Episodes
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ASCA High School & Youth Podcast 2606 - Parnham + Lundquist by Joseph Coyne
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Neil Shanks , Lead Physical Preparation Coach - Scottish Swimming , shares his journey from sports science to elite swimming coaching, emphasising the importance of environment, continuous learning and data-driven practice in high-performance sport.
Key topics
• Pathway from sports science to elite coaching
• Creating athlete-centered environments
• Utilizing data and technology in training
• Transfer of training principles in swimming
• Managing pressure and performance at Olympics
#sports science, #strengthandconditioning, #eliteswimming, #athletedevelopment, #coaching, #Olympicpreparation -
Missing episodes?
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In Episode 141 of the ASCA Podcast, we’re joined by Michael Davie, Director of Strength & Conditioning and Sports Science for BYU Men’s Basketball and former NBA Championship-winning performance coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. Michael shares his journey from Australia to the US, offering insight into the realities of working in the NBA, building athlete trust, managing elite basketball performance and helping shape a championship-winning environment. Packed with practical insights for coaches working in high-performance sport, this episode also delivers valuable leadership and career advice for both emerging and experienced practitioners.
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Listen now for a practical look at what it really takes to develop young athletes in a school environment.
This episode of the ASCA High School & Youth Podcast features Jonathan Dore, a strength & conditioning coach and teacher at Ipswich State High School, who is also heavily involved in rugby league pathways.
The conversation explores the realities of coaching in a school setting: highlighting that it goes beyond physical development to mentoring young people, guiding pathways and building skills for life beyond sport.
Jonathan shares his journey of stepping into a head S&C role at just 21 and learning on the job, gradually developing a strong and sustainable program.
A key theme of this episode is making the most of limited - Limited equipment, limited time and still finding ways to develop athletes effectively.
He also discusses integrating his dual roles as an S&C coach and sport coach, ensuring physical preparation directly supports on-field performance.
Underpinning it all is a strong focus on culture and standards, creating an environment where athletes take ownership and consistently buy into the process.
Takeaways:
• Constraints can improve coaching.
• Aligning S&C with sport for better transfer.
• Culture and consistency drive results.
• Focus on long-term athlete development.
Keywords:
S&C, Youth Development, High School Sport, Coaching, Culture, LTAD -
Glen takes us back to the early days of his S&C career, when coaching meant doing it all: Strength, conditioning, sprint work, even video analysis. He contrasts that with today’s high-performance environment, now highly specialised and driven by sport science and technology.
Takeaways:
• Early S&C requires coaches to be generalists - doing everything across performance and support.
• The human element (intuition, experience, and connection) matters more than all the data.
• Trust athlete feedback - they often know what works best for them
• Listen and observe first, especially in new environments
• Importance of adapting your communication - Different athletes require different approaches
• Great coaches are people coaches, not just technical experts
• Communication, empathy and relationships drive buy-in and results
• Mentorship is key to developing coaches and sharing knowledge
• Long-term success comes from passion for coaching, not titles -
In this conversation, Joseph Coyne shares insights from his extensive experience in the strength and conditioning field, discussing major themes such as the importance of continuous learning, adaptability, and practical skills. He highlights the strengths and gaps within the S&C industry, misconceptions about the role, and valuable lessons learned from working with elite athletes. Joseph emphasises the significance of mentorship and offers advice for young coaches entering the profession, advocating for a focus on interpersonal skills and practical experience.
Takeaways
- Coaches are constantly learning and improving.
- Adaptability is crucial for success in coaching.
- There is a gap in practical skills among S&C coaches.
- Logistics are essential for effective coaching sessions.
- Connection before correction is vital for coaching success.
- Technical mastery is important for coaches.
- Inspiring moments enhance athlete engagement.
- Practical experience is key for young coaches.
- Interpersonal skills are critical for building relationships.
- Former athletes bring valuable insights to coaching.
The Constant Journey of Learning in Coaching
Strengths and Gaps in the S&C Industry -
In this episode, Robbie Tissera shares his unconventional journey into strength and conditioning and the lessons that shaped his career across coaching, sport science, academia, and business ownership. From his early days stepping into a kickboxing coaching role to leading high performance environments and co-founding a performance facility, Robbie reflects on the importance of adaptability, lifelong learning, and building strong athlete relationships.
