Just Fly Performance Podcast

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.  View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.   Timestamps and Main Points 6:00 What Steffan has been busy with lately in regards to his coaching, and how he tests his ideas on himself first prior to integration with athletes 7:45 What one thing Steffan is using now as a coach that he would “train” his former self with as an athlete 17:45 Maximal rigidity in limbs in athletic movements versus a more “controlled collision in training” 24:45 The role of general strength means in Steffan’s program 31:30 How extreme isometrics and stretch-loading impacts proprioception 36:30 How Steffan measures outputs and drop-offs in fast-bowling and isometrics 40:50 How Steffan adds variability into his training and exercise sessions 50:30 The “Two-Minute Drill” invented by Jeremy Fischer and how that can utilize fatigue to help athletes increase the amount of elastic elements in the movement 57:00 Thoughts on “second generation” contrast, and some of Steffan’s samples for using this method to improve the skill of fast-bowling “Technique underpins everything, you cannot run away from poor technique” “The fascia does determine the success of a skill that does happen as fast as a skill such as quick bowling does” “Adarian said, it’s not about deceleration (on front foot contact) it’s about controlling the collision and maintaining momentum, and that to me, shifted my mindset” “For me, concentrics, there’s no purpose for training sport.  Sport happens too quickly for a concentric contraction” “For me, isometrics should be the number one exercise.  Alex Natera is doing some good work and the skill stability feeds off of that”  “I always have some sort of number when I’m doing isometrics” “Cognitive fatigue only affects submaximal work; cognitive fatigue doesn’t affect high intensity work” “Same but different, medicine ball work in my same drop and block position.  My one intent with my speed gun is to throw the medicine ball as hard as I can” “Give me 4 (5) methods that I have to use with my fast-bowlers: Isometrics, whether that’s general, specific or skill-stability, wearables, LILA ball-bowling, and small isolation exercises as well… and fatigue is another one, isn’t it?” “We shouldn’t be afraid, because it is really important, and we should produce anti-fragile bowlers” “Monotony of repetition is motor learning’s worst enemy” “(In regards to training on the hard surfaces) Charlie Francis said about it, that you de-sensitize the tendon, because it really doesn’t have to work that hard because of the hard surface” “Try the two-minute drill with occlusion cuffs on, that is an awesome drill” About Steffan Jones Steffan Jones is the former Somerset, Northamptonshire, Kent and Derbyshire fast bowler who forged a career out of getting the best out of himself physically.  He is an ex-pro cricketer of 20 years and is the last dual pro between rugby & cricket.  Steffan is recognized as a global Fast-bowling performance expert. Steffan is currently one of the small number of people in the world who hold an ECB level 3 qualification as well as a UKSCA accreditation in strength & conditioning.  He is the leading coach in England on teaching and using heavy ball contrast training for fast bowler development.

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 podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.   Timestamps and Main Points 6:00 The redundancy of “coaching up” natural-skill-based human strength movements 16:45 Adarian’s history with weightlifting as a football player and track and field athlete 24:50 Deconstructing the Olympic lifts in regards to what transfers to athletic speed and what does not 33:40 Good and poor “class 1” levers of the foot 41:25 Thoughts on the initial stages of the pull off the ground in athleticism 45:25 Using the hands more effectively to change the emphasis of exercise to the body 50:10 Full catches in the Olympic lifts, foot pressure and internal rotation, and how these can be optimized for athletic transfer 57:10 Why Adarian is not a fan of hinging from a foot loading perspective “The feet are pointing out for a reason in (natural) squatting, because the calves are rotating them” “A lot of people equate lifting to athletic ability, that the lift makes you athletic.  The biggest thing is when I see the levers…. Some people when they (Olypmic) lift to get strong, I see them shrug, then they do a plantar-flex, which is a class 1 lever, then they catch the bar.  That’s not going to transfer over (to athleticism) they are probably just going to get stronger” “What do they say, look at the (lift) numbers he is doing that’s what made him fast.  No! He can do those (lift) numbers because he is fast!” “I used to think (Olympic lifters) were bumping the bar with their hips.  What do you actually see? When they hit the bar with class 2 (foot position) it bumps them backwards (class 2 being advantageous for athleticism)” “If the Achilles (tendon) isn’t working, you will be quad dominant or hamstring dominant” “There are two “class 1” motions, there’s inversion/eversion, and there is plantarflexion dorsiflexion.  