

On Coaching with Magness & Marcus
Steve Magness
Coaches Steve Magness and Jon Marcus team up to bring you an insider’s view on coaching. Taking you inside the thoughts and conversations that usually occur behind the scenes. They bring a diverse background having both worked with athletes at the collegiate and professional level. They hope to bring a mixture of science, old-fashioned wisdom, and a touch of philosophy to help understand the process of coaching and maximizing endurance performance. For more information visit www.ScienceOfRunning.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 4, 2022 • 1h 5min
Episode 175: Fast Losers-Racing vs. Time Trialing
Racing is a skill. How do we get comfortable in a pack? Running from the front, or perhaps stuck in the back? How do you deal with the rising tension of a tactical race? Steve and Jon discuss all of this in more in helping your athletes develop the skills of racing! If you haven’t…

Jun 20, 2022 • 60min
Episode 174: How to Do Hard Things: The Art of Suffering
How do you handle pain, fatigue, and discomfort? Do you look for a hole to step into or do you work your way through? In this episode, we discuss Steve’s new book Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and The Surprising Science of Real Toughness. The book is out and available now! If…

Jun 13, 2022 • 1h 8min
Episode 173: The Difference Between Extraordinary and Mediocre
The podcast discusses the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary tennis players, the importance of training based on the game being played, running races in challenging weather, and the pitfalls of overthinking in competition. It also emphasizes the importance of problem-solving and taking ownership in one's life.

Jun 6, 2022 • 1h 7min
Episode 172: The Importance of Leaving Room to Grow
One piece of advice I always give coaches is: Always have somewhere to go. The younger your athletes, the more important this is. We should leave room to develop and grow. In this episode, we take on the debate on whether we should maximize everything, or if we should leave something in the tank for…

May 31, 2022 • 1h 5min
Episode 171: The Headcase phenomenon: Stop Blaming Athletes for Poor Performance
“He’s a headcase!” We’ve all heard it as coaches. Maybe we’ve even said it. In this episode, Jon and Steve discuss why this is the wrong approach to take. It’s a self-limiting mindset, that allows the coach to blame the athlete, shirk responsibility, and in doing so defer their responsibility to help figure out what’s…

May 16, 2022 • 1h 9min
Episode 170: Everyone is an Outlier
We are all an experiment of 1! We often talk about individualization in coaching. In this episode, we talk about the contrast between applying your training program to a group, versus adapting your training program to the individual. We discuss how to let go of your preferred philosophy and try something different. Steve & Jon…

May 9, 2022 • 1h 2min
Episode 169: Developing Performance Flexibility: How to prepare adaptive athletes to deliver when it counts
If running is going bad do you feel crushed? In this episode, we discuss the importance of letting go, of diversifying your sense of identity, in order to free you up to perform. Steve & Jon Visit our Sponsor The Scholar Program is our one-stop-shop for all things coaches education. And we’ve added a new…

May 2, 2022 • 1h 7min
Episode 168: The Dunning-Krueger Effect on Steroids: How a Narrow World View Holds You and Your Athletes Back
How does your viewpoint impact your coaching? In this episode, we discuss how sometimes we get comfortable employing the same style of training, and it makes it where we aren’t open to considering or exploring new ideas. In this episode, we talk about how to keep open-minded, to adopt an explorers mindset Steve & Jon…

Apr 18, 2022 • 1h 2min
Episode 167: What’s worth doing even if you fail? — How to be brave, take risks, stretch your comfort zone, and avoid manufacturing certainty.
Often, in racing we play it safe. We don’t take the risk. We focus on times instead of competing. In this episode, we talk about how to be brave in racing. How do we train athletes to take appropriate risks, to go for it, to attempt the breakthrough. Steve & Jon Visit our Sponsor The…

Apr 11, 2022 • 1h 17min
Episode 166: Everything we got wrong coaching Women. And a few things we got right.
In this episode, we take on an important but difficult topic: the differences between coaching men and women. In this episode, we cover differences in biology and psychology, and how that impacts what you do in training. From handling bodily shifts and changes and creating appropriate expectations, to understanding the impact of comparison and competition.…


