This week on the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is speaking to Senior Director of Performance Science at the Kansas City Royals, Austin Driggers. Although often flying under the radar, Austin is highly respected in the field having come up through the US Olympic Committee system working with winter sport athletes under the tutelage of Brad DeWeese. This episode kicks off with Austin explaining how the Royals have developed a system which assesses each player throughout the year to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This then helps him and the rest of the team design programmes to keep each athlete fit and competing across the gruelling 180+ game season. We also chat about how he has tapped into and learnt from other environments such as business. This is a fascinating part of the episode as sport can often seem in a bubble with people looking in but not much going the other way. If you're aim is to reduce injuries with your athletes, check out this episode with Austin and press play on your chose podcast player. Main talking points - What assessments Austin uses Gold standards of practice What has entered and exited their assessment process Maturation of sports science in baseball Integrating sports science with data science, biomechanics etc Learning from other enviroments What Austin has learned from the world of business

This week's Pacey Performance Podcast sees Rob speaking to Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach at New South Wales Institute of Sport, Nathan Spencer. So what has Nathan got to do with NBA players? Well, prior to moving back to Australia,  Nathan spent 4 years at the Orlando Magic, firstly as a Performance and Rehab Coach before progressing to Head Strength Coach. In this episode, Nathan reflects on his time in the NBA, opening up about a difficult transition from Australian pro basketball. He dives into his preconceptions about NBA players and what they should and shouldn't be doing before detailing the assessments that formed the foundation of their programme. We discuss assessments that came and went during his 4 years in Orlando as well as the metrics that become valuable to him and the rest of the performance team. We finish off the conversation by getting into the detail about how NBA players train on the road, how they maintain such high physical capacity whilst in the midst of a packed schedule. If you want to know how to develop an NBA player, click play on this episode with Nathan. Main talking points -  Reflections on Nathan's time in the NBA - the realities Understanding what the athlete needs to improve physically Choosing the the most appropriate assessment Things to consider - prior injury, technique etc Influence of the draft Answering three important questions What physical characteristics do athletes need to possess to play in the NBA and YOUR way of playing? Expression vs capacity - what NM properties comprise these characteristics? What training methodologies impact these properties? Interventions based off these assessments How did things change across your time there as influences and philosophies changed?

Johann featured on episode #415 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - How to maximise impact with data The importance of communicating data in interesting ways Why the simple option of data visualisation is often best Check out the full episode with Johann here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/data-science-data-visualisation-and-evaluating-the-effectiveness-of-a-programme/ This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

This week on the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is speaking to Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Joey Guarascio. Joey has previously held positions at Colorado State, and Ole Miss before landing at FAU in 2020. Deceleration testing and training is getting more and more attention both in research and in practice, and rightly so. Joey has recently written about his thoughts on deceleration and its this topic Rob chats with him about in this episode. We kick our discussion on how he integrates some of Damian Harper's deceleration assessments into his larger battery of tests at FAU. Joey emphasises the need for specific deceleration assessment versus thinking that a change of direction test will tell us what we need to know. We then chat about building the qualities needed to improve deceleration ability, firstly in the weightroom and then out on the field. Joey explains how he uses eccentric training at various different levels to build the engine and then the drill he uses on the field to refine technique. If you're looking to include deceleration assessments into your testing battery or want an insight into what exercises translate to improved deceleration ability on the field, give this a listen. Main talking points -  Why deceleration so important How to test deceleration ability The qualities underpinning better deceleration performance On-field strategies to develop a player's deceleration performance Off-field strategies to develop a player's deceleration performance The use of eccentrics Sub-max eccentric exercise prescription Supra-max eccentric prescription How to maximise eccentric training strategies in team environments

Håkan featured on episode #272 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - How to programme the load used in resisted sprint training? The impact heavy loading can have on acute and chronic sprint technique Using resisted sprint training with team sport athletes Check out the full episode with Håkan here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-272-hakan-andersson/ This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