Those ones that use inversion/eversion are going to really do something… that reflexive class 1 saves the day” “That’s the beauty of the brain, it’s not going to let you hurt yourself… I’m trying to crash the plane (and let the brain save me)… It’s weird that people don’t let the brain work” “Everything is rotational, the direction is linear, but the movement is rotational” “Once the calves twist, the arches (of the foot) set with you.  As I try to squat down, move the calf out of the way, and if you move the calf out of the way, everything else is going to work out below that” “One of the foot’s jobs is to sense movement, where you are in space and time, and how much load is on the body, but it can’t do that until they have been pressurized, in a sense” “Once you put the thumb down (in exercises) things start to change” “People crawl like a robot… once you rotate that calf, shin angles change and you don’t have to lift your butt up to get your leg through…. Just as I would rotate the calf to do a lift, I would rotate the calf to crawl, because I want pressure on the foot to tell me something” “Where is the information in the lift coming from, that’s really important” Show Notes Lift with More “Class 2” Lever Action in the Second Pull https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW1D2hidqe4 Lift with More “Class 1” Lever Action in the Second Pull https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nopJgclbv5A Lifting with an “Eversion/Inversion” Dominant Class 1 Lever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQndyux4gM Donald Thomas Tremendous Foot Pressure Deforming High Jump Shoe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3pbQH9nLU About Adarian Barr Adarian Barr is a track coach and inventor based out of Woodland, 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.

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.   Timestamps and Main Points 5:30 How adjusting to outdoor workouts with no weights due to COVID restrictions created a unique and effective training environment for Mike and his athletes 16:55 How Mike does not have a formal strength and conditioning background, and how his own experience as an athlete, as well as his physical education experience, formed the base of how he now trains athletes 22:20 Staples of Mike’s program that he learned from Adarian Barr, starting from the level of the foot, and how he works his way up the kinetic chain 27:15 How Mike works on dorsiflexion (or doesn’t) and how he emphasizes the action of the foot as a second class lever in athletes 40:35 How Mike teaches the foot working as a second class lever to improve the efficiency of the Achilles tendon, as well as the preservation of kinetic energy 53:00 Ideas on the transverse arch of the foot and how this applies to athletic performance 58:00 How the feet relate to what is happening upstream in the kinetic chain (hip internal rotation, expansion, compression, etc.) “The start of our session used to be foam rolling, honestly just to take attendance (we don’t do that anymore).  Let’s use the start of our session to do something these kids never do” “To me, level 1 is, do you have any idea what your feet are doing, and most kids do not… if I can get kids to now understand the tripod, not be a toe gripper, and then can I effectively get them on the inside edge (unless you are over-pronated)” “The main thing I try to get across to my kids is, “shin’s going down, heel’s coming up”” “If they (the athlete’s) do it already, I don’t have any reason to fill their minds with information they don’t need.. they are already there!” “If the shin keeps moving forward, and the heel stays down, you are staying in first class, you are just stretching the Achilles.  If you are someone who has a lot of dorsiflexion range, then your athletic posture has to dial you into a start stance that gets that heel to pull up faster” “A person who has less dorsiflexion range may strike (in acceleration) with a little more vertical tibia, and that heel is going to come up faster” “The swing leg is tied to the impulse of the stance foot, if the swing leg is not in position to catch the impulse (coming up from the stance leg on the ground), your body is going to get desperate and do something else” “A lot of kids who don’t run well start to extend the knee before the hip extends (in swing phase)” “If you are stepping too far back, and that heel comes down and the knee straightens, that is the mechanism for an Achilles tear… we don’t want the Achilles to be stretching and loading at the same time, and that’s where heel taps come in” “We don’t want our kids moving forward with a straight knee, and the heel down” “In the simplest terms, I want kids to understand, that’s where they need the pressure (the transverse arch of the foot)” “A front-foot elevated split squat biases us more towards early and mid-stance, and a rear foot elevated split squat biases us more towards late stance” Show Notes Usain Bolt Sprinting (Barrel Chest, Foot as a Second Class Lever, and Shin Drop as Hips Pass over the Foot) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-3cHxXAK0&t=44s DK