Just Fly Performance Podcast

Today’s episode is a question and answer show where I take user questions off of social media and give my best answers.  It’s always good to see what people want to know.

Questions on today’s show came in clusters often focused on similar topics, many asking about patellar tendonitis prevention, weightlifting and squatting in relation to sprinting, as well as the training methods of Marv Marinovich and Jay Schroeder and what I’ve done in my own programs having that knowledge.

Commonly asked as well is what I am doing with all the info I gain from the guests on this show, and what has been a big game changer for me.  I covered this a lot in my last solo show, but there have been training ideas even since then that continue to spur me on towards giving my athletes the best training I can.

Doing enough of these Q&A’s I’ve felt like eventually I might run out of topics but after 50+ questions, you all have given me plenty to talk about.  I hope you enjoy today’s show, there is a lot of things I was really excited to cover.

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 biggest programming game changer in the last few years has been for me

An over-rated training intervention in the world of sport performance

How I address patellar tendonitis and knee issues in training, and how to prevent it

Similarities and differences of the Marv Marinovich and Jay Scheoder training systems and styles (a big question!)

How to make the weight room more environmentally similar to sport

Lifting and its impact on sprint performance

Heavy squatting and its impact on reactive strength

How I approach neurological testing and training on athletes given my background in Z-health, NKT, Be Activated, and other systems

The biggest change I’ve made to my resistance training programs recently

About Joel Smith

Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and trains athletes and clients in partnership with Evolutionary Fitness in Cincinnati, Ohio. Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, has authored several books on athletic performance, and trains numerous clients in the in-person and online space.

In 2011, Joel began Just Fly Sports as a central platform to promote information for athletes and coaches to reach their highest potential. In 2016 the first episode of the “Just Fly Performance Podcast” was released, now a leading source of education in the sports performance field. The evolving mission of Just Fly Sports is focused on teaching athletes to realize their true, innate power, and achieve the highest joy in their training, competition, and in the community.

Today’s episode features Keir Wenham-Flatt, physical preparation coach and founder of rugbystrengthcoach.com.  Keir is currently a strength and conditioning specialist at the College of William and Mary who has worked with professional teams on 4 different continents.  He is particularly well versed in physical preparation for rugby, but has experience with training in many different sports and schools of movement.

Keir is brilliant with the dynamics of team and field sport training, and getting training to be maximally effective within the confines of the game.  A theme of this podcast is finding transfer to sport in training, and not just leaving a season at “I got the athlete stronger” so I did my job. With all the motor learning theory and ideas on training coordination specific to sport play, there is so much to learn and implement in this realm.  

In today’s episode, Keir talks about the essentials of speed building, conditioning and mental toughness as it relates to team sport play, which is a totally different ballgame (literally) than running a 40 yard dash or the 200m in track.  As coaches, we are always searching for ways to make our training more effective and this episode with Keir delivers on many levels. Keir also gives his take on the health/performance spectrum in working with team sport athletes, as well as his use of grappling in training collision sport athletes.

For those track coaches out there, even if you don’t work with team sport athletes, Keir's take on “stress inoculation” of timed sprints for team sport athletes, including “speed gate golf” which bears some similarity to doing variable jumps that I’ve talked about in the past, is something I’m sure you’ll find fascinating.

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:

Keir’s idea on “coordination” training for field sports

How to go about approaching speed and movement in light of the principles of coordination and being robust

Using sport specific external stimuli in the speed and movement preparation of team sport athletes

Keir’s use of grappling to train athletes in contact or collision sports

Facets of measuring linear velocity in team sport athletes and how it is different than game speed

“Stress Inoculation” of linear speed work for team sport players

What mental toughness really is and how to train it

Keir’s take on the health versus performance spectrum in sport performance as well as Keir’s take on utilizing Mladen Jovanovic’s agile periodization system

Keir Wenham-Flatt Quotes

“Things which are anti-fragile thrive in unpredictable environments… if you think about all the variables in the team based sports, they are highly volatile”

“Extreme specialization is the enemy of robustness”

“The four phases for us are: closed environment attractors, then we go into more of an open environment with variable conditions, flucutators.  Then we put them in strict drills where we are shaping the task where without knowing it you need to demonstrate the behavior I want to see and solve a problem, then lastly we are going to put you in a highly contextual environment, a team environment when you have to execute in the conditions of the game”

“If you don’t consider the variables of team strategy, your training is general specific at best (3rd tier of the Bondarchuk System!)”

