Just Fly Performance Podcast

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.   Timestamps and Main Points 4:00 How doing manual labor and playing one’s sport through high school led Kyle to being more athletic than improving his squat and deadlift in college and becoming slower 7:00 How starting running again after spending years training primarily lifting and gym training has gone for Kyle, and what goes through Kyle’s mind in his run training 12:20 Thoracic dynamics, breathing and run performance concepts 24:15 Kyle’s evolution in the big axially loaded lifts, and their relationship to gait and reciprocal human movement 32:20 Internal and external femur rotation mechanics in squatting, and how hinging-squats have a negative effect on internal rotation capabilities for athletes 39:50 Distinguishing between “good” knees in, and “bad” knees in during a squat, based on adduction and internal rotation mechanics 46:30 Kyle’s taking on intentionally squeezing the glutes at the top of a squat 50:35 Reasons that you usually see Olympic lifters knees “clicking in” when coming up from the bottom of a squat, versus what you tend to see in a powerlifter 1:01:35 General principles in exercise selection and execution regarding squatting with athletes 1:04:50 Functional coaching points in unilateral training exercises 1:06:50 How to restore femoral internal rotation in athletes who are lacking it “I’m someone who for the last 5 or 6 years has done almost exclusively weight training, so getting back into unilateral reciprocal and trying to find femur IR, has been fun” “I think more about respiration (when running)” “As someone who has been doing a lot of bilateral, kind of more supinated based lifting, it is hard for me to get “inside edge” without consciously thinking about it” “What I get when I’m too (thoracically) extended, is I get a diaphragm that is more eccentrically oriented, and doesn’t really have as much of an ability to ascend and descend… I’m in more of this inhalation based pattern” “When you prioritize muscular integration, you are almost always going to sacrifice respiration mechanics” “Variability is not my friend (in the powerlifts)” “If I’ve got somebody who has good elasticity and good work capacity, but they have a strength deficit, that’s where I might need some bilateral lifting, just to give them a global stimulus, and give them more hypertrophy or more tissue development” “If I’ve got somebody who is extremely strong bilaterally, but they are short on coordination, work capacity and running well, then I need to get into more unilateral based work and need to get them balanced over one leg” “The actual rotational requirements of the femur and requirements of adduction change when you’ve got two points of contact on the ground rather than one” “When we run, we need forward translation of the knee.  We need a knee that goes well over the toe, especially in late stance mechanics” “If I have someone with the hips back and chest up, old school squatting method, I’m not really teaching anything that is going to transfer over to gait from a coordinatin based pattern” “Me giving a powerlifter IR might give them too many degrees of freedom” “External and internal rotation aren’t a destination within athletic movements, they are a means to get to a certain point” “When we look at that hingy squat, that’s someone who is not able to access internal rotation very well” “If someone goes back, instead of down in a squat, they are basically just circumventing the need to internally rotate by repositioning their pelvis” “Power and max-load isn’t always the same thing” “The biggest thing that I see with the knees going in on a squat, and when it is good, and when it is bad has more to do with your ability to rotate” “If you are adducting a femur, but not internally rotating it, and not pronating at the foot, and you are just collapsing your arch, that’s a different story and that might be putting more stress on the knee” “When you are front loaded in a squat or clean-catch, that allows for a full squat and vertical translation of the actual pelvis, because that load if shifting your rib cage back over your heels, instead of forward over your feet.  The load becomes your new center of mass and your rib-cage wraps around that” “Your ribcage is either falling forward or falling backwards when you are moving, it’s never truly stacked when you are moving” “I want a more vertical torso angle (in squatting) so I can get more vertical translation of the knees and an angled shin… that is going to be closer to what running looks like (and I am not going to replicate running in a squat)” “If I train a dynamic athlete, I am typically not going to back-load them unless their goal is to get as strong as possible” “(On lunges or unilateral lifts) if I can get the sacrum lined up with the instep, that is going to allow the femur to internally rotate during flexion” “Isometric split squats is how I line people up (in a straight line lunge for the purpose of restoring internal rotation)” Show Notes https://www.instagram.com/p/B9O8ESCgt7C/ Inline split squat for internal rotation restoration About Kyle Dobbs Kyle Dobbs 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, been a legitimate six-figure earner as a trainer, managed and developed multiple six-figure earners, 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. Transcripts: Joel Smith: Kyle you were mentioning before a little bit that, and I think we can both resonate with this is that we entered or what did you say? We left college as worse athletes than we entered. And I would say for me that was more probably in my later twenties when I started doing all the, the lifts as per technical specks, and squatting knees out and through the heels and stuff. But I resonate with that, man. So tell me a little bit more about that idea of you leaving college as a worse athlete, than you entered coming out of high school. Kyle Dobbs: Yeah, I think a few different things happened. I was a young athlete who just played sports all day. I grew up in the Midwest and did a lot of manual labor and kind of got strong swinging axes and pickaxes and shoveling and doing hauling hay and doing things like that. And then just playing my sport and being probably more of a lighter weight elastic based athlete. Like I went into college as a like 6'4" 185 pound runner slash basketball player and graduated at 220 pounds with a much better squat and deadlift, but a lower vertical and as a slower athlete from the, from that standpoint and, and with a lot more just wear and tear on my body. I had some injuries throughout that process too, and spent more time in a training room than I ever really did on a court or a track, which is unfortunate. But I think that's the story of a lot of strength coaches. And a lot of people that get into this industry is they kind of fall in love through the rehab and strength training process. And coming back from that end as their athletic dreams, kind of dissipate a little bit through that process, they kind of go into more of the strength and conditioning side or rehab side. Joel Smith: Did you go into college thinking you wanted to get into exercise and sport and all that, or was it, it was the injuries that got you there? Kyle Dobbs: I was actually a premed major.

