Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 39: Anthony Cockrill | The Complete Guide to Volleyball Sports Performance

Transcript

EP 39: Anthony Cockrill | The Complete Guide to Volleyball Sports Performance · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

0:00
When you're talking about creating like an efficient arm,
0:02
swinging, heat on the arm, swinging a fast arm swing, I
0:06
think throwing is, is the best tool.
0:08
What you're surrounded by every day is going to influence your
0:10
decision making and nutrition. So if you're surrounded by bad
0:13
choices, you're probably going to have bad nutritional habits.
0:16
If you can influence the skill component, you know, along with
0:19
the physical component, like your value again, just goes
0:22
through the roof because that's just one more sport coach that
0:25
that this program has access to. If we're talking a traditional 3
0:30
four step aroach, like the first two are usually though where
0:33
most people are the most inefficient and where they're
0:35
just not creating any projection the same way as an accelerating.
0:40
They're not pushing horizontally and they're almost just kind of
0:43
walking into the approach. A depth jump is like my go to
0:47
plyometric when I'm trying to bias the stretch shortening
0:50
cycle. If you're like a young athlete
0:52
and and you're trying to get noticed and you're trying to get
0:54
recruited, the first thing that stands out like when you're
0:57
watching like club volleyball is physicality.
1:00
Like that kid flies because once they get to college, we're going
1:03
to develop the skill. Welcome to the Strength in
1:11
Numbers podcast. I'm your host, John Bluman.
1:14
Today's guest is Anthony Cockrove.
1:16
Anthony is the Director of Volleyball Sports Performance
1:18
and Assistant Director of Olympic Sports at SMU and is now
1:22
officially the 1st guest to return for a second appearance.
1:25
Now his first episode is our number one most downloaded
1:29
episode and in this one we go deep into all things volleyball
1:32
sports performance, jump and swing mechanics, squat
1:35
progressions, jump training, building bulletproof shoulders,
1:38
getting your first chin up, a deep dive in nutrition, warmups,
1:42
gymnastics, movements, balancing physical and skill development,
1:45
assessments, injury mitigation, and much more.
1:49
If you trained volleyball players or really really any
1:52
athletes, this is a can't miss episode with Anthony.
1:55
If you're getting value from these conversations, give the
1:57
show a follow and leave a review.
1:59
It helps us continue to reach and impact more coaches.
2:01
Let's get into today's episode. Anthony.
2:05
It's great to have you here again, man.
2:06
First two time guest appearance on the strength of numbers
2:09
podcast had had to get you on because when we were just
2:12
talking before ever man you're you are the number one by far
2:16
most downloaded episode of 2025 of of the entire string numbers
2:21
podcast. So, man, it's honored to have
2:22
you here again. Yeah, thank you.
2:24
Like I was just telling you, I'm glad we're doing this.
2:26
I I needed this for my own sake. Well, man, I'm pumped.
2:30
You know, we've talked about the goal.
2:32
This is like if there is a volleyball coach, volleyball
2:35
strength coach, volleyball athletes, any strength coach,
2:38
any could like listen this like I want this to be like, man,
2:40
they they can learn all aspects of how you are helping
2:43
volleyball athletes be the best and increase their sport
2:46
performance. And really just like a go to
2:48
episode, really in depth episode of so many different aspects of
2:51
how you're doing things. So I'm so I'm pumped to get dive
2:54
deep into this. And the first thing I want to
2:56
get into was jump mechanics. You know, I've seen you, you got
3:00
some girls jumping crazy heights when when you're looking at one
3:05
of your players approaches like what are the things you're
3:08
looking at with them? Yeah, yeah.
3:10
I think it's the skill, obviously there's the genetic
3:14
potential for everybody. Some people have it, but there's
3:16
also you, nobody's ever at it. So you got those, you got to
3:19
close the gap some way. Some people it's training the
3:22
traditionally just just get stronger and all those kind of
3:24
things. And a lot of people, almost
3:26
everybody's probably technical, you know, the skill that they
3:28
just don't. I think it's one of those skills
3:30
people don't work on very, very little maybe in volleyball.
3:33
But I think like early in my career, like when we're diving
3:36
in like the oldest student McGill stuff and how they
3:40
breakdown shapes and spring and acceleration, and I'm like same
3:43
things that people are that are really fast in that space.
3:46
They all do. I think the same idea applies in
3:50
volleyball and jumping, like their their shapes and things
3:53
that people that jump really high do that you should probably
3:55
try to mimic. And it's more so just to get the
3:58
most efficiency. Talking about the approach.
4:01
So I'm outside of training is the the skill part and breaking
4:05
that down piece by piece. Everybody's obviously
4:08
individually different and far as what piece of the approach
4:10
they probably need to work on. But I think with with like the
4:14
younger volleyball athletes, even the kids we have, it's it's
4:18
every piece. They're they're all pretty
4:19
inefficient and they're just relying on their God-given
4:22
talents to have them at the point they're at when they get
4:25
to me or when they get into high school.
4:26
And that's why I think the the lowest hanging fruit is working
4:29
on the technical skill. And the same facet is like elite
4:33
Sprint coaches and sprinters work on each component and of
4:37
their technical skill as far as sprinting.
4:39
So I think it's the same thing slightly obviously different
4:41
jumping, sprinting, but the same concept applies is just getting
4:45
really good and efficient at the skill.
4:47
So I think first and foremost that and obviously training
4:50
everybody, everybody needs to train, especially these young
4:53
adults, 161824 year olds, they're all probably under
4:57
trained or haven't been training long enough.
4:59
So it's always obviously, but I think the biggest thing that can
5:03
make a difference of fastest is the skill just getting more
5:05
efficient. Yeah.
5:06
Let's talk about kind of that, maybe your technical model for
5:09
what that looks like in the skill piece.
5:11
And like you talked about Altus and they use kenograms to kind
5:15
of breakdown those different phases of the spring, kind of
5:18
capture it, you know, video and then take pictures and look at
5:21
those different aspects. If you were making like a
5:24
kenogram and having the key phases of a volleyball approach,
5:28
like what are the key things you're looking at?
