Just Fly Performance Podcast

Today’s show is with Alex Effer, owner of Resilient Training and Rehabilitation.  Alex has treated and trained a variety of clients, from professional and amateur athletes, to a wide spectrum of the general population, ranging from those with certain medical conditions, to postoperative rehabilitation and individuals with chronic and complex pain.  Alex has experience as an exercise physiologist, a strength and conditioning coach, and has consulted with a number of elite and Olympic organizations.  Alex has taken a tremendous amount of continuing education courses and is on the leading edge of modern training theory. There are loads of different continuing education courses and theories, each carrying methods to train athletes from perspectives on breathing, corrective exercise, and exercise variations, to name a few.  It is in the process of getting to the core principles that define these many training systems, that we can gain a greater level of wisdom to make better decisions in exercise selection and training organization. For today’s podcast, Alex speaks on his continuing education journey, and core principles that many current courses in human performance/assessment and biomechanics tend to have in common.  He speaks on how to dial up, or down, points of contact in a movement to help an athlete achieve better mastery over a skill or core human function. In the second half of the show, Alex gives some analysis and progressions with functional training movements, such as crab walks, and bear crawls, and then talks about how some “meathead” oriented exercises are actually more functional than we give the credit for.  Finally, Alex talks about exercises that either “push an athlete backwards in the chest” or “push them forwards” from the back, and how those ramifications can go into, not ony the way we select exercises, but aso the way that we periodize and organize our training programs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:15 – Common trends that Alex found in his educational process, having taken “all the courses” 13:30 – How Alex looks at force vectors in training and movement, and the difference between walking and running when assessing gait and looking at these force vectors 20:15 – Where Alex has gotten most of his information in training when considering PRI versus other educational systems (such as DNS or SFMA) 22:15 – Why it may be a faulty method to try to compare babies to adults in terms of baseline movement patterning 30:00 – How to transition a client from 12 points of contact, to only 2, and how to use the extra points of contact to improve one’s movement ability when athletes may struggle with standing motions 44:30 – Assessing crab walks, and explaining (or regressing) why athletes might not be able to lift their hips up while performing the crab walk 51:15 – Why some “fitness/bodybuilding” movement can have athletic movement applications, such as a tricep kickback or arm curl coupled with head turn 56:15 – How athletes doing exercises in a manner that “feels good” often times is an optimal method of them doing that movement, versus whatever the commonly accepted technical model for that exercise might be 1:00:00 – Alex’s theory on periodizing training based on early, mid and late stance oriented movements 1:12:15 – Viewing training intervention as either “pulling someone back” or “pushing them forward” “When you take every single course, you kind of get mind-blown by them the first time… and then you hit a client that totally goes against all the algorithms and everything they say, and you have to pivot” “(all the continuing education courses) believe in some sort of respiration and how that affects the body” “You got two phases of respiration, so you got inhale which is more external rotation, and exhale which is more internal rotation.  You also have the three phases of gait, two of the phases are external rotation so you’ve got to believe there is some semblance with inhalation, and then you’ve got one of the phases, mid-stance which is more pronation, so you have to believe that is going to be more exhalation” “If this person is limited in internal rotation, they must be limited in exhalation in that area” “As I pronate my foot, I’m going to have an internal rotation force go all the way up near my head” “If I can’t get the air in certain parts of my ribcage, or certain parts of my pelvis, then I am going to induce more muscle tone in that area… I now have to use a muscle strategy in order to pull the air in; I use my lats, I use my pecs, I use my SCM, I use my traps” “Go into the anatomy app, and remove all the muscle, and start with “how do the bones move” “So, position, breathing, gait, and force vectors: To