“(Regarding sprint and movement drills) There has to be risk, there has to be relevance, there has to be a challenge in order to grab your attention.  If there is no learning there is no adaptation”

“(Regarding sprint and movement drills)  For me, I change surfaces, I change body positions, I change start positions, I will change center of gravity”

“You are never going to be running in a perfect straight line in a clos...

Today’s episode features Justin Moore, performance education coordinator at Parabolic Performance and Rehab, also working with their NFL combine athletes.  Justin made his first appearance in episode 78 where he talked about how to optimize the execution of the barbell lifts according to the ideals of the postural restoration institute, making them more transferable to athletic performance, as well as hitting important muscles groups such as the abdominals and hamstring.

Justin is one of the brightest young strength coaches in the field, and has a field of intelligent mentors, many of whom have also been on this podcast.  Justin is a guy who has great knowledge of two things I’m really interested in, PRI and speed.  It’s not often that I get to talk about sprinting in context of the ribs, thorax and diaphragm, but today, Justin and I will do just that.  

When it comes to technique, structure dictates function, but is also not always the roadblock we might make it out to be.  Knowing PRI principles in context of sprinting is important, but it is even more important to know when to use them, and when to avoid having an athlete do corrective based work when a “workaround” is available through good coaching.

For today’s episode, Justin will cover technical issues in sprinting that could be rooted within the thorax and diaphragm, asymmetry in sprinting and human movement, right and left leg differences, as well as the impingement-instability paradigm of locomotion and how that fits with what we are doing in the weightroom.

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

A recap of Justin’s last NFL combine class and what he learned from it

Ideas on maximal strength development and training frequency of speed and plyometric training means and methods

Looking at sprint training in light of the Postural Restoration Institute ideals

How to approach technical issues in sprinting that may be rooted in the thorax and diaphragm

Left and right leg differences in sprinting according to PRI principles

The importance of asymmetry in athletic movement

Impingement based strategies in lifting versus sport movement and how to find the balance

Justin Moore Quotes

“We realized we were actively making guys slower (by over coaching or using the wrong cue set in coaching speed)”

“Placing too much stress on the (combine) athletes detracted a little from our ability to utilize frequency in training on the field and in the plyometric or jumping realm of things”

“Guys were changing their running strategy to improve the 10 yard dash, but that doesn’t set you up for a better 30 and 40 yard dash”

“Moving air (out of the left side particularly) is critical to being able to create that see-saw action in the frontal plane in sprinting… if you have a balloon in your left chest wall full of air that you can’t get out, then I’m essentially being pushed to the right”

“Arms are a big one (in sprint coaching) because arms are going to reflect what the thorax is doing”

“The left chain of muscles (AIC) is your “swing phase” chain”

“For a number of reasons we are biased into the right stance phase of gait”

“You really see the side to side asymmetry between legs in a 4-jump”

“What can I say that creates the biggest chain reaction to clean the maximal amount of issues up with me saying the least”

“There’s an old adage in biology that asymmetry pays”

“If we aren’t asymmetrical then we are in equilibrium and we don’t move”

“When you try to do everything (corrective, main training, rehab, etc.), you end up losing a little bit”

“You have to  know the bandwidth of the asymmetry the person usually presents with”

“Every time we walk we are impinging on one side,

Today’s episode features pro trainer David Donatucci.  David is the the owner/director of The Florida Institute of Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida where he provides comprehensive sports performance training programs for professional, collegiate, high school and senior athletes.  

