NSCA’s Coaching Podcast

Mike Minnis, Director of Performance Nutrition and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Philadelphia Eagles National Football League (NFL) team, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, and guest co-host Jon Jost, a 27-year veteran collegiate strength and conditioning coach and Gatorade’s Team Sports Manager. This Gatorade Performance Partner Special Episode, highlights “The Power of Mentorship” and the importance of building quality relationships as the foundation of meaningful mentor and mentee experiences.  Find Mike on LinkedIn: Mike Minnis, Twitter: @MMinnis89, or Instagram: @MMinnis89 |Find Jon via email: jonathan.jost@pepsico.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“What is a mentor? What does that mean? And what does it mean to be a mentor? And I really think it's somebody that you can trust. I think that's important. I think it's somebody where there's mutual respect. And then I think someone that can provide you a vision.” 6:46 “And so when I look back at that, I think that’s such a beautiful thing because I think there’s got to be a level of comfort within yourself and within your role and your position before you can start mentoring people. Being a mentor isn’t just telling people what to do and having people work on XYZ projects and things like that. There’s a lot more to it.” 13:41 “But I would say probably to me, one of the biggest things is just to enter into the relationship or to approach the individual with the attitude of, what can I do for you? How can I help you? How can I assist? And that goes a long way, to approach a mentor or a coach with, hey, is there anything I can do for you? What ends up happening is you get an awful lot in return.” 24:12 “And I think it’s our job to give feed back. And it has to be honest feedback. And it has to be transparent. And just transparent communication all the time.” 29:17 “They’re a sponge. And they are learning all the time. And they’re looking at you as a professional and how you conduct yourself, whether that is showing up on time and being punctual or showing poise under pressure, being able to adapt to change. And I think also how you treat others. Treating others fairly. Treating others with respect, with compassion.” 31:20

Carmen Colomer, Director of Sport Science for the Philadelphia 76ers National Basketball Association (NBA) team, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about translating numbers into actions. Topics under discussion include periodizing athlete’s recovery in the NBA and how learning to code can help with data analysis and application. Find Carmen on Twitter: @CarmenColomer1 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“So I collect a lot of the data. I analyze it and then interpret it. So there's always the terms of inferences, like am I appropriately analyzing the data instead of understanding if there has been a meaningful change there as well? So I think that's where sports science comes in. Rather than just looking at, say, a percentage change, we can actually look at a few more high level statistics and understand when a change has occurred.” 5:20 “I think broadly speaking, with my role, it's translating the numbers into the actions. So it's sort of asking yourself, OK, well, what can this coach do with this information? So I think how you can get certain messages across probably becomes one of the most important parts of the job.” 7:27 “I think the last point is that in most sports or most of the literature you'd hear them talking about having 72 hours to recover post games, but unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. So I think we just sort of capitalize on, I guess, finely tuning things. If there's any low-hanging fruit, that's where we migrate towards first.” 12:00 “And there's no point of doing that and just collecting data for the sake of collecting data. And I think, in any organization, when you first come in, you need to be careful that you're not just trying 100 things at once. It's typically an iterative process. Implement one thing and maybe fine tune that for a little while before implementing more.” 20:27 “I don't think anyone in sports science is ever right. I think you just become less wrong.” 22:42

Thadeus Jackson, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Green Bay Packers National Football League (NFL) team, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about the importance of a support system in your career. Topics under discussion include the dynamics of working with professional athletes and how strategic data collection can make your organization better. Find Thadeus on LinkedIn: Thadeus Jackson | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“If you're going through things, call us. Ask him what do you recommend if you got a situation or problem going on. If you were trying to do some things different, what is your philosophy and your beliefs on that. So I think that, overall, everybody can help everybody in this business. And it can just only make things better. Like I said, develop those relationships, make things better, and just keep expanding.” 9:28 “So have some good foundational principles from a training perspective and from just more administrative perspective That you hold your hat on. And keep in mind those things may change. You may get a different job. You may go down a different avenue. Those things may change some time.” 11:44 “You got to have balance in life. You can't be all work, work, work, work, work, work, work. And you got to get yourself time, some rest time, recovery. We tell the players that. We all know that. You gotta get some adequate rest, recharge, and recovery. So I think that goes with the profession as well.” 15:43