5:30
And what part, as you talk about the inefficiency that a lot of
5:34
players have, like what do you see a lot of them struggling
5:37
with within those phases? Yeah, I haven't got as like very
5:40
systemized as they do like really.
5:43
But there is certain variables I think with starting just the
5:47
start of the first step, 1st 2 steps of the approach.
5:50
If we're talking a traditional 3-4 step approach like for the
5:54
1st 2 are usually though where most people are the most
5:57
inefficient where they're just not creating any projection the
6:00
same way as an accelerating. They're not pushing horizontally
6:05
and they're almost just kind of walking into the approach.
6:07
And then they just they just get really aggressive in the last
6:10
two or the the penultimate or the in volleyball the step
6:14
close. So if you can learn to create
6:16
more momentum earlier in your approach because like in
6:19
volleyball language, they, they usually teach you going slow to
6:22
fast. So that's slow usually ends up
6:24
being too slow as far as like a walk.
6:26
So you're just wasting the 1st 2 steps and then it gets fast in
6:29
the last two. So instead of your slow being
6:32
really slow, just make your slow faster and then also make your
6:35
fast even faster by creating more momentum and then the 1st 2
6:39
steps. So I think it's really similar
6:41
to accelerating, except you're just with a more upright torso.
6:44
This idea of pushing the ground behind you to go forward and to
6:49
really cover ground horizontally, not by like
6:52
reaching, but obviously like projecting and putting your feet
6:55
behind and under your pelvis to push backwards.
6:57
So it's always starting with that is one understand what the
7:02
sensation is to feel like to project yourself forward without
7:05
like reaching to cover ground. So honestly just really
7:08
remedial, like accelerating, whether it's 35 steps or
7:11
bounding. I think I think bounding is more
7:14
specific and in this sense, because obviously with
7:17
sprinting, the you're more angled with your torso down
7:20
because you're going forward where any approach and later you
7:23
need your torso to be upright. And with a bound your, your
7:25
torso stays upright, but you're still kind of projecting by
7:28
pushing the ground away. So understanding that
7:30
sensational, what it feels like to like get into hip extension
7:34
and push the ground away with an upright torso and create like
7:37
that scissor in action with the thighs.
7:40
And I wear the foot contacts underneath the pelvis and not in
7:43
front. And honestly keeping that foot
7:45
on the ground longer and push the ground away as long as
7:48
possible. So just understanding those
7:50
sensations first and foremost. And then while we're working
7:54
through that sensation of hip extension and the foot contact,
7:57
obviously the shaping, I think the, the biggest issue with
8:00
those first two steps is the torso immediately starts
8:03
dropping traditional like sprinting and accelerating with
8:06
that, that torso angle kind of mimics the shin angle where and
8:09
that's why I think bounding is a little more applicable because
8:12
the torso is more upright and also the shin angles a little
8:14
more upright because it's not true.
8:16
Just like going forward, it's kind of like the cyclical like
8:20
down and then pushing away. And like, that's why you're kind
8:22
of not just this way with the pelvis.
8:25
It's more of like a, a bound is bouncing.
8:27
So just getting that, that shape of getting hip extension
8:32
projection, but with an upright torso, which I think is just a
8:35
traditional bound. The learning how to bound is
8:38
like the the first progression, I think in our like approach is
8:42
you're getting really good at a bound and and then after the
8:45
first two steps is your penultimate or your step close.
8:49
And this is I think it's complicated.
8:51
I don't, I don't have this like to a science.
8:54
There's, there's definitely people out there that have this
8:56
really down and niche themselves into this, but there are again,
9:00
like clues and shapes that that matter and wait with efficiency.
9:03
So early in the 1st 2 steps, it's all about creating
9:06
momentum, create as much momentum as possible in a short
9:09
amount of time, obviously under some control.
9:11
And then with that momentum, have the efficiency to turn it
9:14
all over to go vertical. So going from horizontal to
9:17
vertical without any energy leaking with inefficiencies in
9:21
the technical approach. So with the upright torso.
9:24
So it's important that we want to keep the shoulders like over
9:28
the pelvis in that penultimate step close, because once the
9:31
again, those shoulders start getting in front, that energy is
9:34
still kind of shifting forward instead of going up.
9:37
And we need everything to go up. So get in a stack torso over the
9:41
pelvis first and foremost. That starts with the bound and
9:43
just honestly, just maintain it, but just don't let the shoulders
9:46
ever drop. Keep your shoulders over the
9:47
pelvis the whole time. So that position is really
9:49
important in the transition from going horizontal to vertical.
9:53
Once the like the that angle starts getting out in front, you
9:57
start getting a lot of these kids that they're, they're
10:00
obviously jumping up, but it's a lot of drifting forward.
10:02
We're trying to just get straight up and down.
10:05
Honestly, where you're taking off and maybe only landing a
10:07
couple inches in front instead of landing feet in front of
10:10
where you're taking off, kind of like a broad jump.
10:12
So we don't want to broad jump so much.
10:14
We have to go straight up and down.
10:15
So a shape that's really important is that torso just can
10:18
the torso stay upright the whole way.
10:20
And then with that, with this similar to the bound and this
10:23
idea of projecting, pushing the ground away, those sensations
10:26
are the same the whole time in the penultimate.
10:28
A lot of times traditionally in like volleyball, they want to, I
10:32
want this big massive step close.
10:34
And once when you tell like young kids that like just just
10:37
want this big step close, they're not projecting.
10:40
They just end up like reaching out, you know, like getting
10:42
those feet out in front of the pelvis, which again, we, we
10:45
don't want that cuz in like you're dissipating momentum and
10:48
you're slowing down. We don't want the momentum to
10:49
slow down at all. So with that, still applying
10:52
this idea of projection to cover ground.
10:55
So how hard and how much force you're putting behind you
10:58
dictates how how big that penultimate is, not you reaching
11:01
out. So continuing to push away on
11:04
that, on that last step in the pair of that first step on the
11:06
penultimate, which would be like the third step.