David is well known for his work with high-level golfers, but his diverse resume includes training athletes of all levels and types.  He has been using medicine ball training for decades, and has honed in on essential biomechanical and kinetic parameters that can make this form of training optimally effective.  David is a coach who truly knows the biomechanics of swinging sports and how to use that knowledge to create better transfer in the weight room and with medicine balls.

When it comes to medicine ball training, it is easy to think that picking up a ball and throwing it against the wall will automatically transfer to rotation, but in talking to David and learning about things like launch angle, power transfer and ball velocity, we can easily see that what we are doing with our medicine ball work needs to have a high level of specificity, especially as the ability levels of the athletes we are working with increase.

On today’s episode, David talks about the key components that bind rotational sport actions together, as well as the differences across sports such as baseball and golf.  He talks about how to optimize the various components of medicine ball training, be specific to sport skills with medicine balls, as well as how to select proper weight and velocity (David is the inventor of the Ballistic Ball).

For those fellow track coaches out there, David makes shot put and discus references which can certainly make us appreciate this smart episode even 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:

David’s background in the field

Key components that bind rotational sport actions together

The importance of the front leg block in swinging, and how it is particularly important in golf

David’s methods to get athletes into their front leg more in swinging motions

How to differentiate medicine ball training across different rotational sports for different athletic needs

The importance of launch angle in medicine ball throw training

A guide to medicine ball weight for building rotational proficiency

How to approach the rear leg/push leg in throwing a medicine ball

David Donatucci Quotes

“The hip motion, then followed by the torso motion, then followed by the arms, then followed by the implement is always a good sequence”

“In a baseball swing at the end of the rotation there is still a lot of weight on that back foot, where as for golf, almost all the weight is going to be on the front leg at that point”

“I have a lot of guys who hit the (golf) ball really far, who really don’t jump very high”

“A 30-40 degree medicine ball angle simulates more of what you see in a baseball swing”

“For me, the shot put (medicine ball throw) from a body motion, body rotation perspective can replicate a lot of movements in rotational sports”

“One kid who did a medicine ball show put throw went back to the tee and improved his bat speed 3-4 miles per hour”

“(Regarding medicine ball training) Baseball is the only one from a hitting standpoint that I want to create more of an upward push through the ball… pitchers I want to work more of the downward angle”

“You may have an athlete start on a 3kg ball, then they are throwing 13-14m/s, now they can throw a 4kg ball”

“If you can throw a 5kg ball 10 meters per second, you are doing pretty good”

“To know if the kinematic sequence is right (for medicine ball throws), you will throw a “knuckleball” without a lot of rotation”

Today’s episode features trainer, educator and consultant, Dr. Pat Davidson, back for his second appearance on the show.  

I had the good fortune of meeting Pat at his “Rethinking the Big Patterns” seminar August in San Francisco, and had an awesome time taking in Pat’s training philosophy in person with lots of good discussion and hands on demonstrations.  In the aftermath of the seminar, I wanted to record a show with Pat where we hone in on “doing no harm”, particularly in the sense of how we address weaknesses and tend to over-coach pretty much everything.  

One thing I love about Pat’s work is that, not only is he brilliant, but also continually brings things back to what is practical in real life situations.  Pat isn’t afraid to defer to simple, bare bones training to give clients and athletes the best possible experience.

For today’s show, we get into how to approach an athlete’s weaknesses without hurting their confidence and the overall training process, and how that filters into screens, warmups, and 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:

How to approach bringing up an athlete’s weaknesses without hurting their natural athleticism in the process

How much an athlete can improve in tri-planar function based on their rib cage dynamics

Pat’s take on movement screens in general

How some athletes can “fail movement screens” and have robust and resilient careers in pro sports

Pat’s take on excessive warmups and traditional “muscle activation”

Pat Davidson Quotes

“They noticed the unpunished group had the same numerical improvement in performance as the punished group… it’s a tendency of individuals to come back to the mean”

“It seems as there is no point in giving someone negative reinforcement”

“If I really want to screw up a tennis player, I’ll ask them, “do you notice what you do with your elbow on a backhand””