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:30 Leo’s story of running a marathon on zero run training through optimal breath work and breathing techniques 16:30 Training repeat versus short sprint ability with nose versus mouth breathing 19:30 The importance of an aerobic base for the majority of athletes, and how breathing plays into this base 24:30 Why breathing and breath training is so under-appreciated by many coaches and individuals in training 29:30 How Leo uses breathing as a readiness assessment as opposed to HRV 43:15 Leo’s battle with asthma, and how that led him to studying breathing and breath for athletic performance enhancement 53:10 What people should be able to do with their breath, and “hardware” issues that could hold back the ability to breathe well 1:00:20 Breath training in context of a typical gym session with Leo 1:05:00 The link between breathing, adrenaline, and recovery times in training 1:15:00 Tensioning the body through breathing for improved power application 1:23:30 Methods to restore the function of the diaphragm “If I really wanted to perform in marathon, and hit a PB, and I trained for it fully, I wouldn’t mouth-tape (nose breathe)” “We know that pure mouth breathing will burn more sugar than nasal breathing” “Unless you are a pure power sport like Olympic weightlifting, a powerlifting type sport, you do want a decent aerobic base to you” “The benefits of breath training is all about recovery; for me, it is the main recovery modality, it’s where it all starts” “You don’t want oxygen just in the blood, you want it in the cell” “There are psychological aspects to breathing as well” “I only use HRV now with people who are not tuned into their breath” “There is a huge role for CO2 to play in anxiety, performance anxiety, and panic and fear” “You should have patterned in nose-breathing at rest; that should be your daily breathing pattern.  If that’s not happening, then you’ll have a higher sympathetic drive, and that’ll have the knock-on effects of a high sympathetic tone versus a higher parasympathetic tone” “(Belly breathing only) is a weak technique, in my opinion… it can work, but it can take a long time to acquire only a diaphragmatic breath by just saying “belly breathe” or placing blocks on the stomach” “For the respiratory warmup, I will bring breath-holding into the general warmup phase.  I will bring in 4-6 strong breath holds.  Holding the breath through the nose has a lot of strong effects” “If it was pre-competition, I would have them hyperventilate; I call it supraventilation, which means, breathe more than normally.  Maybe 5-10,15 breaths to dump CO2 out of their system so now they are more fresh and ready to go from the first whistle” “What people don’t realize is that breathing plays a critical role in emotional balance, and processing emotions as well” “If your diaphragm is retracted and not moving well, then your ability to contract and move the pelvic floor is reduced as well” “A very simple technique is 4-6 breathing, inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds, and repeat that for 2 minutes; it’s been shown to set you more into a parasympathetic state, and also open up the frontal lobe of the brain so that you can think more clearly” “4-6 I’ll use in recovery, box breathing I’ll use as a nice cam-way to get someone focused.  4-6 I’ll use to help them to sleep better, whereas box breathing (a symmetrical rotation of breathing in, holding, and breathing out; 4 seconds on each, for example) I’ll use in the morning time to get them more settled for the day” About Leo Ryan Leo Daniel Ryan is a Performance Coach and Breathing Specialist. He is the founder of Innate-Strength.com. He has studied athletic training, health and breathing since he healed himself of asthma in 2004. After graduating with a MSc from University College Dublin, he continued to educate himself prolifically throughout his professional career in Ireland and internationally. 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 Daniel'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 and he undertook several internships with the world-renowned Dr. Eric Serrano.

