Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 11: Jordan Bush | Inside NFL Combine Prep: Building True Partnerships with Pro Athletes and What Separates the Elite

Transcript

EP 11: Jordan Bush | Inside NFL Combine Prep: Building True Partnerships with Pro Athletes and What Separates the Elite · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

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  It can affect their performance. They're just like, man, I'm
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  burnt out. I can't sleep at night because
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  I'm thinking about, you know, I have to run the fast 40 because
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  that's going to change my family's life.
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  Sometimes these guys families are dependent on them to get
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  drafted. And you're the you're the person
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  in that family that that people are dependent on the, the break
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  generational curses sometimes when you start to see that wear
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  and tear on guys, sometimes I say keep your eyes on your own
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  paper. And that's something I don't
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  understand at first. But he was like, if you're
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  looking at somebody else's paper, you can't focus on your
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  own. If you're looking at somebody
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  else's career and how they're doing, you can't focus on on
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  your own. He was one of the first people
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  that was like, no, I'm not doing it.
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  And it wasn't rude at all. It was just kind of like, Hey, I
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  know my body. I know what I like to do.
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  I know what works for me. This is what I like to do.
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  And it's like, all right, let's either you meet them where they
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  are or you have a game. Take the chance of losing
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  somebody. As an athlete, I've experienced
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  a lot. But again, nothing will compare
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  to somebody saying, hey, man, I appreciate you.
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  Those moments are are priceless. You always think about this
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  could go wrong, this could go wrong, but what if it works out
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  perfectly? What if it works out way better
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  than you could have imagined? The higher level up the the
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  coaching goes more from, you know, rah rah to we're just
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  having a conversation. You know, again, at some point
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  you got to play your last play. That does not mean our
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  relationship ends there. Welcome to the Strength in
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  Numbers podcast. I'm your host John Bloom, and
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  today's guest is Jordan Bush. Jordan is a performance
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  specialist for Exos and Can Georgia, and he also has
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  experience at other top organizations such as Collective
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  House of Athlete, IMG Academy, and D1 working with top athletes
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  like Jamar Chase, Micah Parsons, DeAndre Swift, and Ashton Gente.
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  We talked about what all goes into NFL combine training,
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  including the things people don't really see like the mental
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  weight of the process. But we also talked about the
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  difference in relationships working with pro athletes versus
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  youth athletes and the commonalities that separate top
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  pro athletes that are often overlooked.
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  Enjoy the episode. Jordan, man, I appreciate you
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  being here. I, I just want to start out with
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  for, for people that don't know you like, like, who are you?
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  What do you do? And and what drove you to do
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  that? My name is Jordan Bush, born and
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  raised in Jacksonville, a performance specialist currently
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  at Exos in Cam, Georgia. Kind of a situation where I feel
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  like the coaching industry chose me a little bit.
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  Went to University of Southern Mississippi major exercise
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  science, have always been into weight training and working out
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  to look at the old videos of, you know, Scott Cochrane videos
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  back in Alabama when those guys were trained and you know, the
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  fourth quarter program and stuff like that.
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  It was just something I was always attracted to.
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  You know, one day I will initially go back.
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  I initially wanted to go to PT school.
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  That was something I thought I was interested in.
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  Long story short, my freshman year of of college we had this
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  intro to exercise science class or different professors and
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  professionals. I would say you know we would
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  have an AT come speak one week APT, strip coach, whatever.
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  The day the PT, the day the PT came by, she probably about 40
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  of us in the class and she asked us, you know, how many of y'all
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  want to go to PT school, Raise your hand.
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  Probably about 10 or 15 of us raised our hand and she just
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  kind of stopped. And she was like, if you don't
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  graduate with the three seven or higher, you might as well cancel
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  pitches, go out. And he was like, oh, you know, I
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  was always a good student, you know, maintaining A37 with a
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  degree of exercise science. And I, you know, I know that's
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  pretty tough to do. So I think maybe like 2 days
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  later, I walked over to our football facility.
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  At the time, our hair strength coach was Mark Smith.
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  I walked over, talked to him. I was like, hey, I want to, I
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  really want to get into, into weight training.
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  I really want to get into strength conditioning, you know,
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  what do I need to do? And he told me, you know, be
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  here tomorrow at 5:00 in the morning.
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  And that's literally all he said.
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  And I was like, you know, all right, Cools showed up the next
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  day, probably about four, 45440, something like that.
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  But he was already there and he gave me a little bit of advice
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  that I, you know, have not forgotten to this day.
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  He said, never let your balls beat you to work.
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  And I was like, dude, I'm on time like we were talking about.
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  And he's like, yeah, but I beat you here.
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  I'm the head strength guy. I should not meet you to work.
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  And that was 2013. Here it is 2015.
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  I'm sorry, 2025 now. And that's something that I, I
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  still have carried me with me for the last 12 years.
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  But I was, I was able to see what collegiate strength and
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  conditioning was like, you know, on the Division One level.
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  I fell in love with it. You know, I was in the meetings,
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  I was helping with, you know, not too much programming, but
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  they let me, you know, get my input on certain things.
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  We had a coaching change. So the next year, Zach Woodfin,
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  who's now the hair string coach of Tennessee Titans, he he came
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  in and I kind of told him what I did to get before he was all on
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  board for it. He let me, you know, I'll say in
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  turn, because I was still in school, I would go, you know, in
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  the mornings, help out with football, about the baseball a
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  little bit. And then I would go back and
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  happen, help out with track. So I was able to be around
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  multiple sports. And that's just something I fell
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  in love with. Graduated and moved back home to
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  Jackson. I was working at the D1 facility
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  for an internship. They ended up hiring me right
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  before my internship was over. There's also a head baseball
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  strict edition and coach in high school at one of the local high
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  schools back at back at home road race ranking.
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  And then my life changed. I always say when I got a phone
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  call from IMG to come work their pre draft training there.
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  We had a tremendous, tremendous class.
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  I still talk to all those guys to this day.
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  And that was like my first, I hate to say like real coaching
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  experience, but that was like, you know, the future.
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  I would say, you know, these had three first rounds that year,
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  but it turned into you're working with very, very high
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  level athletes need to become a better coach.
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  And that was something that I, I, I took on hit on.
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  I tried to learn as much as I could from everybody in the
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  facility. You know, I would reach out to
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  guys, other coaches on Twitter, Instagram, you know whatever.
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  I used that opportunity to, to really learn as much as I.
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  And then March 2020, we all know could happen.
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  School shut down. So then I was out of a job for
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  about 6 months. I got the invite to come work at
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  House of Athlete and Brian down in Western Florida.
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  Did that for two years. I loved it.
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  You know, being in Miami really taught me a lot about networking
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  and being the right people, aligning yourself with the right
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  people that are like minded like you.
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  Awesome experience. Did 2 pre draft classes there.
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  I've got the opportunity to to to elevate and move on to
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  collective in Austin, TX. I was there for a year rather
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  than a year and a half. I'm almost 18 months and then I
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  got the call from Exos that they were opening a new facility here
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  in Georgia. Exos has been around for so
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  long. It was an opportunity that I
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  could not resist and I jumped on it.
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  So here I am going on my 9th year full time as a coach.
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  I don't count my internship years back into the Southern
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  mix, but I'm going on my 9th year.
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  It'll be nine years in August, so move very, very fast, but I'm
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  thankful. I've been a lot excited and love
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  doing what I do. Yeah, no, no, that's awesome.
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  And now since you've been in the private sites for a bit, right,
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  These athletes, they they have to choose to work, work with
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  you, right? As opposed, you know, if you got
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  Southern myths, you know, people are recruited, they've got to
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  come to work. As of now, these athletes are
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  making the choice to come work with you.
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  So what? What separates you to make them
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  choose you in their offseason or in their in season, whatever it
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  is? Yeah, man, that's, that's a good
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  question. I will tell you, I don't know,
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  because I talk about something. You can go find a good coach
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  anywhere, right? You can go find somebody.
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  Anybody can teach a squat or clean or Sprint, press and jump.
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  Anybody can do that. If you're if you're a good
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  coach, you can teach somebody how to do that.
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  I think what separates me is just my relatability.
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  You know, I tried to tell guys like, hey, I'm I'm a coach where
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  when we're in between these lines and outside of that, I can
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  be, you know, now, now I'm getting to the point where I'm
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  older than some of these guys. So I'm like, I can be, you know,
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  Big Brother, I could be up, you know, whatever you need me to be
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  at that time. I try to make sure that they
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  understand that I really genuinely care about them, not
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  only as an athlete. Because we all know at some
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  point you're going to play your last play, you're going to run
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  your last route, you're going to catch your last touchdown, hit
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  your last home run. At some point, you know, no
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  matter how we try to avoid it, that day is going to come.
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  I try to let guys know that I'm here for you now.
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  And again, like I said, some of the guys that I, you know, I
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  coached it. Southern Miss comes back in 20
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  17/20/18. I still talk to some of those
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  guys to this day so I let them know that here I haven't.
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  I might not have coached you in the last 5-6 years but if you
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  ever need any advice on anything or you having problems with you
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  know I had a guy reach out to me maybe like 2 months ago.
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  Need a mobility routine. I have not coached this guy in
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  about 6-7 years, but he's like, hey, can you shoot me a mobility
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  routine? I used to like the stuff we did,
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  you know, back when I was in high school.
