Just Fly Performance Podcast

Today’s episode is a question and answer session where I take a break from the typical interview format and reflect on listener questions.  I always enjoy doing these shows, since it’s great to get a pulse on what training topics are on the mind of the coaching community.

For this show, the particular focus was questions on sprinting and sprint training, as well as a lot of ideas on jumping in conjunction with foot strength.  We also touched on a lot of physical preparation principles, such as correction of asymmetry and how I’ve changed my philosophy in working with team sport athletes over time.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

Things I’ve changed in working with team sports

My thoughts on the Soviet training literature

Foot strength and single leg jumping ability

How I would create a training program for a U20 sprint program

Volumes of sprinting and bounding for dunk/jump training

What I would utilize in the weightroom if I had only one exercise to perform

Tempo sprints for single leg jumping

Maximal speed sprinting as opposed to slightly submaximal speed work

Thoughts on the POSE method in running

Asymmetric in the weightroom versus dynamic performance

Thoughts on movement and Ido Portal style training

How a one foot jumper can get better at two foot jumping

How I utilize Marinovich training methods in my own training programs

How I’ve adjusted Triphasic Training means based on neuro-types and individual athlete response

About Joel Smith

Joel Smith is an NCAA Division I Strength Coach working in the PAC12 conference.  A track coach of 11 years, Joel is also a coach for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club, and also has 6 years of experience coaching sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault and multi-events on the collegiate level.

Joel has coached 2 national champions, multiple All-Americans and school record holders in his time as a track coach. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance in Rio in 2016.

In 2011, Joel began Just Fly Sports as a central platform to promote information for athletes and coaches to reach their highest potential.  The first episode of the “Just Fly Performance Podcast” was released in 2016, now a leading source of education in the sports performance field.

Before working in the PAC12 conference, Joel spent 6 years in the realms of coaching, college lecturing, personal training, and thesis research.  Joel’s certifications include Neurological and Physical Typing from BATI, CSCS, MAT Jumpstart, and NKT level 1, as well as USA Track and Field credentials.  Joel is also well-versed in the Be-Activated protocols as taught by Douglas Heel, and has been extensively mentored by sprint and sport movement coach Adarian Barr.

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Today’s episode features András Hegyi, a final-stage Ph.D. student working at the Neuromuscular Research Center at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.  His Ph.D. work focuses on regional and inter-muscular hamstrings EMG activity in different hamstring exercises and in running. Hegyi's recently published thesis can be found at University of Jyväskylä. Hegyi is interested in improving biomechanical methodologies to assess hamstrings to further understand hamstring muscle function and injury mechanisms.

We’ve done some great episodes on hamstring injury prevention in the past, such as episode 161 with Jake Schuster and 158 with JB Morin.  This show is another fantastic addition to that series as András is a wealth of knowledge on the topic, being well versed on what the research yields in regards to many aspects of training and hamstring development, as well as what is functionally asked of the hamstrings in sprinting and sport.

When it comes to hamstrings and injury prevention, a common question is: “What exercises should I do in the gym to help this process”?  An important aspect of the gym and sprinting is that the way these elements “hit the hamstrings” is quite different.  It is important to know what we can, and can’t do in the weightroom to create robust athletes.

In this episode, András goes into hamstring strain mechanisms, Nordic hamstrings and variations, different gym exercises that hit different aspects of the hamstring musculature, sprinting and it’s role in injury prevention.  He also shares his thoughts on training the adductor magnus as a synergist of the hamstring.  Another important point covered is the importance of individual muscle activation differences in sprinting versus what we see in the gym, which has big implications on how we are training and assessing athletes.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

András’ background as an athlete and researcher

Primary reasons for a hamstring strains from a physiological and biomechanical perspective

Dynamics of isometric exercises and muscle-tendon activity

Thoughts on if a Nordic hamstring is actually an eccentric exercise

Nordic hamstring training and rotational elements of the hamstring

The diver and glider exercises for hamstring health

How doing a Nordic hamstring with flexed versus extended hips changes the training effect of the movement

