Latest / The Layback Podcast / We're 2 years old! (Ep. 106)

Transcript

We're 2 years old! (Ep. 106) · The Layback Podcast

0:00
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Lay Back Podcast.
0:03
Joining us today is no one, it is just me.
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We are running a solo episode, but I promise you it is for good
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reason. Although the date might not be
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entirely accurate, not too long ago Lay Back Podcast turned 2
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years old. That's right, we have done now
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over 104 episodes, so for anyone keeping track, we did one
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episode per week for two straight years, which would
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equal 104. Now this episode coming out, if
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I'm not mistaken, will actually be episode one.
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O 6 had a really good interview with Tony Newback that I wanted
0:47
to get out and be relatively timely with because we recorded
0:50
it after his second game of the season and I was scared that we
0:55
were going to end up releasing it 5-6 games into the season for
0:58
him. And some of the topics that we
1:00
discussed just might not have been as timely.
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So I definitely wanted to get that out and really just in
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front of the masses. Now this is going to be one of
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those episodes where we kind of step back, we reflect.
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I'm going to try to pause here and there.
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You will likely see my eyes dart around the screen a good bit.
1:24
And that is because I want to review a lot of what we have
1:27
seen over this past 12 month stretch of Flex Pro Grip and the
1:34
Lay Back podcast. We really have accomplished a
1:38
lot as a podcast and the the Lay Back family as a whole.
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So not just what what I have done as a host and producer of
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this podcast, but really everyone who is involved.
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And so I want to start just by saying thank you.
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Never could have gotten to this point of over 2 years if we
2:02
didn't have listeners. If we didn't have the lay back
2:04
family tuning in every single episode to learn about our
2:08
players, our coaches, our families, our PTS, our agents,
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and everyone else in between that has stepped up and stepped
2:18
in front of the mic in the camera for an interview.
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With that, we are at a point where we've eclipsed.
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Let me check to be specific. On Spotify we now have over 200
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followers. Super exciting.
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Would love a few more followers for the direct downloads instead
2:37
of just the specific episodes, but over 200 followers on
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Spotify alone. And then if we go over to Apple
2:45
Music, we've got about 250 specific followers on there as
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well, or Apple Podcasts, I should say.
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So we have over 500 people subscribing to the podcast and
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what that amounts to from a total listens perspective is we
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are actually over the the 30,000 total listens mark, which is
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just crazy to say. Now, I don't, I don't know what
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a normal podcast does of this status or this many episodes.
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I don't know if that's good. I don't know if it's bad.
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But to me it's really cool. It's amazing to know that that
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many people are involved and really want to hear what we're
3:27
producing and the stories of everyone that is joining the Lay
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Back Podcast. If you guys remember, from the
3:34
start, what was really important to me was to share the stories
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and create a community. So if someone is going through
3:42
rehab or someone is looking for a resource, they could come to
3:46
the Lay Back Podcast as that resource or as that community
3:51
and hopefully form some sort of connections.
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And I think that really was perfectly exemplified pretty
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recently by Logan Anderson, who is purely performance on
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Instagram. And he he has now started a
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podcast. He did an episode with Terry
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Phillips, former guest of the podcast.
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So Lay Back alum. All of you know, we love our Lay
4:15
Back alum, but they did a little interview to talk about Tommy
4:20
John and rehab in general and just the space.
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And twice those guys reference specific episodes on the Lay
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Back podcast. They referenced our episode with
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Denton Sagerman and they referenced our episode with
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Anthony Casiola. Then I'm on another conversation
4:40
with one of the strength coaches we work with.
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He he directly quoted something he heard from the interview we
4:48
did with Bryce Kreider. It's really humbling to know
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that people in the space are taking the information from the
4:57
Lay Back Podcast and applying it to their everyday practices or
5:02
to their education and really converting that information to
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the betterment of their athletes.
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It really feels good. This is something I only really
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dreamed of at the start of the Lay Back Podcast, but just to
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know that it's really happening makes me feel good.
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And it's weird to talk about, but I I definitely wanted to
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take this time to do it because without you guys, none of this
5:27
would be possible. Now there there is one episode
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that I want to talk about that actually has never aired to date
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that I thought was going to be a heavy hitter during this past
5:40
year. That episode will still come out
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at some point waiting for a few things.