The conversation explores youth athlete development, performance culture, integrating rehabilitation and performance, and the realities of leading in high school and emerging athlete settings. A practical and honest discussion for coaches looking to grow their impact and build sustainable performance environments. -
In this conversation, Daniel Baker shares his extensive journey in strength conditioning, discussing the evolution of coaching practices, the history of strength conditioning in Australia, and the current challenges faced by coaches.
He emphasises the importance of adapting training programs to individual athletes, the lessons learned from working with elite athletes, and the balance between scientific principles and the art of coaching. Baker also provides valuable advice for young coaches entering the field, highlighting the need for strength, fitness, and proper movement in athletic training.
Takeaways:
- The coaching journey involves evolving programming and coaching methods.
- Programs must adapt to the athlete's development and new research.
- Coaching is about how programs are executed, not just written.
- Strength conditioning in Australia has evolved significantly since the 1970s.
- AI presents challenges but cannot replace the human element in coaching.
- Athletes must be strong, fit, and able to move well for their sport.
- Textbooks are not sufficient for understanding elite athletic training.
- Effective training requires making decisions about exercise selection.
- Young coaches should focus on strength and fitness in their athletes.
- The coaching environment must include both technicians and professionals. -
James Tatham is a senior strength & conditioning coach at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he helps prepare Australia’s very best, young basketball prospects with Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence and Gymnastics Australia’s Male Artistic Gymnastics National Training Centre (MAG NTC) athletes. James has also worked for Tennis Australia, Volleyball Australia, NSW Warratahs and Canberra Institute of Technology. James has completed a Bachelors Degree with Honours in Exercise Science and is an accredited Elite Level 3 Strength and Conditioning Coach.
QUOTES
"The narrative I push is that the weight room is for supplementary training to help unlock new higher difficulty scores to make gymnastics feel easy and to lengthen the career window"
"I think as coaches we're nurturing an environment to unfold a challenging future that's very uncertain"
"Training happens around high days being high, low days being low all based on gymnastics apparatus bias"
"A lot of incline press that correlates really well to a lot of what gymnasts do on the parallel bars and the pommel"
"I think there's some other things we can learn from gymnastics as well, the way they have difficulty scores and execution scores, I think we can gamify training that way to build … junior development with a novel scoring system that the athletes buy into"
SHOWNOTES
1) From small town NSW to the Australian Institute of Sport
2) What does strength & conditioning for elite gymnastics look like?
3) Unlocking the physical qualities that drive gymnastic skill development
4) How context, relationships and content influence coaching philosophy
5) Challenges in the Australian gymnastics’ environment
6) A typical training week for elite gymnasts and “building the armour”
7) Using gymnastics to gamify training and the normalization of risk with gymnastics
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Stephen Bird
Haydn Masters
Tom Tombleson
Simon Cron
Julian Jones
Stephen Smith
Ben Serpell
Stephen Larkham
Christian Bosse
John Mitchell -
Angus McEntrye is a Chiropractor, Athletics coach and Strength & Conditioning Coach. He works out of his practice AM Health & Performance in Sydney and specialises in injury diagnosis, management, and rehabilitation. Angus has worked with several different athletes and teams and has coached athletes competing at World Championships, Commonwealth Games, and the Olympic Games in athletics. Angus is also an accredited Level 4 Athletics Coach and ASCA Elite L3 Strength & Conditioning Coach.QUOTES"So what is VBT to me? It's all about speed output. So moving the bar or the body as fast as we can.""The most important part about the competitive season is that they're competing. We're not trying to be Olympic lifters. We're not trying to be power lifters. We want to make sure that their transfer to the sport is as high as possible. That's submaximal loading, accelerative strengthening, power on the force velocity curve. 60-70 % 1RM comes in as the heavy and then we muck around with 50-30 %; lighter, faster, ballistic tosses, jumping, loud noises, trying to get things moving as fast as we can...""How many sports generate force up and down like a squat? There aren't too many. In track and field, it's the hammer throw, skiing, rowing, a couple of examples there, but most of what we do is we're generating force in a split based position""So then, you know, going into those lighter loads, and doing it with a snatch, Cameron can lift up to four meters per second with 30% 1RM on the bar"“I've always been somebody that likes to be creative and just think outside of the box and how might this work? How might this better the output that we're trying to achieve? And then in the gym, it just bolsters that as well. So, you know, as long as you're not being stupid, think being creative in your environment … especially with VBT”SHOWNOTES1) Angus’ journey in strength and conditioning, athletics coaching and chiropractic influences2) Velocity based training (VBT) basics and split snatches in Tokyo3) Periodizing VBT across general prep, specific prep and competition phases4) Different exercises, including Olympic lifting variations, that Angus will use in his coaching5) How VBT metrics and speeds can be adapted for power development, including lifts above 3-4 meters per second6) The benefits of different coaching cues combined with VBT feedback7) Being creative in your environment as a coach and the use of different exercises to influence techniquePEOPLE MENTIONEDCam McEntryeJohn MitchellNick WinkelmanJohn Manenti
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Clive Brewer is the Director of Olympic Strength and Conditioning at the University of Notre Dame where, he is responsible for leading and managing a department focused on maximizing the physical development of Notre Dame’s Olympic sports student-athletes, Prior to his current role, Clive was the Director of Human Performance for Arizona Athletics in Phoenix, and has worked for a number of different sporting organisations including Toronto Blue Jays, Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Columbus Crew, IMG, IAAF, Widnes Vikings & England Rugby League.