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. 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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:15 What training the fascial system means to Matt 16:15 Methods to engage the fascial system appropriately in training 24:45 Reasons that barbell squatting can cause neurological irritants to high-performance athletics over time 37:35 Training movements that can improve tensegrity in the body and fascial function 46:15 How Matt programs Olympic lifting and Keiser/Supercat machines, in respect to the feet and fascial dynamics 53:15 The value of proprioceptive and dynamic balance work in training and performance “The fascia being well-wound together is not just an injury prevention concept, but the fascia being well-woven together like a basket, that actually helps store, transfer and release elastic energy effortlessly” “(In a powerlifting squat) the athlete’s fascia has to revolve around the bar path” “If the fascia is adapting around these big compound movements, and they are the centerpiece of our training, then we are sort of adapting athletes neuro-myo-fascially to be sagittal movers, and not everything else” “You can do corrective exercises in a way that get the neuro-myo-fascial segments of the body well-orchestrated” “The main emphasis of our training is one that respects natural biomechanics” “You are setting off a completely different muscle firing pattern by having someone squat off the heel; and the heaviest load is going to happen at the joint angle that is most compromised” “The engine of the car in humans is a lot more horizontal, it’s push-pull; this is the engine that really drives the car, and if you really (axially) stack the body, chances are you are not going to see that turn into more fluid movement” “If I’m doing a little too much sagittal lifting, the movement is too much about the bar and the bar path, and the athlete has to mechanically adapt around that load” “I’ve been having my guys do Olympic lifts, pretty much all off the forefoot” “The bread and butter should not be the pure sagittal linear lifts, that’s kind of my stance” “There is a case to be had that proprioceptive training is, more of a feedback mechanism than anything” “Doing proprioceptive exercises might be a way to get an athlete to feel parts of the body they might not have previously utilized” Show Notes Matt’s addendum to ideas on facial work in compound movements versus machines “In addition to the neuro-myofascial element, the athlete also has to create proprioception and engage stabilizers on some of those big compound movements that maybe would not compliment them for sport.  What we should be trying to do as coaches is reinforce stabilizers, proprioception, and fascia in a way that respects the demands of the sport, whereas if you take something like a Keiser squat or a heavily loaded Super-cat squat, you’re not going to have the consequence of creating the wrong code of stabilizers, improper muscle firing patterns, not-necessarily-ideal proprioceptive maps, and unwanted neuro-myofascial connections” Supercat training for a more athletic strength stimulus and fascial adaptation   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Matt COOPer (@rewireperformance) on Aug 13, 2019 at 7:21pm PDT Coiling lunges inspired by David Weck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN5LQYHbLE0 About Matt Cooper Matt Cooper (Coop) is a nutrition consultant, strength & conditioning coach, and human performance coach from California. Driven by an obsession to expand human performance, Coop spends his time researching, experimenting, doing nerdy things, and building better humans in general at Stand Out Performance (Fast Twitch LA) in Compton, California. Coop works with athletes and individuals-from developmental to professional levels-remotely and in-person to optimize their health, performance, and fitness. Coop translates research, experience, and human performance technology to design one stop shop services and programs that address relevant areas, including nutrition, health, training, sleep, mind/body integration, the nervous system, recovery, and beyond. Coop’s own personal journey began in athletics and fitness-until poor health and mental states befell him at an early age- this lead to him becoming his own practitioner and fuels his current work, marrying functional medicine and human performance to help others become superhuman. Certified Nutrition Consultant Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) NeuFit Electrotherapist Speed of Sport Affiliate; Certified Sport Performance Specialist Director: Wellness I Performance I Sport Science; Fast Twitch LA Director: Wellness I Performance I Sport Science; Black House MMA Consultant: The Third Wave Chief Scientific Officer, Ketone Score Over 1K Clients Helped (pro/developing athletes, individuals, businesses, addiction/trauma) Co-Author, The Ketogenic Diet: A Metabolic Manifesto For Dieter & Practitioner Communications; SSU Transcripts Joel Smith: Welcome to another episode terms like the fascial system and proprioception, I think have a bit of a mystique to them. Training those entities is probably not as directly measurable as doing a 12 week bicep/ tricep arm training program and measuring how much bigger your arm got, or even doing a 12 week squat program and seeing how much your squat run up, or a plyometric program and seeing how much your vertical jump went up. But nonetheless, these are components that feed into a good training program and addressing these elements will allow athletes to see improved outputs. Particularly if we're talking fascial training and proprioception, seeing it in dynamic output. Sprinting, jumping, athletic