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I don't think he would mind me sharing, but we had a panel
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discussion at this year's ABCA back in January that was in
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Columbus, OH. On that panel discussion, we had
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Corey Muscara, the head coach of Duke baseball, Chris Martin, the
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head strength coach for LSU baseball, and we had Steve
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Rassell, who is the director of performance and Wellness, and I
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think a few other titles or words in there for the Toronto
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Blue Jays. Basically he heads up the high
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performance component of the Blue Jays.
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So that includes their strength and conditioning, their medical,
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their nutrition and the mental game as well.
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So basically everything off field that goes into baseball
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performance. Those three guys were gracious
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enough to join us in Columbus, like I said, but we really,
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really wet in depth on what creates a true player
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development system. Like how do we bridge the gap
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from just data in tech to actually creating a solution for
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the athlete. And of course, that comes with
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storytelling that that really was our big buzzword is how do
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we tell the proper stories to these athletes?
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But storytelling isn't just to take the data and present
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something really cool. And just because you presented
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something really cool, it means all the athletes are going to be
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on board and they're gung ho about whatever system you
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develop. Rather, storytelling goes so
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much further because you need these stories to show successes,
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kind of explain failures. You need these stories to shape
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the future of your organization or even shape the future of what
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you can get from a specific player.
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So there's one thing to have data, there's one thing to have
7:43
technology, but actually being able to be an author of that
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information, take everything, consolidate it, shape it, form
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it and morph it into something special.
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That's that's where you're getting your true architects,
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those who can really make a difference.
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And I really think the likes of Cory Muscara, Chris Martin,
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Steve Rassell are the perfect examples of guys who can tell
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those stories. Obviously, the Blue Jays have
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had a meteoric rise to being a powerhouse in Major League
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Baseball. LSU is I, I mean, they're,
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they're one of the most storied programs in all of collegiate
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baseball. And Chris Martin has gotten to
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kind of doctor that in a way behind the scenes, controlling
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what these guys do to be at their best every single day for
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recovery, for strength, for speed and force production.
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And then of course, we have Cory Muscara, who has been one of the
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best pitching minds this game at any level has had to offer for a
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long time, and he's now finally getting to man the wheel and run
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his own program with Duke. So no schlub of a program with
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the Duke Blue Devils and they're already putting together some
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very, very impressive numbers, whether it's on the pitching
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side or if I'm not mistaken, they are very close to even
9:14
breaking their schools single season stolen bases record.
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And oh, by the way, the recording of this is on March
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17th. So for anyone that's curious
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about being, I think like 10 stolen bases away from their
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school record on March 17th, I think they're doing something
9:33
right on the bases. And Moose is great with leg
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times. He understands pitchers, so I'm
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sure he has a decent idea of how to take advantage of pitchers as
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well and tell the story of what he views as important and then
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empower those around him who might know a few more things
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about base running to create the best system possible to develop
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an identity for the program. So I, I, I just wanted to talk
10:03
about that episode that still hasn't aired.
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It's still in the waiting. Steve Rassell just has to run
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through it a little bit, redact a few names, maybe Doctor a
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couple statements and just make sure that nothing, nothing that
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could be considered an industry secret or sensitive information
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to the Blue Jays goes out to the public.
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That might, that might trigger some excitement for the masses,
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for someone that tries to find a little nugget in there, a little
10:31
Easter egg, something that we forgot to edit out.
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But I'm hoping Steve can get that back to us at some point.
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Of course, they're in the middle of spring training as I'm
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recording this, so who actually knows when it'll happen, but I
10:42
promise you guys that will come out at some point.
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I do also want to talk about some of the other episodes from
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the past year. So what I have done here in the
10:53
background is I've actually pulled up our little producers
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page and I I want to run back on some big time moments.
11:01
So let me expand this, please, everyone, bear with me.
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And of course, for all the visual members of the Lay Back
11:09
podcast. This is why my eyes are darting
11:12
around the screen. If you guys are seeing that now,
11:14
of course, the audio, you're just listening to me ramble on.
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All right, so I'm about halfway through the year now.
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Let me slide this back a little bit farther.
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All right, so to kick off year two of the podcast, we started
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things off with Weston Germain. Weston Germain, the director of
11:39
pitching development for MASH Baseball up in Minnesota,
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incredible with programming, really took an academic approach
11:47
to that discussion, which which was a fun one.