Metcalf runs down Budda Baker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ImdWvuzsCY Heel tap demonstration https://www.instagram.com/p/Burx-yIB_W4/ About Mike Kozak Mike Kozak graduated from Ohio State University in 2001 with a B.S. in Sport Performance and Coaching and a Master’s Degree in Sport and Exercise Education. In 2004, he became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He has also added a Speed and Agility certification through the International Youth Conditioning Association. After graduation from Ohio State, Mike was a physical education teacher at a variety of Columbus Public elementary schools. He also coached 6th grade basketball and worked in conjunction with the G2 basketball camps. In 2002, he created Soar of Columbus with his business partner Nate Fugitt. In between 2002 and 2006, Mike trained youth athletes in a variety of settings throughout Central Ohio including Marysville, Hilliard and Worthington. In 2006, Soar opened its first facility in Lewis Center. There he has trained hundreds of youth athletes as well as a number of current and prospective college and pro athletes. In addition to his duties at Soar, Mike is also working with the NFL as a National Field Supervisor for NFL Regional Combines. Two simple qualities guide Mike’s training philosophy – expert teaching and sound program design tailored to the individual. Youth athletes receive the teaching that is necessary to establish a sound base of strength and speed technique. Advanced high school and college/pro athletes are trained in a manner that best prepares them for their sport or event. No gimmicks, no bells and whistles – just coaching at the highest level.

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage   Timestamps and Main Points 4:40 Pat’s history of athletics and his recent thoughts in regards to normalizing weight room outputs across a variety of athletes with different heights and levers 30:40 Implications of athletes who “over-lift” in dynamic outputs and what physiological elements are playing a role in diminished movement abilities 35:30 Expansion and compression rules in regards to the movement of the human body 44:30 From a rib-cage perspective, what happens when the body becomes too compressed from a front-to-back perspective that often happens from excessive bilateral lifting 51:00 My personal journey in barbell squatting and Pat’s analysis of my tendencies towards compressive forces that allowed me to retain my elasticity well (and how I ended up hurting that elasticity later on) 1:12.10 How to work with athletes with substantial anterio-posterior compression to get into becoming more elastic and robust “Who measures the distance (of a lift), nobody measures the distance.  It’s half of the equation of work” “You get punished in many ways, in the reward system of the weight room.  If you go full range, and have to use less weight, that’s a “punishment”.  If you have to do less reps, that’s a “punishment”.” “You are going to want to make progress so much (in the weight room) you will lie to yourself (by subtly cheating lifts)” “You can recognize people that have done a tremendous amount of strength training; it’s visually obvious.  Watch wrestlers or bodybuilders go out for a jog.  The whole body turns like a refrigerator” “Movement goes older than biology, it’s pre-biological.  In-organic physics precedes everything” “That’s the original rule of movement, things have to accept, or yield this incoming matter, and that’s a good lesson to apply to every other part of that body.  That’s the original rule of movement: Things are either moving into something, occupying it and expanding it, or something is compressing something out of it” “When I’m externally rotating a femur or a humerus, that’s expansion.  When I’m supinating my hand or my foot, that’s expansion” “Compression is internal rotation, pronation, dorsiflexion… it’s all this compression strategy that we use to squeeze things with… ultimately you can be too biased towards one side versus the other” “The deadlift is kind of like a lower body bench press” “I want a rounded ribcage, because a rounded ribcage will roll like a ball through space” “If you get an athlete who looks like me (short, squat, wide) and you feed them a ton of these exercises that are going to compress anterior to posterior, and expand medial to lateral, you are going to make me run like a 2x4 that’s jerking and halting through space” “If I get an athlete’s whose spine is shaped like a paper towel roll (expanded A to P) by compressing them anterior to posterior, I might be giving them a lot of benefit” “Deadlift to me is sitting the pelvis backwards in space, posterior displacement of the pelvis to the greatest degree I possibly can (that’s a hinge) and vertical displacement of the pelvis to the greatest degree I possibly can (that’s a squat)” Where you will displace in a yielding manner is going to be based on which tissue is in an eccentric orientation… the only way I am going to be able to hinge and sit back, is if I allow the posterior pelvic floor to reach an eccentric orientation.  