11:09
And then the 4th step is, let me rewind.
11:12
So the penultimate you have like you have your your plant leg in
11:15
your block leg. So with that, with that plant
11:18
leg. So if I'm like right, left, if
11:21
I'm right-handed, your left leg's going to be the last step.
11:23
That's going to be the block leg.
11:24
So the, the right leg on that the third step is, is your plan.
11:29
So, so with that plant leg, if we're like snapshot with the
11:32
plant leg and the block leg, that left leg is going to be in
11:36
front of the pelvis, like way out in front.
11:38
But it's almost acting like a kickstand, like that's what's
11:40
stopping the momentum to shoot up.
11:43
You know, it's not, it's not like this just stop and vertical
11:46
jump, which a lot of people do and you can get away with that
11:48
if you're pretty athletic, but that's not the case for 99% of
11:52
the people like we're working with.
11:54
So that one getting comfortable with this block leg being super
11:58
stiff and rigid, like a real stiff kickstand.
12:01
That's what's going to stop the momentum and honestly just
12:03
catapult it up. So if I were to snapshot this
12:06
penultimate, like you have this upright torso and then that
12:09
plant leg, your right leg is going to be right under the
12:12
torso also. So like you'll see your ankle
12:15
under the hip and then the hip and the shoulder and then maybe
12:17
that right knees a little in front, kind of like if you're a
12:20
snapshot counter jump where that slight knee bend is going to be
12:23
the right leg, but then that left leg is out in front, it's
12:26
straight and it's stiff. So like a like a shape we want
12:30
to see in this step close penultimate is that upright
12:33
torso, the right leg in front and then that left leg.
12:36
If I'm a right-handed person, like being out in front of the
12:39
pelvis straight and stiff and with no bend in that knee
12:42
because again, just efficiency energy leaking.
12:46
Like if, if you're too LAX on the that block leg, like you're
12:50
just going to dissipate forward probably.
12:52
And like we're saying like jump forward instead of up.
12:55
So those are all like minor, like probably the the biggest
12:58
things, you know, like projecting early and maintain
13:01
projection in the last two steps, keep your torso upright
13:04
and then that that block like you can you get a stiff, rigid
13:08
block leg out in front of you and get comfortable with that
13:12
instead of relying on a traditional just counter
13:15
movement, vertical kind of feeling sensation, though that a
13:18
lot of people do. So I don't I don't have like a
13:21
super systemized like Kenny Graham with all just hopefully
13:25
maybe this is something I need to work on.
13:27
But like when we are recording, that's one thing I think is like
13:31
taking from them is like giving the visual feedback of learning.
13:33
Like it's one thing just to hear me or get the physical feedback
13:36
of the touch, but also the visual cue of seeing yourself
13:40
and like me walking through what I'm talking about.
13:42
Because throwing all facets of some like learning sensations at
13:47
them allows them to grab the skill a little fast.
13:50
So the visual thing of showing them, usually like 9 times out
13:54
of 10, it's the torso. And honestly just a projection
13:56
is where most people struggle the longest.
13:59
And then if I can figure that out, then usually the last thing
14:02
it's a lot like really hard to grasp is that block like being
14:05
rigid. So like shaping, I guess
14:07
projecting early upright torso and then this stacked position
14:12
from the shoulder, shoulder hip and that right ankle and then
14:14
that, that block, like being out in front.
14:16
It's probably the most important things.
14:19
Like when you're visually looking at a like somebody go
14:22
through the approach, you don't want to see shoulders in front.
14:25
You don't want to see feet getting out in front of the
14:27
pelvis, except for the last step on the block.
14:29
Like that's, that's usually the, the low hanging fruit like, and
14:32
if kids can figure out those efficiency in those shapes and
14:35
just like anything, refine that skill, you're really good at it.
14:38
And usually it just takes care of itself.
14:41
That was freaking awesome breakdown right there.
14:43
As as you talk about with like the visual feedback, is that the
14:47
biggest if you see some inefficiencies with the girl and
14:51
you're trying to make a change, is that the biggest thing you're
14:53
going to use to help them understand, see it and then go
14:57
try and feel those changes? Obviously some of the things
15:00
like they just talk about projecting you, maybe you're
15:02
getting them bounding so they can kind of feel that sensation,
15:04
but it is that visual piece. Are there other pieces are using
15:07
to really get them to make those changes and then let that stick?
15:10
Yeah, always visual when we're like working on this, even if
15:13
it's just individual pieces like with the bound, like maybe we're
15:16
just recording bounds, but it's also constraining it.
15:19
The easiest way to I think constrain the idea of like
15:23
horizontal projection is just adding some sort of resistance,
15:26
whether it's a band or if you have the resources of like
15:30
AA1080 or like a like a rocket Sprint thing, something we're
15:34
just adding resistance horizontally, right?
15:35
That's another way to give the sensation because earlier we're
15:38
just trying to create the sensation.
15:39
So adding constraint, that's an easy way to constrain train like
15:43
the horizontal projection. Same thing with acceleration.
15:46
And then honestly, I think with the block leg, same idea.
15:49
You need to add some support, some kind of I, I think like
15:52
anecdotally like some sort of like horizontal resistance, but
15:55
in the opposite end where it's almost assisting and
15:58
overloading. So when that when you when
16:00
you're overloading at least the step close for the penultimate
16:04
and it really exposes that block legs, like if it's compliant and
16:08
you're overloading that momentum like you're it's just going to
16:10
pull you forward. So it's going to like force you
16:13
to figure out how to get a super rigid block like to stop that
16:16
momentum, especially when you're overloading their momentum
16:18
already. Yeah.
16:20
So I think constraining it with different facets, those two are
16:24
the easiest. Like that we do, we do it often.
16:27
I think it's the easiest in application and it drives home
16:30
exactly what we need with those sensations.