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  So, you know, just being a relative person, you know, being
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  down to earth. I always try to be where my feet
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  are and let guys know if there's ever anything you need, they can
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  reach out to me. If I don't have an answer, I
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  will find somebody who does, you know, and I always try to let
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  them know that, you know, again, at some point you got to play
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  your last play. That does not mean our
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  relationship is there. Our relationship will go as long
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  as we wanted to go. You know, it'll last forever,
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  you know, hopefully. You know, one thing I pride
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  myself on is trying to anybody that I've worked in the past, I,
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  I want them to feel like they can still reach out to me and
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  vice versa. I want to still be able to reach
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  out to them. You know, I check on guys, you
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  know, once a month. You know anybody I've worked
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  with, they can tell you I'm always checking in, seeing if
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  they need anything, what I can do to help, whether that's from
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  afar, you know, directly, you know, every day.
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  I just think that, you know, being a related person has being
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  a genuine person, I would say has helped me, you know, my
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  career elevate very, very fast. But as, as far as a coach, I
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  don't do anything special. I don't think, like I said,
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  anybody can teach somebody how to get strong or get faster, but
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  it doesn't, you know, you can't talk to everybody about
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  everything or you can't relate to everybody on certain things.
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  So I think that's what's helped me build my relationships with
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  people and, you know, I would say accelerate my career in a,
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  in a fast pace. Yeah.
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  And I love it. And and I feel like the couple
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  of times we've talked, that's kind of been a theme of of, you
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  know, the center of your coaching is their relationships.
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  And as you think about now like working with a lot of top pro
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  athletes, do you view the way you interact or have
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  relationship with them differently than versus working
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  and have relations with high school athletes?
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  Like how how is managing the relationships different for the
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  different ages or kind of levels of professionalism there?
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  Yeah, so, you know, one piece of advice, one of my, you know, one
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  of my old Co workers, MO Wills talk about is, you know, once
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  you get to the higher level up the coaching goes more from, you
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  know, rah rah. So we're just having a
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  conversation. You know, guys are out of the
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  the the collegiate, you know, and I love collegiate strict
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  conditions, don't get me wrong, but you know, some of those guys
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  can be characters, you know, in the collegiate setting.
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  And I think the older you get guys are kind of like, hey, I
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  don't be that's not the best way to communicate with me.
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  Like I know if you're working with a group of, you know, 90,
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  18 to 21 year olds, you kind of have to be that person.
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  You kind of have to be that loud.
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  I hate to say rah rah coach, but that's just what it is
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  sometimes. I have not blown a whistle in
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  about 5 years. You know, I'm not yelled unless
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  I was trying to let you know, my voice project across the room in
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  about 5 years. So I think that we can, I can
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  still get my point across, but I don't have to yell.
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  I don't have to be that coach that's in your face or you know,
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  that's I can push you in different ways.
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  I can motivate you in different ways.
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  It didn't always have to be the loud, the yelling and screaming.
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  Now for some coaches and some athletes that works.
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  You know, I just learned that for me and what I do, that's not
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  always the best approach. You know, I can adapt if I need
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  to and be that, you know, that person.
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  Guys will probably be like, now what's wrong with JB today?
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  That's not him. So I think just being able to be
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  consistent, but you coach guys the same.
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  You still have to be firm or just have to be fair and coach
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  guys the same way. I don't coach high school
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  receiver any different than I would coach, you know, a first
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  round draft pick receiver. You still have to the mechanics
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  and the foundations of what we do have to remain the same.
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  I think just the language and the temperature that you reach
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  when you're coaching those guys might be a little bit different.
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  But I always tell guys like, Hey, when you graduate and
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  become a professional athlete, then you'll get professional
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  athlete treatment, you know what I mean?
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  Until then, I got a coaching, you know what's best for for
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  you. And it's just kind of a thing
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  that I'll tell guys up front, you know, straight up from the
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  jump, this is what I'm going to be.
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  I'm going to be the same person every day.
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  And I think just trying to show up and be consistent as possible
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  is what is what. Works.
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  Yeah. It's kind of like, you know,
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  early. Honestly, they need more
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  straight direction and just structure.
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  And then the further they get along, it's like now it's
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  shifting more to just a partnership between, you know,
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  there's not, there's not any type of like higher accurate
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  tiers. Like we're working together.
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  You know, you're, you're a high level professional.
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  I'm, you know, I'm a professional.
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  We're we're partnering in this to reach your goals here.
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  Absolutely, for sure, 100%. Yeah.
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  Now, now one thing I've been interested in is like,
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  especially with combine training or just, you know, some of the
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  other NFL athletes or other pro athletes you work with, like
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  what what role does the relationships with their agents
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  play for you and, and how important is that?
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  Like, like does that influence sometimes how you actually
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  approach the training or working with that athlete?
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  Yes, I mean the agents at the end of the day, they, they, they
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  pay us to to get their guys as drafted as high as possible.
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  We always say we're in the our business is to increase your
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  draft stock. That's period, point blank,
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  whether that's you having a faster 40A faster El drill, you
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  know, 5 to 5 increase the reps on bench.
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  Our our job in the private sector when it comes to pre
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  draft training is to increase your draft stock.
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  So you know, agents, you have to have a relationship with them
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  because they they wanted to send guys to you.
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  And that's something that I've learned, you know, from my first
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  real pre draft class was like I said, my 2020 IMG players, we
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  had some dogs, you know what I mean?
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  But I learned that I learned that very fast.
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  Like if an agent cannot trust you to do a good job, they're
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  not going to send guys to you, which can then in turn affect
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  your business, right? I've also had a lot of players
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  like, hey, I want to go train with you.
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  I want to come train with you. And then they tell their agents
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  we have to build a relationship that agents have to understand
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  that, hey, my guys referring me to you, I'm going to pay X
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  amount of dollars. Your job is to increase the
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  draft stock. And that's something that, you
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  know, I personally do not take a lot of lead because it's a lot
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  of money. Combined training is not cheap.
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  And again, guys are putting their trust in you for 8/10/12
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  weeks, however long they're there to make me a better
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  athlete to go past the actual test of the combine.
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  So it's serious. It's not.
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  It's no joke. This year I had Ashton Gente in
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  our draft class. I was the, you know, Heisman
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  runner up number six overall to the Raiders.
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  His agent was very his agents, my guy, you know, he was very,
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  very, you know, particular about what he wanted for Ashton.
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  And it's just something like, OK, this is what this is what
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  you want. This is what we can do for him
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  and let's make it happen. So we try to make sure that, you
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  know, the agents are at the end of the day that they are
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  business also. And their business is to they
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  invest their their time and money and energy into a player.
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  They send that player to us and it's our job to again, try to
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  make that player as best prepared for the test of the
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  combine as they can be. Working with agents is.
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  I enjoy it. I mean, I probably can name, you
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  know, almost every agent in the industry because I probably have
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  come across them and worked with one of the guys at some point.
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  But it definitely has an influence.
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  But at the end of the day, you know, I tell them, hey, my job
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  is to coach them and get them ready for the test of the
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  combine. That's what that's what I think.
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  You do a great job. Do you do you feel like at this
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  point, like, you know, if people like you're saying like maybe
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  they, you know, an athlete goes their age, like, hey, I want to
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  work, I want to work with coach Bush.
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  Like is, is it, is that what's happening more often or now is
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  it that that you're established with agents?
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  It's like agents are bringing you their their people or, or
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  where do you see more people coming to you from?
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  It's both. I mean, I've had a lot of
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  athletes that I reach out to that I've known for years, I
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  hate to say the word recruit, you know, try to get them like,
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  you know, hey, come train with us.
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  And, you know, in Georgia, a lot of agents I know.
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  And then obviously Exos has been around for so long, you know,
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  those 4 letters are known across the industry, you know, every,
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  every standpoint. So I think it's a mixture of the
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  three, you know, athletes that I know, agents that that know me
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  and know about Exos and then Exos, you know, it's been around
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  for so many years and combine training space.
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  I think it's a mixture of all three.
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  I'm starting to see that I don't care how you get here, as long
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  as you get here, I'm cool with it.
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  So a little bit, a little bit of all three, I just say.
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  Yeah. And now as we've been talking
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  about how important relationships are, like then
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  when these athletes leave, you know, to go to their teams or
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  it's the end season, are there things you're doing to still
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  foster those relationships even when they're away for you for
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  months so that, you know, you have retention and athletes want
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  to come back and keep coming back to you?
• 16:28
  Yeah. Absolutely.
• 16:29
  I try to, I try to always go see all my guys play.
• 16:32
  I've kind of mashed up the art of trying to see multiple guys,
• 16:35
  you know, per game. So like I'll try to always go
• 16:39
  see as many games as I can during the season.
• 16:42
  But again, if that's not possible, I'm always reaching
• 16:44
  out. Hey man, how's it going?
• 16:46
  How you feeling? Are you injured?
• 16:48
  What's going on? How's your body feel?
• 16:50
  You know, what's the you know, and another thing I I try to
• 16:53
  talk about, I reach out to the strength staff at their teams.
• 16:56
  Like I just spent the last week in Minnesota with the Vikings
• 16:59
  for a coach of summer. I was invited to one of my old
• 17:01
  pre draft guys, Justin Jefferson was able to talk to him, talk to
• 17:05
  the staff about, you know, what his training is like and all of
• 17:08
  that stuff. So I always try to, you know,
• 17:10
  reach out to as many people as I can, you know, whether that's
• 17:14
  the player, the strength staff, because that just creates a
• 17:16
  relationship with them also like, hey, they know that, hey,
• 17:19
  this guy may be coming back to try and be for the summer or
• 17:21
  whatever the case may be. Hey, what is he doing?
• 17:23
  How can I send them back to Camp Brady?