Loren Landow is the Director of Football Performance at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to this, Loren served as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Denver Broncos from 2018-2023, and he also owns and directs Landow Performance in Centennial, Colorado, where theyhavce worked with thousands of athletes in all sports to prepare for professional and amateur competition, including NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, WNBA and Olympic medalists.
QUOTES
"The joke I always use is I'm the world's ugliest bridesmaid. People see the athlete, people see the coach, but they should never see me. We are a guy in the background who's doing a lot of the work and driving things forward, but we ain't that important.”
“And high functioning means that you're able to actually be honest with people, be open with people and them to be open with you too. It's not to respect a hierarchy or anything else. It's like, you have to be open to that critical question asked in the right way, you know, in order to really reflect on what you do and are you doing the best and is there a better way of doing it?”
“I tell my staff, like, we're all going to make mistakes. The goal is not to make the same mistake twice and try to make the mistakes less egregious as we go. So I think part of it is like understanding that it's an okay environment to make a mistake in and we're going to learn from it.”
“But I look at what I call the hat scenario. So the very first exercise I do with my guys is, you know, we understand what hats people wear, right? So there's the blue hat, which is the process hat, right? And there's the green hat, which is the ideas hat. And then there's the red hat, which is the emotional hat. And then there's the yellow hat, is the pleasing people hat. And then there's the black hat, which is, it won't work. And so we explained this, and I use the hats a lot in my scenarios, but the first thing I said to the guys is, just like that, what's your preferred hat? There's no right or wrongs here because each of those is a strength.”
“I think being much more deliberate in terms of creating that environment and realize that my job is to set that up and then stay out of way of it. I've never been good as what I would call the cheerleader coach. I think I've always told players, if I've got to bring the intensity, you're in the wrong job.”
SHOWNOTES
1) Clive and Loren’s update since last episode on the podcast and their new roles at University of Notre Dame
2) Coaching philosophies and how they have evolved over time for Loren and Clive
3) How to frame questions for constructive feedback and the importance of creating an environment to own mistakes
4) The difference between an inter- and mutli-disciplinary performance team
5) The structure of the Notre Dame football and Olympic sport performance staff organisation
6) Tailoring tasks and workflow to staff strengths and the hat analogy for different staff different strengths
7) Demonstrating impact in new environments and obtaining trust through consistency
PEOPLE MENTIONED
John Wagle
Duncan French -
ASCA High School & Youth Podcast 2508 - Pidcock + Pyke by Joseph Coyne
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Tim Mosey holds a Master of Exercise Science (Strength and Conditioning) from Edith Cowan University and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement Studies) from QUT. He is an ASCA Level 3 Master S&C Coach with over sixteen years of experience across Olympic, professional, and youth development sport. Tim is currently the Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach at the NSW Waratahs, where he leads strength, power, and speed development, as well as rehabilitation programming for the Super Rugby squad. He has previously served in high-performance roles at the Queensland Academy of Sport, the Tasmanian Institute of Sport, as Head of Athletic Performance - Academy for the Waratahs, and as Director of Athletic Development at Brisbane Boys’ College. He has supported athletes to Olympic and international success in diving, rowing, archery, water polo, and skeleton, including preparing athletes for the 2010 Whistler and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Tim’s areas of expertise include strength, power and speed development, return-to-play programming, and long-term athlete development. He has contributed to the field through published peer-reviewed research, mentoring emerging coaches, and presenting at national conferences.