16:32
There's other ways, I think whether you're just breaking
16:35
down like piece by piece and just walking through it, like
16:38
almost rehearsing at like some maximal speed instead of just
16:41
always at 100%. So literally just walking
16:44
through the step close of like with this bent torso, timing the
16:48
hands, getting that block, just walking through that shape and
16:51
rehearsing that over and over and over submaximally before you
16:55
start getting into like effort jumping just constraints anyway,
17:00
along with the visual and then along with like my verbal and
17:04
then also the feedback of the goal of the jump.
17:07
You know, I think all those happening at the same time,
17:10
overloading the sensories, the senses of think because we're
17:14
trying to like in in my world, like I've short amount of time
17:18
to make things happen. So always throwing every
17:20
learning like everybody learns and differently.
17:23
So throwing all those variables at them all the time to
17:25
accelerate the learning process. Yeah, I, I love it.
17:28
And you know, you talk to it, right?
17:29
There's the technical piece, if we're talking about jumping
17:32
higher, there's also the, the training and physical
17:34
development piece kind of be the horsepower underneath that.
17:37
And, and a big part of that she's going to be right
17:39
squatting for these athletes. And you know, a lot of people,
17:44
you're probably seeing the videos with the weight releasers
17:46
and, and, and you know, supernatural eccentrics.
17:49
When you first get an athlete, where are you starting with them
17:52
though, before you get down that path?
17:54
Like how do you start and how is it progressing as we're getting
17:58
into squats there? Yeah, Yeah.
18:00
I think was skill acquisition, whether it's the approach or
18:05
squatting any movement, it's a skill.
18:07
I think the your ability to grasp skills kind of predicated
18:10
on your body awareness. When you're really aware of your
18:13
body, it makes these skills easier to learn faster.
18:15
So starting with that idea of like kinesthetic awareness and
18:19
being aware of your body moving well.
18:20
So first and foremost, you got to be able to move well, you
18:22
know, do you have the awareness of the end ranges of certain
18:26
joints to be able to get into there and like contract the
18:29
tissues we need to. So I think that's really
18:31
important. So like step one, just like
18:33
develop body awareness, whether it's like the most remedial
18:37
training, things like a body weight squat, a split squat or
18:41
like for us gymnastics, I think exposes that a lot and starts
18:44
creating that environment of awareness.
18:46
And some people it's individually like there's
18:48
different nuances of like whether it's joint by joint,
18:51
like whether they're lacking passive or active range of
18:54
motion somewhere that needs to be addressed individually with
18:57
different modalities. You know, I so, but the
18:59
overarching thing is just body awareness first and foremost.
19:02
So there's a lot of ways to. So for us in my space with
19:06
college athletics and the time constraint with kids, we have
19:10
these first. Honestly, for us, about 3 to 5
19:13
weeks is predicated on just promoting body awareness and
19:18
obviously learning the skills of like the stuff we're going to do
19:22
in the weight room at the same time.
19:23
But the goal is awareness. It's not weight on the ball or
19:26
anything. Get really good at moving your
19:28
body, especially in the end ranges and creating awareness of
19:31
certain tissues contracting at certain points and some tissues
19:35
not contracting when they shouldn't be.
19:37
You know, So for us, usually it's the the most remedial, just
19:40
technically like whether it's just like a litter, like I'm
19:43
saying like a body weight squat on a slant board or like a front
19:45
foot of a displace squat where you're getting comfortable with
19:47
like and range knee flexion or the gymnastics piece.
19:50
One thing I think is a really useful tool that will be like
19:54
I'm them saying these next three to five weeks for us that most
19:57
of our programming will be predicated around is like
19:59
yielding isometrics. Like long duration yielding
20:02
isometrics where you're getting into positions and again,
20:05
sensation, I think sensations important where you can visually
20:07
feel and connect the dots of structures like contracting in
20:11
your in your brain connecting those things.
20:13
So I think yielding isometrics are really a great tool when
20:16
you're trying to maybe promote awareness in certain positions.
20:20
So for us, it's a lot of that, you know, a lot of remedial
20:24
training as far as just learning how to squat, learning how to
20:27
train at all, but not also more like from a macro goal of do I
20:33
need certain tissues to be like driving these things?
20:36
So we need to connect the connect the brain to these
20:39
tissues and I understand where they need to contract, how they
20:42
need to contract. So the yielding isometrics are a
20:45
great tool also. So early in our offseason, which
20:48
we're about to start here in like a week and 1/2 is a lot of
20:50
long duration yielding isometrics, a lot of gymnastics,
20:53
a lot of remedial training that you would do with like a young
20:57
high school athlete. We're going to do this because
20:59
they at the other day need to learn how, how we're going to
21:02
train. And honestly, I think prolonging
21:04
that phase out as long as possible.
21:07
So like for example, myself comparing to last year, I think
21:12
this is a phase where I, I was too short on.
21:14
So a change coming to my program this season.
21:16
I'm prolonging that, that phase of my training out at the start
21:20
of the spring with an additional 2 weeks in the past.
21:23
I turn it, I turn it like an acclimatization like you're,
21:25
you're getting back to training, getting used to training.
21:27
I'm going to prolong this out up to almost 5 weeks of this really
21:31
remedial training because I think it's just like macro down
21:34
the road where we want to go. It's, it's so much more
21:37
beneficial instead of just rushing into some of these
21:39
things like honestly, I have in the past.
21:41
So uniquely for me, I'm going to prolong this period out to five
21:45
weeks and honestly cut some of the stuff that's fancy at the
21:49
end of our semester out and just move it later into the summer.
21:52
So yeah, really just remedial. Learn how to train yield in
21:55
isometrics. Spend a lot of time and
21:57
attention in these positions you're not aware of and just
21:59
become really aware of your body, whether it's passive or
22:02
active mobility or just training the same thing over and over.
22:06
And. Over and and let's say you know
22:07
some of these girls coming into you or 626364 long limbs.
22:12
Does that change anything for you?
22:15
No, no, no, you know this answer.
22:17
No, don't get me wrong, like you don't want to fit a square peg
22:20
into a round hole. But I think traditionally, like
22:24
with this anthropometrics mindset and like levers and limb
22:27
lengths and all these things like that, they're not they
22:29
shouldn't. It's not beneficial for them.