“I am very hesitant to tell people about things they are not doing well”

“(In regards of movement screens) The table doesn’t really lie, people can trick you when they stand up… the table to me is your potential”

“A cable pull-through is the hardest (deadlift based movement) to screw up”

“All models are wrong, but some models are useful… how useful can your model actually be”

“It’s not like a straight leg raise test are going to yield some magic answers for you that make a difference in the way you coach things”

“The FMS is reproducible inside of itself… but that information is not transferrable to tasks outside itself”

“The FMS and SFMA have zero frontal plane assessments”

“Just by putting you on one leg doesn’t mean its more tri-planar than anything else”

“Let’s get this pelvis over the foot, and now this person’s adductor lit up like a Christmas tree”

“A warmup does not need to take 20 minutes…. if you are still doing (the same warmup drills) you haven’t learned the thing”

“If you are trying to mobilize your big toe in warmups, you have probably missed the big picture”

“Learn how to prune your tree to a much smaller level so you lose much less time in the training process”

About Pat Davidson

Director of Training Methodology and Continuing Education at Peak Performance, NYC.

Author of MASS and MASSII -Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College, 2009-2011

Assistant Professor, Springfield College 2011-2014

Head Coach Springfield College Team Ironsports 2011-2013

175 pound Strongman competitor. Two time qualifier for world championships at Arnold Classic

Renaissance Meat Head[/author]

Today’s episode features sports performance coach Matt Cooper.  Matt is a young performance coach on the cutting edge of the field, with influences from the worlds of Jay Schroeder, Marv Marinovich, Nick Curson, Garrett Salpeter, and Soviet sport science.  He also has a holistic knowledge of the brain, nervous system, psychology and nutrition, and has a view of working with athletes in a manner that trains the “whole athlete”.

I first heard Matt on “The Bledsoe Show” and as soon as Matt started to reference the neurological approach to training that he uses, I realized that we must have a lot in common.  Unbeknownst to me at the time of my listening, Matt was hosting a seminar in southern California with podcast guest, mentor and good friend of mine, Adarian Barr. With all this in mind, my conversation with Matt has been a long time coming.

When we look at the future of training, we need to look further than simply muscles and the weight on the bar, and Matt’s work is the epitome of looking beyond those things, into the nervous system, and into the brain and mind of an athlete.  In this podcast with Matt, we talk quite a bit on his training influences, and how the work of Jay Schroeder (Evo-Sport) Garrett Salpeter (Neufit) and Nick Curson and Marv Marinovich (Pro-Bod-X) works from a neurological perspective, and how we can shape our own training with their concepts in mind.  

Knowing the nervous system, and how it processes training is a key to continual improvement, and this is yet another installment in the Just Fly Performance Podcast universe that helps us to understand this amazing system, and its impact on training, just a little bit better.

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

Matt’s background and influences

How Matt is using ideals from Marv Marinovich and Jay Schoeder/Inno-Sport/Evo-Sport in his own training means

The neurological pitfalls of a max barbell strength directed mentality

Direct-Current neurological training and how we can understand the body from this perspective

The evolution of barbell work in Matt’s system over the years

Pro-Bod-X work and it’s role in Matt’s programming

How a typical workout may shake out in Matt’s programming

 

Matt Cooper Quotes

“When you go too far down that maximal strength pipeline, you often will create governors and limiters on your brain, where for survival’s sake, to protect your joints the brain will rewire the way you contract the muscle”

“(Marinovich) would look at training more in terms of a tendon adaptation; you need to make sure you are training the tendon to store and release kinetic energy, and that’s something you can only train at the speed of sport”

“The deep squat position is one of the positions that is going to produce the most co-contractions and limiters on the body from a survival perspective”

“Someone can eat to express their nervous system”

“With the (Marv Marinovich) ball work, you are training your body to activate muscles in synergy”

“The ball work is more in the pre-hab and warmup, and some oscillation of it is going to be in the beginning of most workouts”

About Matt Cooper

Matt Cooper (Coop) is a nutrition consultant, strength & conditioning coach, and human performance coach from California. Driven by an obsession to expand human performance, Coop spends his time researching, experimenting, doing nerdy things, and building better humans in general at Stand Out Performance (Fast Twitch LA) in Compton, California.

