arizona.  Seth was a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB draft, carrying a maximal fastball speed of 104mph.  Known as the “Pitching Doctor” on his social media accounts, Seth has trained over a dozen individuals to break the 100mph barrier in the past 2 years, using a progressive training system that combines a priority on neuro-muscular efficiency with intuitive motor learning concepts. Of all the high velocity activities humans can do, throwing a ball at high speed is the “fastest”, and is a truly special skill worth studying.  Within a high-speed throw comes critical use of elasticity, explosiveness, levers, and fine-tuned coordination of one’s movement options.  Seth is a coach who has a very high-level, innate feel for all of the factors it takes for a human being to achieve extreme throwing velocities, connecting elements of physical performance with skill acquisition, while integrating the all-important role of the mind. On the podcast today, Seth shares details from his early immersion in throwing mechanics, gives his take on the mental elements and kinesthetic, feeling-based elements of throw training.  On the training end, he talks about the ability to “surge” and change speeds within a movement, the use of different training speeds, from super slow to over-speed, and developmental aspects of throwing with different weights and objects.  Within the show, many connections are made to sprinting and human locomotion, and this is an episode that coaches from baseball to track, and in the spaces in-between, can find helpful in their process. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Seth Lintz 342: Seth “Pitching Doctor” Lintz on Breaking Speed Barriers in a High Velocity Training Program full 1:04:07 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F342_Seth_Lintz.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-342%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-173" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-341/ Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:44:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35747 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-341/ Today’s podcast features strength coach, Zach Even Esh.  Zach is the founder of the Underground Strength Gym, and has been a leading figure in creative and adaptive strength training means.  He is also the host of the Strong Life podcast and the creator of many educational resources in the realm of human strength and performance. As the world moves forward, the world of training has become an interesting place, accelerated by the changing club sport scene, technological advances, social media, and more.  At the same time, the actual human being performing the training hasn’t changed, and human beings have far more nuances to them than simply being based on the same concepts that a machine, such as a car, does.  In many ways, human beings are being trained less and less like actual humans, and more as machines.  Cones and ladders have replaced playing basketball or soccer.  “Speed Training” has replaced running track, playing other sports, or racing friends on the playground.  This isn’t to say that our collective intelligence hasn’t created a substantial leap forward in understanding training frameworks, but at the same time, increased intelligence doesn’t automatically equal understanding how to create the richest possible environment for an athlete. On the show today, Zach speaks on the importance of imperfect, and chaotic elements in training.  We talk about how these elements are not just important with respect to the chaos of sport, but also in the level of how we are meant to adapt to training in general as human beings.  He talks on the power of a nature-based training system, his menu-based training days, as well as what we can learn from training that “breaks the rules” or would be thought to create “sub-optimal” adaptations.  Finally, Zach hits on the important elements of community in the world of sport, and the modern plague of business that has enveloped the schedules of kids, as well as society in general. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Zach Even-Esh 341: Zach Even-Esh on The Power of Chaos and Imperfection in Building a Superior, Adaptive Athlete full 1:23:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F341_Zach_Even_Esh.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-341%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-174" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-340/ Thu, 05 Jan 2023 14:06:16 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35722 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-340/ Today’s podcast features coach Michael Zweifel.  Michael is the special teams coordinator, defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator for the UW-La Crosse football team.  He is the former owner of the “Building Better Athletes” performance center in Dubuque, Iowa.  Michael was the all-time NCAA leading receiver with 463 receptions in his playing days at University of Dubuque.  He is also a team member of the movement education group, “Emergence”.  Michael is a multi-time appearing guest on the Just Fly Performance Podcast, speaking on elements of sport movement and skill, ecological dynamics and more. It is interesting to consider our current format of sports performance training (strength coaching sessions in the weight room, sport coaching on the field, and a substantial degree of separation between the two), and if our current model will be the same one seen in 20 or 50 years in training.  Michael has always been in both the strength and skill side of athletic performance, but has recently moved to a skill-side only element, in his move to football coaching at The University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. For the show today, Michael talks a bit about what led him to close down his private-sector sports performance business, and move into only football-coaching.  He’ll chat on the sport movement and ecological dynamics principles that he took with him into that football coaching job, and his vision for the strength program that would fit within his sport coaching role that is quite different than the norm in college sports.  We’ll also chat on maximizing the transfer in speed work for sport, and the chaotic nature of adaptation and performance in sport, versus a more linear sequencing in traditional S&C settings.  This show is one that will stretch our thinking regarding a lot of current beliefs and practices, and makes for a great conversation in the high-performance dynamic of sport. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Michael Zweifel 340: Michael Zweifel on Moving From Strength to Sport Coach and Rethinking Skill and Speed Transfer in Athletic Performance full 57:11 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F340_MZ2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-340%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-175" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-339/ Thu, 29 Dec 2022 11:15:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35706 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-339/ Today’s episode features strength and performance coach DJ Murakami.  DJ has over 15 years of experience in the coaching realm, and has a wide history of movement practice which includes work in bodybuilding, Olympic lifting, rock lifting, movement culture (such as Ido Portal), rock climbing and more.  DJ has created training courses such as Chi Torque, the Predator Protocol, and others, and mentors coaches and fitness enthusiasts through his Human Strong training organization. In today’s strength and fitness world, it’s almost easier to tell individuals the things they shouldn’t do than what they should.  Given all of the existing systems in strength and performance training, we can create excessive and robotic training programs that take us far from the core of our humanity, and therefore our potential to enjoy, connect with, and adapt to the work we are doing. DJ Murakami is a coach who has studied a massive number of systems and methods, as well as having trained, himself, in a large variety of movement and strength expressions.  Through it all, DJ has acquired knowledge on how to make training as effective as possible for each individual without over complicating and over-coaching the process. On the podcast today, he shares his athletic and coaching background, and then goes into how his coaching has evolved into what it is today: a system that prioritizes the “quest” of those he is working with, within each session. He also shares his knowledge of the internal and external muscle torque system (created by Julien Pineau) which can not only simplify the way we look at exercise selection, and the purpose of various movements, but also gives us an effective way to help athletes and individuals embody and understand muscle tensioning in the scope of their athleticism.  DJ is a wise coach who walks his talk on a high level in addition to his powerful training insights. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, DJ Murakami 339: DJ Murakami on Breaking Cognitive Training Barriers, Muscle Tensioning, and Winning Each Workout full 58:23 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F339_DJ_Murakami.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-339%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-176" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-338/ Thu, 22 Dec 2022 12:39:03 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35697 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-338/ Today’s episode features Kyle Waugh.  Kyle is the owner of Waugh Personal Training and hosts the podcast “Waughfit Radio”.  He started in fitness and rehab as a track and cross-country athlete and transitioned in his early 20s to a gym rat riddled with injuries.  Kyle worked through his injuries, and after being told to never lift again and get surgery, he is now robust and pain free through the process of good training and movement.  Kyle is a holistic movement and fitness specialist focused on optimizing the human experience. He looks to bridge the worlds of physical therapy and fitness together and get people living their best life, and is certified in both strength and conditioning and as a physical therapy assistant. We live in a world that is absolutely loaded with information.  If you have an athletic performance need, or a pain/injury issue, you can instantly get hundreds of articles and many experts telling you what you should or shouldn’t do to improve.  Based on the nature of information and marketing, most of us tend to be presented with more bells, whistles, and overall complexity than what we truly need to reach our next level in training or rehab.  Wisdom is gained through personal experience, and Kyle has achieved that in spades, overcoming physical pain that would wake him up throughout the night, to becoming strong healthy and robust, while learning from some of the greatest minds and systems in the industry. On today’s podcast, Kyle goes through his athletic background, and how he got into, and out of pain in his own training.  He’ll go through his own common-sense approach to overcoming movement limitations and how we need to “earn our complexity” in training and exercise.  He’ll also cover the important idea of being “nocebo’ed”, or being told things are wrong with us may not be true, or matter in the grand scheme of our recovery, but if we believe it, can limit our progress.  Later in the show Kyle gets into his favorite progressions and exercises in the scope of getting strong, while limiting negative adaptations, and how he moves through the ranks of movement intensity without getting overly complex. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kyle Waugh 338: Kyle Waugh on Building Robust Athleticism, Managing Training Complexity, and Going from “Broken to Beast” full 1:07:04 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F338_Kyle_Waugh.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-338%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-177" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-337/ Thu, 15 Dec 2022 18:19:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35679 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-337/ Today’s episode features Dan Back.  Dan is the founder of “Jump Science”, as well as the creator of the popular “Speed.Science0” page on Instagram.  Dan coaches at Xceleration sports performance in Austin, Texas.  He works with team sport athletes, as well as “pure output” sports, such as track and field, and dunk training.  Dan reached an elite level in his own vertical jump and dunking ability, and has been helping athletes run faster, jump higher and improve overall physical performance for well over a decade.  I first met Dan in my own time at Wisconsin, LaCrosse, where I was working on my master’s degree in applied sport sciences. One element of human outputs (sprinting, jumping, throwing, etc.) that I’ve found fundamental over the years is the idea of one’s strength/structure determining their technique they use.  I found very quickly in my early track and field, as well as team sport ventures in jump and sprint technique, that getting an athlete to exhibit the technique you were asking for to surpass their old personal best almost never happened.  Athletes would generally be using a technique that amplified their physical strengths and structure, and if you asked for a technique that took them away from that, performance would inevitably decline.  At the same time, many coaches will approach sporting skills without regard to pre-existing strengths/structure, and that sport technique is a singular factor that relies only on a mental “computer program”. On today’s show, Dan gives his perspective on how athletes strengths (or weaknesses) show up in their sprinting technique, and how sprint technique will differ from one athlete to another as such.  He’ll go in depth on building elasticity, plyometrics, building up an athlete’s vertical force capacities, give his take on sprint drills, and much more.  Dan has a practical style, where his experimentation is backed by data, and results.  This show is a deep dive, not just into important principles of performance, but also practical nuts and bolts on how to get more out of one’s athleticism on a high level. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Daniel Back 337: Dan Back on the Core of Sprint Technique and Building Bounce in Athletic Performance full 1:36:34 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F337_Dan_Back.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-337%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-178" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-336/ Thu, 08 Dec 2022 16:08:37 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35669 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-336/ Today’s episode features Tony Holler.  Tony is the track coach at Plainfield North High School with 39 years of coaching experience in football, basketball, and track.  He is the originator of the “Feed the Cats” training system that has not only found immense popularity in the track and field world, but the team sport coaching world as well.  Tony is the co-director of the Track Football Consortium along with Chris Korfist, and has been a two-time prior guest on the podcast.  Tony’s ideas of a speed-based culture, and rank-record-publish are making large waves in the coaching world. It's been said that “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”.  In the coaching world, the desire to be “well-prepared” for one’s sport can easily lead to an excessive amount of conditioning and overall training volume done too early in the season, creating ground for injuries to happen.  It’s extremely easy to just “do more”.  It takes wisdom and management of one’s coaching validation to start the journey of doing less. On today’s show, Tony goes in detail on his evolution in his “Feed the Cats” coaching system, from the pre-2008 period where he had no electronic timing, to some of the worst workouts he had his athletes do before that critical year-2000 split where he removed things like tempo sprinting (the t-word) from his programming, and centered his program around being the best part of an athlete’s day.  We’ll get into how Feed the Cats is working into team sport training and “conditioning”, and then go in detail on Tony’s speed-training culture built on love, joy, and recognition.  Tony will speak on the “art of surrender” in goal setting, his X-factor workouts, and much more in this conversation of almost 2 hours.  When you are speaking to someone like Tony, the two hours flies by, and you have a spring in your coaching step afterwards. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tony Holler 336: Tony Holler on The Evolution of a Speed-Based Training Culture full 1:46:33 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F336_Tony_Holler.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-336%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-179" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-335/ Thu, 01 Dec 2022 16:45:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35656 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-335/ Today’s episode features Danny Foley.  Danny is a performance coach and Co-founder of Rude Rock Strength and Conditioning.  He is well known for his investigation into fascial training concepts, and is the creator of the “Fascia Chronicles”.  Danny has spent the previous six years as the head strength and conditioning coach at Virginia High Performance, where he specialized in working with Special Operations Command (Naval Special Warfare Development Group) personnel. Through his work at Virginia High Performance, Danny has become very proficient working with complex injuries and high performing athletes within an interdisciplinary setting. The complexity of the human body, and how it moves in sport, will never cease to amaze me.  Humans are “cybernetic” organisms, or “systems of systems”.  Each system is connected to the others in the body.  Perhaps the epitome of that idea of inter-connectedness, as it refers to movement, is on the level of the fascial system, which is the web of connective tissue lying below the skin.  The fascia is laid out in both linear and spiraling lines, which fit with the demands of athletic movement on the linear and rotational level. When we see the way the fascial lines form in the body, or consider the principles of tensegrity in various architectural structures, or a dinosaur’s neck, for example, there is an instant and powerful connection that forms in regards to how this system must help power our movements.  At the same time, it’s easy to take things to extremes, as the fascia clearly needs muscle to create pressure and pull. For today’s episode, performance coach and fascial training expert, Danny Foley takes us into an informative deep dive on what the role of the fascia in movement is, how to understand when relatively more muscle or fascial dynamics may be at play in powering movement, and how to train in a way that can tap into the fascial system to a greater degree (although as Danny clearly mentions, the two systems are inextricable).  This was a really informative and practical conversation that offers a lot of insight to any coach, athlete or human mover. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Danny Foley 335: Danny Foley on Dialing Between a Fascial or Muscle Emphasis in Training full 1:21:03 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F335_Danny_Foley.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-335%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-180" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-334/ Wed, 23 Nov 2022 21:16:51 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35645 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-334/ Today’s episode features Christian Thibaudeau.  Christian has been a strength coach for 2 decades, is a prolific writer and author, and has worked with athletes from nearly 30 sports.  Christian has been a multi-time guest on this podcast, and is the originator of educational systems such as neuro-typing, as well as the omni-contraction training.  I am unaware of another strength coach with the extensive knowledge of training methods that Christian does, and I’ve taken a small book’s worth of notes from our various podcasts together thus far. For an athlete, a strength program is only as good as it can 1.) help them to prevent injury and stay robust and 2.) help them to improve their specific speed and power in their sport (and a possible 3. Of building needed size and armor).  When we talk about strength, we need to know how specifically it can plug into helping develop power, and one of the best ways to do this is in light us using complexes. Last time on the show, Christian spoke in depth regarding power complexes and their neurological demand, versus using more “simple” strength training setups and methods.  In this episode, Christian goes into the distinct nature of power, and how to optimally use pure strength methods as potentiation tools in the scope of a training complex.  He’ll get into his own use of overcoming isometrics in the scope of complex training work, how to progress complexes over the course of training cycles, speak on the “Gunthor complex”, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Christian Thibaudeau 334: Christian Thibaudeau “The Gunthor Complex”, and Strength-Power Relationships in Training Setups full 1:02:12 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F334_Christian_Thibs.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-334%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-181" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-333/ Thu, 17 Nov 2022 15:41:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35619 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-333/ Today’s episode features strength coaches Kyle Dobbs and Matt Domney.  Kyle Dobbs is the owner and founder of Compound Performance, has trained 15,000+ sessions, and has experienced substantial success as a coach and educator.  Kyle has an extensive biomechanics and human movement background which he integrates into his gym prescriptions to help athletes achieve their fullest movement, and transferable strength potential.  Matt Domney is the Head Coach at Compound Performance. He is a competitive powerlifter in the USPA, 275lb weight class, and in addition to powerlifting coaching, has years of experience in general population training.. High-intensity training is a fundamental component of athletic performance.  For a long time, “strength and conditioning” was (and still is) based largely off of the (very intense) powerlifts.  Training that is more athlete-friendly on the level of exercise selection and rep ranges has become more popular in the last couple of decades, and pendulums of corrective movements and exercise selection have swung back and forth in the process. Powerlifting itself is generally the most polarized expression of how we express strength, and although sport is much different than powerlifting, the pure intensity of the efforts within the sport (are) lend to a key facet of our human nature.  To understand the “middle ground” better, it helps to understand the poles well.  In this case, the poles of the powerlifts on one side, and then low-level corrective exercise on the other are helpful to consider when we are to make an efficient, effective and practice program for the athlete standing in front of us. On the show today, Kyle and Matt talk about variability within heavy strength training methods, look at the balance of high outputs in sport play vs. the gym, speak more into corrective exercise in the scope of higher intensity work, and then give their take on movement screens, warmups and more.  This was an exercise with a lot of wisdom that offers a great perspective on how to make maximal use of training time and efficiency. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kyle Dobbs, Matt Domney 333: Kyle Dobbs and Matt Domney on Practical Principles of High Intensity Training and Athletic Outputs full 1:13:58 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F333_Dobbs_Domney.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-333%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-182" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-332/ Thu, 10 Nov 2022 19:12:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35606 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-332/ Today’s episode is a Q&A with Joel Smith.  Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance/track coach in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, has authored several books on athletic performance, and in 2021, released the integrative training course, “Elastic Essentials”. Questions for this podcast revolved around maximal strength training needs in jumping and sprinting, testing protocols for youth athletes, speed training setups, sprint hardware vs. software, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, and Lost Empire Herbs For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https:lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https:justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, just-fly-sports.com 332: Joel Smith Q&A on Maximal Strength Limits, Sprint Training “Hardware” and Athlete Testing Protocols full 1:20:20 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F332_Joel_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-332%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-183" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-331/ Thu, 03 Nov 2022 13:02:06 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35579 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-331/ Today’s episode features Lee Taft.  Lee is one of the most highly respected sport speed coaches in the world.  His methods come from wisdom accumulated not just in sports performance, but also in physical education, sport coaching, as well as observing changes in athletes between the 1990s, into the modern day.  Lee has been a three-time guest on the podcast, a mentor to many high-level coaches, and has incredible wisdom on the level of sport movement. In a world of specialists, athlete’s processes of mastery can start to become “atomized” (my new favorite word).  Many modern athletes have a sport coach, a skill coach, a strength coach and a speed coach.  At the end of the day, an athlete only has so much time, and all training is only as effective as it can be integrated.  Training effectiveness is also magnified by the level of which the athlete’s learning process can be leveraged.  Hand holding athletes through skill acquisition, or playing games on early levels to win, rather than to learn skills, create early ceilings of performance. What we need in the world of sport is an intuitive, interconnected model by which to better let flow the natural abilities of an athlete.  To do so, having coaches like Lee who have experience in so many facets of movement, across a wide age group, multiple sports, and multiple decades is crucial.  We need to understand movement and motor learning in sport if we are to truly understand speed in sport. On the podcast today, Lee details his process in terms of sport skills, constraints, and then when to step in and “connect the dots” on the level of external speed and strength development.  Lee talks about his use of sport itself as “the screen” for athletes, developmental principles of sport skills, and assessing “hardware” vs. “software” limitations in athletic movement.  He also detailed his own process of sport development with his own children, and finishes with an important discussion on how we can change the developmental sport system for the better through travel-ball alternatives.  Lee is a sage in the world of sport, and we all can become better through his teaching. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Lee Taft 331: Lee Taft on The Flow of Sport Skill Development and Speed Training Integration full 1:19:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F331_Lee_Taft.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-331%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-184" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-330/ Thu, 27 Oct 2022 13:29:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35564 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-330/ Today’s episode features Rett Larson.  Rett is a physical preparation coach with an extensive and diverse background.  He has worked internationally with the national volleyball teams of Germany, Netherlands and China.  Rett has also worked with professionals, down to athletes of all ages, having prior experience as Velocity Sports Performance’s director of coaching in California.  Rett is a student of movement, having studied not only the top minds in sports performance, but also in general movement training such as taught by Ido Portal and in the scope of physical education. The evolution of sport is one of integration, and not separation.  Currently, the “silos” of sport coaching and then all of the “supportive” services (such as S&C) don’t tend to have much interaction with each other beyond a conversation.  The fact of the matter is, that when an athlete hits the field (or court) of play, they are operating within all facets of their humanity.  Their physical, tactical, technical, emotional, social and deep psychology all impacts their performance on the field.  The ”sport-warmup” may be the one place, in all of an athlete’s training, where the maximal amount of silos can be integrated.  Athletes can use strength, physio, games and sport-constraint oriented methods to not only prepare them for practice in an enjoyable way, but also form a “melting pot” of all aspects that make an athlete. On the show today, Rett Larson takes us through his evolution as a coach, and how his warmups and training has evolved over time.  He covers the highest transferring abilities he sees from the gym and warmup sessions, that are embodied by the best players on the team.  Rett also covers the important interaction that must take place between the physical preparation coach and sport coach, to create buy-in, and move the warmup process forward.  After listening to Rett speak on his approach to training athletes, it’s hard to think differently about our own process towards the evolution of our athletes and training programs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to https://justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rett Larson 330: Rett Larson on Sport Warmups as a Melting Pot of Strength, Skill, and Movement Opportunity full 1:37:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F330_Rett_Larson.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-330%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-185" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-329/ Thu, 20 Oct 2022 13:21:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35550 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-329/ Today’s episode features John Kiely.  John is a senior lecturer in Performance and Innovation at the University of Limerick.   In addition to his current work with doctoral and Ph.D. candidates, John is a frequent keynote speaker, and has extensive athletic performance training and consultation experience.  His coaching, consulting and advisory work includes numerous sports such as rugby, soccer/football, track and Paralympics.  In his time as an athlete, John won multiple titles in kickboxing and boxing.  John appeared years ago on episode 113 of the podcast. Training is much more than simply putting together a series of sets, reps and exercises, but invokes the “totality” of a human being.  This totality includes not only the body and mechanical forces, but also the mind and one’s environmental influence.  In other words, your training results are a factor of both your program, perceptions and environment, and the roles of the latter must not be minimized. On today’s show, John will cover training on the level of placebo and nocebo effects, the impact of an athlete’s beliefs and perception of the training session, coaching practice to engage the mind, as well as the idea of a “screen for beliefs” when starting a period of training with an athlete.  This is an awesome episode that really helps us understand the fullness of the processes involved within adapting to a training stimulus or program. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, John Kiely 329: John Kiely on Belief, Perception, and Placebos in an Optimized Training Process full 1:05:24 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F329_John_Kiely.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-329%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-186" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-328/ Thu, 13 Oct 2022 13:33:17 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35390 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-328/ Today’s episode features Jamie Smith, founder and head sport preparation coach of The U of Strength.  Jamie is a passionate coach and learner, who strives to help athletes incorporate the fullness of perceptual, social and emotional, elements in the course of training.  Jamie has been a multi-time guest on this show, speaking on his approach to training that meets the demands of the game, and settling for nothing less. The further I get into my coaching journey, the more I understand and appreciate the massive importance of stimulating an athlete on the levels of their physiology, their emotions and social interactions, and their perception of their external environment.  Coach Jay Schroeder had his term called the “PIPES”, referring to the importance of a training session being stimulating Physiologically, Intellectually, Psychologically, Emotionally and Spiritually”.  I certainly agree with those terms, but they could also be re-ordered, as per today’s conversation “Physiologically, Individually, Perceptually, Emotionally, and Socially”.  (Individual referring to individual autonomy). On the show today, Jamie goes into how he “stacks” games, play, perception & reaction type work onto more traditional training methods, for greater “sticky-ness” to sport itself.  Through today’s conversation, he’ll get into concepts of variability in training as it relates to sport, driving intention and learning through a training program, older vs. younger athlete response to game play with potentiation, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jamie Smith 328: Jamie Smith on Leveraging Play and Variability in a Total Speed Training Program full 1:18:12 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F328_Jamie_Smith.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-328%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-187" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-327/ Thu, 06 Oct 2022 12:59:01 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35356 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-327/ Today’s episode features sports performance coach and sport scientist, Joel Reinhardt.  Joel joined Stanford Football’s staff as the assistant sports performance coach and applied sports science coordinator in 2022.  Prior to Stanford, has spent time at UMass and Nicholls State working in sports performance and sports science roles. One of the great things about the sports performance/strength & conditioning field is that it is interdisciplinary in nature.  Within the field itself, we have the elements of anatomy/physiology, biomechanics, pedagogy, team culture & coaching, training arrangement, and long-term development. We also have the integration of sport science, which quantifies the complex nature of the ways players are loaded in their sport.  When the nature of this load is understood; many relationships can be noticed between a football practice week, for example, and the way a track sprints or jumps coach may set up their training week.  The more areas we see training loads and adaptive trends, the more we can understand the dynamics of the human organism, and how to facilitate the training environment. On today’s show, Joel Reinhardt goes into his role in helping to build out the work-loads of football players at Stanford through his sports science role.  He’ll talk about what specific training weeks look like, how the strength training complements those weekly micro-cycles, and then primary pitfalls that can happen in loading athletes throughout a training week.  Without good integration of sport volume, and weight-room volumes, athletes are almost always going to end up doing more total work than what they need, and that’s why conversations like these are so valuable. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Joel Reinhardt 327: Joel Reinhardt on The Fusion of Sport and Strength Training Workloads in American Football full 1:06:03 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F327_Joel_Reinhardt.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-327%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-188" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-326/ Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:34:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35339 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-326/ Today’s episode features movement coach, inventor and innovator, Adarian Barr.  Adarian has been one of the absolute biggest influences on me in my coaching, as well as my own personal movement and training practices.  You will be hard pressed to find an individual who sees movement in the detail that Adarian does, while also having the experiential and coaching knowledge to back it up. One of the biggest things I’ve learned from working with Adarian is improving my understanding of how joints work in the scope of human motion.  From the first time I met Adarian, I remember him discussing the spiraling actions of movement to take the slack out of the system, and how he prefers discussing movement on the motion of joints, rather than muscles.  I remember working on what happened when my joints were in flexion, rather than trying to resist, or “punch” my way through movement, the results of which were numerous post-university sprinting bests, and a quantum leap forward in the way I coached athletes. “Stiffness” is a commonly discussed term in the world of athletic movement.  Athletes are generally instructed to “be stiffer” in their lower body to jump higher and run faster.  The truth of the matter though, is that in motion, there must be something in the body that deforms, and the ultimate stiffness is a limb in a cast.  On today’s podcast, Adarian takes us through what he considers true joint “stiffness” to really be, when it comes to human motion and movement, and throughout the discussion, creates the grounds for better terminology on the level of the coach, when we speak about joint deformity, stress and strain, in the scope of sprinting, jumping, track and field, and beyond.  This is a podcast that will powerfully impact your mindset on the nature of plyometric exercises, sprinting motions and constraints, and how athletes move ideally in their sport. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Adarian Barr 326: Adarian Barr on Stress, Strain and Redefining “Stiffness” in Athletic Movement full 1:11:08 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?podcast_id=89956568&amp;media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F326_Adarian_Barr.mp3&amp;modern=1#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-189" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-325/ Thu, 22 Sep 2022 12:48:33 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35318 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-325/ Today’s episode features biomechanics specialist, David Grey.  David is the founder of David Grey Rehab, where he works with clients from all walks of life. David’s specialty is assessing his clients gait cycle in depth to develop a plan to help restore the movement or movements they struggle to perform.  David has learned under a number of great mentors in the world of human movement, athletic development, gymnastics, Chinese martial arts, and biomechanics, and is an expansive thinker, blending many elements of human movement together in a down to earth way we can all resonate with. Humans absolutely love to categorize things, and put things in boxes.  For those in their initial learning stages, this can really be helpful to the learning process, but at some point, we need to see the grey, or continuum-like nature of things, and how training interacts on its different levels.  When we put things in the box of simply being a “corrective” exercise, for example, it loses touch with many of the helpful principles of training and overload that come in more “standard” training exercises.  When we can see things from an expansive viewpoint, we can start to gather the wisdom regarding how different pieces of training work together. On today’s show David, puts many things together in regards to good functioning of the kinetic chain for not only knee health, but also better movement.  We talk about the muscles of the lower leg, where he stands (and how he has changed) on the level of more “bodybuilding” oriented training methods, keeping things simple in exercise progression (and how putting “corrective exercise” in a box is a bad idea), sensory awareness and fatigue contrasts, and finally, a ridiculously good summary on how David approaches knee rehab and health from a multi-factorial perspective. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to https://justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, David Grey 325: David Grey on Lower-Leg Dynamics, “Fatigue Contrasts”, and Rethinking the Term “Corrective Exercise” full 1:19:03 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F325_David_Grey.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-325%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-190" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-324/ Thu, 15 Sep 2022 16:16:13 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35305 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-324/ Today’s episode features Jarod Burton.  Jarod is a human performance specialist, chiropractic student, and health coach.  He got his coaching start working with Brady Volmering of DAC baseball, and has spent recent years coaching, consulting and running educational courses in the private sector.  Jarod focuses on engaging all aspects of an athlete’s being, providing the knowledge for the individual to thrive in their domain. In the world of coaching and human performance, the road to success is often thought of on the level of do “A”, in “B” amount, so you can accomplish “C”.  The focus on typically on numbers, exercises, and (often) a linear cueing process for those said movements.  We are so quick to judge programs entirely based on numbers and exercises. What we don’t consider often enough is the complex factors surrounding the volume that is administered.  There are elite athletes who have won gold medals and set world records who do a lot of volume that would “crush” other athletes (think the athletes that survived the Soviet or Bulgarian training systems, or modern-day athletes, such as Karsten Warholm, the 400m hurdle world record holder).  We need to ask ourselves, “what is the difference, or elements, that allowed the athlete to tolerate that?”.  Is it that their musculo-skeletal system was somehow just “better” than the other trainees, or are there other additional elements to consider?  The more elite coaches I’ve had the opportunity to work with, the more I realize that good coaches intuitively key into the mental and emotional state of the athlete, as well as the physiological management. On today’s podcast, Jared chats on managing high training volumes, work capacity dynamics, the critical role of boredom/interest in training, athlete self-discovery, and much more.  This is a podcast that causes you to ask questions, and gives us a new and interesting perspective on the dynamics of training. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jarod Burton 324: Jarod Burton on Rethinking Work Capacity, Over-Training, and Adaptation Through the Lens of Athlete Perception full 1:17:57 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F324_Jared_Burton.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-324%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-191" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-323/ Thu, 08 Sep 2022 13:12:21 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35299 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-323/ Today’s episode features performance coach and breathing specialist, Leo Ryan.  Leo is the founder of Innate-Strength.com.  Leo has studied from many elite personal training, physical therapy and breathing schools including Dip. Buteyko Method, Wim Hof, Oxygen Advantage Master Instructor, Fascial Stretch Therapist, Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Pilates.  Leo previously appeared on episode 219 speaking on many elements of breath training for athletic performance including nose vs mouth breathing in training, breath hold time as a readiness indicator, and more. The use of one’s breath for training and overall well-being has become more and more on my radar with each passing year.  From my foray into the endurance end of the competitive spectrum (Spartan Racing in 2019), to understanding the role of rib cage expansion in movement biomechanics, to breathing for energy and recovery, to the training practices of the old-school strongmen, in each year of my life, understanding and training the breath becomes more substantial. On today’s show, Leo Ryan returns to dig into the role of breath training, and its role in recovery, both within the workout itself, and in day-to-day recovery from training efforts.  We often talk about having an adequate “aerobic base”, but for some reason, the actual core of that aerobic base, which is “breathing”, is rarely considered, and Leo goes into making capacity workouts even more effective through breathing mechanics, physiology and rhythm.  Leo will also cover the role of CO2 and CO2 tolerance in human and athletic function, rhythmic aspects of breathing in athletic performance, and then some dynamics on breathing in the scope of strength training sessions. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Leo Ryan 323: Leo Ryan on The Power of Breath Training for Workout Recovery and Athletic Capacity full 1:17:49 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F323_Leo_Ryan.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-323%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-192" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-322/ Thu, 01 Sep 2022 14:33:06 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35287 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-322/ Today’s episode features strength and track coach, John Garrish.  John is the director of athletic development at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida, and the school’s head track coach.  John was recently voted the 2022 National High School Strength Coach of the Year by the National High School Strength Coach’s Association.  John appeared previously on the show discussing his speed training approach in episode 182. The symbiosis of track and football is often discussed in the process of training, and importantly so.  What is talked about less, are some of the specifics of what track has to offer, not just in the sprints, but also in events like triple jump, that can enhance an athletes speed, power, elasticity and overall movement profile, in their other sports. John was a hammer thrower in his college years, as well as a former football player.  The hammer throw is, of all the throws, the one that requires the greatest symbiosis and harmony with the implement.  The triple jump (bounding) requires a tremendous symbiosis with the ground, and how one interacts with it.  You can easily see John’s experience and intuition of track and S&C concepts emerge in his progression of bound, skip, hop and overall elastic training with his athletes. On the show today, John covers thoughts on hand position and “elastic/rigidity” vs. “muscular” sprint strategies in athletes as they move from youth to high-school levels.  This sets the stage for his talk on his galloping, skipping and bounding progressions, and how he keeps movement quality and velocity at the core of the progression.  John talks about how he keeps the training fun and intentional, and how he changes emphasis as athletes move from middle school, to high school years.  This show is a beautiful fusion of team sport S&C, and track and field concepts, and can be used to help any athlete develop more fluid, dynamic power outputs on the field of play. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to https://justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, John Garrish 322: John Garrish on Progressing Gallops, Skips and Bounds in Explosive Athletic Development full 1:21:38 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F322_John_Garrish.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-322%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-193" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-321/ Thu, 25 Aug 2022 13:10:07 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35165 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-321/ Today’s episode features strength coach and biomechanics educator, Katie St. Clair.  Katie been training general population and athletes for over 20 years, and is the creator of the Empowered Performance Program.  She is one of my go-to sources of knowledge for all things biomechanics, and the finer details of human movement.  She previously appeared on episode 279 of the podcast, speaking on biomechanical facets of running, lifting and athletic movement. Humans explore movement in a variety of ways as they grow from youth to adulthood.  We skip, run, sprint, throw, bend and twist with substantial variability, all through the medium of self-learning.  For some reason, as soon as weight lifting enters the picture, variation tends to go by the wayside, and a rigid bilateral (or even unilateral) method of moving that is pasted onto all athletes, is applied.  Human beings are complex, we differ from one another, not only in our builds and structures, but also in how our bodies have compensated and compressed in particular ways over time.  In this sense, our weightlifting programs should offer at least some room for each individual to learn more about the nuances of how each lift might be set up, or tweaked, in a manner the athlete could be optimally responsive to. On today’s show, Katie goes in detail on staggered-stance squatting and deadlifting, and how it can be leveraged based on the asymmetrical nature of an athlete’s body.  She also gets into detail on single leg lifting, and how turning into, or away from the leg being worked can emphasize various elements of the exercise.  She finishes by touching on hinging, posterior compression, and the link between high, rigid foot arches and what is happening upstream in the body.  Throughout the conversation, Katie highlights how each of these lifting variations can be utilized to bring the athletic body into greater balance, where needed. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Katie St. Clair 321: Katie St. Clair on Staggered Squats, Single Leg Mastery, and Dealing with High Foot Arches full 1:24:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F321_Katie_St_Clair.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-321%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-194" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-320/ Thu, 18 Aug 2022 14:59:54 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35156 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast320/ Today’s episode features performance coaches James DiBiasio and Collin (CT) Taylor.  James and CT work at T3 performance in Avon, Ohio, and have a progressive approach to athletic performance training, encapsulating strength, movement, athleticism in a holistic manner that fits with the progression of athletic skill, and leveling up one’s abilities as a human being.  James and CT were both college athletes in baseball and football respectively, and CT played arena football after his NCAA years.  In addition to their coaching, James and CT have been running the “Cutoffs and Coffee” podcast since 2020, having interviewed nearly 50 different guests. It’s been enjoyable to see more elements of chaos, risk, perception/reaction, and overall athleticism, emerge in the sports performance process in recent years.  Humans are the species on this planet with the greatest overall dexterity of skills, and yet, this dexterity is rarely leveraged in the average “training program” to a shade of its potential.  “Training” is something that is traditionally heavy on data, but low on chaos, and yet, sport, as well as the array of FLOW inducing human movement practices, are quite the opposite.  Yes, we still want to perform movements that improve the strength of muscles and tissues, while increasing capacity, but at the same time, we also want to give athletes challenges that allow them to expand their athleticism.  On the show today, James and CT get into how they have incorporated a variety of athletic skills, flips, and calisthenic movements into their training, how much their athletes enjoy it, and how it links to dynamics on the field of play.  They chat about how to leverage principles of intuition and chaos in the training day, and even week, speed training constraints, and finally, James and CT finish with an insightful view on the role of “difficult” training routines, and higher volume capacity-oriented training sets.  This was a fun podcast with a lot of take-aways, and highlights the ways that the field of athletic performance training is expanding and evolving. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, James DiBiasio, Collin Taylor 320: James DiBiasio and Collin Taylor on Leveling Up Skills, Speed and Capacity in a Total Training Program full 1:21:22 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F320_James_and_CT.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-320%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-195" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-319/ Thu, 11 Aug 2022 12:15:45 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35108 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-319/ Today’s episode welcomes back coaches Cal Dietz, Dan Fichter and Chris Korfist in a truly epic multi-guest podcast.  The amount of coaching and learning experienced between Cal, Dan and Chris is staggering, and they have been influencing the training practices of other coaches since the early 2000’s. Speed training is always a fun topic, with a lot of resonance to many coaches, because it is the intersection of strength and function.  Training speed requires an understanding of both force and biomechanics.  It requires knowing ideas on both cueing, and athlete psychology.  Since acquiring better maximal velocity is hard, it forces us to level up on multiple levels of our coaching, and that process of improvement can filter out into other aspects of performance and injury prevention. On the show today, fresh off of their recent speed training clinic collaboration, Cal, Dan, Chris and I talk about a variety of topics on speed and athletic performance, including “muscular vs. elastic” athletes, the importance of strong feet (and toes), reflexive plyometric and speed training, as well as the best weight room exercises and alignments that have a higher transfer point to actual sport running.  This was a really enjoyable podcast to put together. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cal Dietz, Dan Fichter, Chris Korfist 319: Cal Dietz, Dan Fichter and Chris Korfist: A Roundtable Discussion on Advanced Speed and Power Training Methods full 1:22:36 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F319_Cal_Dietz_Fichter.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-319%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-196" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-318/ Thu, 04 Aug 2022 16:04:02 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35066 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-318/ Today’s episode features Pat Davidson, Ph.D..  Pat is an independent trainer and educator in NYC.  Pat is the creator of the “Rethinking the Big Patterns” lecture series, is a former college professor, and is one of the most intelligent coaches I know in the world of fitness and human performance.  As an athlete, Pat has an extensive training background including time in strongman, mixed martial arts, and many types of weightlifting activities.  He has been a guest on multiple prior episodes of this series. The human body is quite complex, as is the potential array of training interventions we can impose on it.  To ease this process, and help us to direct our focus, it can be helpful to categorize means and methods.  We have spoken on this podcast often about compression, expansion, mid-early-late stance, and other biomechanical topics.  Outside of these ideas, training can also be, simply, considered in light of spending more, or less time on the ground and in contact with objects. On the podcast today, Pat shares his thoughts on a new idea in categorizing athletes and training means, which is based on that contact with the ground and deformable objects.  This goes beyond muscles, and into the sum total of a variety of muscle, joint and pressure system actions that deal with more, or less points of contact for an athletic movement. Within this system of “high ground” and “low ground”, Pat goes into exercise classification, as well as an explanation why more “aerial” exercise, such as movements involving a level of balance, are as popular as they are, based on the ground/aerial spectrum and links to athleticism.  Pat also gets into the role of the feet, particularly in mid-stance, on the tail end of this enlightening conversation.  This talk really helps us see a number of training means in a new and helpful light. Pat and I had a long and awesome talk here; based on some logistics with production and time, we’ll be jumping right into the meat and potatoes of our talk Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to https://justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Pat Davidson 318: Pat Davidson on Aerial and Terrestrial Factors in Athletic Performance Training full 1:29:20 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F318_Pat_Davidson.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-318%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-197" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-317/ Thu, 28 Jul 2022 16:09:59 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35038 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-317/ Today’s episode features track and sport performance coach, Jeff Howser.  Jeff has been coaching track and field since 1971, and was himself a 6x ACC champion, named as one of the ACC’s top 50 track athletes of all time in 2003.  Jeff was a sprints and hurdles coach at Florida, UCLA, NC State, Duke and UNC before his time as a speed and sports performance coach, back at Duke University. If you caught the classic episode on oscillatory strength training with Sheldon Dunlap you may have heard Sheldon mention Jeff as a source of his oscillatory rep training knowledge.  In addition to a number of elite track and field competitors, Jeff also trained the top high school 40-yard dash runner in history, who ran a 4.25 second effort. In the world of speed training, many folks gravitate towards the “neat, packaged” training methods that are easy to understand and copy, such as sprint skip drills (A-skips, etc.).  Unfortunately, these drills don’t transfer to speed in nearly the capacity that we would hope for.  As Jeff says “I’ve never seen anyone skip their way to being fast”.  True speed is a little more complex, as it involves horizontal velocity and rotation, but is still, simple at its core given the self-organizing ability of the body. In his decades in track and field, Jeff has seen numerous pendulum shifts in how speed is coached, and has experienced a wide variety of training methods.  As Jeff has said, we often go to clinics and seminars to be fed the same information with a different coat of paint.  The “dark side” of the moon represents what we haven’t seen in the world of performance, and this episode is an epitome of that. On today’s show, Jeff goes into how sprint training has changed in the last 50 years, what he does, and doesn’t find helpful in speed development, a variety of sprint and speed training constraints and self-governing drills, oscillatory lifting and power development principles, and much more.  This show blends several important elements of biomechanics, strength and program philosophy that are impactful for any coach or athlete. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeff Howser 317: Jeff Howser on Speed Training Wisdom From the Dark Side of the Moon full 1:14:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F317_Jeff_Howser.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-317%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-198" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-316/ Thu, 21 Jul 2022 12:16:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35025 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-316/ Today’s episode features sports psychologist, Simon Capon.  Simon is a hypnotherapist, Master NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) practitioner, as well as the author of the book “It’s Time to Start Winning.” Since 2006 Simon has worked with professional athletes, using variety of techniques including skills from NLP and hypnotherapy.  He has inspired athletes, footballers and numerous others to achieve national, international and world titles. Simon’s philosophy is simple, create self-belief and your behaviors and actions will change and so will your results.  Simon previously appeared on episode #198 of the podcast, speaking particularly on the link between body language and mental state in athletics, as well as managing the emotional brain for performance. As Logan Christopher puts it, we are always “mentally training” whether we think we are or not.  If we do nothing dedicated to improving the processes and habits related to managing the mind well, we will simply revert to the default programming.  By focusing on the role of the mind, we can improve our motivation, consistency, clutch performance, physical abilities, as well as find a greater sense of purpose and enjoyment in each training session. In today’s podcast with Simon, we finished with a small bit on how to stay “in the present” in the course of training.  In this show, Simon speaks at length on methods to stay in the present moment, how to use particular strategies to engage the sensory systems of the body, turn of the judging mind, and get into FLOW states.  He discusses the role of visual focus (peripheral vs. narrow) in sport, linking higher purposes and emotions into our movement/training, as well as a “process oriented” approach to goal setting. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Simon Capon 316: Simon Capon on Present-Moment Awareness and Flow-State Cultivation full 1:07:13 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F316_Simon_Capon.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-316%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-199" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-315/ Thu, 14 Jul 2022 15:33:49 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=35008 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-314/ Today’s episode brings back Rick Franzblau, assistant AD for Olympic Sports Performance at Clemson University.  In his two decades in athletic performance, Rick has worked with a wide variety of sports, as well as gained an incredible amount of knowledge in both the technology, and biomechanics ends of the coaching spectrum.  Rick, as with many other biomechanics topic guests on this podcast, has been a mentee of Bill Hartman, and has appeared previously on episode 94, talking about force/velocity metrics in sprinting and lifting. There is a lot of time spent, talking about an “optimal technique” for various sport skills (such as sprinting).  We also tend to look for “optimal lifts” or exercises for athletes, as well as optimal drills athletes are supposed to perform with “perfect form” to attain an ideal technique. What the mentality described in the above paragraph doesn’t consider is that athletes come in different shapes and structures, which cause what is optimal to differ.  