22:31
Like as far as like moving load to get into these positions, but
22:35
that's never the goal for us is to to move load for us.
22:38
It's just again, body awareness. So they're all humans are all
22:41
the joints all function the same regardless of anthropometrics.
22:44
So I'm not going to not allow them to get into these
22:47
positions. And there there's ways to work
22:49
around it, you know, like with the squat, for example, like
22:52
just elevating the heel, narrowing the stands, keeping
22:55
the center of it allows them to keep their center of mass under
22:57
them. I, I mean, I deal with kids like
23:00
that are 6 four and these super long limbs all the time.
23:02
And it, it, the squat looks the same regardless phantom per
23:06
metrics. If you just elevate the heel,
23:08
maybe front load with some like a front squat or searcher squat,
23:11
holding something out in front to counterbalance that.
23:14
Honestly, narrow narrowing the stance out instead of widening
23:17
the stance, I feel like always allows these kids like for us
23:20
when we're again, looking to develop the quads as a driver
23:23
for a lot of this stuff and you need to bend your knee, you need
23:26
to maximize knee flexion to holistically train the quad
23:29
through its 4 inch motion. Narrowing that stance out.
23:32
It allows that to happen along with elevating the heel or
23:35
putting something out in front to just counterbalance that out.
23:38
So or whether I've had kids in the past, I like that just
23:41
doesn't work, you know, So I'm not going to force it.
23:44
Maybe it's now we're just going all single leg, you know, maybe
23:47
it's just split squats, front foot elevated split squats.
23:49
I can still get into end range knee flexion, but now I'm just
23:52
in a split position where my goal is.
23:55
The one thing is like I'm just trying to holistically develop
23:57
like the quad and tissues around the knee with like this specific
24:01
movement in this point in time. So maybe that's the best way for
24:03
that individual. Maybe it's not a bilateral squat
24:06
or even farther down the road. Like these kids don't squat at
24:09
all. Maybe like they're just like
24:11
dead lifting and doing true single leg work because they
24:14
can't like get in these positions, no matter like how
24:18
hard we try, because like at the end of the day, not everybody's
24:21
going to be able to fit that regardless of like what it seems
24:24
like, you know, like we, we have kids every year that that can't
24:27
do it. So we don't force it.
24:28
There's a thousand ways to get around it.
24:30
So, but nine times out of 10, elevating the heel, narrowing
24:34
the stance with the squat specifically, but also split
24:37
squatting with the front foot elevator.
24:39
There are 1000 ways. How much time do you give that
24:42
decision of, you know, maybe let's try some different
24:45
variables in terms of how we're squatting, like see if they can
24:49
gain that awareness to pick it up versus OK, now it's time to
24:52
pivot to a split squat versus trying to keep forcing and, and
24:55
find a way to get this bilateral squat to work.
24:58
Yeah. So honestly, like this time
24:59
frame for us usually in the SAC climatization where it's like
25:02
it's a lot of times like honestly, like newcomers I'm
25:04
getting that are grad transfers that are usually the ones that I
25:07
can't fit into that. And especially when they only
25:10
have 10, you know, it's like, I don't want to waste time just to
25:13
say you were able to squat this way because macro goals is
25:17
that's not it. So usually about after the this
25:21
first block of acclimatization for us of I come to that
25:24
conclusion pretty quick. There's usually a lot of whether
25:28
it's neurological or structural restriction that gets exposed
25:32
probably in the first couple days.
25:34
And if we can't work it through those three to five weeks and it
25:37
doesn't show enough improvement, I will just move away from it
25:40
and find something else. OK, so.
25:42
We talked about the technical piece, then the lower body
25:45
strength piece was squatting. What does jump or pile train
25:49
look like for you along with that in terms of proving
25:53
improving verticals for these girls?
25:54
Yeah, it's a lot depending on the time of year.
25:59
Obviously their sport takes care of some of it.
26:02
No, I mean not all of it. So again, just overarching goal
26:05
for us and, and jumping high is like working backwards with the
26:10
structures of what, what we're training and the adaptations
26:13
we're trying to train for is trying to like maximize the
26:16
utilization of like the stress shortening cycle, being able to
26:19
use as much momentum as possible efficiently and let that stretch
26:23
shortening cycle and those passive structures like turn
26:26
that stuff over. So if that's like the
26:28
overarching goal of working backwards, what, what utilizes
26:33
like the stretch shortening cycle the most is Pios spring.
26:37
And that's, you know, all those things where there's a like a, a
26:41
really aggressive eccentric and amortization.
26:44
And obviously the output is height or speed off the ground
26:47
with whatever the variation is. So year round doing some
26:52
variation of a plyometric depending on what the goal is in
26:55
that training block. So I'll kind of just walk
26:58
through this this offseason and like the the four blocks of
27:01
training with those plyometrics look like.
27:03
So the in this early acclimatization, again, it's
27:06
just like the technical skill, not a lot of just like using
27:09
structuring cycle it learning where the foot, how the foot
27:12
should be contacting the ground again, the the angles of the
27:15
knees, the ankles, the torso, the timing with the hands
27:19
striking the feet around. So a lot of extensive
27:21
rudimentary plyometrics that we've all seen and use.
27:25
Just just learning that skill of honestly, like the foot contact
27:29
and the timing. And not a lot of times,
27:31
honestly, the angles of whether you're getting too deep into
27:34
like the eccentric portion or you're too shallow, or maybe
27:37
you're biasing like the lower leg and the ankle a little too
27:40
much and you're not using the quads and the hip extent.
27:42
Just like this, this time and that this period of time is just
27:45
that, you know, just learning how to sequence and the timing
27:49
and the efficiency and very rudiment plyometrics with basic
27:53
just foot contacts, timing the arms, all those kind of things.