movement, explosive athletic movement. And I get asked every now and then, what's a good resource for these things. And I think the fact is that there's not a whole lot of solid, readily available material linking these concepts and entities to training. Joel Smith: And so that brings in our guests for the day, which is performance coach and nutritionist, Matt Cooper. Matt's been a multi-time guest on this podcast. He's written a lot of great articles for Just Fly Sports. And Matt is a coach who every time I talk to, I always come away learning something new. Not just something, but a lot of things. And he is one of the brightest young minds, the most inquisitive, a guy who is just really driven by learning from so many of the best and also most progressive coaching minds in the game. People like Marvin Marinovich, Jay Schroeder to name a few. Matt has a system that is truly driven on just driving neurologically optimal training means and methods to the athlete in the athletes program. So a few things that Matt had been talking about recently with me was ideas on the fascial system as well as the proprioceptive system. Joel Smith: And that was partly coming from an article that I had read that Matt wrote on Simplifaster about kind of redeeming proprioceptive training for athletes. I think we just, if it has to do with standing on a balance ball, we instantly write it off. When in reality body awareness and kinesthetic awareness and, and honing in the proper receptive system, it does offer benefits and can play a role in the training program if we just look for just distinctly what it has to offer. So that being said, Matt's going to get into the role of the fascial system and movement, how the fascial system adapts to different training methods, specifically axely loaded lifts versus more dynamic movements, how to mix that all together in training. And then he's going to get into the role of the proprioceptive system and training how to train it and how to address that is part of the bigger picture. Joel Smith: So this was an awesome talk. Matt is such a bright guy and always enjoyed having chats with him on training.

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 3:30 Key moments in Brett’s evolution as a coach, and his drive towards an emphasis on communication in learning 11:45 Why communication is under-emphasized in most coach education programs, and why coaches are often blind to their own coaching communication abilities 20:40 Concrete outcomes of better communication on the level of the coach and athlete 26:10 How improving one’s communication can help one’s evolution as a coach and leader 38:00 Impression management in life, as well as in the coaching profession 44:10 Types of activities that can make a coach better in a chaotic environment “Most leaders at companies at high level organizations are making decisions with less than 70% of the information that they need” “Athletes are people first… you have to show varying levels of yourself, building buy in requires you to get on the level of other people” “Why do we think we are so good at communication when so few people get evaluated (in communication)” “We think that just because we value getting information a certain way, that other people value that way as well” “When the foundation of coaching is communicating with others, and knowing how to translate literally and metaphorically what you mean to broader audience, and you can’t do that, something has gone wrong” “You need to be able to tune your message into different frequencies” “If you are a better communicator, you are going to get more out of people” “Success with high performance environments is not just about managing an athlete’s training, it’s about managing the athlete themselves, and their environment” “There’s 5-6 forms of various impression management tactics people use, and once you know them, you can’t help but see them everywhere.  It’s not about are they right or wrong, it’s are they managed skillfully and ethically” “Coaching and communication and leadership is a non-linear thing… the only way to fight chaos is to become more adapted to chaos” “If you don’t put skin in the game, I don’t know that you are going to improve” About Brett Bartholomew Brett Bartholomew is a performance coach, author and keynote speaker. His company, Art of Coaching™ works with corporations in the financial and tech sector, medical professionals, military, as well as professional sporting organizations to enhance their ability to lead more effectively through a better understanding of human behavior, persuasion, and power dynamics. His book Conscious Coaching: The Art & Science of Building Buy-In, was named, The #1 BESTSELLER IN SPORTS COACHING ON AMAZON The #8 BESTSELLER IN BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP AMAZON TOP 100 BESTSELLER ON AMAZON Prior to his work in the leadership space, Brett served as a performance coach for a diverse range of athletes across 23 sports worldwide including those who compete in the NFL, NBA, MLB, UFC, MLS, and NCAA, the Olympics as well as members of the U.S. Special Forces and Fortune 500 companies. Transcripts Joel Smith: On this show, we're always trying to find, or grab those low hanging fruits of athletic performance, whether it be training the mind, nutrition, stress, and lifestyle perception, reaction, finer points of speed biomechanics, and really anything that exists that I feel is really underrepresented in the way that we seek to give athletes their best experience I'm always looking for. When it comes to coaching, Brett Bartholomew is addressing a very significant, low hanging fruit, and that is of understanding human behavior and communicating