Wide ISA athletes, for example, are fantastic at short bursts of compression, have lower centers of mass, and can manage frontside sprint mechanics relatively easily.  On the other hand, narrow ISA individuals use longer ranges of motion to distribute force, have a higher center of mass, rotate more easily, and can use backside running mechanics better than wide-ISA’s.  Additionally, there is a spectrum of these athletic structures, and not simply 2 solid types. On today’s show, Rick goes into detail on the impact and role of compression in human movement and performance training, the strengths and weaknesses of the narrow vs. wide ISA archetypes, what differences show up in locomotion and sprint training, as well as how he approaches strength training for the spectrum of wide to narrow individuals.  Today’s show reminds us (thankfully) that there is no magic-bullet for all athletes, and helps us with the over-arching principles that can guide training for different populations to reach their highest potential. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to https://justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rick Franzblau 315: Rick Franzblau on Sprint and Strength Training Optimization Based on Athlete Structural Type full 1:23:29 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F315_Rick_Franzblau.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-315%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-200" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-314/ Thu, 07 Jul 2022 18:02:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34778 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-314/ Today’s episode brings back Alex Effer.  Alex is the owner of Resilient Training, and has extensive experience in strength & conditioning, exercise physiology and the biomechanical function of the body.  He also runs educational mentorships teaching biomechanics to therapists, trainers and coaches.  Alex was recently on the show talking about the mechanics of the early to late stance spectrum and it’s implications for performance training. Something that has been dramatically under-studied in running, jumping, cutting and locomotion in general is the role of the upper body.  Since the arms don’t directly “put force into the ground” and the world of sports performance and running is mostly concerned with vertical force concepts; the role of the arms gets relatively little attention in movement. This is unfortunate for a few reasons.  One is that sport movement has strong horizontal and rotational components that demand an understanding of how the upper body matches and assists with the forces that are “coming up from below”.  Two is that the joints of the upper body tend to have a lot in common with the alignment and actions of corresponding joints in the lower body.  When we understand how the upper body aligns and operates, we can optimize our training for it in the gym, as well as better understand cueing and motor learning constraints in dynamic motion. Today’s topics progress in a trend of “expansion to compression”, starting with a chat on the expansive effect of aerobic training (as well as the trendy thera-gun) and Alex’s favorite restorative and re-positioning aerobic methods.  We then get into rotational dynamics in squatting, focusing on the actions of the lower leg, and finish the chat with a comprehensive discussion on the role of the upper body in sprinting, how to train propulsive IR for the upper body in the gym, as well as touching on improving hip extension quality for athletic power. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Alex Effer 314: Alex Effer on “Jacked Shoulders” in Sprinting, Athletic Squatting Mechanics, and Rotational Dynamics of Locomotion full 1:35:56 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F314_Alex_Effer.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-314%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-201" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-313/ Thu, 30 Jun 2022 18:09:19 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34766 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-313/ Today’s episode features a question and answer session with Joel Smith. On the show today, I answer questions related to “are there any bad exercises?”, sport speed concepts, jump training, “switching” sprint drills, and much more.  I love being able to highlight and integrate information from so many of the past guests on this podcast into my own training, coaching, and ultimately, the answers I provide on this show.  In many senses of the word, this is truly an “integration” episode of the podcast series. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 313: Joel Smith Q&A on Exercise Selection, Sport Speed Concepts, and Jump Training Setups full 1:05:43 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F313_Joel_QA.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-313%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-202" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-312/ Thu, 23 Jun 2022 15:17:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34752 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-312/ Today’s episode welcomes back to the show, Rob Gray, professor at Arizona State University and host of the Perception & Action Podcast.  Rob Gray has been conducting research on, and teaching courses related to perceptual-motor skill for over 25 years.  He focuses heavily on the application of basic theory to address real-world challenges, having consulted with numerous professional and governmental entities, and has developed a VR baseball training system that has been used in over 25 published studies.  Rob is the author of the book “How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach and Practice Sports Skills”. You cannot separate the world of athletic development, even pure “power” training, from concepts on motor learning.  If we look at interest in athletic performance topics by “need”, speed training will typically be first on the list.  At its core, sprinting, lifting (and every other athletic skill) has its roots in how we learn. The great thing about motor learning knowledge, is that it can both allow you to have a better training session on the day, as well as month to month, and year over year.  Training done only on the level of raw “power” as a general quality, and explicit instruction will create early ceilings for athletes in their career.  Understanding motor learning allows for more involved daily training sessions, and better flourishing of skills that grow like a tree, over time.  Whether you work in sport, in the gym, or as a parent/athlete, understanding how we learn goes a massively long way in becoming the best version of one’s self athletically and from a movement perspective. In episode 293, Rob got into the constraints-led approach to movement vs. “teaching fundamentals”, and in this episode, he goes into CLA’s counter-part: differential learning.  Rob will get into the nuances of differential learning on the novice and advanced level.  In the back end of the show, we’ll talk about “stacking constraints”, games, exploration, using the “velocity dial” as a constraint, and finally, the promising results of Rob’s research showing the effectiveness of a variable practice model. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rob Gray 312: Rob Gray on Higher Athletic Ceilings with Differential Learning and Optimized Variability Training full 1:03:30 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F312_Rob_Gray.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-312%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-203" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-311/ Thu, 16 Jun 2022 12:24:47 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34737 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-311/ Today’s episode features Kyle Dobbs.  Kyle is the owner and founder of Compound Performance which offers online training, facility consulting and a personal trainer mentorship.  He has an extensive biomechanics and human movement background (having trained 15,000+ sessions), and has been a two time previous guest on this podcast. In the world of training and performance, it’s easy to get caught up in prescribing a lot of exercises that offer a relatively low training effect in the grand scheme of things.  Healthy and capable athletes are often assigned a substantial load of low-level “prehab” style and corrective exercises that they often do not need.  In doing so, both a level of boredom, fatigue and just simply wasting time, happens in the scope of a program. For my own training journey, I’ve seen my own pendulum swing from a relatively minimal approach to the number of movements, to having a great deal of training exercises, back down to a smaller and more manageable core of training movements in a session.  As I’ve learned to tweak and adjust the big lifts, and even plyometric and sprint variations, I realize that I can often check off a lot of training boxes with these movements, without needing to regress things too far. On the show today, Kyle will speak on where and when we tend to get overly complex, or overly regressive in our training and programming.  He’ll talk about what he prioritizes when it comes to assigning training for clients, as well as a “macro-to-micro” way of thinking in looking at the entirety of training.  Kyle will get into specifics on what this style of thinking and prioritization means for things like the big lifts, speed training, and core work, as well as touch how on biomechanical differences such as infra-sternal angle play a role in his programming. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kyle Dobbs 311: Kyle Dobbs on “Macro-to-Micro” Thinking in Strength, Speed and Corrective Exercise full 59:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F311_Kyle_Dobbs.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-311%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-204" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-310/ Thu, 09 Jun 2022 15:20:14 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34723 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-310/ Today’s episode features swim coach Andrew Sheaff.  Andrew is an assistant swimming coach at the University of Virginia, winners of the last two NCAA women’s championships.  In addition to swim coaching, Sheaff has an extensive background in strength and conditioning, including an internship under Buddy Morris.  A collegiate swimmer at Pittsburgh, Sheaff was named the Senior Athlete of Distinction. He was a four-time Big East Academic All-Star and a four-time University Scholar Athlete.  He writes on numerous aspects of coaching education at his website, coachandrewsheaff.com . A quote on Andrew’s blog that made a lot of sense to me was a quote by former cricket player and ESPN writer, Ed Smith, that “Because the important things are hard to coach, it is tempting to take refuge in the small, irrelevant things because they are easy.”  I find this to be extremely relevant to many approaches to athletic development where drills are often over-emphasized and over-controlled, while the actual sporting skill is often left relatively un-changed from season to season. I have found it a common theme, in modern coaching, to attempt to overly “control” an athlete’s technique through the over-use of drills, exact positions, and discrete instructions.  This can range from cues in the weight room (butt back, chest out, through the heels!) to the track (heel up, knee up, toe up!) to exact arm positions for swimming movements. On the show today, Andrew speaks on elements of control vs. athlete empowerment in coaching.  He talks on training methods that lead to lasting change in technique and performance, with an emphasis on the constraints-led approach.  This podcast was a fun cross-pollination of ideas between the worlds of swimming, track and physical preparation, with important concepts for any coach or athlete.  Whether you are interested in speed training, technical development, or just overall coaching practice, you are sure to find this a really informative conversation. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, Lost Empire Herbs, and the Elastic Essentials online course. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Andrew Sheaff 310: Andrew Sheaff on A Fusion of Track and Swimming Concepts in Athletic Speed Development full 1:15:44 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F310_Andrew_Sheaff.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-310%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-205" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-309/ Thu, 02 Jun 2022 15:07:44 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34713 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-309/ Today’s episode features Rob Assise.  Rob has 19 years of experience teaching mathematics and coaching track and field at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. He also has coached football and cross country, and is also the owner of the private training business, Re-evolution athletics.  Rob has appeared on multiple prior episodes of the podcast, speaking on his unique approach to jumps training that combines the practice with many sport-like elements. Track and field offers us a great insight as to the effectiveness of a variety of training methods, because each method will be ultimately judged by how fast an athlete ended up running, how far or high they jumped, or how far they threw.  In track and field, we combine power alongside technical development in the process of achieving event mastery. Rob has a creative and integrative process to his own training methods, and on today’s show, he speaks largely on some “crescendo style” adjustments to common plyometric and sprint drills that he uses to help athletes improve their technique and rhythmic ability over a period of time.  On the show Rob talks about his recent sprint-jump complexes, use of asymmetrical plyometrics, and where he has gone with the “minimal effective dose” style of training.  He also shares his thoughts on tempo sprints in the role of jump training, and as we have spoken on in other podcasts, manipulating velocity in a movement in order to improve not only one’s speed, to help them clear up technical issues. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rob Assise 309: Rob Assise on Plyometric Complexes, “Crescendo Sets” and Variability in Speed and Power Training full 1:03:25 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F309_Rob_Assise.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-309%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-206" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-308/ Thu, 26 May 2022 15:16:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34691 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-308/ Today’s episode features Will Ratelle.  Will is a strength coach, at the University of North Dakota, working with football, basketball, volleyball and tennis athletes. He is also the owner of “W2 Performance”.  Prior to working in the performance field, he spent time as a professional football player, spending time with the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, and Saskatchewan Roughriders (CFL). In the supportive role of physical preparation/S&C, it is very easy to partition the process of weightlifting away from the actual needs and demand of explosive, chaotic sports.  It’s also easy to get carried away with excessive auxiliary work, or “atomizing” facets of power work/RFD that don’t end up transferring to actual explosive sport skills.  In this sense, it’s helpful to personally spend time in sport, in skill acquisition, and in strength development one’s self, to intuitively understand the balance, and synergy, between athletic components. Will’s athletic background, love for sport and play, and raw “horsepower” is a unique combination.  He was a semi-pro athlete, can clean and jerk 198kg, dunks a basketball with ease, and also loves to play a variety of games and sports.  Will has an analytical process to his performance programming, and asks important questions that have use really dig into the why of what we are doing in the gym (and beyond). On the show today, Will talks about his athletic, game-play and strength background, and how despite being more than physically capable, did not make the pro level of football.  Will then goes into ideas on what we should actually be looking to improve/intensity in the gym setting.  He chats on how to avoid training things that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of everything an athlete is asked to do.  Will finishes with his thoughts on the specificity of potentiation, jump and sprint variability training, and then a great take on the “Olympic lifts vs. loaded jumps” debate. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Will Ratelle 308: Will Ratelle on Explosive Training Specificity, Olympic Lift Debates, and Avoiding Redundant Exercises full 1:18:36 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F308_Will_Ratelle.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-308%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-207" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-307/ Thu, 19 May 2022 14:27:37 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34678 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-307/ Today’s episode features strength coach, track coach and writer, Dan John.  Dan is a legendary contributor to the world of human performance, having written numerous top-selling books in strength development, such as “Easy Strength”, as well as having coached and taught athletes for decades.  He has been a multi-time guest on this podcast, and is one of the greatest influences on the way I see the process of sport performance today. In the world of athletics, it becomes very easy to dissect elements of performance or biomechanics down to a level of minutia where things can actually lose effectiveness, efficiency, or both.  In large, fast, multi-joint movements, for example, we reap value that is often times “greater than the sum of its parts” when we are talking about the best way to achieve functional lower body development (such as using a squat or deadlift, rather than several machine based exercises to train the same muscles).  Fast sprinting is a more effective way to train the hamstrings than breaking hamstring training down into a series of strength exercises (although you can certainly do both).  In a similar vein, a game like volleyball or basketball is often times better than the sum of its parts in terms of agility and plyometric training.  Within the scope of complexity and velocity, the human body is forced to adapt to a higher level than a “broken down” versions. In his vast experience, Dan John has been able to see what “big things” in training are truly important, and how we can close the gap that so often appears between common training practices and competition.  He knows how to combine key elements in training and one’s life outside of training to create synergistic effects. On the podcast today, Dan speaks whole-part-whole teaching, and how training get actually get dissected to the point where we are creating gaps in actual competitive performance.  He will talk about the role of games (not specific to one’s primary sport) in athletic performance, in the off-season, in-season, and as a form of conditioning.  From there Dan goes into motor learning wisdom in coaching, and how he uses elements of velocity, complexity, rhythm and relaxation to help athletes adapt to better technical proficiency, as well as dealing with over-analytical athletes in this process.  Finally, Dan finishes the show with some practical wisdom on sets and reps in the grand scheme of program design, as well as some thoughts on periodization.  It’s always an honor to have Dan on, and listen to his coaching wisdom from decades in his craft. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dan John 307: Dan John on High-Velocity Learning, Games for Explosive Athletes, and Training Synergy full 1:22:19 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F307_Dan_John.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-307%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-208" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-306/ Thu, 12 May 2022 15:05:58 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34668 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-306/ Today’s episode features coach and inventor, Rolf Ohman.  Rolf was born in Sweden but grew up in Brisbane, Australia. He has worked for over 40 years in international sports, as an athlete (Decathlon) and as coach at International and National level.  He was the Head Coach for the Dalian Olympic Sports Center 2016-17 and Assistant Head Coach Chinese National Team Sprints/Jumps 2018-19.  Rolf is the inventor of the 1080 Technology (such as the 1080 sprint device), and has substantial experience in both the data-based and practical aspects of coaching and training. In the recent Randy Huntingon podcasts, Randy spoke about how doing hurdle hops over too high of hurdles had the tendency to “kill elasticity”.  Rolf Ohman has worked with Randy, and has substantial experience linking the ground contact times in plyometric exercises, as well as the impulse times of various movements in the weight room, to what is observed in athletics.  Track and field athletes have faster impulse needs than team sport athletes as well, and Rolf has worked with both populations, and understands which metrics should be optimized in training for different situations. On today’s podcast, Rolf will speak on the specific drawbacks to using too high of hurdles in bilateral plyometric training, and gives his specific recommendations for which heights he feels are maximally beneficial for both track and team sport individuals.  He’ll speak on various elements of transfer in the weight room, such as the progression of the Olympic lifts, as well as thoughts on the transfer present in different elements of gym training, such as the impulse dynamics of lifting seen in elite athletes.  Rolf finishes with some thoughts on youth and long term development on the terms of speed and power.  Ultimately, this episode helps us to better understand closing the “gap” we often see between the gym, and the forces present on the field of play. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rolf Ohman 306: Rolf Ohman on The Elastic Strength Index and Specificity of Power Development in Athletics full 1:06:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F306_Rolf_Ohman.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-306%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-209" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-305/ Thu, 05 May 2022 15:02:16 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34650 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-305/ Today’s episode features Tim Anderson.  Tim is the co-owner of the Original Strength Institute, and has been a personal trainer for over 20 years.  He has written and co-written many books on human performance including The Becoming Bulletproof Project, Habitual Strength, Pressing RESET, and Original Strength Performance. When it comes down to it, his message is simple yet powerful: We were created to feel good and be strong throughout life. It is because of Tim that I’ve developed a fascination with crawling, and largely, a fascination with bodyweight training in general.  So often, our thought on bodyweight training is one that revolves around ways to produce copious amounts of muscle tension, such as in gymnastics, which is great, and do so in volumes that can produce slabs of muscle.  At the same time, bodyweight training is much more than simply looking for alternative ways to seek hypertrophy.  Training with one’s bodyweight allows for a variety of reciprocal movement actions, where energy is stored and released, transmitting itself through the hands, spine, pelvis and feet.  Training with one’s bodyweight also allows us to hone on rudimentary and reflexive movement skills, such as crawling. Tim appeared on episode #154 of the podcast, talking about the power of crawling and reflexive movement.  On the tail end of that show, Tim discussed rolling for a few minutes, but I wanted to get him back to dig more thoroughly into that topic. On today’s show, Tim goes into the benefits of rolling, and how he progresses and instructs it for his clients.  He speaks about rolling on the level of the vestibular system, joint rotation (particularly internal rotation), the gait cycle, sensation and awareness, and more.  At the end of the show, we talk about modulating speeds and rhythms in ground-work, and finally, Tim gets into how his own personal workouts and training have progressed over time, and how rolling plays an important part of his own daily strength routine. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tim Anderson 305: Tim Anderson on Rolling Techniques to Move Better, Improve Gait, and “Connect the X” of the Body full 1:11:03 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F305_Tim_Anderson.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-305%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-210" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-304/ Thu, 28 Apr 2022 12:00:49 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34636 Today’s episode features Rafe Kelly and Charles St. John.  Rafe is the owner of Evolve Move Play, and has studied and taught a multitude of movement practices spanning gymnastics, parkour, martial arts, weightlifting, Cross-fit and more for decades.  His passion to is help people build the physical practice that will help make them the strongest, most adaptable and resilient version of themselves in movement and in life.  Charles has been training parkour since 2009, and coaching it since 2012. He carries multiple parkour coaching certifications and is a certified personal trainer for general fitness, while he currently coaches at the APEX Denver Parkour (Apexdenver.com) and Circus facility in Colorado. Motor learning is the worldview by which you keep yourself from over-compartmentalizing elements of a total training program.  It’s how you discover the window, or lens by which an athlete acquires mastery in their sport, and also determines how you go about constructing a training session with the “whole” in mind.  It allows one to see the forest from the trees in the process of athletic mastery.  If we only listen to “speed”, “output” and “drill” oriented material, and leave out the actual over-arching process of motor learning in any sort of athletic performance discussion, we end up with a more over-compartmentalized, less sustainable, less effective, and less enjoyable model of training On the podcast today, Rafe and Charles speak in the first half, on games they particularly enjoy from a true “generalist” point of view; games that encapsulate the most essential elements of “human-ness” in movement.  These game principles can be plugged into either general (for the sake of better outputs for the subsequent training session), or specific warmups (for the sake of “donor” learning to the main session).  In the second half, we get into a detailed discussion on dynamic points of learning and coaching, speaking on points of drill vs. holistic approach to skills, frequency of feedback (and types of feedback), working with highly analytical athletes, checking the effectiveness of one’s cues, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points: 4:41 – Why Rafe and Charles love rugby as a multi-dimensional game that encapsulates a lot of human qualities and opportunities 14:12 – “Hybrid” games that coaches like to play as a generalist warmup to a strength training session, and the emergence of “king of the course” 23:21 – How to craft a “donor” activity to prepare for your primary training activity 32:49 – What the balance is, in parkour, on teaching actual technique, vs. decisions 52:08 – How to properly tell stories and frame skills to an athlete, without letting words get in the way 1:02:11 – How many efforts to let an athlete perform, before coaches should seek to intervene in the form of a cue or instruction, and how to help athletes be better self-learners 1:14:34 – Cueing and instructing athletes who may desire more structure than others 1:22:37 – Thoughts on velocity of a movement, and the transferability of drills, or slower versions of skills, versus fast movements 1:27:02 – “Feeding the Error” and principles of variable learning that can assist in skill development 1:32:38 – How to improve learning by reducing potential “fear” constraints in sports with a potential risk element “I would contest that (rugby) is the best designed ball sport… it’s the only sport I played that allowed for a range of body types” “Team sports have all of (generalist fitness) demands in them… and you have to do it in a team manner, you have to cooperate with other people” “I think that rugby and football are under-rated as self-defense arts” “For kids, having a free flow based sport as their base is really important, and it’s difficult (for them) to deal with all the stoppage in play (in more structured sports)” “Making everybody miss (tackling you) seems like such an extraordinary expression of athleticism” “The fundamental things we think you should be able to do are: martial arts, parkour, some sort of team sport element, and be able to manipulate objects… sticks, balls, ropes… and you shouldn’t just be competent in each of those areas, you should be able to blend them” “If you think about the goals of (your sport) you can try to abstract a game from those goals rather than just trying to warm up through lighter technical variations of the same technique you are going to be covering anyway, it becomes less redundant and a lot more fun” “You gotta warm up the brain and the emotions.  You are going to have a better lift if you have a game and are laughing, before you get to the lift” “When I was training in nature, because that was where I was training, what I found is that a lot of the movements that I had expected to have to decompose for people and give them a lot of cues to get them through, they automatically self-organized” “A lot of times we think they need technical fixes, and it is a physical problem, or is it just like an awareness issue? When its’ awareness, athletes are thinking of the skills as independent expressions, rather than having expression towards something.  So what I like to do is teach principles, before techniques.” “Instead of saying, here’s why you should step your leg fully to the ground, I introduce the idea of having full control of the rhythm of your movement” “I can tell you what you did, or what you should do, but that doesn’t mean that on the next repetition you’ll be able to do it.  There is a little more problem solving that goes into that, so how can we set up a constraint for you that can allow you to start expressing the behaviour that you are trying for” “Sometimes it is a mechanical problem; you need to get the mechanic to fix the thing.  So as coaches, we need to think in these levels of systems.  Is it because the glute can’t fire well, or the tibia can’t glide at all?  Or is it because it’s a habitual pattern the athlete has and there is no physiological limitation, we just need to do differential learning or feed the error so they can start doing some kinestheic mapping to control the position” “Pick the highest progression of the skill that can be failed safely” “That really does matter to people, your ability to empathize with their journey” “Something as high order as actually doing martial arts skills, can give you mobility.  But you can spend years trying to perfect your mobility and have no physical skills to show for it” “I try to avoid giving a cue until I see someone do something at least 3 times” “Check your cues with your athletes.  Just like they need feedback in your movement, you need feedback on your coaching” “If you work with high school and college athletes who are part of a team of coaches who are probably variable in terms of competency.  So if you can install in students, respectfully a way to know what works for them, to be able to say, thanks but no thanks, to that cue, it’s going to help a lot in athletes being able to sustain themselves in that maelstrom that getting input from 6 different coaches can be” “That’s the problem I think we have with that type of (hyper-analytical) personality; how can we get them to be more focused on the perceptual information in the environment, and getting an autonomous relationship to it in the expression of their sport” “A huge issue with those absolute maximal jumps is that they are very easy to break athletes with” Show Notes King of the Course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqJpiAMuz0w   Bill Boomer Water Flow Exercise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAslSR8-Etc&t=147s   Mountain Goats Climbing a Near Vertical Face https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfTH1VHqmUU   About Rafe Kelley Rafe Kelley is the owner of Evolve, Move, Play, a business designed to use movement practice to develop more resilient and embodied humans. Raised by two yoga instructors, he was a basketball player and gymnast (and gymnastics coach) in his teens.   Rafe started in the martial arts at 6 years old, studying Tang Soo Do, Aikido, Kung Fu, Kick Boxing, Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Muay Thai. Rafe also has experience in modern training disciplines such as sprinting, gymnastics, crossfit, FRC, modern dance and many others.  His primary specialization is in parkour, the practice of navigating obstacles by jumping, running, flipping or swinging over them, a skill set he primarily taught himself by watching videos and training deep in the woods. Rafe co-founded Parkour visions at age 23, and eventually left to form Evolve, Move, Play.  His students have included world-class parkour athletes and MMA fighters, as well as untrained grandmothers.  His passion to is help people build the physical practice that will help make them the strongest, most adaptable and resilient version of themselves in movement and in life. About Charles St. John Charles describes himself somewhat paradoxically as a fitness industry professional and an athletic amateur, in the literal sense of the word. He dabbles in a variety of disciplines for the love of movement, but takes a very academic and business-oriented approach to both his digital marketing for fitness businesses and his coaching and personal training. Most relevant to our conversation today, he has been training parkour since 2009, and coaching it since 2012. He carries multiple parkour coaching certifications and is a certified personal trainer for general fitness as well. He currently coaches at the APEX Denver Parkour (Apexdenver.com) and Circus facility in Colorado. full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F304_Rafe_Kelley_Charles_St_John.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-304%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-211" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-303/ Thu, 21 Apr 2022 14:55:41 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34626 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-303/ Today’s show features biomechanist, coach and author, Rocky Snyder.  Rocky is the owner of “Rocky’s Fitness” in Santa Cruz, California.  Rocky is an accomplished personal trainer with an absolutely immense library of knowledge in multiple disciplines of human performance, such as biomechanics, exercise selection and neurology. Rocky is the author of the book “Return to Center” and has a track record on being able to restore functional movement ability to even the most difficult client cases. In the world of training, we have a “muscle-centric” approach, and then a “joint-centric” approach to performance.  I have found that while training and centering one’s efforts on muscles and their actions can definitely be helpful, an approach that can serve a greater percentage of clients in a sustainable manner is one that understands joint mechanics, and how muscles will respond to one’s joint positions.  Muscles that are long, short, weak or tight are as such, because they are responding to an individual’s joint mechanics, and therefore the related demands they are constantly placed under. Today’s episode focuses on the joint mechanics of the feet and hips.  Rocky starts by highlighting elements of proper pronation and supination (with an extra emphasis on the action of the foot’s transverse arch in movement, it’s link to glute function and how we can assess how well it is being utilized) and how we can look for a deficiency in either area.  Rocky then gets into practical exercise interventions in the world of lunge motions, standing twists, and why Rocky favors spiraling single leg training to glute-bridge oriented exercises for a functional glute training effect.  Finally, Rocky gives his take on how loaded carries fit with the gait cycle, and can “balance out” and restore athletes from compressive gym work. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rocky Snyder 303: Rocky Snyder on Optimizing Foot and Glute Function with a Joint-Based Approach to Training full 1:30:25 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F303_Rocky_Snyder.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-303%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-212" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-302/ Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:24:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34618 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-302/ Today’s show features a roundtable discussion featuring Jeremy Frisch, Austin Jochum and Jake Tuura.  Jeremy is the owner of Achieve Performance Training, Austin runs Jochum Strength, and Jake is the owner of “Jacked Athlete”.  All three of these individuals were previously strength coaches of NCAA DI institutions before getting into the private sector of training. Recently Jake hosted Austin on his podcast, having a conversation about quitting their jobs as NCAA strength coaches to venture into the private sector.  I found that talk very interesting, as I’ve recently been in the same situation, and I think a lot about the way that modern sport and university “systems” are put together.  Often times, we are victims of either in-effective, or over-structuring in organizations, in a way that can leave us disconnected and/or overly-compartmentalized.  In a variety of “private sector jobs”, people tend to wear more hats.  In sports performance, this could be: strength coach, skill coach, fitness coach, and physical educator to name a few. Today’s show isn’t so much about quitting a scholastic strength coaching job, but more-so on the experience of now-private sector coaches who wear those multiple-hats.  It’s on how that helps us view the predicament of modern sports in a new way, along with engineering solutions.  Despite our coaching setting, we all should aspire to be problem solvers. On today’s episode, our panel speaks on paths away from the college training sector, and how getting into the private sector has allowed them to really focus on the pressing needs in modern sports, such as the “lost” art of physical education, play and then a greater understanding on building robustness and keeping athletes healthy.  Whether you are a scholastic or private coach, this is a great show to step back and take a more zoomed-out perspective on effectively training athletes for long-term success. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeremy Frisch, Austin Jochum, Jake Tuura 302: Jeremy Frisch, Austin Jochum and Jake Tuura on Engineering “Athlete-Centered” Training and Problem Solving Athletic Development full 1:10:29 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F302_Frisch_Jochum_Tuura.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-302%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-213" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-301/ Thu, 07 Apr 2022 15:29:33 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34540 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-301/ Today’s show welcomes back track coach Randy Huntington, a track coach who has spent his recent years as the national track and field coach for the Chinese Athletics association.  Randy has coached numerous Olympians, gold medalists, and world record holders in his time as a track coach, and one of his recent successes was training Su Bingtian, Asian record holder in the 100m dash.  Bingtian, en-route to his 9.84 second run, covered 60m in 6.29 seconds and 40 yards in 4.08 seconds as per NFL combine timing. The past shows with Randy have been loaded with the wisdom of an elite coach and have been very popular.  For this episode, Randy took listener questions, and gives his answers on a variety of topics.  Some particular trends for this show included his specific speed training workouts and intensities, his thoughts on traditional strength and hypertrophy methods for speed and power, coaching relaxation and sprint technique, as well as Randy’s thoughts on the ever-debated Nordic hamstring exercise (and hamstring injury prevention training in general).  This and much more is covered on this tremendous Q&A episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Randy Huntington 301: Randy Huntington Answers Listener Questions on Speed and Power Development full 1:24:10 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F301_Randy_Huntington.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-301%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-214" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-300/ Thu, 31 Mar 2022 15:00:21 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34522 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-300/ Today’s show welcomes back Bobby Whyte.  Bobby is an athletic performance and basketball skill enhancement trainer operating out of northern New Jersey.  Bobby recently appeared on episode 178 of the podcast https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-178-bobby-whyte/, speaking on his integration of strength and skill training for basketball. The world of sports performance can easily suffer from isolationism in the realm of strength, speed and movement skill.  In the recent podcast with Tony Villani, the difference between 40-yard dash speed, and actual game speed in the NFL was made very clear.  We need to understand more about the nuances, and principles of movement in sport to prepare athletes for it, instead of over-focusing on linear speed mechanics. When we understand the over-arching principles of learning and movement, we can apply them to any sport or skill.  Throughout this podcast, we’ve had intelligent minds like Adarian Barr speaking on biomechanical principles, and then folks like Michael Zweifel, Tyler Yearby, and Rob Gray talking about foundational principles of learning and skill acquisition.  Bobby Whyte has been using those principles, and tying it all together in his basketball performance program. On the show today, Bobby Whyte speaks how he has taken concepts picked up from Adarian Barr and applied them to movement training and acceleration in the game of basketball.  He shares his thoughts on key physical abilities in basketball, and how he uses motor learning principles to help athletes improve their specific skill array for the game.  Bobby will speak on how he has taken motor learning principles into landing mechanics and common injury prevention themes in training, and finally Bobby will talk about how he specifically seeks to develop the all-important confidence level in his players in his training sessions. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to https://lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: https://justflypinepollen.com Find out more about the the online course, Elastic Essentials, by heading to https://justflysports.thinkific.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bobby Whyte 300: Bobby Whyte on Game-Specific Acceleration, Motor Learning and Confidence Building in Basketball Performance Training full 1:06:14 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F300_Bobby_Whyte.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-300%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-215" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-299/ Thu, 24 Mar 2022 16:03:20 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34501 More show notes at https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-299/ Today’s show welcomes Tony Villlani, sports performance coach and owner of XPE sports in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Tony has coached over twenty #1 finishes in the NFL combine and is the creator of the Game Speed and Separation Movement Web.  Tony has worked with many of the top NFL players in the league, but will tell you that his learning from those athletes was a much bigger deal in Tony’s development than the fact that he “trained them”. Clearly you have to have a level of speed that’s well above average to be successful at many high level sports.  At the same time, the fastest athletes in sports where having a level of speed is important, such as at the NFL combine, are not the successful ones in pro-football. Interestingly, the fastest receivers in the history of the combine have never had truly successful careers.  This brings up the question, not only why this is, but also, how can we distribute our training efforts over time to optimize the way that athletes actually move on the field?  Clearly, we need to work to get athletes fast in a linear sense, but how much are we helping if we overly focus on linear speed (and spend lots of time hair splitting linear speed in twitter arguments) and don’t address the types of speed utilized in sport. Tony deeply understands the nuances and categories of direction change in sport, and actively trains these components in his sessions.  This isn’t to say that Tony doesn’t love traditional speed training (just look at his combine success) but he also loves building speed that gives athletes the highest chance of success in their sport. On the show today, Tony talks about how he “ratios” linear speed training to game-speed training, as well as how he frames NFL combine style training in light of game speed to those trainees.  He’ll get into why he feels that the fastest athletes in the history of the combine have never been the best actual football players, and then gets into a substantial layout of his key points in change of direction training.  Tony also lists some key aspects of offensive and defensive agility, as well as how agility can differ between sports.  This was a podcast that you’ll never forget if you train any type of athlete for speed in their sport. (though this podcast have been more on the side of CLA approach etc. but no matter where you are on the drill to CLA spectrum, you can learn a ton from tony’s work. ) Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Tony Villani 299: Tony Villani on NFL Combine Speed, Game Speed, and Focusing Where it Counts full 1:28:04 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F299_Tony_Villani.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-299%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-216" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-298/ Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:30:08 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34437 Today’s show welcomes back chiropractor and neurology expert, Dr. Mark Wetzel.  Mark has been on this show numerous times talking about the effectiveness of long isometric holds, as well as digging into many aspects of their performance. So often in the training and performance field, we just look at exercises, sets, and reps, but then don’t desire to dig into the nuance of those movements we are programming.  With isometrics, we can certainly get results by simply having athletes hold positions indiscriminately, but we can multiply those results by understanding the underlying mechanisms that help make isometrics more effective. One of the beautiful things about isometric holds is that the lack of movement brings one’s awareness to a high level, and one’s ability to focus on things like breathing, posture, and muscle tensioning, on a higher level.  One’s mental and emotional state has an extremely close correlation with the length of time that you can hold the movement. Holding isometrics for extended periods of time also has an impact on the fascial lines of the body, and even the meridian lines (if your belief system takes you that far).  Isometrics are truly a “total body”, functional experience. On today’s show, Mark Wetzel gives his thoughts on how a positive mental state can increase one’s ability to hold an isometric position (or increase muscle endurance in general).  He’ll speak extensively on the postural and muscle-tone aspects of holding an isometric, as well as speak on the connections made between the fascial/meridian lines, electric signals, and organ function.  Finally, Mark gives his take on what he feels “neurological” strength truly is, and how this is manifested in a program. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:24 – Mark’s thoughts on the mental and emotional aspects of fatigue (and perceived fatigue) during a difficult or taxing movement such as an isometric 14:34 – What it means to be “in position” as an athlete gets into an isometric hold 24:47 – Why some athletes have a lot of trouble “pulling down” into an isometric position and discussing the use of “constraints” such as a band around the shin, to help an athlete pull down into an isometric 34:19 – Using a one-arm bench press hold to help improve the pushing ability and breathing of individuals who struggle with isometric pushup holds 42:01 – What “good posture” means for Mark 47:05 – Mark’s take on organ health, meridian lines, and reflexes, particularly in light of utilizing isometric exercises 57:52 – What it means to have “neurological strength” from Mark’s perspective as a chiropractor with neurological training 1:05:35 – Depth jumps and drop landings as an assessment of neurological efficiency Dr. Mark Wetzel's Quotes “When I am in those moments (of fatigue) I try to bring up some sort of happiness or joyful emotion to try and take my mind off of it” “The “fear based” mentality is almost a traditional way of training” “Posture comes back to the breath; typically when people have bad posture it is because they have bad breathing mechanics” “When you do a bunch of calf rebounds in a row, your body will position you in a way that (you have to be in to keep breathing under fatigue)” “You can accomplish so much in an isometric exercise by focusing on “where is my breathing”” “I always back up (a chiropractic adjustment) with exercise” “The meridian lines are all connected to an organ” “What’s cool about an isometric is that you are creating a lot of tone throughout the whole body” “If the brain is telling a muscle to stay weak, then it is going to stay weak no matter what you do” “The more you can stay calm, breathe, smile to yourself while you are going through that discomfort, I feel that transfers more to what that neurological strength is” “Where your intention is, is where your energy goes” Show Notes Single Arm Bench Press Hold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsAlxydk9Lw Inner Smile Meditation for Increased Muscle Endurance (and Vitality) https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Smile-Increasing-through-Cultivation/dp/1594771553 About Mark Wetzel Dr. Mark Wetzel is a Chiropractor based in Nashville, TN. Dr. Mark received his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Northwestern Health Science University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dr. Mark has diverse experience and is an expert in the neurology branch of chiropractic care and sports performance. He completed his undergraduate studies at Indiana University while competing for the Indiana University Men’s Swimming and Diving Team. Dr. Mark has a passion for treating and educating people who want to achieve a healthier lifestyle and enjoys helping them reach their health and fitness goals. full 1:11:18 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F298_Mark_Wetzel.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-298%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-217" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-297/ Thu, 10 Mar 2022 15:04:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34429 Today’s show is with performance coach, Kurt Hester.  Kurt is currently the Head of Football Preparation at the University of Tulane, and was previously the head strength coach at Lousiana Tech University from 2013 to 2021.  He has decades of experience coaching in both the collegiate, and private sectors, and is the author of the book: ”Rants of a Strength and Conditioning Madman”. When it comes to the results we get out of a training program (or the experience an athlete has in a sport organization), we usually think on the level of sets, reps and exercises.  What we typically don’t consider as much, is how an athlete perceives the training from an emotional and sub-conscious, perspective, and how important building the right relationship is to the holistic success of the program. Kurt Hester is the kind of strength coach I wish I had when I was a young athlete.  When we talk about what it means to be a coach, and to be a servant-leader, Kurt is one of the first individuals that comes to mind.  He not only has been studying and living the art of physical training for almost half a century, but he also has a focused sense of how to train individuals on both the athlete, and human levels. On the show today, Kurt talks about how he connects with his athletes on the “human” level, to help improve their total experience as an athlete, gain trust, and improve the quality of training sessions.  He’ll talk about how he uses games and fun activities to improve, not only the emotional content of the training sessions, but also the total effort level of the athletes.  Finally, Kurt digs into some details around the sports performance industry itself, what he considers “mental toughness” to truly be, and gives his advice on developmental practices in leadership and communication. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points: 5:31 – How Kurt started to survey his athletes to learn more about them, and how this helped him to connect with athletes on a stronger level 10:14 – How to command a room in a coaching setting, while still getting to know athletes on a more personal level 13:27 – How players at Kurt’s former university rated the importance of the “strength coach” so high, in regards to why they attended the school 17:432 – Why Kurt uses games as a critical portion of his physical preparation program, as well as the injury prevention benefits of using game-based agility training 29:17 – Kurt’s learnings in his training with elite track and field athletes in the 1980’s and how many “modern” training methods have been around for a long time 32:14 – How strength coaches should have good all-around GPP, and be able to play games, do dynamic warmups, and demonstrate sprinting 40:15 – What Kurt would re-brand the field of sports performance 48:53 – What Kurt considers “mental strength” and “toughness” to truly be, in light of sports performance training 58:32 – Kurt’s advice on helping coaches to be able to understand athletes and lead them on a better level “You can’t serve who you don’t know” “The athletes who trusted me, and I had the best relationship with, those were the ones who excelled the most… the closer I had a relationship with them that was not about (sports) where they trusted me at a very high level, they developed at a faster rate than an athlete I wasn’t close to” “A lot of strength and football coaches think that, if you have fun, that you are not working hard or at a proficient, high level, and I never wanted to be in this field, to not have fun” “Most athletes don’t like to train, and that’s what most strength coaches don’t get… 99% of strength coaches do not understand that fact, they are not you! So that’s always in the back of my mind, how can I make it fun” “(In games) you are never going to get that out of a regular drill; that speed, that force into the ground in moving” “Most people would rather play (ghetto-ball) than their true sport” “(In a game) they will run harder than they will ever run on a timed sprint, or a tempo run” “Tag games was (track coach Brent MacFarlane’s) GPP” “From the 60’s to the 90’s, it was heavy, heavy on the lifting aspect, 70% was lifting, and 30% was running dudes to the ground, on the glycolytic level” “We’re still stuck in “lifting is more”; we have destroyed our DB’s and wide receivers over the years, and made them non-reactive because of so many years of them spending time in the weightroom; once you get to a certain level of strength, it’s not going to help you at all” “You are not going to beat an athlete into the ground, and make him a tougher person” “What will happen is (the bottom 10% of athletes who fold or quit in conditioning work) they’ll be a better conditioned 10%, but they are not mentally tough” “We changed their entire life, but we weren’t beating it out of them, it was from talking to them from a human aspect, and not an athlete aspect” “If you have that high trust level with your athletes, I’ve seen more guys make it, versus those athletes that I didn’t spend the time and get to know them on that human level” “Instead of buying new books, go back and read the books you already bought” “If you are still fighting over, “should we front squat or back squat”, then we will not progress as a field” About Kurt Hester Kurt Hester is Currently the Director of Strength and Conditioning for University of Tulane Football, and was previously the head strength coach at Lousiana Tech University from 2013 to 2022.  He is the author of the book: ”Rants of a Strength and Conditioning Madman”. Kurt served as a National Director of Training for the D1 Sports Training Center in Nashville, Tenn. since 2008, and worked with training several professional athletes in many different sports.  Concurrent to his tenure at D1 Sports Training, Hester also worked as the Director of Training at the Manning Passing Academy as he designed a training program for over 1,300 high school athletes and delivered a specific training seminar for high school and college coaches. From 1997-2008, Hester was the owner and Director of Performance at HS2 Athletic Performance in Mandeville. He developed and mentored area coaches for college and professional coaching careers with several going on to BCS-level schools and NFL teams. Over 500 athletes he worked with received collegiate scholarships during that time as he oversaw the development of over 400 junior and senior high students per day. Hester was an assistant strength coach at LSU from 1995-98, working with the speed development program for then-football coach Gerry Dinardo and worked primarily with the LSU baseball team as it won two national championships under legendary coach Skip Bertman. Hester also worked with the men's basketball, women's soccer and women's golf programs as well as with the varsity cheerleaders. Kurt graduated from Tulane University in 1995 with a Bachelors of Science degree in exercise physiology. He also served as a graduate strength coach at Tulane for two years. full 1:07:18 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F297_Kurt_Hester.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-297%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-218" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-296/ Thu, 03 Mar 2022 16:09:46 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34407 Today’s show is with coach and educator, Dan Cleather.  Dan is a reader in strength and conditioning and the programme director of the MSc in strength and conditioning at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, UK.  Dan began coaching at Cal State Long Beach, and then worked at the English Institute of Sport.  He has coached national and international medalists across a wide range of sports, and in particular has worked with World and Olympic champions. Dan is the author of several books on the topics of science and sports performance, including “Force”: The Biomechanics of Training, and “The Little Black Book of Training Wisdom”.  Dan has published over 40 peer-reviewed and scientific articles, and is a founder member of the UK Strength and Conditioning Association. When it comes to performance training, coaches often cite a disconnect between what they are coaching, and what actually happens when an athlete competes.  We can gain a greater understanding of this issue by simply looking at how movement actually happens in sport, and how athletes actually manage forces.  Many control points in coaching tend to revolve around slow, or easily observable aspects of movement (usually the end-points), when the complex reality of movement renders coaching around these endpoints obsolete, if not counter-productive. On the show today, Dan will share with us how he views common coaching practices revolving around scientific terminology, such as “force absorption”.  He’ll go into some fallacies around force-based principles involving landing dynamics in sport, deceleration training, and how coaches go about instructing Olympic weightlifting.  Dan will speak on where science, and “evidence-based” practices fit in with one’s coaching philosophy and intuition, and will share his thoughts on the link between gardening plants and coaching athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points: 4:37 – Dan’s background as an athlete and what got him into strength and conditioning 7:58 – Dan’s take on learning skills as a coach, in order to be a better learning (and coach) of skills 15:11 – Dan’s thoughts on what applying science to training actually is 22:42 – How coaches tend to frame “force-absorption” in athletics, and what it actually is 32:47 – Thoughts on the body dealing with forces from a perspective of being a “machine” or from a self-organizing perspective 41:27 – Dan’s thoughts on any sort of deceleration training for sport, and how coaches tend to spend too much time on versions of movement that are too reductionist 48:20 – The link between seeds, plants, gardening and athletic performance 52:58 – Dan’s take on traditional Olympic lifting practices in light of force development “The more skills you learn, the better you get at learning skills” “Evidence based doesn’t mean that the science is prescriptive, we see 8 parts of a 30 piece jigsaw puzzle, which are the bits of evidence we are getting from the science, and we work out the rest of what that puzzle looks like based on our experience, our discussions with the coaches, etc.” “The scientific evidence is an important part of our philosophy but it’s our philosophy that guides the decisions that we make” “If you do something because your previous coach did it, that’s the evidence of what they did” “Coaches find out what works, and 25 years later, the sport scientists come along and explain why… if you had to wait for the science before you were prepared to make a decision then you wouldn’t be able to do very much” “Absorption implies that there is something you have got that is being sucked up by something, and can be released later” “We call a softer landing with more flexion of the knees and hips “force absorption”, but we are not actually absorbing force when we do that, we are reducing the likelihood that we will have high peak forces” “Your muscles don’t absorb force when you land, they produce force… if you didn’t produce force you would collapse into the floor” “There is research that landing drills with at-risk populations will decrease their injury risk” “We have to remember that, in many cases, landing slow, in competition is a disadvantage” “I think it will be those kids who haven’t done that sort of play (jumping and dropping off of things in play) where you have to do more regressive things and teach landing mechanics” “As a profession I think we tend to over-teach things, we want to drill and control movement, where you need to make sure that your athletes are safe, but once you’ve done that, letting them work things out for themselves is more effective” “I’m not sure we’re mitigating much injury risk by having 80 players do something that most of them do fine (regressive drills)” “If things look too pretty, the athlete isn’t being challenged enough and they aren’t learning anything.  