Pacey Performance Podcast

This week’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Rett Larson, strength and conditioning coach for the German women’s national volleyball team. He’s previously coached the Dutch and Chinese women’s volleyball teams, and worked for EXOS Athlete Performance for seven years. Prior to that, he learned his trade coaching younger athletes in strength training between the ages of 8 and 18 in Southern California. Rett’s here to talk about warming up, cooling down, and why it can pay to coach younger athletes before moving on to adult-aged coaching. As well as the benefits of experience, coaches can really see how to engage with a group and notice the smaller performance details. With warming up, Rett is an expert in this field gives key advice on how to design effective warm ups, structure sessions, and why keeping things ‘messy’ can be more beneficial. Rett also discusses cool downs, again discussing how to structure such sessions, keep the coach’s own ego in check relating to athletes’ attitude towards them, and how to maintain attention once the main training session is over. He also provides some bonus advice on percussive therapy devices, and the ones he uses. To learn all this and much more, hit the play button now. This week’s topics: The benefits of coaching younger athletes before moving on to adults How Rett became the ‘warm-up’ guy The key to coaching effective warm-ups Why we need to warm-up Why coaches can keep warm-ups ‘messy’ rather than robotic How to structure warm-up sessions Ensuring flexibility through effective stretching Were stretching bands and activation exercises just a fad? Rett’s advice on cool-downs Percussive therapy devices, and the ones Rett uses

Sean featured on episode #364 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - How to measure rate of growth in youth athletes Making changes to a programme during growth spurts When NOT to make changes during a growth spurt Check out the full episode with Sean here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/working-with-youth-athletes-monitoring-maturation-biobanding-and-training-through-rapid-growth/ 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’s Pacey Performance Podcast guest is Matt Jordan. Throughout his career, Matt has consulted with more than 30 Olympic and World Championship medallists, and he frequently provides his expertise to high-performance sport organisations. Matt has been a strength and conditioning coach and applied sport scientist working with international athletes for over six Olympic Winter Games. In addition to being the Director of Sport Science at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary, Matt is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. On the podcast, Matt discusses a topic he wrote about in High Performance Training for Sports (2nd Edition) – efficiency of movement. Not only does Matt define what efficiency of movement is, but he also explains how experts apply it to training programmes. He also dives into the strength training framework for mechanical efficiency, and how isometric training should be adapted to apply to specific sports. Continuing the technical side of things, Matt also talks about loading for technical efficiency. Matt also talks about some of the psychological aspects of sport science, such as why coaches need to remember that they are ‘servants of performance’ and not become transfixed on their own particular way of doing things. In a similar vein, Matt speaks about how coaches can detach from irrelevant information and see a problem for what it is, and avoid the pitfalls of following the same model again and again. To hear all this insight and much more, hit the play button now. This week’s topics: What is efficiency of movement? Applying efficiency of movement to training programmes The strength training framework for mechanical efficiency Isometric training, and how specific exercises need to be for certain sports Why coaches need to remember that they are ‘servants of performance’ How to detach from irrelevant information and see a problem for what it is Loading for technical efficiency How to avoid the pitfalls of being transfixed on a specific model

Stu featured on episode #286 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - What are the underpinning characteristics of speed for team sport athletes How the underpinning characteristics differ for sprinters Why S&C coaches are more comfortable in the gym than on the field Check out the full episode with Stu here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-286-stu-mcmillan/ 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’s guests on the Pacey Performance Podcast are Dana Agar-Newman and Jeremy Sheppard. Dana is a senior practitioner at the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific, and a head strength conditioning coordinator at the University of Victoria. He has also worked in rowing and rugby, including with the Canadian women’s rugby sevens team at Rio 2016. Jeremy is a strength conditioning coach with Canada Snowboard, previously having also worked with the Canadian Sport Institute. The duo have recently written the jumping and landing training chapter in High Performance Training for Sports (second edition). Here, they discuss aspects of their research such as jump testing analysis and performance metrics, explaining the metrics to measure between differing sports and athlete levels. They also talk about tools to avoid, and whether to pursue variations in training. In addition, the pair also talk about jump sustainability and what works in different sports and for different athletes. This includes what to consider when developing jumping exercises, force vectors, and landing evaluations. When it comes to jumps training, performance development and analysis, this week’s guests quite literally wrote the book on it, so hit the play button now for all this insight and much, much more. This week’s topics: Jump testing analysis Tools to avoid due to their unreliability Differing sport-specific analysis metrics Differing metrics based on athlete experience and level The process for developing jumping exercises Arguments for and against lots of variation in training Force vectors and choosing exercises based on vertical and horizontal Jump sustainability, and the programming that influences it Landing evaluations and differences between sports What landings can tell us about other training variables, e.g., deceleration