properly with one's team, athletes, whoever you're working with in coaching. That's something that doesn't just reside in the coaching field, but is universal. And it shows in Brett's work. Brett is the founder of the Art of Coaching, where he works with many corporations, such as finance, tech, medical professionals, military, as well as sport and athletic coaches. Brett is the author of the bestselling book, Conscious Coaching. Joel Smith: He spoken worldwide on performance and communication topics. And of course, Brett has put his years in, in the trenches coaching, having worked with a diverse range of athletes from youth to Olympians to those in nearly every professional sport, as well as those in U.S. Special Forces and fortune 500 companies. Coaching is really a rapidly evolving field, especially sports performance is so multidisciplinary. I think there's so many things that we can put in our own tool belt in our layers of awareness to just be better at what we do to serve athletes better, to give them the best in training techniques, but also the best experience, the best buy-in the best relationship with us as coaches. And so with that, our show with Brett has some really relevant topics lined up. He's going to talk about some key moments in his evolution as a coach and key moments where he really saw communication has a really important part or piece in the coaches arsenal. Joel Smith: He's going to talk about why communication is underemphasized, concrete outcomes of improving one's communication and knowledge of human behavior, and finally, some practical activities and ideas that can help coaches get a better sense of themselves, better awareness and improve the way that they speak and interact with their athletes on a regular basis. I'm excited to get you guys this episode, so let's get onto it. Episode 217 with Brett Bartholomew. Brett man, it's awesome to have you on the show. Thanks for being here today. Brett Bartholomew : Hey, great to be on here. Thanks for having me. Joel Smith: So I know that you've talked about this multiple probably podcasts in the past and many times on your own, but we have a kind of a multidisciplinary field in strength and conditioning and it, and it needs to evolve. And in some ways I think of things as becoming your own superhero, you know, what skills are you putting onto yourself and how are you evolving over time to serve athletes better? And so my question for you is, what are some skills at critical moments and skills that you've formed yourself as a coach over the years? Brett Bartholomew : Yeah. I think the ability to adapt a lot more effectively and efficiently by putting myself in dense and diverse environments, you know, there were a lot of times where it's one thing to coach athletes in a environment where you have all the tech, all the toys, all the tools you need. It's another thing when all of a sudden, you know, I was on a plane having to teach in a country where nobody spoke English, or all of a sudden I'm running a workshop somewhere else and you don't have half the things you were supposed to have. The logistics don't go well, and you've just got to figure it out. And I think that that's something that really is not great for emergent leaders or coaches, whatever term you want to define when they're so focused on controlling the environment. And so focused on trying to have everything locked and loaded that they don't know how to improvise. You know, research shows, Joel, like most leaders today, especially at high level companies and organizations, which coaches need to view themselves as, and in their own way, basically are making decisions with less than 70% of the information they need. And so I just think the willingness to be able to adapt, to adopt new strategies, to focus on communication, psychology, getting everybody on the same page so that we can have, you know, a longer term commitment, higher level commitment and better outputs has been the most critical thing. Joel Smith: Yeah. As I know, as you've with just coaching in general, you've been to a lot of places,

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. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:35 How life-threatening situations can create unique mind-body physical stimuli 11:05 Looking at the rhythm and flow of a training session, and how all pieces must work together to create a more optimal session 24:20 How Paul invokes awareness with his athletes at the beginning of a session, and how he helps them turn on a switch to enter the training state 32:05 Vulnerability in a training session and how it contributes to the total development of an athlete 38:40 Rhythm development, and the creative usage of music and dance elements in a training session 58:55 Other key elements Paul works to incorporate in his training session 1:02:05 How the workout changes and filters into the primary strength training element of the training day “These kids, it’s like they are adrenaline junkies, they have to have this massive hype, or musical element (to train)… creating an experience of a deep introspective state, all the way to the collective experience of competition, there is a whole spectrum there” “You have to create a natural awareness of rhythm, and melody, tuning, so to speak, at the beginning of a session” “Are the kids going through quiet time, before the hype time.  It’s hard to sell rest time” “That’s what’s going to limit injuries going forward is knowing athletes beyond a data point or a typical analytic.  It’s a courageous path, I think, to really have a comprehensive program at any level” “I try to impart on everyone who walks through the door that they are not just a number, I want to give them identity” “If I could give objective feedback to individual awareness, I’d do it” “I’m adamant that the music selection has to be on point from the start of the session.  