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Welcome back to a third season of the Upper Left Performance Podcast. We are kicking things off with a recent chat I had with Pratik Patel. Pratik is currently a PhD student and consultant for athletes ranging from high school to the professional level. He previously worked for the New York Giants, University of Oregon, Michigan State and Kansas State primarily as a dietician, but also as a strength coach with the Giants.
Pratik and I discussed the potential pitfalls facing professional sports in relation to physical preparation. We touched on the NFL's CBA and how it actually can work against an athlete's ability to stay physically ready for the rigors of an NFL season. Kicking the can a bit further, Pratik also detailed how the sudden onset of training camp can be catastrophic for some players. He mentions sleep, nutrition, and loading and just how we can do better as performance specialists to get those things right for the athlete.
I really appreciated Pratik's candor in focusing on the issues facing elite sport and how performance staffs can go about improving their systems to ensure as little as possible slips through the cracks. We all know communication between all members of a team is important, but it was great to hear him expound upon that with his real world experience.
Though Pratik has worked primarily with nutrition, he possesses a deep knowledge of all the working parts that go into athlete success and it's quite obvious that his understanding of the interconnectedness in sport is something more of us need to embrace. Follow Pratik on social media @pratikxpatel on both twitter and IG.
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John Garrish is the head Strength and Conditioning Coach and head track and field coach for North Broward Prep in South Florida and he hopped on the pod today to talk about high school strength and conditioning and how far it has come since he joined its ranks 7 years ago.
What blew me away was John’s dedication to his athletes and desire to provide an environment that fosters excellence in his kids regardless of athletic talent. We talked at length about his approach towards working with a wide range of kids and assembling a solid coaching staff that is equally committed to development of the whole person.
John also breaks down what has changed for him since Covid-19 in terms of scheduling and providing a safe experience for his athletes. He breaks down how his schedule works and how he took over the track team several years ago and then we discuss his most recent initiative: free Saturday speed sessions for anyone in the North Florida community.
John’s passion for helping people was really special to hear about. He is truly a selfless person and it certainly left me thinking of ways I can better serve those around me. Thanks to him for hopping on and hope you enjoy our conversation
John also writes for Teambuildr and can be found on Instagram @coach_garrish and on twitter @John_Garrish
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Daniel Back is a performance coach in Austin Texas and the founder of Jump Science (website: jump.science). You can find him on IG @jump.science
He has been working in the industry since 2012, but has long been a student of athletic performance particularly plyometrics and speed. Some of his YouTube videos on sprint mechanics and physics shattered my entire world when I first saw them and I’ve long been a fan of his approach and his counter-cultural thoughts on training
In the episode today we discuss why strength training exclusively can limit adaptation in youth athletes and how filling in other athletic gaps first can be a better place to start.
Then we dive into the overshoot phenomenon vs super compensation and how to be practical in programming for athletes given what we know about those factors. This leads to a discussion about negative adaptations and fiber types and how we need to consider these when writing training programs.
Then we shift to speed and discuss max velocity for basketball players, what metrics and outputs Daniel tracks in his sprinters and how he thinks sprinting should be at the heart of training for most athletes.
All of that and we didn’t even discuss jump training, which is Daniel’s bread and butter. Since we missed out on that make sure you check out his website jump.science and his IG of the same name and he’ll get your vert right.
Thanks again to Daniel for hopping on for what was a terrific deep dive on some very thought provoking concepts.
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Anthony Donskov is a strength and conditioning coach for elite and youth hockey players and owns Donskov Strength and Conditioning in Columbus Ohio. He has also written two books: Physical Preparation for Ice Hockey: Biological Principles and Practical Solutions (2016) and The Gain, Go, Grow Manual: Programming for High Performance Hockey Players (2020).
Needless to say after 16 years coaching some of the best in the world, Anthony is one of the leaders in hockey S&C. His ability to draw information from a variety of sources is second to none and it shows in his approach. Luckily he broke down a lot of his principles in full here in thoughtful and precise manner.
We talked about his process of writing and how was able to complete two books. We also discussed training players in the offseason, balancing stressors between sport and training, ramping up on-ice work in the offseason, the differences between youth and pro athletes, skating vs sprinting, and conditioning considerations for hockey players.
The conditioning discussion was particularly fruitful as we discussed how much off-ice conditioning is needed, how effective it is and how to incorporate as much on ice work as possible especially for pros.
Here is the study referenced: Adaptations of skeletal muscle to endurance exercise and their metabolic consequences
And finally here is Anthony's social media platforms: Twitter: @anthonydonskov IG: @anthonydonskov
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Eric Schmitt is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Memphis Grizzlies. He has been putting out some tremendous content on IG (@coacheschmitt) in regard to conditioning tests, analysis of said tests and practical application for athletes given their conditioning profiles. We talk about this, his current energy systems framework when viewing oxygen as the currency driving all three systems, the power/duration relationship, breathwork for low-intensity exercise and how to keep your eye on the demands of the sport itself rather than pursuing fitness via other means.
