For episode 20 we welcome Coach Debbie Ferguson McKenzie from the University of Kentucky. Debbie is a member of the famed Bahamas Golden Girls 4x100 Relay. After a decorated professional career we sit down and talk with her about her transition into coaching: 2:30 - Decorated Professional Track Career 8:50 - Longevity in the Sport 11:30 - Getting Into Coaching 16:15 - First Hurdle Coaching Experience 19:15 - Old vs New School Speed 21:45 - Things I Wish I Knew as an Athlete 25:10 - Track Career Helping to Coach 30:00 - Lessons from Mentors 35:45 - The Spirit of Giving 42:25 - Awesome Track Stories

ALTIS Series: 1 Track Mind - EP 20 - Coach Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie

ALTIS is an elite training environment, and a global leader in sports education.  In this podcast our hosts sit down with coaches, sports medicine professionals and athletes to share insights into elite performance.

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Health & Fitness

Take two high achieving women and get them together for a chat about all things women’s health as it relates to hormones, periods and performance. What do you get? 45 minutes of insight filled information that is a must watch or listen for any coach working with female athletes. Recently – two Australians – Olympian and ALTIS Graduate – Ella Nelson sat down with Functional Nutrition and Women’s Health expert – Tara Thorne to discuss this crucial topic.  Tara is a Functional Health Practitioner and a Certified Functional Nutrition Coach and a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner. Tara also has training from the Institute for Functional Medicine, specifically in hormones and is an expert at interpreting the DUTCH comprehensive hormone test, the GI MAP test, the HTMA test and other functional health tests. Tara has more than 8 years clinical experience helping women around the world optimize their health and eliminate their symptoms.   0 – 4 minutes – Introduction and Tara’s background     4:45 minutes – What hormones are key players in women’s health?     8 minutes – Hormone imbalances     11 minutes – Who hormone imbalances can impact, and at what ages     13:50 minutes – The impact of birth control on hormones     15:20 minutes – Performance Sport and hormones – Ella’s experiences as an athlete struggling with hormonal dysfunction     16:04 minutes – The term ‘adrenal fatigue’, HPA dysfunction, the Adrenal Glands, leaky gut and immune responses     20:44 minutes – Gut Health and its impact on hormonal health     30:56 minutes – -What causes hormonal imbalance?     33:48 minutes – Tests used to monitor and pinpoint deficiencies 40 minutes – How coaches can best support female athletes to maximize hormonal health Learn more here:  https://altis.world/coach-education/womens-health-hormones-performance/ Reach out to Tara Thorne here: https://tarathornenutrition.com/  

Women’s Health: Hormones & Performance

For episode 7 we welcome Coach Mo Wells the VP of Pro Sports for House of Athlete. Mo trains a diverse group of professional athletes and just returned from the NFL Combine. He is uniquely positioned to comment on speed development in a variety of different sports. You can follow him on: Twitter: @MoKnowz_  and  Instagram: moknowz 1:05 Give us an instance(s) when you personally realized there are levels to this track game? 3:20 Talk to us about your track origins at McNeese State and LSU 8:00 When did you decide you wanted to be a coach? 11:45 What did you learn from track? 14:10 How did you then have to evolve to help coach other sports? And who were some mentors along the way? 17:45 Tell us about House of Athlete and how you arrived there? 19:55 You are uniquely qualified to speak on this: In your observation, what is the difference between track sprinting speed, football speed and basketball speed? 22:45 Another kind of speed is hurdle speed. Give you some insight into helping Alaysha Johnson qualify for World Indoors in the 60H. 26:20 You just got back from the NFL Combine, you only have 8-10 weeks to prepare these football athletes (as opposed to a whole season for track). What are your considerations with such a limited amount of time? (Like what things do you address, are there things you stay away from in training). 30:00 NFL guys have different positional demands and body types, gives us some examples how you train them based on who you have in front of you. 32:00 How would NFL offseason training differ for a vet vs a combine athlete? 34:30 The one guy who keep popping up with the highlights is Ja Morant … how have you been able to support what he is doing on the court? 38:00 You also coach combat athletes - boxers specifically 41:00 You have been outspoken on social media and championing collaboration between coaches. Why are you so passionate about this? 43:45 Share a cool/fun track or training story with us! 45:30 Who should we have on the show that you could help us get?