Keep pushing the envelope of what you are asking the athlete to do until they are not looking pretty anymore” “We can help ourselves to self-organize, or we can help our athletes to self-organize, but if you think you are going to control them, or they are going to control them, you are mis-informed about how systems work” “I do feel like gardening is a good practice for S&C coaches” “For me, weightlifting is jumping, and everything is built around that skill” “What people see in Olympic weightlifting is the end of the second pull because athletes aren’t moving there and they are about to go down again.  Inexperienced coaches can see that and so they then try and coach that, but the problem is they coach that with reference to what they are seeing, and why you are in an extended position is because of what happened earlier in the movement.  You don’t coach an extended position by saying “hit and extended position” you do it by having them do things earlier on” “When people cue people to hit a fully extended position, they are actually asking them to try and exert force at the point when they should not be exerting force and being ready to catch the barbell, and you see that a lot” “Loaded jumping and (Olympic) weightlifting are not the same movement” About Dan Cleather Dan Cleather is a strength coach, educator, author and scientist.  He is a reader in strength and conditioning and the programme director of the MSc in strength and conditioning at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, UK. Before joining St Mary’s he was employed as a strength and conditioning coach at the English Institute of Sport. Dan began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant strength and conditioning coach at California State University Long Beach. He has coached national and international medalists across a wide range of sports, and in particular has worked with World and Olympic champions in track and field athletics, rowing, canoeing and rugby. Dan is the author of several books on the topics of science and sports performance, including “Force” The Biomechanics of Training, and “The Little Black Book of Training Wisdom”. Dan’s PhD is in biomedical engineering (from Imperial College London) and his research interests include musculoskeletal modelling, functional anatomy and strength training. He has published around 40 articles in peer reviewed scientific and professional practice journals. He is a founder member of the UK Strength and Conditioning Association and currently serves the organisation as Director of Finance and Administration. full 1:07:29 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F296_Dan_Cleather.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-296%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-219" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-295/ Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:34:37 +0000 https://just-fly-sports.com/?p=34387 Today’s show is with Boo Schexnayder.  Boo is a current strength coach and former jumps coach at Louisiana State University, and is regarded internationally as a leading authority in training design.  Boo has been a two-time previous guest on the podcast talking about speed and power training setups.  In a world of complexity, and nearly infinite ways to train athletes, Boo knows the art of managing athletic performance by using training means that are not more complex than they need to be. In my coaching (and athletic) years, I have loved looking into all of the complexities, and details of the human body, training, motor learning and biomechanics.  It’s always been a swinging pendulum in terms of digging in to understand important training nuances, but then zooming back out, to pull along the key pieces of what it really important, both in general, and for each individual athlete. When we over-complicate training, over-coach, and give out exercises that require too much distraction from actual outputs or muscular adaptations, we create a diminished experience for the athlete, and also create a program that is harder to learn from as a coach.  Knowing how and when to make the complex simple is a mark of an accomplished coach who can really transmit training to an athlete in a way that allows them to self-organize to their highest potential, both on the level of skill development, and maximal outputs. On the show today, Boo goes in detail on his own upbringing and mentorships in coaching that have led him to become the coach he is today.  He speaks particularly how his work in the rehab process gave him increased confidence in his regular coaching abilities.  Boo will speak on the process of how far he will go on the complexity rung in the gym, and how he balances coaching skill and technique with the self-organizing ability of the athlete.  Finally, Boo gives some of his thoughts on training that focuses on an athlete’s strength, and his take on heavy partial lifts in the gym in respect to the total training system. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:02 – Boo’s early development as a coach, early mentors, and his work in rehab that led him to where he is now 15:30 – Some specifics that Boo learned from the world of rehabilitation that intertwined with his performance coaching practice, and how rehab and training follow the same principles and draw from the same well 21:50 – Boo’s advice on arriving at the place where things can be made optimally simple in coaching 25:10 – Why coaches end up chasing things in athletics that aren’t that important 36:28 – Where Boo draws the line on complexity in the weightroom to the point where exercises aren’t helping to accomplish the primary goal of training 40:26 – The extent of complexity Boo would utilize for single leg movements 46:01 – How athletes must train their strengths in order to potentiate their weaknesses 52:48 – A discussion on how the Buffalo Bills didn’t squat in season and still experienced substantial success 57:20 – Boo’s take on heavy quarter squats and partial step ups in performance training (vs. full range of motion) “The earliest (change) is when I finally understood specificity and I developed a healthy non-respect for coaching culture, I realized that a lot of coaching is traditional and needs to be evaluated” “Another bright light that came on is when I got involved in the rehab field” “I think the key thing to keeping things simple is understanding what you are trying to accomplish” “So much of what we do in traditional coaching cultures is just filler work” “I feel that one thing that holds back lots of coaches is technology, there is so much technology out there that so many coaches have been data collectors, but they really don’t know what they are doing” “Coaches are obsessive over (small pathological issues) don’t understand that those lie outside of the boundaries of what we try to teach” “Once you get athletes in (movement bandwidths) you have to trust them to do what they do…. I never had to coach athletes to perfection, I only had to coach them close to perfection and then allow their movement organization processes to take them the rest of the way and that’s how you keep it simple” “If athletes are training in the right direction, just shut the hell up, and let the athletes movement processes take over and trust them the rest of the way, and get involved when things aren’t going so well” “For everything I coach, I have got it down to 3 or 4 boxes that need to be ticked… I’ve developed this philosophy that all these things are not that complicated, what you are trying to do is build a body in the way to best execute those things” “Feedback addiction is a real thing; it’s not the healthiest thing for you to say something every single time” “When I look at my highest intensities of training, the Olympic lifts are probably about as technically complicated as I would get; that’s my ceiling as I might say” “I always keep it super simple when I’m trying to reach those highest levels of intensity.  The simpler the movement pattern, the more muscle mass that is going to be involved” “I’ve experimented with single leg Olympic lifts a bit, they are a nice change of pace, but you can’t build your program around them” “Skinny people are built to sprint, not to lift, so do more sprinting and less lifting.  Big people are built to lift, not to sprint, so do more lifting and less sprinting… a lot of times the athlete’s strong point is potentiating improvements in the weak area” “My track athletes, I don’t squat them in season but we do every variation of jump squt you could imagine, we Olympic lift, it’s not like we are not lifting, there are just many ways to do things” “So many of goofy running mechanics and change of direction mechanics go away when you start using full ranges of motion” “There are strategic blocks in my program where we will use super heavy quarter (squats) but they are not my default” About Boo Schexnayder Boo Schexnayder is a current strength coach and former jumps coach at Louisiana State University, and is regarded internationally as a leading authority in training design, possessing 37 years of experience in the coaching and consulting fields. Most noted for his 12 years on the Track and Field coaching staff at LSU, he is regarded as one of the world’s premier coaches, having developed 19 NCAA Champions and 10 Olympians. Schexnayder has coached multiple World Championship and Olympic medalists and has been on several national team staffs, including the staff of Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also possesses 13 years of experience in NFL player development and combine preparations. He frequently lectures and consults domestically and internationally in the areas of speed and power development, training design, motor learning, and rehabilitation. He has operated Schexnayder Athletic Consulting and serves as director of the USTFCCCA’s Track and Field Academy and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center’s performance division. Prior to his collegiate and international career, Schexnayder was a successful prep coach for 11 years, coaching football, track, and cross country.  full <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F295_Boo_Schexnayder.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-295%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-220" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-294/ Thu, 17 Feb 2022 15:36:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34257 Today’s show is with Nick Winkelman.  Nick is the head of athletic performance & science for the Irish Rugby Football Union. Prior to working for Irish Rugby, Nick was the director of education for EXOS.  Nick is an internationally recognized speaker on human performance and coaching science, and is the author of the book, “The Language of Coaching”.  Nick previously appeared on episode 193 of the podcast where he went in detail on internal and external cues, analogies, and what it takes to make cues more effective. One of the major shifts in my coaching career and personal movement/training practice has been understanding the “art” of coaching on the levels of psychology, motor learning, and how we actually go about instructing athletes in the course of the training session.  As coaches, we all tend to start out with a combination of what we did ourselves as athlete, and then whatever training frameworks we learned in our education process. When we look at any training session, whether it is sport skill or gym work, it’s par for the course to look at it on the level of tactics, sets and reps, which drills to use, or x’s and o’s.  It’s far more rare to look at the session on the level of meaning and engagement, and how we can work cohesively with athletes to better communicate with them, direct their attention, and allow them to understand, on a deeper level, what improving their sport technique feels like (and not to just intellectualize the process).  Improving one’s ability in this “soft” side of the coaching equation will help improve the long term success and sustainability of the training process. On the show today, Nick speaks on principles of attentional focus, and how factors such as motivation and novelty can direct an athlete’s attentional focus in training.  Nick will discuss cueing dynamics on a level of meaningfulness and embodiment to the athlete, moving past simply intellectualizing instruction (and how we can improve our dialogue in that process).  Finally, Nick will give his take on how coaches can become better story-tellers to their athletes in communicating ideas and instruction. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:03 – Why Nick believes that the “soft” practices in athletics (communication/cueing/motor learning/etc.) are less-traveled in the process of performance training 2:19 – Dynamics of attention, motivation and novelty in athletic performance 29:03 – “Survival” oriented coaching situations as a means to gain the attention of athletes 31:41 – How to go through the process of making coaching and cueing more meaningful to the athlete through listening to the athlete 43:14 – How the shortcoming of internal cues can teach us more about how we learn and function as humans, and how cues and attention placed external to the body can help the “one-ness” of movement fully form 52:12 – Nick’s take on the place and context of internal cueing in the process of coaching athletes 57:33 – How “noticing”/awareness of one’s body in the midst of movement fits in with the cueing eco-system 1:01:28 – Nick’s take on personal practices for coaches that can help them paint better pictures with their words when they are actually coaching “Over time, every coach who is attentive and self-aware to the journey, starts to pick up on “a weak signal”, and they start to realize, that “hold on… not everyone responds to programming the same way, so I might have to individualize… and not everyone responds to the same communication style” “What are we trying to get people to do: We are trying to get people to focus their attention on the right things, in the right way, at the right time” “Attention is like a spotlight, and we can’t actually increase the size of the spotlight, and I we want to change, we have to change what we point the spotlight towards” “Attention will switch to the stimulus in the environment that is most likely to inform me of my survival odds” “Our attention floats to things that are novel, interesting, or things that we are motivated by” “Cues need to be both accurate and interesting; we are talking about seedlings of communication here” “Even though motivation powers attention in the long term, in the short term, we know that novelty, things that are kind of salient, things that stand out, that are unique, they are very good at grabbing attention” “To the individual, you will rarely find someone who doesn’t enjoy solving a problem” “When you are giving the athletes something that aligns with an individuals preferences, likes and desires, I think some of that reciprocity is paid back in a “hey coach”, we’ll listen to you a little bit better” “Over time I realized, the athlete is the painter, ultimately they are the one who needs to be able to understand the coaching cue, has to resonate with it, and needs to be able to embody it, such as what makes a change as you recognize as a coach, and they recognize as an athlete “Over time I felt my coaching convert over to a choice based question format which is based on my ability to listen to them deeply” “To make it meaningful to the athlete, you need to know what is meaningful to them” “I might give you one of the following questions: What does that mean to you? How does that cue make you feel? Put that into your own words, if you like.” “I think every single coach, especially people who get to a higher level, they experience this reality, athletes saying “I know what to do, I just don’t know how to do it”” “So often when we communicate, we just explain the step by step information as if described in a textbook, but that’s not how human motion comes about… human motion is about one-ness, we have a symphony of muscles and joints that must come together in a pursuit of one common goal, just as a real symphony is directed by a conductor” “If the language we offer is only intellectual, we can’t offer it into the physical body.  I don’t want to know what you think about my cue, I want to know how it makes you feel” “We know that an external cue provides better results in the moment, and transfers better long term” “A first principle of motor learning is that, when we are learning something, we are best to place our focus in an externally directed manner” “I think by taking a fictional form to my work, I am actually embodying at the deepest level, what I’m trying to teach coaches, (and this is certainly not my idea) and that is humans think in narrative, we are story tellers, both prospectively and retrospectively, and we learn far better through fiction, even when it’s non-fiction” About Nick Winkelman Nick Winkelman is the head of athletic performance & science for the Irish Rugby Football Union. Prior to working for Irish Rugby, Nick was the director of education for EXOS (formerly Athletes’ Performance), located in Phoenix, AZ. As a performance coach, Nick oversaw the speed and assessment component of the EXOS NFL Combine Development Program. Nick has also supported many athletes in the NFL, MLB, NBA, National Sport Organizations and Military. Nick is an internationally recognized speaker on human performance and coaching science, and has multiple publications through the UKSCA, NSCA and IDEA Health and Fitness. full 1:04:28 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F294_Nick_Winkelman_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-294%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-221" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-293/ Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:31:10 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34221 More show notes at https:www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-293/ Today’s show is with Rob Gray, professor at Arizona State University and Host of the Perception & Action Podcast.  Rob Gray is a professor at Arizona State University who has been conducting research on and teaching courses related to perceptual-motor skill for over 25 years.  Rob focuses heavily on the application of basic theory to address real-world challenges, having consulted with numerous professional and governmental entities, and has developed a VR baseball training system that has been used in over 25 published studies.  Rob is the author of the book “How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach and Practice Sports Skills”. When it comes to anything we do athletically: playing a sport, sprinting, lifting weights, even holding an isometric position; all of these things are learned skills.  So often, the various compartments of athletics, the sport coach, the strength coach, the rehab specialist, are relatively disconnected, and there is often no common playbook when it comes to athletics and the learning process. The principles of the way we learn, and how this learning fits with our movement strategy and ability, are universal.  By understanding what it takes to be a better mover via the learning process, we have an understanding of the general process of athletic performance training from a broader frame of mind. On today’s show, Rob Gray speaks about the fallacy of training a “perfect technique” via drills or repeated cues.  He talks about why using a constraints-led approach to help shore up any key movement attractors (technique) is an ideal way to facilitate skill development.  Rob will get into his take on how to approach learning the “fundamentals” in any sport skill, and also get into important concepts of variability in sport, the differences between novice and elite in variability, and then how there can be “good” or “bad” variability in sport training.  Finally, Rob covers the role of variability in injury prevention, and talks about the sport coach/strength coach relationship in light of variability and the constraints led approach to skills. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rob Gray 293: Rob Gray on The Superiority of Constraints and Variability over Drills and “Perfect Form” in Athletic Performance full 59:38 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F293_Rob_Gray.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-293%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-222" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-292/ Thu, 03 Feb 2022 13:13:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34189 Today’s show is with performance director Daniel Bove.  After spending several seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns, Daniel is now the Director of Performance and Sports Science for the New Orleans Pelicans, and is also the author of the book, “The Quadrant System, Navigating Stress in Team Sport”. As Michael Zweifel has said previously on the podcast, every coach should have the opportunity to work with youth athletes, and pro sports, at some point in their career.  I’ve done a lot of shows talking about youth sport concepts, as well as principles of training through the lens of a child development, but I haven’t done as many shows detailing some of the nuances of working with a pro population specifically. When it comes to that other end of the spectrum, with professional athletes, the art of strength & conditioning is largely the art of “load management” and stress consolidation, especially over the course of long competitive seasons.  This art of training athletes at the highest level is certainly interesting if you are in the small percentage of coaches who work in this group, but the concepts and ideas behind it can be helpful to understand, regardless of what population you end up working with. Daniel has come up with a unique system of load consolidation, working with an NBA population that makes a lot of sense.  Not only is “The Quadrant System” a wise method for pro athletes, but understanding the Quadrant System is also helpful from the perspective of understanding “high-low” style training in general (making high days truly “high” and low days, truly “low”), as well as the art of dealing with monotony over the course of long training periods.  On the show today, Daniel gets into his four quadrants of training (recovery, repetition, speed and of course, strength), and how he utilizes these methods of loading through different points in an in-season training schedule, as well as off-season. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:23 – How Daniel categorizes load for athletes that he works with 14:48 – How the quadrants might alter as athletes get further down away from the pro-level 15:58 – How high-low training and undulation of the type of stimulus players get offers substantial benefits for players, particularly those in the course of long playing seasons 20:22 – Daniel’s take on the “speed day” in the quadrant system, and how that balances with the explosive work and speed players are doing in their practice 25:48 – How the quadrant system may change when the strength coach doesn’t have a “seat at the table” of the sport coaches and practice volumes 32:05 – Validating heavy lifting in season, on the terms of what Daniel is seeing from data and force plates, and what types of volumes athletes are doing for heavy strength work in season 37:05 – How to approach heavy lifting after game-day if players had a poor game 40:24 – Daniel’s experience with buy-in and the spectrum of players responses in regards to heavy lifting on game-days 43:01 – Nuances of the heavy strength day and how Daniel chooses to load athletes on that day 44:45 – How Daniel approaches tendon health and the repetition day/quadrant 2 47:58 – How the quadrant system changes when athletes are in the off-season or in developmental cases in-season 50:14 – Daniel’s view on a daily micro-dosing program, versus a high-low, quadrant system oriented program, and common movements that may actually be micro-dosed in the pro/NBA setting 55:04 – How Daniel uses work that creates more movement potential within the hips, as a preparation for players to use that range of motion effectively on the court 57:01 – How Daniel views the role of rhythm in training “That’s the goal of the book, how do we consolidate stress, and how do we manage chaos” “I matched up strength with high intensity high volume (in the quadrant system), and those are our game days typically” “Repetition days tend to fall at least two days out from competition and those are for tissue quality” “Quadrant 3’s (speed days… anything above .75 m/s) tend to fall the day before the contest” “My population views heavy lifts as the most stressful, which is why I place it after a game day” “In practices that are extremely high load, high intensity, they become your quadrant 4 (heavy strength day) and your game days become your quadrant 3” “I can’t just do isos with them every single day, because they have 82 games, and they’ll want to rip my head off” “(By lifting heavy loads in season) I do think you are setting the athlete up for success to be a more robust athlete… when athletes do start to take 1-2 weeks off of lifting, you do start to see force plate numbers go down, the things that help you buffer ground reaction force start to change” Athletes, in my opinion, are more receptive to training hard on the days that are supposed to be hard…. It’s a lot easier to get them (for heavy lifting) on the day that they are already pumped up” “On a quadrant 4, we are typically going with a hex bar (on quadrant 2, repetition and tissue health, it’s a more squat, or hatfield squat oriented day)” “You have to come to grips with, is this player's limitation physically oriented, or is it skill oriented?” “The monotony of micro-dosing wouldn’t be great in the (82 game) NBA season” “One thing I do like for micro-dosing at the NBA level is Lee Taft style change of direction work” “I like things that involves reciprocal AFIR on both sides, maybe I pair a kettlebell deadlift with a kettlebell self-pass” Show Notes Kettlebell Self-Pass Lunge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOcal46KrEA About Daniel Bove After receiving a B.S. in Kinesiology from Penn State University and an M.S. in Exercise Science from University of South Florida, Daniel began his career as an NBA physical preparation coach.  After spending several seasons with the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns, Daniel is now the Director of Performance and Sports Science for the New Orleans Pelicans. full 1:00:37 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F292_Daniel_Bove.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-292%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-223" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-291/ Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:04:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34177 Today’s show is with coach Brady Volmering.  Brady is the owner of DAC Performance and Health. After starting out in the world of baseball skill training, he’s since moved into the human performance arena, putting the focus on increasing the capacity of the human being.  Brady looks at what “training the human being” actually means and how that relates to increases in specific sports performance. Ever since I’ve been in a formal weight room training setting for athletes, I’ve really wondered about the thought process of how the various barbell and dumbbell exercises were going to help athletes actually be better at what they do on the field.  I’ve always tried to keep a close eye on elements of gym training that could possibly link to athletes who were more successful in their actual sport. It’s important to ask the question: “what is training?”, and realize that the answer includes “how” just as much as “what”.  Weights are just one tool, or manifestation of the ability to be strong, and if we zoom out from the tool of barbells and dumbbells, we can look at the process of training and adaptation on a broader level.  Muscle tension (and relaxation) can be achieved in a wide variety of ways.  If we take a close look at the mental, emotional, and physical components can be put into the simplest of exercises, we can make then a better conduit by which to improve the whole state of the athlete’s system. On today’s podcast, Brady gives us his experiences with training athletes on a “human” level.  He goes into the tool of isometric holds, and how to modulate those to draw out different intentions, into ideas on learning the way a child does, the importance of menu systems, as well as “breaking the rules” with higher repetition training schemes (and the qualities it takes to adapt to “unreasonable” training loads).  This is an “outside the box” episode that covers a lot of important concepts in training the total human for sport and beyond. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:51 – How Brady started in the specific skill training of baseball players, and how he transitioned into more “human level” training and performance 9:09 – How Brady views the transfer of training ideology in light of the “human layer”, or GPP layer of performance 15:35 – Different intentions Brady prescribes during exercises, particularly isometric type exercises 22:31 – Elements Brady notices that transfer between human-level skills and how an athlete is performing in their sport 29:22 – The mentality by which children make rapid progress in skills, and how to harness that developmental ideal 39:16 – How Brady looks at menu systems for athletes, and giving them the power of choice 47:49 – Brady’s take on “breaking the rules” with high volume training experiences 58:36 – Thoughts on the balance and handing of high volume training versus the minimal effective dose of work 1:02:32 – “Human level” principles of athletes who can absorb and adapt to training volume on a higher level 1:07:58 – What an average training session looks like for Brady in light of the principles discussed in the show 1:11:50 – How to look at sets and reps, versus the construct of time, to direct intention of the athlete 1:14:07 – Some single-joint, high rep modalities that Brady enjoys using at the end of training sessions “When I’m training a human, I’m not thinking at all about transfer to their sport” “The goal is the deep pushup is for them to direct their intent into whatever it is they are doing; the pushup is just one way to practice that” “That’s where the human aspect of things is “how can we go into the human and take off inhibitors so they can direct themselves towards anything in the best possible way”” “That’s one intention, is you are going to hold (the iso) as long as you can… or as long as you can maintaining an exhale that’s twice as long as an inhale” “The best athletes in the world aren’t there because they did the right superset, or whatever, they are there because the level of their system is leveled up” “That’s been something that’s been on my is that training doesn’t equal weight room, training equals changing the human” “If we can take away those stories and get into the athlete being able to go inside themselves, and feel exactly what they need, as they are connected to that intention of the goal that they have, of the outcome that they want, their body is going to tell them what they need” “Some athletes don’t know how to feel what their body is telling them, because there is so much junk that has gotten in the way” “You take the athlete where they are at, you find out where their lowest functioning system is, and you level that up” “High volume isn’t the goal, it’s meeting the athlete where they are at” “Where we get lost a little bit in strength and conditioning is we only have a small box we look through of exercise, of weight room, of barbell, of exercise, of whatever… if we take all that away, we look at “what is training”, training is taking the human and making them better.  To do that, we need to input a stimulus that challenges whatever is inhibiting them right now so that inhibitor gets taken off and now they are at a high level.. that might be something in the weight room, it might not” “Every way you could challenge a human being is going to be on that (training) menu” Show Notes Lessons from 661 depth drops https://www.instagram.com/p/CXCu9GRsjrm/ About Brady Volmering Brady Volmering is the owner of DAC Performance and Health. After starting out in the world of baseball skill training, he’s since moved into the human performance arena, putting the focus on increasing the capacity of the human being.  Brady looks at what “training the human being” actually means and how that relates to increase in specific sports performance. full 1:18:01 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F291_Brady_Volmering.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-291%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-224" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-290/ Thu, 20 Jan 2022 13:26:30 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34165 Today’s show is with coach and inventor Adarian Barr.  Adarian has spent decades coaching in the college and private sector, and currently consults with a variety of coaches in multiple sports.  Adarian has been a guest on this podcast many times, and has a unique, connected, and incredibly detailed perspective on the drivers of human movement. One piece of movement that we haven’t made a theme for this show yet is getting into rotational, “tumbling” actions of joints.  When we think of “rotational force” in movement, we often just think of “twisting in the weight room”, or training “transverse plane”.  When it comes to “front to back” movements, it is common to simply think in terms of perpendicular forces in terms of movement.  With perpendicular actions, think of a coach telling an athlete to stab or drive their shin straight down to the ground in acceleration, for example, or any coaching cue that has to do with “pushing the ground away”. In any sport movement, however, the tumbling, or “pitching” motion of body segments (such as the shins) are going to be massively important when it comes to speed.  It’s easy to load hundreds of pounds on a calf raise (a perpendicular force) but to be fast, think sprinting and throwing, rotation is inevitable, so it pays to be familiar with it to make better sense of movement coaching, and building better drills and constraints for athletes. On today’s episode, Adarian will speak on perpendicular versus rotational aspects of movement, and what it means for exercises, especially common sprint drills.  He’ll talk about the actions of the various lever systems in the body, and how to optimize the way we load these levers for a variety of movements (with sprinting as the primary example) as we use rotation to move with speed.  Adarian will talk about the ideas of “big and small wheels” as well as how not to make the wheel action of limbs a square one, as well as other interesting universal movement concepts. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:20 – Looking at a “lever based approach” as opposed to a “force based” approach to biomechanics and movement 12:55 – The scope of true “perpendicular” movements in training, such as in-place pogo hops, in light of athletic movement that is rotational in nature 16:56 – A discussion on the hamstrings, and their role in rotational torque 22:01 – How to treat “perpendicular” oriented movements in regards to their transient, isometric nature 28:59 – The nature of the glutes and their rotational properties 30:55 – How to maximize “class 3” lever actions in the body as speed multipliers 33:30 – Squatty running and single leg bounding as rotational assessments and training paradigms 36:44 – Adarian’s take on upper body equivalents to folded running 46:13 – The principle of “big and small wheels” in movement, as well as why a circular wheel is superior to a square wheel 50:37 – How athletes will shift their “wheel size” when it comes to different athletic outcomes 55:44 – What is a “good” big wheel, and what things happening make a wheel “poor”, as well as how many sprint drills don’t actually train rotation 1:03.42 – A recap on the types of levers present in movement 1:05:20 – Looking at rotation and class 3 opportunities in the weight room 1:10:40 – What roller skating can teach us about levers and human movement “There is no way to move without a rotational component being added in there” “Everything we do is rotational, but the math is hard” “When we talk about sagittal, frontal and transverse plane, that is a location… a better term is pitch, yaw and roll” “If you move in a strictly linear fashion, you had better be strong as @#$^” “Levers don’t work well with just perpendicular input” “I do need perpendicular, because if you put a wrench on the bolt, the perpendicular secures the wrench on the bolt… if I do perpendicular, that is a good setup to use the parallel” “The closer you get to the fulcrum, the less effective the lever is” “Class 3 levers work best as their shortest” “Think about Nordic hamstrings… you are trying to strengthen something that is designed to multiply speed” “Gravity helps you to create the perpendicular” “You see this a lot of the time… people get to the toes, and they go up (using a class 1 lever poorly)” “Gravity creates perpendicular, but the upper body can add on to that perpendicular” “The scapulas can help you load the legs, which gives you a better rotationa component and can increase the output” “At the point where the arm is the longest, the scapula is in a power component” “If I’m going to start, I want a small wheel, I don’t want a big wheel, I want to spin the small wheel.  But once I get going, I need a bigger wheel” “That’s the big thing to look for is, am I bringing in a level I do not want at this point in time?” “Dribbling doesn’t have a tumbling action, or a pitch action, or a shin angle change” “Levers make assessments so easy; (in a straight leg bound) you got a leg swinging, no big deal until the leg hits the ground, but then you hit the ground and do a toe-raise up out of there” “Class 1 levers (like a see-saw, or standing calf raise) are good at lifting you, but not good at moving you” “Joints provide an end range for the rotation to stop” “If I increase my end-range of the class 1, it is going to delay me to class 2, it is going to make me work harder because I messed up my natural end-range” “Ankle pronation saves the body, because, as I’m coming down, if I didn’t have ankle pronation, the knee would take that” “All they say is arms is counter-rotation, I need something to load these levers to keep me rotating… people just want to get the legs stronger and push harder, but the reason you are pushing harder is that there was no (input) from the arms in the first place” Show Notes Stilts Race (Notice the squatted nature of the athlete to optimize rotation) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYKLuIZMY4d/ About Adarian Barr Adarian Barr is a track coach and inventor based out of Yuba City, California.  His collegiate track and field coaching stops have included UW-Superior, Indiana State, UNC Pembroke, Yuba City Community College. He has invented 9 devices from footwear to sleds to exercise devices. Adarian is a USATF Level II coach in the sprints, jumps, hurdles and relays. He has a master’s degree in Physical Education. Adarian’s unique coaching style gets results, and his work on speed and biomechanics is being adapted by some of the top coaches in the nation. full 1:16:07 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F290_Adarian_Barr.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-290%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-225" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-289/ Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:33:06 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34153 Today’s show is with Angus Bradley.  Angus is a strength coach and podcast host from Sydney, Australia.  He coaches out of Sydney CBD, co-hosts the Hyperformance podcast with his brother, Oscar, and is also an avid surfer.  Angus appeared previously on episode 249 of the podcast, talking about compressive strategies in weightlifting, as well as the impacts of those compressive effects on narrow infra-sternal angle individuals in particular. Angus is one of the most brilliant, and practical individuals I know in the world of strength training biomechanics, and connecting it to movement and practical outcomes.  When it comes to making sense of how our body structure and pressure systems fit with different setups in the weight room, and how this might apply to dynamic movement, Angus is a top individual to learn from. So often in the weight room, we will say that it is all “general” (which technically it is) but then use that as an excuse not to understand the movements we are utilizing in detail that fit with greater concepts of the gait cycle.  Connecting strength work to the gait cycle is key in better strength training practices, as well as individualization. On the show today, Angus covers the dimensions of exercises based on center of mass position relative to the foot, and how this connects with the gait cycle, as well as how much an athlete is being “pushed forward” (and why that is important).  He’ll cover delayed knee extension in both lifting and sprinting (and how they might connect), concepts of foot shapes, and gait, as well as his take on “floating heel” work not potentially being everything it’s cracked up to be.  Angus will also give some practical ideas on giving more sensory information to athletes unable to access early stance well, how far to take wide and narrow ISA types in terms of “balancing their weaknesses”, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:25 – How doing the “wrong” intervention in training can still lead to positive results 11:30 – Understanding the implications of working through the various positions of the center of mass in relation to the position of the feet, and what this means for degrees of freedom in movement 18:30 – Some performance implications of wide-vs. narrow ISA’s in regards to mid and late stance, and jump technique 23:15 – The idea of “hamstring curling” one’s self out of the hole of a squat in order to delay knee extension 28:45 – Where Angus sees the benefit in “floating heel” training, and where he finds it not very beneficial 34:45 – How to re-train athletes to “let their femurs be” in squatting when they’ve been taught to shove their knees out in the past 39:30 – Thoughts on oscillatory squatting (and split squatting) and its impact on the mid-stance phase of lifting 43:30 – A discussion on developing mid-stance, narrow ISA’s and single leg squatting 49:00 – Flat vs. high arched individuals and what this means for how this impacts athletes in early vs. late propulsion 56:50 – How Angus’s lockdown sprint work went, and lessons he learned with squatted running 1:02:00 – Thoughts on the role of the adductors in movement, why some people may feel them more (or less) in sprinting, and how to train them in the gym “You can grab (IR and ER) if you just start pulling athletes back… heavy lifting just has a tendency to shove people forward” “A sign of a good athlete to me, is they will respond to their environment” “You can simplify it by looking at where they are in the sagittal plane and looking at that map of the foot, looking at where they are in relation to that base of support… if the center of mass is over the toes, you are going to be in that propulsive ER, if the center of mass is over the mid foot, you are going to be in that compressive IR, that mid-stance, and if you get them further back behind that base of support, they are going to be in that early stance and have nice access to that yielding ER” “From a performance perspective, I probably only need to pull (a wide ISA) back to midstance (instead of early stance) for a lot of them, just get them back a bit” “What everyone needs when they suck at anything is more external stability” “That’s why I love Hatfield squats, you just shove the arms out in front of you to keep the ribcage back” “I’m very high on goblet squats” “I think there is an association that slow, stiff people are stuck in their heels, and I just don’t see that” “If you just want to lift a massive weight, do a deadlift” “You are not necessarily helping an athlete develop their strengths and you are drawing all these mid-stance qualities out of them in the weight room, but maybe you are just making them a more well-rounded player” “Triple extension and that spring off the ground, that’s the byproduct of the push, the push happens on the ground with the flat foot, and that sets up that beautiful late stance” “(Squatted running) was allowing me to get into those sprinting shapes and get a sense of what mid-stance tastes like” “(To train adductors) Can they center themselves over their stance leg well, and can they do a hip shift well” About Angus Bradley Angus Bradley is a strength coach and podcast host from Sydney, Australia.  He coaches out of Sydney CBD, and co-hosts the Hyperformance podcast with his brother, Oscar. After focusing primarily on weightlifting for the first half of his career Angus finds himself spending as much time ‘outside of his lane’ as possible trying to identify the principles that transcend all human movement.  He works with a diverse crowd from strongman to surfing and everything in between. Angus has been mentored by Jamie Smith from Melbourne Strength Culture, and formerly dropped out of his major in journalism to tour Australia with his band. full 1:07:51 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_289_Angus_Bradley_Final2_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-289%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-226" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-288/ Thu, 06 Jan 2022 14:09:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34137 Today’s show is a Q&A with Joel Smith.  It’s a lot of fun to see the questions you all have, and putting together a list of answers. Some major themes in this show included the dynamics of how an athlete learns and acquires a skill, how to give athletes ideal constraints to learn a skill better (particularly on the level of the arms in sprinting and step-action in jumping), and then questions on training the spectrum of the force velocity curve. There also were a lot of questions and answers that lent to training individualization based on the individual structure of the body and if one is a “power or speed” based athlete, which relates to an athlete’s ribcage structure and ISA bias, and of course, a lot of speed oriented questions. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 1:15 – The difference in training fascial vs. elastic athletes 7:33 – How to train a “power” sprinter with poor top end speed 13:40 – Thoughts on training at different points on the force-velocity curve 24:06 – Arm action in sprinting, and constraint-driven coaching versus “positional” coaching 34:14 – Structuring a weight training and performance program for speed and acceleration 36:32 – Why some athletes have a long vs. short penultimate step in jumping 40:45 – Thoughts on in-season programming for team sports 46:56 – Dealing with a toe-sprain and learning to feel other parts of the foot 48:30 – Frequency of training with bodyweight iso holds 49:37 – Thoughts on “inside edge” vs. “outside edge” in movement and training 54:35 – Fascial awareness in movement 55:42 – Is concentric power building in the weightroom worthwhile? 57:01 – How to use falling/slipping/stumbling reflexes to our advantage in training About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance coach in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, has authored several books on athletic performance, and trains numerous clients in the in-person and online space.  Joel was formerly a strength coach for 8 years at UC Berkeley, working with the Swim teams and post-graduate professional swimmers, as well as tennis, water polo, and track and field.  A track coach of 11 years, Joel coached for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club for 7 years, and also has 6 years of experience coaching sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault and multi-events on the collegiate level, working at Wilmington College, and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. Joel has coached 2 national champions, multiple All-Americans and school record holders in his time as a track coach. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance at Rio in 2016. In 2011, Joel began Just Fly Sports with Jake Clark as a central platform to promote information for athletes and coaches to reach their highest potential.  In 2016 the first episode of the “Just Fly Performance Podcast” was released, now a leading source of education in the sports performance field.  The evolving mission of Just Fly Sports is focused on teaching athletes to realize their true, innate power, and achieve the highest joy in their training, competition, and in the community. full 1:00:54 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_288_QA_Joel2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-288%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-227" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-287/ Thu, 30 Dec 2021 14:58:03 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34129 Today’s show welcomes back running coach and biomechanist, Helen Hall.  Helen is the author of “Even With Your Shoes On”.  She is an endurance athlete, minimalist ultra-distance runner, 6 times Ironman and credited with being the world’s first ‘barefoot’ Iron(wo)man.  Helen is the owner of the Perpetual Forward Motion School of Efficient Running, as well as a running injury clinic, using the latest movement science and gait analysis technology to help people find solutions for their pain and injuries.  She appeared on episode 180 speaking on all things joint mechanics and technique in running. One of the most common things I hear (and have seen, especially in my club track years) about athletes is those who have a heavy heel strike when they run.  Excessive passive forces in athletic motion is never a good thing, but it’s always important to understand binary concepts (you had a heel-strike or you didn’t) in further detail.  There is a spectrum of potential foot strike positions in running, and nobody stays on their heel in gait, as we always move towards the forefoot. On the show today, Helen goes in depth on heel striking and the biomechanics of the heel in the running cycle, as well as the difference in heel striking motions in jogging versus sprinting.  One of the topics I frequently enjoy covering is how the human body can interact with nature and natural features to optimize itself (which includes optimizing running technique) and Helen speaks on how one can use uphill and downhill grades to help athletes and individuals self-organize their own optimal running technique. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:27 – Why Helen feels individuals heel strike in the first place 11:33 – Helen’s “happy medium” when it comes to socks in running 14:28 – Helen’s view on the heel bone and pronation in the initial strike in running 21:03 – How Helen would help an athlete who heel strikes in a sprint when it is not desired 29:28 – The importance of relaxation and “letting” the body move and react, versus trying to force the body into motion 38:41 – Nuances of using uphill and downhill running, what to notice, and how to integrate that into one’s stride 45:29 – How un-even surfaces can create grounds by which individuals can self-organize their stride and foot action 48:35 – How to leverage hills to optimize the function of the glutes in running “I never change somebody’s first point of contact; their bodies change their first point of contact themselves” “There can’t be a right or wrong, since there are so many people whose first point of contact is the heel, and they are not in pain” “If you land in front of the heel, then you get the eccentric loading of the Achilles and what it attaches to” “People decide they are in “this camp” or “that camp” and thereby the camps run parallel to each other and never exchange ideas” “You want to be landing, not in a pronating foot.. in the context of running… the descent is arguably a posteriorly tilted calcaneus because you are landing in a supinating foot… unless your foot is going to go “splat” immediately” “You want to land on a foot that is relaxed enough to give” “They are reaching for the step, and by reaching on the step through hip flexion, they are ending up on their heel first, and that may be giving them more control as they go through the forefoot” “In my experience, people do not go back to the heel-strike, and all you need is a slope (to correct it)” “If you want to slow down, the most natural thing in the world is to shove your foot out, and brake with your heel” “You have to be relaxed for the response in your unbelievably complex system to happen in .2 seconds” “When you go downhill on a heel strike that you don’t feel on the flat… so you get to feel what it’s doing on the flat that you didn’t know before” “If you are aware of the terrain, the brain to body connections will take care of themselves” “Even if you are an athlete who operates on a pristine soccer pitch, if you can get out in nature and operate your body and ask it to do natural things, you are going to be more resilient towards the injuries of “everything has to be perfect” “You can’t clench your glutes when you run, if you clench your glutes, you go backwards” “You know you are stacked when you have maximum head rotation” About Helen Hall Helen Hall is the author of “Even With Your Shoes On”, a comprehensive manual on teaching running in a natural manner based on the sensory capabilities of the human body.  She is an endurance athlete, minimalist ultra-distance runner, 6 times Ironman and credited with being the world’s first ‘barefoot’ Iron(wo)man.  She has completed “the hardest ironman in the world”, Ironman Lanzarote in 2011. Helen is the owner of the Perpetual Forward Motion School of Efficient Running, as well as a running injury clinic. She specializes in the solving of chronic pain and repetitive injuries, be they in the neck, shoulder, back, hip, knee, ankle or foot and connected to sports or not. Helen uses the latest movement science and gait analysis technology to help people find solutions for their pain and injuries.  She is a cofounder of Barefoot Audio, an audio tool merging evocative coaching cues to inspirational music composed specifically with efficient running in mind. She is the author of the YMCAfit Barefoot/Efficient Running course and manual and was the coach to the inov-8 Natural Run program. Helen is qualified as an Anatomy in Motion Level 4 Practitioner, has multiple CHEK certifications, as well as certification in lymphatic therapy. full 53:58 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_287_Helan_Hall.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-287%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-228" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-286/ Thu, 23 Dec 2021 14:09:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34122 Today’s show welcomes back JB Morin.  JB Morin is currently full professor and head of sports science and the physical education department at the University of Saint-Etienne.  He has been involved in sport science research for over 15 years, and has published over 50 peer-reviewed journals since 2004.  JB is a world-leading researcher on all things sprint related, having collaborated with and analyzed some of the world’s best sprinters, such as Christophe Lemaitre. JB also does lots of sprint research that is highly applicable to team sport settings, such as information that can be gleaned from force-velocity profiling.  He has been a 2x previous guest on this podcast, speaking on elements of heavy sled training, force-velocity profiling, and much more. When it comes to sprinting from point A to point B, the time on the clock does not necessarily represent the strategy an athlete used to get there.  Athletes who can direct their sprint forces in more of a horizontal vector are going to be able to reach higher top velocities, and be more resilient towards injury. The question then becomes, how do we assess, and train athletes in respect to the direction they are producing sprint forces?  In today’s episode, JB speaks on how the specifics of an athlete’s force production (in the horizontal vs. vertical direction) will highlight elements of how fatigued that individual is, and their predisposition to injury in the short term.  JB also goes into how to measure force production in sprinting, new research on joint actions in early and late acceleration, hill training vs. sleds, hamstring research, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:00 –  Some new work that has come out in sprint research recently, showing the importance of the hip and ankle outputs in sprinting, even in the first few steps of acceleration 16:20 –  Thoughts on sprint technique, or force-velocity profiling and how that might link to potential injury in team sport situations 24:00 –  The relationship (and differences) between one’s maximal horizontal force, and their maximal sprint speed, and what it means for injury risk 30:50 –  How having a poor maximal horizontal force output can show up in the biomechanics of how an athlete is sprinting 37:15 –  How elite athletes will start to change their force-production orientation (less horizontal, over time) once fatigue starts to set in during a training session 45:00 –  How hill training compares to heavy sled training in terms of forces and velocity 50:30 –  New studies and thoughts on hamstring injury in athletics 54:20 –  Thoughts on training the feet and lower leg for the sake of sprinting 58:40 –  JB’s thoughts on how to set up good research on sprinting in athletics “75% of the energy that is generated to run is generated at the hip and calf level” “Team sport is so chaotic, it’s the worst way to assess an athlete’s acceleration capability, the game environment is not reproducible” “Our studies show that pre-season maximal force output is not related to (injury risk) but when you measure that maximal force output throughout the season, the last measurement is related to the risk of injury in that measurement period” “You need to measure (force/velocity) regularly, not only in the pre-season period… there are so many changes throughout the season” “You can have people with the same 25 meter splits, but different profiles at the beginning of the spectrum or the end of the spectrum” “If you take two athletes with the same magnitude of ground reaction force, the best in acceleration will be the most horizontally oriented vector” “The last studies a-posteriori connected very clearly (horizontal force output) to the hamstring and glutes muscle function capability” “If you are more quad dominant, and push vertically, you will not go to a very high top speed” “I’ve seen some professional rugby players coming back from a few (off) days or weeks, because of an injury, and sprinting (pr’s), because they were chronically overloaded” “Most of the sprint related (hamstring) injuries, occur at high speeds, but also in linear movements” About JB Morin Jean-Benoit (JB) Morin is currently full professor and head of sports science and the physical education department at the University of Saint-Etienne.  He was formerly full Professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis (France), and has been involved in sport science research for over 15 years, and has published over 50 peer-reviewed journals since 2004.  He obtained a Track & Field Coach National Diploma in 1998 and graduated in Sport Science at the University of Besançon, France in 2000. He obtained his PhD in Human Locomotion and Performance in 2004 at the University of Saint-Etienne, France (Prof. Alain Belli), in collaboration with the University of Udine, Italy (Prof. Pietro diPrampero). JB’s field of research is mainly human locomotion and performance, with specific interest into running biomechanics and maximal power movements (sprint, jumps). He teaches locomotion and sports biomechanics, and strength training and assessment methods. JB’s has collaborated with French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre and his group/coach, and he is member of the French Soccer Federation research group, teaching professional coaches about sprint mechanics and training for acceleration. He also collaborates with New-Zealand professional and national rugby teams, and with professional soccer clubs in France and Spain. He practiced soccer in competition for 10 years, practiced and coached track and field (middle distance and 400m hurdles) for 8 years, and he is now enjoying trail running, road cycling and triathlon. full 1:06:15 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_JB_Morin_286.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-286%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-229" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-285/ Thu, 16 Dec 2021 16:02:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34110 Today’s show welcomes back Randy Huntington for a “part 2” of the recent episode #282 , speaking on the success of Chinese sprinter, Su Bingtian, and the third podcast with Randy in total.  Randy is a track and field coach who has spent his recent years as the national track and field coach for the Chinese athletics association and has over 45 years of coaching experience. Huntington is rated as a USATF Master Coach in the jumps, has been the coach for many world-class athletes over the years, including eight Olympians and seven World Championship Team members.  Mike Powell and Willie Banks set world records in the long jump and triple jump, respectively, while under his tutelage. In the last podcast, Randy spoke on several elements of the training methods that helped Su Bingtian to become the fastest accelerator of all time, such as sled and resisted sprint training, special strength work, and more.  There was still a lot left to cover after the last episode, so for this show, we will dive back in (literally, in regards to the water training) to Randy’s training methodology. For today’s episode, Randy speaks in depth on Su Bingtian’s weekly training setup, and how he spaces out the weekly work, with a focus on rest and recovery.  He will get into the topic of training density, and how this can be modulated with training cycles of various lengths (as opposed to only sticking with a traditional 7-day cycle).  Randy will get into elements of water training, tempo sprint training, his version of over-speed work, and much more.  This is an awesome compliment to the popular “part 1” of my recent chatting with Randy, and great material for coaches in any discipline. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:39 –  Details on Su’s weekly training setup, and how “work + rest = adaptation” 11:17 – Thoughts on how much, and how often to apply tempo work to team training 15:35 – How various cultures can have an impact on the type of training that athletes in that culture will optimally respond to 18:56 – The importance of water training for recovery, and recovery training in general, in Randy’s program 36:51 – Why the biggest need in coaching is on the level of youth coaches, and not those who work with elite athletes 42:06 –  How Randy isolates the specific focus of his training sessions, not doing too much work all in one session 46:06 – Individual factors in elastic vs. muscular athletes in the construction of a training program 51:51 – The power of being able to move athletes around selectively amongst training groups in individual sports 55:21 – How Randy looks at long term training and seasonal shifts in training emphasis 59:51 – Principles on going beyond a typical 7-day weekly training cycle, into 9 and 10 day cycles. 1:04:51 – How Randy utilizes the “bigger players” in a training year (such as intense training methods, heavy lifting, intense plyos, etc.) and how he measures and manages recovery 1:12:06 – How Randy applies overspeed training with his athletes “I look at work, but I put the rest in first in the week, and then I follow it back up with what work we are going to do prior to the rest” “I like using pulse (for tempo training), I’d rather use SMO2 (when I can)… that gives me a very accurate appraisal of when to go again” “I make our strength coaches run (tempo) with the sprinters” “In China, you can’t give them a lot of time off, they fall apart very quickly if they have a lot of time off (Koreans were like the too)” “How do you increase density without (going to steroids)… that’s how I arrived at (water training)… my whole approach has been recovery based first, I’d quit before I’d ever go to (steroids)… the water for me, serves for Su, the density of training I need him to do” “If the pool is accessible, I’d go there after every session” “There is almost no better way to do hip flexor work than to get in the water” “Because water is denser too, you find the best pattern, you groove your movement pattern even better” “Deep water is pure recovery work to me…. Tempo is still work; is it recovery? I wouldn’t make a steady diet out of it.. there is only so much gravity based training you can take” “You can refresh that (coaching) spark by going back down to middle school and high school” “You can destroy elasticity pretty easily by overtraining” “I tend to put the jumpers on a 9 day cycle, the sprinters on a 7 day cycle, and the 800m is on a 7-10-10-5 cycle” “We go to 9 day cycles if we need to fit in everything I need to fit in” “You only extend a training cycle for recovery, in 7 days, you are creating density but you are not taking time to recover… you start thinking density more than intensity or volume” “3-day cycles are the easiest to figure out; so you got acceleration, weight training, speed… or acceleration, weight training, recovery” “Rolling 3 days are pretty easy to program” “If you want to get scientific with anything, get scientific with adaptation.  