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I know that was a super influential discussion to a lot
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of our high school audience, which I was very pleased to
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hear. The way that Weston goes about
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creating programming. He formerly was a teacher.
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So applying that sort of information and that style of
12:07
education and knowing that that is desirable information for
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the, the lay back family really, really made me happy to hear
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because I, I very much have been a fan of what has gone on with
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MASH and specifically with Weston's journey and learning
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about workload management and learning about player
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development systems. Of course, we have our our
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player interviews. Jacob Kamats was our first one
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of year 2. He, he's been incredible to
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watch grow. I'm super excited for, for his
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2026 season. He has hinted at a potential
12:47
move to the bullpen, but it sounds like that will be huge
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for his average fastball velocity and his stuff being
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such a command focused pitcher. I think this will enable him to
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let loose a little bit. I, I want to also call out a
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couple episodes that we highlighted that we were very
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keen on for this year too. I tease them.
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It was the Will Carroll and Gary McCoy interviews, definitely fun
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ones as they kind of shifted our normal focus of the Layback
13:16
podcast. Will Carroll being the author of
13:19
Under the Knife, very much having a finger on the pulse or
13:23
what's going on in the baseball and sports world in general when
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it comes to injury. And Gary McCoy being kind of the
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architect for the only injury free season ever recorded in
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professional baseball. Now I don't know if that's an
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official data point, but I'm comfortable saying it is a hard
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point of data cuz I'm guessing we would hear a lot more about
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anyone else who is constructed an injury free professional
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baseball season for an entire roster.
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Definitely could I I definitely want anyone who missed that
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episode to go back and check it out.
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A few other really fun notable ones in the mix were actually
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some presentations. So it's, they're quasi Flexpro
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grip episodes, but we had Jess Geiger's Seminole study on
14:18
forearm strengthening and the panicle, the, excuse me, the
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panel discussion associated with that.
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So anyone, I, anyone wanting to check that out, I encourage you
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to go to YouTube and look for Jess's study.
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We, we have that on our page. It's a panel discussion with a
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handful of Flexpro Grip and Lay Back user and alums
14:43
respectively. Hop on to discuss Jess's
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industry shaking findings. We had Doctor Matt Fury, Dylan
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Newcomer and Ryan Yoshida all hop on board for that one.
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So really just a very informative discussion on the
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impact of training with Flexpro Grip.
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The high level Cliff notes here is that of the 36 college
15:06
pitchers involved in this study that just created in at the
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pitching lab at Wake Forest, the 18 that trained on Flexpro grip
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doing our strength protocols for 10 weeks saw a decrease in
15:22
medial elbow joint gapping of 43%.
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And the 18 athletes who did not train on Flexpro grip during
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this time saw an increase in medial elbow joint gapping of
15:36
nearly 10%. So what that means is training
15:39
on Flexpro grip, not only is going to prevent gapping from
15:44
occurring at the medial elbow joint, it's actually going to
15:47
reverse it, putting less actual strain or stress on the UCL
15:53
itself, allowing the dynamic stabilizers or suggesting that
15:57
the dynamic stabilizers, the FCU, the FDS and the FDP when
16:02
trained properly, can actually stay stiff and do their job to
16:08
prevent that injury mechanism from occurring.
16:12
Another panel discussion that we had.
16:15
Give me just a moment here. I clicked through that properly
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ever improperly. Everyone, I apologize now.
16:21
I got to fly through my Spotify links here.
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Another one we had is the forearm flexor strength study or
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forearm flexor strength and balance correlation with UCL
16:34
injury in Baseball Athletes panel discussion that was
16:37
presented by Toby Addis and Drew Hagen, both third year Med
16:44
students at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine.
16:47
And joining us again on the panel is doctor Matt Fury,
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accompanied by doctors Gunner Burlinson, physical therapist
16:56
Emily Ferri, and even in the pitching space, Mike Mcferrin.
17:02
So super interesting discussion there as this crew presented
17:07
research. It's a retrospective study that
17:09
the Flexpro Grip family and lay back family has heard me speak
17:14
on a few times, suggesting basically the red flags that we
17:18
utilize in Flexpro Grip assessments, specifically with
17:22
our rapid flexion test. So what does it actually mean to
17:26
be strong? Where?
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Where do we label strong? Where do we label weak and what
17:32
ratios do we want to see for these athletes who are testing
17:36
on Flexpro grip? Very interesting study.