me, those are the main things that I think about based on all of the different systems I’ve taken that influence me today and dictate how I may program and what I’m looking at from an assessment standpoint” “Internal rotation is a downward force into the ground” “Why do we pronate? Why do we internally rotate? Because we are hitting a ground that does not visibly deform when we hit it? “What I really like from DNS, or what I took was the developmental sequences (lying on your back, side, quadiped, half kneeling) going from 12 points of contact to the ground, to just having 2, and how to manage that” “You can get so sucked into the algorithm that you take thinking out of the equation” “With every exercise I do on the ground, I try to have the feet involved” “When I’m doing an assessment I ask, “how far forward on the toes is this person”? “For me, the supine is going to help me gain range of motion, to be able to try something with more range of motion, and has more gravitational demand to it” “Toe off and heel strike are more of a horizontal force vector” “(In crab walking) I’m not able to flex my one shoulder as I’m walking forward; I can’t bring my arm forward because that rib cage doesn’t have the ability to flex… they are more sagittal plane driven and they don’t have the ability to rotate” “Let’s say you do a crawling sequence, first you do a forward bear crawl, then a reverse bear crawl, then a crab walk, and see how that improves (because that is going to open up the manubrium).  Then if that still doesn’t work, side planks are going to help, tricep kickbacks are going to help” “Bicep curls (with a simultaneous head turn) open up space in the upper back” “Doing lower reaching or heel elevation exercises can bring me into a heel strike bias, which is going to open up some shoulder flexion, internal and external rotation, and then I can move onto a mid-stance phase; force production and strength” “The first phase of an off-season is more heel strike, it’s more hypertrophy, let’s build some muscle mass, let’s restore range of motion; and then we move into more strength in the second phase… that phase is more mid-stance, I need to start producing force” “Landing exercises are going to be more heel-strike bias, because that is deceleration” “BFR, how expansive is that? That’s going to promote some external rotation for sure in those areas” “In order to understand programming, at the top of the page, write heel strike, mid-stance, toe-off.  Then write down all different lunges, then squats, then deadlifts, then presses” “A flexed thorax (more heel strike) is something we should be searching for… most people are being pushed from behind and going onto their toes, so we need to push them back.  I am asking, am I trying to pull this person back, or am I trying to push them forward?” Show Notes Supine cross connect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb1bVUNx-OM   Walking cross connect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgugFWN3Gao   The manubrium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eltLjT8j1r0   Erik Huddleston’s chart on training expansion and contraction About Alex Effer Alex Effer is the owner of Resilient Training and Rehabilitation, a name that emphasizes Alex’s unique approach to fitness, which is one that combines both aspects of normal fitness and rehabilitation principles to achieve long- lasting pain free results. Alex uses his comprehensive knowledge and passion in exercise science, autonomics, respiration, rehabilitation, and biomechanics to develop programs that promote injury prevention, sports performance, and rehabilitation through quality of movement. Alex has gained extensive clinical and practical experience treating and training a variety of clients from professional and amateur athletes, high profile executives, older adults, individuals with certain medical conditions such as Stroke, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Congenital Heart Disease, Postoperative rehabilitation and individuals with chronic and complex pain. Alex’s experience includes: Head Exercise Physiologist at Ace Sports Clinic Inc; Director of Return to Performance and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Varsity Baseball, Women's Lacrosse, and Golf team at the University of Toronto; Consultant for the Varsity Blues Football, Hockey, Swimming Team; Head Exercise Physiologist for Balance Physiotherapy; and consultant to Olympic Swimming Athletes, and NBA players. Alex earned his Bachelors of Kinesiology from the University of Toronto, obtained a Post-Graduate Certificate in Exercise Science for Health and Performance from Niagara College and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, and EXOS Performance Specialist.