Get scientific with sympathetic/parasympathetic balance” “I don’t do over-speed training, I do assisted-speed training… that’s the thing you look at; where am I in my ability to apply force to the ground without creating blocking forces” Show Notes Su Bingtian’s Sprint Training Schedule: Monday: Acceleration Tues: Lift (power) Wed: Short Speed Endurance (ASSE/GSSE) working into pure speed day over time Thursday: Lift (upper body + 1 power style lift) Recovery Circuits in Afternoon Friday: Acceleration Sat: Lift (max strength) plus longer speed endurance session About Randy Huntington Randy Huntington is currently the national track and field coach for the Chinese athletics association and has over 45 years of coaching experience.  Huntington is rated as a USATF Master Coach in the jumps – one of only five in the U.S. He has been the coach for many world-class athletes over the years, including eight Olympians and seven World Championship Team members. Mike Powell and Willie Banks set world records in the long jump and triple jump, respectively, while under his tutelage. Six of his athletes have been in the U.S. all-time top ten in their respective events. Huntington coached Powell to the Olympic Games in 1988, 1992 and 1996, where Powell won a pair of silver medals in the long jump. On Aug. 30, 1991 in Tokyo, Powell broke Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old long jump record that was expected to never be broken, leaping 29-4 1/2 (8.95m) – a record that still stands. Willie Banks, who Huntington coached to the 1988 Olympics, broke the world triple jump record with a mark of 58-11 1/2 (17.97m), June 16, 1985 in Indianapolis, and under Huntington’s coaching twice jumped over 18 meters, which is the longest in American history. Huntington has also coached Olympians Joe Greene (long jump bronze medal in 1992), Sheila Hudson (American indoor and outdoor record-holder in the triple jump), Al Joyner, Darren Plab, Tony Nai and Sharon Couch. At least one of his athletes has competed in every summer Olympic Games since 1984. Powell, Greene, Hudson, Couch and Nai were all World Championship team members that he coached, along with Kathy Rounds and Kenta Bell. Huntington has also worked with professional athletes in other sports, notably football. He has worked as a conditioning and/or speed consultant for several teams including Indianapolis, St. Louis, Miami, Denver, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and has worked with numerous individual players including Trace Armstrong, Terry Kirby, Henry Ellard and Ed McCaffrey. He has also worked with college football programs at Florida, Oklahoma and Notre Dame including training for the NFL combine, working with athletes such as Kyle Turley and Grant Wistrom. full 1:20:58 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_285_Randy_Huntington_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-285%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-230" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-284/ Thu, 09 Dec 2021 14:12:17 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34098 Our guest for today’s show is Dr. Edythe Heus.  Dr. Heus is a nationally known chiropractor utilizing kinesiology with 22 years of experience.  She is the founder of the RevinMo, a unique corrective exercise program and co-author of ProBodX.  Dr. Heus is a thoughtful investigator whose diagnosis and treatment is based on specialized knowledge of the body's interconnectedness. Dr. Heus has enjoyed great success, and works with many professional and Olympic athletes. When training individuals, it’s easiest to focus only on “outputs”, such as the load on the bar, or how fast an individual ran through sprint gates.  In taking a full-view at training, it’s also important to understand more subtle inputs, and how the body organizes movement from a fascial perspective. I’ve routinely noticed in the world of track and field, and swimming, a cycle where athletes experience an injury, have to do “rehab” (subtle) work (and also get a deload from the typical intense work they are doing) and come back to their sport to set personal bests within a few weeks or months.  As such, it’s worthwhile to study the full spectrum of “rehab to outputs” in human and athletic performance, and how we can organize each of these methods through a training session, or one’s career. On the show today, Dr. Heus will speak on balance and proprioceptive training methods, such as pipes and slant boards, advanced foot training concepts, and information on the fascia and how it responds to various training methods.  This is an important concept for anyone, and particularly those individuals who wish to learn more about the “softer” side of performance that can make a large impact on one’s function and resistance to injury. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:00 – How Edythe got into a more “alternative” position on exercise and training in her career 19:30 – Deeper thoughts on balance training, and how it benefits the nervous system 38:30 – From a balance perspective, what athletes should be able to do from a fundamental movement perspective 56:00 – Assessing the feet and the abdominals in the course of balance-oriented training 1:02.00 – Using slant boards to train the feet 1:06:00 – Edythe’s thoughts on toe strength 1:21:15 – How Edythe can feel the fascial system working in a particular exercise, and what exactly is “fascial training” “A quality of a person’s life is directly related to the health of their feet” “I see what I do, whether it is treatment or training, because I don’t separate those, as a collaborative team effort (between myself and the client)” “(I want to know) why are we not getting the response from the nervous system or the fascia that is possible?” “Balance, for me, isn’t just standing on unstable surfaces” “Balance is a form of novelty, and the brain thrives on novelty… I also challenge them textually” “Instability just simply, makes the cerebellum work” “Balance comes in so that your inner and outer environment can better communicate with each other” “One of the components I think is critical in training is a perception of risk” “Do some of my stuff before the lift, do it after, and then your lift is going to be better, and you are going to build on what you gained from that lifting, so heavy weight stuff definitely has to be on a stable surface” “I don’t think that without an unstable surface, that you are going to get all parts of your being integrated” “We want to automate as much as possible so there is not much thinking involved, so when you do have a skill you actually want to learn, you’ve got more bandwidth for that skill, so that you are not using all your bandwidth (for your sport skills)” “Let’s automate everything that we can, our body is designed for automation” “The thing I teach is, “are people able to be in their feet”” “The fascia has a spiral design; if you had to train a single plane of movement, it would be rotation” “I will allow people to struggle with that “arch downhill” just a little bit, because when they get it, it’s solid” “The arch uphill is the least needed of the four slantboard positions” “Anyone with a pronation problem, I ask, “what’s going on with your pelvic floor”… you aren’t going to get the feet working properly if you got pelvic floor issues” “(the fascia) doesn’t like held positions; holding a posture more than 10-15 seconds straightens out the collagen fibers, and you lose the waviness that lends to elasticity” “Some shoes are very rough, and they create problems all the way up, from the texture of the shoes” “Be very particular about the (physio) ball having the same tone that you would want in your tissues, which means that there is elasticity and give, not tension that feels unpleasant… I can’t even look at someone on a deflated (physio) ball” Show Notes Pipe Training https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyceUFmvlEo Slantboard Training Methods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITXRchznLz4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS9ENhUH1a4&list=PLGlTos0mCZTytU-Y4pk7mPG2vtSiBU0vP   Win a 3-Pack of Virtual Classes with Dr. Edythe Along with the show today (depending on the time you are reading this) you can win a free 3-pack of virtual classes with Dr. Edythe, and to get in on that deal, you can follow these instructions: Select 3-Pack on RevInMo Virtual Classes(scroll all the way down to see packages) Make account on MindBodyOnline When shopping cart comes up, there will be a field to enter promo code, enter “FLYREV” and the shopping cart should be at $0. About Dr. Edythe Heus Dr. Edythe Heus is a nationally known chiropractor utilizing kinesiology who during 22 years of experience has embraced a holistic concept of health. She is the founder of the RevinMo, a unique corrective exercise program and co-author of ProBodX.  Dr. Heus is a thoughtful investigator whose diagnosis and treatment is based on specialized knowledge of the body's interconnectedness. Finding the point of origin of injuries, she uses appropriate sequences of exercise to improve performance and keep patients from coming back with the same recurring injuries. Dr. Heus has enjoyed great success, and works with many professional and Olympic athletes. Throughout her career, Dr. Heus has lived by the mantra, “Challenge what’s possible.” And that is what her clients see her do every day. full 1:38:45 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_284_Edythe_Heus_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-284%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-231" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-283/ Thu, 02 Dec 2021 15:39:25 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34084 Our guest for today’s show is Erik Huddleston.  Erik was recently on the podcast, on episode 269, speaking about important elements of squat technique based on individual frames of the athlete.  After the show, I had some other important questions left over that I wanted to discuss, and also in that time, Erik has made a career transition to working in the NBA. Erik is currently an assistant sports performance coach with the Indiana Pacers and head performance coach for their G-League affiliate, the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants. He is the former director of performance at Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training (IFAST), along with having NCAA D1 experience. When we program training for athletes, what factors are we considering when we select exercises? Do we just pick movements that are novel and random, or do we have a greater philosophy that helps us decide what types of movements to use, and when?  What about timing, such as exercise selection in the training sessions coming off of, or leading them up to competitions or tough practice periods?  Or, do we ever ask ourselves about what an athlete’s development level (youth vs. pro) might mean for them with the types of exercises we are prescribing from a compression and expansion perspective? On the show today, Erik speaks on organizing exercise selection based on an athlete’s training schedule (such as post or pre-competition periods of the training week, or even training year), how to use weight placement to train various athlete body types, and some critical differences in training, from an expansion/compression perspective, regarding youth vs pro level athletes.  It’s so easy to fan-boy (or girl) over the workouts of “elite” athletes, but the key to good coaching is always knowing how to engage an athlete where they are at in their own development. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:28 – How to organize training based off of periods of “expansion” and “compression” 11:42 – How Erik quantifies what players are experiencing in practice and games from a “expansion/compression” perspective, and how to give them what they don’t have then, in a gym setting 14:54 – Exercise selection principles that help athletes optimally reset in their “off” days 21:55 – How to adjust exercises to help them ramp up to a game or competition situation 24:20 – What a pre-season training load looks like compared to in-season in professional basketball 29:00 – What pre-season training looks like in high school sports where athletes have a lot more time to prepare without high volume sport loadings 34:41 – Situations where more compression will help an athlete, vs. situations where it will potentially hurt an athlete 39:25 – How to set up training for “pylon” shaped individuals to help their reversal ability in jumping and athletics 46:20 – How “flipping the pylon” of the torso, and having wide shoulders impacts squatting selection 52:06 – How the shape of one’s torso impacts the types of plyometric exercises that players should utilize 54:46 – How to prescribe jump programming to individuals who have a hard time yielding in their movement relative to the ground 59:10 – How to approach plyometrics and jump training for youth athletes vs. elite athletes who are already at a relatively high level, and playing jump oriented sports constantly “Keeping player assets on the court is the most important part of my job” “Give them some of what they don’t have that they are getting from the training and the basketball stimulus” “I have to assume that the vast things that are occurring on the court are output driven… that’s where we get into that compression end of the spectrum” “My training before a game is really really output driven, it’s really force production driven… ramping them up like that is the appropriate thing to do” “When they have an off-day, that day is generally going to be an input day, or this expansive quality that we are looking for… how do I restore position that allows them to recover well”? “When things are intense, when training loads in the court are high, we try to match that with a high intensity in the weight room also” “When you are prescribing your compression in the right way, it doesn’t take a lot of it to move the needle forward in terms of force output… but it quickly on the back end can take away from some expansive qualities” “Muscle mass by nature, is compression… and whether that is positive or negative is a case by case basis” “If I’m looking to bias the inhaled portion on a split squat, I’m going to coach an inhale” “That traffic-cone shaped individual, they just don’t have the base in their thorax to be able to re-direct pressure and volume… so obviously that’s something we want to work on with the force output side of things” “Breath hold and exhale are the game thing…. A breath hold is just an exhale against a closed glottis” “I’m not big on coaching cues while doing something, I want to set (an exercise) up in a way where an athlete will be successful” “(For young athletes) I use line hops, ankle hops, with the emphasis of getting off the ground quickly.  (Pros) I band assist a lot of their jumps… they are already really good at getting off of the ground quickly… I try to allow them more time (to find the heel in their jump… you do want these guys to have access to the positions where they can redistribute force well” Show Notes Expansion/contraction flow chart for training   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Erik Huddleston (@eph.24) About Erik Huddleston Erik Huddleston is currently an assistant sports performance coach with the Indiana Pacers (NBA) and head performance coach for their G-League affiliate, the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants.  He is the former director of performance at Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training (IFAST).  Erik previously spent time at Indiana University & Texas Tech University with the men’s basketball teams. full 1:08:54 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_283_Erik_Huddleston.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-283%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-232" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-282/ Wed, 24 Nov 2021 13:25:57 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34055 Our guest for today’s show is Randy Huntington.  Randy is a track and field coach, who has spent his recent years as the national track and field coach for the Chinese athletics association and has over 45 years of coaching experience.  Huntington is rated as a USATF Master Coach in the jumps, has been the coach for many world-class athletes over the years, including eight Olympians and seven World Championship Team members.  Mike Powell and Willie Banks set world records in the long jump and triple jump, respectively, while under his tutelage. More recently, Randy has had tremendous success coaching in Asia, a capstone of which has been Su Bingtian, who recently set the Asian 100m dash record of 9.83 seconds at age 31.  En route to his 100m record, Su broke the world record in the 60m (as a split time) with a 6.29, which converts to around a 4.07s 40 yard dash. When a teenager, or relatively untrained individual takes a few tenths off of their 40 yard dash, or drops a half second in the 100m dash over several years time, this is a normal and natural occurrence, and isn’t something that really demands digging far into.  On the other hand, when an already elite athlete, who is at, or slightly past their “prime” years, moves into their 30s and smashes sprint records, this is something that is truly worth putting a close eye on. On the show today, Randy Huntington speaks on some of the training elements that helped sprinter, Su Bingtian achieve his recent results.  Randy goes into his views on special strength training for speed, particularly on the level of the lower leg, and speaks on the use of banded and wearable resistance in speed training, as well as some nuts and bolts on resisted and sled sprint work.  On the back end of the show, Randy gets into training the elastic and fascial systems of an athlete, and how to optimize an athlete’s elastic response to training in plyometrics and beyond. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs. For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:02 – What’s been happening with Randy in his last 4 years of coaching, particularly with Su Bingtian and his success 12:24 – Some of the big training elements that helped Su Bingtian get down to 9.83/6.29 from 10.0/6.50 in his time working with Randy 18:37 – Using banded and wearable resistance methods for improving speed and “bridging” the gap between the weight room and the track 25:58 – Randy’s advice for using sleds/heavy sleds in training 32:59 – The “train your frame” system and the importance of body proportions and structure on optimal sporting events for athletes 37:01 – How Randy uses sleds for contrast training, as well as concepts on wave-loading and how many sets in a row to utilize 40:25 – The importance of elastic energy in athletic performance, and how under-estimated the elastic contribution to performance is, as well as how important dynamic elastic ability is for running endurance 50:44 – The nature of the advanced spikes and track surface used in the Tokyo Olympic games, and its impact on athletes 55:04 – Randy’s take on optimizing the elastic and fascial systems of an athlete, as well as a chat on ground contact times in plyometrics 1:06.28 – How improved foot strength played into Su’s improvement in the 100m dash, as well as in various portions of the race, as well as how Randy trained Su’s foot strength 1:08:26 – The role of harmonics and resonance between one’s foot/body and the running surface, especially in the course of a 100m dash race 1:19.56 – How to increase the eccentric rate of development in standard exercises, such as a partner pushing a partner down into an exercise 1:28.10 – Randy’s take on jumping off of an angled surface, versus a flat surface in jumping, or in jumping machines “(In 2016) I took (Su) over to the Kaiser seated calf, and tested him, his power output was 735 watts, which was weaker than my weakest female triple jumper… so our first goal was to get that soleus strength as high as we could get it… now he is in the 26-2700 watt range” “Even though (Su) was a quick starter, he wasn’t a fast starter” “Elasticity wise, (Su) couldn’t rebound off the ground… so we got him into low amplitude single leg rebounding and slowly brought it up” “I see 3 things that are my best teaching tools, the 1080 (sprint) and the sled… then the exogen, and then the activator belt (a belt with tubing attached to limbs)… those are the 3 most important integration tools, integrating the weight room to what you are doing on the track” “When we do drills, we’ll do activator belt, exogen, off” “You can’t underestimate the need for the psoas the other hip flexors to be really powerful and strong” “If you are going to use external loading, you had better be prepared to rest a while” “A heavy sled to me is a sled with close to your bodyweight, then we went half the bodyweight, then we would quarter the bodyweight” “Even that first step (in a sprint) becomes elastic in nature, pretty quickly” “In the jumpers, we are seeing close to a 1 to 1 ratio between femur and tibia… the RSI indexes are reflective of the anthropometric indexes of the athletes” “I do things in 3’s… occasionally I do them in 4’s if I want to push the nervous system to take it” “When you start talking about (elasticity/power) in isolation, or discreetly, you can get yourself in trouble because the body is a system” “That’s the whole goal is to figure out how to get the athlete to access that elastic ability” “To train (elastic/fascial) we go back to low amplitude” “I started wearing earth shoes in 1977 and my vertical jump was gone, because the Earth Shoes had a negative heel, I just kept stretching slowly, my Achilles and I lost the elasticity in my calf” “I don’t know if there’s one exercise you can pick, but high hurdle hops may be close to it, as a great way to destroy anybody’s elasticity and their ability to create good ground contact times” “(Regarding ground contact times) you have to measure it, to see at what height athletes achieve their best ground contact times, because then you can go a little above it, or a litte below it” “I don’t use the word “jump” very much with jump training, I use “bounce” training” “Soleus is usually the most undeveloped muscle in the lower extremity” “The key to the 100m is,  you have to wait for the track to give something back, and at that point, that’s when you feel and go…. you gotta race enough to feel max velocity” “The Keiser seated calf is one of the most under-rated training machines ever made” “You must get your foot adjusted (by a therapist) if you are a jumper, sprinter, thrower, distance runner… it’s like having a race-car” About Randy Huntington Randy Huntington is currently the national track and field coach for the Chinese athletics association and has over 45 years of coaching experience.  Huntington is rated as a USATF Master Coach in the jumps – one of only five in the U.S. He has been the coach for many world-class athletes over the years, including eight Olympians and seven World Championship Team members. Mike Powell and Willie Banks set world records in the long jump and triple jump, respectively, while under his tutelage. Six of his athletes have been in the U.S. all-time top ten in their respective events. Huntington coached Powell to the Olympic Games in 1988, 1992 and 1996, where Powell won a pair of silver medals in the long jump. On Aug. 30, 1991 in Tokyo, Powell broke Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old long jump record that was expected to never be broken, leaping 29-4 1/2 (8.95m) – a record that still stands. Willie Banks, who Huntington coached to the 1988 Olympics, broke the world triple jump record with a mark of 58-11 1/2 (17.97m), June 16, 1985 in Indianapolis, and under Huntington’s coaching twice jumped over 18 meters, which is the longest in American history. Huntington has also coached Olympians Joe Greene (long jump bronze medal in 1992), Sheila Hudson (American indoor and outdoor record-holder in the triple jump), Al Joyner, Darren Plab, Tony Nai and Sharon Couch. At least one of his athletes has competed in every summer Olympic Games since 1984. Powell, Greene, Hudson, Couch and Nai were all World Championship team members that he coached, along with Kathy Rounds and Kenta Bell. Huntington has also worked with professional athletes in other sports, notably football. He has worked as a conditioning and/or speed consultant for several teams including Indianapolis, St. Louis, Miami, Denver, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and has worked with numerous individual players including Trace Armstrong, Terry Kirby, Henry Ellard and Ed McCaffrey. He has also worked with college football programs at Florida, Oklahoma and Notre Dame including training for the NFL combine, working with athletes such as Kyle Turley and Grant Wistrom. full 1:32:11 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_282_Randy_Huntington_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-282%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-233" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-281/ Thu, 18 Nov 2021 13:50:10 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34050 Our guest for today’s show is Logan Christopher.  Logan is a strongman, author, owner of Legendary Strength and CEO of Lost Empire Herbs.  Logan previously appeared on episode 111 and episode 187, where he discussed mental training in depth, as well as the “6 layers” of strength.  Logan has also written several books including “Mental Muscle” and “Powered by Nature”, both of which I have found impactful reads.  Logan is a master of using the natural machinery of the body, our mind, and our environment to help us reach our highest potential as humans. An interesting saying you hear over and over again is that “the game is all mental”, or it is “90% mental” by many elite athletes.  Although there are general physical standards to be successful in many sports (think of the body type of a runner or a jumper, or the long arms that are very helpful in making it to the NBA) it is impossible to overlook the role of the mind, especially in elite performers.  Perhaps one’s genetic structure can help one to “get in the door” in the sport they are most suited for, but it is always going to be the mind that allows them higher levels of success. On the show today, Logan talks about many facets of both physical and mental training.  He starts with an important facet of coaching we haven’t gotten much into before, and that is on the language a coach uses to describe exercises, and training in general, and how these can impact training outcomes.  He also speaks on specific learning styles that can also be used in one’s visualization routines, as well as his take on the use of analogies and imagination in athletic skill performance.  Logan also goes into elements of old-school strongman training, as well as a quick take on why testosterone has dropped across the world over the last 50-100 years by a substantial margin. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:40 – Talking about managing training in context of holding back and achieving balance in order to have continual progress 11:10 – How the language a coach uses in the course of a workout can impact the outcome of the training (especially on the level of over-training) 14:25 – The four learning styles, and how to leverage these learning styles for better training results 20:40 – How to specifically optimize the auditory learning style in training 23:10 – How to approach strengths vs. weaknesses in terms of the four learning styles and physical training 32:00 – How analogies, as spoken about by Nick Winkelman, can be effective for athletes in light of Neurolinguistic programming philosophy 33:40 – How imaginatory ability impacts one’s physical and athletic abilities 39:10 – If Logan could pick only one mental training tool for himself now, and then 10 years ago, what he would utilize 43:10 – How much mental training Logan does now that he has over a decade of mental training under his belt 50:10 – Some old school strongman lift performances from the past that haven’t been touched in the last 50 years 55:25 – Speaking on the link between breathing and strongman training 59:10 – Why testosterone has dropped so much in the last 50 years “Typically I don’t even refer to my workouts as workouts, I refer to them as “training”” “I like to use the word “severety” for “effort” instead (of intensity)” “Words do matter, this is going to change the results we get” “(With language) taking a small thing and compounding it over time is going to be a big difference” “The four (learning) styles are visual, auditory, kinesthetic and digital” “Most people in sport tend to be kinesthetic learners…. The visual and kinesthetic are common in athletes” “As a coach, we are going to coach predominantly in our own style” “Very often, we find the audio component is completely missing from internal imagination, but there is tremendous power in the potential of audio to “boost the signal” (related to a physical performance)” “The quality of your audio matter, more-so than the words you are saying to yourself” “If you can’t (scream “I am the greatest”) you can imagine it, and you can feel that energy as if you are saying it out loud with that sort of tone or belief behind it” “Beliefs structure what we do” “Mental training is not a “then and there” kind of thing, but also a building thing over time” “Here’s the thing, you are mental training whether you think it or not, because you may not have the awareness, but thoughts are going through your head, visualizations are going through your head, you may have to step back and tweak it to make it work well” “If people want to get really good results, you are going to have to learn some things about mental training, and then practice” “You are doing mental training whether you think you are or not, so some people are going to by default be better at it… going under the hood and actually looking at the techniques and what kind of specific mental drills we can do is a surefire way to improve your performance” “(Why testosterone has dropped so much) the basic answer is: Pollution” “(In terms of helping support our endocrine system/testosterone) Eating organic food, drinking fresh or filtered water…. skin care products are quite horrible (more of an issue for women than men)” “When I talk about testosterone it is more of a healthy living plan” “Here’s something to keep in mind, anything you put on your skin is going into your body, it absorbs through your pores” About Logan Christopher Logan Christopher is a strongman, entrepreneur and mental training expert from Santa Cruz, CA.  He is the owner of legendarystrength.com and is the CEO of Lost Empire Herbs lostempireherbs.com.  Logan is the author of Mental Muscle and Powered by Nature, along with having written hundreds of articles on strength, health, herbalism, mental training and more. Logan is regarded as an expert in the mental performance field, and he has in depth expertise as an NLP Master Practitioner and certified hypnotist.  As a strongman, Logan has numerous feats to his name, such as phonebook tearing, nail bending, truck pulling and kettlebell juggling.  This blend of interests and abilities gives Logan a unique perspective in the strength and human performance industry. full 1:05:57 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_Logan_Christopher_281_1_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-281%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-234" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-280/ Thu, 11 Nov 2021 15:17:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34039 Our guest for today’s show is Austin Jochum.  Austin is the owner of Jochum Strength where he works with athletes and “washed up movers” to become the best versions of themselves.  He is also the host of the Jochum Strength Podcast.  Austin was a former NCAA D3 All-American football player and a hammer thrower (MIAC weight throw champion) at the University of St. Thomas, where he is now the speed and strength coach for the football team.  Austin has appeared on episode 213, and also has written numerous articles for Just Fly Sports. One common theme of this podcast for so many years has been finding ways to make one’s training transfer to sport more, not just on the physical and mechanical level, but also on the mental and emotional level, and on a perception-reaction level.  At some point, the hair splitting that happens in regards to weight room exercises (arguments on what set-rep scheme to use, single leg vs. bilateral lifting, etc.), or the minutia of biomechanics, can start to take away from developing other important components of athletics. Austin Jochum is a pioneer in the blending of sport elements into the traditional gym setting for athletes.  He is a meathead, but also a die-hard athletic-mover, and passionately trains in a way that encompasses both the archetypes of strength, and performing ideally in one’s sport and movement practice. For the show today, Austin speaks on the art of developing a love for movement and play in athletes, how to build a “scorer’s” mentality, as well as how to optimize game-based scenarios in the gym to help improve transfer to the field.  He then gets into an excellent discussion on exposing athletes to their weaknesses in a gym-game setting, and finishes with how he sets up his own training programs from not only a physical, but also a mental/emotional perspective, moving from external to internal states, relating each type of training stress to the emotional state of the athlete. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:00 – A story of two different soccer coaches and their approaches to training with their groups 11:00 – The link between love of movement/sport, obsession, and subsequent greatness, 15:30 – How to preserve, and grow, love for movement in coaching athletes 18:30 – Thoughts on “leveling up” on the levels of movement, as well as mental and emotional levels, in a training session 27:30 – How to set up games in a training session that can help to build a “scorer’s mentality” in athletes 29:00 – How to modulate the space of the field, and 1v1, or 2v2 type situations that can help athletes 36:00 – How to transfer between what athletes are really good, and really bad at, in their sport in order to create more robust athletic ability 44:30 – Insecurities that are wrapped up in not being able to expose one’s self to failure 51:30 – The importance of being on the fringe, and evolving the field, and realizing that no one individual has all of the answers 59:30 – The line between order and chaos within a training session, and how a strength session looks for Austin, and how he moves from fun, to funneling the energy into outputs or skill, then taking the athletes into themselves “If you listen to really really good athletes talk, I look at my own past successes, it is because you are obsessed with it… and how do you become obsessed with something? You gotta fall in love with it” “Something we’ve been doing is saying, “if this kid scores”, it’s worth two points, so now the stud who is always scoring is going to find a way to give the ball to someone else, he is going to expand the field” “Watch when your athlete, the first time you meet your athlete, watch how they walk into the gym, because you’ll know right away, almost 100%, what they are thinking in that moment, who they are, how they interact with the world” “(To create a scorer’s mentality) let them score from all angles, in all situations” “Let’s say you have a really fast athlete that is struggling with some change of direction stuff, then you make the space wider and shorter” “We’re talking about sets and reps, and this exercise selection, and it doesn’t matter if you aren’t looking at it on the field” “Conjugate style your games, expose them to as many games as possible, and then ebb and flow between what they are good at and then what they suck at” “Maybe there is an arrogant athlete… expose them to something they suck at… and how do they handle that? I would much rather you lose in this (gym) setting” “There are so many fringe pieces that we can experiment with, but our egos don’t let us” “Joy, looking forward to training and learning a skill is really important for skill retention.  In the weight room, having freedom has a ton of benefit with things like soreness, then what do you do with that energy? Now we funnel it into something we want to work on that day” “Now, how can we ebb and flow back into, how can I hold this position for 5’, or doing 1000 drop-catch reps… now they have to internally focus, and can you bring them back out of that?” “Not very many athletes are good at going internal; in those iso’s, they want to move, they want to twitch, in that stillness practice… so expose that to them a ton until they do master it, and have conversations about it” Show Notes Eli Franke water polo story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9SBkUA-Iwg About Austin Jochum Austin Jochum is the owner of Jochum Strength where he works with athletes and washed up movers to become the best versions of themselves. He also operates The Jochum Strength insider which is an online training platform for people trying to feel, look, and move better. Austin was a former D3 All-American football player and a hammer thrower (MIAC weight throw champion) at the University of St.Thomas, where he is now the speed and strength coach for the football team. full 1:09:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_280_Austin_Jochum.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-280%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-235" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-279/ Thu, 04 Nov 2021 13:21:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=34022 Our guest for today’s show is Katie St. Clair.  Katie is a strength and conditioning coach out of Charleston, SC who has been training general population and athletes for over 20 years, and is the creator of the Empowered Performance Program. She is passionate about helping everyone reclaim movement and find joy and reduction of pain using sound biomechanical principles alongside proper breathing.  Katie has embarked on a journey of learning and combining that knowledge with her love of athletic movement, as well as her passion for empowering female movement professionals, with the intent to elevate the entire industry standard. In my last few years as a coach, I’ve become more and more aware of the underlying physical and structural characteristics of athletes that work to determine biomechanics that show up when they perform various sporting skills.  I’ve really enjoyed having a variety of coaches on this show who have gone in detail on the biomechanics of the human body, (the pelvis, ribcage, breathing, etc.) and then have linked that up with what we might see in athletic movement, such as sprinting and jumping to name a few. Katie is an expert in human performance, and the fine details of human movement.  On today’s show, she takes us on an approach to forward pelvic tilt, breathing mechanics, abdominal function, the feet, proper squatting, plyometrics and more that comes from a perspective of the underlying function of the human body.  Katie helps us understand the “inside” mechanisms that are so often leading to compromised movement seen on the “outside”. So often we have athletes who just can’t seem to “find” the right joint motions in their movement, and this is when we need to have the ability to go a level deeper in our coaching, or our ability to know when to “refer out” to experts better able to cater to those areas.  The more you know from “the inside out”, the greater the bandwidth of athletes you can serve in your efforts. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:45 – What led Katie into working in fitness and performance 10:15 – Katie’s “inside out” view, of helping athletes acquire better technique via changes on the level of the thorax, pelvis and rib-cage 15:45 – The art of coaching humans in a manner that helps them self-organize and learn to move effectively 18:45 – How being biased, or stuck, in anterior tilt impacts one’s ability to move, and how to help athletes get out of that position 25:45 – How to use inhalation and exhalation to neurologically reinforce supination/ER and pronation/IR 42:15 – General primers on how to start working with breathing and breath for clients 45:50 – Ideas on how compression can drive expansion on the opposite side of the body, and ideas on “functional” abdominal muscles 49:50 – Katie’s view on building strength at length with the abdominal wall 55:50 – Why some athletes (particularly female swimmers) often have a lot of spinal extension patterning in a pushup movement, and then what to do about it (if it is even a big deal in that group) 1:00.05 – Hypermobility as systemic laxity, versus adaptations that can lead to acquired hypermobility in the limbs via proximal stiffness 1:05.35 – The dichotomy between accessing the heels, and then moving into the forefoot in the process of squatting 1:14.50 – Dynamics of “no-toes” squatting and what it can do for athletes, and how it zeros in on the mid-foot 1:17.50 – The balance between being able to keep the heel down and pronate, and then get off the heel to make the foot a second class lever, in squatting and even in running/jumping 1:29.50 – How to help people who struggle to yield to gravity be able to do so, and achieve better glute activation in the process “I realized I was looking at everything from the outside in, instead of from the inside out…. I would see these patterns all the time, but just coaching it didn’t change it, I had to alter the mechanics of their thorax and their rib-cage and pelvis to be able to create the change that was necessary” “(Athletes) are creating compensations that are really genius” “The trees, the way the rocks are, the seashells… (nature) gives you an appreciation for what the human form is” “The foot diaphragm and the thoracic diaphragm are going to alter the ability for the foot to do its’ thing too” “You have to have enough expansion to create compression…. if you don’t have enough range you are going to compensate to get it” “They do need to learn the fundamentals of getting the diaphragm to dome up, both the pelvic diaphragm and thoracic diaphragm, and to use the breath to leverage that position” “If I can use the breath, then I can create a neurological change in the brain” “If I am on my heels, that is going to generate that internal rotation, the increase in all the curvature… now I can do the complete opposite by going to my toes, tucking under, and decreasing the spinal curvature by inhaling and allowing the chest to rise” “If the ribs don’t move, the spine is not going to move” “Expansion where you need it does require holding tension on one side to drive expansion on the other, so if I gripped my abs, and held them down and took an inhale, the pressure is going to push back into my ribs and create some expansion” “We have to manage the leaks in the system to push the pressure elsewhere” “I almost think the athletes who can lengthen the abdominal wall and create tension, are the ones who are impressive… that’s a very athletic body to me, when you can create tension in a lengthen position, that’s the jam” “If you suck at lengthening and eccentrically loading  position, try exhaling when you are all the way out in that lengthened state (not allowing yourself to go into an excessive extension pattern) exhale, then pull back and inhale” “You see this a lot, people can’t pronate or supinate, so the arch of their foot is not as dynamic as it should be, so they create a lot of mobility at the ankle joint because the midfoot is so rigid” “Allowing the knees to go forward, and more pressure into the mid-fore foot, to allow for internal rotation… that is much needed, and so if you are always elevating your heels, how are you ever getting that, so I think it makes sense to bring a person down to the lowest range they can work with at that time, plus doing other activities to get the thorax over the pelvis” “We need that moment of the knees jutting forward, and the arch coming down and the calcaneus tipping without going onto the toes and missing that, so when you try to squat with your toes off of something, there is no cheating it” “Not doing a quick jump, holding a heavy yielding isometric, and then sinking into the ground, doing a depth drop, but instead of a reactive jump you are sinking into it, I’ve used it in my programming and 9/10 the people that can’t feel their glutes in the bottom of a squat and utilize that, that’s when they tell me “I finally felt my glutes”” About Katie St. Clair Katie is a wife, mom, strength coach, educator, business owner, and lover of all things movement. After 20+ years in the industry, Katie decided to create an educational program based on her passion for seeing other women excel in the industry as leaders and educators. There was a time when life got in the way and she couldn't be the professional she wanted to be because she had to put her family first. She has spent the past 5 years embarking on a journey of learning and combining that knowledge with her love of athletic movement, as well as her passion for empowering female movement professionals, with the intent to elevate the entire industry standard. full 1:36:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_279_Katie_St_Clair_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-279%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-236" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-278/ Thu, 28 Oct 2021 13:09:30 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33993 Today’s show features Dr. Chris Gaviglio.  Chris is a current senior strength and conditioning coach for the Queensland Academy of Sport, working with Olympic-based sports and athletes.  Chris has been involved with elite sport for over 15 years working across multiple Olympic sports and professional football in both the northern and southern hemispheres.  Chris provides applied sports science projects for the athletes he works with, particularly in the areas of salivary hormones, passive heat maintenance, blood flow restriction training, warm-up strategies, and power/strength development. I don’t often do shows that center around a piece of training technology, and the main reason for that is simply accessibility.  If a training tool costs thousands of dollars, it isn’t something a large proportion of the athletic, and even coaching population can rationalize having in their training arsenal.  The nice thing about blood flow restriction training is that it is available at a relatively low price point, with common units starting around $300USD.  Other setups using squat wraps, for example, can be done basically for free, but I would recommend using an automated system for the safety and precision of band tightness (see show notes regarding safety considerations and contraindications to BFR, such as concussions or deep vein thrombosis). Blood Flow restriction training has been a training tool that has been on my radar for a long time.  After seeing the results that a high-level Olympic swimmer I worked with got from them, and then hearing some results from Nicolai Morris having a 1.5 second drop in the 100 freestyle of a swimmer as well, as well as several of my coaching colleagues using the method, I knew that there was absolutely something to BFR that I needed to get further into.  In using the AirBands from Vald performance myself, I continued to realize how beneficial this training stimulus is to our physiological response. For today’s show, Chris takes us into many topics of BFR, including its mechanisms and many benefits.  As opposed to methods of mechanical stress (such as plyometrics, sprinting, heavy strength training methods) which tend to dominate this shows podcasts) BFR is a physiological stressor, and through this discussion, we can gain an appreciation for the contrast of physiological stress to more mechanical means.  Chris finishes the show talking about how coaches and athletes can integrate BFR training, and gives many anecdotes and points of research, on how BFR can improve strength and speed recovery. Finally, our sponsor, Simplifaster is doing a Blood Flow Restiction cuff giveaway (Vald Airbands) so if you would like to get in on that, until November 11th, you can sign up for a chance to win a free pair of cuffs at bit.ly/freebfr . Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:00 – Chris’s experiment during quarantine using lighter, or minimal weights in an at-home training setting 17:00 – Discussion on using lighter implements and bodyweight in developing one’s athleticism 20:30 – What blood flow restriction training is, and where it originated from 27:00 – How the metabolic stress from BFR creates beneficial responses, similar to high-load lifting 35:25 – What BFR definitely helps with, and what elements of performance it is not as helpful for 41:25 – How BFR can help with creating “mild to moderate” doses of lactate – Using BFR style work in warming up for a training session 53:10 – If there are any similar places in sport where athletes will experience situations similar to what is created with BFR means 57:00 – How to get as close to BFR as one can in a gym without any sort of cuffs or wraps 1:00:00 – Anecdotes on how to integrate BFR in performance and rehab based situations 1:10:00 – Where to get started for those interested in BFR “BFR is a metabolic stress” “BFR is a method of strength training with the addition of pressure” “What is BRF doing, we are partially restricting blood flow, and what that allows us to do is you are actually restricting the venous return of the blood from your muscles, so the blood flows freely into the muscle, but you are restricting it coming back out” “The first (benefit of BFR) is an increase in concentration of metabolites” “The second (benefit of BFR) is (anabolic) hormonal response” “The third (benefit of BFR) is intramuscular signaling, we are talking here heat shock proteins, myostatin, mTOR pathways” “They had two groups, they did not lifting, but one used heat sheets to heat the muscles and the second had none, and the group that used heat got stronger…. BFR can also stimulate this” “The fourth (benefit of BFR) is intracellular swelling, or “the pump” The fifth (benefit of BFR) is muscular recruitment, our slow twitch fibers tire out earlier than normal, and our fast twitch fibers get innervated” “Normally in an injury or rehab scenario, that’s where we see a lot of BFR… “In athletic populations, load is still king, but could we dial that percentage down a little bit, still use the BFR cuffs, and give them a little juice in the tank to perform their speed session the next day, could we be smarter with that?” “In long term structural adaptations, there has been some research to show that lactate increases collagen synthesis in fibroblasts, which is essential for blood vessel formation and wound healing.  Also correlations have been shown between increased lactate levels and concentrations of growth hormone and noradrenaline after BFR training” “Usually if we are going to lift above 80% of 1RM, traditionally we have (the cuffs) off… I did have one athlete who was doing heavy step ups with the cuffs on, he felt he would have a good 400m time the next day” “The bands will get you (to lactate) faster, and with less mechanical stress on the system” “I have some colleagues who will do over-reaching, and in their recovery weeks, they will do a lot of BFR, high reps” “Everyone thinks the first time I have an athlete I stick a BFR cuff on them, but it’s not true” “(BFR) is a stress, and we are using metabolic stress instead of mechanical stress” Show Notes Although BFR has been proven safe, there are some safety considerations and contraindications concerning BFR to be aware of: Thebarbellphysio.com/blood-flow-restriction-training-safe/ Performancehealthacademy.com/blood-flow-restriction-training-101.html Theprehabguys.com/blood-flow-restriction-training-in-a-nutshell/ Notes on protocols and usage with Dr. Jeremy Loenneke Informfitness.com/podcast/64-blood-flow-restriction-training-with-dr-jeremy-loenneke/ About Dr. Chris Gaviglio Dr. Chris Gaviglio is a current senior strength and conditioning coach for the Queensland Academy of Sport, working with Olympic-based sports and athletes.  Chris has been involved with elite sport for over 15 years working across multiple Olympic sports and professional football codes in both the northern (Bath Rugby) and southern (Wallabies – Australian National Rugby Union team and Gold Coast SUNS – Australian Football /AFL) hemisphere. During his time in the UK (Bath Rugby), Chris was involved with UKSport in multiple applied sports science projects.  His major project involved monitoring salivary hormones (testosterone and cortisol) responses to competition and training in rugby union and culminated in his thesis. Chris has several papers already publish as a result of this work and other collaborative work with other applied sport scientists. Aside from an interest in using salivary hormones as a marker for training and competition, he continues to provide bespoke applied sports science projects for the athletes he works with, particularly in the areas of: Passive heat maintenance Blood flow restriction training Warm-up and peri-competition strategies Power and strength development Chris is also an entrepreneur and enjoys designing training products that compliments his strength and conditioning passion. The first two products he produced were back mobilization tools in the Thera-wedge and then the Backsak. More recently he designed the Sports Rehab Tourniquet to be used for Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training. This is a total body training system for both the upper and lower body. As a progression from designing this BFR training tool he has developed training workshops and instructional videos to help educate users. full 1:18:35 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_277_Chris_Gaviglio.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-278%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-237" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-277/ Thu, 21 Oct 2021 13:01:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33957 Today’s show features Frank Forencich.  Frank is an internationally recognized leader in health and performance education. He has over thirty years of teaching experience in martial art and health education. Frank holds black belt rankings in karate and aikido and has traveled to Africa on several occasions to study human origins and the ancestral environment. A former columnist for Paleo Magazine, Frank is the author of numerous books about health and the human predicament, including “The Exuberant Animal”, the book I read that originally led me to Frank’s work. We live in a time where early sport specialization and pressure has led to burnout and high injury rates amongst athletes, but the “rabbit hole” to a dis-satisfaction with sport and movement in general for so many, goes much deeper than that.  As much as we fall prey to the stress-laden, year-round competitive schedule that leads athletes to higher pressure situations at younger ages, we also have “forgotten” our roots as athletes, and more importantly, as human beings, in so many senses of the word.  We miss out on both training results, satisfaction and longevity by failing to study our ancestral nature. On today’s show, Frank Forencich goes into many important elements of our humanity that can help athletes not only recover and train better, but also help increase enjoyment of the training process.  These elements include human biorhythms, dance, play and exploration, getting in the dirt, benefits of training in nature, purpose driven movement, and more.  This podcast was truly important on the level of helping us use the principles of nature that define who we are, to help us in training, and far beyond. If you bring drums into your gym, or for your workout after this episode, PLEASE let me know. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:20 – Key trends seen in the animal kingdom, in physical movement that humans should pay attention to our own movement practices 11:50 – “Effortful striving” in human training versus more of a purpose-driven approach that is characteristic to non-human animals 20:30 – What the idea of “dancing being the original PE” means to athletes and all-human 28:20 – How play and exploration influences how we adapt to movement and training 33:50 – Frank’s thoughts on when to specialize in a sport, or movement practice 35:20 – The difference between the “jungle animal” and the “desert animal” and what this means for humans, training and moving in context with their environment 38:35 – The impact of bioregion on movement practice 40:40 – The impact of training in nature, versus training in an indoor gym setting, and then the “Bio-Philic” need of humans in regards to connection with nature 45:45 – Jim Thorpe’s primal and natural training methods 48:20 – The importance of getting “in the dirt” and actually connecting with dirt and the earth itself for the sake of the micro-biome 54:05 – Low hanging fruits on how to deal with stress better in context of our human biology 58:05 – The role of the athlete in modern society 1:01:55 –  How to build a total training day based on the rhythms and mechanisms of the human being “There is no emphasis on appearance (regarding movement and “exercise” as observed in the animal kingdom)” “It’s important to remember that sports are movement specialties” “In human athletics, there is constant striving all the time that is divorced from habitat; it is almost as if we are training in a bubble” “For the playful athlete, the motivation is purely intrinsic” “We’ve lost sight of the fact that the dose makes the poison, the dose makes the medicine… the wisdom lies in remembering the shape of the inverse U-curve” “I don’t think we give our animal bodies enough credit for knowing what’s going on… I think we just need to listen more” “(Dancing) is not sagittal movement, it’s transverse plane movement” “There’s rhythm everywhere, drumming and dancing are fundamental for all of us” “At various weightlifting facilities, bring drums in and use them, that would an easy thing to add that would increase enjoyment and it would increase performance too” “Play is deeply wired into the primate-mammal body” “If you isolate rodents (from being able to play) they will grow up to have huge social deficits and dysfunctions” “What I’ve tried to do with people is have a bio-regional approach to athletics” “Native people always identify with habitat, and that is something we have lost a lot of in the modern world” “The blue collar stuff is really under-rated (for physical fitness)” “Our microbiome now is completely out of whack, and the way to get back to that is to put your hands in the dirt and actually contact the soil, or run barefoot, or go climbing (outside)” “(Modern ambient noise) is an assault on the autonomic nervous system” Show Notes Oregon State football dance-battle (rhythm and dance is foundational) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vafso7rClUY   One of Frank’s movement classes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2bcq3769ps About Frank Forencich Frank Forencich is an internationally recognized leader in health and performance education. He earned his BA at Stanford University in human biology and neuroscience and has over thirty years of teaching experience in martial art and health education. Frank holds black belt rankings in karate and aikido and has traveled to Africa on several occasions to study human origins and the ancestral environment. He’s presented at numerous venues, including the Ancestral Health Symposium, Google, the Dr. Robert D. Conn Heart Conference, and the Institute of Design at Stanford University. A former columnist for Paleo Magazine, Frank is the author of numerous books about health and the human predicament. He’s a member of the Council of Elders at the MindBodyEcology Collective and a Diplomate member at the American Institute of Stress. full 1:05:41 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_277_Frank_Forencich.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-277%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-238" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-276/ Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:10:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33943 More show notes at https:/www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-276/ Today’s show welcomes back coach Michael Zweifel.  Michael is the owner and head of sports performance for “Building Better Athletes” performance center in Dubuque, Iowa.  Building Better Athletes focuses on building the athlete from the ground up by mastering the fundamentals of movement mastery, strength/power training, recovery modalities, and promoting ownership in athletes.  Michael is also a team member of the movement education group, “Emergence”.  He has been a frequent guest on this podcast, speaking on topics of perception-reaction, exploration in the weight room, creativity and more. As I’ve grown as a coach (and a human mover/athlete) it’s been really enjoyable to experience sport, and movement in different ways.  In working in a college weight room, it was also very interesting to pay attention to the defining characteristics of the best athletes.  They weren’t always the strongest, or even the fastest, but they could move and react incredibly well in context of their sport… and they loved to play.  One of the things I’ve been enjoying doing recently, is coaching youth sports (5 year olds, to be exact) and it’s a learning experience that impacts my philosophy, all the way up the chain into high level performers. With play and exploration at the core of athleticism and sport, why is it that the culture of the gym (and in many sports performance settings) completely the opposite?  So much of modern sport acts like athletes are robots, a culture based on lines and whistles, and a perception of needing to do everything one particular way. On today’s show, Michael Zweifel goes into a deep dive on how his warmups fit with the key characteristics of elite athleticism. He speaks on how he connects his warmups to core human instincts and needs, and talks about how to develop a love for movement and play that transcends organized sport play.  Michael and I also take on a broad-scope discussion on the over-structuring that is rampant in sport (and our culture in general).  This show is truly important in light of our modern sport culture. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Michael Zweifel 276: Michael Zweifel on Mirroring and Reinforcing Elite Athleticism in the Warm-Up Process full 1:33:14 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_276_MZ_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-276%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-239" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-275/ Thu, 07 Oct 2021 15:28:16 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33938 Today’s show is with Kibwé Johnson.  Kibwé is the director of track and field at SPIRE Academy, in Geneva, Ohio, and the founder of FORTIUS performance.  Prior to SPIRE, Kibwe coached throws at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for 4 years. In his time as an athlete, Kibwé established himself as one of the USA’s best hammer throwers by being ranked first or second for over a decade, and his personal best of 80.31m/263’5” in 2011 the best mark by an American hammer thrower in over ten years.  He also owns the world’s all-time best HT/DT/WT combination of distances. Kibwé has personally worked with some of the most well regarded coaches in the US and internationally.  