Summary: In this episode of the StrongFirst Podcast, your host Craig Marker talks with Derek Toshner about endurance and winning the tactical strength challenge. Derek is best known for dominating the TSC. Show Notes: 00:55 Derek’s credentials as an elite competitor. 01:31 Derek and his brother successfully run four branches of TNT Fitness in WI. 02:17 Derek talks about what he’s training for now including rock climbing 03:10 Challenges of climbing. Helps with fear of heights. Work on flexibility. Nutrition and weight management is important. 05:06 Derek talks about his time as a wrestler. 08:00 How he managed the transition from wrestling to 400-meter hurdles. Wrestling is a tough sport mentally and hurdles are much the same. 10:45 Building endurance. Lots of running below the lactate threshold to build a base. Then work on speed with long rests. 16:35 How Derek trains for strength and conditioning at the same time? 21:55 Secret deadlifting training to prepare for the TSC. 25:10 How Derek stays healthy plans for longevity in the future? 27:00 Derek talks about how his brother ran a marathon without any running. 28:14 Derek talks about diet and nutrition? 34:16 General philosophy on training new people. 41:17 Closing thoughts

Derek Toshner

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Health & Fitness

Summary: Brett Jones, Director of Education for StrongFirst, joins the show a second time to talk about his use of Indian clubs, nail bending, and powerlifting. Brett talks to your host Craig Marker about his current training to achieve the Sinister goal. Show Notes:  01:35 - Brett talks about his background in athletic training and his mentors in that space. 06:50 - How the Brettzel, the Brettzel 2.0, and the Brettzel 3.0 exercises came to be and what they are. 08:10 - Brett’s work in FMS and Indian clubs. 11:00 - The differences between training with heavier and lighter clubs. 13:21 - Brett’s history with grip work, nail bending training, and strength work. 18:00 - About pinch grips and deadlifts. 19:15 - Why specialty training and grip training is important, but kettlebells can take you a good bit of the way. 20:25 - Loaded carries. 24:32 - The importance of foot position in squats. 27:25 - Brett’s current training goals. 28:56 - How Brett is approaching the sinister standard and the biggest change he’s made in training. 30:50 - Brett’s thoughts on structure and switching things up. 32:00 - The problem with the “get up and grind” mentality. 34:09 - What’s on Brett’s current reading list. 35:20 - How Brett thinks of the wedge when he’s teaching it to people. 37:55 - How a strength professional builds more tension to increase the wedge.  3 Key Points:  Kettlebell can take you a long way, but specialty training is still important. Foot position is important, and hip position anomalies are extremely common. Always err on the side of more rest rather than less. 

Brett Jones

Summary: Jon Engum, StrongFirst Master Instructor, joins your host, Craig Marker, to talk about martial arts, flexible steel drills, his new book Trembling Shock, and the Dome of Strength in Chicago. Jon and Craig will also discuss training people in different cultures.   Show Notes: 01:45 - Discussion of cold exposure in Minnesota. 02:52 - Discussion of Jon’s background in martial arts and flexibility and his martial arts credentials. 06:05 - How Jon has integrated kettlebells into martial artists. 10:36 - How kettlebell changes explosiveness. 13:15 - The premise of Jon’s book Trembling Shock which includes the whole first year of training. 16:14 - A breakdown of the Flexible Steel program - you want to be flexible and strong at the same time. 18:54 - Why someone might want to do Flexible Steel if they’re not a martial artist. 26:10 - Why Jon believes that happiness is lifting things overhead. 29:30 -The Dome of Strength event. 34:46 - The cross-cultural teaching differences Jon has encountered. 42:00 - Why students should go to different events than their teachers. 3 Key Points:  With kettlebell, you get all the benefits of plyometric training without any impact on your joints. The combination of stiffness and relaxation carries over to any sport you could do. Find your weakness and vow to make that your strength. 