Today’s show is with Lance Walker.  Lance is the Global Director of Performance at the Michael Johnson Performance Center where he designs and implements performance training programming for local and international youth, collegiate, and professional athletes in all sports. Prior to MJP, Lance served as Director of Performance Training at Integrated Athletic Development, as well as having served as an assistant strength coach with the Dallas Cowboys, as well as the University of Oklahoma.  Lance is also a current Registered Physical Therapist in the state of Texas, giving him a unique blend of skills and lenses by which to observe athletic performance. In looking at what makes athletes operate at a high level, we can’t go too far without looking at the actions of the pelvis and spine.  As both a strength coach, and physical therapist, Lance has detailed knowledge of both the anatomy and fine-tuned function of this region, as well as more global concepts, linking it to sprinting and general strength training. For today’s show, Lance takes us on a journey of hip function, and how that function ties into sprinting and athletic movement.  He goes into pelvic dynamics in the weight room (including some important points on split squatting and the hips), as well as how using horizontal resistance combined with vertical exercises can drive unique and more specific adaptations.  Finally, talks about some key strength movements to achieve better pelvic function for speed and resiliency. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:30 – How Lance looks at the action of the pelvis in sprinting and human movement 19:00 – Pelvic dynamics in bilateral sagittal plane activity (squatting and deadlifting) versus sprinting, and helping athletes determine their own individual squat depth 21:30 – How a rear foot elevated split squat can create lumbo-sacral torsion that could provoke injury in the pelvis 34:30 – How to help athletes who are not reciprocal in the pelvis improve their pelvic action in sprinting, and Lance’s view on core and trunk training for athlete 38:00 – The role of hip flexors in training for speed and athletic performance 50:30 – How adding horizontal band resistance can dynamically change strength training exercises 54:30 – The idea of hip separation in fast sprinters (front knee and back knee distance) and if this is a good idea to specifically train in practice “That pelvis motion, rotation and listing, that’s my focus now, both from a dysfunction standpoint and a speed standpoint” “The body needs to set up and list the pelvis to be fast” “Optimized motion should probably be the approach, and let’s just not stabilize the tar out of it and make everything move around this stable, fictitious pelvis” “It’s like you are setting the spring so when you throw it, it abducts, externally rotates and extends, and when it hits the ground, it’s still rotating” “There was this incredible increase in pubic symphysis issues… there was this mad rush to load this split stance stuff, because, nobody hurt their back anymore, and “it’s more functional”” “Hip flexor strength is a thing!” “Just stretching the hip flexors, and strengthening the abdominal wall doesn’t help (anterior pelvic tilt) those people” “When you are doing your leg drop series, don’t put your hands under your pelvis” “(Regarding the supine leg drop test without the low back arching up) The one’s that have a lot of issues, the bottom 10-20%, chronic hamstrings, spondy, all those things, yeah that’s a test (that failing fits with getting hurt more often)” “That’s a key concept in hamstring rehab is training the hamstring while training the hip flexor” “We worked with elite distance runners at MJP, and the more elite they were, the more positive their Thomas test was (poor hip flexor mobility)” “Fast freaks are not putting a lot of pressure into the ground after neutral… the ones that suck, they are the ones still putting pressure into the ground after center” “These elite sprinters are not hitting directly below their body, they are hitting 6” in front of their body” “I’m anti-deceleration, we are doing a dis-service by teaching others to slow down” “All of us that get to work with athletes, or patients, we are shepherds to this adaptation, we are not driving adaptation.  Don’t kid yourself; the human body, that is the magic maker” About Lance Walker Lance Walker is the Global Director of Performance at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas where he designs and implements performance training programming for local and international youth, collegiate, elite, and professional athletes in all sports. Lance previously served as Director of Performance Training at Integrated Athletic Development and was responsible for the training and/or physical rehabilitation needs of over 150 active professional athletes from the NBA, NFL, MLB, PGA, CBA, and CFL. Lance served three seasons as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach with the Dallas Cowboys. Prior to joining the Dallas Cowboys, Lance held strength & conditioning positions at the University of Oklahoma and Casady School, Oklahoma City, where he worked directly with athletes across many sports, including football, basketball, track, golf, gymnastics and wrestling. Lance also holds a Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy and a Master's degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Oklahoma. He has contributed to over 20 professional publications in sport science and presented at over 15 national conferences. Lance is a former Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a current Registered Physical Therapist in the state of Texas. Combining his sports medicine and rehab sciences background, with 23 years of performance training experience, Lance is recognized globally as a leading expert, innovator, and pioneer in youth athlete development, high-performance training systems integration, and multi-disciplinary sports performance training methodology.

Strength coach Christian Thibaudeau discusses power training complexes and athletic skill development. He explores periodization and assigning the use of complexes, as well as creating the purest possible adaptation for athletes. Thibaudeau also talks about training stimulus and his double and triple progression systems. The talk focuses on what not to do, rather than what to do, when it comes to training. Other topics include the influence of genetics on athletic development, performance herbalism, progressive overload, velocity-based training, strength training methods, and the relationship between volume, muscle mass, and athletic performance.

