Coach Em Up Podcast

Dr. Ashley Dwyer, a pharmacist turned functional health and nutrition coach, shares her journey from bodybuilding and chronic underfueling to hormone health advocacy. They explore endocrine burnout, female athlete fueling, reverse dieting, and why “normal” labs can miss dysfunction. Ashley also unpacks PMOS, individualized treatment, supplement hype, creatine, and practical foundations for women’s health.

A wide-ranging Q&A on collegiate basketball strength and conditioning. Topics include NCAA time limits, balancing court work with lifting, coach salaries, online coaching credibility, shin splints, eccentric quasi-isometrics, hypertrophy for durability, sleep tracking, AI programming, NIL culture, athlete monitoring, and the ultimate bear-fight debate.

Tim Riley tackles Apex’s biohazard rules, expansion plans, and why the competition skips weight classes. He revisits sobriety, fatherhood, OCD, and the leap from hardship to building a training empire. Expect safer sprint and broad-jump progressions, Xavier Worthy’s athleticism, carbohydrates, and two spectacular coaching disasters involving a plyo box and a treadmill.

Alec Blenis, hybrid athlete and coach, returns to discuss chasing a sub-2:30 marathon while building serious muscle. He covers 75-mile training weeks, working alongside elite marathoners, high-carb fueling with mountains of orange juice, and sodium bicarbonate’s disastrous side effects. The conversation also explores backyard ultras, HRV, treadmill running, hybrid programming, and whether manufactured suffering is overrated.

Check out Jason on socials! @Jason_rotger @jasonrotgerUse code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemupHead over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 offGrab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.comSpeed and performance coach Jason Rotger joins Tim Riley to break down speed training, sprint mechanics, and vertical jump training the right way. From a near-fatal BMX crash at 15 to Division I decathlon at FIU, Jason's story is as wild as his coaching methods. He dropped his own 100m from by ditching heavy squats, and he'll tell you exactly why your weight room obsession might be killing your speed.Jason Rotger went from BMX national rankings to pole vaulting, then earned a D1 scholarship as a decathlete at Florida International University. Along the way, he dealt with ankle surgery, a torn labrum, a supraspinatus tear, and a sprint plateau that had him squatting 435 lbs at 175 lbs bodyweight and still running an 11.8 hundred meter. The fix? He stopped squatting and started sprinting. That single shift dropped his time almost immediately.This episode covers the how to run a faster 100m debate head-on, the real role of plyometrics for sprint speed, timing gates as a non-negotiable coaching tool, 40 yard dash start technique, and how to improve broad jump distance fast. Jason also breaks down decathlon training volume, pole vault physics, and why sprint coaches need to invest in timing equipment for their athletes. He also opens up about completing his first full decathlon post-college without injury. You only lose when you quit.Produced byQ6 Mediahttps://q6.media00:00:00 - Introduction00:02:06 - BMX Racing Career and Near-Fatal Crash00:11:28 - Transition to Pole Vaulting00:19:14 - D1 Decathlon at FIU and Injury Streak00:27:36 - First Full Decathlon and Process Mindset00:31:00 - Mental Grit and the Rocky Influence00:34:49 - Sprint Plateau and Heavy Squats00:39:45 - Coaching Collegiate Sprinters to 25 mph00:44:49 - Vertical Jump Training and Volleyball Athletes00:48:25 - Coaching CrossFit Athletes for Combine Events00:52:54 - Combine Timing Systems and Hamstring Injury Risk01:02:14 - Pole Vault Physics and Apex Targets01:12:09 - Hottest Takes on Speed Training01:16:02 - Authentic Brand Building and Event Swaps01:20:05 - Three Pieces of Advice for Performance Coaches01:22:02 - Sprint Coach Rant01:25:41 - Overrated vs. Underrated in Athletic Performance01:30:43 - Unsolicited Advice#SpeedTraining #SprintMechanics #VerticalJumpTraining #CoachEmUpPodcast #Decathlon #PoleVault #JasonRotger #AthleticPerformance #Plyometrics #Podcast