Anterior pelvic tilt and effect on the hamstring during a Nordic hamstring

The role of sprinting in injury prevention

Training for the adductor magnus and it’s role in hip extension and hamstring injury prevention

 

“The magnitude of fiber stretch is a good predictor of strain injury”

“When we stretch a muscle to failure, highly activated muscle absorbs more energy than passive muscle”

“The hamstrings must absorb a lot of energy in the late swing phase of running”

“The muscle cannot tolerate the same amount of stretch when it is fatigued”

“Increased hamstrings activity decreases the magnitude of fiber stretch in the late swing phase”

“A big anterior pelvic tilt stretches the (hamstring more) and it typically increases with fatigue”

“(In a Nordic hamstring) there is actually a shortening behavior of the fascicles first, then there it’s kind of isometric, and the eccentric only happens at the peak knee flexion torque”

“Eccentrics help you to absorb more energy in the late swing phase of running”

“When the hips were flexed to 90 degrees, then we reached much higher knee flexion torque; but interestingly the hamstrings activation was much lower, and what this means is that we have more inhibition in the hamstrings and the passive force was higher.  With flexed hips, we have more of an eccentric component,

Today’s episode features gym owner and sports performance coach Mike Kozak and physical therapist, Stephen Laflamme.  

Mike Kozak is the Owner of SOAR Fitness in Columbus, Ohio.  He has trained hundreds of youth athletes as well as a number of current and prospective college and pro athletes. Mike has previously worked as a physical education teacher and youth basketball coach.  He frequently hosts “Rewire” clinics with Adarian Barr and is a fervent student of biomechanics and cutting edge sports performance techniques. He has written several articles for Just Fly Sports.

Stephen Laflamme attained his clinical Doctorate of Physical Therapy from The Ohio State University in 2016 and graduated from the University of Maine in 2012 with a Bachelor's Degree in Exercise Science; also attaining his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification.  Stephen competed twice in the Arnold Weightlifting Championships and qualified for the 2015 National University Championship in weightlifting. Stephen has traveled the country to be a part of the nation's best educational programs and learn from the nation's best professionals.

When it comes to things like bilateral and single leg squatting, everyone tends to have their own favorite variations, but how often do we think about exactly why we are performing a front, Zercher or RFE split squat?  Are we prescribing these exercises based on what other coaches are utilizing, or based on the individual characteristics and needs of our athletes? In today’s episode Mike and Stephen get into both general and specific principles in catering to athletes optimally in these basic strength movements. 

We had a great recent episode with Justin Moore in episode 176 talking about “knees in” from a holistic perspective, getting into the hydraulics of the body and the pelvic floor.  In this episode we continue in that vein, and get particularly into this dynamic in squatting, landing and jumping, and the differences that exist here, as well as practical training ramifications.  Finally, Mike and Stephen talk about training the foot, as well as integrating some concepts learned from Adarian Barr. 

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. 

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

General squatting concepts that make the movement more athletic

Squat method difference based on hip structure (eg. anterior vs. posterior tilted)

Why you might Zercher squat an athlete vs. front squat, as well as how various positions in RFE split squat bias different elements of movement

Approaching athletes who lack hip internal rotation in a sequential manner

“Knees in” concepts, timing, and jump training

Squatting in respect to “knees out” and hip internal rotation

Generalities in ACL prevention training

Working with athletes who over-pronate

“On my end, higher box safety bar squats seem to be the one that works the best for the majority of my population” Kozak

“We’ve been big on the heels elevated ramps (while squatting)… putting them up on that buys them some more room to sit down” Kozak

“In order to squat effectively, you need to be able to posteriorly rotate the pelvis, and the hamstrings are a really important muscle to be able to do that; by squatting to a high box, the hamstrings always stay within the range of motion where they can contribute to hip extension” Laflamme 

“A split squat with my left foot in front and a kettlebell in my right hand would bias internal rotation of my front leg.  A kettlebell in my left hand would bias external rotation” Laflamme

“If someone is really spongy when they land and can’t get off the ground quick, those are the people you see with the sway back posture, and it looks like the hips are tipped backwards.  By bringing them forward and getting a little more tr...