This week on the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is speaking to Dr. Shaun McLaren about all things RPEs and subjective measures. RPE is no doubt the most used tool for coaches to understand an athlete's response to training. But just asking an athlete for a number to rate how hard a session was has lots of moving parts. When do you ask them? How do you ask them? Do you provide the scale on paper so they can see it? What scale are you using? Is the scale valid? How these questions are answered can have significant impact on the quality of data we get. And we all want to maximise data quality and not waste our or our athlete's time. In this episode, Shaun gives some great recommendations how we can make the "right" decisions when setting up a system to collect RPEs and other subjective measures. But before he does that, Shaun gives us a great overview of why he thinks RPEs are so valuable and the science behind their being. The type of scale used has sparked a number of Twitter debates about the type of scale that is used. So we dive into that black hole and Shaun explains why using a valid scale is so important and some of the downfalls coaches make when using non-validated options. If you want to maximise the RPE and subjective data that you are collecting, press play on the episode with Shaun on your chosen podcast player. Main topics - What does this data really tell us? Effort, fatigue etc? What common mistakes do people make when collecting RPEs which lead to them removing it Recommendations for collecting good data The importance of using validated scales The impact of using colours, different descriptors and emojis on scales How can those with minimal budget get an idea of their athlete's training status by using RPE/sRPE? How can they maximise their time investment? How well do athletes rate what we are asking them to rate?

On this week's Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is speaking to Dan Baker, Lachlan Wilmot and Jonathon Weakley. This episode was originally recorded in 2020 as a Live roundtable but because the information on velocity based training (VBT) was so incredible, we decided to release it as a podcast. Dan, Lachlan and Jonathon are most certainly authorities in this area from both a practical and academic perspective. All three of these guys know this area inside out. Firstly we start by tackling a few misunderstandings when it comes to VBT and then chat through why each of the guests decide to implement VBT in their different environments. There seems to be a disconnect between the science of VBT and its application. On paper it looks great but implementing it in practice seems to be a barrier to some coaches. Is it the technology available, is it athlete buy-in, is it friction when it comes to programming? Jonathon gives his view here given his recent review of this area in his paper, Velocity-based training: From theory to application. If you are interested in this area and haven't read this article, its free to download on Researchgate. We finish off this episode with a quick fire round of questions, tackling some of the common issues when interpreting the science and translating that into practice. If you're looking for in-depth information on velocity based training, listen to three experts in this area on this episode of the podcast. Main talking points - What is velocity based training? Why is it misunderstood? When VBT shouldn't be implemented with a programme? Why is there a disconnect between VBT science and application? Is bar path really an essential metric to track using VBT technology? What metrics to focus on to maximise bang for buck How can we help coaches successfully implement VBT in an applied setting Using velocity loss

Luke featured on episode #357 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - Symptoms of tendinopothy Managing tendinopothies with isometric training Managing tendinopothies with blood flow restriction training  Check out the full episode with Luke here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/rethinking-rehabilitation-tendon-health-and-the-rise-of-blood-flow-restriction-training/ This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.

In the week's episode of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob talks to Nathan Heaney, The Conditioning Consultant. The topic of the discussion is one that often spills over into arguments on social media and that's maximal aerobic speed (MAS) versus tempo running. In this episode Nathan clarifies what MAS actually is and isn't as well as giving us an insight into the different ways of getting MAS data. That is followed up with him giving us a great insight into how he individualises aerobic training based on MAS. The second half of the episode has Nathan giving the other side of the argument and explaining the pros and cons of tempo training. Although not Nathan's preferred choice, he explains the adaptations that coaches may be seeking by using tempo running (vs MAS) and why this actually goes against much of the literature on aerobic training with elite athletes. Talking points - Importance of aerobic fitness for team sport athletes What MAS is and isn't • Different types of HIIT and when each one may be used Common misconceptions and over focus on certain methods (Eurofit) How can we use MAS to prescribe conditioning sessions for team sport athletes Where does anaerobic speed reserve fits in What do we mean by tempo running? What adaptations are practitioners looking for when employing tempo running and what are the realities? Its use for track athletes, endurance athletes and team sport athletes Why would a practitioner live in one camp (MAS or tempo) or the other?

Jurdan featured on episode #266 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where she discussed - Why hamstring injury rehab has been fixated on knee flexor strength Why sprint mechanics need more attention The role of the trunk in hamstring injuries Check out the full episode with Jurdan here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-266-jurdan-mendiguchia/ This episode is supported by RockDaisy, the only FREE AMS on the market. AMS Lite features reporting capabilities, questionnaires and forms, alerts and communication, data sharing, data visualisation and calendar views.