Eric's ability to hone in on what matters is second to none and vital for the rest of us to develop. There are so many systems in play that can affect conditioning and there is much research dedicated to it. It's difficult to make sense of it all. Eric does that here and I can't wait to look at this through his lens.
Subscribe to the pod, leave a review and if you are so inclined, share it with a friend! Thank you for your continued listenership and let's keep moving the needle.
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Jake Rauch is a Performance Scientist at Peak Performance Project (P3) in Santa Barbara, CA. He works primarily as a biomechanist at P3 where he is involved in the research and assessment of elite athletes. Jake has several terrific papers on force-velocity profiling and clustering athletes based on their countermovement jump kinetics/kinematics and we talk about them in depth here.
Jake is also currently working on some research that will try and establish more of a relationship between training interventions in the gym and on-court performance for basketball players. He details some of the obstacles to such research and some of his theories about how to make the process more feasible.
Jake and I have been co-workers for the past eight months. He has taught me a tremendous amount about the research process and what matters in data collection and analysis. So I also ask him to share his recommendations for those looking to establish their own reliable testing process and database of athletes. Then we talk about how we can marry our data observations to the subjective art of coaching and "miss" less often on creating adaptations in each athlete.
While I have spent a lot of time interviewing coaches based on unstudied models and concepts, this was a route I would like to travel down more often. Research has become more refined and is a valuable tool for measuring what we as S&C practitioners do. Jake does a great job kicking off this little foray and I look forward to more of these.
You can find Jake on Twitter @JTRAUCH and check out all of Jake's papers here https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jacob_Rauch
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Mike Kozak is the owner and head coach for Soar Fitness out of Columbus, Ohio. He is one of the coaches doing an outstanding job implementing Adarian Barr's concepts in a group setting and on the pod he goes into detail about how he structures his workouts utilizing such principles. Mike has tried almost everything under the sun in his 20 years of coaching and it's awesome to hear how he has sifted through what works and what doesn't. Furthermore, I love how he is able to bring a session to life, which you can tell from this interview and on his IG (@soarfitness).
Make sure to also follow Mike on Twitter (@soarfitness) and thanks to him for coming on and shedding more light on some practical applications for speed and plyometrics with a lever-based thought process.
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Jason Feairheller and Ryan Heickert are co-owners of Strength and Function, a gym in Pennsylvania working primarily with hockey players of all ages. They are also the hosts of the Speed and Power Podcast, which has put out some outstanding episodes. Jason and Ryan have put together a top-notch program with a particular eye on on COD and agility.
In this episode we discuss different coaching strategies for COD/agility, considerations to be made for off ice training for hockey players and the finer points of curved running.
Make sure to check out the Speed and Power Podcast, Jason's IG (@jasonfeairheller) and Ryan's IG (@ryan_heickert_)
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Season 2 of ULP is here with a great episode from my buddy and Northeastern Assistant Strength Coach, Alex Pacitti. Alex has mentored under Dan Sanzo at Northeastern and this has impacted his training for various athletes. Much like Erik Huddleston, Alex is looking at the shape of an athlete (particularly at the pelvic and thoracic outlets) to determine areas of high and low pressure, which will influence the movement of fluid and guts within the body.
Understanding these concepts can explain why some people don't have the same explosiveness or propulsive abilities of others. While shapes/structure help predetermine someone's abilities, Alex is training some of his athletes to overcome potential power deficiencies by limiting the amount of traditional weightlifting being done in favor of other interventions. We also talk about how certain shapes or abilities can help the athlete select their respective sport or positions. This predisposition to certain qualities is often overlooked by cookie-cutter strength programs so looking through this lens is in the very least a great way to re-think individualized programming for athletes.
Alex can be found on IG @coach_pacitti and his page is a great resource for visualizing a lot of the concepts we talk about on the episode.
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Nicole Surdyka is a former Division I soccer player, doctor of physical therapy and a strength coach specializing in soccer performance training and rehab. She currently owns Surdyka Physical Therapy and Performance and has extensive experience working with athletes of all ages.
Nicole has also worked as a soccer coach and possesses a wealth of understanding about the game and has tremendous passion for growing it in the US. While I am not well versed in soccer, I really admire Nicole’s ability to break down various strategies and tactics and how they might affect a player’s physical training load.
This was the crux of our discussion as we get into the finer points of how reverse engineering a sport can work. Nicole breaks down some basic soccer formations and how each can impact the workloads of different positions and then we deep dive on how we might alter training based on particular strategies.