Today’s episode features Dr. Nick Serio.  Nick received his doctorate of education in sport and performance psychology from the University of Western States.  He is the co-owner and general manager of the “Athlete’s Warehouse” located in Pleasantville, New York. Nick also serves as the head pitching coach at Fox Lane high school, where the baseball team has had tremendous success.  

I watched Nick’s presentation on medicine ball training he did at the NISMAT symposium, which was a phenomenal and creative demonstration of special strength training for pitchers.  Nick’s work is the epitome of the full-spectrum blend of knowledge of sport specific skill needs, appropriate special strength exercises, as well as solid general strength principles.   

Nick’s special strength medicine ball programming is facilitating significant increases in players throwing speeds, all while keeping their arms healthy, as they avoid throwing baseballs year round (a huge factor in getting injured or burning out early).  Despite the impressive results he gets, Nick is a very honest and transparent individual, as he also indicates the many other training modalities the players are doing (plyometrics, resistance training) as well as simply growing and maturing. Regardless, Nick’s creative solutions to training are something special to learn about, and have ramifications for all throwing athletes, and rotational sports.

On the show today, Nick goes into the factors contributing to the massive injury increases in baseball, and how his medicine ball program can help combat this.  He also chats about general principles in training throwers, postural issues, and then gets into the fine points of his medicine ball training program. Nick also addresses the action of the front block leg in throwing, which is a universal principle, applicable to a great variety of rotational sports. 

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. 

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

An assessment of the factors contributing to the massive increases in injury in baseball

How Nick approaches upper and lower extremity work for throwing and rotational athletes from a general weightroom perspective

Addressing postural issues with throwing athletes

A full description of Nick’s medicine ball training program designed to improve pitch mechanics and velocity while taking load off of the arm and elbow

Training the action of the front leg, the block or brake leg in throwing and swinging actions

 

“There is a lot going on at younger ages that is missed because we are focusing so much on major league baseball.  The demands to get recruited and how we get recruited right now, put a tremendous amount of stress on a young pitcher’s arm”

“We created a system to try and attain this velocity (needed to reach the next athletic level) without putting further stress on them (through medicine ball training)”  

“In the past, it was the parents that have the answers, today, it is the kids who have the answers”

“I think it’s ridiculous that we have a pitch count in baseball… how many of those pitches in that 100 pitches were maximal intent? Well that’s going to take way more of a taxation of his out than a 2 outs, no runners on situation”

“When you look at most high level throwers, they are going to have retroversion in their shoulder, and that’s from throwing at that younger age; their body is doing that at those morphing times where we are going to have those improvements”

“Any real rotational athlete we’re looking at a couple things: we are looking at the reverse lunge… we love the overhead squat… and then a bear crawl, we are infatuated with crawling.. and then obviously sprinting”

“It’s difficult for me to differentiate the shoulder region from the hip region if I don’t account for the la...

Today’s episode features John Garrish, director of athletic development & performance at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, Florida, and the school’s head track and field coach.  John has previously served as the Director of Athletic Performance with the Florida Rugby Union’s High-Performance Program 7’s team, and has been involved in numerous other strength and sport coaching roles. He also serves as the National High School Strength Coaches Association Regional Board Member for the Southeast.

John is a passionate, creative and detail oriented coach, who distributes his methods freely through his social media outlets.  At North Broward prep, John has the challenges of teaching speed and athletic movement to large groups of athletes at a time.  In doing so, he has implemented a variety of unique mini-hurdle variations with arm position, as well as hand and finger positioning, these each having unique impacts on the athletes.  John is a tremendous compiler of data and sprint images, and it was a joy to pick his brain on his speed training implementation and discoveries.