The only way I am going to be able to squat is if I allow the anterior pelvic floor to be in an eccentric orientation” “If I want to purely hinge, and not squat down at the same time, I need to allow an eccentric orientation of the posterior pelvic floor to yield in that direction and I need a concentric orientation of the anterior pelvic floor to block movement going in that direction” “If I want to squat straight up and down, and I don’t want my hips to sit back, I need to reach a concentric orientation of the posterior pelvic floor and an anterior orientation of the anterior pelvic floor” “What is happening at the ankle is also happening at the pelvic floor, in a lot of ways” “In many ways, during these athletic movements for elasticity, my muscular system needs to be this re-enforced roll cage so everything else crumples” “100% (the knees in prevents the pelvis from descending/expanding in squatting)” “Internal rotation and adduction are compressive strategies, and you could very well say that what is happening at the femur is happening at the pelvic floor” “A wide obtuse infra-sternal angle is someone who is biased towards compression systematically, and a narrow infra-sternal angle is someone who is biased towards expansion” “(Intervention) could be not letting the AP compressed person do planks” About Pat Davidson Pat Davidson, Ph. D., is an independent trainer, consultant, author, and lecturer in NYC. Pat is the former Director of Training Methodology and Continuing Education for Peak Performance, and former Professor of Exercise Science at Springfield College and Brooklyn College. Author of MASS and MASS2 and developer of the “Rethinking the Big Patterns” lecture series and upcoming book on the same topic.

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 podcast episodes at the podcast homepage   Timestamps and Main Points 5:00 Brandon’s main influences in athletic performance and speed training 11:30 How principles of West-side Barbell training show up in Brandon’s sprint training system 22:45 How Brandon rotates uphill and downhill sprinting to blast personal bests in speed 29:30 How Brandon uses wickets in context of his speed and sprint training 39:30 Concepts in using resisted sprinting, as well as jump training in Brandon’s program 45:20 More specifics on how Brandon rotates and progresses his speed and sprint training throughout the training year, and also how he modulates this for stride length, vs. stride frequency style athletes 58:50 What Brandon’s weekly sprint setup looks like for athletes 1:07.20 The power of “PR”s in Brandon’s system and how that feeds into his entire training session “Once you can control 90% of the force-velocity curve, you can create great athletes” “I don’t think the FMS is a great thing, because when you are sitting statically and not under high forces or high loads, everyone is going to look great, but once you are high speeds in sprinting, or high loads in lifting, you are going to see some weaknesses” “I believe your technique in sprinting is determined by your weaknesses… once you fix their weaknesses, then it is easier to fix technique” “Glute, hamstring, and opposite QL, those must fire explosively and fast, and they all must be strong… when I start an athlete, the first thing I do test is that QL” “In my gym, if you can’t do so much in a 45 degree hyperextension, I can’t put a bar on your back” “The body is scared to go faster… it hates change, so you have to force change by changing modalities… regular sprinting can’t do all those things (in context of using uphill, downhill and resisted sprinting to help break barriers)” “65-75% of the kids I get are heel strikers; they have to run forefoot on a sled, so that right there corrects their mechanics” “If they can break one of those records (uphill, downhill, flat sprinting) once or twice a month, they are happy” “I believe overspeed hacks the golgi-tendon complex” “I want my whole gym competing (team and track athletes) so I use yards (in sprint distances)” “When I look at film of my timed wickets, you can see the recovery (leg) go faster” “In my hurdle hops my guys get off the ground in .15 seconds” “If they are gliders (longer striders) we will do more downhill with those kids, I used to wait until the end, but now I feed it in every week or two weeks” “If they are short striders, I believe the resistance of the hill, that posterior chain will give you more power (they do downhills too), but they will be more on the hill and the sled” “The sled is good because it limits the soreness, if I was regular sprinting, I’d have to be more careful (because I have to be careful of competing against resources from training heavy in the gym)” “Sometimes we’ll do a sled, and then we’ll rest about 5 minutes, and do a downhill” “I have a list of probably 500 jump variations (to help athletes get more PR’s)… if they get a PR there, they are happy about it” About 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 coaches such as Louie Simmons, Charlie Francis, Buddy Morris and Dick Hartzell.  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.  Brandon has trained state champions in multiple sports, Gatorade players of the year, and professional athletes.