We also talk about taking care of the whole athlete, the current landscape of soccer in the US and various training topics especially pertaining to psychological/mental stress and how we can find out what interventions will best resonate with each athlete based on their personality and playing style.
Nicole can be found on:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/dr.nicolept/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NSurdykaPhysio
Website: https://www.nicolesurdykaphysio.com/
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Andrew Stallings is the Founder of Athelo Group an athlete representation service that focuses on marketing and building a brand for athletes.
Having spent the past 10 years in the sports industry working for the likes of Octagon and Sirius XM, Andrew has accumulated a ton of valuable experience. Even better is that he has taken his skillset to new heights by leaving some comfortable jobs to start his own business in Athelo.
I’ve known Andrew since our time together at Sirius XM and his hustle was always evident. There are few people as talented and energetic as Andrew. On the pod he discusses how that wasn’t enough and what helped him get over the top both personally and professionally.
Andrew details his business, the risks that he took to start it and how his mindset has completely shifted over the past 10 years. He also goes in depth on what his business can provide and how valuable branding is in today’s world.
We also touch on Andrew’s Stranger Experiment that has brought so many professionals together from varying backgrounds in the sports industry. Having participated this past month, I can tell you it’s an amazing way to connect with people and learn about avenues you don’t even know exist.
Follow Andrew on Twitter to learn more about the #strangerexperiment and to connect with him: https://twitter.com/AStallings88
Also check out his website for Athelo Group: https://www.athelogroup.com/
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Chuck McGee is one of the first American Wim Hof Instructors and an expert on all things breathwork.
Chuck was a bartender in the Bay Area who had a random patron at his establishment convinced him to try the Wim Hof breathing method. After trying it, Chuck was hooked and has now gone all over the world learning and teaching the power of breath.
I stumbled across Chuck from James Nestor’s excellent book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, and from there attended his free weekly Monday night breathwork class at 9pm PT. zoom.us/j/750599401
Chuck’s firm grasp of breathing and his joyful personality fit the mold of my recent podcast themes and he was good enough to come on and talk about the pillars of Wim Hof, his experiences traveling with Wim, the differences between nasal and mouth breathing, the basic structure of a breathing session, establishing consistent breathing practices for real change and the benefits for sick people, healthy people and athletes.
Chuck’s ability to break down some of the physiology of what happens in breath is must listen material for anyone working to develop health or performance in others. He is someone I could talked to for several hours and I am definitely going to take a trip up to SF to connect further with him.
You can find Chuck on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/icedvikingbreathworks/ and at his website: https://www.icedvikingbreathworks.com/about/
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Conor is back on the pod as we chop it up live in California.
We answer your questions on speed, agility, COD, assessments, asymmetries and more!
Follow Conor on IG https://www.instagram.com/conor_harris_/
Follow Conor on Twitter https://twitter.com/Conor_Harris_
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Brenan Ghassemieh is a great friend and a damn good trainer. He played football at Idaho State University, has prepared countless athletes for the NFL Combine and is currently working at Equinox as a trainer and Tier X Manager. He has worked with kids, athletes and senior citizens, connecting with all on an extraordinary level, which is why I wanted to bring him on.
Brenan is a firm believer in living well, practicing mindfulness and the art of being present. There are few I see who walk the walk when it comes to these subjects so I wanted to hear about his daily habits and rituals that center him and this conversation didn't disappoint. We went deep down this rabbit hole of what makes people so afraid to face their inner monologue, how to memorialize our thoughts and the importance of acknowledging the realities of our lives.
Brenan can be found on IG https://www.instagram.com/brenan_ghassemieh/
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Rich Clarke is a Strength and Conditioning coach and an academic who specializes change of direction and agility. He is also a Director of the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association and is completing a PhD investigating speed control and deceleration during change of direction movements.
Quite honestly, I have been underwhelmed by much of what I know and see about COD/Agility and think Rich has done a beautiful job rethinking the landscape in this realm. Among the notable things we discuss are the different COD/Agility demands from sport to sport, perception action coupling and how much we can/should train it in a general setting, the importance of speed control when learning skills and much more.
Rich has simplified the language and litany of exercises we see in COD/Agility by boiling everything down to entry/exit speed and angle change and how those factors will impact deceleration demands. In short, I think he's really on to something and this chat opened up my eyes to a lot of things. The structure that might be necessary for the weightroom does not necessarily apply to COD/agility and once we have established a base (which many athletes already have from their sport) we can mix and match using the above mentioned variables.
Rich can be found on Twitter https://twitter.com/RICH_AgilityLab and his website is http://www.athleteagilitylab.com/
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Ryan Banta is the Head Track and Field Coach for Parkway Central High School in Missouri. He has coached for over 20 years, brought home numerous state titles and records and has established an incredible culture that has succeeded in developing outstanding human beings and athletes.