ALTIS Series: 1 Track Mind - S2E7 - Coach Mo Wells

Our guest today is 3x Olympian and 7x World Championship competitor Kareem Streete-Thompson, now Associate Head Coach at UT San Antonio. Kareem is the only athlete besides Carl Lewis to have run sub 10 seconds in the 100m dash and Long Jumped over 8.50 meters. Enjoy the conversation! 1:30 Give us an instance(s) when you realized there are levels to this track game? 4:45 Give us the backstory of growing up in Cayman Islands and making your way to Rice? How did you decide on Rice? 14:00 Talk to us about Victor Lopez. What did he impart on you during your time together? 17:40 What was it like competing at the international level as a sprinter AND jumper? 24:45 How did you come to train with Dan Pfaff? 31:55 How did your warmup & prep differ for LJ vs Sprint event? 39:20 Give us some tales of Dan Pfaff? 42:45 What advice do you have for athletes transitioning into coaching? 46:45 What is a song that represents you? 48:30 Who are you 5 favorite rappers? 49:50 Give us a cool track story or 2? 53:50 Who should we have on the show that you could help us get?

ALTIS Series: 1 Track Mind - S2E6 - Coach Kareem Streete-Thompson

For episode 5 we welcome 110 Hurdle legend and now Director of Track at Howard University David Oliver. We reminisce about his hurdling career and talk about his transition to coaching ... 1:45 Give us an instance(s) when you realized there are levels to this track game? 6:00 Seeing what you accomplished throughout your career is pretty special considering you weren’t the quintessential high school hurdler. What is it about you that you feel sets you apart from other hurdlers? 10:50 Tell us about your High-school career as multi-sport athlete and the Denver track culture? 14:30 You leave Howard as an All-American to join the pro ranks. During a very competitive period in the 110s. What was that first year as pro like? 20:00 What is one of your favorite pro career memory? 32:30 How did Coaching come about, was that something you planned for?  44:00 Sometimes it is the small victories in coaching 48:00 How have you adapted to coaching athletes that can’t train like you? 51:00 What is something you learned from another athlete? 56:30 What did you get out of track beyond competing & medals? 57:45 Who are your coaching influences? 1.05:30 Give us a cool/fun track story 1.14:00 Who should we have on the show that you could help us get?  

ALTIS Series: 1 Track Mind - S2E5 - Coach David Oliver

  Host Andreas Behm sits down with Coach Vince Anderson (author of the ALTIS Relays Course) to chat about the 4x100 Relay and answer YOUR questions submitted via social media and email on this event. The questions we tackle in this special episode: - What do you enjoy about coaching Relays? - Biggest things to be aware of in the 4x100? - The importance of aggression in the 4x100 - Why do relays set the tone for a track meet? - Why is the 4x1 song of choice “The Wait” by the Pretenders? - Is the anchor leg always where you should put your fastest runner? - How do you work with an athlete on a leg they don’t want to run? - What is the most overlooked aspect in teaching the sprint relay? What do we as coaches tend to take for granted? - What should you look for in a curve runner in the 4x100? - What is the psychology of staying calm and cool on the 3rd leg? - 4th leg reading the mark all the runners converge in that zone any advice on focusing in on just your teammate, it is total chaos. - Is it worth it to set up exchanges so that your stronger runners get the baton sooner in the zone and/or give later? - What is recommended when an outgoing runner receives what I would call a "short stick" where the athlete does not receive the end of the stick in their hand but more in the middle.  This causes a bit of a problem when they go and try to hand off to the next runner having only 1/2 the stick available to place in the hand.    

ALTIS Series: 1 Track Mind - EP 20 - Coach Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie

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