His coach for his final 10 years, Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk, greatly influenced the development of Kibwé’s own methodologies.  Kibwé’s coaching philosophy is built on communication and cites his experiences as a husband and father with learning how to become more effective as a coach. In my time as a coach, I’ve learned that technique and skill are more than a set of instructions, or a final “model” to shoot for through a series of drills and cues.  Although these instructions can certainly be helpful for lower level performers, once an athlete gets to a more advanced level of performance, drills lose their luster, and we must become more attuned to the actual interaction between the athlete and their environment (implements, the ground, gravity, etc.). On the show today, Kibwé talks about his experiences as an athlete, particularly with Dr. Bondarchuk that helped him develop as a thrower, and in his eventual career as a coach.  He talks about the unique, high velocity and cyclical elements of the hammer that demand a particular relationship to the instrument, and things we can take from this relationship that can transfer to other skills, or life itself.  Finally, Kibwe speaks extensively about drills, vs. holistic skill performance, and the many “subtle” elements, such as awareness, that go into enhancing holistic performance on the highest levels. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:40 – Kibwé’s evolution as an athlete, and what led him to his philosophy of “The Tao of the Hammer” 10:25 – Kibwé’s experience in working with Dr. Bondarchuk and how the communication barrier actually helped Kibwé to figure out his throw without the use of words or cues 18:20 – How the hammer throw in track and field is unique in respect to other throwing events due to its unique, very high velocity rotational dynamics 21:10 – Kibwé’s take on teaching athlete’s fundamental positions vs. letting them figure out skills in a different manner (or on their own), particularly in context of the hammer throw 26:40 – How acquiring the “feeling” of a good throw is helpful to scale to throws of all distances 32:25 – How people tend to want a “list of things” when doing something, and the battle of getting an athlete outside of a list of cues, and to facilitate them figuring things out on their own 34:40 – How to learn, from a “Tao of the Hammer” perspective, and what awareness in a hammer throw means to Kibwé 46:40 – Examples of elite athletes who have had their mechanics “fixed”, as per a “technical model” and had poor seasons or failed to improve 51:25 – How Kibwé would address a “mistake” in an athlete’s throwing, and portions of an athlete’s technique 56:40 – Where drills fall short in training a complex movement, such as the hammer throw 1:02:40 – Reactivity as needed between the hammer and the athlete, and how to “do less” in the course of a throw from a perspective of actively putting force into the implement “It really came down to trying to find the words to explain how I was feeling when I felt my best; because I wasn’t seeing that anywhere” “It’s pretty typical that a coach will use a whole lot of words, but in all of those words, there is no space for that athlete to fill that with their own natural instincts, or nests.  What makes that own individual amazing gets tripped away with a ton of words, in my opinion” “In track and field and the technical disciplines, the athletes who were allowed to grow and evolve and change on their own, are more artists in a way, if that makes sense” “There is an importance to teaching a base level, “how do you move, kind of thing”…. But there is part of me what says, “why not?”” “Hammer throwers who started at 10 or earlier, it is beautiful to watch” “My thing there is when an athlete is essentially connected to that feeling, and they can maintain that through the throw, you can have that feeling no matter how hard you throw” “The next day, the feeling they received from that cue that you gave them (the day prior) is different, for an innumerable number of reasons” “Both are needed, masculine and feminine, yin/yang.  Both are needed, but then there are points when one is not needed versus the other, or vice versa, and trying to work that out for yourself” “It’s just being intentional with my movement, and that in itself is meditation.  With hammer and movement, it’s as simple as that, and it’s basically opening yourself up to really feeling what’s happening with your body in space.. and your mind too honestly, instead of not knowing how you got there” “We lose so many athletes to (a highly technical coaching system) because we have this one-size-fits-all system that we are thrown into, and some have “success”, but the artists, they just fall off, never to be seen from again” “When I trained with Dr. B I felt like I couldn’t do anything else, but throw a hammer… I found it funny” “The hammer doesn’t go just because you want it to go far.  You have to work with it, and you have to be part of it… it doesn’t care how strong you are” “By removing myself, the hammer is free to do whatever it needs to do” “I don’t understand why you would coach everyone the same way, train everyone the same way, everyone’s different” “Between eight and thirteen 80 meter guys, not one of us looked the same, (Dr. B) allowed for everyone’s individual-ness to come through, and everyone threw really far” “When the opportunity is kind of stripped from you, you lose that opportunity to learn about yourself” About Kibwe Johnson Kibwé Johnson is the director of track and field at SPIRE Academy, in Geneva, Ohio.  He is also the founder of FORTIUS performance which focuses on track and field throws training.  Prior to SPIRE, Kibwe coached throws at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for 4 years. In his time as an athlete, Kibwé established himself as one of the nation’s best hammer throwers of all time by being ranked first or second for over a decade. In that time, he secured 5 US titles, 4 US runner-up, and numerous US national teams.  He has personally worked with some of the most well regarded coaches in the US and internationally in Don Babbitt, Bob McKay, Stuart Togher, 4x Olympian Jud Logan, and lastly Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk.  Kibwé deeply values his 10 years spent with Dr. Bondarchuk as their time together greatly influenced the development of Kibwé’s own training methodologies. Kibwé’s winning toss and personal best of 80.31m/263’5” at the 2011 USA Outdoor Championships was the best mark by an American hammer thrower in over a decade, making him only the fourth American to ever to go beyond the mythical 80-meter line. Boasting a personal best of 65.11m/213’6” in discus, and 25.12m/82’5” in weight throw, Kibwé is the most versatile throws athlete of all time (All-Time World Best HT/DT/WT combination). Kibwé’s coaching philosophy is built on communication and cites his experiences as a husband and father with learning how to become more effective as a coach. full 1:15:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_275_Kibwe_Johnson_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-275%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-240" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-274/ Thu, 30 Sep 2021 10:10:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33928 Today’s show is with Alex Effer, owner of Resilient Training and Rehabilitation.  Alex has treated and trained a variety of clients, from professional and amateur athletes, to a wide spectrum of the general population, ranging from those with certain medical conditions, to postoperative rehabilitation and individuals with chronic and complex pain.  Alex has experience as an exercise physiologist, a strength and conditioning coach, and has consulted with a number of elite and Olympic organizations.  Alex has taken a tremendous amount of continuing education courses and is on the leading edge of modern training theory. There are loads of different continuing education courses and theories, each carrying methods to train athletes from perspectives on breathing, corrective exercise, and exercise variations, to name a few.  It is in the process of getting to the core principles that define these many training systems, that we can gain a greater level of wisdom to make better decisions in exercise selection and training organization. For today’s podcast, Alex speaks on his continuing education journey, and core principles that many current courses in human performance/assessment and biomechanics tend to have in common.  He speaks on how to dial up, or down, points of contact in a movement to help an athlete achieve better mastery over a skill or core human function. In the second half of the show, Alex gives some analysis and progressions with functional training movements, such as crab walks, and bear crawls, and then talks about how some “meathead” oriented exercises are actually more functional than we give the credit for.  Finally, Alex talks about exercises that either “push an athlete backwards in the chest” or “push them forwards” from the back, and how those ramifications can go into, not ony the way we select exercises, but aso the way that we periodize and organize our training programs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:15 – Common trends that Alex found in his educational process, having taken “all the courses” 13:30 – How Alex looks at force vectors in training and movement, and the difference between walking and running when assessing gait and looking at these force vectors 20:15 – Where Alex has gotten most of his information in training when considering PRI versus other educational systems (such as DNS or SFMA) 22:15 – Why it may be a faulty method to try to compare babies to adults in terms of baseline movement patterning 30:00 – How to transition a client from 12 points of contact, to only 2, and how to use the extra points of contact to improve one’s movement ability when athletes may struggle with standing motions 44:30 – Assessing crab walks, and explaining (or regressing) why athletes might not be able to lift their hips up while performing the crab walk 51:15 – Why some “fitness/bodybuilding” movement can have athletic movement applications, such as a tricep kickback or arm curl coupled with head turn 56:15 – How athletes doing exercises in a manner that “feels good” often times is an optimal method of them doing that movement, versus whatever the commonly accepted technical model for that exercise might be 1:00:00 – Alex’s theory on periodizing training based on early, mid and late stance oriented movements 1:12:15 – Viewing training intervention as either “pulling someone back” or “pushing them forward” “When you take every single course, you kind of get mind-blown by them the first time… and then you hit a client that totally goes against all the algorithms and everything they say, and you have to pivot” “(all the continuing education courses) believe in some sort of respiration and how that affects the body” “You got two phases of respiration, so you got inhale which is more external rotation, and exhale which is more internal rotation.  You also have the three phases of gait, two of the phases are external rotation so you’ve got to believe there is some semblance with inhalation, and then you’ve got one of the phases, mid-stance which is more pronation, so you have to believe that is going to be more exhalation” “If this person is limited in internal rotation, they must be limited in exhalation in that area” “As I pronate my foot, I’m going to have an internal rotation force go all the way up near my head” “If I can’t get the air in certain parts of my ribcage, or certain parts of my pelvis, then I am going to induce more muscle tone in that area… I now have to use a muscle strategy in order to pull the air in; I use my lats, I use my pecs, I use my SCM, I use my traps” “Go into the anatomy app, and remove all the muscle, and start with “how do the bones move” “So, position, breathing, gait, and force vectors: To me, those are the main things that I think about based on all of the different systems I’ve taken that influence me today and dictate how I may program and what I’m looking at from an assessment standpoint” “Internal rotation is a downward force into the ground” “Why do we pronate? Why do we internally rotate? Because we are hitting a ground that does not visibly deform when we hit it? “What I really like from DNS, or what I took was the developmental sequences (lying on your back, side, quadiped, half kneeling) going from 12 points of contact to the ground, to just having 2, and how to manage that” “You can get so sucked into the algorithm that you take thinking out of the equation” “With every exercise I do on the ground, I try to have the feet involved” “When I’m doing an assessment I ask, “how far forward on the toes is this person”? “For me, the supine is going to help me gain range of motion, to be able to try something with more range of motion, and has more gravitational demand to it” “Toe off and heel strike are more of a horizontal force vector” “(In crab walking) I’m not able to flex my one shoulder as I’m walking forward; I can’t bring my arm forward because that rib cage doesn’t have the ability to flex… they are more sagittal plane driven and they don’t have the ability to rotate” “Let’s say you do a crawling sequence, first you do a forward bear crawl, then a reverse bear crawl, then a crab walk, and see how that improves (because that is going to open up the manubrium).  Then if that still doesn’t work, side planks are going to help, tricep kickbacks are going to help” “Bicep curls (with a simultaneous head turn) open up space in the upper back” “Doing lower reaching or heel elevation exercises can bring me into a heel strike bias, which is going to open up some shoulder flexion, internal and external rotation, and then I can move onto a mid-stance phase; force production and strength” “The first phase of an off-season is more heel strike, it’s more hypertrophy, let’s build some muscle mass, let’s restore range of motion; and then we move into more strength in the second phase… that phase is more mid-stance, I need to start producing force” “Landing exercises are going to be more heel-strike bias, because that is deceleration” “BFR, how expansive is that? That’s going to promote some external rotation for sure in those areas” “In order to understand programming, at the top of the page, write heel strike, mid-stance, toe-off.  Then write down all different lunges, then squats, then deadlifts, then presses” “A flexed thorax (more heel strike) is something we should be searching for… most people are being pushed from behind and going onto their toes, so we need to push them back.  I am asking, am I trying to pull this person back, or am I trying to push them forward?” Show Notes Supine cross connect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb1bVUNx-OM   Walking cross connect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgugFWN3Gao   The manubrium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eltLjT8j1r0   Erik Huddleston’s chart on training expansion and contraction About Alex Effer Alex Effer is the owner of Resilient Training and Rehabilitation, a name that emphasizes Alex’s unique approach to fitness, which is one that combines both aspects of normal fitness and rehabilitation principles to achieve long- lasting pain free results. Alex uses his comprehensive knowledge and passion in exercise science, autonomics, respiration, rehabilitation, and biomechanics to develop programs that promote injury prevention, sports performance, and rehabilitation through quality of movement. Alex has gained extensive clinical and practical experience treating and training a variety of clients from professional and amateur athletes, high profile executives, older adults, individuals with certain medical conditions such as Stroke, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Congenital Heart Disease, Postoperative rehabilitation and individuals with chronic and complex pain. Alex’s experience includes: Head Exercise Physiologist at Ace Sports Clinic Inc; Director of Return to Performance and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Varsity Baseball, Women's Lacrosse, and Golf team at the University of Toronto; Consultant for the Varsity Blues Football, Hockey, Swimming Team; Head Exercise Physiologist for Balance Physiotherapy; and consultant to Olympic Swimming Athletes, and NBA players. Alex earned his Bachelors of Kinesiology from the University of Toronto, obtained a Post-Graduate Certificate in Exercise Science for Health and Performance from Niagara College and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, and EXOS Performance Specialist. full 1:18:42 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_274_Alex_Effer.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-274%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-241" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-273/ Thu, 23 Sep 2021 13:27:56 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33915 Today’s show is with Lance Walker.  Lance is the Global Director of Performance at the Michael Johnson Performance Center where he designs and implements performance training programming for local and international youth, collegiate, and professional athletes in all sports. Prior to MJP, Lance served as Director of Performance Training at Integrated Athletic Development, as well as having served as an assistant strength coach with the Dallas Cowboys, as well as the University of Oklahoma.  Lance is also a current Registered Physical Therapist in the state of Texas, giving him a unique blend of skills and lenses by which to observe athletic performance. In looking at what makes athletes operate at a high level, we can’t go too far without looking at the actions of the pelvis and spine.  As both a strength coach, and physical therapist, Lance has detailed knowledge of both the anatomy and fine-tuned function of this region, as well as more global concepts, linking it to sprinting and general strength training. For today’s show, Lance takes us on a journey of hip function, and how that function ties into sprinting and athletic movement.  He goes into pelvic dynamics in the weight room (including some important points on split squatting and the hips), as well as how using horizontal resistance combined with vertical exercises can drive unique and more specific adaptations.  Finally, talks about some key strength movements to achieve better pelvic function for speed and resiliency. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:30 – How Lance looks at the action of the pelvis in sprinting and human movement 19:00 – Pelvic dynamics in bilateral sagittal plane activity (squatting and deadlifting) versus sprinting, and helping athletes determine their own individual squat depth 21:30 – How a rear foot elevated split squat can create lumbo-sacral torsion that could provoke injury in the pelvis 34:30 – How to help athletes who are not reciprocal in the pelvis improve their pelvic action in sprinting, and Lance’s view on core and trunk training for athlete 38:00 – The role of hip flexors in training for speed and athletic performance 50:30 – How adding horizontal band resistance can dynamically change strength training exercises 54:30 – The idea of hip separation in fast sprinters (front knee and back knee distance) and if this is a good idea to specifically train in practice “That pelvis motion, rotation and listing, that’s my focus now, both from a dysfunction standpoint and a speed standpoint” “The body needs to set up and list the pelvis to be fast” “Optimized motion should probably be the approach, and let’s just not stabilize the tar out of it and make everything move around this stable, fictitious pelvis” “It’s like you are setting the spring so when you throw it, it abducts, externally rotates and extends, and when it hits the ground, it’s still rotating” “There was this incredible increase in pubic symphysis issues… there was this mad rush to load this split stance stuff, because, nobody hurt their back anymore, and “it’s more functional”” “Hip flexor strength is a thing!” “Just stretching the hip flexors, and strengthening the abdominal wall doesn’t help (anterior pelvic tilt) those people” “When you are doing your leg drop series, don’t put your hands under your pelvis” “(Regarding the supine leg drop test without the low back arching up) The one’s that have a lot of issues, the bottom 10-20%, chronic hamstrings, spondy, all those things, yeah that’s a test (that failing fits with getting hurt more often)” “That’s a key concept in hamstring rehab is training the hamstring while training the hip flexor” “We worked with elite distance runners at MJP, and the more elite they were, the more positive their Thomas test was (poor hip flexor mobility)” “Fast freaks are not putting a lot of pressure into the ground after neutral… the ones that suck, they are the ones still putting pressure into the ground after center” “These elite sprinters are not hitting directly below their body, they are hitting 6” in front of their body” “I’m anti-deceleration, we are doing a dis-service by teaching others to slow down” “All of us that get to work with athletes, or patients, we are shepherds to this adaptation, we are not driving adaptation.  Don’t kid yourself; the human body, that is the magic maker” About Lance Walker Lance Walker is the Global Director of Performance at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas where he designs and implements performance training programming for local and international youth, collegiate, elite, and professional athletes in all sports. Lance previously served as Director of Performance Training at Integrated Athletic Development and was responsible for the training and/or physical rehabilitation needs of over 150 active professional athletes from the NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA, CBA, and CFL. Lance served three seasons as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach with the Dallas Cowboys. Prior to joining the Dallas Cowboys, Lance held strength & conditioning positions at the University of Oklahoma and Casady School, Oklahoma City, where he worked directly with athletes across many sports, including football, basketball, track, golf, gymnastics and wrestling. Lance also holds a Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Oklahoma. He has contributed to over 20 professional publications in sport science and presented at over 15 national conferences. Lance is a former Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a current Registered Physical Therapist in the state of Texas. Combining his sports medicine and rehab sciences background, with 23 years of performance training experience, Lance is recognized globally as a leading expert, innovator, and pioneer in youth athlete development, high-performance training systems integration, and multi-disciplinary sports performance training methodology. full 1:06:05 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_273_Lance_Walker.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-273%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-242" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-272/ Thu, 16 Sep 2021 14:14:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33906 Today’s show is with Christian Thibaudeau.  Christian has been a strength coach for nearly 2 decades, working with athletes from nearly 30 sports.  He has written four books and has pioneered multiple educational courses, including the Neuro-typing system, which goes in-depth on how to train athletes in the weight room (and beyond) based on their own individual dispositions. I have had Christian on the podcast many times talking about neuro-typing, but more recently I’ve been digging into his knowledge of various types of training repetitions (Omni-rep) which we talked about on podcast 221.  As per any strength coach I am aware of, Christian has the greatest knowledge of set-rep schemes and combinations available for training, and, as such, I have really enjoyed the chance to speak to him on the terms of training complexes and schemes. On the show, Christian gets into power training complexes, and the possibility of utilizing sport skills in the total framework.  He also talks about how to periodize and assign the use of complexes, as the method “costs” more in terms of the adaptive resources of the athlete. Finally, Christian spends time talking about training stimulus, and how to create the “purest” possible adaptation for an athlete with the minimal amount of noise in the system, ending with a description of his double and triple progression systems. The interesting thing with this talk was that it was almost more about what not to do, than what to do.  In times like these, where coaches are armed with a massive arsenal of possibilities at their fingertips, the need for wisdom on how to actually utilize and progress the methods, without adding excess noise to the system, is at a premium. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:45 – Recent insights from Christian on watching his children grow and mature in regards to sport preference, behavior and physical abilities 13:30 – Christian’s thoughts on introducing specific sport skills into power training complexes 25:45 – Why more movements in a complex is more neurologically demanding, and how to choose how many exercises in a complex, based on the type of athlete you are working with 32:15 – Christian’s take on when to use (or not use) power complexes in a training year, based on the athlete 47:45 – How to increase training stimulus, and how to progress in training without adding volume, or even weight 59:45 – Why it is important not to give a client what you, as a coach, are currently in love with in terms of training methods 1:05:45 – How to make training the “purest” it can possibly be, reducing all un-necessary noise in a program to help athletes adapt in as direct of way that is possible 1:12.00 – Christian’s take on using bar-speed monitor units for athletes in light of adrenaline increases and intensification factors 1:22.00 – Using very simple lifts, such as a leg press, in order to put minimal stress into a training program where an athlete is doing a non-strength sport 1:28.00 – Christian’s simple-strength progression method, the “triple progression method” that offers a low level of noise and a long-term progression potential for an athlete “The simple fact that it feels lighter (doing a light set, after doing a heavy set), it will make you more confident, and you will produce more force” “The closer both movements are together, the easier the brain will connect both (for the brain to transfer to sport skill)” “That’s one of the issues with complexes is that they will raise adrenaline more than any training benefit you can find; which is a benefit in the short term… the downside of that is the more adrenaline you produce in training, the more likely you are to suffer from training burnout” “I prefer top range of motion (lifting) in the transfer phases; studies have shown that partial squats have much more impact on speed and jumping capacity than full squats” “The more stations you have (in a circuit) the easier the transfer is” “If you have the natural capacity to transfer gains easily, athletes who can take the gains in the gym and transfer them to the field, well you only need two stations because transfer is easy for you, you might not even need to do a complex.  But the reality is that many athletes are not that gifted when it comes to transferring the gains they make in the gym to the field.  They will need more stations in the complex, or periodizing their complex” “Remember, the more stations in the complex, the harder it is on the nervous system, so if I can get away with only two stations in a complex, I will take that option” “I’ve had people who will increase 5kg on their squat and jump higher and run quicker.  Others will increase their squat 30kg and not improve… those who are naturally explosive are normally those who transfer strength very easily to sporting movement.  People who are naturally less explosive, they will need a lot more time to transfer skills” “For those who don’t transfer strength easily (to skill) they need to use complexes as early as possible” “The harder (your brain) has to work to perform the workout, the more adrenaline you release” “The more different tasks you have in a workout, the harder your brain needs to work” “If you want to use more than one type of training in a training session; you need to factor that in and increase the number of rest days” “You need time to stabilize the gains from the complexes (if an athlete gains skill transfer easily I would wait until 6-10 weeks out from peak competition)” “If you are not good at transferring, you could add a sport skill to your complex” “Most people see adding weight as the only way to progressively overload, and that is not the case” “Most people do not get good results from progressive overload because they increase weight too much or too quick” “The least amount of volume you can do, and progress at a satisfactory rate, the better off you are” “When your body is not ready for that increase in load, you will have compensatory mechanisms going on” “Crossfit checks all the boxes when it comes to increasing adrenaline; cortisol will actually increase adrenaline” “(I use bar speed monitors) to teach an athlete how a fast squat should feel; I want them to know what fast enough feels like.  I found that, if you try to beat the machine every time, which is great for performance, but bad for recovery…. I need to decrease other variables to compensate” “Science is cool, but there is such as thing as “too scientific… the more you can focus on the movement instead of something external, the better results you have”” “Instead of doing 60 meters, do 58 meters, or 63 meters, or a distance nobody trains… focus on the activity instead of the end-goal” “Going from a front squat to a leg press, you know what it’s a much simpler movement so it will allow you to recover” “In season, an athlete does not need an exercise with a high-transfer capacity…. in season I look for using the least neurological stress movement possible… in season what we (did) for the legs is pushing a heavy sled, let’s push a heavy sled forward and backward with a load that is challenging for 30m… with a heavy sled push, I tend to look at 10 meters = 1 rep… the main strength movement we have in season is the prowler push” About Christian Thibaudeau Christian Thibaudeau has been involved in the business of training for over the last 18 years. During this period, he worked with athletes from 28 different sports. He has been “Head Strength Coach” for the Central Institute for Human Performance (official center of the St. Louis Blues). His specialty: being a generalist. He assists his athletes to develop the necessary qualities to increase their performances (eg: muscle mass, power, explosiveness, coordination). His work method enabled him to lead several successful athletes in a multitude of different disciplines. Christian is a prolific writer with three books published, each of which translated into three languages (The Black Book of Training Secrets, Theory and Application of Modern Strength and Power Methods, High Threshold Muscle Building). In addition, Christian is co-author with Paul Carter in a new book, which will soon be released. He is also the author of two DVDs (Cluster Training, Mechanical Drop Sets). Christian is also a senior author and head writer for the E-Magazine T-Nation his articles are read by over 200,000 people every week. He competed in weightlifting at the national level as well as bodybuilding, He was also a football coach for 8 years. As a lecturer, he has given conferences and seminars in both the United States and Europe, to audiences ranging from amateur athletes to health professionals and coaches of all types. Christian Thibaudeau popularized the Neurotyping system. Neural optimization supersedes hormonal optimization because the neural response affects the hormonal response. This is essentially the founding principle and inspiration behind Christian Thibaudeau’s Neurotyping System. The bottom line is simple: you are more likely to train hard, be focused, and stay motivated if you like the type of training you are doing, and a training that goes against your nature causes a greater stress response that hinders optimal progression. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein full 1:35:46 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_272_C_Thibs_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-272%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-243" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-271/ Thu, 09 Sep 2021 14:13:50 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33897 Today’s show is with Gavin MacMillan, sports performance coach and founder of Sport Science Lab. Growing up in Toronto Canada, he participated in 7 high school sports, and received a tennis scholarship from San Jose State University.  In 2001 Gavin founded Sport Science Lab where he has experienced a great deal of success training athletes and teams at every level in multiple sports. I’ve personally had a mixed relationship with barbells in the course of my own athletic career.  I’ve had positive (squatting sub-maximally 1x a week being a staple in my best athletic year), but also several negative experiences, one of which was my surprise at age 20, I had spent fall of work increasing my best clean from 225 to 245lb, yet high jumped only 6’1” the first two meets of the year (my PR from high school being 6’8”).  In my first few years as a college track coach, I learned quickly that an athlete who learns to lift barbells better is not necessarily a faster athlete. When I was 21, I stumbled across a book called “Pro-Bod-X” by Marv Marinovich and Edyth Hues.  The training methods within were like nothing I’d ever seen, incorporating a lot of unstable surfaces, and they didn’t use heavy weights.  Doing the workouts for just over a month, I was pleasantly surprised by just how easily I was moving and jumping in my pickup basketball games. Gavin MacMillan does not use barbells in his training program, and yet gets incredible results on the level of building speed, reactivity, jumping ability, and tremendous resistance to injury.  He has a strong use of balance and proprioception based movements in his training program.  Regardless of where you stand in closeness traditional weightlifting/lifting maxes as a form of progress in a program, you will be a better coach by understanding Gavin’s approach to training athletes, as well as his own experiences as an athlete that led him there. On the show today, Gavin shares his background as an athlete, his results using a non-barbell based training program, concepts on force-production training without using barbells, foot training, and the role of athletic balance training that can be merged with resistance training means for big improvements in reactive outputs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:15 – Gavin’s athletic background (which included ballet and figure skating), and how he got into sports performance coaching 12:30 – Gavin’s experience with traditional barbell weight training, and how he ended up going away from these methods in his own training, and with athletes he worked with 21:15 – Taking a step away from traditional barbell training, and how Gavin was able to transform the injury-reduction factor of a professional Rugby team, setting the record for the fewest player minutes lost 29:15 – Gavin’s answer to the question on, how to train an athlete who needs to get generally bigger and stronger, without using traditional barbell methods 33:00 – Gavin’s thoughts on how to train strength and force for people who don’t have access to advanced training machines 46:30 – Talking on what one sport might be able to offer another from an explosive perspective, such as the impact of figure skating in Gavin’s upbringing 52:00 – Elements of a fast transition to the ball of the foot 54:00 – How squatting with a foot on a balance disc fundamentally changes the exercise adaptation, soreness, and athleticism 1:04.15 – The various surfaces that Gavin uses with his athletes, that optimizes their interaction between the foot and the ground 1:10.30 – How Gavin uses isometrics to produce high rates of force development, without generating large amounts of muscle soreness 1:20.30 – Ideas on the rhythm of moving a load in training “What a gift (ballet) was, because now I was taught balance, I was taught flexibility, I was taught to control my body in space.  And then in figure skating, I really had to find different ways to balance on small blades, and I was skating circles around people” “If a system (such as barbell training) is relying on your form being perfect to work, that’s flawed from the outset” “To be able to handle my own bodyweight at a higher velocity is imperative” “In rugby for instance, the scrum is 2% of the game, so I’m not going to spend the entire training platform more than he’ll actually need it” “You are not going to improve the ability to move an external load unless you move external loads; have you ever tried to bale hay in your life? I’d rather a guy is flipping tires than back squatting” “A human can only produce force properly at certain joint angles” “We’ll incorporate a balance element into almost all the strength work we do” “The foot is so important because it’s a suspension system that the rest of the body has to stretch against, and the foot has flex as well” “I don’t think people understand what balance is; balance is keeping your body in a centered position, no matter how it’s challenged” “Great athletes control their limbs in space, in every range and plane of motion better than other people” “Last year’s combine, every one of our linemen (vertical jump) went up 6 inches in 6 weeks, in whatever we had them for” “People don’t’ understand that having just a standing vertical, this is not going to correlate to a moving vertical” “If you don’t have the balance to control yourself at slow speeds, you sure as heck aren’t going to have the balance to do it at high ones” “The best athlete not only can create contact well, they can avoid contact better” “In figure skating, you had to hold these bent knee positions, and propel yourself the length of the ring to pass your exam” “Your body is going to try and find the most efficient way it can (in athletic movement, including squatting)” “We don’t just have strength at any position, we have optimal power positions (90 degree angles)” “That’s one of the thing we really talk about when we talk about baseball hitting; you can’t have your head moving when you have objects being thrown at you at 100 miles per hour” “DOMS is created from heavy eccentric loading, which our body never does, think about it.  Eccentric range, we either ballistically load it, or we hold it isometrically, we never load it slowly eccentrically, never happens” “Where the strength business is going to go, is it is going to go where you need to increase the velocity of the load eccentrically” Show Notes SSL Foot Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuz-KRg2HY   SSL Strength Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF1wNq-A5hc   About Gavin MacMillan Gavin grew up in Toronto, Canada. While in high school he participated in 7 sports, ice hockey being his main and favorite. He received a tennis scholarship from San Jose State University and graduated with a B.S. Degree in  Economics. In 2001 he founded Sport Science Lab where he has trained athletes and teams at every level in multiple sports. He has also been approached by various sporting teams and committees around the world to advise on conditioning and rehabilitation strategies. Of late he often works with boxing legend Freddie Roach preparing fighters for events, Over the last 21 years he has accumulated a noticeable client list which includes Miguel Cotto, Will Blackmon, Troy Polumalo, Manny Pacquiao, George St.Pierre, Dominick Cruz, Will Blackmon, LA Sol women soccer team ...the list goes on and on! full 1:24:49 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2F271_Gavin_MacMillan_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-271%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-244" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-270/ Thu, 02 Sep 2021 12:46:14 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33890 More show notes at https://www.justf-ly-sports.com/podcast-270/ Today’s show is with athletic performance coach and long term athletic development expert, James Baker.  James is one of the co-founders of the LTAD Network, and is currently a Strength & Conditioning coach and Performance Support Lead at the Aspire Academy in Doha, Qatar.  James has a unique blend of skills and experience as a S&C coach, PE teacher, sport scientist and researcher. So many times in sports performance, and particularly in the sub-set of speed and power training, we look to focus on the most high intensity methods we can possibly utilize to achieve adaptations in athletes.  Or perhaps, we inquire to the optimal technical or tactical methods for the sport in front of us. Unfortunately, we don’t tend to look much at the entire, long-term process of an athlete achieving their best possible result in a sport, as well as being well balanced outside of their sport specific ventures.  To give athletes the best training experience, we need to have a thorough understanding on how they might respond various training methods along different points in their athletic journey.  Look at the long term process; look at the love of movement and play outside of one’s specific sport, better understand the entire umbrella of what it means to be both human and an athlete On today’s show, James will discuss the difference between early specialization and early engagement, and the need for athletes to love and appreciate other forms of movement and play as their sport career unfolds.  He will also take on free-moving sports like parkour in relation to ball sports, and then deliver some great ideas on progressing plyometric and strength training means over the course of an athlete’s development.  For those of you who don’t work directly with growing athletes, realize that by learning more about how young athletes develop, you can learn a lot more about the mature athlete in front of you, and the process that led him or her there.  Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, James Baker 270: James Baker on Strength, Plyometrics, and Movement Variety in the Process of Long-Term Athletic Development full 58:39 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_270_James_Baker_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-270%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-245" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-269/ Thu, 26 Aug 2021 15:35:29 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33882 Today’s show is with athletic performance coach, Erik Huddleston.  Erik is currently the Director of Performance at Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training (IFAST) and a performance consultant for a number of professional baseball & basketball teams. Erik previously spent time at Indiana University & Texas Tech University with the men’s basketball teams. So often in the course of using barbell methods for athletic performance, there are often movements that are considered sacred cows of training.  There also tends to be common thoughts as to how these lifts should be performed, such as all athletes needing to squat heavy “ass to grass”.  In reality, athletes come in all shapes, sizes and structures.  Athletes of varying shapes may respond to various types of barbell lifts differently, and there are ways to optimize training for performance, and robustness when considering structural differences of athletes. Advanced and elite athletes will tend to utilize the feet, and stance in different ways as well.  Knowing how an athlete is leveraging the gait cycle, and what points they are particularly biasing to achieve their performances, is important when thinking about which lift variations we might want to utilize with them over time. For today’s episode, Erik takes us on a deep dive into squatting and how it relates to the “reversal ability” of athletes, given their individual shapes and structures.  He also relates the phases of gait (early,mid,late stance) to squatting and jumping concepts, to help us better understand how to give athletes what they need at particular points in their career.  Erik cover important elements of single leg squatting as well, in this highly detailed chat on performance training. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:00 – Some of the things Erik has learned from spending time in both the collegiate and private sectors of training 9:00 – Things that Erik looks at in training video that he may be addressing in the gym setting 15:00 – Managing squatting and squat training in light of the various phases of stance 25:20 – How to “bucket” athletes based on need in squatting, in terms of depth and heel-elevation, particularly those with wider hips and narrower shoulders 35:00 – How an athlete’s body shape and structure will tend to determine their functional ability and biomechanics 49:00 – Self-selection principles when it comes to strength and power exercises and coaching 52:00 – Shin angle principles in light of squatting and reversal power 55:00 – How single leg differs from double leg training in terms of pelvic-sacrum action and pressurization 1:00.30 – What Erik is looking for in the stances of the foot when an athlete is jumping or dunking 1:05.30 – Why banded work can cause athletes to “over-push” in jumping, and the impulse related nature of “point zero” in a jump 1:11.30 – More talk on jumping in regards to single leg jumping and accessing late-stance, and why advanced athletes tend to be more late-stance dominant 1:22:00 – Erik’s take on athletes who are early-stance dominant, and how to help them overcome resistance, create compression, and ideally get to mid and late stance more easily “An ability to translate through the phases of gait is something that I look at (when assessing video)” “Some kids are naturally not going to be able to get lower in that athletic stance” “Gait is a constant falling and catching yourself as you go forward” “If the tibia moves forward and your heel is on the ground, you are moving towards the middle phase of propulsion…. as soon as the calcaneus breaks the ground you are in a later phase of propulsion” “(Internal rotation) doesn’t allow for a lot of general movement qualities… or a fluid variation in movement.  IR is compression, IR is force production, it is not necessarily fluidity of movement, it is meant to block things from happening; to compress and produce force” “If someone is at that (max IR) point, and you ask them to change levels, then there is going to be a compensation” “A lot of the higher end athletes I work with are biased towards this middle or late propulsion, so for them to squat, I need to bring the ground up to them (through a slant board)” “Having only half of your foot, or just your heel on the slant, doesn’t put you in an early position (with heels on plates, the bias is still towards IR)” “If they are spending too much time, and they are too shoved forward into middle and late stance, access to early (stance) is key” “3rd world squatting, sitting on your heels is very early stance biased” “Compensation is not a poor choice, you just need to have resources outside of that compensation” “From a strategic standpoint it is difficult to get (narrow shoulder/wide hip individuals) to come out of the bottom of the squat with quality…. Putting them in a position that doesn’t allow much descent will allow them more ascent… I have 3 or 4 girls who do hack squats really really well; I don’t allow them all the descent of their pelvic floor that they would generally have” “The rebound is a completely different position than the going down portion is (of a squat)” “I’m looking for those first couple of inches (of the squat reversal) as it can be out of the bottom; I think that giving them that constraint, that raises the floor up a little for (narrow shoulder/wide hip), so they are not pre-disposed to over-dropping into a jump” “The unique thing about the tibia and the sacrum is that they actually move together” “The goal is to have smooth, fluid transitions between (all movements in the gym)” “If you look at the typical basketball athlete, they are very output driven, not very input driven… they are springy people” “That early (heel) position is really important for athletes to get into in jumping, because it gives them enough yield and expansion quality to get that energy capture before they are going to turn that around” “(The bottom of a jump) is max internal rotation, maximal force production… at that point heel breaks the ground, and every transition from that point until their toe comes off the ground is going to be ER” “If I need to bring an athlete back on their heel at all, how far back is that, and how do I manage that? “Muscle itself is biased towards IR because there is a compressive nature about it” Show Notes Michael Jordan guarding Allen Iverson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O04iA1Pack About Erik Huddleston Erik Huddleston is currently the Director of Performance at Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training (IFAST) and a performance consultant for a number of professional baseball & basketball teams. He previously spent time at Indiana University & Texas Tech University with the men’s basketball teams. full 1:33:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_269_Erik_Huddleston_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-269%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-246" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-268/ Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:42:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33876 Today’s show is with Ben Askren, former mixed martial artist and wrestler, who is now a wrestling coach (amongst his other ventures).  Ben is one of the most successful wrestlers, and MMA fighters of all time, known for his unique style and technical skills. Ben’s NCAA career consisted of a 157-8 overall record. His final two years were dominant with an 87-0 record capped by back-to-back national championships (2006 & 2007). Ben was a four-time all-American, and two-time recipient of the Dan Hodge Trophy (the college wrestling equivalent of the Heisman).  Askren was the former Bellator and ONE Welterweight Champion, remaining undefeated for over a decade before competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and had a final win-loss record of 19 and 2.  Ben has co-founded Askren Wrestling Academy (AWA) with his brother Max. They currently operate 5 gyms. I am perpetually fascinated by elite talent in sport.  In training athletes, so often we take for granted, the long term process, the mental process, and the creativity that makes some athletes so elite.  It is very easy to get “sucked in” to sets, reps, exercises and positions, and fail to nurture both the individual creative and mental processes that are going to help athletes succeed as the level of competition rises. On today’s podcast, Ben takes us through his early life in sport, and about when he made the transition from multi-sport athlete to specialist in wrestling.  He shares about the grounds the led to some big leaps in his creative ability as an athlete, and the balance between creativity and structure in the development of a young athlete.  Finally Ben shares lots of information on developing one’s practice of mental composition for athletic performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:53 – What inspired Ben to make the jump from wrestling to MMA fighting in his career 8:52 – Ben’s athletic background from a young age, starting from a multi-sport perspective, and how that eventually funneled into specializing in wrestling 15:52 – Prime coaches and mentors in Ben’s athletic career that impacted his formation as an athlete 18:16 – Ben discusses his practice of study in his own development into an elite wrestler and fighter 21:24 – The balance between creativity and structure in training wrestlers as they go from youth to a mature athlete 22:59 – How Ben’s wrestling academies teach children with individual facets of performance in mind 25:56 – Thoughts on teaching athletes to deal with adversity in their sporting careers, and as they advance in level of competition 33:14 – A conversation on the value of submaximal lifting versus heavy strength training in performance training 44:04 – Development of young wrestling athletes, and how early success is not a requirement for later successes 50:17 – How to educate parents to buy into the long term vision of success for their athletes, and why the youth sport system (and monetization) is not set up in favor of long term athlete success 55:40 – How to manage stress and anxiety in big competitions 58:03 – How Ben approaches mental training in practice and competition 1:03:49 – Tactics to minimize anxiety in competition “(When I made the decision to specialize in Wrestling after freshman year of high school) At that time, that was totally unheard of… all specialization was much more limited at that point in time” “I try to not let the parents push the kid into more participation, I want it to be the kid’s choice” “I know there are some people who say you should never specialize, and I strongly disagree with that… at my academy, there are certain kids who going into their freshman year are 92 pounds, what other sports can they play?” “A lot of (creativity) was me and my team-mates.  My team-mates were spurring innovation that happened, bouncing ideas off each other” “I barely every studied opponents; I kind of saw it as a waste of time (compared to studying elite fighters instead)… my best end form is not highly tied to me needing to win this match” “Inevitably when you compete at a higher level in sport, you are going to find adversity; when you find that adversity, how do you succeed from there?” “Great champions have multiple ways to win” “A lot of wrestling programs think the only solution is doing things more and doing things harder” “I think I would go back and take away a lot of heavy lifting; it is not necessary for me to be an elite athlete” “Most parents only pay attention to the year above and the year below their kid” “Most youth coaches are not incentivized to do what is good in the long term for the kid… the incentive for the kid, and the incentive for what their bank account says is two different things” “Don’t be too stuck on one method that is going to get you to the top; if you are really going to get to the top, you are going to need to do a lot of things… it’s going to be a multitude of things that are going to get you to allow you have the maximal amount of success” About Ben Askren Ben Askren is an American retired professional mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler. Askren was the former Bellator and ONE Welterweight Champion, remaining undefeated for over a decade before competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and had a final win-loss record of 19 to 2. Ben’s NCAA career consisted of a 157-8 overall record. His final two years were dominant with an 87-0 record capped by back-to-back national championships (2006 & 2007). Ben was a four-time all-American, and two-time recipient of the Dan Hodge Trophy (the college wrestling equivalent of the Heisman). Ben co-founded Askren Wrestling Academy (AWA) with his brother Max. They currently operate 5 gyms. full 1:11:01 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_268_Ben_Askren_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-268%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-247" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-267/ Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:18:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33864 Today’s show is a Q&A with Joel Smith.  We are back again for a series of your questions and my best answers.  Today’s show is by theme “The Speed Show” with a ton of questions on speed, acceleration, max velocity, muscle-relaxation speed, and even working with distance runners.  Sprinting is always going to be a synthesis of so many elements of human performance, and is one of the highest-reaching challenges for any coach in athletic coaching (which is why it’s also such a rewarding puzzle to solve). Outside of the common speed questions; I also had an interesting question on how to assess “swings in the pendulum” of training methods.  The awareness by which we get to our own coaching biases is important, so I’ll dig into some ideas there as well. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 1:59 – How to fix heel-striking in athletes 12:56 – A step by step process on helping athletes improve hip extension and delay knee extension 19:50 – Thoughts on flat feet being an advantage since you enter mid stance more quickly? 22:16 – The top 2-3 faults, issues I commonly coach as it pertains to start out of blocks, acceleration in those first 2-3 steps, and common drills I utilize for correcting said issues. 33:57 – How to periodize maximal velocity work. Once intensity is at the max and assisted/overspeed is touched upon sporadically, where do we go from there? 43:18 – Thoughts on setting up a weight room/jumping/sprinting program for high school XC runners. Training age with me 1-3 years. 50:44 – How do you balance your stance/beliefs when training philosophy and paradigm swings like a pendulum? 56:54 – In regards to the Soviet research on muscle relaxation times being the differentiating factor between their elite and non-elite athletes, what are some methods to train relaxation times? Show Notes Dave O’Sullivan Slouches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYD4Jx_IXSw Usain Bolt Warming Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9GxrrSDFg&t=163s About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance coach in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, has authored several books on athletic performance, and trains numerous clients in the in-person and online space.  Joel was formerly a strength coach for 8 years at UC Berkeley, working with the Swim teams and post-graduate professional swimmers, as well as tennis, water polo, and track and field.  A track coach of 11 years, Joel coached for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club for 7 years, and also has 6 years of experience coaching sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault and multi-events on the collegiate level, working at Wilmington College, and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. Joel has coached 2 national champions, multiple All-Americans and school record holders in his time as a track coach. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance at Rio in 2016. In 2011, Joel began Just Fly Sports with Jake Clark as a central platform to promote information for athletes and coaches to reach their highest potential.  In 2016 the first episode of the “Just Fly Performance Podcast” was released, now a leading source of education in the sports performance field.  The evolving mission of Just Fly Sports is focused on teaching athletes to realize their true, innate power, and achieve the highest joy in their training, competition, and in the community. full 1:04:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_267_Sprint_QA_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-267%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-248" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-266/ Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:31:22 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33857 Today’s show is with Jake Tuura.  Jake currently works at Velocity Training Center as a strength and conditioning coach. Prior to Velocity, Jake was a collegiate S&C coach for 7 years.  Jake is the owner of jackedathlete.com where he teaches athletes and coaches principles on muscle gain, jumping higher, and rehab from jumper’s knee. Training for things like vertical jump and sprinting are enjoyable to discuss, but we need to always be zooming out into more global concepts of performance.  For example, you may tweak every ounce of your training to help an athlete jump 4” (10cm) higher, but what if that athlete just got into a really good community where athletes were doing various dunks, and found that simply being in that environment unlocked 4” of jumping gain, that was eventually able to filter over into their permanent results?  Or perhaps look at the formation of jumpers who are obsessed with jumping as youths, doing dozens, if not hundreds, of jumps each day? Also, understanding how to be consistent as per staying healthy is not often considered as it should be, particularly for jump-related sports. Jake Tuura has been on a journey of sport performance exploration for years, and offers grounded solutions for those seeking muscle gain, performance increase and pain reduction.  On the show today, Jake talks about what he has been learning since leaving the university sector in strength and conditioning, as well as updated knowledge in the vertical jump training space.  Jake also talks about how to use games as the ultimate warmup (and workout, when combined with sprints and jumps) for athletes, and finished with some great points on knee pain and rehab, and points where isometric exercises might not be the panacea that it is so often offered as. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:56 – Some of the last things Jake learned as a college strength and conditioning coach 16:31 – What Jake has learned working in the private sector of sports performance since moving beyond his university coaching job 18:44 – Thoughts on using games with pro-level players versus younger athletes 25:29 – Things that Jake has been compiling in the last few years in regards to vertical jump training 38:21 – What Jake has noticed in elite dunking athletes in regards to their training history and jumping volumes 46:22 – The importance of using sport play as either an advanced warmup or potentiation for jumps or even sprints 51:59 – Thoughts on penultimate length in a running two leg jump” 58:13 – Looking at isometric training, versus kinetic chain training and general strength conditioning when it comes to knee rehabilitation and injury prevention “When you are a college strength coach, you think that everyone really wants to be in (the weightroom)” “You are warming up their bodies, but are you thinking of how you are impacting their brains?... they are like zombies” “If you are a college strength coach, there are 1000’s of kids who will do your job for free… and you have to impress the head coach” “I think we need to start vertical jump training with the objective starting point of physics, and then you can create a good plan” “Can you get stronger by just jumping? Yes you can; but… some people are just not built for that, and they need extra training… sometimes freak athletes, they may not need the extra training, they were just born for it” “(In regards to knee pain) Jumping as high as possible for a decently high volume… would a caveman do that?” “The pro-dunkers, would jump every day (growing up) and as they get older and increase outputs, they do not jump every single day; and they always get into strength training” “Having the people to do dunk sessions with is huge; we had like 10 guys at an LA Fitness out here one Friday night, and everyone’s vertical jump was up, like 4 inches” “If you can start playing pickup basketball for 30-60-90 minutes, that is the best warmup to dunk” “If you can stimulate the system with gatorball, you will feel a lot better going into your sprints” “You just do not know the story to be giving these canned technique tips to people; they shouldn’t exist” “Isometrics, heavy isometrics like a leg extension, are going to be huge for the patellar tendon, and the quad tendon, and Osgood Schlatter, is will be great for that, but that heavy isometric will not be good for patella-femoral pain; someone who has general knee pain” “Iso lunges, Spanish squats, all those are going to give you immediate (tendon) relief.  If you do those exercises, and you don’t have immediate relief, then you probably don’t have a tendon issue” “There is correlation from having lack of dorsiflexion and having jumper’s knee” About Jake Tuura Jake Tuura, MS, CSCS currently works at Velocity Training Center as a strength and conditioning coach. Prior to Velocity, Jake was a collegiate S&C coach for 7 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior (2014) and his Masters from The College of St. Scholastica (2015). His website: jackedathlete.com helps athletes gain copious amounts of muscle, jump higher, and rehab from jumper’s knee. full 1:10:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_266_Jake_Tuura_Final_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-266%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-249" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-265/ Thu, 29 Jul 2021 13:35:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33843 Today’s show is with Angus Ross.  