The Principles of Performance

  In this episode, Eric and Mike answer and discuss questions submitted by our listeners including: -Split vs Full Body Routines -Techniques for Developing Punching Power -Programming Reps and Sets for Power Exercises for Explosiveness -Power/Plyos/Speed/Agility Training for clients over 40 -Energy System Development -Training to Avoid Pulled Hamstrings -Case Study – Challenges Improving the Leg Raise

Dr. Adam Wright – Director of Mental Performance – Washington Nationals Adam is a high-performance and executive coach, consultant, and educator who serves a broad range of elite performers whose craft demands peak performance in extreme, volatile, and high-stakes environments. He is privileged to work with athletes across various individual and team sports, including elite high school, collegiate, national and professional levels. In addition, Adam also serves business executives, law enforcement and military professionals, creatives and performing artists, and medical professionals. While coaching in such disparate performance arenas as the front office of the NFL, MLB, the European PGA, MLS, Hollywood, and Wall Street, he notes several shared characteristics amongst elite performers: a fierce commitment to self-knowledge and feedback, crystalized passion, purpose, and principles, grit, and a relentless drive toward deliberate practice in the pursuit of uncommon excellence.   Dr. Nick Holton – Co-Director of Human Flourishing & Optimal Performance Coach Dr. Nick Holton’s work focuses on helping individuals, teams, businesses, and organizations become better version of themselves through the application of the cutting-edge science of human flourishing, a synergistic development of both peak performance and overall well-being & fulfillment. Nick currently serves as a private coach and consultant, working with individuals and groups ranging from professional athletes, NCAA programs, educational institutions, and fortune 500 businesses. He is also a peak performance coach for the Flow Research Collective and the Co-Director of Human Flourishing for the Shipley School. His work international, having worked with clients, given talks or delivered trainings across the U.S. and Europe, India, Australia, Uganda, Singapore, Mexico, South America and many more.   For more information visit: https://www.theantifragileathlete.com

In this episode we are thrilled to welcome Lee Taft, known to most simply as “The Speed Guy”. We discuss Speed, Agility and Fixing Youth Sports. Lee is highly respected as one of the top athletic movement specialists in the world. In the last 30 years he has devoted the majority of his time training multi-directional speed to all ages and abilities. He has spent much of this time teaching his multi-directional speed methods to top performance coaches and fitness professionals all over the world. Lee has also dedicated countless hours mentoring up and coming sports performance trainers, many who have gone into the profession and made a big impact themselves. Since 1989, Lee has taught foundation movement to beginning youngsters and helped young amateur athletes to professional athletes become quicker, faster, and stronger. Lee’s entire philosophy is based on one of his most notable quotes, “Learning athletic movement correctly from the start is the foundation for athletic success.” With the release of Ground Breaking Athletic Movement in 2003, Lee revolutionized the fitness industry with his movement techniques for multi-directional speed. His innovative approach to training has impacted how athletic movement speed is taught. Lee brought to light the importance and fine points of the “Plyo Step”, “Hip Turn”, “Directional Crossover Step” and athletic stance. According to Lee, “Speed and agility done right is about making sure we marry the natural movements athletes have with effective and efficient body control to maximize speed and quickness”. Lee has been asked to speak at numerous strength and conditioning and sports performance events across the world and has produced numerous instructional videos and courses in the area of multi-directional speed and movement training. In addition, Lee has written several eBooks specifically on movement techniques and speed development.   For more info, check out www.leeetaft.com

Dr. Charlie Weingroff is one of the most sought-after professionals world-wide in physical therapy and athletic performance. He is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a Certified Athletic Trainer, and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has worked with countless A-List celebrities, professional athletes, as well as the general population. Charlie is currently based in the West Palm Beach, Florida area with but also has offices in NYC and surrounding areas. Charlie is formerly the Physical Performance Lead and Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Canadian Men’s National Basketball Team, which currently tops all foreign countries with a total of 20 active players in the NBA. He often lectures overseas often, and his relationship with Beijing Yanding Trading Company has brought him through mainland China for the last 5 years. Previous roles Charlie has held have been Nike Executive Performance Council, Lead Physical Therapist for the United States Marine Corps Special Operations Command, Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, and Director of Athletic Development for the Roddick-Grunberg Tennis Academy. Charlie has consulted for teams in all major North American sports as well as Manchester United and Manchester City in the English Premiere League. His Training = Rehab series is often discussed as a thought leading model that brought to light the value of medical, fitness, and science professionals all working together as one staff or unit. For more info on Charlie go to: www.charlieweingroff.com

Gray Cook is practicing physical therapist, a orthopedic certified specialist, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and an RKC kettlebell instructor. He is the founder of Functional Movement Systems, a company that promotes the concept of movement pattern screening and assessment. His work and ideas are at the forefront of fitness, conditioning, injury prevention and rehabilitation. You’ll find him lecturing on these topics several weekends each month, worldwide. Gray received his graduate physical therapy education at the University of Miami School of Medicine with a research focus on orthopedics and sports rehabilitation.   https://www.functionalmovement.com/

Dr. Michael D’Agati was graduated Cum Laude honors from William Paterson University with a Bachelor of Science in 2001 and was the sole recipient of the Exercise Physiology Honors award. In 2005, he was graduated Summa Cum Laude honors from New York University with his clinical doctorate in physical therapy.  As a DPT student, he was awarded the APTA Leadership Conference Scholarship Award (2002), the NYAPTA Student Participation Award (2004) and the distinguished Samuel Eshburn Service Award for superlative and extraordinary service and leadership by the Dean (2005).  He has served as a physical therapy resident mentor in a post-professional orthopedic physical therapy residency program, a Master Clinician and Guest Lecturer in a DPT program since 2007.  In 2022, he was graduated from Rutgers University with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Health Sciences and inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society.  As a Ph.D. student, he was awarded the W. Paul Stillman Endowed Scholarship Award (2009), a pre-doctoral fellowship (2010) and the Ellen Ross Memorial Scholarship award (2016). Michael practiced as physical therapist from 2005 to 2018, mostly in an academic medical center, as a Board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist and certified as an orthopedic manual therapist.  His institution awarded him an Advanced Skills award (2013), Research Awards (2014, 2015, 2016) and two internal pilot research grants (2013, 2015).   He continues to work in the rehabilitation department of the academic medical center but as an administrator, managing performance and outcome measurement and data analysis.  He also chairs the quality improvement program and serves on a national quality subcommittee. Michael has held faculty positions at a university and medical school and has lectured nationally.  In 2013, Dr. D’Agati won the Clinical Educator of the Year from The New England Consortium of Academic Coordinators of Clinical Education.  Since 2020, he has published two peer-reviewed journal articles and his dissertation:  The effect of lumbar thrust joint manipulation on hip and knee muscle strength in patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome:  A randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

How do you choose the best exercises for your training program? In this episode, Eric and Mike discuss their thought process for how they select the exercises for their program and why.

How to write effective training programs based on your facility as well as considerations for setting up your own training facility.

Top 10 Mistakes in Programming (And how we have made every one of them!) 1 – Too many exercises 2 – Overcoaching 3 – Too complex or complicated to be well understood and/or executed 4 – Too biased to strength and neglecting other variables 5 – Lack of appreciation for tempo, intent and force dynamics 6 – Poor Incremental Dosing – Unclear model and milestones for regressions and progressions (Minimums) 7 – Not adaptable to the setting or individual’s personality 8 – Not tracking enough and giving clients ownership 9 – Not adaptable to current state of readiness 10 – Not asking key questions and what gets missed