• 17:25
  So, you know, even during the season, I'm trying to go to
• 17:28
  games again. Like I said, I was just mapping
• 17:29
  out my my first six weeks for the season already trying to
• 17:33
  look at flights and stuff like that, man, but trying to always
• 17:36
  show support as much as I can and let guys know again.
• 17:39
  And I might not train you for nine months, but those nine
• 17:42
  months that you're going, whatever, taking me, I'm going
• 17:44
  to always check in. I'm going to always reach out.
• 17:46
  I'm going to always try to come see you play if I can and just
• 17:49
  continue to grow relationships. And it's it's worked.
• 17:52
  It's worked. It's something I always do and
• 17:54
  it's not about the relationships.
• 17:56
  So it's not about the going to games like that.
• 17:59
  I'm genuinely happy to see these guys perform.
• 18:01
  And it's not one of those things like, oh, let me go see how many
• 18:04
  yards Ashley Gentry runs for it because he translates.
• 18:06
  Not about the it's about hey man, I'm really genuinely happy
• 18:09
  that you made it to the level and I want to go see you compete
• 18:13
  and go see all your hard work, your hard work pay off.
• 18:16
  So it's more so I'm generally happy for them.
• 18:18
  It's not you know, I think a lot of times it turns into, oh, this
• 18:21
  guy trying me, I made him. That will never be the case of
• 18:24
  me. These guys will be professional
• 18:26
  athletes if they never met me. I'm just a small piece to the
• 18:29
  puzzle of of what they're doing and trying to help them stay in
• 18:32
  the league as long as they can. And again, it goes beyond if
• 18:35
  they never play another down, I'm still going to be, you know,
• 18:38
  your boy that's checking in. You know, I have guys that have
• 18:40
  retired since I started training.
• 18:42
  I still check in on those guys. It doesn't matter to me, you
• 18:45
  know, if it's not about what you're doing on the field.
• 18:47
  I, I actually care about you as a person.
• 18:49
  And I think once guys start to see that, that goes a long way,
• 18:53
  you know? Yeah.
• 18:54
  And you know, I really like your point as you talk about that
• 18:55
  where like didn't actually just see them play.
• 18:57
  Because I know for me as I've been in the private sector now
• 19:00
  it's like it's been different where, you know, working in
• 19:02
  college, it's like you're at the team daily and then you're at
• 19:04
  the games. But now it's like you're doing
• 19:07
  the work part, but you don't actually get to see them go like
• 19:09
  go be them on the court or on the field and see kind of the
• 19:12
  results of the work they've been doing.
• 19:14
  So like actually make time to go see that is is special because
• 19:17
  it's like without it, then you're not, you're kind of just
• 19:19
  just in the grind or the work phase and not getting to see
• 19:22
  what they've actually been training for.
• 19:24
  Yeah, man. Like I said, it's something that
• 19:25
  I, I, I don't take lightly. I try to make sure the guys know
• 19:30
  that I'm gonna come see you play, try to come at least once.
• 19:33
  If I'm able to, I can. I'll come more, but I always
• 19:36
  want to make sure they know that I'm gonna do whatever I can to
• 19:39
  try to come see those guys play. Yeah.
• 19:42
  And as you mentioned, also like with like Minnesota, like
• 19:44
  talking with their strength staff and trying to collaborate
• 19:47
  there. When you're getting a new
• 19:48
  athlete, what are you doing to try and like intake their
• 19:51
  previous history, whether it is with another pro team or with
• 19:54
  their college history or even back to high school.
• 19:56
  Just like to find where they are and where to go from there.
• 20:00
  Yeah, I think there's two different ways to do that.
• 20:02
  Again, just having a conversation with the athlete,
• 20:04
  like, hey, are you a athlete that's ever done Olympic lifting
• 20:07
  or have you ever done, you know, what is your.
• 20:10
  I'll try to ask like, hey, can I see your program from your
• 20:13
  college or whatever, your last team, whatever.
• 20:15
  And some guys, most of guys will have it, some won't.
• 20:18
  And that's I think that's the time where I reach out to the
• 20:20
  staff. So hey, I have a new athlete
• 20:22
  coming in this first. This is our first time working
• 20:25
  together. I don't know young that Will,
• 20:28
  can you tell me a little bit about him?
• 20:29
  Do you have any of his, his fourth plate jumps, whatever?
• 20:32
  So I can kind of see know what I'm getting myself into.
• 20:35
  But I also think, you know, Exos does a great job.
• 20:37
  Anytime a new athlete comes in, they go through our full
• 20:40
  evaluation process. So even if I don't have that
• 20:42
  information from previous coaches or previous teams, we do
• 20:46
  our own, you know, evaluation process.
• 20:48
  They do a PT eval, they do a that we do all our force plate
• 20:52
  testing and all of that stuff. So we can kind of get an idea
• 20:55
  where they are. But if I can reach out to you
• 20:57
  again, if that's the something that I can get from the player
• 20:59
  or something I can get from a previous staff, previous coach,
• 21:02
  I always try to go that route and see what it is that I can
• 21:05
  find that I can reach out to. So I can try to make sure when
• 21:09
  they get to me that I'm prepared.
• 21:12
  Yeah. And as you, you know, as you
• 21:13
  talk about just having that conversation with the athlete
• 21:15
  and and like we talked about earlier, like having more of
• 21:17
  that partnership, how does like athlete feedback play a role in
• 21:21
  what you actually choose to do with those athletes at the
• 21:24
  higher levels and, and what they like, what they don't like, what
• 21:27
  their history is, what they see as being beneficial to them?
• 21:30
  Yeah. I mean, it's huge.
• 21:32
  I mean, it's huge everything honestly, you know, for God tell
• 21:34
  you, for guys telling me, Hey, I don't back spot and I'm somebody
• 21:38
  that's like, no, you're going to back spot.
• 21:39
  Then they said having to go train somewhere else.
• 21:41
  Now we lost, you know, an athlete that that potentially
• 21:44
  could have continued to train with us.
• 21:45
  So we have to give a little bit and give a little bit.
• 21:48
  I mean, I think it's definitely ways to go about doing OK.
• 21:51
  Well, hey, if you don't want to backspot, can we front squat or
• 21:54
  you don't want to load your spine, like let's do pitch shark
• 21:57
  or let's do trap bar dead or something like that.
• 21:58
  Like we're going to try to find a way to still get the same
• 22:02
  thing that I'm not, I took, I'm not married to any exercise.
• 22:05
  You know, it's more than one way to get to get something done.
• 22:07
  Or I think once guys see that you give a little bit, they'll
• 22:10
  give you a little bit more. That's just something I learned.
• 22:12
  I used to be one of those people that's like, hey, this is a
• 22:15
  program. It's not going to get changed.
• 22:17
  This is what we're going to do. And I learned, you know, pretty
• 22:19
  young and early in my career, that's not always the best
• 22:21
  approach. You know, you have to be
• 22:23
  somebody that can adapt to, you know, sometimes, you know, I
• 22:26
  always tell the story of when I was working with Jarvis Landry,
• 22:28
  Jarvis was going on year 9. He had been to 4 Pro Bowls.
• 22:32
  He was like, look, dude, I'm not doing that.
• 22:35
  I know my body, I know what I need to do at that point.
• 22:38
  It's like almost like, what can you say?
• 22:40
  You know, at the end of the day, like sometimes like your, your
• 22:43
  job is not to be the strongest, best person in the weight room.
• 22:47
  Your job is to be the best receiver that you can be.
• 22:49
  So my thoughts and my views on what I think you should do and
• 22:53
  all pro for you've been to 4 pro Bowls before you met me.
• 22:56
  You're going to your 9th year. Hey, if you don't want to do
• 22:59
  barbell bench, we can do dumbbells.
• 23:00
  We can figure out how to meet and, and find the common ground.
• 23:03
  And I think that's something I learned early.
• 23:05
  And he, I always joke around with him and give him credit.
• 23:08
  He taught me how to be adaptable because you, like I said, I was
• 23:11
  kind of stuck in my ways and this is the program.
• 23:14
  This is how we're going to do it.
• 23:15
  And he was one of the first people that was like, no, I'm
• 23:17
  not doing it. And it wasn't rude at all.
• 23:18
  It was just kind of like, Hey, I know my body, I know what I like
• 23:21
  to do. I know what works for me.
• 23:23
  This is what I like to do. And it's like, all right, let's
• 23:24
  either you meet them where they are or you have a game.
• 23:27
  Take the chance of losing somebody as an athlete, which is
• 23:30
  something that you know nobody wants to do.
• 23:32
  You kind of just have to learn and meet people where they are.
• 23:34
  And there's something I learned pretty early, pretty early, and
• 23:37
  something that that's always definitely.
• 23:39
  For sure, and you know, I, you know, I've had athletes too,
• 23:43
  like, like talking about drivers since they were like, they know
• 23:45
  like what they need, what they want and they're have no
• 23:48
  hesitation voicing that. But there's other athletes that
• 23:50
  are kind of just going to go and do whatever you tell them to do
• 23:53
  and maybe not even think to say anything.
• 23:55
  So how, how are you? Do you intentionally seek
• 23:59
  feedback from the athletes that aren't just outright giving it?
• 24:02
  And and what ways are you trying to do that if you are?
• 24:04
  All the time I let them know like, hey, do you guys think we
• 24:07
  did too much today? Do you feel like we didn't do
• 24:09
  enough? Do you feel like the numbers are
• 24:11
  what they're supposed to be? I'll want them to tell me if
• 24:13
  they think my program sucks. Tell me so I can become a
• 24:16
  better, you know, coach for you. But I think people that are are
• 24:19
  afraid to seek feedback are afraid of, you know, I guess
• 24:23
  kind of getting their feelings hurt.