On the show today, John covers his management of the weight room at North Broward and how he manages large groups of athletes with a small support staff.  He describes his use of gallops and various skips as an important part of his warm-up process, and then gets into all of the mini-hurdle speed constraints in his program, which is a true highlight.   This was a fantastic episode on speed training for not just the high school athlete, but any athlete seeking improved speed and explosive ability.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

John’s management of the weight room at North Broward Prep

John’s assessment process having a large number of athletes

John’s use of gallops and skips in training his athletes

Progressions as young athletes pass through John’s program

Various constraints John utilizes in his flying sprint training

How John has experimented with various hand positions during sprinting

“Usually what I look for (in assistant high school coaches) there is I find the teachers on campus that the students love, because there’s something different about them and they bring out passion in the students”

“The kids know there is going to be some sort of assessment on a daily basis”

“My first 3-4 years I avoided the 40 yard dash like the plague, but I was timing 30m dashes, and kids were asking what it would be in their 40 yard dash”

“I think the more we get back to skips, and gallops and hops and jumps, the better for the long term development of our kids”

“Once we started (skips) going for speed, seeing some positions the athletes found themselves in was pretty cool to see”

“From a standpoint of those fly’s and sprints we’re testing, there are 3 big challenges we are going to look at for our students: There is an overhead.  Rotation is big.  And then also drills that help us focus on better front-side action (but realizing what’s happening within context with the ground.”

“One of the things I was seeing (running fly sprints with a stick overhead) is I was seeing an over-correction and an excessive arch in the spine, and it might look good in a kinogram, but it wasn’t what our students need was”

“If we use constraints, (we) still use rotation, they’ve never over-corrected with too much rotation”

“I started toying with different hand positions with pulsers or weights (during fly sprints), I don’t think that’s a thing we looked at much during the first three years”

“Normal grip with the pulsers, or anything in the hands, with acceleration that was really forceful, but when we got to upright running, it wasn’t how I wanted it to be”

“What you saw the hand starting to do,

Today’s episode features Tyler Yearby and Michael Zweifel.

Tyler Yearby is a Former Strength & Conditioning Coach at Northeastern State University and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities who has delivered over 200 domestic & international continuing education courses, workshops, and conference presentations in 12 countries.  Tyler has, and continues to work with athletes ranging from youth to professional.  Michael Zweifel is the owner and head of sports performance for “Building Better Athletes” performance center in Dubuque, Iowa.  Michael has been on a number of previous Just Fly Performance Podcast episodes, focusing largely on the development of reactive agility and transferable sport movement.  Tyler and Michael are both a part of “Emergence” which is a movement skill education company.

When it comes to building athletes in the agility and change of direction space, attitudes are changing and coaches are realizing how important it is to teach perception and decision making in a variety of situations, to eventually transfer better to sport.  Agility done for the sake of running through cones as fast as possible is very limited in what it can do for an athlete in a chaotic sport environment, and podcast #76 was the epitome of that information.

Today’s show takes those same ideas of reactivity and creative movement, and puts it into the structure of the weight room: resistance training and plyometric exercises.  Tyler and Michael try to mirror their approach to an “athlete based” model of problem solving throughout an entire program, and in this episode they share how creative means are utilized in the weight room to not only improve movement and robustness, but also stoke the fires of athlete creativity.  On the show today, we dig into what these sequences look like, and get to the core of “athlete centered” training in the weight room on the level of variability, and much more.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

What the motor learning concept of “repetition without repetition” means on a basic level

How Michael and Tyler are using motor learning and “repetition without repetition” principles in the weightroom

What a typical “repetition without repetition” weightroom training sequence would look like in the pre-season training period

What “athlete centered” training and coaching looks like

How ideas on variability affect plyometric and reactive training

How to adjust training variability based on an athlete’s readiness

Tyler Yearby and Michael Zweifel Quotes

“Repetition without repetition is not the means to solving a given motor problem, but the process of that solution.  It is the changing and improving from rep to rep and the means of that, so everything essentially slightly changes as we perform any type of motor action”  Yearby

“We view sport as a problem solving activity… we view the weightroom as assistive to this problem solving activity”  Zweifel