Coop works with athletes and individuals-from developmental to professional levels-remotely and in-person to optimize their health, performance, and fitness.

Coop translates research, experience, and human performance technology to design one stop shop servi...

Today’s episode features world renowned speed coach, educator and author, Henk Kraaijenhof, back for his second appearance on the show.

Henk is a breath of fresh air because of his practicality in regards to training.  He is a figure with not only incredible knowledge of various training means (and the science behind those means) but also the practical success to back it up in a sport defined by quantitative measures (track and field).  In a day where we tend to get distracted by “shiny” exercises and various training tools that seem as if they are the breakthrough to the next level in performance, Henk brings us all into a realistic point of view by which we can establish a proper baseline of what works, then proceed to the next level.  

On today’s show, we cover the basic ideas of training transfer to athletic speed, as well as a chat on the purpose of standard “strength to bodyweight” levels, and where they even came from.  

Henk also digs into some of the modern training tools we are seeing now, such as instability bags and weighted vests and shorts and if they are useful or just “fluff”.  We’ll also get into Kaatsu (blood flow occlusion) training and some applied means by which this type of work could be applied, which could be particularly useful in training conditions where athletes might not be able to get outside and sprint.

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

Rules of transfer for exercises into speed

Barbell velocity and transfer into athletic movement

Henk’s take on instability training in athletic enhancement

Wearable resistance means to improve speed

Henk’s experience in training track and field sprinters with no strength training or plyometrics

Kaatsu (occlusion) training in applied performance settings

Henk Kraaijenhof Quotes

“It’s very hard to find a good transfer from a full squat to running 100m in my opinion”

“A lot of coaches use exercises just because the exercises exist, and because they can”

“Velocity based training has already been developed 30 years ago”

“The moment you get to the gym, forget about specificity and transfer”

“Where does 1.5x bodyweight in squat come from?”

“How much can a cat squat, or a kangaroo?”

“Only keep the core work (only directly event specific) and see how far you get”

“For 200-400m who have to work in hypoxia, (Kaatsu) can be useful”

“Combining Kaatsu with Mach drills could be a useful winter (indoor) training exercise”

About Henk Kraiijenhof

Henk Kraaijenhof coaching credentials include Nelli Cooman, Merlene Ottey, Troy Douglas and Tennis star Mary Pierce. His specialties are the physical and mental coaching, in particular stress and stress management and the methodology or training. When you consider both Ottey and Douglas ran world class times in their 40’s, something is working.

Henk Kraaijenhof currently works for Vortx and his blog is helpingthebesttogetbetter.com.

He has published work in performance, training systems and protocols for elite athletes and has also conducted research in the development and application of scientific training systems. Henk is also involved in scientific research projects in human sports performance in Norway, Estonia, Italy and the Netherlands. He is currently also working as a mentor for the Olympic coaches and Olympic talent coaches in Holland.

Today’s episode features sport scientist and biomechanist Dr. Anthony Blazevich.  Dr. Blazevich is one of the field leading researchers and observers of trends in biomechanics, muscle and tendon physiology, nervous signaling, and other important facets of athletic performance.

Across the span of time I was a sport science student looking up research papers for class, to a college lecturer in strength and conditioning, to running this podcast, Dr. Blazevich’s work has popped up regularly, and is always top notch.  As is always the trend on this show, I seek out those practitioners who know not only the research, but have spent time in the trenches as either an athlete or a coach, and see the athletic equation holistically.

In talking to Dr. Blazevich today, I can’t tell you there are many people out there who know highly debated topics of sport performance more holistically than him.  For our talk, I (as usual) ask Dr. Blazevich quite a few questions that the sports performance and sport science industry tends to be a bit polarized on, such as static stretching, and potentiation in warming up for a competition.  We’ll also go in depth on loaded stretching protocols and benefits, as well as muscle fascicle length concepts and ideas on eccentric training.

