Felipe Eichenberger | Pro-Level Coaching Insights

After fifteen years with the Denver Nuggets, Felipe Eichenberger has witnessed the evolution of National Basketball Association (NBA) performance firsthand. The demands of an NBA season include 82+ games, relentless travel, and the challenge of staying fresh through it all. Eichenberger reveals their post-game lifting culture, driven by the philosophy: “If it’s a hard day, let’s make it hard.” Prioritizing compliance over hardware, he emphasizes flexible periodization and nailing the basics to meet each player’s needs — whether navigating injuries, tailoring programs to position demands, or microdosing training for longevity. At the heart of it all is buy-in, trust, and accountability. Eichenberger shares the importance of leveraging psychology, getting top players to set the tone for the team, and balancing consistency with creativity. With more jobs and awareness in NBA strength and conditioning than ever, this episode explores how to make an impact at basketball’s highest level.

Connect with Felipe on Instagram: @eichbra and LinkedIn:@felipe-eichenberger | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs and LinkedIn: @ericmcmahoncscs

Learn more about the National Basketball Strength and Conditioning Association (NBSCA), the Official Basketball Partner of the NSCA.

Show Notes

“We try to be specific as much as possible, position, size, and all those things… But if you go to the principles, so if you go to overload principle, how do you get stronger is by lifting weights. How you maintain strength is by lifting weights. So, we have to play with the volume and things like that, but you have to lift weights often.” 11:40

“You can only work with players if they buy into your program. If they don't, they can go somewhere else. Like they have enough money to hire somebody else. They have enough money to do those things in the NBA. But why does a player want to work out with you? What kind of buy-in are you creating with that player? It could be different things. Accountability, if you say you're going to do something, do something. Be there before the player. Like show the player that you want to work with that player, right?” 18:00

“You have to focus on the whole team. That's what strength and conditioning is. So, my belief is that you're going to train the player that doesn't touch the court, and then you're going to play the player the most minutes very similar. So, like you got to give a chance to the guy that's like, in our case, our 17th guy trains the same as the first guy that we have.” 26:30