Today’s show is with Gavin MacMillan, sports performance coach and founder of Sport Science Lab. Growing up in Toronto Canada, he participated in 7 high school sports, and received a tennis scholarship from San Jose State University.  In 2001 Gavin founded Sport Science Lab where he has experienced a great deal of success training athletes and teams at every level in multiple sports. I’ve personally had a mixed relationship with barbells in the course of my own athletic career.  I’ve had positive (squatting sub-maximally 1x a week being a staple in my best athletic year), but also several negative experiences, one of which was my surprise at age 20, I had spent fall of work increasing my best clean from 225 to 245lb, yet high jumped only 6’1” the first two meets of the year (my PR from high school being 6’8”).  In my first few years as a college track coach, I learned quickly that an athlete who learns to lift barbells better is not necessarily a faster athlete. When I was 21, I stumbled across a book called “Pro-Bod-X” by Marv Marinovich and Edyth Hues.  The training methods within were like nothing I’d ever seen, incorporating a lot of unstable surfaces, and they didn’t use heavy weights.  Doing the workouts for just over a month, I was pleasantly surprised by just how easily I was moving and jumping in my pickup basketball games. Gavin MacMillan does not use barbells in his training program, and yet gets incredible results on the level of building speed, reactivity, jumping ability, and tremendous resistance to injury.  He has a strong use of balance and proprioception based movements in his training program.  Regardless of where you stand in closeness traditional weightlifting/lifting maxes as a form of progress in a program, you will be a better coach by understanding Gavin’s approach to training athletes, as well as his own experiences as an athlete that led him there. On the show today, Gavin shares his background as an athlete, his results using a non-barbell based training program, concepts on force-production training without using barbells, foot training, and the role of athletic balance training that can be merged with resistance training means for big improvements in reactive outputs. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 6:15 – Gavin’s athletic background (which included ballet and figure skating), and how he got into sports performance coaching 12:30 – Gavin’s experience with traditional barbell weight training, and how he ended up going away from these methods in his own training, and with athletes he worked with 21:15 – Taking a step away from traditional barbell training, and how Gavin was able to transform the injury-reduction factor of a professional Rugby team, setting the record for the fewest player minutes lost 29:15 – Gavin’s answer to the question on, how to train an athlete who needs to get generally bigger and stronger, without using traditional barbell methods 33:00 – Gavin’s thoughts on how to train strength and force for people who don’t have access to advanced training machines 46:30 – Talking on what one sport might be able to offer another from an explosive perspective, such as the impact of figure skating in Gavin’s upbringing 52:00 – Elements of a fast transition to the ball of the foot 54:00 – How squatting with a foot on a balance disc fundamentally changes the exercise adaptation, soreness, and athleticism 1:04.15 – The various surfaces that Gavin uses with his athletes, that optimizes their interaction between the foot and the ground 1:10.30 – How Gavin uses isometrics to produce high rates of force development, without generating large amounts of muscle soreness 1:20.30 – Ideas on the rhythm of moving a load in training “What a gift (ballet) was, because now I was taught balance, I was taught flexibility, I was taught to control my body in space.  And then in figure skating, I really had to find different ways to balance on small blades, and I was skating circles around people” “If a system (such as barbell training) is relying on your form being perfect to work, that’s flawed from the outset” “To be able to handle my own bodyweight at a higher velocity is imperative” “In rugby for instance, the scrum is 2% of the game, so I’m not going to spend the entire training platform more than he’ll actually need it” “You are not going to improve the ability to move an external load unless you move external loads; have you ever tried to bale hay in your life? I’d rather a guy is flipping tires than back squatting” “A human can only produce force properly at certain joint angles” “We’ll incorporate a balance element into almost all the strength work we do” “The foot is so important because it’s a suspension system that the rest of the body has to stretch against, and the foot has flex as well” “I don’t think people understand what balance is; balance is keeping your body in a centered position, no matter how it’s challenged” “Great athletes control their limbs in space, in every range and plane of motion better than other people” “Last year’s combine, every one of our linemen (vertical jump) went up 6 inches in 6 weeks, in whatever we had them for” “People don’t’ understand that having just a standing vertical, this is not going to correlate to a moving vertical” “If you don’t have the balance to control yourself at slow speeds, you sure as heck aren’t going to have the balance to do it at high ones” “The best athlete not only can create contact well, they can avoid contact better” “In figure skating, you had to hold these bent knee positions, and propel yourself the length of the ring to pass your exam” “Your body is going to try and find the most efficient way it can (in athletic movement, including squatting)” “We don’t just have strength at any position, we have optimal power positions (90 degree angles)” “That’s one of the thing we really talk about when we talk about baseball hitting; you can’t have your head moving when you have objects being thrown at you at 100 miles per hour” “DOMS is created from heavy eccentric loading, which our body never does, think about it.  Eccentric range, we either ballistically load it, or we hold it isometrically, we never load it slowly eccentrically, never happens” “Where the strength business is going to go, is it is going to go where you need to increase the velocity of the load eccentrically” Show Notes SSL Foot Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khuz-KRg2HY   SSL Strength Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF1wNq-A5hc   About Gavin MacMillan Gavin grew up in Toronto, Canada. While in high school he participated in 7 sports, ice hockey being his main and favorite. He received a tennis scholarship from San Jose State University and graduated with a B.S. Degree in  Economics. In 2001 he founded Sport Science Lab where he has trained athletes and teams at every level in multiple sports. He has also been approached by various sporting teams and committees around the world to advise on conditioning and rehabilitation strategies. Of late he often works with boxing legend Freddie Roach preparing fighters for events, Over the last 21 years he has accumulated a noticeable client list which includes Miguel Cotto, Will Blackmon, Troy Polumalo, Manny Pacquiao, George St.Pierre, Dominick Cruz, Will Blackmon, LA Sol women soccer team ...the list goes on and on!

