Today’s podcast features Mark McLaughlin.  Mark is the founder of Performance Training Center, and currently works as a physical preparation/strength coach in the Lake Oswego school district. Mark has had a diverse sporting history as a youth, and has been active in the field of physical preparation since 1997. Mark has trained over 700 athletes at all competitive levels, from Olympic to grade school athletes, and has worked with organizations such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA universities, high schools, and youth sports.

The field of sports performance makes a lot of pendulum swings.  We go from over-conditioning athletes to denouncing conditioning.  From static stretching, to not stretching, to reconsidering stretching, to name a few.  In the process of the swings, we do trend upwards (such as saving athletes from over-conditioning based practices with poor motor learning tactics).  At the same time, I don’t believe we ask ourselves often enough if we are letting the pendulum swing too far.

What I’ve found is that for every rule that seems to be created, there are instantly going to be athletes, or entire training groups that break that rule.  The only way to understand it all, is to constantly be expanding your viewpoints.  We need to look at the broader mechanisms of biology, psychology, motor learning, and the long-term developmental principles of athletes to really gain wisdom in our guidance of athletes and individuals to their highest potential.

On today’s podcast, Mark talks about the polarity of his physical preparation process, on one end, giving the kids a dynamic pedagogical, free play-oriented training experience, and on the other, using technology to assess biological readiness markers and preparation levels for their sport.  Mark finishes the show speaking on aerobic readiness as a recovery marker for explosive sport training.  No matter where you are on the sport training spectrum, be it sport coaching, motor learning or purely physical development, there is a lot to be learned from Mark’s broad spectrum of knowledge in this episode.  This show connects physical preparation with a depth of true sports development

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Timestamps and Main Points

2:57 – The diversity of groups that Mark works with, from football, to alpine skiing, to dance and many places in between

10:38 – Thoughts on fluidity and rhythm in the development of athleticism and even within injury prevention

17:16 – The use of gymnastics in athlete robustness and development

22:25 – Mark’s thoughts on helping to train kids in light of motor learning and a regular lack of general physical preparation

28:03 – The role of “economic constraints” in creativity and sport development

40:05 – The benefits of multi-age/multi-grade education, as well as athletic development and play possibilities, as well as a discussion of the Norwegian sport model and the success of Erling Haaland

49:16 – Mark’s system in terms of delaying intensive training stimuli in an athlete’s long term development

55:16 – The role of aerobic training in Mark’s system for team sport athletes, in capacity building and recovery

1:01:27 – “Zone 0” training in Mark’s system, inspired by the work of Landon Evans

1:05:37 – How to determine if athletes are in a resting sympathetic, or parasympathetic state for their training and workouts

Mark McLaughlin Quotes

“In dance, their events last two minutes, but their heart rates hit 200… there is a psychological driver of heart rates”

“I actually use our dance team to teach our football players how to dance; sport and movement is rhythm”

“Training with music is a big thing, gymnastics is a big thing,