This was a tremendous episode with plenty of punch not only in the research and science side of things, but also the realm of practical applications.   If you are interested in the mechanisms that are truly happening in the course of warmups, stretching and various training means in a manner that can steer us towards better coaching regimes, you’ll love this episode.   This episode may also set the record for the most show notes, so be sure to check those out below, there are a ton of gems.

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

Dr. Blazevich’s background as an athlete, coach and sport scientist

Static stretching in the role of warmup protocols

Loaded stretching and PNF stretching ideas and applications

Static stretching in application to recovery from training

Ideas on potentiation, physiology and muscle temperature

Muscle fascicle length, how it can be improved and eccentric training

Muscle-tendon compliance and its impact on performance

Facets of eccentric training and various ways it impacts athletes

 

Dr. Anthony Blazevich Quotes

“Maybe there is a benefit of (static stretching) to injury risk (in running sports)”

“There is no doubt that prolonged static stretching of a muscle can reduce the firing ability of the muscle”

“Static stretching for 4-5 minutes turned off inward currents to the muscles… for 5-15 minutes”

“Static stretching increases the amount of force we can produce at long muscle lengths”

“If athletes were allowed to do any stretching at all, either static or dynamics, they felt more prepared from their sport (if athletes feel better doing it and like doing it, then they feel better prepared)”

“There could be a huge number of other changes that occur in static stretching (aside from muscle length… since short duration static stretching doesn’t increase muscle length)”

“Static stretching has significant effects on our nervous and adrenal systems”

“When we activate a muscle and put it into a stretch, then we get better range of movement improvements than we see in static stretching”

“What we do know as far as stiffness is concerned is that when we activate the muscle and then force it into a stretch over period of weeks, we get massive increases in range of motion, but they seem to occur with an increase in tendon stiffness”

“Activating the muscle off stretch was as effective as activating it on stretch.  When you activate the muscle into static stretching in some way,

Today’s episode features sports performance coaches Jake Jensen and Jeff Moyer.  Jake and Jeff are unique in that they are in-the-trenches coaches who are personally familiar with the work of two legendary coaches and researchers in the field, Dr. Michael Yessis and Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk.  Jeff is the owner of DC Sports Training while Jake works as the head strength coach for a professional hockey team in Berlin, Germany.

The training methodology of Anatoliy Bondarchuk in particular has caused some waves in the field in the last few years, but the issue with his system is really the fact that Dr. Bondarchuk coached track and field throwers, where team sports have a lot more complexity in terms of the progression of different skills within that sport, let alone team tactics, strategy, and winning!

If you listen to this podcast, there is a good chance that you care much more than simply getting athletes stronger in some familiar barbell lifts and saying you did your job.  As sports performance coaches, we strive to get athletes better at , well, sports! By blending the ideals of Dr. Bondarchuk in terms of training organization and adaptation, and looking at the special exercise battery of Dr. Yessis, we have some formidable weapons in helping athletes reach their highest potential.  This is where Jake and Jeff have done tremendous work in pushing the field forward (check out their recent article on the topic for Just Fly Sports)in regards to maximizing training transfer for a spectrum of athletes.

On today’s episode, Jake and Jeff cover the role of general strength development within the scopes of the Bondarchuk and Yessis systems, and then go in detail on how the “SDE” category of the Bondarchuk system can be adapted for team sport performance.   This is a forward thinking episode that is setting a precedent for the impact of a sports performance coach, as well as thought provoking for coaches of any sport.