Ryan is also the author of The Sprinter’s Compendium and established the Critical Mass system, which we discuss on the podcast. For someone that has thought about sprint training strictly in a "Feed the Cats" style, this was very enlightening. More on this in this video here from Ryan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_V84iC_iL4
He also gives his thoughts on all things sprinting, his realization that he wants excellence in all events not just sprints, wickets, warmups and his thoughts on kids in today’s world and how to best reach them. I was thrilled to talk to Ryan about all this as he has so much experience working with kids and honing his craft. Not many coaches are as complete as Ryan is and it was very cool to hear him address such a wide range of topics.
Ryan writes for Simplifaster, Elite Track, and several other mediums. You can buy his book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07613VRVF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ryan.banta/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SprintersCompen
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Justin Carey is one of my former athletes who is now an assistant soccer coach at Stetson University. Justin's leadership, ability and desire to improve in all aspects of his life is what makes him special and I am thrilled to bring him on the podcast to interview me.
While I typically interview others on the podcast, I wanted to share some thoughts of my own, but have always preferred doing so in the context of a conversation rather than just me going in on a topic solo. Considering I have been doing a lot of self-reflection of late, I thought it would be good to bring on an athlete I coached to help get a feel for how others perceive me and to practice explaining myself to those who possess an athlete's mindset.
What resulted was a terrific conversation. Justin asked some great questions pertaining to my environmental considerations for training, building culture, individualizing connections with athletes and how I have evolved in my thought process as a coach the past few years. We also talked about setting goals, unearthing passions and choosing to pursue excellence. Such a fun convo and props to Justin who may be coming for my hosting gig at some point with the job he did here.
You can find Justin on IG: https://www.instagram.com/justin_carey15/
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This week I am lucky to be joined by not one, but two members of the New Jersey Devils performance staff. Director of Performance/Reconditioning Coach Devan McConnell and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Devil's AHL affiliate in Binghamton, Stephen Volek are live on the pod talking their performance model.
Both guys bring a wealth of hockey experience to the table here and it was particularly insightful hearing how much they utilize every member of the organization to influence performance. Together, these guys outline the importance of the analytics staff, coaches, players and trainers in relation to developing tangible metrics to assess performance and necessary interventions. They also shine a light on the technology being used including force plates, GPS data and HR monitoring.
In a time where traditional strength coaching is no longer the sole role of a coach, it was refreshing to hear about all the ways we can influence performance and involve ourselves in establishing a culture of winning. Thanks to these two for discussing their process in moving the industry forward!
You can find Devan's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Intent-Practical-Approach-Athletic-Development/dp/1946702099
Devan's IG: https://www.instagram.com/dmcconnell29/
Devan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DMcConnell29
Stephen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SVolek0927 -
We go off the rails a little bit in this week's episode as Adarian comes back on with Mike and Jermaine to talk all things speed. Mike is the owner and head coach at Soar Fitness in Ohio and Jermaine is a coach out of Florida, working with a variety of youth athletes.
Some of the topics addressed:
-Injuries in sport and the RTP process
-Top speed ground contacts
-Deceleration training in isolation
-Practical applications that have been working for Mike and Jermaine
-How multidirectional speed is linear speed
-There's a timezone change in the Florida panhandle??
This was so fun and organic. Hope you enjoy this change of pace!
Mike's IG is @soarfitness. Jermaine's is @dixonsports and Adarian's is @barrunning. The Youtube version (with some video from Adarian) is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRxqsZGzuW4&t=1s
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Navin Hettiarachchi is the Director of Health, Wellness and Performance for the Washington Wizards. He has been in the NBA since 2003 following a brief stint in the NFL and is one of the most decorated coaches I have had the privilege to chat with.
Navin is certified in various massage techniques, athletic training, strength coach and PRI. He has traveled all over the world to learn and share information with other. He is also a self-proclaimed learning junkie and is constantly experimenting with technology and hacks for sleep, nutrition, mindfulness and correct movement.
I couldn’t be more thrilled to have this chat with Navin who radiates positive energy, authenticity and pure joy in everything he does. So many of us are not grateful enough for our experiences and Navin is a shining example of how to maximize our ability to help others and be happy.
We discuss mindset and how to impact others to kick off the pod before diving into some performance topics such as individualizing sleep based on data and conversations, PRI and breathing as tools in the NBA. We also discuss the performance vs health model and what works the best with elite athletes, NBA Bubble life and hypnosis.
Check out Navin’s website www.navinhealth.com. He also is hosting a great Podcast titled 9’ to Thrive with Navin (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9-to-thrive-with-navin/id1522580218) and can be found on IG @navin.het and Twitter @navin_H.
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