27:56
And then in, in conjunction with that, we'll use a lot of like
27:59
these, what's become popularized maybe like the past 2-3 years,
28:03
like the deep tier plyometrics, we're now the same kind of maybe
28:07
it's not a true plyometric, but like this idea of being able to
28:10
contract with velocity and end ranges of motion now instead of
28:13
more traditional shallow ranges, ballistically exposing the body
28:18
and the tissues in the joints to these same velocities and trying
28:22
to drive the same adaptations to the full scope of things and not
28:25
just specificity with like the angles you're going to see in
28:28
sport. So I think that's important when
28:30
you're like, you're trying to mitigate health, exposing
28:32
tissues to velocity and length. So that's a great like early in
28:36
our offseason doing a lot of that stuff because it's also
28:38
great to promote body awareness, you know, because velocity is
28:41
another key. Like that exposes a lot of
28:43
things. So if you're able to contract
28:46
with velocity city and end ranges and hats still have
28:49
control and the smooth like rhythm, like look about you like
28:52
that. That's a that's a proponent of
28:54
like high level body awareness. So that's a that's a great tool
28:57
early. So it's our plyos in these first
28:59
couple weeks is just that, you know, very rudimentary
29:02
plyometrics and then a lot of deep tier plyometrics, honestly,
29:05
a lot of just jump roping. It's like as simple as that is.
29:09
I'm just getting like establishing this idea of
29:12
rhythm, the feet contact being the same every repetition for
29:15
the same point of pressure on the foot for the same angle, the
29:18
knee and ankle. So just rehearsing that skill in
29:20
those positions for again down the road where we want to go.
29:24
So maybe after this phase of of training where we get into like
29:28
our accumulation, some maximal work, where for me, I really
29:32
value the the depth jump is like my go to plyometric when I'm
29:36
trying to bias the stretch shortening cycle.
29:39
Just because of with a depth jump, it allows you to like
29:41
overload the eccentric portion with your momentum because of
29:45
your body weight. That mass plus velocity creates
29:48
more momentum, which is going to force that amortization over
29:52
time to figure it out and get more efficient, which is what we
29:54
want. So goal is to working down the
29:56
road to get really good at depth jumps and build off of that.
29:59
So like the rudimentary plow stuff like stays year round, it
30:04
almost becomes like a warm up and we'll expand that into just
30:07
different constraint variables. And so we're still doing
30:10
rudimentary plows, but now we're working towards being able to do
30:14
like really high level depth jumping.
30:15
So I think just starting with very basic just depth drops and
30:19
we're now same thing just learning the positioning where
30:22
it's not a plyometric by by nature, but we're building into
30:26
that overloading the eccentric with velocity.
30:29
But at a certain like again, now we're just learning the position
30:31
of where we want the amortization phase to take
30:34
place. So when they're landing off the
30:35
box again, the feet position are, are they under the pelvis?
30:39
Are they outside the pelvis? Are they like caddied out just
30:42
getting the same feet position under the pelvis every time?
30:45
And then the knee angle not getting too shallow or not
30:48
getting too deep, trying to get like where I ideally we turn it
30:51
just like a 30° knee angle could just like establishing that
30:54
position on the landing every single time and then again with
30:57
that upright torso. So just ripping that off the box
31:00
until you can get to a point like when you're hitting the
31:03
ground, like you just hit it like a rock and it freezes and
31:06
you're not seeing like those energy leaks of like you're
31:09
hitting the ground and you're still like yielding.
31:11
Like is it a hard stiff stop on the ground or you still yielding
31:15
momentum? You know, we want to get to the
31:16
point where it's a hard, stiff landing.
31:18
And then so that's kind of the main part of that like
31:21
submaximal. And then in the next phase where
31:24
we start getting in like the fancy stuff with like the weight
31:27
releasers, a little more intensive training, we'll just
31:29
get in a true depth jumping. Now we're into like, instead of
31:33
just sticking, now we're transitioning into the
31:35
concentric and the counter movement, you know, and so with
31:38
that, can we can we still maintain that, that landing
31:41
angle that we just hammered for three weeks, but now can we
31:44
efficiently get out of the ammers and get off the ground?
31:48
So plyometry. And then for the depth jump, we
31:50
just continue to build that off. So in the in the last phase of
31:53
training, we're probably going to add constraints to it, like
31:57
whether we're adding height to the box or we're adding another
32:01
counter movement jump after maybe we're put in a hurdle in
32:03
front. And so it's like a counter
32:06
movement over the hurdle or adding like consecutive counter
32:09
movements. We're just adding layering this
32:12
just to complexity against skill acquisition, getting them just
32:16
robust and to all possibilities, you know, so for us, a depth
32:20
jump is the main thing that will hammer it within this offseason
32:23
and just develop that skill. I'm getting really efficient
32:26
with the positions and the amortization.
32:28
So for for our offseason these next 12 weeks, that's like the
32:31
main driver from a true plyometric.
32:34
Now we will do like like jumping and I don't think there's like
32:37
some true like plyometrics utilizing the stretch shortening
32:41
cycle kind of deal like we'll we'll bias maybe concentric only
32:45
jumping later like down the road in like the summer weighted
32:48
jumping bars in the back, weighted counter movement jumps
32:51
like all those things are tools we use later, but at least in
32:55
this time frame of 12 weeks. So the depth jump is our main
32:58
plyometric, but also going back to we were talking about like
33:02
the skill acquisition or the skill of the technical work with
33:05
the bounding, like bounding is a true plyometric also.
33:08
And we're, we're still, we're still using bounds, you know,
33:10
layering bounds and the complexity and bound through
33:13
this time frame also because that's a that that skill is more
33:16
specific into what we're trying to accomplish.
33:18
So we're also doing true bounding through these 12 weeks.
33:21
Maybe we're layering the distance you're bounding.
33:25
Maybe we're emphasizing height on the bound, or we're
33:27
emphasizing distance on the bound.
33:29
Maybe we're adding horizontal resistance to create more
33:32
sensation to project out on the bound.
33:34
Maybe we're working on transitions from bounds into
33:37
like a Sprint. And we're also doing like one
33:40
thing I've I've in the past, maybe like previous years, I've
33:42
been not so much like Sprint work and running, but I, I've
33:45
come to like, with this idea of like technical work and
33:48
sprinting and the approach. I think it's important.
