The Adaptable Athlete Podcast

Ian Renshaw, a QUT professor and pioneer of the constraints-led approach, shares the story behind his award-winning career. He revisits backyard football and cricket, why isolated drills fail to transfer, and his shift from information processing to ecological psychology. He recounts a homemade umpire experiment, collaborating with Keith Davids, and coaching his son toward professional cricket.

What does a stopwatch really measure? This discussion reframes speed through ecological dynamics, exploring how sport, surfaces, opponents, equipment, and individual traits shape athletic movement. It examines why raw acceleration can fail to transfer into competition and connects speed with perception, affordances, and problem-solving. Coaches will find a fresh look at developing adaptable speed through representative challenges.

Duarte Araújo, researcher in skill acquisition who sees skill as context-driven potential. Alan Dunton, theorist of metastability who studies flexible movement states. Garrett Baker, New York Mets specialist who uses variability-first drills for pitchers. They discuss what skill really is, the role of adaptable movement states, and practical variability drills and weekly planning for performance.

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when a strength coach spends nine years unlearning everything she was taught about "correct" technique?Molly Binetti is the Women's Basketball Sports Performance coach at the University of South Carolina, where she's built a program around a really high player availability rate and a training philosophy that runs counter to how most strength coaches are taught to operate. She brings a variability-driven, athlete-centered approach to a field that still leans heavily on uniform technique and control, and the conversation goes deep on movement, motivation, and the limits of data.Topics covered:Why "pretty" isn't the goal — the case against cookie cutter technique cues and what actually happens when athletes are allowed to move differentlyRebuilding her coaching philosophy — what changed after her first year at South Carolina and why the dictator coaching model didn't workSelf-determination theory — the three psychological needs behind real athlete buy-in, and why most coaching problems are human, not technicalVariability as injury prevention — how training in a wider range of positions plays into her program's track record on player healthA contrarian take on tech — why she's skeptical of force plates, GPS, and the broader data obsession in strength and conditioningIf you coach in a setting where "the way we've always done it" gets treated as fact, this conversation is worth your time.Find Molly on Instagram @mbinetti22.Don't forget to join us in Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat!If you want to go deeper on skill acquisition, check out the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification over at emergentmvmt.com.Free Modern Coach's ChecklistCredits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.ioLet's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjavCredits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat!Twitter: @thecoachjavIG: @thecoachjav

Send us Fan MailWhat does it actually mean to train a boxer to be adaptable when the most representative practice, hard sparring, also causes permanent damage?Adam Haniver is a boxing coach and England Boxing DISE program lead who's spent years working through exactly that tension. He brings an ecological dynamics lens to a sport that has historically treated tradition as gospel, and the conversation goes deep on skill acquisition, affordances, and what most boxing training gets fundamentally wrong.Topics covered:"Anything but the thing" — why most boxing training is unopposed, decomposed, and doesn't transfer to competitionPerceive to act AND act to perceive — how the best boxers generate opportunities rather than wait for themThe GAP framework (Great, Average, Poor) as a tool for athlete-directed intention before sparringTeaching boxers to punch versus teaching them to land — why these are two completely different thingsNaseem Hamed and Brendan Ingle as examples of what freedom in movement actually producesPlay sparring, head trauma, and how to build representativeness without increasing injury riskIf you coach in any combat or contact sport and you're thinking through how to square representative practice with athlete safety, this conversation is worth your time.Find Adam at www.theboxgathering.com and on the Box Gathering Podcast on all platforms. England Boxing DISE program: @dice_boxing_brighton on socials.Don't forget to join us in Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat!If you want to go deeper on skill acquisition, check out the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification over at emergentmvmt.com.Free Modern Coach's ChecklistCredits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat!Twitter: @thecoachjavIG: @thecoachjav

Shawn Myszka, founder of the Sport Movement Skill Conference and Emergence contributor, reflects on SMSC's ninth year. He recaps spirited public debates, announces notable awards, and explains the conference theme of the challenge point. Short takes cover translating skill acquisition into pro settings, CSAS testing theatrics, and where SMSC is headed for 2027.

Send us Fan MailYou can't talk a fighter into confidence. And if you've been trying, Andy Grahn has been quietly building it the right way for 30 years.Andy Grahn is a martial arts coach at The Academy MN in Minneapolis, a co-author of the 2024 ecological dynamics MMA paper in Sports Coaching Review, and one of a small group of combat sports coaches actively applying motor learning science to what happens on the mat. This conversation covers how he got there and what it actually looks like in practice.Competence before confidence: Why telling athletes to "just be more confident" doesn't work, and what the ecological approach says about how confidence actually developsAlive training in combat sports: What representative practice looks like in an MMA gym, how Andy navigates the line between safety and specificity, and why sparring is still the anchorThe partner probability paradox: How to design practice when you don't have the right training partner, and what constraints-led coaching looks like when the pairing isn't idealJKD to ecological dynamics: The philosophical thread connecting Bruce Lee's framework to Gibson's ecological psychology, and how Andy's background primed him for the shiftWriting the paper: What it was like to co-author peer-reviewed research as a practitioner alongside Keith Davids and the rest of the teamFor coaches in any sport trying to build real skill, not just clean-looking technique.🎟 Listeners of the podcast receive 10% off the Sport Movement Skill Conference (June 5–6 in St. Paul, Minnesota) using code JAVI26 at registration.Andy Grahn | The Academy MNThe Academy MNInstagramFacebookApplying an Ecological Dynamics Approach to Mixed Martial ArtsResourcesThe Adaptable AthleteCoach Jav on InstagramEmergenceFree Modern Coach's ChecklistCredits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat!Twitter: @thecoachjavIG: @thecoachjav

Sean Mischka, movement and skill-acquisition specialist and co-author of Enhancing Skill in American Football, breaks down Myles Garrett’s dominance through movement, not just stats. He explores dexterity versus raw athleticism. He explains how abundance of movement options, perceiving multiple cues under pressure, adversity-shaped skill, and practice designs that cultivate unpredictability create elite problem solving on the field.

Dave Love, an NBA shooting coach and researcher who blends biomechanics with motor learning. He explains why chasing a repeatable shot is wrong. Short takes cover the sandbox analogy, PoST periodization for skill training, designing practice with intentional variability, and his positive vs negative power framework.

A modern take on what skill really is, framed as the ability to adapt movement to changing problems. A breakdown of how constraints can be used to shape learning without prescribing every action. A clear explanation of why complexity, not repetition, should be scaled in practice to better mirror competition.