QUOTES
“I'm a reluctant rehabber. I find it the most challenging and frustrating part of strength and conditioning. It doesn't excite me. It challenges me. I find it difficult I guess and that's weirdly why I wanted to dive into it”
“If we're thinking about aerobic type work, you can break it down into whether you want to do extensive or intensive type work. So maybe extensive work where the length of your effort is a longer, straighter effort versus an intensive type effort where you might have more shuttle-based work.”
“I've always lived off this quote from an old colleague, Nick Lumley and his comment was when the bombs are going off, you don't want blokes who've just been running straight line MAS, you want guys who've been getting off the deck and shuttling. So I guess I'm biased towards a little bit more shuttle-based conditioning work than straight line work”.
“The challenge of rehabbing someone in season is the coach wants him back and there's the old adage of are we returning to play or returning to perform? I don't think that really applies in a lot of instances when we're getting guys back out on the paddock, particularly in-season. I would argue that we return blokes that aren't ready to perform a lot of the time but they're ready to go back and play”
“I would start generally in the backend of a reconditioning block with more aerobic based extensive work and that might involve longer straighter efforts with maybe one turn. I might progress that down to more intensive based conditioning work with more turns, same sort of work to rest ratios, but more change of direction and off deck work, increasing to intensive anaerobic type work as they get towards the backend of the last third and fourth weeks.”
SHOWNOTES
1) Tim’s time in strength and conditioning, from Tasmanian Institute of Sport to Brisbane Boys College and QAS to the NSW Waratahs
2) The basics of reconditioning and using an energy system adaptation led strategy
3) The simplicity of four-minute conditioning blocks and the importance of shuttle-based work
4) Skill work in re-conditioning?
5) Building back into contact after injuries, especially for shoulder cases
6) The difference between returning to play versus returning to perform
7) Reconditioning periodization and the use of extensive and intensive days
8) Tim’s favourite reconditioning drills and the challenges of adapting training to different athlete types within the same squad and sport
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Peter Culhane
Paul Larsen
Martin Buchheit
Nick Lumley -
Antonio Squillante earned a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. With over a decade of experience as a strength and conditioning coach at both the collegiate and professional levels, he now works as an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. In this role, he teaches evidence-based practice in the graduate program in Strength and Conditioning. Antonio is the Head of Sport Performance and Training for the USA Cycling National Track Sprint Program and serves as a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association Board of Directors. In addition to his academic and professional roles, Dr. Squillante is also a published author and an internationally recognized speaker and lecturer.
QUOTES
“If we look at the field of research, minimum effective dose is more technically called a dose response effect, meaning how much training load is necessary to see a significant increase in strength. So if I'm training someone, what's the minimum amount of volume, and intensity that is needed to drive adaptation?”
“I just don't want the idea of the word minimum to ever trick anyone or leave anyone to believe that it's very little volume by default. Minimum just says that among all possible combinations of load and intensity and sets of reps and frequency for any individual at any point in their career, we're going with the bare minimum that works.”
“The notion of strength and conditioning can be somewhat deceiving because it makes it sound like when it comes to the neuromuscular side of things, our goal is strength. Our goal is never going to be, and it's not supposed to be strength. Our goal is speed and power. We build strength because strength supports speed and power.”
“That velocity will tell me throughout the week, from week to week, and all year round, when it's time to go up in volume, when it's time to go up in intensity, and when it's time to go up in frequency.”
"The single biggest change, biggest in the sense that added both the greatest impact on results, but also the biggest paradigm shift in the way I go about training was reevaluating the importance of aerobic conditioning in resistance training and strength and power athletes”
SHOWNOTES
1) Antonio’s back story and how his experience playing American football in Italy brought him to S&C
2) The concept of minimum effective dose and its background in dose-response models
3) The influence of volume and intensity on minimum effective dose
4) Feedback loops and monitoring dose response and fatigue with athletes
5) Using velocity based training (VBT) to prescribe and monitor training adaptation
6) How to use VBT to decide whether to add volume or intensity to an athlete
7) The positive impact of aerobic conditioning on strength and power and its relationship with athletes ability to handle greater resistance training volumes
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Dr. Brent Alvar
Carmelo Bosco
Keijo Häkkinen
Fred Hatfield -
Rob Anderson is an award-winning youth strength and conditioning coach with over 15 years of experience developing young athletes across schools, academies, and national governing bodies. He spent five years with Scottish Rugby as the Lead Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Under 16, 17 and 18 National Teams as well as coaching emerging youth talent at the Borders & East Lothian and Caledonia Regional Academies. Rob then founded The Athlete Academy with the mission to provide world-class athletic development and coaching for young athletes. His dedication to improving youth athletic development is reflected in his recognition as the 2024 UKSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year for Youth Sport. A leading voice in LTAD, Rob also mentors practitioners through Collaborate Sports, helping coaches implement best practices in clubs, schools, and private sectors.