33:51
So like we're also going to be doing like true acceleration
33:54
work, which is also again, like a true plyometric.
33:58
We probably won't get into like traditional like open that up
34:01
outside of like more than 510 yards, like Max velocity upright
34:05
sprinting. I probably won't ever get into
34:06
that. Just again, specificity in time.
34:09
And I don't think it's for what we're doing is as important.
34:11
So you all these things you know like a rudimentary plyos, deep
34:15
tier plyos, depth jumping, bounding, accelerating all those
34:18
apply metrics and that's the meat of our of our plyometric
34:23
like toolbox. Man, that's awesome how much you
34:26
broke that down throughout that. And you know, as we talk about
34:29
the approach, we talk about jumping.
34:31
I know in the last couple years you've also taken a really
34:35
indeed dive into swing mechanics and what that looks like and how
34:39
to impact that. Maybe what are the things maybe
34:42
from your perspective you're looking at with that and how you
34:45
can impact somebody's swing? Yeah, yeah.
34:48
This is another like area I'm still learning and growing
34:52
because I've never played volleyball.
34:54
I've only, this will be my sixth season in volleyball and I, I
34:58
still don't have it all figured out.
35:00
But like, I think within our positions, we're really good in
35:03
the bio mechanic space and efficiency, like within
35:06
movement, like we're talking about with the approach.
35:08
And I think that those same things apply in the in the arm
35:11
swing, like there's efficiencies and inefficiencies it whether
35:15
you want to hit it hard or you want to hit it fast, there
35:18
there's certain shapes that matter and certain tissues and
35:23
sequencing things that matter. So for us early on, the first
35:29
thing we're trying to hammer home is learning to rotate the
35:32
torso to initiate everything. Because in overarching goal, we
35:35
want the the hand to be like the end of a whip and like your
35:39
torso is the handle and their torso initiates that action of
35:42
the whip in the hand is the last thing.
35:44
So learning how to, you know, not just be very arm, elbow,
35:48
wrist driven and learning to initiate with the torso and let
35:53
that other stuff trail behind as long as possible.
35:55
So early on that, you know, learning to rotate your torso
35:58
and I think is really important and there's a lot of ways to
36:03
skin that cat. I, I think we, we don't get
36:05
super general with that, like with training and like the
36:09
squatting and the approach. We kind of just, oh, we stay
36:12
more on the specific side with throwing.
36:14
So throwing the football and adding constraints with that,
36:17
throwing plyo balls and adding constraints where maybe we're
36:19
just focusing on rotating, we're taking the legs out of it,
36:22
something along those lines. So after like you get, well, not
36:26
after we're all going to be kind of concurrently working on these
36:28
things with that. Like I think shaping, shining,
36:31
like I, I think is really important.
36:33
I think in traditional volleyball space just kind of
36:36
goes against the grain. Like if you're a snapshot, like
36:39
the drawback of the arm swing traditionally, like the elbow on
36:42
the hand is like up here on this, you're drawing back to
36:45
this. And so for me, I try to promote
36:48
this idea of like, honestly, the hand down and the elbow not
36:52
getting above. It's more like this instead of
36:54
this. So, so drawing back to this
36:57
instead of here, because the stretch shortening cycle, it
37:01
applies to every contractile tissue in the body, regardless
37:04
of where it's at. And so with the shoulder is no
37:08
different than like the knee joint.
37:10
So we're trying to bias the stretch shortening cycles
37:13
ability to contract at the the tissues that are here also, you
37:16
know, at that the rotator cuff and all the things that are
37:19
involved here. So when I get into this
37:20
position, the only a positive way I have to go is forwards and
37:24
like bio mechanics, the only thing I have is a concentric
37:26
contraction which it can be powerful, you know, but we want
37:29
to be more powerful and more fast, like more aggressive in
37:32
like like how fast that arms thing comes around.
37:34
So if you can start biasing the stretch shortening cycle, you
37:37
have to get like into that eccentric length in position.
37:40
And I think for you to be relaxed there and being able to
37:43
rotate and keep that around as long as possible, that creates
37:46
like the end of that whip more so than like this and what
37:51
happens? In people that that can't.
37:53
Or are just listening basically, Yeah, Yeah.
37:56
If I'm seeing you right, you're basically instead of bringing
37:59
the hand on top of the elbow or above the elbow, you're keeping
38:03
them more parallel. Yeah, right.
38:05
Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I want to keep the hand below
38:08
the elbow and honestly elbow slightly below the shoulder so
38:11
we can create almost like this. But again, learning the tissue
38:14
should be initiated or the torso should be initiating this
38:17
movement. And volleyball, it's it's a lot
38:18
of this happening, like a lot of just the shoulder and the elbow
38:22
and nothing that the the chest stays square instead of the
38:25
torso rotating that arm trailing behind.
38:28
So I think getting into that position just it's a more
38:31
efficient way for trying to create power as far as like just
38:34
hitting harder. You see it like within baseball
38:36
and football. I honestly got this, this idea
38:38
from football and watching like there's some great coaches in
38:42
Canada, like the like QB trainers that I, I take a lot of
38:46
these concepts from and apply into, into volleyball as far as
38:49
like these positions. And then I'm watching like elite
38:51
quarterbacks and like Patrick Mahomes, I think is obviously
38:54
the the best with his ability to just throw out of every position
38:58
with elite power. But they're they're shapes that
39:01
happen. You know, like his palm is
39:02
always down when when he's drawing the football back, you
39:05
know, he's not drawing the football back with his hand
39:08
above his elbow. And the same thing with
39:10
pitching, you know, like they have this low drawback where the
39:12
hands coming behind before they whip around.
39:15
I get success these clues. There's probably something
39:17
happening there. Those guys are throwing heat.
39:19
So we can apply the same idea, I think into the volleyball
39:22
swinging of letting that low drawback come around, you know,
39:25
to create more power. But then on the other end of the
39:27
spectrum, like it's not all about just power sometimes like
39:30
you need to speed the arm swing up.