There has to be a safe feel, I don’t think there should be fight or flight when you walk in the building.  These kids are already on high alert” “That’s the beauty, teaching athletes to react, and to be calm and collected before and after that” “The greatest expression of breathing, and elasticity in the hip and torso and shoulder is just sprinting, for a sustained period of time” “Teaching the athletes to match and mirror and work within rhythm, and dance, is maybe the training outcome in general, and then we just put increasing stress around those rhythms of that day, in the weight training” “I really think a coach needs to meditate and link in to the point of the whole session” “(Regarding music in training) I really try to eliminate words in the first 15 minutes… I find melody that works on a 4 count that people can match and mirror in an easy way so they can link into a simple dance step” “Any barrier that you have to get up and over (is good for working rhythmically and with music), a mini-tramp, a line on the floor, are all great tools” “Grip strength is a massive hole in a lot of these kid’s development” “To put it simply, there is 5 minutes in every session with the strength adaptation you are looking for. Everything from the grip, to the hamstring to the postural alignment, to the rhythmic alignments, the tempo and tuning, leads into that 5 minutes” “The one time athletes can be mostly in total control of their bodies, because you don’t have a coach whose gonna bench you, or you have a pitch that you swing and miss at, there is so much failure in sport.  If we can have the training environment be a highly empowering redemptive experience, athletes are going to be happier and healthier and move rhythmically better, and in harmony elastically” “I think there is a hell of a lot of anxiety coming into the weight room” “That’s my mission statement, to teach young people to be advocates for themselves” Example of Paul’s rhythm-based warmup for athletes.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Paul Cater (@coach_cater) on Jun 26, 2020 at 5:30pm PDT About Paul Cater Founder of The Alpha Project Salinas High School, Varsity Baseball, Football 1995 UC Davis: Studied pre-law while playing UC Davis Varsity Football 2000 NSCA, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist 2001 Poliquin Certified Level, 2 Internships include UCLA, San Jose State, San Francisco 49ers Graduate Degree Exercise Science, Human Performance, Brunel University, London 2010 MSC Strength & Conditioning from Middlesex University, London 2011 Over 18 years of experience as an International strength and conditioning coach working with London Wasps Premier Rugby, Baltimore Orioles, USA Rugby and consulting numerous other High School, College & Professional Athletes Late Stage Rehab Specialist Phd Candidate focusing on Eccentric Overload through Rotary Inertial Flywheel Training, Recovery and Performance Transcripts Joel Smith: Welcome to another episode of the podcast. It's awesome to have you guys here, and I know I'm excited for every show, but this show is definitely a special one. This is the first full-length episode that I've done with my friend Paul Cater. Paul was actually on a small round table segment for episode 197, where we talked for about 25 minutes. And ever since then, I've just been thinking about that show… that full-length show we'll do when he comes back on. And so the time was finally right. Paul and I were able to sit down and just have a really great conversation on the fine details of his total training session. Last show, we talked for 25 minutes just about creating a story around training and as well as his return to sprinting as, as a prime or pinnacle portion of his coaching process. Joel Smith: But this one, we get into some other elements. And so just to give a quick background, those of you who are not familiar with Paul. Paul is the owner of The Alpha Project in Salinas, California, which is Monterey Bay area. For those of you who may not be familiar with that locale, Paul has spent time training athletes on just about every level from the pro ranks the London Wasps in rugby, Baltimore Orioles to training athletes of all ages and abilities. From local youth to collegiate athletes, to Olympians, to even grandmothers and grandfathers at his gym. And so a man of diverse experience cultural experience, Paul is a guy who he'll be in the gym training and then painting a painting in between sets. He's an outside the box thinker, and we can all learn so much from him. I absolutely have. Paul has changed my just vision as a coach to what I believe a good training session is. Joel Smith: And it's like, if you could see every year of my coaching process as a full-time strength coach, you could see Paul's impact on that every year. The more I learned from him and my athletes I've certainly was able to serve them better for that. So we're going to get into it today. The nuts and bolts to Paul's system. Then he's going to talk about rhythm and flow in a training session. He's going to talk about awareness, vulnerability, and all these elements that he's trying to cultivate and create an environment around that really lead up to that, that crescendo, that, that weightlifting experience. And I don't want to, I don't want to spoil the story at all. I don't want to try to steal any thunder. So we're just going to get right into that. This was an awesome show with my friend, Paul, and I know you guys are really gonna enjoy this one, so let's get onto the show. All right.