QUOTES
“It's not uncommon for guys and girls to be growing seven to 12 centimeters in a year. That's a huge physiological change. It's not uncommon during peak weight velocity for guys to be stacking on 10 kilos in a year. That's a huge physiological change. So in some ways, the training programs that we are putting on adult athletes, we know there's a level of adaptation that's going to change physiologically but we're probably getting the greatest physiological change during that period of adolescence, both for male and female athletes, with training”.
“If it works with kids, it works with adults but not the other way around”
"And sometimes it's going to be a bit deceptive for youth athletes because you might think, well, actually we've not changed training load. Like they're doing exactly what they were doing last year. But actually, last year they weren't in their peak high velocity and now they are. And so maybe their sensitivity has increased and that workload that was previously okay is actually now too much. And we just need to be smart about how we decrease that"
“So we need enough calories for the usual resting metabolic rate plus growth. Then what fuelling do we need for athletic endeavors? You know, it tends to be a lot more than parents think in terms of what the requirement actually is. And that's why, you know, it's not uncommon for athletes to be tired and under fueled because they don't realize that how much their calorie requirements are going through that period of training and growing.”
“I actually really love martial arts for an LTAD environment, because I think it's actually way more organic. You go into a Jiu-Jitsu class, for example, it's not all the white belts in one room or the brown belts in another room or the blue. It's like combined different ages, different experience levels. And it's actually a really quality LTAD experience and I've kind of borrowed from that.”
SHOWNOTES
1) Rob’s progression in youth strength and conditioning, from his own experience to Scotland national youth rugby teams to opening Athlete Academy
2) Fundamentals of youth strength & conditioning and dispelling old youth training myths
3) The impact of peak height velocity on different growth related conditions like Osgood Schlatters
4) The difference between peak height velocity and peak weight velocity
5) Organizing training and adaptation aims (e.g., neural vs hypertrophy) around pre, circa, and post pre height velocity
6) The parent as the head of performance for the youth athlete
7) The intake process at the Athlete Academy and putting youth athletes into the right level of a curriculum
8) Micro-dosing different tests across different weeks
9) Addressing parent questions about what their kid needs and the value of unilateral work
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Avery Faigenbaum
Kelvin Giles
Dan Baker
Rhodri Lloyd
John Oliver
Shane Fitzgibbon
James Baker
Angela Jackson
Mike Boyle
Frans Bosch -
Ivi is an expert in women's football and the founder of Casagrande Coaching, a UK based consultancy practice. A former professional player, Ivi has also worked as a performance coach with teams like Orlando Pride, Brighton & Hove Albion, Ireland Women’s Team, Brazil Women’s Team and US Youth National Teams. She now focuses on both early career and seasoned coaches via international coach education programmes, grassroots projects and progressive frameworks that create better environments for everyone to thrive. As such, Ivi delivers coach education for the Football Association of Ireland via a grassroots programme supporting young female football players, and with FIFA and UEFA as a Technical Expert delivering workshops for teams around the world. Since 2020 Ivi has also run her own Mentorship programmes to educate and empower coaches.
QUOTES
“So I think the best environments that I've been in, they have constant feedback loops between staff members and also players where they have debrief in forms of feedback surveys or a lot of conversations with players about what they need”
“if you're in an international team environment with camps, for example, at the end of each camp with Ireland, we would survey the players and it was very successful, we're going to do this debrief and we're going to see the trends”
"What are the non-negotiables for us as coaches, but also what are the things that we will allow the players to have more freedom, more creativity with and allow them to do different things in their training”
"I think on top of everything that we talked about in terms of creating an environment for players to thrive, we also have to create our own environment for ourselves to then thrive. Because if we're not creating that, we are not going to be able to have mental space to create that environment for the players”
SHOWNOTES
1) Ivi’s journey from professional soccer to coaching elite female football.