• 24:24
  You can't be you can't have feelings.
• 24:26
  I mean, you have feelings, but obviously like you can't take
• 24:28
  things personal. These guys are professional
• 24:30
  athletes, even the ones that are professional, collegiate, high
• 24:33
  school doesn't matter. You need your feedback from the
• 24:35
  players. Now somebody saying, well, the
• 24:37
  workout was too hard. Was it really too hard?
• 24:39
  You know, you don't know. But when somebody's giving you
• 24:42
  honest, genuine feedback, I take it, I always tell, like Coach
• 24:46
  Mia tell me, hey, I think we might have did a little bit too
• 24:49
  much today on my weights were a little bit too high on my day
• 24:53
  lifts today. Can I pull back, maybe take 50
• 24:56
  lbs, whatever. Yeah, for sure.
• 24:57
  Let's do it. Because at the end of the day,
• 24:58
  again, I don't want the weight room Warriors.
• 25:00
  I want you to be the best for your sports you can be.
• 25:03
  So I seek feedback every day. Like, I'll huddle guys up and we
• 25:07
  talk about, you know, hey, this is what the session is going to
• 25:09
  look like. And we're done.
• 25:10
  We load all up again and say, hey, what you guys think, You
• 25:13
  know, what's the feedback? What you guys, what can I do
• 25:16
  better to make the session better?
• 25:17
  You know, so I think you have to, you have to look for that
• 25:20
  feedback. You have to want that feedback
• 25:22
  and you have to be able to take that, you know, I hate to say
• 25:25
  criticism. You have to take that coaching
• 25:26
  and be able to apply it, you know, because you want the thing
• 25:29
  about the way to stay relevant as this business is retention.
• 25:33
  You know, if you don't have guys to come back, now you're just a
• 25:37
  a good coach with no athletes, right.
• 25:39
  So you want to be able to get guys to to come back and they
• 25:42
  should want to come back. You know, always to I want you
• 25:44
  to want to come to the weight room.
• 25:46
  It should not be something that I'm like, Oh man, we're going to
• 25:49
  be we're going to lift heavy today.
• 25:51
  Now you're dragging. You don't want to be here.
• 25:52
  I want you guys. I want guys to be excited about
• 25:55
  coming into and I know I've learned, you know, over the
• 25:57
  years, some of the best players aren't always the people that
• 25:59
  like the weight room. And that's fine.
• 26:01
  But I want you to find something within the white room that you
• 26:05
  do like and let's let's work on it.
• 26:06
  You know what I mean? So I think, yeah, searching
• 26:09
  feedback is, is very important from from your athletes.
• 26:13
  It's something that you, I think all coaches should be.
• 26:15
  Yeah, and I think really the skill you described there too,
• 26:18
  of of being able to drop your ego and be open to being coached
• 26:23
  by the people you're supposed to be coaching is is so important
• 26:27
  and and and and go so such a long way.
• 26:30
  But I think it is really easy to kind of put up the wall and it's
• 26:33
  like say like it's, it's going one way, but it's not supposed
• 26:36
  to come back the other way. And like, I'm not like, I'm not,
• 26:38
  I'm not open to what you're saying.
• 26:39
  And I think that it can be easy to get caught up like that.
• 26:41
  But like you're saying, like for retention sake, especially like
• 26:45
  the more you can give people what they feel they need.
• 26:48
  And, and sometimes it's like you're finding a, you're, you're
• 26:51
  obviously influencing them to give them the best thing based
• 26:54
  off your expertise, but also like showing them how you're
• 26:58
  adjusting based off what they say.
• 27:00
  And maybe there's different compromises there and, and, and
• 27:02
  then different conversations, but that goes so far and allowed
• 27:05
  them to trust you that, hey, like, I know if I'm feeling this
• 27:08
  way, I can go to him and we're going to find what's best for me
• 27:12
  rather than I'm just talking to a wall and I didn't need to go
• 27:15
  find someone else to go to. Absolutely.
• 27:17
  Absolutely. Now, kind of shifting gears a
• 27:19
  little bit as you've worked with, you know, you've mentioned
• 27:22
  a couple, but so a lot of these top athletes, right, you know,
• 27:25
  top of the pro leagues they're in.
• 27:27
  What are some of the habits they have or characteristics they
• 27:30
  have that are overlooked as reasons to why they are great?
• 27:34
  And, you know, people look at the other stuff of their
• 27:36
  athleticism or, you know, their skill on this stuff, like what's
• 27:39
  underneath the hood that people don't see that you've kind of
• 27:41
  seen as commonalities from the really high level ones.
• 27:45
  Spread question thing consistency, you know for
• 27:48
  example, I'll go back to Ashton just recently his workout group
• 27:52
  time was let's see 30. He was in our second group he
• 27:57
  would get here at 7:00 every morning, he would get here at
• 28:00
  7:00. He would eat breakfast.
• 28:02
  He would make sure he hopped in the normal tech boots every day.
• 28:04
  He'd make sure he'd get treatment on the table.
• 28:06
  Like small things that honestly seem like not a big deal.
• 28:09
  Just make it having a routine like waking up at the same time
• 28:13
  every single day and making sure I'm doing the small things after
• 28:16
  practice or hopping on the drugs machine or making sure I'm
• 28:19
  stretching, making sure I'm doing all the small things that,
• 28:23
  like you say, go unnoticed to some people.
• 28:24
  But as a coach, you see it, you know, I mean, and as a player,
• 28:27
  you, you know, like once you get in the routine, you start to see
• 28:31
  some of these things that these, this guy's super consistent.
• 28:33
  This guy has a routine he's developed himself into, you
• 28:37
  know, creating a routine for himself.
• 28:39
  You know, I think consistency is for one.
• 28:42
  And I also don't think people realize how hard these guys
• 28:46
  truly work. Like it is a job.
• 28:48
  Like it obviously at the end of the day, it's football and it's
• 28:50
  a game. It is a job.
• 28:51
  And I've seen guys work extremely hard.
• 28:55
  And I tell people all the time, I used to, I used to believe,
• 28:58
  you know, hard work is every, if you work hard, good things are
• 29:02
  going to happen. That's not necessarily the truth
• 29:04
  and I've learned that, but I always say working hard will get
• 29:07
  you a better chance of somebody that didn't work hard, if that
• 29:10
  makes sense. So I've seen some of these guys
• 29:12
  that take so much, take such good care of their bodies.
• 29:16
  Like I've seen guys, you know, you hear about the LeBron James
• 29:18
  or the world, people that spend so much money on their body.
• 29:22
  And that's a real thing. Like I know guys that have to
• 29:25
  get a massage every week. I have to get, you know, the dry
• 29:28
  needle in every week. I have to, I have a
• 29:30
  nutritionist. I have all of these things to
• 29:32
  try to make sure that I'm healthy as possible in my body
• 29:35
  is where it needs to be. That's a real thing, you know,
• 29:38
  and I think that guys, when people start to see that they
• 29:41
  really understand these guys take tremendous care of their
• 29:45
  body and they make sure that they're always at peak
• 29:47
  performance readiness level. We say that's a real thing.
• 29:51
  That is a true thing. And guys are very, very locked
• 29:54
  in the the most we see that this consistency dodge development
• 29:59
  routine is something that they stick with.
• 30:00
  It's a saying that it's a saying.
• 30:03
  I've, I've learned to say recently, stick to the plan, not
• 30:06
  your mood, because you're not going to always feel like doing
• 30:09
  the extra treatment. You're not going to always feel
• 30:11
  like getting in a cold toe about the practice.
• 30:13
  You're not going to always feel like I don't need to get dry
• 30:16
  needling after, you know, my hamstring is tight.
• 30:18
  Whatever you're not going to always feel up to.
• 30:20
  I don't think it's a very, you know, false narrative that
• 30:24
  people give out. You're always going to be
• 30:26
  motivated. That's not true.
• 30:27
  You know, I talked to some of the guys in Minnesota the other
• 30:31
  day. That's like, man, by the time
• 30:32
  you get to November, it's 2° and 6 inches of snow.
• 30:36
  You don't feel like you're not the bed, but it's a routine, you
• 30:38
  know, not one of the things that I learned from one of my
• 30:40
  friends. He's like the way you discipline
• 30:43
  is going to go further. The motivation ever will.
• 30:46
  You're not going to always be motivated to get out of bed and
• 30:48
  do things, but the discipline that you have something as
• 30:51
  simple as brushing your teeth to everything that takes discipline
• 30:53
  because you don't want to always do that.
• 30:55
  But it's a routine. It's discipline of doing small
• 30:57
  things turn into big things. And I think that's one of the
• 31:00
  things that I've seen with with the pro athletes.
• 31:02
  They're just so disciplined and they're so routine based that
• 31:06
  it's anything that throws them off or that goes against it.
• 31:09
  They're not doing it. It's like I can't, if I know I
• 31:12
  get up at 5:00 every morning and I can't hang out at to 1:00 in
• 31:16
  the morning, you know, out or drinking or partying or or stand
• 31:20
  up late, you know, on the game, whatever, because it's got to
• 31:22
  throw my routine off. So I think having guys that they
• 31:25
  get into a routine or very disciplined are the guys that
• 31:28
  you see last a really, really long time.
• 31:30
  And if they don't last a long time, they're some of the best
• 31:32
  players, you know, maybe not physically, but there's some of
• 31:36
  the best mentally, there's some of the best.