Chris Korfist, a speed coach and human performance expert, discusses new advances in sprint training and mind-body concepts in athletics. They explore using a kick bike as transportation and incorporating asymmetrical movement. They also touch on training the aerobic system, changing the environment for athletic performance, and improving sprinting performance with resistance training. Additionally, they discuss the cultural aspects of movement and exercise and the influence of body language on athletic performance.

Scot Prohaska, a nationally recognized sports and executive performance consultant, discusses total athlete development and the six lanes of high performance. Topics covered include the importance of mental strength, bar speed monitoring units, leadership traits, teaching honor in sports, and the power of coaching in high performance.

In this episode, strength and athletic movement coach Austin Jochum discusses the importance of athlete experience and creativity in training. They explore athlete autonomy, decision making, and emotional growth, emphasizing their transferability to sports and life. The speaker also highlights the limitations of a weight room mindset and the need to prioritize movement training and mental toughness. Additionally, they discuss the benefits of exposing athletes to uncomfortable situations and the importance of sprinting fast in training. The chapter concludes with a focus on training approach, goal-setting, and injury prevention.

Today’s episode features biomechanics specialist and rehabilitation expert, David Grey.  David runs the Grey Injury Clinic and helps athletes with injury, pain, rehab, and performance.  David has learned under a great number of mentors, and is influenced greatly by the work of Gary Ward who is a 2x previous podcast guest and the creator of the “Anatomy in Motion” system.  David is also influenced by systems such as PRI and the martial arts. Through his diverse studies and experience, David is able to get athletes and clients out of pain who have previously been through months of traditional therapy with limited results.  He previously appeared on episode #160 of the podcast where he spoke on the link between pronation and using the glutes effectively. In training and rehab, we so often look to exercises that strengthen, before we put a priority on biomechanics and joint actions.  The problem is, that in treating pain, unless we fix the biomechanics, no matter how good the strength treatment was, the problem will eventually return.  We know that in performance training, we want to build a “base of technique” because the way our body forms from a myo-fascial perspective as a season of training unfolds is going to be based on our technique.  Bad technique can yield the result of muscles getting active and trained that shouldn’t, and other important muscle groups getting under-developed.  By training the right joint motions, and getting the feet to work properly, we take a huge step in getting athletes to reaching their highest potential. On the podcast today, David goes through a joint-based approach to working with those who have Achilles pain, and particularly, knee pain.  He gets into the necessary co-contractions needed to help stabilize the knee joint, and why calcaneus mobility is important for both Achilles tendon and knee tendon injury prevention.  We start out the talk with a chat on the feet, how barefoot training might not be all that it’s cracked up to be for some athletes, and the balance between pronation and supination of the foot in performance training.  All this and more is in the latest podcast. 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 The importance of supination in human movement and athletics, as well as why it is more important to think in terms of pronat-ing and supinat-ing rather than pronation and supination. 12:00 How sensation on the sole of the foot is essential for pronating properly and why simply walking around barefoot may not be truly helpful. 26:30 Supination, and its relationship between running, jumping and power in propulsion 36:00 Why joint motion should be the root of our efforts in injury prevention, rather than simply treating the tissue through strength-based exercises 45:30 Major biomechanical issues that show up with those athletes who have knee pain 50:00 The importance of stiffness, when called upon, in preventing knee pain 54:30 Using isometrics to assist co-contractions to help improve knee function 1:04.30 Thoughts on a joint based approach to knee pain “I would be much happier with you having a flat foot that can experience some pronation and supination, versus a person with a neutral foot who can experience neither” “People saying that “pronation is bad” is like saying “you shouldn’t bend your spine to the left” “A collapse and a pronation are two different things” “I don’t sell posture as a way to fix pain, I only relate to posture as a way to access movement” “(In regards to tendon pain) If we are always going to presume that the tendon is the problem, then we are always going to assume that strength is the answer… but the problem is not always the tendon” “We can understand that the body is a reflexive system, and if we can tap into that, we can make big changes very, very quickly” “(Regarding the prevention of knee pain in athletic movement) Can you get co-contractions that happen around the knee… can you get an isometric at the knee; an inability to get an isometric at the knee is a huge issue for me” “Pain messes up the timing” “If the knee extends too soon, then the glutes are not getting a chance to get an active hip extension, the quads are doing all of the pushing, and that is not a happy knee” “If I ask you to show me stiffness, you should be able to show me that” “We need that stiffness, but if you are going to change direction, you need to pronate your foot” “(In an isometric glute bridge) The weaker people will try to lift up higher” “I try to give the person what’s missing; when a traditional strength and conditioning approach has not worked, we usually see huge limitations at the pelvis, ribcage and feet, and just getting those things to start moving again, combined with strength and conditioning, but with slightly different positions than “chest up”” “The ribcage is huge” Show Notes Isometric bridge with incomplete hip extension (for knee co-contractions that mirror what is needed in a sprint stride)   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by David Grey (@davidgreyrehab) on Feb 14, 2020 at 4:20am PST About David Grey David is a Biomechanics Specialist based in Waterford Ireland.  