Today's podcast features Matt Aldred. Matt is the head strength and conditioning coach for basketball at the University of Michigan. He has international expertise and a diverse background in sports he has worked with through his previous stops in NCAA strength and conditioning. In addition to his strength and conditioning experience, he is certified in fascial abrasion technique and Frederick stretch therapy, in addition to a sports massage background. Matt has also co-authored the Fascial Mechanics for Sport course alongside Danny Foley.

In building a performance program, it must ultimately be centered around the needs of the athlete. Athletes need to be as ready as possible on game day. Some athletes need more mass and physical strength. Others need more conditioning and body composition management. Others need more fluid and adaptive movement capabilities. Many athletes enjoy and benefit from providing their input into the program. These facets of performance make athletic development more dynamic than just “get them strong and I did my job”.

On today’s podcast, Matt talks about many aspects of building an athlete-centered program, highlighting training the spectrum of muscular strength and tissue quality, over to dynamic, high-velocity training with a priority on athletic qualities. He also speaks on training variability (such as “every rep different”), multi-planar training, basketball game demands, athlete autonomy, wearable resistance training, and much more. This show puts many pieces into place of a comprehensive approach to athletic development, encompassing so many facets of improvement in the field.

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Main Points

3:41- Functional Training for Athletic Performance Enhancement

7:34- Peak Performance Training for Athletes

12:49- Position-Based Athletic Programming for Optimal Performance

18:14- Enhancing Athletic Performance Through Varied Training

22:39- Position-Specific Basketball Training Programs

25:04- Game-Specific Training for Peak Performance

27:25- Dynamic Training Approaches for Athletic Performance

37:11- Strategic Micro-Dosing for Athlete Performance Optimization

46:00- Sticking to Basic Exercises for Effective Training

47:46- Enhancing Athletes' Adaptability Through Varied Workouts

49:33- Tailored Training Zones for Athletes in Weight Room

51:13- Optimizing Player Performance Through Varied Training

55:28- Amorpho Gear Enhancing Basketball Performance Sessions

1:08:25- Functional Movement Training with Light Weights

1:14:54- Functional Movement Training for Athletic Performance

Quotes

(00:07:34) "The game is so intense and it's so movement-based. We have to replicate that in the weight room. We can't just be weight and warriors because we've all had that athlete that's super strong and looks amazing. And I'm looking at the opposition team in a warm up going, who is that!? And then they don't play." - Matt Aldred

(00:13:50) "The longer I've done this, the more I really lean into an athlete's intuition." - Matt Aldred

(00:20:40) "There are certain exercises like a chin-up we're probably going to want to go full range of motion. I want you to hold at the top with Tempo down. But if we're doing a horizontal row, man, I can be elbow wide. I can be really quick reps. I can hold at the top. I can do a split stance with an anchor on a Kaiser pull-down. We can make that horizontal roll whatever we want to do." - Matt Aldred

(00:24:29) "I don't think that we put the athlete in the box like no man, like whatever you are, I'll program towards that." - Matt Aldred