Kevin Foster and Grant Fowler discuss non-linear training methods for high-powered athleticism. They cover topics such as wearable resistance, mobility training, and the importance of foundational mobility. They also discuss specific exercises for javelin throwing, improvements in throws and lifts with non-linear training, and the concept of intuitive training and self-regulation. The chapter on training methods and peak performance explores structured training methods, predicting peak performance, and the importance of adaptability.

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 at 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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage   Timestamps and Main Points 5:20 Michelle and Tim’s recent modes of exercise and training and what they have learned from them 9:20 How Tim has been incorporating “one arm running” into his training and coaching routines 15:00 Tim and Michelle’s journey of evolving the lifts they utilized 20:50 What role do the big lifts still play in Michelle and Tim’s program, in light of other evolving categorizations 35:15 What starting point do Tim and Michelle go from when constructing a strength program for performance (for running specifically) 45:50 Adjusting the lifts in a program based on biomechanical running goals of the athlete 58:40 How a performance-driven session for Michelle goes in light of the big lifts and a modern idea on exercise classification “We need to get out of these gross (exercise) categorizations that have really come from other sports (powerlifting, Olympic lifting)” Boland “There is a difference between fitness and movement” Boland “I think there is a huge benefit to bilateral lifts because we can hit them as a high intensity stimulus and maintain that over time, and then use split stance, frontal and transverse plane activities as movements that will keep them healthy over time” Boland “We say the word “squat” but there are so many ways to squat” Boland “The first thing I want to see (in regards to determining an exercise program) is what their running looks like” Richardt “An individual (who is too vertical, and doesn’t generate horizontal force) might do really well with a rear foot elevated split squat to be able to fall, and “propulse” correctly.  Conversely, if someone is falling forward too much, it might be worthwhile to elevate the front foot” Richardt “You are going to have to take that whole stack (head, thorax, pelvis) and orient that forward, to give you a much more advantageous position to push from.  If that goes too far, then you lose the ability to create enough vertical force to support yourself, and then you are a series of un-supported falls in space” Richardt “How I view exercise categorization is, you need to pick two extremes, and then fill in buckets in between” Boland “Are we dealing with someone that is maybe, “overly concentric” and doesn’t yield enough, and then we might use a super-slow eccentric, we are probably going to load them minimally, or not at all.  We are probably going to elevate the front foot and teach them a yielding strategy, because that’s what that person needs” Richardt “I use the warm up as increasing heart rate, blood flow, all that, while teaching them something that they are going to do later” Boland “There is always going to be an element of gait at play in bilateral activity… even though both things are happening on the left and right simultaneously, we’re still dealing with the gait cycle” Richardt “If we lose the ability to do a full-depth squat while chasing a 500lb deadlift, we are probably going to become a worse athlete, but if we can deadlift double bodyweight and squat pretty clean ass-to-grass, that’s going to be a more resilient athlete” Richardt About Michelle Boland Michelle Boland is the owner of michelleboland-training.com and is an in-demand writer and speaker in the field of human performance.  She has several years of professional experience as a strength and conditioning coach at a Division 1 institution working with a nationally ranked top 5 Women’s Ice Hockey team, a nationally ranked top 10 Men’s Ice Hockey team, and other teams including Field Hockey, Women’s Soccer, and Men’s Basketball.  She created Michelle Boland Training, in order to support others in achieving their performance and fitness goals to the best of my abilities. Michelle earned her Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from Springfield College, has studied under mentors in the field such as Pat Davidson and is a leader in the integration of Postural Restoration Institute® based concepts into practical sports performance application. About Tim Richardt Tim has been a competitive runner and strength training junkie since the age of 14.  He attended Penn State in order to pursue degrees in Biomechanics and Neurobiology, where he continued to run competitively at the club level.  While in State College, he also helped to develop CrossFit Nittany, one of the town’s first CrossFit affiliates. 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.  He continues to sport an addiction to lifelong learning as well as a passion for all things running, strength, and rehabilitation.  In his free-time he can be spotted throwing around a heavy kettlebell in the gym, sprinting 200 meter intervals on the track, or enjoying a long trail run up a tall mountain. Tim has a B.S. in neuroscience from Penn State.  He has attended Regis University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, and currently resides in Boston, MA.  Some of his certifications and course-work includes a CSCS, Crossfit Level 1, SFMA, exensive PRI course work, and a Dry Needling certification.