Guest James Baker, expert in long-term athletic development, discusses topics such as early specialization vs. early engagement, integrating movement and play into training, transitioning young athletes, implementing strength training, optimal windows for strength training, peak height and weight velocity, and progression of depth jumps and landing mechanics.

Today’s show is with athletic performance coach, Erik Huddleston.  Erik is currently the Director of Performance at Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training (IFAST) and a performance consultant for a number of professional baseball & basketball teams. Erik previously spent time at Indiana University & Texas Tech University with the men’s basketball teams. So often in the course of using barbell methods for athletic performance, there are often movements that are considered sacred cows of training.  There also tends to be common thoughts as to how these lifts should be performed, such as all athletes needing to squat heavy “ass to grass”.  In reality, athletes come in all shapes, sizes and structures.  Athletes of varying shapes may respond to various types of barbell lifts differently, and there are ways to optimize training for performance, and robustness when considering structural differences of athletes. Advanced and elite athletes will tend to utilize the feet, and stance in different ways as well.  Knowing how an athlete is leveraging the gait cycle, and what points they are particularly biasing to achieve their performances, is important when thinking about which lift variations we might want to utilize with them over time. For today’s episode, Erik takes us on a deep dive into squatting and how it relates to the “reversal ability” of athletes, given their individual shapes and structures.  He also relates the phases of gait (early,mid,late stance) to squatting and jumping concepts, to help us better understand how to give athletes what they need at particular points in their career.  Erik cover important elements of single leg squatting as well, in this highly detailed chat on performance training. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:00 – Some of the things Erik has learned from spending time in both the collegiate and private sectors of training 9:00 – Things that Erik looks at in training video that he may be addressing in the gym setting 15:00 – Managing squatting and squat training in light of the various phases of stance 25:20 – How to “bucket” athletes based on need in squatting, in terms of depth and heel-elevation, particularly those with wider hips and narrower shoulders 35:00 – How an athlete’s body shape and structure will tend to determine their functional ability and biomechanics 49:00 – Self-selection principles when it comes to strength and power exercises and coaching 52:00 – Shin angle principles in light of squatting and reversal power 55:00 – How single leg differs from double leg training in terms of pelvic-sacrum action and pressurization 1:00.30 – What Erik is looking for in the stances of the foot when an athlete is jumping or dunking 1:05.30 – Why banded work can cause athletes to “over-push” in jumping, and the impulse related nature of “point zero” in a jump 1:11.30 – More talk on jumping in regards to single leg jumping and accessing late-stance, and why advanced athletes tend to be more late-stance dominant 1:22:00 – Erik’s take on athletes who are early-stance dominant, and how to help them overcome resistance, create compression, and ideally get to mid and late stance more easily “An ability to translate through the phases of gait is something that I look at (when assessing video)” “Some kids are naturally not going to be able to get lower in that athletic stance” “Gait is a constant falling and catching yourself as you go forward” “If the tibia moves forward and your heel is on the ground, you are moving towards the middle phase of propulsion…. as soon as the calcaneus breaks the ground you are in a later phase of propulsion” “(Internal rotation) doesn’t allow for a lot of general movement qualities… or a fluid variation in movement.  IR is compression, IR is force production, it is not necessarily fluidity of movement, it is meant to block things from happening; to compress and produce force” “If someone is at that (max IR) point, and you ask them to change levels, then there is going to be a compensation” “A lot of the higher end athletes I work with are biased towards this middle or late propulsion, so for them to squat, I need to bring the ground up to them (through a slant board)” “Having only half of your foot, or just your heel on the slant, doesn’t put you in an early position (with heels on plates, the bias is still towards IR)” “If they are spending too much time, and they are too shoved forward into middle and late stance, access to early (stance) is key” “3rd world squatting, sitting on your heels is very early stance biased” “Compensation is not a poor choice, you just need to have resources outside of that compensation” “From a strategic standpoint it is difficult to get (narrow shoulder/wide hip individuals) to come out of the bottom of the squat with quality…. Putting them in a position that doesn’t