“(In regards of variables to change from set to set) One (variation) is tempo, the other is stance” Yearby

“(Regarding lifting in awkward positions) Don’t our athletes need to be able to express force, despite the compromised positions they find themselves in the field?” Zweifel

“The learning centered approach doesn’t mean that you let the athlete do whatever they want” Yearby

“For me personally, in my athletes, I’ll gladly take a 20% weight reduction in a compound lift to have on this repetition without repetition scheme (different types of repetitions each set or rep)” Zweifel

“My athletes have given me a ton of feedback that me allowing them to explore in the weightroom, to be creative, and to own their own movements in the weightroom, have given them the confidence to do the same things out in the ...

Today’s episode features running coach, biomechanist, and endurance athlete, Helen Hall.  Helen is the author of “Even With Your Shoes On”, a comprehensive manual on teaching running in a natural manner based on the sensory capabilities of the human body.  She is a minimalist ultra-distance runner, 6 times Ironman and credited with being the world’s first ‘barefoot’ Iron(wo)man.  Helen is the owner of the Perpetual Forward Motion School of Efficient Running, as well as a running injury clinic.  Helen uses the latest movement science and gait analysis technology to help people find solutions for their pain and injuries.

Helen is a level 4 Anatomy in Motion practitioner (former podcast guest Gary Ward’s system).  Helen’s framework of building running technique based on sensory feedback, joint motion, and self-organization is unique and a breath of fresh air, given the lack of importance many coaching systems place on body awareness and natural learning.  Even if you aren’t interested in running, the principles from Helen’s system carry over to sprinting, jumping and any other human movement that involves the gait cycle.

In the last five to ten years, many of my own ideas on what constitutes effective technical coaching have been reformulated, based on the sensory and self-organization capabilities of the human body.   Helen’s book has been a capstone of sorts on this period of learning in my own life, so I was excited to get her on the show to talk about her approach to coaching.

On the show, we talk about how and why running shouldn’t be an injury-inducing form of exercise, as well as many points on Helen’s philosophy of improving running and human movement.  Some specifics include the importance of awareness, why moving joints is superior to manual “muscle activation”, using lunge variations to determine glute contribution to running, as well as building running technique from a sagittal to frontal to transverse plane sequence, specifically addressing the role of posture and fixing “crossover” running.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

The question of jogging and running as a natural form of exercise, and if we as humans are actually “born to run”

How a person can find their own best running technique through a process of noticing one’s own body

Answering the question if there is ever room for internal cues in a coaching system

Why activating and moving joints is superior to concentrically activating muscles for performance

Using lunge variations to see if a runner could activate their glutes while moving

How to build running technique through awareness and joint mobiliziation drills from a sagittal, frontal and then transverse plane sequence

How to optimize running posture using wall-based spinal alignments

How to fix crossover gait using frontal plane drill work

 

“I passionately believe we are (born to run) because toddlers are at it before they really even can walk well”

“Running is just another speed, another gear.  A whole array of different speeds is what we do well.  Going further and going long is what we do best of all.  Enduring is in our evolutionary history”

“People are disconnected from the way that they are doing anything… nobody notices anything.”

“When a person runs and gets injured, is it how their body wants to run, or is it what they’ve been taught or think they should be doing.  If it’s not what their body wants to do, but it’s being inflicted on the body by an opinion, then it’s quite possible that the body might not like it”

“It’s not about telling people “how to”…. There’s a lot of confusion because so many of these “guidelines” contradict each other”

“Let’s start by exploring, how do you walk,

Today’s episode features Erik Korem and Keir Wenham-Flatt.  Erik Korem is the associate athletic director for student athlete high-performance and Keir Wenham-Flatt is the coordinator of football performance.   Erik and Keir are a veritable all-star team of athletic development, with knowledge spanning all arenas of performance that transfers to the field.