Angus is a senior strength and conditioning specialist with High Performance Sport New Zealand, with a particular interest in track and field athletes.  He has worked with a number of sports at an elite level within the NZ system, including sprint cycling and skeleton in recent years. Angus has a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Queensland, and is also a Winter Olympian in his own right having competed at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games. Angus has been a two time previous guest within the first hundred episodes of the podcast.  In the time since we last talked, Angus has traveled the world and has spent time with some leading edge strength coaches, such as Jerome Simian.  His curiosity and angles of looking at performance training has made him a truly enjoyable guest to have on this show time and again. One topic I’ve heard in the world of training is “the spinal engine”.  I have been working extensively in the last year in the realms of getting the ribs and spine to work alongside the hips more effectively in sprinting, throwing, jumping and overall athletic movement.  When Angus told me he had been doing a lot of research into spinal engine work over the last few years, I was excited, and when Angus actually went into the details of it all, I was truly inspired.  Angus’s work connects so many dots in regards to concepts I’ve been thinking of on my own end. On the show today, Angus speaks about his take on spinal engine theory, rhythmic movement, sprint (and iso hold) asymmetry and how some athletes may need to take advantage of the movement of the spine more than others.  He also talks about long and short hold isometrics, and proprioception training.  This was a phenomenal chat with lots of immediate ideas for any athlete or coach. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:15 – Spinal engine theory vs. a leg spring model 11:26 – How the mobility of spine and ribs can benefit you as an athlete 15:42 – Resources and inspiration for exercises and drills to improve spinal mobility and range 19:09 – A discussion on asymmetry in sprinting 21:43 – Benefits of looking at data & the role of intuition and feelings in martial arts 24:58 – Rhythm in Athletes: What you can learn from trying martial arts and other rhythmic sports 32:17 – Who can benefit from spinal engine theory? 34:21 – Asymmetrical training & What Angus learned from training with Jerome Simian 48:38 – How and why to use long duration isometrics in training 54:03 – Static stretching before sprinting & Pros and cons of extreme iso holds 57:11 – Insights on short isometric holds 1:01:07 – Thoughts on proprioceptive training: Weight lifting, joint proprioception, and utilization of balance and stability “The concept (of spinal engine theory) is that if you laterally flex a lordotic spine, is that it induces an axial torque and a rotation of the pelvis” “When you look at things through the spinal engine lens, it’s really very different to the leg spring model.” “It begs the question: Should we be training lateral flexion per say and is range of motion a critical factor?” “Most of our elite runners are short trunk, long legs and that’s what we say is the normal, but if you don’t have that, can you compensate by becoming a different style of runner and using what you do have to facilitate your ability to try and relate?” “You need the hardware to be able to run that software and if you can’t get them in those positions…you’re gonna give them coaching cues all day long and it won’t do them any bloody good because they can’t get in those positions anyway.” “I’ve found the lateral drills to be fantastic with helping people eliminate crossover running.” “I have this feeling like, the people who really generate that asymmetry and really work the spinal engine, you can’t help but think that they have an innate sense of rhythm… and I don’t think you can generate that whip of momentum change in asymmetry without some rhythm, without some ability to sense your body.” “My working model currently is: Probably everybody can benefit from [spinal engine] to some level. Some might find it more advantageous than others.” “There’s some recent papers… that have shown there really isn’t any objective effect or positive effect in people that are more front-sided or more rear-sided. You run with what you’ve got, I guess, and it doesn’t seem to be this dramatic effect that maybe we’ve been told to expect from these sprint training models.” Show Notes Kevin Mayer 100m Dash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wip9pNj6Fi4 Quadratus Lumborum Training Methods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDgUP2k_TKI About Angus Ross Angus is currently employed by High Performance Sport New Zealand in a power physiology and strength and conditioning role, primarily working with track and field. He has worked with a number of sports at an elite level within the NZ system including sprint cycling and skeleton in recent years. Angus has a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Queensland and has also worked within the Australian institute system with stints at both the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. He is also a Winter Olympian in his own right having competed at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games. full 1:10:36 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_265_Angus_Ross_Final_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-265%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-250" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-264/ Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:59:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33836 Today’s show is with Conor Harris.  Conor is a strength & conditioning coach specializing in biomechanics and movement quality. He is the founder of Pinnacle Performance in Portland, Oregon where he trains all levels of athletes and general population clientele. He has worked in a wide variety of environments such as D1 Collegiate Baseball, EXOS, High School, and private performance training facilities. If there is one big element that is infiltrating modern training and performance right now (at least I hope it is), it is the attention to the quality of movement, and the particular impacts that doing one type of lift (say rear foot elevated vs. front foot elevated split squat) will have on an athlete.  So often, we just move through a variety of movements in a training program, without really thinking about the experience that those training methods are actually giving to that athlete’s body. Conor Harris is a young coach who has really zeroed in on the impacts of various movements on an athlete, and how those movements fit in with what an athlete is missing (or on the flip-side, is already strong in) in their gait pattern.  At the end of the day, every training movement we utilize should come back to how an athlete moves, or intends to move, in their sport.  The training we use should have the capacity to fill in any needed “gaps” in a movement profile that may be pre-disposing an athlete to pain, or injury. On today’s show, Conor will take us through concepts of late vs. early stance dominance in athletes, and how split squat variations will preferentially engage those stance dynamics for the purposes of injury prevention, or enhanced performance.  We’ll get into how squatting with heels elevated, or hinging with the toes elevated, can benefit the athlete through rotation of the leg bones, and finish with some great ideas on how to help restore internal rotation to athletes, as well as some big rocks of athletic glute activation. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:20 – Elements that help athletes pronate in the gym with more “common” exercises 12:40 – How to differentiate between a “late stance” and “early stance” dominant individual 19:20 – Why the sport of basketball emphasizes “late” stance more than many other sports 23:00 – Ideas on when to actually intervene with an athlete if you suspect an imbalance or movement inefficiency 38:00 – How foot position in a split stance exercise impacts rotation and joint dynamics 45:30 – Thoughts on split squatting with a (hard) balance disc in the front foot 49:15 – Conor’s big rocks in helping to restore an internal rotation deficit in athletes 56:00 – How to squat for maximal glute activation, via stretch-loading the glutes “Your joint positions, your tests all reflect that you spend a lot of time in late stance; a basketball player is a perfect example, someone who is constantly on their toes to be athletic.  These people often present with a certain foot presentation where their toes are pointing away from the midline of their body” “If you strike the ground and you don’t have that nice heel reference then it is going to be more difficult to get your heel forward, if you are starting in the position where you can’t get the pronation to resupination” “Anything that drives the knee over the toe a lot is going to allow for that internal rotation of the tibia to occur, as well as pronation of the foot.  That heel elevated split squat can be a really good way to do that” “When I think of a contralateral load, I think of that as a reference to find your heel or midfoot.  An ipsilateral load is better to find mid-foot to toe-off.  If I wanted to find that earlier phase of pronation I’m a fan of using that contralateral load (it will pull them in towards the midline of their foot)” “A lot of times, these narrows (narrow ISA) will be biased towards heel strike, originally” “Think of how often a basketball player needs to be on their heels, it’s not very often” “When we run, it’s more of a mid to late stance transition” “Let’s say this person does need to find more of that heel strike mechanics, that will help restore more of the variability in their body as a whole” “Let’s say they can’t hinge very well; take that heel wedge, and flip it around, so now their mid-foot and fore-foot is slanted upward, that can help them hinge backwards, and now you are providing more internal rotation to that hip” “Let’s say you have someone who is bilaterally extended on both sides, what that person is really trying to do is create an internal rotation, force producing strategy” “Getting them back on their heels can give them something to (internally) rotate to” “As you get deeper in the squat, you need some level of internal rotation and pronation of the foot (to reverse and push upwards)” “True opening of the hips is being able to get in your hip through internal rotation” “If you know what kind of joint positions we need to have, and how we get there, then muscles are easy” “Simply by being in a split stance position you are going to be biasing more external rotation and “supination” of the front hip and front foot” “Vertical tibia = mid-stance” “I love to restore internal rotation through positions like hinges” “Hold a ball that keeps your knees in line with your toes, squat to 90 degrees, and come out of it; that ball is providing a reference for your pelvic outlet; your pelvic floor is going to open up and your pelvic inlet is going to become more closed, your pelvic outlet is going to become more open” “Wide stance squats use less glutes than narrow stance, toes straight ahead” Show Notes Internal Rotation Exercises https://youtu.be/ZIiONQEAtqo https://youtu.be/qSlOus-fPc8 https://youtu.be/w-DmasVjuac   https://youtu.be/ZVg4Ox4gQV0 https://youtu.be/NNzR4_YaIuQ https://youtu.be/qVkmuRzk8ow https://youtu.be/CGmMgtqIImk About Conor Harris Conor Harris is a strength & conditioning coach that specializes in biomechanics and movement quality. He is the founder of Pinnacle Performance in Portland, Oregon where he trains all levels of athletes and general population clientele. He has worked in a wide variety of environments such as D1 Collegiate Baseball, EXOS, High School, and private performance training facilities. full 1:09:26 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_264_Conor_Harris_Final_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-264%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-251" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-263/ Thu, 15 Jul 2021 12:09:56 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33828 Today’s show is with athletic performance coach, Dan Back.  Dan Back is the founder of “Jump Science” and is also a coach at Xceleration sports performance in Austin, Texas.  Dan reached an elite level in his own vertical jump and dunking ability, and has been helping athletes run faster, jump higher and improve overall physical performance for over a decade.  I first met Dan in my own time at Wisconsin, LaCrosse, where I was working on my master’s degree in applied sport sciences. When it comes to sports performance training, the two “KPI”s we are routinely searching for, are undoubtedly sprint speed and jumping ability.  Improvements here are harder to come by than simply improving a barbell strength exercise that is brand new to an individual.  On top of this, the higher velocity the movement, generally, the more difficult it is to improve. This is where there is a big difference in simply knowing information about training, and spending time talking to coaches who have been working hard on this skill themselves for years, and then have transmitted that knowledge into working with others.  Dan is a coach who really embodies what he is teaching on a regular basis. On today’s show, Dan talks about how his plyometric programs have changed over the years, where his plyometrics volume has shifted, volume in performing variations of various sport jumps, as well as in submaximal plyometrics, where big rocks like depth jumps fit in now. Key elements Dan looks at when coaching speed that fit with reactive abilities RSI, Strength/speed alternation, and knowing that you aren’t losing too much “explosive or maximal strength in the pursuit of speed Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:41 – Dan’s evolution as an athlete and coach & how he became interested in sports performance 9:52 – Making jump training a sport: Is low rim dunk training the most effective for young athletes? 14:10 – Sport jumps vs. “Fun” jumps & How have your views on plyometrics evolved over time? 17:24 – Filling in the gaps in athletic history 20:01 – What staple plyometrics do you use in your training besides jumping? 25:34 – Building up from small, quick, easy movements 31:05 – Are there plyometrics Dan don’t use anymore? 32:38 – How Dan utilizes sprinting, warmups, and other exercises in athletic training 39:51 – Measuring RSI in sprinting and how to “reverse engineer” RSI from a “sprint first” perspective 46:33 – Dan’s approach to elimination and reintroduction of strength training and how to ensure one is not losing their maximal or explosive strength abilities when working on speed “I love [low rim dunk training] and I do think there’s a superiority there compared to just trying to touch the rim or touch the back board. One, because it’s just more fun. Two, to have success in the training, but then also there’s just this component of it’s not like a workout.” “Having that fun and even that creative, ideas-based, like oh I’m gonna try this dunk or I’m gonna try to dunk off one leg or whatever… having that fun, creative environment definitely makes a difference for the motor learning side of things and the motivation side of things.” “Hurdle hops are good but this is like a complimentary, forced development exercise. We want to have the base be not plyometrics, but the base be fun jumping and hopefully even diverse fun jumping.” “I believe in jump technique, I don’t overdo it… Sometimes if they don’t have those key skills, it’s like you’re kinda getting strong and not realizing any of it.” “Nowadays, really I would say sprinting is the plyometric that I have gravitated the most toward trying to make sure that is included in an athlete’s overall workload.” “I’m basically trying to get people to move with less effort and just kind of bounce off the ground.” “I want to just get them to a point where I like how it looks; where we have decent posture, decent relaxation, which is subjective obviously but… if we have an athlete do a 60-meter sprint with 90% effort, we’re hoping we can be not gassed after that. We want this to be pretty easy, pretty repeatable, like you could go do it again two minutes later.” “You don’t want to chase the RSI by doing two foot plyos and getting your squat up, you want to chase speed, sprint a lot, and because of that you have this lightness on your feet, and then you do the RSI test without having to even train it and now you’re just better at it.” “I don’t want to have to alternate between strength training and non-strength training, it’s more of something that just comes out of necessity.” About Dan Back Dan Back is the founder of “Jump Science” and is a coach at Xceleration sports performance in Austin, Texas.  Dan reached an elite level in his own vertical jump and dunking ability, and has been helping athletes run faster, jump higher and improve overall physical performance for over a decade.  Dan has been a constant source of coach and athlete education in the last decade through his website and social media channels. full 59:43 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_263_Dan_Back_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-263%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-252" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-262/ Thu, 08 Jul 2021 12:18:51 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33814 Today’s show is with strength coach, Graeme Morris.  Graeme is a performance coach that consults for a variety of team sport and combat athletes including world and Australian champions in Muay Thai. He is also the head strength and conditioning coach for the AFL umpires and has previously worked in rugby league for 6 seasons. Graeme has experience learning from many leading coaches, and has integrated it into a balance that he sees fit for his own training populations. There are so many topics in the world of sports performance in regards to speed and strength.  I often get a lot of questions on how I end up integrating much of it into a practical training session.  At the end of the day, seeing the art of how coaches take information, and use it practically with athletes helps tie the content in the many conversations I have together. On today’s show, Graeme takes us into his own integration of the two most common interests of performance coaches: Game-speed and strength/power development.  Graeme speaks on his usage of closed versus open agility work, and lateral speed development, linear speed, and “robust running” ideas for team sport players.  He also goes into his strength methods for athletes, how “specific” to get in the weight room, and particularly how he gets into various oscillatory strength methods to help his athletes maximize their power outputs, and finally, some ideas from training combat athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:15 – Graeme’s mentors and influences on his sports performance philosophy 5:45 – Graeme’s take on closed vs. open agility training for his athlete populations 19:00 – Talking about linear speed drills, “switching”, mini-hurdles, and more in the development of speed for team sport athletes 27:45 – A discussion on working in small vs. open spaces and its impact on how an athlete’s muscle groups and energy systems are impacted 30:45 – How Graeme’s role as a strength coach fits into game speed, in respect to the coach’s technical/tactical plans for the team 35:15 – The story of “never go full Bosch” and Graeme’s approach to more “specific lifts” in the weightroom 40:30 – Where Graeme stands on the 1x20 lifting spectrum 43:00 – Graeme’s experience with oscillating lifting reps for a variety of athlete populations 58:00 – Working with Cal Dietz’s “reflexive trimetric” training method 1:04:00 – Core foot training movements that Graeme utilizes in his programming “If an athlete doesn’t have multiple tools to begin with; it’s hard to select the right tool… I look at shuffle positions, crossover step, basic backpedaling.  We are starting in a closed scenario, maybe resisted to slow it down a little more” “When you look on social media, you always see the best athletes…. It’s always great to see what people are doing online but they are always putting the most talented athlete; people are afraid to show the least talented” “When players reach where I am trying to get them to (from a linear speed perspective) then I will sprinkle in robust running methods… I find people will skip that initial step and go right into (robust running)” “I think you can get a lot of game speed in your technical/tactical drills” “In defense we are trying to take away space from the competition, in attack, we are trying to create space… you know these guys, you know they are not quick, but they always seem to have time on the field” “We need to have these drills that are executed at game speed, or above” “When you are working in a short space, that is going to put more stress on the calf, groin and glute area.  When you work in a more open space, that is going to put more stress on the hamstrings, and it’s often more aerobic” “It doesn’t take long to develop the strength that you are after; but developing speed with young athletes (is critical)” “Every day I was working on the farm, or playing sports, that was my original training mate” “85-90% of my training is proven methods, but I always like to experiment with the other 10%” “When my fighters are going into training camp, those eccentric loads are so high, I use oscillating training methods to freshen them up” “I use oscillating movements more for accessory movements at the end (of a workout) (i.e. start with banded hex bar deadlift, then go down to split squats for speed)” “I’ve used that on team sport scenarios where you have timed sets one day, you have oscillating movements on another day” “If you don’t have to run into brick walls, then you can use more of these oscillating movements (and less maximal strength)” “A lot of foot stuff will depend on how your hips move… I’ll probably address the hips first” Show Notes Cal Dietz’s Reflexive Tri-metrics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw6epBVpRYM   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Graeme Morris (@graeme_morris) Graeme demonstrating a basic oscillating hop drill used as a warm up   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Graeme Morris (@graeme_morris) About Graeme Morris Graeme Morris is a performance coach that consults for a variety of field based and combat athletes including world and Australian champions in Muay Thai. He is also the head strength and conditioning coach for the AFL umpires and has previously worked in rugby league for 6 seasons. He has a experience designing and implementing strength and power in the gym, as well as speed, agility and conditioning on the field.  Graeme holds a degree in Human Movement with Honours in Exercise Physiology, a Master’s degree in Strength and Conditioning and is a level 2 qualified Australian Strength and Conditioning Coach (ASCA). full 1:10:54 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_262_Graeme_Morris_Final_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-262%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-253" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-261/ Thu, 01 Jul 2021 12:47:22 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33800 Today’s show is with biomechanist Gary Ward.  Gary is the author of “What the Foot” and founder of “Anatomy in Motion” (as well as the “Wake Your Feet Up” and “Wake Your Body Up” courses).   Gary is known for solving unsolvable pain in minutes, not months, and his passion for the foot hugely influenced his interpretation of human movement. Gary’s foot wedges and training system have had a massive impact on my approach to training athletes in a single leg setting, and between Gary’s influence, and that of running coach Helen Hall (a student of Gary’s), my approach to gait, running and the foot is forever changed for the better.  Gary has been a previous 2x guest on this podcast, speaking on the topics of human movement principles, pronation, “duck feet” and much more. In my ever-running interest in the foot and lower leg, and its role in human movement, I have been very interested in the role of the rear-foot in the past few years.  Initially, I found that I was able to rid myself of plaguing Achilles tendon issues by mobilizing my calcaneus bone, which tuned me into the importance of looking beyond “foot stiffness” as a cover-all in lower leg performance.  From there, I’ve become increasingly more interested in the role of the rearfoot in not only injury prevention, but also athletic performance situations. On the show today, Gary Ward is back to take us on a deep dive into concepts of forefoot-rearfoot opposition and the role of the heel bone in pronation, supination and gait mechanics.  He’ll go into how a well-functioning rear-foot plays into the gait cycle, and how this also works with the ability to get into the ball of the foot well in athletic movements.  Gary will give some practical examples on how to check one’s rearfoot function, and we conclude the show getting into some nuts and bolts of squatting mechanics in light of 3D human movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:37 – A recap on foot opposition, and how the twisting and spiraling of the foot works into human movement 22:03 – Gary’s take on how rearfoot mobility and foot opposition plays into the ability to get to the ball of the foot well in athletic movement 37:39 – How pronation and supination changes as ground speeds increase from walking to sprinting 49:10 – How to check for limited range in the rear foot, and how to get the rearfoot moving 58:52 – How the body will compensate upstream if it is getting too much or too little movement in the foot 1:04:12 – How arch height in barbell squatting impacts the athletic result of a barbell lift, and if the arches should flatten in a barbell squat 1:10.09 – Squatting and effortlessness in human movement “The rearfoot is the calcaneus and the talus” “When the calcaneus moves down, the navicular moves up” “If there was a midfoot bone, I would say the cuboid is a midfoot bone… out of the 26 bones, we’ve got one midfoot bone.  Otherwise, what we are really looking at is the forefoot opposing the rearfoot, and it does it in all three planes” “The lowering of the arch is an opening of the joints at the base of the foot” “If you roll pressure towards the inside edge of the foot, then you will initiate an eversion in your rear foot, but if I take the 5th metatarsal head off the ground, then what you lose is the opposition” “There’s only one way to get the shin forward, and keep the heel on the ground for too long, and that’s to maintain a pronated foot position” “If your foot does not pronate at the time it is supposed to, then the body will continue to pronate the foot until it reaches the amount of pronation it needs” “You do need to get that (calcaneus) eversion to get into that toe rocker of the push-off phase” “The eversion you are looking for in the rearfoot, should happen the moment where you get the tripod on the ground” “The focus in the industry is always towards the stiffening side” “95% of the muscles in the foot are actually supinators, so we have to pronate in order to stimulate 95% of the muscles” “What interests me is not how much pronation, but the quality of the pronation… the quality of pronation will always be most optimal when the foot has a resting position of neutral, so everyone who does not have that resting position of neutral will always be compromised to some extent” “The pressure change when you pronate, will move anterior, and medial (forward and towards the big toe)” “Placing a finger, in front of the calcaneus in the back of the arch, you should feel pressure on that finger when someone bends the knee” “I get it nearly every week at least, people are in context with Achilles issues, Sever’s disease, bumps on the back of the heel and they are always on the level of the TCJ, and it’s simply too much talo-crural movement and not enough rear-foot accompaniment” “More length in the plantar fascia through better rearfoot movement is likely to take pressure off excess lengthening in the Achilles” “(With getting calcaneus movement) You can roll a sock up and place it in the back of the arch to see if they can compress it a little bit, it’s not about flattening it to the floor, it’s about “can I get more contact on it”” “What you’ll find is that the heavier the weight, the less pronation there is, the more there is a rapid, knees-in movement at the very bottom…. so you have this whole extensor chain is able to light up; the heavier you get, the more and more of a requirement that is” “Teach you to pronate, teach you to supinate, teach you to flex and extend your knees, teach you to anterior and posterior tilt your pelvis, make sure you can have a pronating leg and supinating leg, and go and experience that, and then go squat…. You need to continuously remind your body of how it should move” “Don’t you think the idea of a squat feeling effortless is overlooked”? “The 5th rule of movement is that the brain is hard-wired for perfection” Show Notes Calcaneus Tilt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yulwH_9e21k High Jumper pronation video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7qIo_xOLqA Olympic lifter with inwards knee travel in squatting (see 3:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdY78tvKlxA Helen Hall COG video https://vimeo.com/244973290 About Gary Ward Gary Ward is the author of “What the Foot” and founder of “Anatomy in Motion” (as well as the “Wake Your Feet Up” and “Wake Your Body Up” courses).  He is known for bringing individuals out of pain when all other options had failed.  A former ski-boot fitter, Gary is known for solving unsolvable pain in minutes, not months.  His passion for the foot hugely influenced his interpretation of human movement. Increasingly sought after by all types of practitioners in the fitness and therapy industry, he teaches an evolution that start with the foot and results in whole body integrated movement solutions.   full 1:20:44 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_261_Gary_Ward_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-261%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-254" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-260/ Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:22:46 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33788 Today’s show is with Scott Robinson, neurology expert, consultant and personal trainer.  Scott is an Applied Movement Neurology Master practitioner and has worked successfully with all levels of neurological complexity in his time training and coaching a wide variety of clients.  Scott is a specialist in dealing with a variety of neurological issues, such as weakness, pain, range of motion and trauma to the emotional systems, amongst many others.  Scott is a former Taekwondo athlete and has more than 20 years of experience in Applied Movement Neurology. Scott previously appeared on episode #188 of the podcast, and on the last show, talked about inhibitory factors of the nervous system, the importance of belief systems on training, fascia and foam rolling, and also how to optimize novel motor response in a training session. The role of the brain and nervous system in an athlete’s performance is of absolute importance in the role of training and competition.  We must regularly draw neurological links between the two, instead of living in the isolated environment of the exercises or drills we are teaching or coaching.  By understanding more about what makes elite athletes tick from a body-mind perspective, we can really dial in on how to optimally set up each and every training session and competition preparation. In this podcast, Scott gets into ideas on a “neurological checklist” in the midst of training or competition for athlete to utilize.  He also talks about dopamine and reward in athletic training and performance, “celebration” as a neurological learning tactic, the importance of intention setting in coaching and athletics, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:30 – How to get further into the “present moment” in training or competition, and how to go through a mental checklist to get in the ideal mental zone 15:30 – How celebrating one’s performance can draw the brain’s attention to desirable outputs 32:30 – How to build up dopamine and reward responses in athletes, via celebration or intermittent rewards for athletes 44:00 – How to set intentions as a coach (or athlete) to help maximize one’s effectiveness and gain new insight on a situation 1:01:50 – How celebration of performance is a characteristic of an elite athlete, and how to practically put celebration into day to day training “If you are trying to learn a new skill, the first thing the brain will do is search its’ memory-bank and look for relevant data… when it finds some relevant data and it believes it can put together a movement from memory and experience, that may not be what you are looking for” “When I changed the focus and got the brain to acknowledge the errors and correct, there was a very different result, and to me, that is your present moment awareness” “The brain hates an open loop, it hates loops that are unclosed” “What you are doing (when you celebrate) is draw the brain’s attention to a desirable output” “You can celebrate with a fist pump, but you want to make it novel, you need to create attention” “Attention, urgency and alertness are the 3 keys for neuroplastic change…. Add emotion to things and it’s like a fuel source, it supercharges the moment” “You don’t “build” strength, your nervous system grants you strength” “If you have access to 100% of the nervous system, then you can see maximal strength” “The brain also receives dopamine for a “near-win”… gamblers brains can’t tell the different between a win and a near-miss” “You can withhold the celebration, you can withhold the reward, and then the brain will look to solve that problem by giving more, by increasing the output even further” “If you are actually prepared to play with some of these (withheld reward) outputs, the scope for improvement is enormous” “If we set a clear, coherent intention, then the brain is going to work to adhere itself around that…. Maybe we just have silence for a while… but then the words come, because the subconscious is figuring it out” “Whatever the intention needs to be… set that, and then give yourself space for it to come out; your subconscious will be working away, and the information will come to you” “If you look at yourself as a training variable, it means I need to keep myself in good mental and emotional shape” “Thought is an energy, and energies maintain fields…. all of us are walking around maintaining thought fields, and they create an atmosphere of belief” “The coach has a big influence on (success) not just out of the instructions they are giving, but also on what’s given off (from a thought-field/culture/atmosphere perspective)” “We just need to make it OK to celebrate… when (they) score a goal or put together a good passage of play, I encourage them to show me their celebration” About Scott Robinson AMN Teaching Faculty member, Master Practitioner & Coach, as well as; Mentor to AMN Practitioners. Scott is the creator of AMN Neuro Flexibility & has worked successfully with all levels of neurologic complexity. Scott’s approach is to first assess & then bring each individual’s nervous system towards a state of balance. If resolution of a complex neurologic or pain presentation is the objective, then achieving this (homeostatic) balance is often key. Where Movement is the primary objective, then achieving this balance within the body prior commencing a training program gives the individual’s body every chance of progressing towards their movement or functional goals, as opposed to progressing towards injury, which is often the case when training with pre-exisiting imbalances in the nervous system. Scott’s knowledge & skill set means that he is capable of transforming a person with a nervous system of a degraded output, into a person who is capable of achieving advanced calisthenics strength, flexibility and skills. As an AMN master practitioner, Scott is a specialist in dealing with: movement compensations, muscle weakness, muscle control, range of motion & sensation, historic injury & surgical compensations, pain complaints, all manner of musculoskeletal dysfunction, trauma to the emotional system, respiratory, gastrointestinal & immune systemic issues, circadian biological function & sleep disturbances, disturbances to the balance system, the emotional motor system, stiffness or dysfunction to myofascial & other connective tissues, post concussion syndrome, stroke, Hay fever, TMJ dysfunction, coordination, posture & memory. All of the above, along with many other issues, can all potentially be normalized. This is all achieved via a utilization of the entire AMN system, from assessment to calibration of the brain & the nervous system. A former elite athlete in Taekwondo & athletics, a personal trainer of more than 20 years experience & a master practitioner with knowledge of the entirety of the AMN system along with being both a teacher and a mentor within the AMN education. Scott is ideally placed to help you get your body, your movement capabilities or your skillset as a practitioner, to where it needs to be. full 1:06:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_260_Scott_Robinson_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-260%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-255" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-259/ Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:57:50 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33783 Today’s show is with sports performance coaches Nick DiMarco and Keir Wenham-Flatt.  Nick DiMarco is the director of sports performance at Elon University.  He is a leader in the NCAA University coaching system in the realms of high performance ideology.  As a former professional athlete (NY Jets and Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker in 2014), Nick is well versed in the intuitive aspects of what it takes to be a high achieving athlete. Keir Wenham-Flatt is a strength and conditioning coach and educator.  He has a background in American football and experience within professional rugby for nearly a decade in five different countries: the U.K., Australia, China, Japan, and Argentina. Keir is the founder of the Strength Coach Network and Rugby Strength Coach, and has been a prominent figure in coaching education.  Both coaches have been prior guests on the podcast, speaking on topics ranging from perception-reaction and training transfer, to mental resiliency. The art of preparing athletes in team sport goes far beyond strength development, and even linear speed.  Knowing which elements of physical preparation are the “lowest hanging fruit” for each athlete, and how to appropriately progress them through their careers is a trademark of an experienced and thoughtful coach.  Many athletes in college football will barely improve in speed versus their high school abilities, especially after their first year of college strength training. On the show today, Nick and Keir will get into the finer points of off-season and pre-season training for American football, and how to place players in training priority groups based on need, such as strength, speed, or body mass-composition factors.  They also speak on how to utilize auto-regulation to make the process of maintaining (or improving) performance factors as quickly as humanly possible.  Finally, topics of specific conditioning means and methods to meet the demands of the game are discussed in depth, and particularly in how collision sports differ from contact sports in this regard. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:15 – Off-season and pre-season training emphasis in American football physical preparation 16:36 – Nick’s different programs and “buckets” for various needs of his NCAA football athletes 22:11 – How to auto-regulate strength, power and speed markers once an athlete already has the pre-requisite levels of maximal strength for their sport – Thoughts on the demands of long-drives and the extreme ends of game speed-endurance and its impacts on how coaches should go about a conditioning program 48:24 – Keir and Nick talking about the “Robustness Bucket” in working with athlete populations 56:10 – How Keir and Nick steer training into reactive game-speed oriented tasks as the pre-season nears “Why do they break in camp? It’s not from a lack of exposure to heavy weight-training” Wenham-Flatt “Ask yourself, “What do you get most tired doing, what do you do most often, what is tied most to the outcome of the game?” that is the stuff that you need to be a master of, and robust to, in context of your position” Wenham-Flatt “With regard to the developmental stuff, where-ever possible, the answer would be auto-regulation; if you are auto-regulating every set in a target ability, you are hitting the maximum productive value of that session” Wenham-Flatt “There are anthropometric barriers to entry you must clear as you if you want to thrive in your position, and they go up, as the levels go up” Wenham-Flatt “1RM barbell strength is going to transfer to explosive movement to a point, and it’s lower than people think” Wenham-Flatt “I think one of the reasons most athletes make a lot of progress early on, and then stall out later in their career, is that there is really no change in the means that are applied to them” DiMarco “We’re going to do explosive pin squats for sets of 3, until you drop by .1 seconds average velocity, and he did 14 sets.  But when he went back down to New Zealand and tested his max, it had increased by 45 pounds” Wenham-Flatt “You would be surprised just by how much some athletes need, and just how little some athletes need” Wenham-Flatt “In the early days of experimenting with this at London Wasps, I had one guy do 3 sets, and one guy do 17 sets (with a .1 drop-off in squat speed)” Wenham-Flatt “Fly 10’s: if a guy runs a PR on a first rep, he is going to shut him down” DiMarco “Putting a cap on it, for the (sprint) speed work is helpful… but set a bar speed, and I’ve squatted 90% of my max 30 minutes in a row” DiMarco “I’m not huge on the actual use of repeat sprint ability within the training session; we’ll do a lot aerobic work and tempo based stuff early on, we’ll do speed on the other end of the spectrum, and those two things make people very good as repeat sprint ability” DiMarco “All sport preparation, tactically, technically, physically, psychologically, you are trying to answer the question “have I been here before”… and if you haven’t been here before, that’s when things start to break down” Wenham-Flatt “Most of the time (injury) happens to people who don’t handle volume successfully” DiMarco “Can a over-zealous sport coach make them 5% weaker within a day of dumb training? Yeah… the greatest return on your effort as a practitioner should probably be on the education, and collaboration on everyone who touches that athlete rather than looking at the perfect rehab exercise (of course what you do in a rehab program is going to be important)” Wenham-Flatt “From the parkour standpoint, we do some sort of tumbling variation, 3 times a week probably.  Almost every single play ends up with somebody on the ground, so teaching something as simple as how to roll forward, backwards, right, left, is important, just to teach them how to land effectively and how to roll out of things, it might be able to able to prevent one injury here or there… it teaches them general skills they might find enjoyable most of the time” DiMarco “You have these guys who consistently outperform what their testing metrics say they should do, because of their ability to play the sport, and react, and end up in the right positions” DiMarco About Nick DiMarco Nick DiMarco is the director of sports performance at Elon University, a position which he has held since 2018.  Nick is a leader in the NCAA University coaching system in the realms of high performance ideology.  As a former professional athlete (NY Jets and Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker in 2014), Nick is well versed in the intuitive aspects of what it takes to be a high achieving athlete. With a thorough understanding of training loads, and the components behind transferrable agility training, Nick has a unique array of insights he brings to the coaching table.   Nick received his undergraduate degree from William Penn, and Master’s from California University of Pennsylvania, both in the sports performance sector.  He is on track to finish his PhD in Health and Human Performance at Concordia University of Chicago by early 2020. About Keir Wenham-Flatt Keir Wenham-Flatt is a strength and conditioning coach and educator who has worked with professional teams on 4 different continents.  Keir has expertise in weight room-based strength and power development, speed, agility, conditioning, and close integration with the football staff to monitor training load, offer sport science insights, and assist in the management of the training process.  He is the founder of the Strength Coach Network and Rugby Strength Coach, and has been a prominent figure in coaching education. Wenham-Flatt has a background in American football and experience within professional rugby for nearly a decade in five different countries: the U.K., Australia, China, Japan, and Argentina. Among his career highlights are a fourth-place finish at the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Los Pumas Argentina and a 2014 World Club Challenge win with Sydney Roosters Rugby League. full 1:06:24 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_259_Keir_Nick_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-259%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-256" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-258/ Thu, 10 Jun 2021 13:13:02 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33775 Today’s show is with sports performance coach, Jeremiah Flood.  Jeremiah is the owner of Flood Sports, a sports training company in Southern California whose mission is to facilitate the development of mindful and adaptable athletes.  Jeremiah is a former NCAA D1 defensive back at FIU where he earned his B.S. and M.S. in Exercise Science. After becoming a CSCS and working with Women's Volleyball and Soccer at his Alma Mater, He found the sport of Rugby, spent some time in USA rugby academy and garnered a professional contract.  Jeremiah looks to enhance the soft skills, such as decision-making and confidence in training the speed of both the mind and body in training. Strength is a relatively easy quality to develop in athletes, while speed on the other hand, is a more complex, but in many ways, more rewarding venture.  In the realm of athletics, “speed” is multi-factorial, and just because an athlete is fast over 20,60, or 200 meters, does not mean that they will be equally as fast in the speed of a game.  Game-speed involves complex decision making processes, mixed in with emotional management and confidence under a variety of stressful conditions.  To be skilled in facilitating means to improve game speed requires a holistic and dedicated approach. On the show today, Jeremiah takes us through his unique approach to building the speed of the mind and body.  On the physical level, we talk about his approach to testing and training linear outputs, such as sprinting and jumping.  On the mental level we get into the facilitating of the development of self-awareness, confidence and specific reactivity in athletes as it pertains to sport, and how speed and power can be blended with mental elements.  Finally, Jeremiah gives us some great “nuts and bolts” talk on how a daily training session unfolds under his process. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:55 – How Jeremiah pivoted his training as a result of the covid-19 pandemic 7:30 – Training athletes when there’s no official tournaments or competition 10:08 – How to play “Gatorball” & why it’s a great game for young athletes to play 15:05 – Why blend cognitive development with physical development? & Jeremiah’s experience evolving as a college athlete 17:52 – How Jeremiah gives feedback to athletes on self-talk, self-reflection, and having a routine 22:32 – Jeremiah’s thoughts on working with an athlete who doesn’t seem motivated to formally “train” or do particular exercises or drills 27:17 – How often is pure speed the limiting factor for athletes to reach their goals? 33:06 – Basic “game speed” principles and practices 37:25 – The duties of a strength coach for high school and middle school athletes 40:48 – Jeremiah’s approach to testing athletes’ performance 49:44 – Toughness & the significance of doing things you don’t want to do 57:05 – Neural-perplexity: Challenging an athlete’s cognitive load and speeding up the brain’s reactivity 1:02:42 – What does an average training session look like for Jeremiah and his athletes “If I could go back in time, I would loved to have had a physical preparation coach who not only could’ve helped me in my physical abilities, as I loved, but also to tie that in with the mental and emotional, perceptive and reactive, all those elements that, holistically speaking, can help us maximize our outputs in the games we play.” “When I was transitioning from college football to rugby, it’s obviously a huge difference in skillsets, perception, action as far as catching, keeping your eyes ahead of you and passing… it really forced me to build that ability to scan the field. I didn’t have that when I first tried to play rugby and I thought I could just use my speed and physicality, but in rugby everyone has that, so I had to find a way to differentiate myself or just evolve myself.” “I was working with these kids… and I just started implementing things based off feedback from parents that there was a disconnect between speed training, performance training, [and] their actual game.” Questions Jeremiah gives his athletes to reflect upon and talk about: “What are my goals? What do I enjoy about sports or about the game I play? What do I want from this? What are my strengths and what are my weaknesses?” “My job [as a strength coach] is to put a smile on kids’ faces and you’re going to be happy because you’re getting stronger and because you’re getting faster but you’re also going to have fun and play games that may have a lot of relevance to your sport, or maybe they don’t and it’s fun because it’s just a game and you’re generally enjoying moving your body and reacting!” “We time every time we’re at the field… and during the pandemic, we brought the Vertec to the track. Honestly, it was really up to them… We don’t really put that much thought into it because, again, we use it as a confidence tool. Like okay, you’ve leveled up, how are you going to apply it?” “If they can express themselves autonomously, they can also self-soothe and recover by themselves.” “Our warm-up is usually either a series of different isos or we’ll just play a small-sided game for a couple of minutes and it usually depends on the demeanor of the athletes, the way they come in. If they’re really bogged down by playing tournaments that they’re already doing, we’ll spice it up.” About Jeremiah Flood Jeremiah Flood @coach_jflood is the owner of Flood Sports, a sports training company in Southern California whose mission is to facilitate the development of mindful and adaptable athletes.  Jeremiah is a former NCAA D1 defensive back at FIU where he earned his B.S. and M.S. in Exercise Science. After becoming a CSCS and working with Women's Volleyball and Soccer at his Alma Mater, He found the sport of Rugby, spent some time in USA rugby academy and garnered a professional contract. With his playing days behind him, Jeremiah focused on developing athletes of the future. His philosophy in the development of growing athletes is that there is more to sports performance than just power, speed and agility.  Although these skills are extremely important, He also looks to enhance the soft skills, such as decision-making and confidence in training the speed of the mind and body. full 1:06:18 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_258_J_Flood_Edited.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-258%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-257" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-257/ Thu, 03 Jun 2021 16:29:31 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33762 Today’s show is with sport movement expert Adarian Barr.  Adarian has been a many-time guest on this podcast, and has been my primary mentor in the world of sport movement and biomechanics.  Adarian has many years of coaching experience on the college, high school, club and private level of track and field, as well as in private sports training and movement analysis. There is a lot of talk in sports performance circles about “absorbing force”, as well as being able to “decelerate” in order to “accelerate”.  Although it is certainly helpful to speak outside of concentric/pushing muscle actions only in athletics, a key point is that sport movement is much more than simply accelerating and decelerating things.  Moving outwards to another layer of awareness, sport is much more about re-directing momentum than it is abruptly stopping and starting it.  Many top experts in speed training now are putting much less emphasis on deceleration, and more on change of direction. Change of direction concepts can be taken into much more than just running, however, but can be looked at in jumping, throwing, and pretty much any sport skill an athlete will undertake.  When we look at the dynamic work we are doing in training from a “collision” perspective, it helps us to appreciate athletic movement, and movement transfer to a higher degree. On today’s show, Adarian Barr talks details on setting up and managing collisions in sport movements, as well as lots of plyometric considerations.  We finish off the show with a brief chat on how this applies distinctly to the foot and sprinting from a timing and lever-based perspective. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:13 Adarian’s take on training landings and a criticism of “snap down” exercises to train landings 14:44 Why it takes guts to hit a big collision in sport, and Adarian’s top collisions for athletic performance ability 21:35 Discussing the “ultimate” collision in sport, the javelin-throw final step 31:13 Considerations on setting up, and managing collisions in sport 34:30 Thoughts on using small boxes to manipulate jump takeoffs in track and field 40:25 Low rim dunks in basketball, in respect to collision management 44:55 Adarian’s thoughts on if “landing training” is a good idea for athletes 46:25 What plyometrics actually transfer well to setting up and managing collisions 53:40 Squatting and folding up in context of plyometrics and sprinting 1:01:13 How we can get to the ball of the foot at an optimal rate in sport movement “There is something people don’t understand about collisions; the impact force at the feet is not the same as what is being transferred to the rest of the body” “I’m not trying to absorb (the collision) I’m trying to manage (the collision)…. We are not taught to manage the collisions, we are taught to absorb.  If you are practicing to absorb collisions, you had better be strong” “There’s very little times where you are going to come to an abrupt halt in a landing (like a snap-down)” “When I chew my food, I do a plyometric” “If you want to build up that (collision management ability) teach everyone to triple jump” “What do athletes do better than anybody else, they manage collisions better than anybody else, because they don’t have fear” “As soon as you have fear in the equation, all of a sudden, you can’t manage the collision and you have problems” “People miss, more than anything, is how you set up the collision; and snap downs don’t teach you to set up the collision” “Two things to know: 1. How do I set up the collision, and 2. How do I manage the collision” “When the (cricket bowler) takes that big leap (4 steps out from the plant), that’s where it all starts” “Landing is the least of my worries when it comes to plyometrics” “The most difficult thing with plyometrics is asking “what am I stretching to shorten”?” “One thing about tissue tolerance is, is your tissue tolerant to folding up?” “When I do a plyo, and I jump and land, to me, when I hit the ground again, I am going to stretch something, and I am going to stretch it to end range” “Play should be the greatest form of training” “A skate board activity fits the definition of a plyometric, so why not do it?” “Part of collision is managing that ground-reaction force, at the foot” “If the ankle locks up at the right time, and the ground decides to push me back, then I’m going to take advantage of it” “It cracks me up when people talk about positions and shapes… you need to feel the position; and I’m thinking, no, you need to feel when the ground is about to do something to you, and what are you going to do about it” “I’m doing a start and I got my hands fixed in (this) position, well then my feet are doing; they are fixed in (this position) too, well then when my foot hits the ground it’ll be too stiff, the ground reaction will be too fast” “Arches will work, but having arches work is not the same as having a stiff foot” “How does the foot transition from class 1 to class 2? Calcaneus has to shift” Show Notes: Jonathan Edwards 18.43m triple jump “extending the collision” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUJ2GfVkKY Christian Taylor with an 18m jump with slightly less “drop” into the collision as Edwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAIqV5yJnkU Simone Biles “Double Yurchenko” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZNkCtgPJ4 Miltos Tentoglou 28’2” long jump (foot flop and reactivity)   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Jumpers World (@jumpers.world) Falling Bunny Hops https://youtu.be/-hfztsEIM4k About Adarian Barr Adarian Barr is a track coach and inventor based out of Yuba City, California.  His collegiate track and field coaching stops have included UW-Superior, Indiana State, UNC Pembroke, Yuba City Community College. He has invented 9 devices from footwear to sleds to exercise devices. Adarian is a USATF Level II coach in the sprints, jumps, hurdles and relays. He has a master’s degree in Physical Education. Adarian’s unique coaching style gets results, and his work on speed and biomechanics is being adapted by some of the top coaches in the nation. full 1:07:49 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_257_Adarian_Barr_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-257%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-258" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-256/ Thu, 27 May 2021 11:22:17 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33709 Today’s show is with Sam Wuest.  Sam is the head coach and manager of Intention Athletic Club based out of South Florida.  A licensed acupuncturist and former collegiate track & field coach specializing in the jumping events, Sam owes much of his unique perspective to apprenticeships with Ukrainian Olympic Hurdle Coach Olex Ponomarenko and several master acupuncturists as well as his continued education within Daoist Gate’s martial arts and meditation programs. Sam has been a writer of some of the most popular articles on Just Fly Sports, on the importance of rotation in sprinting, jumping and sport jumping movements, such as dunking a basketball.  Sam is a holistic, outside the box thinker who has been able to blend several unique worlds of thought into his own process of training integrated athleticism. So much of our modern thought on sports performance comes from “Western thought”, which focuses largely on forces, muscles, and things that can be easily quantified in training.  You’ll often hear things like “producing the most force in the least time” or “maximal stiffness” as common pursuits in athlete training.  It’s not that these ideas aren’t important, but what we don’t consider is the other “side” of training that involves things that are harder to quantify, such as timing, fluidity, connectedness of the body and mental-emotional factors. On today’s show, Sam gets into the fine points of posture and expanding joint positions, what it means to train an athlete from a “fascial” perspective, and how his influences from the martial arts have made a major impact on how he goes about training athletes.  He also closes with a bit on how to balance a training program from a philosophical perspective of “yin and yang”. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:42 - What can martial arts teach us about movement quality? 10:39 - Why we talk about fascia & What “fascia” means from a performance perspective 13:55 - Why focus on postural cues in athletes? 17:34 - The role of contractile elements in the body & The importance of timing in jumping 21:21 - Posture, the long spine, & The Alexander Technique in relation to athletic performance 31:53 - Fascial stretching & coming back from an injury 38:03 - Engaging the anterior of the body & Internal vs. External cueing 42:04 - Martial arts drills, mobility exercises, and mindfulness techniques Sam uses to expand the long spine and the tensegrity system 58:29 - The yin and yang of a training cycle: What a week of training for Sam’s athletes looks like 1:10:02 - Why you should finish your day with a parasympathetic cool-down “All these different movement styles, martial art styles… especially the ones that say they’re internal, you’ll see that they’ll use the body in a different way because they’re not trying to use them in the same way as an external martial art… because you’re using different sections of your body in a particular way and you might be mobilizing different things that I think, in strength and conditioning, we don’t often assume can or should move.” “When we talk about the fascia, it’s adjusting one area of the body to check the tissue length in the other area of the body. So when we talk about tendon strength versus maybe muscle strength, we’re talking about adjusting big muscle strength in the gym, usually if you see a body builder… their biceps are not big all the way through the upper arm.... Whereas someone who has more of a tendon or even elastic structure… you’ll often see that the muscle is almost more spread out because the tendons and the connective tissue at the joint level has also developed.” “A lot of the little postural adjustments are to adjust the tensegrity... they’re to adjust the little bits of the system so instead of just having to contract a muscle more, we could actually sometimes even lengthen, just slightly, something around a joint or spine or on the mid-section of the body and by creating that little bit of length, we add that sort of elastic, and maybe we can say fascial, strength. Sometimes we can actually get stronger not just by contracting harder but by lengthening, just naturally.” “The more lift-dominant programs seem to have more of the folks that started to stack up injuries, even if they weren’t on the spine. I don’t think it’s just the lifting, I think it’s maybe something of the mentality but also I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there aren’t that many ways that people have in their standard coaching/strength and conditioning toolbox to really open that up… Everybody knows how to compress something… but pulling it apart is a little bit more nuanced.” “That’s sometimes what I’ll do, unbeknownst to the person I’m working with, when I’m trying to work somebody back from an injury and I want them to go all out, is I’ll do something in the days before or in the warm up that’s going to take a bit of juice out of the system so they’re going to feel 100% but they’re not actually going to be running as fast as they can.” “There are ways to engage posture without just throwing more tension on the system.” “We talk a lot about internal and external cueing, but I don’t think the distinction is as clear cut as people make it out to be because there’s also imagery that will allow you to almost be thinking about your body parts and your limbs as if they are external, even though they’re on the inside of the body.” “Especially people these days, because everything is so visual, so technological, but we need people to go back into their bodies more and more and more and be able to actually feel where they are in space, feel where their limbs are in relation to each other. If we can do that through movement, that’s wonderful, but sometimes we also need to just affect the way someone’s mind is working and kind of cut off some of those outside distractions. Otherwise, we have no place to go with this stuff.” “You can be the [first lines of defense] for yourself, before you ever get into the other stuff, if you know yourself, if you can go inside a little bit. I think people are realizing that.” “The way you start and end something is the way you remember it.” Show Notes Sam Wuest postural drills inspired by the martial arts   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Sam Wuest (@way_of_sam) Tommy John extreme isometric lunge hold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfEdRv7utNA&t=199s About Sam Wuest Sam Wuest, L.Ac., M.Ed., is the head coach and manager of Intention Athletic Club based out of South Florida. A licensed acupuncturist and former collegiate track & field coach specializing in the jumping events, Sam owes much of his unique perspective to apprenticeships with Ukrainian Olympic Hurdle Coach Olex Ponomarenko and several master acupuncturists as well as his continued education within Daoist Gate’s martial arts and meditation programs. Please visit wayofsam.com or IG: @way_of_sam to hear more about his training philosophy. full 1:14:49 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_256_Sam_Wuest_Edit.