17:40
Another one that I encourage everyone to go to YouTube to
17:43
watch in full. We have slides associated with
17:46
it, so of course you can listen, but the the slides really paint
17:51
a greater picture there. Giving the flowers where they're
17:55
due. We must of course celebrate the
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most. Listen to episode during this
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time and that is the Chris Martin interview.
18:06
So of course I mentioned Chris Martin on that panel discussion.
18:10
But back on July 31st, we released an episode with Chris
18:14
Martin detailing his work with the LSU program.
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So definitely a really cool one to tune into.
18:21
Learn more about Chris's work with historically one of the
18:25
best collegiate baseball programs in the nation.
18:29
You know I love my my player rehab stories.
18:32
Connor Wilde's is really great one.
18:34
More recently, Aaron Youngers or AJ Youngers put together an
18:38
amazing one as well. A JS in particular is a must
18:44
listen as his rehab has shaped so much of what we do with
18:49
Baseball Rehab Network. Baseball Rehab Network is really
18:53
the driving force. But behind those couple of
18:55
studies that I mentioned earlier, the forum flexor
18:58
analysis as well as the applications of Jess Geiger's
19:03
Seminole study that she presented on.
19:06
But AJ or Aaron Youngers is rehab very much shape the way
19:12
that we prescribe certain Flexpro grip protocols due to
19:17
his injury mechanism and the strength that he possessed prior
19:23
to undergoing the UCL repair that he sustained as well as the
19:29
ulnar nerve transposition. So definitely tune into that
19:32
one. That one came out pretty
19:34
recently, but let me do some scrolling again as I get up to
19:39
date on the episodes that we can discuss a couple more of.
19:44
Of course, you all know I, I love all these episodes.
19:47
Really I, I wouldn't put them out there if I if I didn't love
19:51
them all. But another panel discussion to
19:54
discuss to bring up is the official launch of Baseball
19:59
Rehab Networks throwing programs.
20:00
Y'all heard me mention Baseball Rehab Network and putting those
20:04
things actually into practice. That was presented on October.
20:09
30th again, another great one to check out on YouTube.
20:12
Other episodes that I want to highlight.
20:14
The October 23rd episode with Nolan Repay is an amazing look
20:19
at athlete preparedness and really what we can do to get
20:24
athletes ready. Beginning to think about
20:26
neurology, beginning to think of the spectrum of plyometric
20:31
exercise and training dosages and really what we are offering
20:38
to our athletes as prescriptions in the world of training.
20:42
So really, really can't recommend that one enough.
20:45
Of course, Doctor Mike Sawn is always great to hear from.
20:48
It was amazing to have him on an episode.
20:51
Dawson Nets another amazing player story of how he picked up
20:55
Flex Pro Grip and gosh, it's so hard not to mention every single
21:00
one of these I've got I've got a couple episodes reviewing the
21:04
Wake Forest player development seminar with Josh Hedgeka.
21:06
It's always great to hear from Josh Hedgeka.
21:08
We have our player panel with Josh Hedgeka making an
21:11
appearance. Looking back at these episodes,
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I'm really just left in awe. I've, I've learned so much in
21:17
the process from all of these individuals and I've had so much
21:20
fun. I'm going to go back and listen
21:23
to a lot of these myself, but I, I would really love audience.
21:27
Please reach out. Tell me what episodes really
21:30
meant a lot to you, what you've learned, and we can try to do
21:34
more of that going forward because this is, this isn't just
21:38
me, this isn't just Flexpro Grip.
21:40
This is the family. As I've said time and time
21:42
again, this is supposed to be a place of education.
21:46
And so much of education comes from creating the curriculum.
21:51
And we can't create a curriculum if we don't know what people
21:56
want to know. And we were taking guesses at
21:59
that. I'm, I'm trying to create the
22:01
best guest panel for all of you, But please just reach out if you
22:06
think you know someone who would be a great guest, if you think
22:09
you would be a great guest. And we can have the discussion.
22:12
It's only up from here. It really is there.
22:15
There's amazing, amazing conversations that we're going
22:18
to continue to have. And it's just crazy to see how
22:21
far we've come as a podcast. As I anchor conversation a
22:25
little bit and kind of come to the close of this solo ramp, I
22:30
want to talk a little bit about what we've done with Flexpro
22:33
Grip and what we can expect going forward.