• 31:37
  They're going to be the guys that always show up in shape,
• 31:40
  always on time, always are doing the right thing, what they're
• 31:43
  supposed to be. I think just having a routine
• 31:45
  and being disciplined of some of the biggest things that I've
• 31:48
  learned that have taking guys from point A to point B and
• 31:51
  beyond. For the athletes that have made
• 31:53
  it to that level without that level of consistency or
• 31:56
  discipline, or maybe for some high school athletes that are
• 31:59
  kind of, you know, getting into their careers and then don't
• 32:01
  have it yet. Like how do we how do we get
• 32:04
  them from that initial level to what you're talking about the
• 32:08
  top to top athletes in that level of consistency and
• 32:10
  discipline when especially if maybe they've had success
• 32:12
  without it? That's a that's a trigger thing.
• 32:15
  I think you first you have to find somebody that's actually
• 32:18
  doing it. And I mean, like if I'm, if I'm
• 32:20
  a young quarterback coming in, I want to know, I want to learn
• 32:23
  from, Hey, I'm a Steelers fan. I'm just saying Aaron Rodgers,
• 32:27
  how did you, how did he play at such a high level for so long?
• 32:31
  What are your routines? Like?
• 32:32
  What are you doing pre practice? What are you doing before
• 32:34
  practice with like how early do you get to facility every day?
• 32:37
  How, how late are you staying finding somebody that's actually
• 32:40
  doing it? And again, I'm a coach.
• 32:42
  I've done this thing for a long time.
• 32:44
  I've seen some guys that are just naturally God gifted,
• 32:48
  talented athletes that have, like you said, I know some guys
• 32:52
  that do not take care of their bodies.
• 32:54
  I know some guys that do not believe in doing an extra that
• 32:57
  can still go out there and catch 1500 yards every season and 12
• 33:01
  touchdown whatever. I just say you're 1 of guys
• 33:04
  favorites, you know, cuz some of the people that they have to
• 33:07
  work hard. Everybody has to work hard.
• 33:09
  But you know, you see some guys have to work a little bit harder
• 33:12
  just to get to that same level. And I think you just kind of
• 33:14
  have to find somebody that's doing it at find a mentors, you
• 33:18
  know, that's doing it for somebody.
• 33:19
  You can, I hate to say patting yourself after because
• 33:22
  everybody's everybody's individual at the end of the
• 33:24
  day. But find somebody that's doing
• 33:26
  it at the highest level and learn and take as much knowledge
• 33:29
  as you can from them. Soak up as much information as
• 33:32
  you know, as cliche to say, be a sponge, but that's that's a real
• 33:35
  thing. Like try to learn as much as you
• 33:36
  can from whoever you look at that's doing it at the highest
• 33:39
  level. Try to learn as much as you can
• 33:41
  from them and then just kind of pick up on their habits.
• 33:44
  Make it your own, you know, because if you're not a person
• 33:46
  that that can get up at 5:00 every morning, try to get up at
• 33:49
  six, you know what I mean? Just try to make it whatever you
• 33:51
  can do to make it fit your schedule and your, you know,
• 33:55
  what works for you. And you just kind of got to roll
• 33:57
  with it. You kind of got to roll with it.
• 33:58
  And I think that's something that I've learned over the last
• 34:00
  couple years that no two people are the same.
• 34:03
  But the people that are doing things at a high level, I can
• 34:06
  guarantee you they have some of the same similarities as
• 34:08
  somebody else that don't have the high level.
• 34:09
  So I'll probably say that. Yeah, no, that's really good.
• 34:13
  Now we've talked about, you know, the combat process a
• 34:15
  little bit, but for people that haven't been involved that it
• 34:18
  ever like what what all goes into those, you know, couple of
• 34:22
  months that that whole process, that system that that someones
• 34:25
  never been involved that like what goes into that whole
• 34:27
  training? Everything.
• 34:29
  I mean, obviously the speed is important, right?
• 34:34
  The 40 is the money maker. We always say so speed training
• 34:37
  is there waiting room trust want to show up to the combine and
• 34:39
  look the part. But we try to cover nutrition,
• 34:42
  mental performance, you know, mental conditioning, these guys
• 34:46
  position, work, life skills, Everything you can think of goes
• 34:50
  into that price. It's very short.
• 34:51
  Feel the days are long, but it goes by so fast.
• 34:54
  I mean, you blink and it's it's already over.
• 34:56
  But those eight you get depending on, you know, if guys
• 34:58
  are playing in bowl games or not, sometimes you may have a
• 35:00
  guy. I think if you play the national
• 35:02
  championship game, you had maybe like 4 1/2 weeks to get ready
• 35:05
  for the combine, which is no time, you know, with the
• 35:08
  playoffs being extended this year.
• 35:10
  It was new for all of us. But Needless to say, you have a
• 35:14
  very various a time to get as much done as you can.
• 35:17
  And it's truly a, or it's truly a skin, right?
• 35:20
  Because you don't have a micro cycle or a macro cycle of 24
• 35:26
  weeks. You got 8 weeks, sometimes 6,
• 35:28
  sometimes 7. You put the D load week in there
• 35:31
  and then you put the competition prep week in there.
• 35:33
  You might have 5 1/2 really, really think about AA12.
• 35:39
  The best way to think about AA12 or let's say NFL turn condensing
• 35:44
  A16 game schedule into eight games, right?
• 35:48
  So you're condensing a full training block into this small
• 35:53
  amount of time. So I tell you, cannot afford to
• 35:56
  to send back guys and can't afford to miss days.
• 35:59
  We're training six days a week, Monday through Saturday and it's
• 36:02
  a grind. Not too hard time.
• 36:03
  Like it's this is not me being any kind.
• 36:06
  It's not for everybody. You know, people think, you
• 36:08
  know, you can just come in and hey, I'm a training athlete.
• 36:10
  Times I was, this has come by, I was getting up at 6:00, getting
• 36:16
  to the facility at 7, which is to some people it's early, some
• 36:19
  people it's not. I mean, that's what it is.
• 36:20
  But you're not leaving sometime at seven, 8:00 at night and
• 36:23
  you're doing that 5-6 days a week, right?
• 36:25
  And it's like you're training on the weekends, you're doing 2A
• 36:28
  days in a sense, quote, UN quote where guys are, are, are doing
• 36:32
  their speed, agility or their, you know, their position work in
• 36:35
  the mornings and they're coming and training and lifting in the
• 36:37
  afternoons. You know, guys are doing, we,
• 36:40
  we, we do yoga. We do, they're getting massages.
• 36:43
  Some guys are trying to gain 10 lbs.
• 36:46
  Some guys are trying to lose 10 lbs.
• 36:47
  We have a, you know, full time nutritionist on site.
• 36:51
  You know, I tell people all the time during combine, I'm on 24
• 36:54
  hour call. Like I don't get breaks, I don't
• 36:57
  get days off. And I love them.
• 36:59
  You have to truly love it or you, you would do it for years.
• 37:02
  I'm never doing this again. I think I joke around and say
• 37:04
  anybody that does come by and trying to ask to be a little
• 37:06
  crazy because why am I putting myself through this for for
• 37:10
  eight weeks? But it's so it's so glorifying
• 37:12
  on the end when you see guys, you know, run fast or you see
• 37:16
  guys get drafted and it's like, hey, man, all that hard work
• 37:19
  paid off. And I'm just, I'm just a small,
• 37:22
  you know, piece to the puzzle of what you did.
• 37:24
  You probably would have ran fast if you never met me.
• 37:27
  But since you did and since we did this thing together, I like
• 37:29
  to say, you know, I take pride and being able to say that, you
• 37:32
  know, I didn't get you there. And again, you probably would
• 37:35
  have got there whether you met me or not.
• 37:36
  But I was able to play a small part in helping you get there.
• 37:39
  But again, it's something that, you know, I don't take lightly.
• 37:41
  And it's just it's, it's a skill.
• 37:43
  It's a skill. Anything you can think of, you
• 37:45
  know, you're talking to agents, you're talking to scouts, you're
• 37:47
  talking to again, some guys want to do more position work, some
• 37:51
  guys want to do less, some guys want to do more speed training.
• 37:53
  Some guys want to do less. Some guys go to the combine and
• 37:56
  don't do any of that stuff at all.
• 37:57
  Right. So then you also have to deal
• 37:59
  with some of the guys that don't get an invite to the combine.
• 38:01
  So now you're managing, you know, expectations.
• 38:03
  But then like, hey, even though you didn't didn't get a combine
• 38:05
  invite, go kill your pro dater, go dominate at your pro or
• 38:08
  whatever the case may be. So you know, you're you're
• 38:11
  dealing with 20 to 21 year old athletes that are I took I took
• 38:16
  a lot of time like it's one of those I probably am the the
• 38:19
  shortest window of coaching you're ever going to get.
• 38:22
  But I might be the most important part.
• 38:23
  You know what I mean? Just because it is that
• 38:25
  transition from you going to a collegiate athlete,
• 38:28
  transitioning into a professional athlete.
• 38:30
  And I have to make sure I give you all of I have to equip me
• 38:33
  with everything you need to be ready for that transition.
• 38:35
  And I've seen guys do it right. You know, I've seen guys go
• 38:39
  from, you know, maybe a fifth or sixth round grade and maybe got
• 38:42
  drafted in the third round. But I've also seen guys that
• 38:45
  projected first round picks that have become undrafted for ages
• 38:48
  because they didn't do all those things right.
• 38:50
  So it's a two way street so you can go the right.