Jon Engum

Summary: Dr. Stu McGill joins the show for a second time to talk about breathing and when to use what kind of breathing. Dr. McGill also talks to your host Craig Marker about picking up odd objects, wedging, and getting strong with power breathing. Show Notes: 01:20 - A general history of Dr. McGill’s exposure to the science and history of breathing. 03:20 - Dr. McGill’s work with Dr. Clayton Skaggs and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. 05:34 - The baseline mechanics of breathing. 06:15 - The different types of breathing for different activities. 10:00 - Pavel’s technique and breathing. 12:00 - More on power breathing for a pulse of strength. 14:45 - The breathing concerns for people with heart conditions or risk for stroke. 18:20 - How to pressurize the brain to eliminate the possibility of a stroke. 19:20 - Why core strength effects performance in Jiu Jitsu. 22:14 - What is neural density and how to create it. 26:13 - How to use the instruction and mind trick of push the earth away. 29:05 - The neurology of the kettlebell swing. 31:20 - Dr. McGill’s suggestions for picking up oddly shaped objects. 36:25 - What to do about flexion when it comes to rowers. 41:33 - Dr. McGill’s thoughts on squatting and where your feet should be. 49:30 - What is needed for people who sit at the desk all day? 52:30 - Flexibility tunes the body, it doesn’t create more mobility. 53:16 - Why posture matters.

Dr. Stu McGill

Summary: Professor Carmen Bott is a strength and conditioning coach from Vancouver British Columbia who specializes in physical preparation for combative and collision sports athletes.   Show Notes: 00:56 - Coach Bott talks about her history and how she got into the sports science space. 02:41 - Coach Bott’s thesis on basketball. 05:14 - Her first experience with Pavel in 2004. 09:00 - How Coach Bott ended up marrying her trainer and mastering the kettlebell. 12:00 - How strength training can be taboo for wrestlers. 13:40 - How much conditioning for athletes during the season. 17:41 - What kind of off-season high-level athletes get. 21:33 - The difference between training athletes in different sports. 26:28 - Which muscles are most important to train for wrestling. 31:05 - How much Dr. Bott uses Olympic lifting and how much she uses kettlebells. 38:35 - Why you need to understand kinematics. 40:25 - The books Dr. Bott recommends.

Carmen Bott

Summary StrongFirst Master Instructor Peter Lakatos from Budapest, Hungary talks with your host Craig Marker about training that relates to hormesis. He discusses training related to  Buteyko breathing,  blood flow restriction,  HRV training, fasting, and red light therapy. Show Notes 01:35 — Peter talks about handball and his background in powerlifting. 03:08 — What handball entails and what the teams and court look like. 04:18 — What training of high-level handball athletes requires. 05:25 — Explanations of training people using different HRV profiles to address weaknesses 12:00 — What you should do for training if you’re not comfortable with something. 16:04 — The lab equipment Peter uses to measure sleep quality, heart rate and the most important things to measure. 18:40 — Why breathing is so important. 22:05 — Tips for learning how to breathe better. 25:53 — What Kaatsu or occlusion training is and its origins. 36:50 — The mTor activation cycle and fasting. 39:40 — Peter explains Ground Force Method. 42:27 — What is red light therapy and what’s the academic research behind it. Key Points:  Trainers should use testing to figure out what’s needed. Doing breathing the wrong way will disorient the breathing center in your brain. Science has proved that fasting is good for you.  Tweetable Quotes  “Checking readiness is everything, through testing we can figure out the missing component.” — Peter Lakatos “Breathing is conscious, but also subconscious, you need to have a way to monitor it.” — Peter Lakatos “More breathing does not mean more oxygen.” — Peter Lakatos  Resources Mentioned  Atlanta SFG I Certification Advanced Buteyko Breathing Exercises (Buteyko Method Book 2) The Oxygen Advantage: The Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques for a Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter You Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Training Therapy Occlusion Restriction Cuffs with mmHg Monitor and Pump Emfit QS Ground Force Method

Derek Toshner

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