Check out Emmanuel on socials! @MatadiUse code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemupHead over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 offGrab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.comEmmanuel Matadi, three-time Olympian and one of the most jacked sprinters on the planet, joins Tim Riley on the Coach 'Em Up Podcast to break down sprint science, recovery, the Enhanced Games controversy, and what it actually takes to run a 9.95 at age 35. From Liberia to the Olympic blocks, Matadi's story is as wild as his 40 time in Timbs.Matadi didn't start taking track seriously until his junior year of high school. He was too busy playing football, wrestling, and figuring out how to survive as a Liberian immigrant in Minnesota. Then he casually smoked the fastest kid at his school in a race and the rest wrote itself.On this episode, Emmanuel and Tim go deep on how to run faster in the 100m, why most youth sprinters burn out before they ever peak, and how the old-school method of running 400m repeats until athletes puke is the opposite of what athletes need. Emmanuel breaks down his phase-by-phase sprint cues, why tense muscles are slow muscles, his love of resisted hill sled work over overspeed, and how 8 hours of sleep a night is the ultimate recovery tool.They also get into the Enhanced Games, where Matadi ran 9.95 at 35 years old and had to address years of steroid accusations head-on. They also explain the science behind fast twitch muscle fiber training and why preserving Type 2X fibers into your 30s and 40s matters more than any 5K you'll ever run.Produced byQ6 Mediahttps://q6.media00:00:00 - Introduction00:01:15 - Matadi's Background00:06:23 - High School Football, Wrestling, and How Track Started00:11:08 - New NCAA Eligibility rules and NIL00:17:56 - JUCO Grind vs. Pro Sprint Programming00:27:26 - Trackflation, Youth Burnout, and Why Off-Seasons Matter00:32:27 - The Mental Side of Sprinting00:36:22 - Racing in Three Olympics00:43:16 - 100m Race Strategy, Acceleration, and Sprint Mechanic Cues00:46:58 - Recovery Protocols, Weight Management, and Off-Season Lifting00:52:21 - Line It Up 40 Tournament and the Enhanced Games Experience01:03:22 - Longevity, Fast-Twitch Fiber Training, and APEX Philosophy01:15:37 - APEX Miami Breakdown01:19:38 - Crocs 40, Phase Cues, Bulgarian Split Squats, and Plate Marches01:28:43 - Youth Mechanics, Peaking in Long Seasons, and Rant n Rave01:37:06 - Unsolicited Advice and Closing#EmmanuelMatadi #CoachEmUpPodcast #SprintTraining #HowToRunFaster #EnhancedGames #SprintMechanics #FastTwitchTraining #TrackAndField #ResistedSprinting #OlympicSprinter

Q Willey, DPT and former UNC lacrosse champion who coaches COD and return-to-performance, breaks down change of direction vs reactive agility. He explains deceleration biomechanics, COD testing and deficit calculation. Hear his four-level COD framework, how to bridge weight-room qualities to the field, and why reaction-light circus tricks are not real perceptual-cognitive training.

Brian Kula, veteran performance coach and founder of Kula Sports Performance, with 27 years turning athletes into speed specialists. He discusses common speed-training mistakes and how to organize the weight room for raw sprint development. He explains safely introducing sprinting to general populations and shares how mentorship and career systems like ETS Performance scale coaching impact.

Jon Heck, elite strength coach and former D1 football player, breaks down the real science behind PEDs with a no-BS, medically grounded lens. He covers who actually uses steroids, oral vs injectable risks, kidney and insulin dangers, growth hormone effects, dangerous fat burners like DNP, peptide gray-market issues, and practical phasic nutrition and recovery topics.

Ashley Kowalewski, collegiate S&C coach at LSU and former thrower who favors isometrics and eccentric work. Erica Lowrey, ex-collegiate volleyball player turned S&C coach focusing on tendon health and volleyball performance. They discuss isometrics for tendon stiffness, eccentric overloading, fixing jumper's knee, building volleyball strength, and coaching young staff and interns.