Dr. Lorena Torres Ronda, co-editor of the new NSCA’s Essentials of Sport Science textbook, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about creating the textbook and how the Certified Performance and Sport Scientist® (CPSS®) certification will benefit the field. Topics under discussion include the use of technology in sport and the specific role that strength coaches play in supporting better performance and recovery decisions. Find Dr. Lorena Torres Ronda on Twitter: @lorenatorres07 | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“And I always explain innovation like technology are very related and linked. But technology is only a form of innovation. So the fact that you are using technology doesn't mean that you are doing innovating. Because it's more about how you use information and how you want to analyze information.” 11:56 “…learning is what matters, and knowledge, getting knowledge is what matters. Technology is the accelerator to that knowledge, or helping in that journey.” 12:35 “So I don't think we should drive programs, putting the emphasis, or the focus point in technology. But how we use technology in our favor to get knowledge and keep learning. That is what I try to explain when I talk about technology innovation and sport science.” 12:44 “I still amazes me how some devices are big, heavy, I wouldn't like to use it. So why we're pushing the players to do things? We should be pushing the companies to listen to us and do things more user friendly. So a lot of transparency, a lot of empathy with the athlete, a lot of education with the athlete, this can help you in this, this, and this way.” 17:40

Dr. Josh Secomb, lecturer in exercise and sport science (strength and conditioning) at the University of Newcastle, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about being a self-aware and authentic coach. Topics under discussion include finding new areas to employ different skillsets as practitioners, the value of training progressions and understanding your athletes, and his unique opportunity to research and coach surfers. Find Dr. Secomb on Twitter: @37Seco | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“We want them to be doing it in 12, 15 years time. And still doing what they need to do, making those gains along the way. And still finding it enjoyable. Then I can't hammer them too early.” 00:05 “So because essentially in surfing, the more water you displace-- the harder you push on the bottom of the board, the more water that is displaced. The judges determine that is how much power there is behind the maneuvers.” 18:03 “We know from all of our GPS, time-motion research that pretty much no matter what type of wave it is where you are in the world, so whether it's Europe, Hawaii, Australia, pretty much 50% of the time that you're in the water surfing, it's paddling. So, again, we know from that 20 to 30 hours. So it's 10 to 15 hours a week just of paddling. Again, there's a lot of issues around-- also just wear and tear and sort of fatigue around the rotator cuff.” 22:59 “I can be too talkative. So I said, I need to be aware that particularly when giving feedback, giving cues. Because whilst I try to practice and make sure that I keep my cues as minimal as possible not to confuse them.” 42:37

Ali Kershner, Director of Creative Strategy for Art of Coaching, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about overcoming adversity on the road to win the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Women’s Basketball Championship at Stanford University. Topics under discussion include the inequalities found at the NCAA tournament, being true to yourself as a coach, and working outside of the weight room to help strengthen coach-athlete relationships. Find Ali on Instagram: @kershner.ali or Twitter: @alikershner | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“But our head coach Tara VanDerveer, she has a good saying, which I now completely buy into, which is to be at the elite level and to win a national championship, what she's now done quite a few times, so I feel like she has some ability to say this, you need to be good, you need to be healthy, and you need to be really lucky.” 5:07 “I'm definitely more of a observer, I am more of a like, let's talk to the athlete at an individual level, try to figure out what they need, where they want to go, and then try to problem solve from there.” 19:12 “It was just like, had I not given them choice, had I not empowered them on the front end to have some autonomy and have some leeway, I personally would have really had a hard time dealing with this year and all of the nuance and gray area and change that occurred.” 24:53 “…it's truly all of the periphery, it's the interpersonal, it's the communication, it's knowing how to negotiate, it's knowing how to build your resume. And all of these things we don't learn until we need them. We learn them in almost like it's not a proactive approach, it's a reactive approach.” 35:52 “Coaching is storytelling. It's relating to somebody else and putting a message in terms they'll understand.” 33:45

Drew Hammond, Army Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) Program Director at Fort Bragg, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about differences between tactical and collegiate strength and conditioning. Topics include the Army H2F Program, tactical athlete programming, and how to pursue military strength and conditioning positions. Find Drew on LinkedIn: Drew Hammond | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“But I think the most unique part about it in hindsight, and this is what I tell people getting into the field, is that I was born and raised in a non-American strength and conditioning system. So some of the decisions that I make now, some of the conversations we will probably get into here, I think are based off of not having grown up professionally in the traditional route, collegiate professional sports stateside.” 2:41 “And so the attempt of H2F is to again, replicate that model, but on a much broader scale. So instead of dealing with a group of maybe 100 athletes that at a very specialized unit, you're now dealing with hundreds, if not thousands of athletes.” 5:34 “And those are things that I think a lot of guys in this industry struggle with because we're still thinking of this problem in a traditional paradigm, where macro cycles, mesocycles, micro cycles, undulating-- all these buzzwords that we all know. But I think one thing that we haven't really thought through or been equipped to think through, is this critical thinking piece of-- if none of these things hold true that I think should fit into this model, how do I react to that? What does my training look like?” 11:14 “But what I found was that there are ways to influence the development of an athlete beyond reps and sets.” 18:20 “I mean, I was fortunate in my previous position, to have an excellent relationship with my injury prevention folks. And there were days where we would be working side by side on the floor with an athlete and you couldn't really differentiate between who is the strength coach, who is the athletic trainer. And I think that's ideal.” 22:33