He helps athletes and everyday people with Injury, Pain, Rehabilitation, and Performance. David assesses his clients in-depth and breaks their gait cycle down into incredible detail to help restore the movement(s) that they are missing or are struggling to access. A lot of his work begins with training the foot to re-experience the movements that it should be accessing during every single footstep. He believes that certain movements are ingrained into our DNA and that we can expect to see huge positive changes in pain and performance when we give the brain the opportunity to re-experience these movements. He has learned under a number of great mentors in the world Movement, S&C, Gymnastics, Stretching & Mobility, Chinese Martial Arts, and Biomechanics. He is greatly influenced by the work of Gary Ward, the creator of “Anatomy in Motion. Webiste: https://davidgreyrehab.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw3pEtC1AbTe3hZ3l6YsyBQ Intagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidgreyrehab/ Booking: https://davidgreyrehab.setmore.com/david

Today’s episode features Phoenix Suns' head strength coach, Cory Schlesinger (and myself) answering questions on athletic performance training sent in from listeners.  Topics for this show ranged from programming based on athlete-autonomy, to isometrics, to foot training, as well as important questions on blending strength work into a level of high-performance play where sport skill development far super-cedes one’s physical strength development. Cory previously appeared on this show for episode #138 and is a popular speaker and podcast guest.  Cory’s creative, yet practical style is an “athlete-first” method that gets results and leaves athletes with not only a first-class physical training experience but also facilitates their ownership in the process. 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 4:50 The utilization of tumbling and wrestling means into athletes of various levels of development (college/amateur, up to pro) 22:40 What the “Sun Café” is, and how it deals with the power of autonomy 34:05 Cory’s favorite isometric exercises for athletes 44:10 Achilles tendon injury prevention and gait biomechanics 51:50 Using floating heel work to improve the connection from the foot to the hip 0:58 Progressing an athlete’s strength development in tandem with their skill development “You genetically gifted athletes who don’t need a lot of bar(bell) work, to be honest” “Certain people need experiences that are a new experience, or experiences that give them a lot of confidence” “Your grinders… what makes them confident? Squatting heavy weight, and you have got to give them that, but how do I expose them to things they are not good at to make their human capacities better?” “You leave breadcrumbs to where you think the athlete needs to go” “When I saw squat numbers go up, when I saw force place numbers go up… I did not see wins go up!” “I don’t care what squat pattern a kid does, I really don’t” “At Stanford, there was an environment where they got to pick the squat pattern, the extension pattern, whatever the meat and potatoes was that day” “There is nothing more intentful, than them getting to choose what they want to do… having that autonomy is going to drive more results than them getting to predict their own success” “Just because they do a between-the-legs dunk doesn’t make them a good athlete, that’s just one aspect of athleticism” “The biggest low hanging fruit to get work done for me, is isometrics” “My favorite (isometric) is a yielding isometric at the sporting angles that they create the most often” “One of my favorite movements to load up is safety bar split, with a Hatfield hold (with a floating heel)” “The one thing I do the most when identifying energy leaks, is super-heavy prowler pushes” “In isometrics, if you put them in a position for long enough, you are going to see where their energy leaks are” “The prowler was the original “floating heel squat”, if you do it right (without letting the heels mash down)” “That’s how most Achilles tears happen (in basketball), is that false step, right into that forward (drive)” About Cory Schlesinger @schlesstrength Cory Schlesinger is currently the head strength and conditioning coach at the Phoenix Suns.  He has over a decade of experience as a strength and conditioning coach, having spent the previous three seasons at Stanford University.  Cory also has experience working at UAB, and Santa Clara University.  Schlesinger also has experience as a coach at the Olympic Training Center and as a sports nutritionist for Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes. Cory has worked with NBA and NFL players as well as Olympic Games athletes. Schlesinger served an undergraduate internship at Wake Forest in 2007 and at North Carolina during the 2008 and 2009 seasons, while Haase was an assistant coach with the Tar Heels.