allow much descent will allow them more ascent… I have 3 or 4 girls who do hack squats really really well; I don’t allow them all the descent of their pelvic floor that they would generally have” “The rebound is a completely different position than the going down portion is (of a squat)” “I’m looking for those first couple of inches (of the squat reversal) as it can be out of the bottom; I think that giving them that constraint, that raises the floor up a little for (narrow shoulder/wide hip), so they are not pre-disposed to over-dropping into a jump” “The unique thing about the tibia and the sacrum is that they actually move together” “The goal is to have smooth, fluid transitions between (all movements in the gym)” “If you look at the typical basketball athlete, they are very output driven, not very input driven… they are springy people” “That early (heel) position is really important for athletes to get into in jumping, because it gives them enough yield and expansion quality to get that energy capture before they are going to turn that around” “(The bottom of a jump) is max internal rotation, maximal force production… at that point heel breaks the ground, and every transition from that point until their toe comes off the ground is going to be ER” “If I need to bring an athlete back on their heel at all, how far back is that, and how do I manage that? “Muscle itself is biased towards IR because there is a compressive nature about it” Show Notes Michael Jordan guarding Allen Iverson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O04iA1Pack About Erik Huddleston Erik Huddleston is currently the Director of Performance at Indianapolis Fitness & Sports Training (IFAST) and a performance consultant for a number of professional baseball & basketball teams. He previously spent time at Indiana University & Texas Tech University with the men’s basketball teams.

Ben Askren, former MMA fighter and wrestling coach, discusses his transition from multi-sport athlete to wrestling specialist. He emphasizes the importance of creativity and mental process in training athletes. The podcast covers topics such as studying elites, teaching individual style, unconventional methods for strength and power, and the evolution of wrestling. Askren also delves into the mental element of sports, including dealing with anxiety and strategies for consistent performance.

Today’s show is a Q&A with Joel Smith.  We are back again for a series of your questions and my best answers.  Today’s show is by theme “The Speed Show” with a ton of questions on speed, acceleration, max velocity, muscle-relaxation speed, and even working with distance runners.  Sprinting is always going to be a synthesis of so many elements of human performance, and is one of the highest-reaching challenges for any coach in athletic coaching (which is why it’s also such a rewarding puzzle to solve). Outside of the common speed questions; I also had an interesting question on how to assess “swings in the pendulum” of training methods.  The awareness by which we get to our own coaching biases is important, so I’ll dig into some ideas there as well. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 1:59 – How to fix heel-striking in athletes 12:56 – A step by step process on helping athletes improve hip extension and delay knee extension 19:50 – Thoughts on flat feet being an advantage since you enter mid stance more quickly? 22:16 – The top 2-3 faults, issues I commonly coach as it pertains to start out of blocks, acceleration in those first 2-3 steps, and common drills I utilize for correcting said issues. 33:57 – How to periodize maximal velocity work. Once intensity is at the max and assisted/overspeed is touched upon sporadically, where do we go from there? 43:18 – Thoughts on setting up a weight room/jumping/sprinting program for high school XC runners. Training age with me 1-3 years. 50:44 – How do you balance your stance/beliefs when training philosophy and paradigm swings like a pendulum? 56:54 – In regards to the Soviet research on muscle relaxation times being the differentiating factor between their elite and non-elite athletes, what are some methods to train relaxation times? Show Notes Dave O’Sullivan Slouches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYD4Jx_IXSw Usain Bolt Warming Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9GxrrSDFg&t=163s About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance coach 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.  Joel was formerly a strength coach for 8 years at UC Berkeley, working with the Swim teams and post-graduate professional swimmers, as well as tennis, water polo, and track and field.  A track coach of 11 years, Joel coached for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club for 7 years, and also has 6 years of experience coaching sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault and multi-events on the collegiate level, working at Wilmington College, and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. Joel has coached 2 national champions, multiple All-Americans and school record holders in his time as a track coach. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance at Rio in 2016. In 2011, Joel began Just Fly Sports with Jake Clark 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 show is with Jake Tuura.  Jake currently works at Velocity Training Center as a strength and conditioning coach. Prior to Velocity, Jake was a collegiate S&C coach for 7 years.  Jake is the owner of jackedathlete.com where he teaches athletes and coaches principles on muscle gain, jumping higher, and rehab from jumper’s knee. Training for things like vertical jump and sprinting are enjoyable to discuss, but we need to always be zooming out into more global concepts of performance.  For example, you may tweak every ounce of your training to help an athlete jump 4” (10cm) higher, but what if that athlete just got into a really good community where athletes were doing various dunks, and found that simply being in that environment unlocked 4” of jumping gain, that was eventually able to filter over into their permanent results?  Or perhaps look at the formation of jumpers who are obsessed with jumping as youths, doing dozens, if not hundreds, of jumps each day? Also, understanding how to be consistent as per staying healthy is not often considered as it should be, particularly for jump-related sports. Jake Tuura has been on a journey of sport performance exploration for years, and offers grounded solutions for those seeking muscle gain, performance increase and pain reduction.  On the show today, Jake talks about what he has been learning since leaving the university sector in strength and conditioning, as well as updated knowledge in the vertical jump training space.  Jake also talks about how to use games as the ultimate warmup (and workout, when combined with sprints and jumps) for athletes, and finished with some great points on knee pain and rehab, and points where isometric exercises might not be the panacea that it is so often offered as. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:56 – Some of the last things Jake learned as a college strength and conditioning coach 16:31 – What Jake has learned working in the private sector of sports performance since moving beyond his university coaching job 18:44 – Thoughts on using games with pro-level players versus younger athletes 25:29 – Things that Jake has been compiling in the last few years in regards to vertical jump training 38:21 – What Jake has noticed in elite dunking athletes in regards to their training history and jumping volumes 46:22 – The importance of using sport play as either an advanced warmup or potentiation for jumps or even sprints 51:59 – Thoughts on penultimate length in a running two leg jump” 58:13 – Looking at isometric training, versus kinetic chain training and general strength conditioning when it comes to knee rehabilitation and injury prevention “When you are a college strength coach, you think that everyone really wants to be in (the weightroom)” “You are warming up their bodies, but are you thinking of how you are impacting their brains?... they are like zombies” “If you are a college strength coach, there are 1000’s of kids who will do your job for free… and you have to impress the head coach” “I think we need to start vertical jump training with the objective starting point of physics, and then you can create a good plan” “Can you get stronger by just jumping? Yes you can; but… some people are just not built for that, and they need extra training… sometimes freak athletes, they may not need the extra training, they were just born for it” “(In regards to knee pain) Jumping as high as possible for a decently high volume… would a caveman do that?” “The pro-dunkers, would jump every day (growing up) and as they get older and increase outputs, they do not jump every single day; and they always get into strength training” “Having the people to do dunk sessions with is huge; we had like 10 guys at an LA Fitness out here one Friday night, and everyone’s vertical jump was up, like 4 inches” “If you can start playing pickup basketball for 30-60-90 minutes, that is the best warmup to dunk” “If you can stimulate the system with gatorball, you will feel a lot better going into your sprints” “You just do not know the story to be giving these canned technique tips to people; they shouldn’t exist” “Isometrics, heavy isometrics like a leg extension, are going to be huge for the patellar tendon, and the quad tendon, and Osgood Schlatter, is will be great for that, but that heavy isometric will not be good for patella-femoral pain; someone who has general knee pain” “Iso lunges, Spanish squats, all those are going to give you immediate (tendon) relief.  If you do those exercises, and you don’t have immediate relief, then you probably don’t have a tendon issue” “There is correlation from having lack of dorsiflexion and having jumper’s knee” About Jake Tuura Jake Tuura, MS, CSCS currently works at Velocity Training Center as a strength and conditioning coach. Prior to Velocity, Jake was a collegiate S&C coach for 7 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Superior (2014) and his Masters from The College of St. Scholastica (2015). His website: jackedathlete.com helps athletes gain copious amounts of muscle, jump higher, and rehab from jumper’s knee.