• 38:53
  And it's it's something that you only get one chance to do right.
• 38:55
  You only get one combine process.
• 38:57
  You only get one day. So running the 40th to combine
• 39:00
  or your pro days, you only get one chance to do, you know, all
• 39:03
  the drills and go out there and shovel.
• 39:06
  You know, hey, it's a numbers game.
• 39:07
  But hey, I'm a little bit faster than this person.
• 39:09
  So it's something it's a skill. I just finished my 6th year, my
• 39:13
  6 come on class. And it's something that that
• 39:15
  that you never take for granted because you know how fast it
• 39:17
  goes. And you know that, again, these
• 39:19
  guys are putting their 100% trusting you to make them a
• 39:23
  better person so they can show up for the test.
• 39:25
  And it's something that I do not take loudly.
• 39:27
  Yeah. And as you talk about that short
• 39:30
  window, you said it might be the shortest training, but like the
• 39:33
  most important for your career, right, because of the financial
• 39:36
  implications there. Like, yeah, do you see some of
• 39:40
  the athletes struggling with the weight of that mentally of of
• 39:44
  how, especially once you get closer and closer to that date?
• 39:48
  Absolutely. It's honestly hard that I mean,
• 39:50
  I was just talking to our PT earlier.
• 39:52
  You know, sometimes these guys families are dependent on them
• 39:55
  to get drafted and you're the you're the person in that family
• 39:58
  that that people are dependent on the the great generational
• 40:01
  curses. Sometimes when you start to see
• 40:03
  that wear and tear on guys, sometimes, you know, we try to
• 40:05
  provide them with, you know, a mental coach if they need it.
• 40:08
  Like, hey, man, understand that, you know, I'm not going to call
• 40:12
  a name, but I had a guy this year.
• 40:13
  He was. Yeah.
• 40:41
  So it's a serious thing, you know, and I've seen guys it can
• 40:43
  affect their performance. They're just like, man, I'm
• 40:45
  burnt out. You know, I can't sleep at night
• 40:47
  because I'm thinking about, you know, I have to run the fast 40
• 40:50
  because that's going to change my family's life.
• 40:51
  It's like when you on the grand scheme, you realize that, you
• 40:55
  know, as a coach that you know, hey, you going to run a four
• 40:57
  one? It's never happened, but you're
• 40:59
  going to be the first round draft pick.
• 41:00
  I don't know what you did, but you know, you have guys go, go
• 41:03
  hear, hear stuff like that. It's unfortunate, you know,
• 41:06
  because I feel like I see, I've seen it go both ways.
• 41:09
  I've seen guys get 100% motivated behind it and go
• 41:12
  perform great. And I've seen guys kind of not
• 41:15
  be able to live up to the expectation of fall by the
• 41:18
  waist. And I hate to see, I hate to
• 41:19
  see, I hate that I took it out. I love combined training, but I
• 41:23
  hate how much stock is put into that.
• 41:25
  You know, just because somebody didn't run a fast time doesn't
• 41:28
  mean they're not going to be a great football player, you know
• 41:30
  what I mean? So I hate how much stock that
• 41:33
  people have put into combine training over the last, you
• 41:36
  know, 1520 years and you know, you run fast first round, you
• 41:40
  know, whatever, because there's not, I don't think the combine
• 41:43
  is a true representation of somebody's going to be a great
• 41:46
  football player or not. I think it's a test and you have
• 41:49
  to be ready, prepared for the test.
• 41:50
  And, you know, as long as I'm doing it, I'm going to make sure
• 41:52
  my guys prepared for the test. But I took all the time.
• 41:55
  At the end of the day, I saw a guy on Twitter says the
• 41:57
  underwear Olympics. That's what it is.
• 41:59
  You know, you're running, you're never going to run in the 40.
• 42:02
  You know, you're never going to run 40 yards straight, you know,
• 42:05
  with, with compression shorts on and and a tank top.
• 42:08
  It's not going to happen in the support of football, right.
• 42:10
  So I think I've seen a lot of guys where it's taking a toll on
• 42:14
  them. But again, that's why I try to
• 42:15
  come in as a coach. And that that's, I think that's
• 42:17
  one of the summer situation where I'm, I'm a Big Brother.
• 42:20
  I'm you know, again, I'm, I'm one of those people that I've
• 42:22
  seen it. You know, I try to, you know,
• 42:24
  express to them that they, this is what it is.
• 42:26
  You know, you're, you're a great athlete at the end of the day,
• 42:29
  you know, whether you're running a fast 40 or not, hopefully you
• 42:32
  do. But if you don't, that does not
• 42:33
  mean you're not a good football player.
• 42:35
  That does not mean you're not good enough.
• 42:36
  That does not mean you cannot go to the next level and exceed
• 42:40
  expectations, right? It's about, again, the belief in
• 42:42
  yourself that you should do it and then just going out there
• 42:44
  and executing. Yeah, yeah.
• 42:46
  And do you feel like, like you talked about it before with the
• 42:50
  top athletes having that level of consistency and discipline?
• 42:52
  Do you feel like the ones that are able to handle kind of
• 42:55
  mental weight best worry the least about the expectations and
• 42:59
  the outcomes and just focus on, OK, these are the consistent
• 43:02
  things I have to do and I'm just getting focused and lost and
• 43:05
  those things every day. Whereas the ones that worry more
• 43:07
  about I've got to run this time, I've got to do this, this and
• 43:09
  this and don't just focus on that process that get caught up
• 43:12
  in it way more. Yeah, I think that's one of
• 43:14
  those, you know, focusing on the process versus the outcome.
• 43:16
  You know what I mean? They're doing the small things,
• 43:18
  right? Showing up on time, making sure
• 43:20
  I'm doing, you know, the flexibility or the mobility
• 43:23
  routine, whatever, you know, just showing up every single
• 43:26
  day, stacking good days on top of good days on top of good days
• 43:28
  on top of good days. You know, the stuff that you do
• 43:31
  is going to take care of yourself.
• 43:32
  But you, you know, I, I can't, you have some of those one
• 43:35
  percenters that can go out there and do all the things wrong and
• 43:38
  still perform that just, you know, again, God's favorites is
• 43:41
  that I like to call them. But for the most part that the
• 43:43
  guys that focus on the process are one of the, are usually the
• 43:47
  guys that do better, you know, because they're, they're
• 43:49
  thinking, I'm not looking a month ahead.
• 43:51
  I just got to make sure I today's better than yesterday or
• 43:54
  I got to make sure I have a better week next week than I did
• 43:57
  this week. Stacking, you know, stacking
• 43:58
  days on top of on top of days. I think those are the people
• 44:01
  that usually do the best because they're not focused on the
• 44:04
  outcome. They're focused on the process
• 44:05
  of getting you to that. So I absolutely 100 percent,
• 44:09
  100%. What's been the most gratifying
• 44:12
  moment of your coaching career? I don't have one.
• 44:15
  I don't have one right now because I've seen not bragging
• 44:19
  and I've had six first round draft picks, No, eight first
• 44:21
  round draft picks. I want to say in six years I've
• 44:24
  had guys I make the Pro Bowl, I've had guys make all pro.
• 44:28
  I've seen I've seen it all in this space.
• 44:30
  I've been to the Olympics with my track and field athlete.
• 44:33
  I've done a lot and I'm I'm blessed to be able to, to see so
• 44:37
  much in such a short amount of time.
• 44:39
  That's about the time like if I woke up tomorrow and decided I
• 44:42
  don't want to do this anymore. I've done so much in these last
• 44:45
  nine years, enough for a lifetime.
• 44:47
  I will say I don't have a one moment.
• 44:49
  I think anytime that anybody that I've ever worked with that
• 44:53
  they I think, OK, it's not a specific moment.
• 44:56
  But I will say one of the things that I always have foul joy is
• 45:00
  is to the guy or girl sending me a message, hey man, I appreciate
• 45:03
  you or you know, you helped me do this.
• 45:05
  So we did this together. That will go further than any
• 45:08
  amount of money anybody's ever made That those are the small
• 45:11
  things that you know, and it's just a because it takes 5
• 45:14
  seconds to send a text, but that going out of your way to say,
• 45:17
  hey, man, I appreciate you or hey man, you know, we did it or
• 45:20
  something like that. That goes that that's probably
• 45:23
  the most gratifying thing. You know, again, being at the
• 45:26
  Olympics was, was a experience once I had said once a lifetime,
• 45:29
  but I'd like to say we're going to go back, you know, but I
• 45:31
  would say, you know, that's something that a lot of people
• 45:33
  don't get to experience. And I did it coaching the track
• 45:35
  and field athlete that I've never a sport that I've never
• 45:38
  done before. So that was really cool.
• 45:40
  The Olympics was something that I'll never forget.
• 45:42
  I've had guys wearing Super Bowls.
• 45:44
  I've I've done a lot. I've done a lot, I've
• 45:46
  experienced a lot. But again, nothing will compare
• 45:48
  to somebody saying, hey, man, I appreciate you.
• 45:51
  Those moments are are priceless. Any time somebody does, I
• 45:54
  screenshot it and keep it and something that you got to go
• 45:57
  back to and keep me motivated. You're you're coaching people,
• 46:00
  but you're also changing lives and you're helping, helping, you
• 46:03
  know, people live out their dreams.
• 46:05
  You never really thought out playing the NFL.
• 46:07
  I mean, I'm 57. So that was kind of something
• 46:10
  that I never really even want to do.