2) Zooming out to observe environments that are conducive for players and staff to thrive.
3) The importance of frequent feedback loops in high performance, including reflecting on every session you coach.
4) Observing athletes and their interactions in their daily environment.
5) How speaking the same shared language as coaches impacts high performance.
6) Creating autonomy in playing groups and the practical tools to use.
7) How to implement an education process with athletes to improve culture.
8) The importance of staff having boundaries with players and protecting their time.
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Dan Pfaff -
Ben has over 20 years experience across elite sport having been involved in the physical preparation of athletes since 1999. His coaching experience extends across a wide range of sports both professional (AFL and cricket) and Olympic sports including leading the physical preparation for the Australian Beach Volleyball program for the 2013/15/19/21 World Championships and the Rio Olympics and Tokyo Olympics. He has also had extensive experience in coaching developing athletes having worked at ASPIRE Academy and in his current role as Head of Athletic Development at St Peter’s College in Adelaide, Australia.
He has completed a PhD examining the neuromuscular effects and adaptations to maximal strength and power training and is an ASCA Level 3 and Master Coach and in 2023 was awarded Life Membership to ASCA.
QUOTES
"What is really clear is the neuro side of the neuromuscular is tough. And for good reason… It's because for a long time, our understanding of the neural system and its impact on performance outcomes, because again, that's what's important for us and our athletes, has not really been well understood."
"One of the things that we're starting to discover is that your gaze where you are looking, what you're doing with your eyes is a really powerful tool to help prime, for lack of a better word, your extension movement pattern."
"The top one percent that are going on to win medals at Olympic Games versus those that are not, it's not so much the force that they can produce or the force at velocity via their agonist muscles but it's how well they can turn off their antagonists and cycle through multiple movements."
"I think what we probably initially started to blame CNS fatigue on was more acute type of fatigue, when probably the only people that start to show significant levels of neuromuscular fatigue from a neural perspective are those that have been chronically overtrained for a significant amount of time"
"What I found was that the sprint cyclists had much greater ability to damage themselves, to put themselves into even just a short term performance hole compared with rowers based on the type of training they were doing."
SHOWNOTES
1) Ben’s background and journey in strength and conditioning
2) Understanding the neural side of neuromuscular training
3) Opportunities in training and practical methods to enhance the neural response to training
4) The priming effect of gaze on different movement patterns and the role of coordination in peformance
5) Periodizing methods to enhance neural responses in strength & conditioning sessions
6) Neuromuscular assessments and Ben’s thoughts on neural fatigue
7) The use of electrical muscle stimulation in training and the time course of recovery from high neural load activity based on level of athlete
8) Reframing strength as a skill and countermovement jump numbers in beach volleyball
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Cal Dietz -
Dry Land to Poolside: Developing Youth Athletes at Brisbane GrammarThis episode of the ASCA High School and Youth Podcast, hosted by Sophie Pidcock and featuring guest Lara Ponsi from Brisbane Grammar School (BGS), explores the design and implementation of a long-term athletic development framework for swimmers. Lara shares how she built the BGS swim strength and conditioning program from scratch after taking on the role in 2022. The conversation covers the journey from initial challenges to establishing a structured six-squad framework that integrates dry land and gym-based training with swimming development. The discussion emphasises athlete education, general athletic development for youth, long-term progression and collaboration with swimming coaches. They also highlight practical examples like games-based training for younger athletes, gymnastics integration and the creation of a games library. The episode concludes with reflections on athlete progression, enjoyment and the importance of preparing well-rounded, confident athletes both in and out of the pool.HighlightsBackground & Context• Lara Poncey started in 2022, taking responsibility for over 200 swimmers (ages 7–26).• Initially, there was no clear training structure or framework across squads.Framework Development• Created a six-squad progression model aligned with both athletic development and swimming performance.• Focus on long-term athlete development rather than short-term results.• Designed to educate athletes about the “why” behind training and build confidence in the gym.Early Stages (Micro & Junior Squads, ages 7–12)• Goal: Build fundamental movement skills and coordination.• Approach: Games-based, fun, low-structure “organized chaos.”• Sessions emphasize play, agility, body control, and enjoyment.State Development Squad (12+)• Introduction to foundational movement patterns (squat, hinge, push, pull).• Low load, bodyweight-based, circuit-style sessions.National Development Squad (14–15 yrs)• First stage in the gym setting.• Focus on building a broad athletic base and exposure to multiple training qualities (strength, power, endurance).• Not heavily swimming-specific; prepares athletes for any sporting pathway.National Performance Squads (15–18 yrs)• Increased specificity and intensity, aligned with competition schedules.• Differentiation between age squad (strength/power development with support and guidance) and open squad (advanced training, stroke-specific focus, collaboration with head coach).Gymnastics Integration• Weekly sessions in the gymnastics hall focusing on handstands, rings, dynamic balance, and body control.• Strong correlation to swimming starts, turns, and streamline positions.• Adds variety, enjoyment, and body awareness.Programming Philosophy• Tailored to athlete age, development, and competition demands.• For younger squads: term-based training with holiday breaks to avoid burnout.• For older squads: programming coordinated with key competitions (nationals, trials).Games Library• Lara developed a categorized library of games (activation, invasion, core, ball, etc.).• Provides variety, ensures coverage of different movement skills, and keeps sessions engaging.• Mix of researched, shared, and self-created games.Key Takeaways• Importance of education and enjoyment at all levels.• Building confident, resilient athletes regardless of whether they continue with swimming.• Framework ensures progression, structure, and long-term benefits.• Positive cultural shift: swimmers now look forward to dry land training.