22:36
On some social media posts, you've seen us talk about very
22:39
briefly our in season maintenance work.
22:41
You've seen us talk about continuing to make things more
22:44
dynamic and more accessible and our constant iterations on rehab
22:49
processes. You guys are going to hear more
22:52
and more about how we can creating more dynamic system.
22:57
Of course we at Flexpro Grip want to be directly involved
23:01
with all of our athletes. But if we're directly involved
23:04
with every single one that takes a significant amount of time and
23:08
then we can't continue to make a better product or system, then
23:12
we're just doing athlete care. So what we are trying to do is
23:16
create a system that's very simple for athletes to use, but
23:19
it is also very flexible in the sense that it can move with what
23:25
the athlete demands are on any given day.
23:30
So definitely definitely hold us to that.
23:32
Expect a lot more from it in the coming months much how the in
23:36
season maintenance schedule for those of you who are on Flexpro
23:39
grip is set up to mesh to the starter verse reliever schedule.
23:45
It's set up to mesh with high intent throwing days and it's
23:49
set up to support recovery. You will see very similar things
23:53
that are set up to help support development and help support
23:58
velocity gains and support rehabilitation processes.
24:04
Right now, we're doing all those things manually or we're
24:07
creating our weekly protocol schedules to give athletes a
24:11
little bit of a runway. But I promise you, we're going
24:14
to get to a point where athletes can fill out some information
24:17
and based on the information that they're filling out,
24:21
they're going to know exactly what they should do on a given
24:23
day. And that is only going to
24:25
progress from there. It's we're not going to
24:27
eliminate the human side of these things.
24:29
We're still going to be very involved.
24:31
But as we grow, we want to make sure our athletes are still able
24:34
to get that same sort of individualism in the process.
24:40
Now we, we've talked countless times on Flexpro Grip about this
24:45
over emphasis on individuality that's needed in programs.
24:50
But when it when it comes to specific care of the flexor
24:56
pronator mass, we are going to continue to preach very specific
25:02
loads, very specific time under tension Rep schemes, volume for
25:08
an athlete and their individual case.
25:10
So yes, we are still going to individualize the best we can.
25:16
Now, as I am approaching 30 minutes, I don't think I'm there
25:21
yet, But as I'm approaching the half hour mark here, I'm going
25:25
to shut up and end my rambling and once again say thank you all
25:30
so much for allowing us to get to this point.
25:33
But before I do let all of you go, of course you have free will
25:37
and you can turn off the podcast at any moment.
25:40
But before I formally end the podcast, I want to say some of
25:44
the things I'm excited about going forward.
25:47
We're of course going to have some more players involved.
25:50
We're going to have more coaches.
25:53
I do want to spend a little bit more time on the topics that are
25:56
uncomfortable for me. So we're going to have a we're
26:00
going to have an episode coming out very soon.
26:03
It will probably be the next episode with Brian Hunter,
26:06
physical therapist owner, operator of Hex PTP in Maryland
26:12
about peptides. We talk about a lot more than
26:16
peptides, but peptides are very strong part of the episode.
26:21
So stick around in the end of that one to hear Brian's story
26:25
and I guess relationship with peptides in how they can be used
26:31
or not used in rehab for athletes.
26:34
So that's not that's not a topic that I know a lot about.
26:37
I don't know a lot about performance neurology, which is
26:40
something that's become very popular.
26:43
I don't know a lot about so many things and I assume the masses
26:47
out there probably feel the same way.
26:48
They want to learn too. I know I said this earlier about
26:51
creating a curriculum, but I think that is kind of an
26:54
undertaking that I want to have in this next year with the Lay
26:58
Back podcast is not just have people on to keep telling their
27:02
stories, which is super valuable, but I do want to use
27:08
this as an opportunity for me to learn and kind of show that I
27:12
can be vulnerable as well. So get more comfortable showing
27:16
what I don't know. And then maybe there's going to
27:19
be times where I feel very confident in something and want
27:22
to do more teaching or instructing.
27:24
I haven't put a ton of thought to this.
27:26
I haven't put a ton of it on paper yet, but I think those
27:29
will be a few of the things that I really try to map out and get
27:32
a better feel for in the rest of 2026 and going into 2027.
27:37
So with that, I do want to say again, thank you, thank you.
27:41
Thank you so much to all of you who TuneIn and as always, thanks
27:48
for laying back with us.