• 46:12
  But I think that the most gratifying thing is seeing other
• 46:15
  people live out their dreams and having a small, small piece in
• 46:19
  that. And that that that thing is is
• 46:21
  is important. It's something I can't put a a
• 46:24
  price tag on or something to experience that you get.
• 46:28
  You can't really explain it till it happens again.
• 46:30
  The first round draft picks are cool.
• 46:31
  All of that stuff is great when the Super Bowls is great.
• 46:34
  But again, nothing will be somebody saying, hey man, I
• 46:36
  appreciate you. That's to me, that's probably
• 46:39
  the most gratifying thing about what I.
• 46:40
  Yeah, no, I love that. I like to end the podcast time
• 46:43
  with these three, the same questions.
• 46:44
  And the first one is when you see that you need to improve
• 46:47
  some type of skill set, how do you close that gap?
• 46:49
  With myself or a player? With yourself.
• 46:52
  Can you ask the question again? So like when you realize there's
• 46:55
  some skill set that you need to improve in, like how do you
• 46:57
  close that gap between where you are and where you need to be?
• 47:00
  Yeah, find somebody who's doing it.
• 47:02
  You know, like for a long time I wasn't, you know, a speed guy
• 47:06
  and I was Hey, I I I enjoy it. I can appreciate, you know,
• 47:09
  speed training, but I'm like, hey, I need to go reach out to
• 47:12
  some some top level speed coaching.
• 47:13
  You know, the MO Wells, the less buildings of the world.
• 47:16
  Hey, what are you guys doing for this?
• 47:18
  You know what I mean? Like, let me, you know, Nick
• 47:20
  Hill over exos and and and Phoenix.
• 47:22
  But hey, what are you guys doing to get guys faster?
• 47:25
  How are you doing this? What's your periodization like?
• 47:27
  What's your programming like? So I think having the humility
• 47:31
  for one, to know, hey, I need to get better at this, and then for
• 47:34
  two, going about finding the answer, how to get it done.
• 47:38
  I tell guys a lot of time, like YouTube, Google is free.
• 47:41
  I try to use those resources. And again, if it's something I
• 47:44
  don't understand, I have to find somebody who does.
• 47:48
  Yeah, that's great. The second one is, you know,
• 47:51
  kind of plays well along with what you were just talking
• 47:53
  about, but right, this podcast kind of along the the same
• 47:56
  themes of the of the book of strength in numbers and coaches
• 47:59
  impacting coaches and like you're saying, finding other
• 48:01
  people to mentor us and, and and help us.
• 48:04
  So who have been some of the most impactful, whether it's
• 48:06
  people or situations throughout your career that's impacted who
• 48:11
  you are in your coaching journey?
• 48:12
  Well, I speak for myself personally, career about moving,
• 48:15
  moving, going to Bradenton and going to work at IMG changed my
• 48:18
  life because again, I had coached before the D1 facility.
• 48:21
  I worked at D1. Jackson was great.
• 48:23
  We had an All Star staff. But going to somewhere like I
• 48:26
  am, but for one, I was the youngest coach on staff at one
• 48:29
  point. I was only one of three African
• 48:32
  American coaches. And at the time when I first got
• 48:35
  there, I wasn't CSCS certified, right?
• 48:37
  So I tell I had all the stacked against me, but being able to
• 48:40
  learn from so many people because I think at one point we
• 48:43
  had like 25 string coaches on staff.
• 48:45
  So being able to learn from so many coaches that were there was
• 48:50
  changed. So I just, I think I would say
• 48:51
  getting out of my comfort zone. I've always wanted to work with
• 48:54
  pro sports, but we're living in Mississippi.
• 48:55
  We don't have any pro teams. So I knew I had to move and, you
• 48:59
  know, expand and, you know, get around other people.
• 49:02
  If I want to work with pro athletes, I have to put myself
• 49:05
  in a situation to be around pro athletes.
• 49:07
  So I'll say taking a step, taking a step anytime I move is
• 49:10
  taking a leap of faith just flat out because you never know how
• 49:13
  that situation is going to turn out.
• 49:15
  It could be great, something that you love.
• 49:17
  It could be a situation where you hate it.
• 49:18
  So taking any, I have to say, get out your comfort zone of
• 49:21
  moving around, not being afraid to take on new tasks.
• 49:25
  It's probably the most pivotal thing because I I moved, I moved
• 49:29
  four times and five times in four years, something like that,
• 49:32
  five times in five years, something crazy like that.
• 49:34
  Hopefully I'm not moving again anytime soon, but I'm just not
• 49:37
  being afraid to take that leap of faith and and see how it
• 49:39
  works out. You know, this was setting up.
• 49:41
  I've seen what if it all goes right?
• 49:43
  You know what I mean? You always think about this
• 49:45
  could go wrong, this could go wrong, But what if it works out
• 49:47
  perfectly? What if it works out way better
• 49:49
  than you could have imagined? So I'm a I'm a glass, you know,
• 49:51
  half full type person. And then from a from a
• 49:54
  professional standpoint, I got so many mentors, my guy Dion
• 49:57
  Hodges out in out in Vegas, MO Wells, my former Co worker.
• 50:01
  We worked together for five years, learned so much from from
• 50:04
  MO and other coaches in the in the professional space.
• 50:07
  Zach Woofin, who let me in turn when I was at South the best
• 50:10
  with him. Marquis Johnson, the state
• 50:12
  strength coach of the Vikings. Josh Woods, the strength coach
• 50:14
  for the Dolphins for a couple years.
• 50:17
  Now he's doing his own thing in the privacy.
• 50:18
  I mean, man, so many I could name.
• 50:20
  I've never met Scott Cochran in person, but I would say Scott
• 50:22
  Cochran because I used to watch all his videos, you know, on
• 50:25
  YouTube, the fourth quarter program in Alabama and how he
• 50:29
  would get guys to build buy into what he was doing.
• 50:31
  So many man, so many I would name that I, that I still try to
• 50:34
  reach out to and talk to him this day because they, they,
• 50:38
  they have helped me tremendously.
• 50:40
  And like your, like your books. I mean, there is truly strength
• 50:43
  in numbers. You know, nobody can do, you
• 50:45
  know, it's professional alone. Nobody knows it all.
• 50:47
  It's always something you can reach and take from somebody
• 50:50
  else. That's something I learned very,
• 50:52
  very early in my career. You know, no matter if
• 50:54
  somebody's been coaching 9 days, you know, versus my nine years,
• 50:57
  it's made me something that you learned in 9-9 days that I
• 51:00
  haven't experienced yet. You can help me to maybe avoid
• 51:03
  that when the situation comes, man.
• 51:05
  Reaching out and trying to learn as much as I can from as many
• 51:07
  people. I would definitely say I have a
• 51:09
  lot of mentors, too many to name.
• 51:11
  I hope I didn't forget anybody. Forgive me if I did guys, if you
• 51:14
  ever listen to this, but so many, so many people I can, I
• 51:16
  can name that have helped me, you know, grow into becoming the
• 51:19
  coach I am today. Yeah, that's really cool.
• 51:22
  Now the last question is of everything we talked about
• 51:26
  today, what what have I not asked you about that's really
• 51:30
  important that we do talk about? What's a good question?
• 51:33
  Let me see. We probably do hit on a little
• 51:35
  bit, but just some advice I would say for younger coaches,
• 51:38
  for one, always, always find a mentor.
• 51:41
  Find somebody that's doing it at a level that you want to be in
• 51:45
  or even higher. So I learned, you know, very,
• 51:48
  very early in my career, you have to find a mentor.
• 51:50
  And then second thing was reach out to as many coaches you can.
• 51:53
  When I first chatted to the coaching business in 2015, man,
• 51:57
  I, when I, I had, I already had a Twitter, but when I got on
• 52:00
  Twitter and I really was taking coaching, I went and followed
• 52:04
  every strength coach on tour I could find.
• 52:06
  I mean, over at least over 1000, right?
• 52:08
  And I would just find them, I would follow them and I would
• 52:11
  ask him a question, you know, I would ask him a question,
• 52:14
  someone would respond someone, which is fine, you know what I
• 52:16
  mean? I understand the profession is
• 52:17
  busy, but I'll just ask him a question like, Hey, what got you
• 52:20
  in the coaching? You know, just kind of get a
• 52:22
  conversation started. And then once I did that, the
• 52:25
  conversation was naturally organic and go from there, you
• 52:28
  know, but I would always say reach out to as many countries
• 52:31
  as you can. I tell you again, I spoke with
• 52:33
  this a little bit earlier. I think the power of social
• 52:36
  media is very, very, very underlooked in this profession
• 52:40
  and that I mean, this is my first time meeting you, but we
• 52:43
  connected via, you know, via social media.
• 52:45
  And I think people that people looked at social media as just a
• 52:49
  tool and not just somewhere. I mean, there's nothing wrong
• 52:51
  postal content. I post content all the time.
• 52:53
  There's nothing wrong with it, but it's such a a useful tool if
• 52:56
  you use it the right way. So many that I've met on
• 52:59
  Instagram, on Twitter, I mean, even now TikTok, you know that
• 53:03
  I've never met in person, may never meet in person, but we
• 53:05
  have a relationship through through social media.
• 53:07
  It's very, very powerful, right way.