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Dr. Gregory Haff is the Professor of S&C and the Director of the Strength and Power Research Group at ECU. He is the author of the ‘Scientific Foundations and Practical Applications of Periodisation’ & the co-editor of the NSCA’s Essentials of S&C textbooks. A central goal of his research is to bridge the gap between scientific inquiry & practical applications, with a research focus on the periodisation of training, resistance training programming strategies, and methods of testing and monitoring of the training process. His research focuses on methodologies for testing, monitoring, and programming resistance training interventions, as well as concepts related to periodization and training theory.
QUOTES
"So they created linear position transducers, much like a gym aware, and they used it with weightlifters in particular, because obviously weightlifting, it has a speed component to it e.g., you've got to be able to move the barbell quickly and you've got to be able to move heavy loads very quickly."
"If we guided training solely by velocity, we couldn't get high end strength development. Could we improve power? Yes. Could we improve the speed of movement? Yes. Could we regulate training load? Yes. But we often missed that stimulus to actually increase maximal strength."
"So when we looked at our data, what we found is the slope of the load velocity profile changes from day to day with fatigue more dramatically than maximal strength capacity. So this is where it gets a little interesting. If I'm programming off the load velocity profile, am I actually programming off the maximal capacity or am I being hyper reactive to fatigue?"
"Velocity based training is no better than the percentage based. There's no more variability or less variability. They're about the same. So is it really adding to my training other than more expense because I've got to buy them, more technology because I need it, and more training for my staff? Potentially not."
"You might want to occasionally use a load-velocity profile to look at where the athlete's weaknesses are. It might inform you, but then you've got to contextualize it. Where am I in my training program? And what is my goal right now? So if I'm in a strength power phase and the velocity end is low, then I have got a problem. But if I'm in a hypertrophy phase and it's low… you know, I don't really care right now."
"I wouldn't use it with weightlifting exercises, especially when what I've what I found with people that use it with weightlifting exercises, they change their technique to chase speed. And what happens is they create an inefficient movement pattern."
SHOWNOTES
1) Greg’s story, from growing up in the US as a son of a Marine to becoming a leading researcher in strength science
2) The history of velocity-based training and its German / Russian origins
3) Why we might have to be careful using VBT to estimate maximal strength considering the stability of maximal strength
4) Greg’s suggested strategies around using VBT to autoregulate load plus his preference for linear position transducers over accelerometers
5) Strength stability across different exercises and the stages of over-reaching/over-training
6) How and when to apply VBT during strength training periodization and using load-velocity profiles / critical minimum velocity thresholds across different exercises
7) The cognitive load of always using VBT and its effect on motivation as well as the effect of different athlete phenotypes on VBT
8) Which exercises to use VBT with and potential applications for other populations besides athletes
9) Using VBT to monitor readiness with a set load
10) The biggest thing Greg has changed his mind on in recent times and the importance of mobility
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Mike Stone
Boyd Epley
Andrew Fry
William Kraemer
Carl Miller
Stuart Guppy
Dietmar Schmidbleiter
Nick Poulos
Dan Baker
Jonathon Weakley
Bryan Mann
Duncan French -
Youth and High School Strength and Conditioning
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