Erik brings nearly two decades of national expertise to his current position at William and Mary at the professional and collegiate levels, most recently, serving as the Director of Sports Science for the National Football League's Houston Texans, and previously, the high-performance coordination at the University of Kentucky football.  Keir has extensive experience in rugby physical preparation, and recently has expanded his repertoire to American football and University Olympic sports in his employment in the USA, in addition to his founding of rugbystrengthcoach.com.

As we’ve talked about on other shows, strength, and even speed, is only a part of the equation on preparing athletes to be their best on the day of competition (albeit, an important part).  This podcast goes in depth on how Erik and Keir approach those two facets of performance from a perspective of maximal efficiency and effectiveness.

The show expands to more “global” topics of high performance which includes the specificity of “mental toughness” and performance in high-pressure situations, as well as the role of emotional state in long-term sport success.  We also cover ideas regarding a global model (James Smith’s book “Governing Dynamics” is a big one here) of sport training that can help synchronize sport and strength coaches in their combined efforts.  We also get into the data provided by GPS, focusing on how team speed readings are an indicator of the flow of game play.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

Erik and Keir’s thoughts on agility and change of direction training on the field of play

The use of maximal speed training for the sake of injury prevention in American football

How GPS and game speed and acceleration can be a significant factor in looking at the strategy of how a football game is played

How Erik and Keir utilize athlete performance logs and wellness readings

The specificity of “toughness” and resilience in high pressure and over-time play situations

How the “Governing Dynamics of Sport” is impacting conversations that Erik and Keir are having with the sport coaches at their university

The importance of mental and emotional factors and sport success, especially at higher levels

Year to year progressions in strength training for athletes for maximal long-term development

 

“You can have two athletes in the same position, with different physical gifts who solve a problem with two different means, and what we try and do is provide them with a guided learning environment to discover what works (for change of direction in a game like setting)”  Wenham-Flatt

“How many times do you have to see an elite athlete do something that’s “wrong” before you understand that they are probably doing it the right way”  Wenham-Flatt

“There are three ways to win warfare: More force, more speed, or misdirection… when everybody is different, everybody is going to be naturally geared towards solving sport problems by different means.  The less you have of one thing, the more you need of the others” Wenham-Flatt

“For the most part we are getting guys to that 90% (sprinting in season) threshold or greater, our skills and our mid-skill positions” Korem

“In games, it’s not always great to say “oh! We had all these players run over X amount of speed” because it could mean that they are chasing somebody” Korem

Today’s episode features Bobby Whyte, an athletic performance and basketball skill enhancement trainer operating out of Northern New Jersey.

Focusing on developing the complete player athlete, Bobby practices the “Evaluate – Educate -Empower” program he experienced first hand growing up training with now world-renowned trainers and specialists.  Bobby has worked with athletes ranging from beginner to NBA/NFL/Overseas Professionals. Most recently, he spent 6 months working in China as the Head Strength Coach for the Guangxi Rhinos.

Bobby’s story is inspirational, overcoming severe struggles in his early 20’s, to turning his life around and becoming a top-level basketball skills and athletic performance trainer.  His story is the epitome of the idea of going through the deepest valley in order to reach the highest mountain.  Bobby is the exact kind of coach I would have loved to have as a young athlete, he truly cares about the individual person, more than he cares about the results that they achieve (although he is excellent at getting those sporting results).

Bobby is a coach who trains physical development and skills all under one roof, as he is a certified strength coach, as well as an expert developer of basketball abilities.  In today’s podcast, Bobby begins with his own inspirational story, and how it has impacted his coaching and investment in the lives of his athletes on a daily basis.  In terms of training and technical information, Bobby takes us through his program from general skill to specific skill development, and everything in between.   He also gives us his take on the over-specialization of young basketball players and his use of breathing techniques help athletes de-stress.  This episode is a chance to step inside the life of a coach who is changing the lives of those he works with.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Key Points

Bobby’s story of how he turned his life around in a positive direction and got into coaching

Bobby’s philosophy of putting the athlete first, personally, before their sport performance training