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:

Jake and Jeff’s backgrounds

The role of general strength development and 1-rep maxes in the Bondarchuk and Yessis training systems

What to make of the “things in the middle” of the Bondarchuk pyramid, such as special strength, and if it could possibly be done without

How to track key performance indicators (or SDE’s) for team sport performance

How many workouts Jake and Jeff put in a training cycle given the Bondarchuk principles and adaptation types

How to monitor when an athlete adapts to a training cycle and when to change exercises for non-throwing/track athletes

Quotes:

“There is a lot of technique that goes into being able to lift heavy weight for a single.  For an athlete who plays a team sport, as a strength coach, I have to ask myself, how much time do I want to spend teaching this guy how to brace through an 8 second grinder for a squat”

“Dealing with Doc, we never did anything under 8 reps (in the weightroom) but those 8 reps were as heavy as you can get”

“The thing people have to remember about Anatoli Bondarchuk is he’s done everything.   There are a lot of instances where he uses max effort, 110% squats”

“In some applications, super heavy-ass squatting… nasty, raw strength is very important”

“It’s hard to learn with max intensity lifting”

“By the time we get down to the 8’s, (in the 1x20 system) we are doing some heavy isometrics as well”

“What’s wrong with powerlifting today…. too many of these kids won’t lift over 10 reps”

“Anything that is special developmental (in the Bondarchuk system) has to involve tactics for team sports”

“We are doing some kind of jumping (to track adaptation and what type of adapter the athlete is)”

“If you are going to get to know your athletes better,

Today’s episode features biomechanist and inventor David Weck.  No stranger to new ideas and insight in human locomotion and athletic movement, this episode breaks a few molds that the human body has been put into over the years.

David’s original appearance on episode 107 made significant waves, as David spoke on why bracing against a transverse force doesn’t happen in athletic movement, and how training this way in the weightroom is not conducive to proper motor patterns.

Now, David gets to a topic that is on the forefront of his system, which is the role of the pulsing and spiraling action of the arms (and the human body as a whole) in being as fast as possible.  Our current paradigms of movements (and coaching them) often rely on looking at endpoints, without regards for what happens “in between”, and the resultant timing and mechanisms that power those positions.  Or, many times experts look at the world’s fastest competitors, and list what they are doing right as “wrong”. As a community, we also tend to frown on frontal and transverse plane movement in things such as straight-line running, while this coiling movement is actually essential to success.

Sub topics include the “pulse” action of the arms in running, principles of utilizing the fascial system in locomotion, pressurization in movement, as well as how to use asymmetry rather than destroy it.   This podcast is huge for anyone who wants a deeper look at how the body actually operates while sprinting, and common traits of the fastest athletes on earth in this regard in both team sports and track & field. 

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:

How the arms impact the “jolt” action of running, and the importance of the “double down pulse” technique

The impact of the fascial system on the connectedness of the human body, speed and running technique

Importance of pressurization in the “jolt and pulse” system of locomotion

Implications of pronation and supination in muscle length and shortening, and body rotation

Asymmetry in the body and locomotion, as well as how to take advantage of that asymmetry

Quotes:

“(Speaking of prehistoric man) Carrying a long stick of functional capacity, you cannot swing the arms”

“It’s the cascade of frontal plane first (in running) that turns the spinal engine on”

“The instant before maximum ground loading, the hands stop their downward movement, not by a muscular effort, but by a fascial, connective tissue effort”

“Jog across the room and pay attention to what your hands want to do”

“(In regards to the jolt or pulse of the arms) We are dealing in microseconds, but the body is naturally geared to find it… this is happening faster than the speed of thought.. it is a sensation you are going to feel”

“You can’t run with a neutral pelvis and expect to be fast at all”

“It’s an alternating… lordotic, kyphotic, then it switches.  And the fastest people have a big lordotic”

“If you apply the mechanical force to the fascia, then you don’t even need to send the signal to the spinal cord, to send back to the fascia…. so it’s faster than the electrical current that goes through your body”

“If you are born with the big muscles, it’s very different than if you had to pump up to build the muscles (from a fascia perspective)”

“You want to think of the muscles as a pressure system… you are a pneumatic system”

“Look at the animals… it’s just a pulse of force and they’re gone”

“(In running) It’s underhand figure 8’s with the shoulders, overhand with the hips”

“Supination is the “short” and pronation is the “long””

“Just the very act of supinating your right hand will coil your right lat to some extent”

“Asymmetry is the rule… not the exception but the rule”