Today's podcast features NBA performance coach Andrew Paul. Andrew is the Director of Performance and Rehabilitation for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He is both a sports performance coach, as well as a physical therapist, and utilizes his wide-ranging expertise in his position. Andrew has previous experience in the NCAA, as well as with military special operations, and was named the NBSCA strength coach of the year in 2022-2023.

As the sports performance profession moves forward, we are understanding that training is not a one-size fits all experience, while finding new ways to classify athlete archetypes, exercise classifications, and how to piece it together to meet the needs of an athlete. Part of what makes training and coaching enjoyable is seeing the diverse range of athletic movers, and the optimal exercises and concepts by which to create their programming.

On today's podcast, Andrew discusses key differences between muscular and elastic movers in basketball and related training implications. He goes into propulsive and absorption-based exercises, range of motion concepts based on athlete types, and how to assign individualized training based on strengths, weaknesses, and the needs of an NBA season. He also speaks on slow-tempo work, connective tissue health, foot training, and much more on this information-dense podcast. Andrew is pushing the envelope in high-performance training, and I really enjoyed this conversation.

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View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Main Points

6:18- Momentum Generation and Force Absorption Techniques

8:48- Tailoring Training Programs for Athlete Movement Styles

12:12- Movement Styles: Muscular vs. Fascial Preferences

15:58- Optimizing Workouts for Fascial and Muscular Movers

22:10- Chains for Novice Lifters in NBA Training

26:36- Explosive Strength Training for Elastic Athletes

37:51- Enhancing Connective Tissue Quality Through Training

39:21- Holistic Approach to Athletic Development

45:18- Viscous Range Training for Tendinopathy Recovery

49:46- Optimizing Stiffness for Athletic Performance Safely

52:55- Injury Risk Profiles in Different Movers

1:06:23- Foot and Ankle Characteristics in Athletic Movement

1:18:41- Training Dynamics: Matching Momentum for Athletes

Andrew Paul Quotes

(00:10:14) “I think the hard part, so being able to observe athletes in an unbiased manner and is a very difficult thing for strength coaches to do. And the reason why I think that is, is that I grew up as an Olympic lifter. I gained a lot of confidence in the weight room, and I became a strength coach because of that, because that's kind of where I grew up” – Andrew Paul

(24:00) “There's nothing more explosive and elastic than what's going on in the court” – Andrew Paul

(25:00) “A heavy step up for someone who has an asymmetry is a very propulsive, dominant movement, particularly a higher step up. When you start getting into lower, lower step ups, you're starting to deal with more like a elastic range” – Andrew Paul

(00:39:59) "The more you train for high outputs in a course, in an 82-game season, the more you're going to have issues related to output, which is like strains." - Andrew Paul

(00:44:00) "I just think there's so much to be said about just finding things that feel good, that help the tissues” - Joel Smith

(00:47:58) "It's so easy to start blasting kids early. You know,