Pacey Performance Podcast

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Simon Harries. Simon is a leading Strength and Conditioning coach and sports scientist, having worked for 14 years across all four contact codes in Australia (Rugby League, Rugby Union, Rugby Sevens and AFL). For half that time, he’s also been a rehab coordinator before moving to a new role as Head of Strength and Conditioning at the New South Wales Institute of Sport.

Recently, Simon’s article on his rehab running framework was published on Sportsmith. Here, he talks about how that framework came into being and the process he went through to develop it. One problem he found as an S&C coach was the gap between learning how to coach athletes to push themselves, and the practicalities of helping an athlete return from injury. In his rehab running framework, he’s provided structure for coaches to follow to bridge this gap.

Simon speaks with Rob about the different facets of his framework, including its basic structure, with examples of how it can be used for hamstring and calf injuries. He explains some easy drills to use during rehab, plus how to assess athlete process and when to change the level of training required when an athlete gets to a certain condition. There’s technical information too, such as the regression progression continuum of exercise, resistance training, and isometrics. For all this and more, hit the play button now.

This week’s topics:

• How Simon designed the rehab running framework

Chris featured on episode #333 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed -

• What is blood flow restriction (BFR) training?

Check out the full episode with Chris here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-333-chris-gaviglio/

This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

On this week’s Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob speaks to Director of Business Development at PLAE, Donnell Boucher. Donnell joined sports equipment and environment manufacturer PLAE in January 2021 following a 14-year tenure in several roles at The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. There, he worked as Assistant Athletic Director, Director of Strength and Conditioning, Strength Assistance Coach amongst other roles. 

Donnell is here to talk about how he has advanced through his career from starting out as a football player, before transitioning into strength coaching and now into his directorial role at PLAE. As a part of this, Donnell cites networking as an important aspect of how professionals can get noticed and increase their influence within the industry. He talks about the best ways in which to reach out to others and show your value, including what to share on social media. This includes how to provide more than simply being seen as a ‘good person’.

Donnell also provides his career building tips, such as the skills gaps often seen in young coaches, and how they can plug any deficiencies that may hold them back in finding opportunities with employers. There’s also advice on how to build and nurture relationships with clients, which could be invaluable for personal trainers who need to retain the people they coach. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, Donnell reveals the three things he learned at a conference that defined a career altering moment for him. For all this and much more, hit the play button now.

This week’s topics:

• Donnell’s influences in strength and conditioning

Jeremy featured on episode #270 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed -

• How to set up obstacle courses that have a purpose

Check out the full episode with Jeremy here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-270-jeremy-frisch/

This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Nicol van Dyk, injury surveillance and medical research officer with the Irish Rugby Football Union.

Having been at the IRFU since 2019, Nicol is here to talk about injury screening, injury prevention and specifically the Nordic hamstring exercise. With Rob, he discusses why first-hand coaching experience is highly beneficial when undertaking academic research, and his own personal four-step injury screening protocol. As part of this discussion, Nicol explains when interventions need to take place, the risk factors involved with injury screening, and how to identify athletes at a higher or lower risk of injury.

There’s also some insight into Nicol’s overall philosophy for injury prevention. In-keeping with recent trending topics within the industry, there’s also some discussion into Nordics, the risks involved with them, and the athletes that the Nordic hamstring exercise isn’t necessarily effective for. There’s also some signposting into where we can find out more about Nicol’s research, and what he’s going to be doing next. For all this and much more, hit the play button now.

This week’s topics:

• Nicol’s four-step Injury screening protocol with the IRFU

Cam featured on episode #297 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed -

• The three most common sprint technique errors team sport athletes make

Check out the full episode with Cam here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-297-cam-josse/

This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

Franco Impellizzeri is Rob’s guest on this week’s Pacey Performance Podcast. He’s been Professor in Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine at the UTS Faculty of Health since 2018, with around 170 publications in the area of sport science. However, Franco is much more than just an academic – he has hands-on experience in training several elite track and field athletes in various disciplines (including two gold medallists at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games). More recently, Franco has been the fitness coach of the Swiss Fencing Team (2012 to 2016) for the preparation of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Franco is here to mainly discuss the Nordic hamstring exercise, including the controversy around his recent meta-analysis. With information that could be invaluable to other trainers and coaches, Franco uncovered several errors in another recent meta-analysis in this area, and shares what his re-analysis means for practitioners. This includes statistical errors and the high risk of biases in such research.

There’s also a discussion into where trainers and coaches can find higher quality research, and what Franco will be up to next. In addition, Franco also tells us about his thoughts on the acute chronic workload ratio, and how it should be used in practice whilst being mindful of the problems what can be encountered using it. Finally, he talks about the issues with using the worst-case scenario as a training benchmark and that can be counteracted. For all this insight, hit the play button now.

This week’s topics:

• The errors in a recent meta-analysis on the Nordic hamstring exercise

John featured on episode #347 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed -

• Why Frans has had such a big influence on his practice

Check out the full episode with John here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/contextual-strength-coordination-training-traditional-strength-training-and-intelligent-science/

This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

This week’s Pacey Performance Podcast guest is Simon Thomas. Simon spent five seasons as the Head of Physical Performance for the Crusaders in Super Rugby, and has now moved on to Major League Rugby side Austin Gilgronis in the United States. Following four titles in New Zealand with Crusaders, Simon decided to take on a new challenge in Texas, joining up with head coach Sam Harris whom he had previously worked with at Honda Heat in Japan. Simon is here to talk about the growth of Major League Rugby, the cultural differences between the sport in traditional rugby nations and the USA, and how there are 300 million rugby fans who just don’t know it yet.

In addition to life in Texas at a fledgling side, Simon also discusses how to set up a successful preseason training camp, including the values to establish, the key objectives, and reflection on the group and their achievements the previous year. One of these training camps proved controversial as the team trained with the US Navy SEALs – as observers on social media waded in with opinions on whether that style of training was appropriate. However, Simon here explains the background behind it all, including the planning and preparation that led to it happening.

This background included the psychological element to the training camp, including how to get players into a routine of accountability, communication, and responding to effective leadership. Simon also talks about how to build trusting relationships between coaches and the team to allow this to happen, plus what the markers of a successful preseason can be. For all this, hit the play button now to get the real truth behind this viral story.

This week’s topics:

• The growth of Major League Rugby

Angus featured on episode #343 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed -

• What adaptations come from eccentric focused training

Check out the full episode with Angus here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/eccentric-training-the-why-when-and-how/

This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.