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-256%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-259" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-255/ Thu, 20 May 2021 14:54:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33696 Today’s show is with athletic performance coach and hamstring injury research specialist, Johan Lahti.  Johan is an S&C coach (CSCS) at R5 Athletics & Health in Helsinki, Finland. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. on a multifactorial approach for hamstring injury risk reduction in professional soccer under the supervision of Professor JB Morin and Dr. Pascal Edouard via the University of Cote d’Azur.  Johan is a practitioner who truly has a hand in both the worlds of the art and the science of athletic development. Hamstring strains are not only one of the most common muscular injuries in sport, but also will be more likely to happen once an athlete has had this issue in the past.  The human body is a complex organism, and as easy as it can be to pin the cause of an injury to one source, we most always take a broad and holistic approach to these issues.  Johan recently did a fantastic explanation of his hamstring injury prevention methods for a Simplifaster interview, where multiple causes and solutions to hamstring problems were addressed, such as running technique vs. hamstring strength training, mobility and hamstring risk, pelvic tilt and more. In today’s podcast Johan and I chat about an athlete’s strength vs. their raw technique when it comes to lifting, and what resistance training exercises have the greatest impact on the hamstrings from a prevention standpoint.  We talk about running technique and hamstring injury, mobility and flexibility, and proprioception, and cognitive demand, all related to hamstring injury risk prevention. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:31 - What inspired Johan to research hamstrings & His greatest mentors 8:05 - Strength vs. Running technique in hamstring injury prevention 12:43 - Factoring in ultra-specific hamstring training, like Nordic exercises 17:57 - Efficiency in hamstring research and technique 19:59 - Running mechanics: Correlations between on-field running techniques and hamstring injury 23:25 - Factoring in sports that require holding something in your hands while running, like a field hockey stick 24:55 - Stretching and strength training in hamstring injury prevention and mobility/range of motion 32:07 - If you just do max velocity sprint work, will your hamstrings organically get better at end range? 36:48 - Fascicle testing & Sprinting vs. Isolated exercises 42:48 - The best protocol for preventing hamstring injury and keeping hamstrings healthy 44:43 - Lumbopelvic movement measurements & Sprint mechanics 50:41 - Starting at a young age: Building better postures and movement in sprint techniques 53:12 - Thoughts on posterior chain training “Looking at the hamstrings particularly, it is amazing, not only the sagittal plane or the front to back, but also the rotational component of this muscle group and how it works to help us perform as athletes is absolutely amazing.” “Let’s say if you’re doing a squat, a force plate can read a specific Newton output but they can produce that force by different strategies so… the end result is the same in terms of Newtons, but are they technically producing strength for different tasks even though it’s defined as a squat? So that is really interesting and I think that should be discussed more. That’s why I don’t like to separate strength and technique… but evidently it needs to be done in terms of research.” “It’s difficult to answer that question of ‘what is the optimal exercise?’ I think if you’re ticking those boxes, then you could argue that some exercises are doing enough if you have other exercises ticking the rest of the boxes.” “There’s so much money going into hamstring research, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone picked [time efficiency] up as a research topic… because time is of such high value.” “We can create these great protocols in the lab, gold standard equipment, but then what’s the use if teams don’t have the budget or time or resources or facilities to conduct these tests? So there needs to be a lot of technological advancement that we can get… with less testing, a good idea of what’s going on. That would be the end goal.” “There’s supportive biomechanical evidence for lengthening the angle of peak torque in the hamstrings with range of motion training… additionally, that your range of motion is moderately correlated with how much mechanical strain or lengthening past optimal length takes place during sprinting.” “We shouldn’t just consider the hamstrings, we should consider other muscles that influence the hamstrings that modeling studies have shown that muscles that basically can pull contribute to lengthening the hamstring... and the hip flexors are the most famous for it.” “Right now, it seems that there are benefits of increasing both of it, fascicle length and pennation angle, depending on what head we’re talking about in the hamstrings.” “I really want to emphasize that my PhD focuses on soccer, so therefore, these are the categories we have interest in this context. We have four main categories that we thought would realistically fit into schedules and screening protocols, so that would be posterior strength testing, range of motion, lumbopelvic control, and the last one is sprint mechanical output testing.” About Johan Lahti Johan Lahti is an S&C coach (CSCS) at R5 Athletics & Health in Helsinki, Finland. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. on a multifactorial approach for hamstring injury risk reduction in professional soccer under the supervision of Professor JB Morin and Dr. Pascal Edouard via the University of Cote d’Azur. Physiotherapist Jurdan Mendiguchia functions as an external supervisor.   full 59:51 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_255_Johan_Lahti_Edited.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-255%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-260" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-254/ Thu, 13 May 2021 11:15:52 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33684 Today’s show is with James Wild.  James is a coach, an applied researcher and a performance consultant.  Currently, James leads the speed program for Harlequins rugby men’s team and is Head of Performance for England Women’s Lacrosse.  He also leads modules in skill acquisition and strength & conditioning at the University of Surrey.  James is in the final stages of completing a PhD in the biomechanics and motor control of team sport athletes during sprint acceleration and is the author of “Strength Training for Speed”. When it comes to speed, it’s always helpful to look at things from both the perspective of the coaching eye and applied biomechanics, and then on the other end, from more raw perspectives of strength and data points.  When we look at both the qualitative and the quantitative, we can get a fuller total picture of what it takes to maximize an athlete’s speed potential in a manner that sticks over time and gets results.  James is not only great with sprinting data points, but he has also been in the trenches coaching athletes for 20 years with many high level athletes, and his combination of the data, as well as in the art of coaching offers valuable insight for any coach. On the show today, James and I talk about his process of building an acceleration profile for athletes, rate vs. stride-length dominance, foot vs. hip dominant strategies in sprinting, resisted sprinting, minimal explosive strength standards for sprint performance, and more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:38 - James’ main objective with his PhD work 6:30 - The results of James’ sprint acceleration polls on social media 9:53 - The effects of acute, verbal interventions on sprinting improvement 13:34 - How to analyze and experiment with athletes’ sprinting using continuums 17:45 - How to allow athletes to experience continuums 23:47 - Running with low knees vs. high knees & Variability in performance 27:11 - The importance of incorporating experiential nature into training 29:05 - Key markers and components of acceleration profiles & Cluster analysis 34:58 - 4 main strategies for sprinting & Exploring athletes’ reliance 39:36 - The quickest way James has facilitated change in sprint acceleration performance 44:46 - The role of technical changes vs. improving strength qualities 51:51 - 3 strength measures & Single leg jump in place test 55:56 - Analyzing hip and foot-dominance in athletes 1:00:12 - How does DRF help project horizontal force or convert force to a horizontal acceleration? & Using a sled to train “It’s certainly not been my experience that there is this one size fits all, classical model [of sprinting] that we can shoehorn everyone into and that they will run faster as a result.” “One of the things I do will be to longitudinally track their spatial/temporal variables and try and look at essentially what it is that they’re doing when they’re running their fastest. So, it’s this concept of finding out the athlete’s reliance.” “If I’m working with an athlete for the first time or the first few sessions… whilst I’m collecting that data, I want them to experience what it feels like to move along that continuum of greater step length or greater step rate so that by the time I’ve finished some kind of analysis and have an understanding of where their reliance is at… they’ve got prior experience now with adjusting according to that continuum, so it just makes coaching a lot easier.” “They’re never gonna sprint the same way twice in a game, really, so they need to be able to adapt to those novel situations… they’re never going to produce exactly the same step… there’s going to be variability in everything they do, so sometimes exploring that variability is quite important.” “You’ll never find a single strength quality that’s going to be repeatedly related to sprint acceleration performance across all athlete groups.” “Some of the regression analysis I’ve conducted; big hip extension torque, single leg reactive strength index, and peak power during a squat jump, for example, those three measures combined seem to consistently relate to a reasonable amount of variation in sprint performance.” About James Wild James is a coach, an applied researcher and a performance consultant using a blend of strength & conditioning and biomechanics techniques with skill acquisition and motor learning principles to help address sports performance problems. He has worked with coaches and athletes across a full spectrum of abilities over the last 20 years, including medal winning teams and athletes at major international competitions. Currently, James leads the speed programme for Harlequins rugby men’s team and is Head of Performance for England Women’s Lacrosse. He also leads modules in skill acquisition and strength & conditioning as part of the University of Surrey’s BSc in Sport & Exercise Science degree programme. James is in the final stages of completing a PhD in the biomechanics and motor control of team sport athletes during sprint acceleration, is a book author (‘Strength Training for Speed’), and has published several articles within scientific journals” full 1:03:21 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_254_James_Wild_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-254%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-261" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-253/ Thu, 06 May 2021 12:36:02 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33646 Today’s show is a Q&A with Joel Smith, answering your questions on training and human performance.  It’s great to see what’s on everyone’s minds from a training perspective, as well as be able to synthesize thoughts on each question. On the Q&A today, we have a wide range of questions, but the focal points are things like speed training for athletes new to training, coaching speed in a manner that doesn’t cause negative compensations, isometric training, weightlifting, and even swimming. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com 253: Joel Smith Q&A on Organic Speed Training, Olympic Weightlifting, Isometrics and More full 1:04:35 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_253_Joel_QA.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-253%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-262" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-252/ Thu, 29 Apr 2021 13:11:41 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33625 Today’s show brings on coaches Andrew Cormier and Joel Reinhardt.  Andrew Cormier is a sports performance coach at the University of Massachusetts, working with the men’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, and softball programs.  Joel Reinhardt is the Assistant Director of Sports Performance at the University of Massachusetts, working with football and women’s lacrosse.  Together, Andrew and Joel run the sprint-jump-throw.com website, as well as the Sprint Jump Throw Performance Podcast. Speed training, on the surface is a very simple venture.  High quality sprinting efforts in a fresh state is key to getting faster.  For track and field this is quite simple, but for team sports, this becomes more difficult, since it’s harder to control fatigue, as well as address the many facets of speed displayed in the course of a game, compared to a simple linear sprint race. Andrew and Joel are two young coaches with a view on speed training for sport that blends “Feed the Cats” ideologies, into their progressive system that seeks to eliminate the noise from an athlete’s regimen.  On the show today, Andrew and Joel talk about a speed-based model that they utilize in their team sport preparation, running technique and options in the course of game play, and their model of cueing and instructing athletes. Andrew and Joel have taken on an approach to “rank-record-publish” in speed-based training that gives athletes unique motivation in regards to improving this critical component of athleticism.  Throughout the podcast, we also chat about the role of visual field, perception and body language in the development of game speed, as well as diversity in running “options” that high level athletes display.  We finish this chat with Andrew and Joel’s take on the utilization of tempo in resistance training, and how much we really need to rely on the weight room for power if speed-based ranking systems are being utilized outside of it. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:05 Andrew and Joel’s history in working together as coaches and how their podcast came together 11:05 How Andrew and Joel are building a “feed the cats” model of speed development in the context of team sports 18:35 How to replace linear-extensive tempo and long runs with more coordination driven, locomotion-complex style running for field sport athletes 27:50 What KPI’s Andrew and Joel are looking to boost throughout the year in regards to team sport physical needs, and how maximal sprints are ranked-recorded-published 39:35 How to work with athletes who are regularly in the last places in speed-based measurements 42:20 How Andrew and Joel consider change of direction ability in their training regime 57:55 Approaching running technique in light of the needs of team sports and the various types of running that may be present in team sports 1:09.20 Ideas on approaching bar tempo in a weightroom setting “It’s prioritizing the high speed components of the game, and then filling in the cracks elsewhere” Reinhardt “If we are trying to build some sort of physical stimulus, we always go back to “how can we build this playing lacrosse” Reinhardt “Instead of (traditional tempo or a long boring run for soccer players) now we are throwing a bunch of different movements at them (such as gallops)” Cormier “In season we only supplement fly 10’s (for field sport athletes)” Reinhardt We track (fly 10’s) as soon as we are done tracking it, I rank them, send it in the group message, put it top to bottom, color code it, green to red, mark PR’s on there, and they get all excited about it… the slight shift in language even within the team, instead of girls asking “how can I get in better shape” they ask, “how can I get faster” Reinhardt Team average we put 1.5 mph on their (lacrosse) average max velocity, in season, over 14 weeks (Reinhardt) “With female athletes, I’m not too worried about introducing more tone to the system” (Reinhardt) “They are doing some sort of high intensity lacrosse (and therefore change of direction) almost always, I’ve been working with them almost 2 years now and I have not done a single change of direction drill.  (Reinhardt) “(Instead of change of direction drills) I do strictly intense plyometrics in multiple planes, and then say, “just play your sport” Cormier “We are going to start doing sprint training where now we are going to stare at a point off to the side, but we are going to run in a straight line, and you are going to learn to track being in a good position and the only thing we are changing is the actual physical demand” Cormier “(In regards to Cal Dietz’s work, neural perplexity, and attention management) What correlated most with the guys who went to the NHL was the guys who were able to do math while they were skating” Cormier “For me, a lot of the weight room based movements are so general, that if you are not allowing yourself to be in a good position, then you are probably causing more harm than good, so I force tempo on a lot of exercises…. I know you are getting a ton of eccentric stress from all of your change of direction sprinting that you are going to do in practice, so I am not going to throw much more at you” Cormier “We do a ton of alactic, 7-10 second (isometric) hold sets for almost every single exercise” Cormier “I even, this year, took away… we used to do a decent amount of groin prehabs stuff… adductor/abductor stuff, to be honest with you I kind of stopped doing it this semester, and we hit more big-pattern, end-range isometrics, and we still didn’t have any nagging groins and hip flexors” Cormier About Andrew Cormier Andrew Cormier joined the University of Massachusetts Department of Athletics as a sports performance coach in July 2019 and works directly with the men’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, and softball programs. He came to UMass from Holy Cross, where he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Crusaders’ men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s tennis programs. Cormier’s prior stops include a sports science internship at the University of Minnesota, a graduate assistant coaching position at Amherst College, a sports performance internship at the University of Denver, and a strength and conditioning internship at his alma mater, Springfield College. Cormier co-runs the sprint-jump-throw.com website and the Sprint Jump Throw Performance Podcast alongside Joel Reinhardt. He earned both his degrees at Springfield College: a B.S. in Applied Exercise Science in 2016 and an M.S. in Exercise Science and Sport Studies in 2018. About Joel Reinhardt Joel Reinhardt is the Assistant Director of Sports Performance at the University of Massachusetts, working with football and women’s lacrosse. He has previously served as an assistant at Nicholls State University, and as a GA at Springfield College.  Reinhardt co-runs the sprint-jump-throw.com website and the Sprint Jump Throw Performance Podcast alongside Andrew Cormier. He earned his undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minn.) in Kinesiology and Exercise Science in 2015.  Reinhardt’s strength and conditioning expertise also includes internship tenures with Total Hockey Minnesota (2013), Springfield College Athletics (2015), the UConn Athletic Department (2016) and Western Michigan football (2016). full 1:21:30 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_252_Andrew_Joel_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-252%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-263" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-251/ Thu, 22 Apr 2021 11:00:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33611 Today’s show brings on Ryan Banta and Derek Hansen. Ryan Banta is a coach with more than 19 years of experience and the author of the Sprinter’s Compendium. At the high school level, Ryan has numerous state champions and finalists, and he is a frequent contributor to many top platforms in athletic performance. Derek Hansen is an International Sport Performance Consultant that has been working with athletes all ages and abilities in speed, strength and power sports since 1988.  After a long career as a university strength coach, as well as track and field coach, Derek now serves as a performance consultant to numerous professional teams in the NFL, NBA, MLS and NHL, as well as major NCAA Division 1 programs throughout North America. Both Ryan and Derek were very early guests on this podcast, and I’m happy to have them back to discuss a subject that I think has a lot of far reaching implications into one’s total performance program, which is “tempo training”.  Tempo is an age old method of sprint training, and generally refers to repeated, submaximal sprint efforts, such as 8x200m, or 5x300m, on relatively short rests, with limited recovery.  For team sports, it could mean running a series of shorter, but more numerous sprints, on incomplete rest intervals. Pendulums swing in all fields, and the sports performance field is no exception.  As with many tools, tempo has been abused by track and team sport coaches alike to the point where athletes do not make beneficial adaptations in power or maximal speed, so a reversal (such as what we see in systems such as Tony Holler’s) was well warranted.  It’s always important view training constructs from all sides, and talking with these two wise coaches is important to gain a greater understanding of this element of training, and its proper use.  Derek and Ryan get into the usefulness of tempo running for both physiological and technical adaptations, and then get into appropriate training prescriptions for track and team sport alike. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 7:42 – A Question: “If you were running a sprint program for building absolute speed, would you pick strength training or tempo running outside of your short sprint practice?” 10:25 – The benefits and misconceptions of submaximal (60-70%) effort running 18:03 – Experimenting with volume and intensity in tempo running 24:12 – Building structure and capacity through circuits vs. submaximal running & Safe training for injured athletes 31:30 – Flooring/surface dependence for tempo running and circuits 33:47 – The significance of the type of athlete in volume in tempo running 40:51 – Implementing tempo running into team sport training 46:28 – Why coaches and trainers have moved away from tempo training in their sport preparation 50:23 – The role of specificity in tempo training 52:49 – Speed development in tennis preparation and the role of tempo sprint training 54:46 – How Derek prescribes tempo volumes in track and team sports 1:00:55 – Incorporating muscle dominance and intervals in tempo running & Making it relatable to the athlete 1:08:10 – Final advice on tempo running “Basically [tempo running] is just running with incomplete recoveries at a submaximal pace and, as we all know, this method is very frequently abused by a lot of coaches.” “Working at different velocities obviously gives you some flexibility around the effect you’re going to have in terms of energy systems and building foundations around the athlete.” “A tempo run with short recovery allows for the body to use that hydrogen ions or lactate as a fuel. It allows the body to increase its ability to buffer the waste so that you’re not necessarily using that workout to get better at your absolute efforts, but you’re supporting the body to be able to withstand those absolute efforts.” “The BCDE workouts are critical when you do have somebody injured and then you also have to take in the nature of where is the injury located and what are they capable of doing? Not having that stuff set up ahead of time is, in my opinion, pretty dangerous.” “If I have a compressive athlete, then yeah, my length of my efforts is going to be shorter, my intensities are going to be lower, and it’s going to look much more like a high-low day, but I don’t take that stuff out because I feel like there’s a lot of value there.” “It is a complicated process of going through each sport and understanding how much of what tempo work they need based on what their practice or their game is fulfilling versus what you could provide. It’s not easy.” “I would rather work with, what I feel comfortable with, is the minimum effective dosage of everything and then build a more robust athlete through repetition and maybe an increase in volume as you move through the season as opposed to starting with this monster volume, and just like a train, moving your way down the tracks.” “As soon as you flip the switch and make it a game or just give them something to distract from what they’re actually doing, just everything changes and I’ve always taken that to heart.” “Just know what you’re doing and understand the context… before you’re willing to criticize or cut someone or to reject someone’s ideas, I think you need to understand their environment, their situation, and what is the competitive ask of the sport that makes them choose the choices they make for training.” About Ryan Banta Ryan Banta is a coach with more than 19 years of experience and the author of the Sprinter’s Compendium. At the high school level, Ryan has produced 135 All-State medalists, including 10 state champions and 15 runners-up. His teams have won 12 district championships and 5 top five state finishes in the last nine seasons. He has been elected Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (MTCCCA) president and served on the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) advisory board.  Ryan is a frequently appearing podcast guest and writer on many popular track and field, and athletic performance platforms. About Derek Hansen Derek is an International Sport Performance Consultant that has been working with athletes all ages and abilities in speed, strength and power sports since 1988. His coaching career started in Track and Field, providing instruction to sprinters of all ages eventually working with collegiate sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers. His career evolved rapidly working closely with some of the top performers in the world as a coach and a consultant – including Olympic medalists, world record holders, Canadian National team athletes, and professional athletes from numerous sports. Derek worked as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Simon Fraser University for 14 years, the first non-US member of the NCAA. He also serves as a performance consultant to numerous professional teams in the NFL, NBA, MLS and NHL, as well as major NCAA Division 1 programs throughout North America, specializing in speed development, strategic performance planning, return-to-competition protocols and neuromuscular electrical stimulation programming. Derek is asked to speak on speed development and high performance training on a regular basis for major events around the world and has also authored a number of books, chapters and journal articles on these subjects.   full 1:10:09 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_251_Derek_Ryan_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-251%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-264" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-250/ Thu, 15 Apr 2021 11:00:36 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33601 Today’s show brings on Eamonn Flanagan.  Eamonn is the lead Strength & Conditioning Consultant with the Sport Ireland Institute where he manages the S&C support to Ireland's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Amongst other areas of expertise, Eamonn is a leading coach in both the science and practice of jump training and plyometrics, has a PhD. in Sports Biomechanics and previously worked in professional rugby over a decade. Plyometrics and jump training is a common, and enjoyable training topic, one of the reasons being that leaping ability is generally a sign of superior athletic ability.  Jump training goes far beyond simply being able to dunk a basketball or reach the top-10 of a highlight series however; as it’s also a useful predictor of various athletic qualities, and if those qualities are actually being improved (often times, we see a lifting related quality improve without moving the needle on important jump related qualities).  The data-based approach to jump monitoring can come across as mundane, but Eamonn approaches it from a practical perspective that represents his coaching intuition, as well as that of his sport science abilities. On today’s show, Eamonn talks about what stiffness is, and isn’t in plyometrics, and what makes a good athlete from a plyometric and reactive perspective.  We talk about plyometric progressions, and some points of intent Eamonn looks for in plyometric activity that most coaches overlook.  Eamonn also talks about the fallacy that coaches can get into when jump testing, and how the test can no longer “be the test” when you use it too often.  He also covers what “stiffness” really is in plyometrics, single vs. double leg metrics in jump testing, and how to optimally manage jump testing history in uncovering puzzles of injury. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 05:55 – What drew Eamonn to jump testing and plyometrics in sports science? 08:50 – How Eamonn experimented and learned all aspects of plyometrics simultaneously 09:37 – What does the ideal athlete looks like from a plyometric perspective? 12:20 – How to go about training an athlete’s jump-based weaknesses and the idea of a “minimal reactive strength” 19:07 – Stiffness and reactive strength in the context of jump testing 28:12 – Determining what jump tests to use with certain athletic groups & what tests to use for an explosive short-burst acceleration athlete 40:55 – How often concentric jump testing could or should be done 44:47 – Eamonn’s four phases of plyometric for improving raw metrics & the role of finding relaxation in training 51:58 – One of the biggest mistakes strength coaches make in plyometric training 56:59 – Insights into single leg vs. double leg reactive strength testing & the importance of record-keeping in sports performance and training “When we’re talking about jump testing… I like to keep things pretty simple. So, while I might have access to tools like force plates, when I think about jump testing, I’m more thinking about incredibly simple metrics and I’m more thinking about a variety of different jumps rather than these incredibly in-depth metrics from a single jump.” “I think the beauty of looking at athletes’ plyometric ability is that, for me, there is no one way to do things, there is no ultimate because ultimately, what it’s about is performance. It’s about outcome… and there is an infinite number of ways to achieve that.” “In terms of addressing weaknesses… if you feel that there’s really some areas there where it’s not so much a weakness as a real deficiency, then I think you want to get after that.” “The device you use to measure, as well as the surface on which you perform the tests, can be quiet variable in terms of their impact on the output.” “It’s about not putting too much importance on a single metric or a single test and it’s also about not just looking at the number at the other end of the test but what you’re seeing with your eyes at the same time. These reactive strength tests can be quite useful, quite meaningful, but you want to be looking at them alongside the sporting outcome, the speed scores, the concentric only jumping, the countermovement jumping…” “There shouldn’t be a standard battery that you just use with everybody. It’s got to be about, what is the problem in front of you? What’s the questions that you’re trying to answer?” “One of the most important things, when you think about frequency of any test, is that the more often you test, the less influence you’re going to have from just noise… whereas if you test very infrequently, let’s say once in week 1 and once again in week 12, the relative effect of any noise in those tests is quite high.” “The exact problem that I’ve definitely had… is that coaches come from more of a strength background than an athletic track and field type background… I think that is the default mistake that a lot of us can make. It’s easy to look at plyometric work and to fall into the same reps and sets and intensities that we use for back squats and power cleans… it requires some bravery to use your training time for some of that submaximal stuff that is a little bit more about feel, posture, being relaxed, the right force in the right direction... because it’s not as measurable and it’s a little bit more subjective for the athletes.” About Eamonn Flanagan Eamonn Flanagan is the lead Strength & Conditioning Consultant with the Sport Ireland Institute where he manages the S&C support to Ireland's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Amongst other areas of expertise, Eamonn is a leading coach in both the science and practice of jump training and plyometrics. He has a PhD. in Sports Biomechanics and previously worked in professional rugby over a decade, working with Scottish Rugby Union, Edinburgh Rugby, and the Irish Rugby Football Union. full 1:04:00 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_Eamonn_Flanagan_250.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-250%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-265" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-249/ Thu, 08 Apr 2021 14:08:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33585 More show notes and timestamps at: https:/www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-249/ Today’s show brings on Angus Bradley.  Angus is a strength coach and podcast host from Sydney, Australia.  He coaches out of Sydney CBD, and co-hosts the Hyperformance podcast with his brother, Oscar.  After focusing primarily on weightlifting for the first half of his career Angus finds himself spending as much time “outside of his lane” as possible trying to identify the principles that transcend all human movement.  Like many guests on this show, Angus has been well-educated in the compression/expansion training ideals proliferated by Bill Hartman that are pushing our industry forward.  Angus is frequently sharing next level knowledge from his social media platform and podcast, and he works with a diverse crowd from strongman to surfing and everything in between. I’ve always been trying to “figure out” weightlifting in context of athletic performance.  There are coaches with a lot of different opinions on which lifts athletes should do, and some elite sports performance professionals have athletes do little to even no traditional barbell work.  In my own journey, I found myself a much more powerful, but slightly less elastic athlete in my mid-20s after 12 years of loading my body through squats, Olympic lifts and the like.  On the flip-side, I’ve had athletes who I honestly believe would struggle to achieve their highest peak without some solid help from barbell work.  Rather than only assigning more, or less lifting to a particular athlete, I enjoy knowing the binding principles of barbell work and different body types. In my search for answers, Angus Bradley is a huge wealth of knowledge.  He is highly experienced in weightlifting methods and has a deep understanding of the principles of compression and expansion in a variety of exercises, and in determining strategies based on body type.  On the show today, Angus talks about squatting and hinging from ribcage and pelvic floor perspectives, the importance and impact of pressure management in how “strong” athletes are at various lifts, and how to train and manage various body types in light of preventing un-wanted compensations and shape changes in the body.  This is a podcast I wish I had listened to myself, 15 years ago. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Angus Bradley 249: Angus Bradley on Best Squatting Practices, True Posterior Chain Training, and Managing the “Soccer Ball in Your Ribs” full 1:17:31 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_249_Angus_Bradley.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-249%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-266" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-248/ Thu, 01 Apr 2021 11:00:32 +0000 https://just-fly-sports.com/?p=33576 Today’s show brings on Jamie Smith, founder of the “U of Strength”.  Jamie Smith has coached a variety of athletes from the novice to elite skill levels, including several NHL, NBA and MLS athletes.  He has been a prior guest on the podcast, as well as having done an extensive webinar for Just Fly Sports, speaking on perception-action topics and building robust athletes in a manner that transcends simply getting them “stronger”. As long as I’ve been in the sports performance profession, I’ve realized just how important it is to look at every way you can impact the performance of an athlete, on the levels of strength, speed, mentality, perception, decision-making, special-strength, and more.  Jamie is the epitome of a coach who is truly passionate about making athletes better at the sports they play through a comprehensive approach. In the modern day, a comprehensive approach is truly important, since we relate athlete response to that of a machine.  Athletes are so heavily coached, scheduled and instructed, that they rarely get the autonomy and creative license they need to reach their own optimal performance.  Coaches also tend to mis-place their actual role in the process of working with athletes, and don’t allow athletes enough ownership and say in the training process to the point where they will struggle in achieving their ideal training result, overcoming stressful competition situations, and even in life beyond sport. Last podcast, we went into the perception-action component of making a well-rounded athlete, and this episode we get info full-circle development by means of training variability, the use of nature and natural surfaces, menu systems and athlete autonomy, competition, long-term athletic development, and more.  Jamie takes the art of the coach as a guide seriously, and in the world of over-coached and robotic athletes, Jamie is a beacon of light for young athletes looking to reach high levels of not only performance, but also self-efficacy, confidence and life-preparedness. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 04:23 – The benefits of training in nature for young and older athletes 12:02 – The importance of conscious risk-taking in training 13:23 – Thinking about a child’s future in sport, and how training in nature will impact it 17:30 – Improving happiness in youth sports by incorporating fun and playfulness 24:11 – How to integrate nature into training athletes 28:37 – Thoughts on coaching as a dynamic partnership 33:51 – The role of observation in coaching and focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses + A big misconception of coaches 44:53 – What a training session looks like for Jamie’s athletes, and the art of using menu-systems 56:07 – Competition options in older athletes 57:45 – The role of athlete interest and collaboration in the results of a training program “At the beginning of every day, me and my assistant, I brief him and we go over what the objective is, what we need to improve on as coaches or as a whole, as a program, and one of the things we talk about is who can say the least amount of words.” “A lot of people, to wake up the feet, would roll with a sensory ball or spikey ball, shit we did isometrics, we did different gate patterns walking up and down, walking tall, walking in a tunnel… completely barefoot walking through the rocks.” “The big thing I tell athletes is: we want you to become comfortable in uncomfortable situations.” “[Barefoot training is] not great if you’re on a wood floor or a totally flat floor where there’s zero sensory information coming in. It’s really not a whole lot better than being in shoes, to be honest. You have to have these little sensations or irritations and you combine that with different weights.” “The whole idea of safe uncertainty… I think that’s something that is ignored and I think is one of the most powerful things that we can give an athlete.” “There’s more to this sports performance realm that the sets and reps and perfect form on a back squat or how high you jump.” “When you look at the physical, the psychological, the emotional, and the social and you understand that those four are connected and you can’t leave one of them out, it’s a pretty powerful stimulus for athletic development.” “When you have autonomy and you enjoy what you’re doing, everything gets better.” “We should go with the strengths. Yes, there’s going to be weaknesses and there’s going to be a time and place for that, but I think instead of going right to the weakness or right to the error, let’s go to the strength and what the athlete’s good at. That’s a strategy I have with new athletes.” “Children are not just miniature versions of adults but they have definitive needs for play and self-expression and autonomy. This athlete you have in front of you… is not just the product of your beautiful programming and periodization but they’re the product of everything they had before them all the way along the line.” About Jamie Smith Coach Jamie Smith, CSCS, is the founder and head sport preparation coach of The U of Strength, LLC. He is passionate about guiding his athletes through their developmental process and discovering unique ways that blend physical preparation and skill adaptation. As a former athlete at Merrimack College, Jamie graduated with a degree in Sports Medicine and a concentration in Exercise Physiology. As a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, he has had the opportunity to coach under some of the most knowledgeable and experienced coaches in the industry. Jamie has coached a variety of athletes from the novice to the elite skill levels, some of which include current NHL, NBA, and MLS players and the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion UConn Huskies. Through adaptive, creative, and experience-based program design, Jamie assists athletes in reaching their full potential on and off the ice, court, and field. full 1:04:23 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_248_Jamie_Smith_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-248%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-267" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-247/ Thu, 25 Mar 2021 11:00:34 +0000 https://just-fly-sports.com/?p=33566 Today’s show brings on elite physiotherapist David O’Sullivan.  Dave has worked as sports physio with England Rugby Union in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and with England Rugby League in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Australia.  Dave is the founder of the ProSport Academy and now teaches his step by step pro sport approach that he uses with his own sporting and non-sporting patients in private practice to therapists all over the world. Dave’s mission is to empower people to restore control through their body and minds so they can truly live.  He has been a mentor to some well-known coaches/therapists such as previous podcast guest, David Grey. Knee pain and lower limb injury prevention are important topics.  Nearly every coach (and clearly therapist) will deal with either preventing or treating these issues with their athletes.  I enjoy learning about how to prevent knee or Achilles tendon pain, but I truly enjoy these conversations when we can take these principles of performance and scale them up to modes that can be used in late rehab or full-scale performance training. In today’s talk with Dave O’Sullivan, we’ll go into the basic muscle firing patterns that set up the baseline for performance in any bridging activity.  Dave will get into the importance of the Soleus muscle as a lower-body lynchpin, and how to optimally coordinate this muscle, along with the hamstrings in a spectrum of bridging exercises with specific cues for the feet.  We’ll take this all the way to how Dave utilizes jump training methods and drivers, along with foot cueing, to help athletes achieve a seamless and confident return to play.  Whether you are a therapist, strength coach or track coach, this is an information packed and truly relevant episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:00 Discussing the systems that have influenced Dave the most in his career as a physiotherapist, and how he has synthesized them into his current system 12:20 Dave’s thoughts on the spectrum between basic rehab, and high performance return to play methods in the actions of the foot 22:40 How Dave wants the foot, and mid-foot to engage through various squatting actions, including the “split slouch” exercise 33:10 Mid-foot supine bridging drills as a regression for athletes who cannot tolerate proper load standing on the hamstring and soleus muscles 43:30 A discussion on cueing the mid-foot and how to cue the foot in rehab exercises, versus dynamic movements such as running or sprinting 50:30 Comparing low-hip position hip bridges with standard weighted hip thrust exercises, as well as the role of heel vs. mid-foot pushing in glute bridge work 1:01:30 How to know when to move athletes past supine bridges and slouches pushing through the mid-foot, and into more advanced work 1:08:45 Using “drivers” to help athletes with various jump landings in a return to play situation 1:17:00 When you actually do want to have athletes push through the big toe, versus when to leave it alone “When they go into the real world; the stress and movement, there is so much stimulus going into the nervous system, it’s so much different than being in the physio room doing 3 sets of 10 or a breathing exercise” “I just want to put load on these tissues, and let the system self-organize” “When that foot hits the floor, the soleus (muscle) is the king…. if you had to have one muscle for knee pain, that’s it…. the soleus takes between 6 and 8 times the bodyweight” “That’s an awareness to me that a lot of athletes have skipped, the mid-foot… athletes who stay on their heels or on their toes miss that mid-foot” “The interesting thing with the mid-foot and the soleus is that the soleus has to work with every other muscle in the lower limb” “When you squat, on the way down I want the weight through the heel, and on the reversal, on the way up I want it through the mid-foot/fore-foot” “If you keep the knee straight, that makes it harder to get onto the mid-foot” “It is so much harder to relax than to contract; that’s important for people with consistent pain” “Those top-down cues (squish oranges through the midfoot) are good, but ideally what we want are bottom-up cues where we don’t have to cue them… I wouldn’t have an athlete “squash oranges” running” “By the time that foot hits the floor at that speed (sprinting) the brain and nervous system has a strategy in place, and it’s not caring about turning a muscle on, it cares about not falling over” “We don’t want the bum to come too far up in a single leg bridge, because if you do you are going to start using your back; the lower the bum is the more you are going to use your leg” “I think a lot of those people that got more (EMG in glutes) through the heel… if they did the mid-foot bridge, I’m confident they would cramp in the hamstring or soleus” “You are going to feel (bridges through the midfoot) in your hamstrings for a few weeks, and then you’ll feel them in your glutes (after you build the proper hamstring co-contractions)” “It all goes back; have they got the ability to develop tension? When you are hip thrusting, if I don’t tolerate load through my soleus and hamstring, I am definitely going to use my heels to get up there” “If you want to put more load through the quad, push through the heel” “Continuous bounds, to me, that’s the pre-step to high speed running” “I want them to leap and land on the midfoot (in return to play jumping drills)” “If you push through the pad of the big toe you are going to get a massive calcaneus supination” “I wouldn’t be going out with a (healthy) athlete and be like “I’m going to strengthen your (Flexor Hallucus Longus) today” Show Notes: Supine Bridge:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYD4Jx_IXSw Slouch Exercises in Split Stance:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0COfbIzkIY About Dave O’Sullivan Dave O’Sullivan is a Chartered Physiotherapist and founder of the ProSport Academy. Dave has worked as sports physio with England Rugby Union in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and with England Rugby League in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Australia. Dave also has a private practice in Huddersfield where he built it up from scratch to now having a leading clinic with over 10 staff that help people who have failed traditional approaches every single day. Dave now teaches his step by step pro sport approach that he uses with his own sporting and non-sporting patients in private practice to therapists all over the world. Dave’s mission is to empower people to restore control through their body and minds so they can truly live. Dave is achieving this mission personally through his clinic and also through his vision with ProSport Academy. Dave’s vision is to support and guide over 1500 therapists in over 50 countries all over the world help millions of people in pain by having the confidence and clarity to help people who have failed traditional approaches. This all starts with understanding the ‘WHY’ behind everything you're doing and having a structured step by step system in place that gives repeatable outcomes and takes the emotion out of the decision making for therapists in private practice and pro sport.   full 1:21:31 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_247_Dave_OSullivan_Final_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-247%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-268" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-246/ Thu, 18 Mar 2021 14:18:34 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33554 Today’s show brings back Rafe Kelley, owner of Evolve, Move, Play.  Rafe has experience with dozens of movement styles, playing many sports, including gymnastics, learning dance, exploring parkour and studying many forms of the martial arts and MMA styles. When it comes to human movement, and the story and history behind our movement, Rafe is my go-to expert.  Rafe’s students have ranged from world-class parkour athletes, to MMA fighters, to untrained grandmothers.  He has been a two time guest on this podcast, and offers knowledge from a source that is largely un-touched by mainstream strength and athletic development. On previous shows, I have talked with Rafe about our movement roots, structured vs. unstructured training, play based training, and emotional and cognitive links between play, performance and adaptation.  Episode #174 was one of the most transformative episodes I had done in terms of how it immediately impacted my work in my own group training sessions afterwards. On this show, I wanted to tap into more of Rafe’s knowledge of human movement in terms of his experience with martial arts, fighting and modern dance.  The sports performance industry talks about force a lot, but it is critical to look at the best athletes in the world on a level comparing to them with dancers, instead of powerlifters, to get a fuller understanding of the required timings and rhythms.  Today’s podcast is a wonderful experience in discussing the deeper movement qualities that really make elite athletes and how we can consider those qualities of rhythm and fluidity in our own training designs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rafe Kelley 246: Rafe Kelley on The Art of Rhythm, Fluidity and Timing in Athletic Performance Training full 1:08:17 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_246_Rafe_Kelley_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-246%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-269" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-245/ Thu, 11 Mar 2021 14:47:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33529 Today’s show brings back guests Kyle Dobbs and David Grey for an epic meeting of two biomechanical minds.  I’ve learned a lot from both Kyle and David on and off of this podcast.  Both David and Kyle’s prior episodes have been in our all-time top-listened shows, and I’m excited to get them together for a show. Kyle Dobbs is the owner and founder of Compound Performance which offers online training, facility consulting and a personal trainer mentorship.  He a leading expert in integrating complex movement principles into physical training methods for multiple human disciplines.   David Grey is a biomechanics specialist based in Waterford, Ireland.  He is the creator of the “Lower Body Basics” programs, and has learned under a number of great mentors in the world of movement, S&C, gymnastics, mobility, martial arts, and biomechanics. One element of human performance I’m always looking to become better versed in is breathing, posture, pressure dynamics and how these elements impact our movement and performance potential.  From lifting, to running, to changing direction explosively, how we “stack” and align our pressure centers and body structures makes a big impact on how well we can perform those skills and be free of injury. On today’s podcast, Kyle and David go in depth on rib cage dynamics, breathing and pressure management in context of crawling and running.  We’ll also touch on posture, training the frontal plane, and finish with some talk on the feet, plantar fasciitis, and thoughts on coaching preferential foot pressures in movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kyle Dobbs, David Grey 245: Kyle Dobbs and David Grey on Mastering Rib Cage Dynamics for Powerful Running, Cutting, Mobility, and Total Human Performance full 1:24:42 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_245_Kyle_David_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-245%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-270" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-244/ Thu, 04 Mar 2021 10:00:13 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33511 Today’s show features Cal Dietz.  Cal has been the Head Olympic Strength and Conditioning coach for numerous sports at the University of Minnesota since 2000, has worked with hundreds of successful athletes and team, and is the co-author of the top-selling book “Triphasic Training”.  Cal has a multi-time guest on this show, most recently appearing in episode #168 (one of our most popular episodes of all time) on single leg training methods alongside Cameron Josse and Chad Dennis. Cal’s ideas on complex training (French contrast and potentiation clusters) have made a huge impact on the formulation of my own programs and methods.   French Contrast as a training ideology and method has probably been one of the most consistent elements of my training for many years now.  Cal is never one to sit still, and has recently made further advances in his complex training sets as they relate to our neurological and technical adaptations to these movements. On today’s show, Cal talks extensively about his new methods in complex training for improving sprint speed.  As Cal has talked about on previous episodes, even bilateral hurdle hops have the potential to “mess athletes up” neurologically, and so Cal goes in detail on how his complex training sets are now adjusted to address that.  Ultimately, Cal has formulated his gym training for the primary purpose of improving sprint speed and sprint mechanics.  We will also get into Cal’s take on block periodization, and how Cal uses 5,10 and 20 yard dash markers to help determine an athlete’s primary training emphasis for the next block of work. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Cal Dietz 244: Cal Dietz on Advancing Contrast Training and 20m Dash Splits for Athletic Speed Optimization full 57:40 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_244_Cal_Dietz_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-244%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-271" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-243/ Thu, 25 Feb 2021 12:33:39 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33495 Today’s show features Jeremy Frisch and Calin Butterfield.  Jeremy is the owner and director of Achieve Performance Training in Clinton, Mass, has been a multi-time guest on the show with all-things youth and creative training, game-play and long-term development.  Jeremy is not only a strength coach, but also has skin in the game as a youth sports coach, and provides an incredible holistic perspective on the entire umbrella of athletic development.  Calin Butterfield is the high performance manager at U.S. Ski & Snowboard.  He worked for EXOS for about 8 years as a Coach across all different spaces including Phoenix, Dallas, SF at Ft. Bragg, Adidas America, and the Mayo Clinic.  Calin and Jeremy are working together now on concepts related to long term development of ski and snowboard athletes. So often, we have our “standard plyometric battery” in performance training, but we cling to these fundamentals hard when we would be served well to be observing jump training and movement in a variety of mediums to create ideas for our plyometric progression.  Studying athletes in sports that demand fast reactions, impactful landings, high risk, and rewards for creativity have a lot to offer when it comes to looking at our own training designs for the athletes we serve. Together, Jeremy and Calin will talk about their collaboration together with skiing, the use and progression of games with young athletes up to college level, plyometric progressions and advancing complexity, and how the natural warmup process in ski and snowboard (terrain park) can give us ideas that we can port over into how we can prepare athletes for sport.  There is a lot of great information in this podcast that can be useful for sport coaches, strength coaches and skiiers alike. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Jeremy Frisch, Calin Butterfield 243: Jeremy Frisch and Calin Butterfield on Advancing Complexity in Plyometrics, Jump Training Concepts, and Athletic Lessons from Downhill Racing Sports full 1:01:09 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_243_Jeremy_Calan_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-243%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-272" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-242-bobby-stroupe/ Thu, 18 Feb 2021 13:46:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33470 Today’s show welcomes back coach Bobby Stroupe.  Bobby Stroupe is the Founder and President of Athlete Performance Enhancement Center (APEC) and has directed human performance systems for nearly 20 years, working with a full range of athletes from youth to professional. In my search for higher-transfer, holistic methodology in sports performance training, I’ve met few coaches who have covered more bases than Bobby Stroupe.  On our last show, which aired just over a month ago, we talked about several of Bobby’s “unorthodox” methods in training speed, power strength and more in light of athletic needs, and I still had about half of the questions left on my own list to ask him. Bobby is back on the show to cover the rest of the questions we missed last time.  He will discuss his influences and how he got to where he is today as a coach, including some of the mentors and coaches that have influenced the way he trains. Bobby explains how he incorporates heavier strength training into his sessions and how his single set mentality is a huge impactor on performance (and a defining factor of great athletes).   Finally, Bobby shares his views on upper body training, as well as training the foot and the relationship between the two. In the middle of the show, Bobby gets into the “8 factors” by which a strength coach can impact an athlete, which was such gold! I hope you come away from this show as excited as I was about coaching my next training session. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bobby Stroupe 242: Bobby Stroupe on Evolved Foot and Upper Body Work, Single-Set Training Models, and the Holistic Value of a Sports Performance Professional full 1:05:35 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_242_Bobby_Stroupe.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-242-bobby-stroupe%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-273" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-241-campo-moore/ Thu, 11 Feb 2021 17:48:46 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33449 Our guests today are Justin Moore and Michael Camporini.  Justin is a master instructor and the professional development manager at Parabolic Performance and Rehab.  Justin has been a popular guest on the podcast many times in the past, discussing advanced biomechanical principles in regards to things like breathing, positioning in strength training, and much more. Michael Camporini, "Campo", is a sports physical therapist in Phoenix, AZ, and previously worked with athletes of all different levels and ages with experience as a strength coach at Parabolic.  He has completed internships with Resilient Physical Therapy and IFAST, as well as completing a clinical rotation with Bill Hartman. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-241-campo-moore/ You may have heard me speak on the drawbacks of doing too much strength and barbell training many times in the past.  Unless we have some ideas of the exact, negative structural changes that happen with excessive barbell lifting strain (and how to reverse them) we might potentially live in a world where heavy weightlifting is some sort of bogey-man we can’t quite define the effects of.  This is important because some athletes need heavier training, while others do not. Recently, Justin Moore (who has a long history of heavy strength training) had a significant knee injury that occurred while demonstrating a skipping exercise (he had injured his knee multiple times in the past), that led him to reach out to Mike Camporini to help him create an intervention program, which led Justin to playing flag football pain free and moving extremely well.  On the podcast today, Justin and Campo talk about the intervention, the issues Justin had from years of too much lifting strain, and how they reclaimed his range of motion and athletic ability.  