Today’s show is with Angus Ross.  Angus is a senior strength and conditioning specialist with High Performance Sport New Zealand, with a particular interest in track and field athletes.  He has worked with a number of sports at an elite level within the NZ system, including sprint cycling and skeleton in recent years. Angus has a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Queensland, and is also a Winter Olympian in his own right having competed at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games. Angus has been a two time previous guest within the first hundred episodes of the podcast.  In the time since we last talked, Angus has traveled the world and has spent time with some leading edge strength coaches, such as Jerome Simian.  His curiosity and angles of looking at performance training has made him a truly enjoyable guest to have on this show time and again. One topic I’ve heard in the world of training is “the spinal engine”.  I have been working extensively in the last year in the realms of getting the ribs and spine to work alongside the hips more effectively in sprinting, throwing, jumping and overall athletic movement.  When Angus told me he had been doing a lot of research into spinal engine work over the last few years, I was excited, and when Angus actually went into the details of it all, I was truly inspired.  Angus’s work connects so many dots in regards to concepts I’ve been thinking of on my own end. On the show today, Angus speaks about his take on spinal engine theory, rhythmic movement, sprint (and iso hold) asymmetry and how some athletes may need to take advantage of the movement of the spine more than others.  He also talks about long and short hold isometrics, and proprioception training.  This was a phenomenal chat with lots of immediate ideas for any athlete or coach. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.  For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to www.lostempireherbs.com/justfly View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:15 – Spinal engine theory vs. a leg spring model 11:26 – How the mobility of spine and ribs can benefit you as an athlete 15:42 – Resources and inspiration for exercises and drills to improve spinal mobility and range 19:09 – A discussion on asymmetry in sprinting 21:43 – Benefits of looking at data & the role of intuition and feelings in martial arts 24:58 – Rhythm in Athletes: What you can learn from trying martial arts and other rhythmic sports 32:17 – Who can benefit from spinal engine theory? 34:21 – Asymmetrical training & What Angus learned from training with Jerome Simian 48:38 – How and why to use long duration isometrics in training 54:03 – Static stretching before sprinting & Pros and cons of extreme iso holds 57:11 – Insights on short isometric holds 1:01:07 – Thoughts on proprioceptive training: Weight lifting, joint proprioception, and utilization of balance and stability “The concept (of spinal engine theory) is that if you laterally flex a lordotic spine, is that it induces an axial torque and a rotation of the pelvis” “When you look at things through the spinal engine lens, it’s really very different to the leg spring model.” “It begs the question: Should we be training lateral flexion per say and is range of motion a critical factor?” “Most of our elite runners are short trunk, long legs and that’s what we say is the normal, but if you don’t have that, can you compensate by becoming a different style of runner and using what you do have to facilitate your ability to try and relate?” “You need the hardware to be able to run that software and if you can’t get them in those positions…you’re gonna give them coaching cues all day long and it won’t do them any bloody good because they can’t get in those positions anyway.” “I’ve found the lateral drills to be fantastic with helping people eliminate crossover running.” “I have this feeling like, the people who really generate that asymmetry and really work the spinal engine, you can’t help but think that they have an innate sense of rhythm… and I don’t think you can generate that whip of momentum change in asymmetry without some rhythm, without some ability to sense your body.” “My working model currently is: Probably everybody can benefit from [spinal engine] to some level. Some might find it more advantageous than others.” “There’s some recent papers… that have shown there really isn’t any objective effect or positive effect in people that are more front-sided or more rear-sided. You run with what you’ve got, I guess, and it doesn’t seem to be this dramatic effect that maybe we’ve been told to expect from these sprint training models.” Show Notes Kevin Mayer 100m Dash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wip9pNj6Fi4 Quadratus Lumborum Training Methods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDgUP2k_TKI About Angus Ross Angus is currently employed by High Performance Sport New Zealand in a power physiology and strength and conditioning role, primarily working with track and field. He has worked with a number of sports at an elite level within the NZ system including sprint cycling and skeleton in recent years. Angus has a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Queensland and has also worked within the Australian institute system with stints at both the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. He is also a Winter Olympian in his own right having competed at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games.