Robin featured on episode #335 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - How to determine the most appropriate recovery method What we need to understand to be able to do that What methods give the biggest bang for buck Check out the full episode with Robin here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-335-robin-thorpe/ 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’s guest on the Pacey Performance Podcast is Vern Gambetta. It would be no exaggeration to say it would easier to list the things Vern hasn’t done – he’s currently the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems and has been a conditioning coach for several MLS teams, the Nike Oregon Project, Chicago Bulls, and was conditioning consultant to the US Men's World Cup Soccer team, plus much more. Vern’s experience spans 53 years at all levels of competition after starting out in teaching. From here, Vern explains the value in the ‘old school’ attitudes and methods, and how that can translate into modern day coaching with skills that are now often in short supply. He also outlines how to strike a balance between being a specialist or generalist coach, with an interesting debate with Rob on how many coaches can be too quick to label themselves in a certain way. Vern discusses how social media can be highly misleading for younger coaches, promoting a ‘perfect’ way of doing things that cannot be replicated in competition. However, he also talks about the opportunities available for coaches now that weren’t always an option. For all this and much more, hit play now to hear what someone who has done it all has to say about the industry. On this week’s podcast: How Vern started in teaching, and how he calls upon that experience now How Vern believes younger coaches can tap into that educational background Whether it could be better to be a specialist or a generalist The importance of being adaptable in training and not turning athletes into “robots” Avoiding hamstring injuries from research dating back to the 1970s The influence of track coaches on team coaches when it comes to developing speed Why not to believe social media when searching for the “perfect” drills Potential opportunities for younger coaches in the next 5 to 10 years Where to find more advice from Vern’s vast experience

Enda featured on episode #287 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - Is an ACL injury a brain injury? What assessments should we use through the return to play process? The importance of eccentric qualities to reduce the risk of ACL reinjury Check out the full episode with Enda here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/pacey-performance-podcast-287-enda-king/ 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.

Rob is joined by Joey Bergles on the Pacey Performance Podcast this week. He’s the Director of Strength Conditioning at a high school in Dallas, giving him incredible insight into the developmental progress of younger athletes as they grow into older teens and eventually adults. This follows his time coaching college football at Texas Tech University, and women’s soccer and softball at Utah State as lead strength coach. Overall, this experience means Joey has seen coaching from the perspective of numerous skill levels, ages and abilities. Joey’s knowledge will be invaluable for anyone coaching children at any level, for example how experiences at a young age can have a real knock-on effect and the five main movements that act as a start point for 12-year-old athletes. What’s more, Joey talks about how to keep kids engaged during training that can be perceived as boring or repetitive, and the games that will keep training fun. There’s also insight into how to build speed in younger athletes. To learn all this and much, much more, hit the play button now to hear real expertise in how to coach children and young people. On this week’s podcast: The growth of high school strength and conditioning knowledge through social media Why Joey decided to coach younger athletes rather than collegiate level How experiences at a young age will influence an athlete’s future The five main movements that act as a start point for 12-year-old athletes How to keep kids engaged when training is repetitive and initially unrewarding How to provide quality advice when coaching larger groups of young people The story behind Joey’s “sarcastic” Instagram posts about sport-specific squats Methods to build speed in young athletes The games to use in training that build a sense of engagement

Keith featured on episode #348 of the Pacey Performance Podcast. This #bitesize episode takes a great clip from that episode where he discussed - How tendons function and what is their job Should tendon stiffness always be the goal? How should we best train tendons for performance? Check out the full episode with Keith here - https://www.sportsmith.co/listen/training-tendons-implications-for-sprinting-jumping-and-rehabilitation/ 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.