Dr. Patrick Ivey, Associate Athletics Director for Student Athlete Health and Performance at the University of Louisville, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about the transition from strength coach to a director role in administration. Topics under discussion include perceptions of strength coaches, emotional intelligence, and continuing to grow where you are. Find Dr. Ivey on his website: pativey.com | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“There's almost this WWE sort of aura attached to being a strength and conditioning coach. And if you're a good strength and conditioning coach, you know how to manage that. You know how to manage those perceptions and expectations, and what's reality. And it can be really fun to be the person that is a super hero to a lot of athletes.” 9:50 “Filling that void to be able to be an advocate for our sports medicine and nutrition staff, our strength and conditioning coaches. And it's something that I'm having to learn as well. Like how do I communicate with marketing, and all of the different areas that work in the athletics department.” 12:45 “So you might have an idea of what you want to get accomplished, and you've got to work towards that, but you got to be ready to adapt and adjust every day.” 26:05 “You have to take what's right in front of you, and deal with that situation as a leader in this position. So first and foremost, we got to be a leader in this position. Someone that is willing to learn how to communicate, and improve the communication. Written, verbal, body language. You have to be willing to learn in this position.” 26:37 “Research and science should be the basis of what we're all doing in health and performance, whether it's nutrition, research and science, sports medicine, sports performance, mental health, mental performance, the medical doctors. Research and science is the foundation of everything that we're doing.” 36:09 “How is it going to become habit forming, so that when we're developing leaders, how do we become better leaders ourselves? And hold ourselves accountable to that.” 40:12

Molly Binetti, Women’s Basketball Performance Coach for the University of South Carolina, and return co-host for the 100th episode of the NSCA Coaching Podcast, Scott Caulfield, Director of Strength and Conditioning for Colorado College, talk to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about coaching philosophy. Topics under discussion include navigating strength and conditioning careers, creating value, and building a better weight room environment for athletes. Find Molly on Twitter: @CoachBinetti or Instagram: @mbinetti22 | Find Scott on Instagram: @coachcaulfield | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“And then each year my career as I progressed, I knew that I was going to take a chance, not really knowing if that was exactly the route that I wanted to take. But I knew if I didn't go after it, I wouldn't know either way.” 10:32 “Because I think one of the challenges for all of us is that we don't really learn, and we're not taught how to navigate our careers, as strength and conditioning coaches.” 11:55 “And probably the first three or four, you're so laser focused on writing the best program, making sure your athletes are as physically prepared as possible. But then you really come to the realization that that's really the 5% of what we do.” 19:28 “But we've got to do a better job of just understanding that we have a shared humanity. And we are all more alike than we are different. And we can help each other out a lot more by continuing to share our stories, and connect with each other, and help each other grow in ways that traditional resources just can't.” 42:17 “And I think the hard part is realizing that you've got to be able to adapt and shift gears. And you've got to be able to show multiple sides of your personality and know when and where to have conversations.” 47:02 “I think the approach that I've taken, and maybe it's as simple to sum up my philosophy, in general, is just human first and athlete second.” 49:33 “And the most success that you're going to have and find is when you are true to who you are, and you're not afraid to follow that, and being authentic. And that's a hard thing to do, when you're young, and you're still figuring out yourself.” 57:52

Matthew Ibrahim, Co-Owner of TD Athletes Edge, talks to the NSCA Coaching and Sport Science Program Manager, Eric McMahon, about using setbacks as a learning opportunity. Topics under discussion include creating a holistic approach to a client’s training by collaborating with other professionals, and the importance of deceleration technique and eccentrics in his programs for skill acquisition. Find Matthew on Instagram: @matthewibrahim_ | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or Twitter: @ericmcmahoncscsShow Notes“But we can do a really good job at properly, physically preparing our athletes through the right demands and tasks and skill acquisition in the weight room, if we load them appropriately, to be able to withstand those rigors and demands of sport and those stressors.” 20:39 “But I do believe we cannot forget about the deceleration or forced absorption drills, which I believe go in the plyometric department, right before the actual force production.” 21:27 “I think people-- when they think plyos, Eric, they're thinking oh, wow, let me do a box jump. What about just jump and land? Like pogos. Let's do a pogo jump. But that's plyos. You have to crawl before you sprint, right? So people forget about the crawling, the walking, before we actually sprint.” 27:40 “…but eccentric is the one that I think has the most credence in terms of forcing someone to develop skill acquisition from a motor control standpoint, but also movement quality standpoint.” 34:40