Charlie Reid, personal trainer, massage therapist and musician, discusses the redundancy of 'corrective exercise' and a learner-centered approach to performance. Topics also include pain and discomfort, coaching for autonomy, the role of the nervous system, self-massage tools, individual responses to exercise, and the importance of breathing in movement.

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:00 Ty’s start with Lee Taft, and some cornerstone teachings he has learned from Lee that have kept with him in his coaching 10:45 How to use bands and resistance to create lines of force on an athlete that can help them use joints better, or get into desired athletic positions 23:45 Approaching elite athletes versus youth in regards to training their sport movement ability 34:00 Questions on general versus any sort of specific skill movement training for a professional athlete 41:45 How athletic movement works in light of the expansion and compression of the pelvic floor, and the body in general 57:30 The effect of overly “hinging” every lift, and how a state of anterior tilt reduces aerobic capacity and even muscular compliance and elasticity 1:06.30 Reflexive core training and experiences to help athletes train their trunk and pelvis in a manner that reflects load and explode paradigms “When I started, it was important that Lee made me be a coach first (before the standard “textbook” learning)” “As long as you have forward momentum, it’s OK not to be perfect today” “Those are the three things that you are looking at in a single motion in athletics: Can you achieve the position, can you produce the force you need to in the time you need to, and can you do it in the context of the situation” “If you get a 10-year old, they are pretty compliant.  They don’t have years of physical stress to let compensatory strategies come into play” “With the younger kids, you don’t necessarily have to focus on power to improve power because they are just improving everything” “It’s the simple stuff (the pro athlete) doesn’t do well (such as a basic squat pattern), because they never had to… I’ll say this, it’s the fundamentals that save pro athletes” “How many times can you do near-max efforts before your body can’t handle it, and says, “I need to cheat somehow”” “The number one thing I find (the NBA population) needs is the ability to squat.  When I see someone who can squat, I can see someone who can maintain proximal control of their pelvis” “If I want to load something… I want to be able to squat, to expand” “Exhale is propulsion, it’s output” “If I’m going to do a cut and push right to left… if I can’t squat down, my push angle is going to be too vertical” “The inhalation, not only physically moves the pelvis backwards into a posterior tilt, so I can reach greater degrees of hip flexion, and so I can get depth, but it also expands the pelvis when you do that, and it creates that posterior weight shift that allows you to sit down” “Our industry (strength and conditioning) tries to find ways around faults (making things more of a hinge than a true squat)… maybe if your purpose is powerlifting, but if you want to demonstrate full excursion of moving, you need to be able to squat well, I call it squatting in a phone booth” “A lot of Olympic lifters, once they get the bars past their knees, the hips have to come forward” “When you are constantly in an anteriorly tilt position, an exhaled position, you tend to be less aerobically fit systemically” “For knee tendonosis, for the tissues to be pliable and move, you need to get the pelvis to move” “A concentric environment is a rigid environment, it has to be to produce force” “Rapid-fire med ball scoops is a good way to get a bunch of reps in to teach the body to reflexively turn the abs on” “Sometimes we need to do ab work that feeds us towards movement we need to get into, like a reverse crunch” About Ty Terrell Ty Terrell is a performance coach who has a broad range of experiences in the fitness and physical preparation industry.  From his beginnings of coaching in a 2 car garage, Ty has built his philosophy coaching high school basketball, running speed camps, being a director at a YMCA, as well as working for tremendous leaders in our industry like Lee Taft, Bill Hartman, and Mike Robertson.  This work eventually led Ty to become a strength and conditioning coach for a professional soccer team and ultimately ending up as a performance coach in the NBA, as he has synthesized all of these educational experiences into a training process based in science, practicality, and simplicity.

Strength coach Christian Thibaudeau discusses Omni-Rep Training for athletes, muscle phases in training, and the intricacies of book publishing. Topics include tailored training methods for athletes, incorporating various muscle contractions, and optimizing performance with warm-up sets. The conversation also covers RPE-based training, managing adrenaline levels, and the importance of individualized programs for speed-power athletes.