Ideas on the general physical skills needed to support the game of basketball

A typical training day with Bobby as he covers both skill and strength work

Bobby’s baselines for each player he works with from a physical perspective

Thoughts on the FMS and movement screening in general

Key movements Bobby wants his athletes to be good at in the sport of basketball

Bobby’s thoughts on year round basketball and over-specialization

Bobby’s use of breath work in his training space

 

“As bad as my life was, I don’t regret it, because it’s turned me into the person I am today… my ability to relate with people who struggle”

“99% of my clients are basketball players, and I could care less if they become a really great basketball player if they don’t like who they see in the morning when they look in the mirror”

“The more I learn about my athletes, the more I can help”

“Before we get in the gym, the court, before we even get there, I just want to sit down and talk…. I ask them “what’s important to you”… the more I ask what’s important to you, the more I get from surface level stuff, to soul level stuff, the stuff that’s really driving them”

“By putting it all (strength and skill work) under one roof, I’ve streamlined it, I’ve simplified it.  I’ve created a place where my basketball players can come to one spot and get to the next level on where they need to go”

“I’m always focused on the movement first, can they own the position? Are they stable on one foot, do they decelerate properly, can they get to the right positions that are going to carry over to sport”

“My goal is not to get a kid to a 21 (in the FMS) my goal is to get him better in his ...

Today’s episode features Dr. Michael Yessis, who appeared previously on episode #142 of this podcast, going in depth on the 1x20 strength training system and its advantages, as well as the importance of not over-developing an athlete’s general strength in favor of their sport skill.  Today’s episode builds on that last show, by going into Doc’s take on skill acquisition and how it sets up a training program.

For every 10 shows and articles on strength training in athletic performance, you might get one on skill development and acquisition, if you are lucky, and these are never the popular pieces of work.  At the end of the day, a primary goal of strength training is to allow an athlete to set up the effective execution of their sport skill.  Basic skills would include running faster and jumping higher, but also spread to things like swinging, throwing and changing directions on the field, as well as the finer points of various sports.

For me, it’s always been hard to think I did a “good job” in teaching an athlete to do a barbell lift properly, while knowing that their capacity to perform their sport skill was poor and I was doing nothing else to help improve it.  Even with the silos and lines that are drawn in the modern strength coach/sport coach setup, the strength coach can, at the very least, by understanding the demands of sport skill, help create the capacity for better sport skill performance, and at the most, offer special strength exercises that can significantly help the athlete in their sport skill and therefore sport gameplay, leading to a better chance of winning the game.

In this show that Doc and I may not see eye to eye on absolutely everything in the change of direction space, but he really makes me think, and given his knowledge base and experience as well as the results that many coaches are getting with his training methods, this episode is a fantastic resource for anyone working with athletes.  Doc also has a book out called “Building a Better Athlete” that encapsulates many of the ideas discussed in this episode.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Dr. Michael Yessis' Key Points

Doc’s take on the evolution and relationships of strength coach versus a sport coach

The Soviet’s use of other games for mental relaxation, even in “in season” play

Doc’s thoughts on which mainline sport skills that all strength coaches should have a basic working biomechanical knowledge of

What knowledge a coach should have on the skill of change of direction for athletes, and Doc’s take on agility training

Doc’s take on the concept of a “perfect technique” in sport skill

Key technical points on the skill of throwing, and improving the “front leg action” in this situation

The importance of using special exercises to shore up biomechanical gaps in technique

What a training year looks like for an athlete who already has the requisite general strength ability for their sport

Why only playing one’s sport will yield a ceiling in performance (with no other emphasis or concentration of skills)

Dr. Michael Yessis Quotes

“Skill, in my estimation, determines your workout.  Without looking at skill, or the sill execution, your program is not the best that it can be”

“The more skills athlete’s learn, the greater is their motor development, which allows them to be even better in the sport that they specialize in”

“They need all the basic skills: running, jumping, throwing, kicking, hitting, to really learn them and understand them.  Right now, I have seen very few strength coaches have a handle on what constitutes effective running”

“If they are missing certain athletes of their skill execution, I come up with a strength exercise that duplicates what’s missing.