This podcast goes into many concepts of human function, stretch shortening cycle dynamics, compression versus expansion, defining what “stiffness” really is in context of sport skill, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs (www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly) Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Michael Camporini, Justin Moore 241: Michael Camporini and Justin Moore on Learning to Yield in the Gym, Clarifying “Stiffness”, and Understanding Stretch-Shortening Dynamics in Athletic Movement full 1:39:04 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_241_Justin_and_Campo_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-241-campo-moore%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-274" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-240-steven-kotler/ Thu, 04 Feb 2021 17:03:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33425 Our guest today is Steven Kotler, best-selling author and renowned Flow-State expert.  Steven is the author of 9 best-selling books (3 of which are NYT Best-Sellers), which include The Art of Impossible, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman (Rise of Superman was my initial introduction to Steven’s work) and others.  His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into 40 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications.  More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-240-steven-kotler/ Steven is the executive director of the Flow Research Collective, and is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance.  He has been involved in a number of extreme sports, such as surfing, downhill mountain biking and skiing, and has learned (and participated with) from a number of the world’s greatest athletes in this arena. One element of athletic performance that I’m adamant about pursuing is the idea that we must get outside the known field of “athletic performance” and into other fields of human performance to maximize our service to the athletes we train.  We can only grow so much without “getting outside of the box” of our typical field education and integrating more global concepts of human performance. In this podcast with Steven Kotler, we discuss numerous elements of neuro-biology and flow as it relates to goal setting, burnout, skill progression, career progression, and much more.  This was a podcast that truly integrates many concepts coaches (hopefully) are familiar with, and helps us to understand them more fully from a biological perspective, as well as one we can also integrate into our daily lives. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs (www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly). Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Steven Kotler 240: Steven Kotler on Flow State Concepts, Motivation and Goal-Setting for Optimal Athletic Performance and Career Longevity full 1:10:26 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_240_Steven_Kotler_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-240-steven-kotler%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-275" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-239-nicolai-morris/ Thu, 28 Jan 2021 16:21:26 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33403 Our guest today is Nicolai Morris, strength and conditioning specialist with High Performance Sport, New Zealand.  Nicolai is the lead S&C with the New Zealand Women’s (Field) Hockey Team (Blacksticks) as well as coaching an international elite high jumper.  From Nicolai’s athletic career origins as a swimmer, she has honed her eye for movement through a wide range of land and sea-based sports and athletic situations. Nicolai has previously worked with New Zealand Rowing in the elite and U23/Junior pathways as well as, multitude of sports in her role as strength and conditioning specialist at Sydney University including swimming, track and field, rugby, rugby 7’s, water polo and soccer. She also worked as the Head strength and conditioning coach for the Australian Beach Handball team and the NSW Women’s State of Origin team. Nicolai is a ASCA Level 2, Pro-Scheme Elite coach, and a Masters in Strength and Conditioning with over a decade of coaching experience. We talk on this podcast often about going beyond simply looking at, and emphasizing weightlifting maxes for athletic performance improvement; moving into some of the finer biomechanical details of speed, jumping and athletic technique.  At the roots of all technical ability in sport is baseline human ability to sense and coordinate ourselves in space.  Although we have had good conversation on the importance of developing body control and coordination in regards to training children, it’s not often we speak on how to integrate gymnastic and coordinative ability into training with mature athletes, despite the fact that there are so many “poor movers” on this level, whose base line functioning often leaves them pre-disposed for injury. On today’s podcast, Nicolai speaks about her transition as a swimmer to strength coach, as well as a deep-dive into the role that gymnastics and rough-housing work plays in the developmental process of her athletes.  She also speaks on building buy-in and belief from her athletes (and team management/head sports coaches) from a female perspective, and we close out the show with a brief chat on blood flow restriction training (BFR). Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs (www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly). Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Nicolai Morris 239: Nicolai Morris on Reverse-Engineering Athletic Movement Through Gymnastic Progressions and Rough-Housing full 1:17:53 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_239_Nicolai_Morris.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-239-nicolai-morris%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-276" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-238-alex-and-mike/ Thu, 21 Jan 2021 18:22:27 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33389 Our guests today are Mike Guadango and Alex Brooker.  Mike and Alex (“Brooker”) met when Alex interned for Mike at DeFranco’s gym a decade ago, and they now have a podcast together, “The Mike and Brooker Show”, in addition to their coaching careers. Alex is the owner and operator of Pathfinder, a private training service focused on performance psychology and physical preparation for professional athletes.  In addition to traditional schooling, Alex is now pursuing his PhD in Self-Hypnosis at the University of Bern.  Mike is currently a Coach, Writer & Owner at Freak Strength.  He has been mentored by coaching greats such as Buddy Morris and James Smith, and started his career working at DeFranco’s gym.  Mike has coached levels of athletes from many different professional sports to Olympic medalists to pre-pubescent athletes, as well as consulting for high caliber athletes and coaches worldwide. As an ever-optimistic individual, it’s important for me to have conversations with those who have a different way of looking at what actually works in the world of sports performance.  In the coaching world, it is extremely easy to have worked with an athlete who has achieved a high result, and then rationalize the factors that led to their success.  It is very easy for us all as coaches to think of our own training as highly optimal, but a question to ask is how often and effectively we truly challenge our reasoning? In looking at training closely, it is helpful to fully understand the power of belief, as well as placebo effects in not only training, but also pain science and rehabilitation.  Understanding human adaptation to training and rehab stimulus requires, not only an understanding of the body, but also of the mind. In today’s podcast, Mike and Alex “Brooker” talk about how they have evolved themselves as coaches, moving into the realms of hypnosis/mental training, acupuncture and rehabilitation.  We spend a lot of time chatting about the power of belief and the ability of the mind to supercede a “poor” training program, and how the fundamentals of adaptation style can be seen in rudimentary rehab.  Finally, Mike, Brooker and I spend some time discussing some training points such as play, competition in training, and training transfer.  This was a fun show with speakers of 3 clearly diverse viewpoints, which always makes for great discussion. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mike Guadango, Alex Brooker 238: Alex Brooker and Mike Guadango on The Power of Belief, Placebo Effects in Training-Rehab and Becoming Your Own Coaching Superhero full 1:22:01 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_238_Mike_Brooker_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-238-alex-and-mike%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-277" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-237-patrick-coyne/ Thu, 14 Jan 2021 15:27:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33370 Our guest today is Pat Coyne, coach and owner of Black Sheep Performance in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Pat started helping clients of all levels reach their fullest potential after his career as a 4-star high school football recruit ended in college due to injury.  Pat started Black Sheep Performance in 2018 on the side of a house in Cincinnati, OH. Within 3 years BSP organically outgrew itself, working from renting gym space, to a barn, to a state of the art 11,000 sq. foot training facility. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-237-patrick-coyne/ Pat has mentored under some of the top coaches in the nation, is a progressive thinker, and gets great results with his clients in his fast-growing business.  When I moved back to Ohio in July, I connected with Pat shortly thereafter and have gotten several training sessions and conversations in with him since then.  Pat has a training style that fuses many of the elements I consider essential: A great environment, room for exploration/creativity, competition and reaction, as well as an integration of modern speed training methods, such as those taught by multi-time podcast guest, Adarian Barr. As such, it was only a matter of time until Pat and I sat down together and recorded a podcast.  Two of the big things that Pat and I are both passionate about are being life-long learners and then looking at (and experiencing) the holistic effects of things like the training environment, athlete autonomy/creativity, and the effects of music, rhythm and reactions on performance.  On this podcast, Pat and I go into his background as an athlete and coach, his thoughts on structured vs. unstructured/open training, his progressions on speed training, rhythm, timing, how he challenges athletes on a holistic level, and some deeper discussion on the evolution of the human/sports performance industry. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs (www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly). Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Patrick Coyne 237: Patrick Coyne on Holistically Challenging Athletes, Evolved Speed Training, and the Art of Sports Performance “From the Heart” full 1:20:42 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_237_Pat_Coyne_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-237-patrick-coyne%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-278" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-236-bobby-stroupe/ Thu, 07 Jan 2021 15:07:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33343 Our guest today is Bobby Stroupe, founder and president of Athlete Performance Enhancement Center (APEC).  Bobby has directed human performance systems for nearly 20 years.  His coaching ranges from youth athletes to some of the top names in multiple professional sports, including first round picks, as well as Super Bowl and World Series champions.  Bobby is well-known for his work in the physical preparation realm of Patrick Mahomes, quarterback of the recent Superbowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. After doing 235 episodes of this podcast, and opening up my eyes to more and more of the performance space, I’m always excited to find those coaches who are spearheading creative and effective training methods in athletic performance transfer.  When I recently watched Bobby Stroupe’s presentation at the recent “Track Football Consortium” regarding his methods in working with Patrick Mahomes, I was like a kid in a candy shop, viewing training methods that replicated many time and space requirements of sport play without being mechanical or contrived. Bobby is not only a holistic and open minded coach, but he is also an incredibly thorough and detailed thinker.  There are so many points of carry-over in what Bobby does, I believe that studying his work is essential if we are to reach the point of getting our training to truly transfer to the field of play.  Bobby achieves this transfer in a way that still pays homage to traditional principles of force development and human performance, but is able to add in the tri-planar and chaotic nature of what athletes will encounter in sport. On today’s podcast, Bobby gets into a variety of his “unorthodox” training methods, including locomotion complexes, tri-planar plyometrics and strength training, complex training, long-term development, and athlete autonomy.  Again, with the interest of transfer to sport in mind, any aspiring coach should be familiar with the work of Bobby Stroupe and Team APEC. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com and Lost Empire Herbs (www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly). Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Bobby Stroupe 236: Bobby Stroupe on The Rising Tide of Performance Transfer to Sport: Locomotion Complexes, Vortex Plyometrics, and Time-Space Constraints full 1:12:18 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_236_Bobby_Stroupe_final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-236-bobby-stroupe%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-279" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-235-rob-assise/ Wed, 30 Dec 2020 17:06:07 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33303 Our guest today is Rob Assise, track coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School.  Rob has 17 years of coaching experience, and has been a regular speaker and writer in the realms of track and field, plyometrics and speed training.  He previously appeared on episode #95 and #196 of the podcast. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-235-rob-assise/ One of the more fascinating ideas that I’ve been working with over time, as a coach, has been the idea of using a “long-burst” training movement of around 10-30 seconds, to help improve the power output of “short-burst” movements, such as a jump or short sprint.  Dr. Mark Wetzel spoke about this in depth on a recent episode and his take on it has confirmed things that I’ve seen anecdotally for some time, as well as read up on years ago in the mysterious “Greatest Sports Training Book Ever” by “DB Hammer” with the “AN1” and “AN2” bracket systems. Rob has taken those bracket systems and has done some creative training work with them recently, where he has also infused “infinity walks” which Dan Fichter talked about on a recent episode, into the mix.  Rob talks about that today, as well as ways that this concept can be taken creatively for track and field athletes.  In the second half of this show, Rob and I talk plyometric concepts, and how to build bounding and plyometric training “from the feet up” and “from ground contact times upward”. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Rob Assise 235: Rob Assise on New Ideas in Complex-Training Methods and Advanced Bounding Progressions full 1:07:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_235_Rob_Assise_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-235-rob-assise%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-280" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-234-dan-john/ Wed, 23 Dec 2020 17:03:04 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33292 Our guest today is Dan John who is a strength coach, track coach, master’s track athlete, best-selling author, and all around sage of wisdom on all-things strength training for athletics and life itself. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-234-dan-john/ Dan’s work has been profoundly impactful on my coaching, and training practice.  The older and more experienced I get as a coach, the more I find his reduction to the essentials, as well as global thinking, extremely valuable.  Dan appeared on podcast episode #96 with one of my favorite conversations since the start of this podcast series. If you’ve been around elite coaches and athletes for long enough, you start to realize trends that go beyond the sets, reps and training prescriptions that work their way into the results that are being achieved in competition.  Elite athletes are strong enough for their sport, as well as being (hopefully) adequate in general physical measures, but they also tend to have elite levels of relaxation and tension management.  Many times, the best competitors carry a different outlook on competition itself. For today’s show, Dan covers ideas on the art of “letting go” and achieving better performance through superior relaxation and tension management.  He also gets into some of the creative coaching practices he utilized for his throwers, such as playing unique games, “range” throwing, constraint based turns in the circle, and super-setting kettlebell work with throwing.  Finally, other important elements, such as the importance of being “deprived” of a good training environment, and elastic athletic performance are addressed in this conversation with a strength and track legend. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dan John full 1:06:34 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_234_Dan_John_v2_.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-234-dan-john%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-281" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-233-lee-taft/ Thu, 17 Dec 2020 18:06:19 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33278 Our guest today is athletic movement specialist Lee Taft.  Lee is one of the most highly respected game speed development coaches in the world, and has taught his methods around the world.  Lee combines an extensive knowledge of sport movement and physical education means and brings this into the physical preparation space in a meaningful way.  Lee has appeared twice prior on the Just Fly Performance podcast and has been a great source of practical ideas and knowledge on speed development for me over my years as a coach. One of the big things I find more and more coaches looking for is ideas on the long term development of an athlete.  By the time an athlete gets to high school, let alone college and the pro’s, the vast majority of the “ground-work” has been done in regards to the speed and reaction abilities of that athlete-specific to their sport.  Unfortunately, there are many pitfalls for young athletes, who miss many critical windows of early development for a variety of reasons. This podcast is all about the development of speed from a young age, how velocity rules training (even if technique is “ugly” early on) as well as some varied topics on Lee’s take on warmups for training, and sport, as well as thoughts on vision training and low-box training for athletes.  Whether you work with youth, or established athletes, or are a sport parent, this is essential information. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Lee Taft 233: Lee Taft on “High-Velocity” Games and Reactivity for Developing and Established Athletes full 1:16:53 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_233_Lee_Taft_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-233-lee-taft%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-282" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-232-dan-fichter/ Thu, 10 Dec 2020 20:29:54 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33268 Our guest today is Dan Fichter, owner and operator of WannaGetFast, a sports performance facility in Rochester, New York.  He is one of the leading experts in applying clinical neurology into athletic rehabilitation and sport performance applications.  Dan has been mentored by a variety of elite coaches, therapists, and neurologists, and has trained numerous professional athletes and Olympians across a variety of sports.  He has been a multi-time guest on the podcast, with one of the most popular episodes of all-time being a joint discussion with Chris Korfist on “DB Hammer” training methods (an old-school classic). It’s somewhat of a “woke” term to mention the nervous system in training, as Matt Cooper said on a recent podcast.  Although it is easy to pay homage to the nervous system as the ultimate controller of training results, it is much more complicated to actually observe and specifically train the CNS.  This is where people like Dan Fichter are awesome resources in regards to being able to take the complex inter-disciplinary work on the subject, and tie it into simple methods we can use in our own practices. On today’s show, Dan runs through a wide swath of nervous system training topics, centering on isometrics, as well as their role in light of long term athletic development, crawling and the nervous system, infinity walks, as well as his keys to a good warmup from a neurological perspective.  There was a huge amount of practical training gold in this episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-232-dan-fichter/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dan Fichter 232: Dan Fichter on Infinity Runs, Sensory-Motor Optimization and the “Neurology Driven” Warmup in Athletics |Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:04:18 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_232_Dan_Fichter_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-232-dan-fichter%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-283" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-231-mark-wetzel/ Thu, 03 Dec 2020 18:32:24 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33252 Our guest today is Dr. Mark Wetzel, chiropractor and neurology expert based out of Nashville, Tennessee.  Mark has been a guest on the show several times before, speaking about the physiological and neurological elements of the training method of “extreme isometrics” as well as the fantastic results that he achieved from using the method with a high school baseball team. Isometric holds of all sorts have become very popular in training in recent years, and for good reason.  Where typical “up and down” lifting is a bit of a shotgun approach to performance, isometrics can isolate very specific elements of our physiology, and allow us to devote the body’s resources to these specific elements, rather than a wider array of general elements that we find in more traditional strength methods. One of the things you may remember Mark talking about on previous shows is the idea of “cycling through the energy systems” while performing a long isometric hold, and if one can make it through all of these energy systems, then a large benefit can be derived by the athlete.  In recent conversations with Mark, he has been taking this further by teaching me how training maximally in one “energy system bracket” can optimize your performance in another “energy system bracket”. For example, most people in track and field are familiar with the idea of feeling more “warmed up” to do an explosive jump after running a 100 or 200-meter dash maximally.  In the team sport world, playing a pick-up game of basketball is often a better warm-up for explosive jumping than doing basically any sort of “traditional” warmup that you might find.  On the podcast today, Mark and I dig into these concepts, as well as reinforcing many important elements of the isometric hold itself, such as breathing, intention, posture and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-231-mark-wetzel/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mark Wetzel 231: Dr. Mark Wetzel on “Energy-System Oscillation” for Explosive Performance, Recovery and Maximizing Isometric Transfer | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:03:26 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_231_Mark_Wetzel_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-231-mark-wetzel%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-284" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-230-steffan-jones/ Thu, 26 Nov 2020 15:27:15 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33204 Our guest today is cricket fast-bowling coach and overall motor learning wizard, Steffan Jones.  Stefan is the last “dual pro” between rugby and cricket, and is an ex-cricketeer turned coach.  He is one of the world leading experts in regards to not only fast-bowling training, but also topics such as training individualization, motor learning and the process of reaching the highest possible level of one’s sport skill.   Stefan has worked with many of the world’s leading organizations and athletes in his work in the sport of Cricket.  He has written much about his own training process in the many articles that he has put forth on Just Fly Sports, which essentially amounts to a medium sized book.  His synthesis of his motor-learning model he calls “The Skill-Stability Paradigm” which is applicable to any sport skill you can imagine.  On our last podcast together, we went heavily into the specific strength needed to throw a cricket ball at high speeds, and some of the specialty methods used to train that strength, such as isometric training and isometric-skill complexes.  This podcast builds on that episode by covering the means by which Stefan uses variability to further the training effect, and explore the possibilities of a sport skill to their highest potential. Topics today include: A chat on how Adarian Barr’s teachings on collisions factor into fast-bowling The role of training variability in skill building The role of fatigue in variability, “second generation” French Contrast Robustness How extreme-isometrics and stretch loading means can play a role in helping athletes to higher levels of skill on their sport, in conjunction with the necessary maximal power and elasticity needed.   This is an awesome show for any coach or athlete interested in training, and goes well beyond cricket itself.  Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.  More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-230-steffan-jones/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Steffan Jones 230: Steffan Jones on Isometrics, Variability and “2nd Generation” French Contrast Training Methods in Fast-Bowling and Athletic Skill Development | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:00:56 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FEP_230_Stef_Jones_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-230-steffan-jones%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-285" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-229-adarian-barr/ Thu, 19 Nov 2020 14:49:40 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33185 Our guest today is Adarian Barr, athletic movement coach, inventor and performance consultant.  Adarian has been a mentor to me for almost 5 years, and opened up my eyes to the movement potential of the human body, how to observe it, and coach it more optimally.  He has been on this podcast for many prior episodes, and has recorded a number of webinars for Just Fly Sports.  The best way I can describe Adarian is that he just sees things that nobody else does in human movement, and creates a wonderful groundwork for us to creatively express those principles in our own training setups. One of the biggest realizations, that I’m still regularly checking in on the implications of in my day to day coaching and athletic life, is how, when the joints and levers of the body are working optimally in “3D”, we tend to need much less barbell strength than we think we do to reach our highest speed performance potential.  Not only this, but when we only operate in “2D” and don’t use our levers well, we need more weight room strength to be better athletes in that 2D paradigm. One thing that Adarian does not post about often is weightlifting.  Part of this is because the world of coaching is very hung up on “force” as a binary entity in human movement, and we need more education on joints and movement, rather than how to split hairs on lifting sets and reps.  Adarian’s eye for movement does go well into the weightlifting world, however, and was can learn a lot from his recent observation in the area. On today’s podcast, we dive into the Olympic lifts in particular, and how they can either foster athleticism, or suppress it, based on the lever systems we use in the execution of the lift.  We get into this, and much more, such as the feet, torque, the drawbacks of hinging in the weight room, crawling, natural learning and much more in this in-depth episode. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-229-adarian-barr/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Adarian Barr 229: Adarian Barr on Decoding the Weight Room (and Olympic Lifts) for Athletic Performance Transfer | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:08:06 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_229_Adarian_Barr_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-229-adarian-barr%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-286" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-228-mike-kozak/ Thu, 12 Nov 2020 14:08:43 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33172 Our guest today is the owner of SOAR fitness in Columbus Ohio, Mike Kozak.  Mike previously appeared on podcast #184 and has written several articles for Just Fly Sports.  Notably, Mike has mentored extensively under Adarian Barr, and frequently posts the exercise and training progressions based on Adarian’s work. Speed is always en vogue in the world of athletics, but something important to understand is that running and moving right not only will make athletes faster, but also make them more resilient and robust, reducing injury rates.  When we move as nature intended, and then amplify that in our training, we can make the most out of free-energy return systems.  When we simply “produce more force” and muscle our movements, we may gain some speed in the short term, but we can do it at the cost of higher risks of injury and a lower total athletic ceiling. Mike has experience, not only with Adarian Barr’s methods, but he also has worked closely with elite physical therapists who have extensive knowledge of advanced methods such as PRI and the work of Bill Hartman.  On today’s podcast, we are looking at the nuts and bolts of Mike’s performance program “from the ground up” starting with how he addresses the feet and an athlete’s posture, and then designs drills and tasks from that standpoint.  We also touch on elements further up the kinetic chain, and how this can impact how we look at the entire athletic system.  This was a fantastic, practical episode that features many important elements that we need to be addressing in the training of our athletes to fully integrate the feet, hips, spine and posture. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-228-mike-kozak/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Mike Kozak 228: Mike Kozak on Building Speed and Athletic Movement from the “Arches” Upwards | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:03:22 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_228_Mike_Kozak_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-228-mike-kozak%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-287" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-227-pat-davidson/ Thu, 05 Nov 2020 16:54:53 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33164 I’m happy to welcome Dr. Pat Davidson back to the podcast.  Pat is an independent trainer, consultant, author, and lecturer in New York City.  He is the author of MASS and MASS2 and is the developer of the “Rethinking the Big Patterns” lecture series, as well as an upcoming book on the same topic.  Pat is one of the most intelligent individuals I know when it comes to human performance, and communicates his knowledge in a manner that makes it easy to understand difficult concepts.  He has been a guest on episodes #88 and #122 of this show as well speaking on topics such as an educated approach to movement screens and re-evaluating the “big lifts” in light of athletic performance. That combination of intelligence and communication is paramount for the topic we’ll be tackling today, which is pressure systems and their correspondence to our movement patterns.  That sounds kind of complicated, but in reality, it’s as simple as looking at the dynamics of a bouncing ball, or the lungs expanding with air.  Pat has extensive experience learning from leading organizations and individuals in this area, such as the Postural Restoration Institute and Bill Hartman. The ability to look at the human body as a pressure system is important because it helps us link what is happening in various gym exercises, as well as what we see in particular athletic presentations (internal vs. external rotation for example), and then look at how that fits to an elastic (tendon and static spring) based strategy of movement, and a more muscular strategy.  In addition to a discussion on pressure, Pat also discusses his take on having a “strength score” for athletes in the weight room that normalizes performance metrics based on things like limb length and height.  He also gets into ideas on how to “de-compress” the athlete who is compressed in a manner that may be negative to their overall performance.  This was a really smart show with some powerful principles for any athlete or coach who wants to navigate the weight room without harming elastic power outputs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at Just-fly-sports.com/podcast-227-pat-davidson/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Dr. Pat Davidson 227: Dr. Pat Davidson on Pressure-Based Principles for Elastic Power and Athleticism | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:19:00 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_227_Pat_Davidson_final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-227-pat-davidson%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-288" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-226-brandon-byrd/ Thu, 29 Oct 2020 15:12:42 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33121 Today’s podcast features speed and strength coach Brandon Byrd.  Brandon Byrd is the owner of Byrd’s Sports Performance in Orefield, Pennsylvania.  Brandon is an alumni of the University of Pittsburgh and has learned from elite coaches such as Louie Simmons, Charlie Francis, Buddy Morris and others. Brandon’s unique blend of rotating training stimuli, and his competitive, PR driven environment has elicited noteworthy speed, power and strength gains in his athletes. If you follow Brandon on social media, you’ll see the regular occurrence of sprint and jump records from his athletes.  Brandon has some of the highest-output training out there in his ability to cultivate speed and strength. I always enjoy digging into the training of elite coaches, into the nuts and bolts that drives their systems.  Some of the running themes on this show have been ideas such as the rotation of big training stimuli from week to week (such as in EP 190 with Grant Fowler), the power of resisted sprinting (EP 12 and 63 with JB Morin and Cameron Josse), overspeed sprinting (EP 51 with Chris Korfist), and then the power of competition and PR’s (EP 135 with Tony Holler). This episode with coach Brandon Byrd truly brings all of those elements together in a way that gets some of the best training results you’ll find.  On today’s podcast, Brandon goes into the core of his system, and how he rotates his sprint efforts based on the needs of the athlete, to get the most out of their system.  He also goes into his background with Westside Barbell, and the elements he learned from Louie Simmons that go into his training, as well as strength pre-requisites he carries for his athletes to optimize their readiness for the strength and speed program. (Note that when Brandon is talking about fly 10’s he is talking yards, not meters) Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-226-brandon-byrd/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Brandon Byrd 226: Brandon Byrd on Rotating Sprint Variations for Huge Speed and Performance PB’s | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:10:32 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_226_Brandon_Byrd.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-226-brandon-byrd%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-289" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-225-kevin-foster-grant-fowler/ Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:43:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33102 Today’s podcast features Grant Fowler and Kevin Foster. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-225-kevin-foster-grant-fowler/ Kevin Foster is a former NCAA DI javelin thrower training for the 2021 Olympic trials.  He is the owner of the Javelin Anatomy Instagram page, a regular writer for Just Fly Sports, and was the guest on episode #164. of the podcast. Grant Fowler is the owner of Fowler Fitness in The Woodlands, Texas.  Grant works as a private training and online performance consultant and specializes in program design and injury prevention.  Grant is a different thinker who has a distinctive “non-linear” and adaptable style to his training program design and previously appeared on episode #190 of the podcast. In one of my recent chats with Kevin, he mentioned how his training for javelin had exploded in his time working under the GPP programming of Grant Fowler.  As we chatted about on episode #190, Grant has a rotating-PR version of training for performance, and uses a unique non-linear style in his work.  Kevin’s strength and athleticism reached new levels using this method, and so on the podcast today, we dig into some of the specifics and philosophies that went into building Kevin’s training program. In addition to Kevin’s training for javelin throwing, we also get into some great discussion on mobility training, training holism and reductionism, general strength and capacity, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Kevin Foster, Grant Fowler 225: Kevin Foster and Grant Fowler on Updated Non-Linear Training Methods for High-Powered Athleticism | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:14:20 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_225_KG_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-225-kevin-foster-grant-fowler%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-290" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-224-michelle-boland-tim-richardt/ Thu, 15 Oct 2020 16:54:11 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33084 Today’s podcast features Dr. Michelle Boland and Dr. Tim Richardt, speaking on the topic of exercise categorization and classification, as well as the process of selecting and integrating gym training movements based on the specific needs of athletes and clients. Michelle Boland is the owner of michelleboland-training.com and has several years of professional experience as an NCAA DI strength coach working with nationally ranked teams, and a wide variety of sports. Michelle is a leader in the integration of concepts rooted in the work of PRI and Bill Hartman into practical sports performance application.  Michelle has appeared previously on this podcast on episode #108 speaking on functional performance training based on PRI ideals and more. (You can grab Michelle’s “Resource Road Map”, a compilation of the best resources in the fitness industry for free here at this link https://www.michelleboland-training.com/resource-road-map) Tim Richardt is a physical therapist and CSCS who has been a competitive runner and strength training junkie since the age of 14.  Tim has an awesome blend on knowledge on all things running, rehab, gait, and strength training principles.  Tim’s personal journey through injury and rehabilitation, including 2 hip surgeries, has given him unique insight into effective long-term resolution of overuse injuries among endurance and strength athletes. In traditional strength and conditioning and fitness models, we tend to have things like “squat”, “hinge”, “push”, “pull”, and perhaps several other movements, based on our preference, when working with athletes.  Although the “old-school” classification certainly serves to facilitate a general balance of forces and muscle groups, we can improve our process even further by understanding how the human body works in gait and dynamic movement, and then reverse-engineer our exercise selection from there.  When our movement execution processes can match gaps, or reinforce strengths in running, jumping, throwing and sport movement technique, we can eliminate guess work and give our clients, and/or ourselves, greater results. On today’s show, Michelle and Tim speak on the evolution of their training processes and how they classify movements in the gym.  We get heavily into running as a specific example, and how to reverse engineer training movements based on run technique.  We also finish with chatting on how Michelle and Tim continue to integrate the “big lifts” into their programs, and what adjustments they have made in the versions of those lifts that stick with them in their training schemes. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-224-michelle-boland-tim-richardt/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Michelle Boland, Tim Richardt 224: Michelle Boland and Tim Richardt on A Modern Approach to Exercise Categorization and Transfer in S&C | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:10:47 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FEp_224_final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-224-michelle-boland-tim-richardt%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-291" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-223-charlie-reid/ Thu, 08 Oct 2020 17:54:23 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33073 More show notes and transcripts at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-223-charlie-reid/ Today’s podcast features personal trainer, massage therapist and musician, Charlie Reid. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area for 8 years of my life brought with it the opportunity to meet and learn from many wonderful and knowledgeable coaches and trainers.  One of those that I met was Charlie, who I met at Pat Davidson’s “Rethinking the Big Patterns” seminar. Charlie and I later were able to both spend time at Kezar stadium learning sprint and movement philosophy from Adarian Barr, while having plenty of conversations on training. Charlie is one of the smartest and wisest coaches that you may not know.  His base of knowledge is massive, as well as the range of those coaches and systems he has spent time learning from.  If there is a system of thought out there in the world of movement and human performance, there is a good chance Charlie has experience with it.  Charlie is not only a strength coach, but also a certified massage practitioner, and spent years as a professional musician. On the podcast today, Charlie helps us “zoom out” our views on things like stretching, corrective exercise and motor learning.  At the core of our chat today is an extended discussion on the redundancy of the term “corrective exercise” and how to look at the body in a manner that leaves us wondering what truly needs to be corrected.  We also get into a learner-centered approach, and how facilitating that approach may differ from working from novices, up to more advanced athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Charlie Reid 223: Charlie Reid on a Learner-Centered Approach to Performance and Dissolving the Term of “Corrective Exercise” | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 59:06 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FEP_223_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-223-charlie-reid%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-292" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-222-ty-terrell/ Thu, 01 Oct 2020 16:03:13 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33052 Today’s podcast welcomes coach Ty Terrell.  Ty is currently an NBA physical preparation coach and has a wealth of experience ranging from training athletes out of a garage, to coaching high school basketball, to being mentored by some of the top professionals in the coaching industry.  Individuals such as Lee Taft, Bill Hartman, and Mike Robertson have fostered in Ty a unique and powerful perspective on blending gym-training methods with athletic biomechanics and outputs. A running theme of this show has been using gym training methods to cater to the organic manner by which athletes live and move, rather than working against it.  In a recent episode, #220, Kyle Dobbs talked about “hingy, knees-out squats” and the cascade of negative effects these brought out in the athletic population.  Personally, I had loads of elasticity in my teens and early 20’s, but I slowly started to lose the “elastic monster” by starting to train “by the book” according to current strength and conditioning methods and protocols. This show (and podcast in general) is about winning that elastic power back.  Ty Terrell starts off by sharing some of the key points he learned in his beginnings as a coach under Lee Taft in regards to training athlete speed and movement.  From there, we transition into all things squatting, and the load-unload, “expand-compress” paradigm that has come out of the work and ideas of Bill Hartman, and how this relates to athletic movement on the court or field of play.  We finish with some practical ideas on how to make trunk and core training highly transferable, and represent the movement principles we want to embody in our total-body athletic movements. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-222-ty-terrell/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Ty Terrell 222: Ty Terrell on Practical Speed, Squat and Core Training Methods for High Athletic Transfer | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:16:39 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FEP_222_Ty_Terrell_Final.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-222-ty-terrell%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-293" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-221-christian-thibaudeau/ Thu, 24 Sep 2020 15:01:32 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=33021 Today’s podcast welcomes back coach Christian Thibaudeau to the podcast.  Christian has been a strength coach for nearly 2 decades, working with athletes from nearly 30 sports.  He has written four books and has pioneered multiple educational courses, including the Neuro-typing system, which goes in-depth on how to train athletes in the weight room (and beyond) based on their own individual dispositions. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-221-christian-thibaudeau/ Christian has been a 4-time prior guest on the podcast, and is a true wealth of information.  Our recent episode, #208, had lots of great information about the topic of adrenaline as an over-training marker, as well as how to manage this hormone in the course of programming and the workout session.  One thing that I had hoped to cover on that episode, but missed out on due to time constraints, was to get into Christian’s take on using the 3-muscle phases (concentric, isometric, eccentric) in training athletes. Emphasizing various muscle phases in training is certainly nothing new.  My own training design for athletes is often based on a hybrid of 14-day squat cycles, along with elements of the “Triphasic Training” system.  Christian has been using rep-style emphasis in his programming for two decades, and has loads of practical ideas and training examples that can help us get a better understanding of these methods.  You won’t find a more comprehensive episode out there on training using various contraction types than this one, as well as how each type fits into the individual characteristics and response of each athlete. Finally, although not required, I’d recommend you check out episode 77 with Christian, which is a tremendous overview of the 5 different types of athlete according to their response and preference to training means and methods. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Christian Thibaudeau 221: Christian Thibaudeau on Omni-Rep Training for Speed-Power Athletes | Sponsored By SimpliFaster full 1:33:11 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_221_Christian_Thibaudeau2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-221-christian-thibaudeau%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-294" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-220-kyle-dobbs/ Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:10:38 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=32985 Today’s podcast features coach and consultant, Kyle Dobbs.  Kyle is the owner and founder of Compound Performance which offers online training, facility consulting, and a personal trainer mentorship. Kyle has trained 15,000+ sessions and has experienced substantial success as a coach and educator.  Kyle has an extensive biomechanics and human movement background which he integrates into his gym prescriptions to help athletes achieve their fullest movement, and transferable strength potential.  He reaches thousands of coaches regularly through his Instagram account where he offers practical movement solutions in the gym to help people get stronger in context of how we are meant to move as humans. One of the topics that I am most passionate about in training is in regards to why in the world athletes can increase their strength outputs in the gym, but become slower and lose elasticity in things such as jumping in the process.  I tend to see athletic outcomes of barbell strength tools as a sliding scale of increased performance due to increased power outputs and increased tissue strength, and then potentially decreased performance due to the body adapting to the needs of moving a heavy external object, and being coached to do so in a way that works against the gait cycle.  This topic of the gait cycle and squatting/lifting is what this show is all about. In today’s episode, Kyle goes in-depth on all things squatting and the gait cycle, and offers real-world solutions to help athletes lift weights, as per the needs of one who needs to sprint, jump, cut and hit.  Kyle also lays out helpful ideas on how to restore internal rotation abilities in those athletes in need of this vital element of movement.  At the end of this show, you’ll know the crucial mechanical differences between back squatting and front squatting, powerlifting squats, and Olympic squats, that make a real difference on our biomechanics and transfer to athleticism. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-220-kyle-dobbs/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, KyleDobbs 220: Kyle Dobbs on Redeeming Internal Rotation in the Gym for Elastic Athletic Performance | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:10:32 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_220_Kyle_Dobbs.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-220-kyle-dobbs%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-295" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-219-leo-ryan/ Thu, 10 Sep 2020 15:05:18 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=32960 Today’s podcast features performance coach and breathing specialist, Leo Ryan. Leo is the founder of Innate-Strength.com. He has studied athletic training, health and breathing since he healed himself of asthma in 2004. Leo has achieved a prolific amount of education in human performance and breathwork.  He has attained multiple diplomas and certificates from many elite personal training, physical therapy and breathing schools including Dip. Buteyko Method, Wim Hof Instructor, Oxygen Advantage Master Instructor, Fascial Stretch Therapist, Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Pilates teacher. Leo’s love and experience for health and physical performance has seen him research more than 70 breathing techniques, mentor with coaches to Olympians, UFC Fighters and World Champions. Breathing is truly on the top of the totem pole when it comes to our day to day health and well-being (we take around 20,000 breaths per day).  It has a massive impact on our mental state, as well as the physiology of the body, in addition to its implications for athletic performance.  We can run longer, recover faster, and gain enhanced mind-body states through simple breathing drills, as well as becoming more educated on the topic. Today’s show was longer than average, largely because the concept of performance breathing is so expansive, and we as a coaching community, generally don’t approach it in much depth.  Often times we are just told to belly breathe, or nose breathe, and leave it at that.  In this show, Leo covers all aspects of our breath, including nose breathing versus mouth breathing for performance, breathing as a readiness assessment, performance versus recovery breathing, diaphragm release techniques, and much more (including his experience in running a marathon, and recovering from it extremely well, despite ZERO run training).  This is yet another “staple” episode, as it truly covers this intersection of health, well-being, and athlete performance in the topic of the breath. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-219-loe-ryan/ Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Leo Ryan 219: Leo Ryan on Marathons with Zero Run Training and the Power of Breath Training for Athletic Performance and Mental Clarity | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:36:07 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_219_Leo_Ryan_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-219-leo-ryan%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-296" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-218-matt-cooper/ Thu, 03 Sep 2020 15:29:55 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=32930 Today’s episode features performance coach and nutritionist, Matt Cooper.  Matt has been a multi-time podcast guest and writer on Just Fly Sports, and trains athletes and individuals out of his gym in Los Angeles, California.  Matt is a bright young coach who has encapsulated many of the training concepts from top coaches, nutritionists, and human performance specialists, into his own system which keeps the athlete operating in proper neurological and fascial harmony. More show notes and transcripts at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-218-matt-cooper/ One of the things I’ve really enjoyed observing in the work that Matt is doing is his incorporation of the work pioneered by Marv Marinovich and Jay Schroeder, into his own training design.  The combination of proprioception, reaction, and neurological emphasis is something that creates explosive and adaptive athletes, with a priority on the function of the body, rather than a priority on lifting a barbell max at all costs (and when you respect the nervous system in training, you tend to get improved lifting numbers without the neurological cost that comes from hammering away at bilateral sagittal plane lifts). Recently, a few arenas of training that Matt has been working through that I found particularly intriguing, were his thoughts on training the fascial system, as well as a recent article of his defending proprioceptive training, when we define its role in the training process correctly.  For today’s podcast, Matt talks about the role of the fascial system in human movement, as well as its importance in regards to training in light of exercise selection.  Matt also talks about proprioceptive training, its role in light of the greater training process, and practical exercises for training both the proprioceptive and fascial systems. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Matt Cooper 218: Matt Cooper on Fascial Systems, Proprioception and the Human Performance Engine | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 54:34 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FEP_218_Matt_Cooper.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-218-matt-cooper%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-297" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-217-brett-bartholomew/ Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:32:28 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=32909 More show notes and transcripts at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-217-brett-bartholomew/ Today’s episode features performance coach, author, and speaker, Brett Bartholomew.  Brett is the founder of “Art of Coaching™”, which works with corporations in the financial and tech sector, medical professionals, military, as well as professional sporting organizations to enhance their leadership ability through improved communication and understanding of human behavior.  Brett is the author of the best-selling book “Conscious Coaching”, and has spoken worldwide on performance and communication topics.  Brett has served as a performance coach for a diverse range of athletes, ranging from youth to Olympians, those in nearly every professional sport, as well as those in the U.S. Special Forces and Fortune 500 companies. Coaching is a rapidly evolving field.  Strength coaches must grow in a multi-disciplinary manner on a variety of levels to stay competitive and serve athletes better.  Sport skill coaches cannot simply use the same rigid cues and drill sets and methods that their coach used on them.  Rather, a thorough understanding of human learning and psychology, a more holistic model must be found to facilitate the optimal technical and tactical development of the athlete. Brett Bartholomew has evolved greatly in his time as a coach, and his diverse coaching background has given him the means to see a large problem in the field: A lack of education, skills, and emphasis in general on communication and understanding of human behavior.  Being a better communicator means acquiring better buy-in, more effort, and more enjoyment on the part of those we are coaching, and there are a lot of means by which we can improve in this arena as coaches.  On today’s show, Brett talks about why communication has been under-emphasized in coaching (despite its importance) how improving in this area can improve athlete outputs, as well as practices and exercises that coaches can utilize to improve their own leadership and communication abilities. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Brett Bartholomew. 217: Brett Bartholomew on Communication, Human Dynamics and the Evolution of Coaching in Sport | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 55:40 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_217_Brett_Barthomew_Final_2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-217-brett-bartholomew%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-298" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-216-paul-cater/ Thu, 20 Aug 2020 14:32:45 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=32837 More show notes and transcripts at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-216-paul-cater/ Today’s episode features coach Paul Cater, speaking on his holistic approach to athlete training sessions.  Paul has pioneered a way of training that makes the session a heightened experience on multiple levels, versus a scripted “to-do” list. Paul is the owner of the Alpha Project, a gym in Salinas, California.  He has worked with a wide variety of athletes, from those at the highest professional level in pro Rugby (London Wasps) and pro Baseball (Baltimore Orioles), to local youth sport athletes, as well as those in the general population in a wide variety of age ranges.  Paul has lived and trained athletes internationally and has a wide swath of cultural experience.  He has been a “partial episode” guest of the podcast on episode #197, where he discussed the art of story-telling in the training session, as well as a return to the importance of sprinting as a cornerstone movement in his years of coaching.  Paul has also written a number of impactful articles on Just Fly Sports over the years on the level of taking the “robotic” elements out of sport preparation and bringing in a holistic, thoughtful, aware, and “human” form of coaching. Of all the individuals who have had an impact on my coaching and training, I don’t think I can say anyone has had more of an impact on how I run my training sessions than Paul Cater.  Paul has taught me the art of bringing life and energy into a training session, and as well as using a combination of training methods and environment to be completely in the moment of the training itself.  Through my own observation of, and training with Paul, I have gained insight that can make a training session really come to life in the same manner that sport, or a powerful life experience, does. On the show today, Paul will talk about his philosophy on the flow of a training session, and how his unique model presents athletes the opportunity to grow on multiple levels (awareness, vulnerability, rhythm, variable work modes, etc.).  He’ll get into the “nuts and bolts” of awareness practices, music selection, rhythmic development, and much more.  This is a unique and essential episode, and one that has the potential to really transform one’s coaching practice in a positive way. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Paul Cater 216: Paul Cater on Flow, Rhythm and Awareness: Exploring the Training Session as a Mirror to Sport and Beyond | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:10:27 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FEP_216_Paul_Cater_Final2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-216-paul-cater%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-299" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe> https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-215-chris-korfist/ Thu, 13 Aug 2020 12:25:14 +0000 https://www.just-fly-sports.com/?p=32806 Today’s episode features speed coach and human performance expert, Chris Korfist.  Chris is a multi-time guest on the podcast and is back for a solo-interview show where he gets into his recent developments in speed training, as well as a great conversation about mind-body concepts and their relationship to sport, and even life itself. More show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-215-chris-korfist/ Chris Korfist has been a high school coach in track and football for almost 30 years, with more than 80 All-State athletes.  He owns the “Slow Guy Speed School” that helps develop athletes ranging from World Champion to middle school. He has consulted with professional sports teams all over the world, including the NFL, MLB, NBA, and Rugby League, and is an advisor for Auckland University of Technology’s SPRINZ.  Chris also co-owns the Track Football Consortium, and co-founded Reflexive Performance Reset. It is always good to sit down and just have a great sprinting/speed conversation, as in so many ways, speed is a universal concept to us as human beings, regardless of our exact sport or movement practice.  Sprinting represents the highest coordination demand output that the human body can do, and improvements in maximal sprint velocity are some of the hardest earned in training, but also some of the most rewarding.  Chris has been on several of my podcasts in the last few years, but we haven’t had a true “speed training” talk since our first episode together around 4 years ago. In addition to some great novel concepts on speed training covered on this show (such as asymmetrical sprint training and shin-drop methods), Chris also gets into a topic that may be more powerful and relevant for many athletes than particular speed training methods (although we want to do them all well), which is the power of the mind to impact posture, power outputs, sport skill, and attitudes of the opposing team.  If you get all of the speed training right, but get posture and confidence wrong, one’s highest potential will never be reached. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. Joel Smith, Just-fly-sports.com, Chris Korfist 215: Chris Korfist on New Advances in Sprint Training and Mind-Body Concepts in Athletics | Sponsored by SimpliFaster full 1:09:52 <iframe src="https://player.blubrry.com/?media_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2Fcontent.blubrry.com%2Fjustflyperformancepodcast%2FJFPP_EP_215_Chris_Korfist2.mp3&amp;modern=1&amp;podcast_link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.just-fly-sports.com%2Fpodcast-215-chris-korfist%2F#mode-Light&border-000000&progress-000000" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="165" frameborder="0" id="blubrryplayer-300" class="blubrryplayer" title="Blubrry Podcast Player"></iframe>