• 53:10
  I have I think I have every social media platform except
• 53:12
  Snapchat, I want to say, but again, the amount of people that
• 53:15
  I've met via social media has again, pans my life and there's
• 53:20
  power in social media. If you use the right way,
• 53:23
  there's nothing wrong with you know, I get on there and I don't
• 53:25
  always talk about strict conditioning or I don't always
• 53:28
  do that. But the amount of people that
• 53:30
  I've met just from a tweet. I remember one time I tweeted,
• 53:32
  I'm kind of going on a rant, but it's just again, the power, the
• 53:35
  power what it is. I think I tweeted one time and I
• 53:38
  was not even trying to start any controversy, but I was just
• 53:41
  tweeting my opinion. And I think I think I tweeted
• 53:43
  something like 5:00 AM list or student or something like that.
• 53:46
  The amount of people that comment on that tweet, the
• 53:49
  amount of coaches that gave their input and they were able
• 53:52
  to have conversations, you know, and they, you know, some coaches
• 53:55
  want to know, like, why do you feel like that?
• 53:56
  I was able to give my stance. I was able to hear them out
• 53:59
  about why they do believe in it or you know, the, the age-old
• 54:03
  Twitter Olympic lifts, first non Olympic lift, whatever.
• 54:05
  But just they've been able to have those conversations with
• 54:07
  coaches and create relationships.
• 54:10
  Some coaches that again, I've, I've got to reach out to coaches
• 54:12
  from Canada, Australia, I would probably never meet these
• 54:14
  people, but we have a relationship.
• 54:17
  And I think just the power of social media, again, if you use
• 54:20
  it the right way, I can 1% say it changed my life.
• 54:23
  And I think anybody that's truly serious about coach, you don't
• 54:27
  have to be that person that you don't have to tweet every day
• 54:29
  and post every day, but you have to have some type of awareness
• 54:33
  about what it can do in the presence of what social media
• 54:36
  can be. I think those are probably my
• 54:39
  big three, like take advantage of a mentor, find a mentor.
• 54:42
  Again, YouTube, YouTube, Google, Twitter, Instagram, all these
• 54:47
  are free platforms that have a ton of information.
• 54:50
  And again, you just have to to to put yourself in situations
• 54:54
  where you can, you can be heard or, you know, have dialogue with
• 54:57
  another coach. Because I think stuff like that
• 54:59
  is so important that people overlook some time here.
• 55:02
  Those are probably my my big rocks and my advice to young
• 55:05
  coaches and try to get as many get get as many reps as you can.
• 55:09
  Coach all groups. When I was working at D1, I took
• 55:11
  a lot of time. It was probably my least
• 55:13
  favorite job, but it was probably my most important
• 55:15
  because I was coaching 5 year olds.
• 55:17
  I was coaching the prep ego, which was like high school kids,
• 55:21
  middle school kids. I was coaching the moms that
• 55:23
  were stay at home moms that were just coming to gym and talk all
• 55:27
  day. I coached everybody and it
• 55:31
  helped me learn to adapt and get my feet wet and get me and learn
• 55:36
  how to coach because you're coaching different age groups,
• 55:38
  different skills, different sports, different walks,
• 55:40
  different needs. That job taught me so much
• 55:43
  because again, it was not just football.
• 55:46
  That's why at one point that's I was I was the football guy and
• 55:49
  that job took me and stretched me like, Hey, you're going to
• 55:52
  coach the the five year old kids today and I'm like, how do I do
• 55:55
  that? Verify And my boss was like
• 55:58
  figuring out that's what coaching is figuring things out.
• 56:01
  Oh, so you have to learn how to how to adapt.
• 56:02
  You have to learn how to, you know, put yourselves in
• 56:05
  uncomfortable situations, try to get as many reps as you can to
• 56:08
  actually coach, whether that's a family member, you know, because
• 56:11
  you know, we would joke around IMG and said we have book
• 56:13
  coaches that are just super smart that could tell you
• 56:16
  everything about periodization and programming.
• 56:19
  But until you get, you know, your feet wet, get your hands
• 56:21
  dirty and get reps on the floor. Coaching, learning what your
• 56:25
  coaching voice is like and understanding how to command a
• 56:27
  room, how to get people to actually something small is like
• 56:30
  making eye contact when you're coaching asses like small things
• 56:33
  that, you know, I took all times.
• 56:35
  Like a book won't teach you that, you know, the CSCS book
• 56:37
  won't teach you that, you know, some things you have to learn on
• 56:40
  the fly. Some things you have to learn,
• 56:42
  you know, by doing, you know. So I think, you know, get as
• 56:45
  many reps as you can. And then, you know, this is
• 56:47
  probably my last thing that I learned when I was at the Viking
• 56:49
  some of this past weekend. You know, a guy said keep your
• 56:52
  eyes on your own paper. And that's something I don't
• 56:54
  understand at first, but he was like, if you're looking at
• 56:55
  somebody else's paper, you can't focus on your own.
• 56:58
  If you're looking at somebody else's career and how they're
• 57:00
  doing, you can't focus well on your own.
• 57:02
  You know, your job should be to try to become a better, the best
• 57:05
  coach that you can be, not looking outside at what somebody
• 57:08
  else is doing. There's nothing wrong with, you
• 57:10
  know, seeing what they're doing that maybe help you become a
• 57:12
  better coach. But keep your eyes on your own
• 57:14
  paper. Head down and and continue to to
• 57:17
  to try to become the best you can be.
• 57:19
  Those are probably my my my big rocks, I'd say.
• 57:22
  Yeah, well, man, and that's a ton of great advice for both
• 57:26
  young coaches and I think all ages of an experience of coaches
• 57:29
  and and there's been an awesome conversation as you talk about
• 57:32
  social media and and reach out to coaches.
• 57:33
  Like if somebody listened and wanted to reach out to you or
• 57:36
  just see more of what you're doing or posting, like where
• 57:39
  should they go to to do that? Instagram and Twitter probably
• 57:43
  the most I think it's just J Bush.
• 57:45
  I think my Twitter name is J Bush with four underscores.
• 57:48
  And I think my Instagram name is the exact same.
• 57:49
  It might be J dot Bush 4 under score, something like that.
• 57:53
  But again, man, feel free to reach out.
• 57:55
  I'm I'm always open to questions and I love stuff like this man.
• 57:58
  I appreciate you having me all love what you're doing.
• 58:01
  I'm still reading the book. You know, I, I think that was,
• 58:04
  and we talked about this before, but I want to, I want to say,
• 58:06
  man, that book is, is huge because that's something that
• 58:11
  you know, you don't, you get a chance for coaches to be
• 58:13
  vulnerable and open up and talk about, you know, the experiences
• 58:15
  and you know, some experience that they have gone through
• 58:18
  might help the next person not go through it.
• 58:20
  You know what I mean? I get the, the tough
• 58:22
  conversations of the, the vulnerability that book, man.
• 58:25
  But when I first saw them, like I got to get it, I think I
• 58:27
  ordered it the next day. I think I did like, I was so
• 58:30
  excited. I think I did like next day
• 58:31
  shipping or something like that, but I have I've read it and I'm
• 58:34
  still reading it, man, But you know, being able to to learn
• 58:38
  because this is again, some of these coaches I'll probably
• 58:40
  never meet, but I feel like I know them almost if I reading
• 58:42
  that book, man, that's Trent. The numbers book has been huge
• 58:45
  for me is I try to read at least, you know, one or two
• 58:48
  coaches every single day. It's kind of seeing what they
• 58:50
  do. Sometimes I'll listen to I have
• 58:51
  an audio book also, but sometimes I'll try to listen to
• 58:54
  it, you know, if I my way in or whatever on my my Kindle Fire,
• 58:57
  just hook it up to my truck, man.
• 58:58
  So it's been, it's been huge, man.
• 59:00
  And I think that's that's we need more stuff like this
• 59:03
  industry because I was, you know, I was talking IPTI,
• 59:05
  remember, you know, the day, the day or the age of people being
• 59:09
  secretive is starting to become a thing of the past.
• 59:11
  You know, people are starting, coaches are starting to post
• 59:13
  more and talk about, Hey, this is what we're doing as a, as a,
• 59:16
  as a group. You know, I'm starting to see
• 59:18
  collegiate coaches post, you know, content.
• 59:21
  You know, 10 years ago that was like almost, it was almost
• 59:25
  unheard of. Like I'm not posting my program
• 59:28
  online for people to see you. Now it's like, you know, I'm
• 59:30
  seeing guys post their entire program and that is unheard of
• 59:34
  to me. But it's very refreshing to see
• 59:36
  that the industry is moving in the right direction and people
• 59:38
  are really trying to help coaches become better.
• 59:42
  The world used to be, I used to like, it was almost like a
• 59:44
  secret society or almost like a cult, Like, you know, strict
• 59:48
  conditioning is a cult, you know, like guys weren't as open
• 59:50
  as they used to be. But it's, it's very refreshing
• 59:53
  to see the industry change. And again, I, you know, hats off
• 59:55
  to you for coming up with the, the concept of that book and,
• 59:59
  you know, get guys talking again.
• 1:00:01
  I think it's tremendous, man, and if you got if you got a Part
• 1:00:03
  2 man, let me know. I'd definitely love to be on
• 1:00:05
  there and helping you out man and answer some questions.
• 1:00:08
  But again, man, I appreciate you having me on.
• 1:00:10
  And if anybody wants to reach out again, feel free Instagram,
• 1:00:13
  Twitter. It's probably the two platforms
• 1:00:15
  I use the most man, and I'm excited to see you know what
• 1:00:19
  happens next in in your journey and same for myself.
• 1:00:22
  Yeah, well, I'm really grateful for you saying all that and
• 1:00:24
  grateful for you being on here, man.
• 1:00:25
  I appreciate you and hope you have a great day.
• 1:00:27
  Yes, Sir. Man, I appreciate you have a
• 1:00:28
  good one.