39:31
So this is one thing we're going to work on a lot with a couple
39:34
of our kids where we have kids that hit hard, but it takes a
39:37
little bit of time, you know, when you're generating like the
39:39
slow drawback, you know, So sometimes like you do have to
39:43
get into this position with the hand above the elbow if we want
39:47
to create a little more velocity because there's as far as how
39:50
much that hand is moving through like this arc angle, it's less
39:54
happening. So it's less time to get to
39:56
point A to point B. So if I have this low drawback,
39:59
it's going to take a little more time to get to point A to point
40:01
B, but it's going to come off of heat.
40:02
But if I need to speed that up, I need to shorten the distance
40:05
probably. So with that, can I just get
40:07
comfortable in this same position, still initiating the
40:10
torso, but connect, create velocity out of that concentric
40:13
biased position. So.
40:15
This is like something I'm working through still like I
40:17
don't have this down to a science, but I have this idea
40:20
and like things that make sense in my head as far as
40:22
inefficiency and just like basic like bio mechanics, you know,
40:26
So, but I think overall out of all this, I think the easiest
40:29
way to develop this stuff is just throwing, whether it's
40:31
throwing a football, throwing plyo balls, throwing baseballs,
40:35
throwing softballs. I think adding constraints into
40:37
that where you're taking the legs out of it.
40:40
Maybe you're overemphasizing rotating the torso, maybe it's
40:42
just the arm, maybe you're throwing from all various
40:45
positions. You know, I think all that stuff
40:47
is very important and very applicable.
40:49
And and when you're talking about creating like an efficient
40:52
arm swinging a heat on the arm, swinging a fast arm swing, I
40:56
think throwing is is the best tool, but not just throwing like
40:58
one way throwing every possible way to reach.
41:01
Yeah, because you, you know, say somebody's, you know, watches
41:06
SMU Instagram volleyball account, they see y'all throwing
41:09
the football, you know, and you know, I've seen some of the
41:12
videos. I think, you know, when you're
41:13
at other people's arenas like the night, like the day ever or
41:15
night before y'all throwing and stuff like somebody's watching
41:18
that, it's like OK, like why are they throwing that?
41:20
And you've talked about how constraints.
41:22
Things like could you break down those constraints and what it's
41:24
what it's allowing them to feel or do through that?
41:27
Yeah, yeah. I think I'm going back to like
41:29
just the the biggest like driver, I think that if you can
41:33
figure out it usually takes care of themselves is initiating
41:36
rotation and power with the torso.
41:39
So traditionally in volleyball, like what's different with
41:43
throwing in volleyball is it's closed chain and open chain.
41:47
Your feet are on the ground when you're throwing and you're
41:48
initiating everything from the feet up.
41:50
So that's why like the pelvis and the hips get really involved
41:53
in the torso and in the hand. And volleyball you're it's open
41:56
chain, you're in the air, your feet are not in the ground.
41:58
So the legs aren't involved as much.
42:01
So if we can learn to initiate rotation at the torso, I think
42:05
honestly, putting feet on the ground and learning how the how
42:08
that happens is a lot easier of a constraint than getting them
42:12
in the air, jumping. And there are all these other
42:14
variables. So just breaking it down to the
42:16
most basic way, keep their feet on the ground and just throw
42:19
normal, you know, like there's not like any specific way, but
42:23
how we maybe constrain it is maybe the starting position.
42:26
Maybe we're opening up with the feet like super wide outside of
42:31
your pelvis, almost like a sumo stance.
42:33
Like if you were to do like a lateral lunge or something or a
42:35
Cossack squat, your feet are out wide.
42:37
What that's going to do is going to constrain your pelvis to stay
42:41
neutral and square. And now the only thing that can
42:43
rotate is the torso. So like maybe we're just like
42:47
holding the football and we're doing like 3 rotations and then
42:50
on the third we're letting it go, you know?
42:53
And then just the same thing on same way we're teaching the
42:55
approach, we give them visual feedback, queuing them with my
42:59
voice on. There's not a lot of like output
43:02
as far as like accuracy or anything I care about because
43:04
that's not their goal. It's more so again, the
43:07
sensation and the visual thing we're seeing.
43:09
Can I, can I see the torso really rotate going like if I'm
43:13
square with you, can I see my right shoulder go to you?
43:16
Can I see my left shoulder go to you?
43:18
Like big overemphasized rotation and then letting it go after
43:22
that, You know, like those that's like a really simple
43:24
constraint. Maybe it's a the opposite end of
43:26
the spectrum where it's like we're working on the the low
43:28
drawback. And now like I'm going to get in
43:31
like a traditional like football stance where I'm going to be my
43:34
like left shoulders facing you. My eyes are over my shoulder and
43:37
I'm looking at you and I'm starting in this position where
43:40
my I'm in this low drawback and then from can I just again
43:44
initiate like opening my chest, keeping my hand back as long as
43:48
possible and then let everything go at you?
43:51
It's hard because I'm giving you a lot of like visual.
43:53
I don't I'm trying to verbalize this as much as I can for
43:56
anybody. That's great.
43:57
Anybody, anybody listening, But just, you know, I, I think
44:01
there's not a lot of like set in stone constraints we're going to
44:04
work with. Honestly, a lot of us just
44:05
playing like just just play, just throw, just just just have
44:08
fun with it. Like the especially with the
44:10
kids I'm working with, these are like really elite athletes.
44:12
These they sometimes just figure it out, you know, sometimes it
44:15
only takes a couple cues and and they end up feeling what's
44:19
efficient and what's not efficient just with repping it
44:21
over time, you know. So I think if you're wanting to
44:24
get started throwing a football or throwing play balls, I would
44:28
recommend starting with a football first and foremost.
44:30
Get like a junior size football. Don't get like a NCAA size,
44:34
regular regulation size football.
44:36
Get a smaller football where they have more control with the
44:38
hand and just start playing to start throwing play catch, you
44:41
know, add constraints with how they're starting by facing you
44:44
or at the constraint of how far they're throwing or where
44:48
they're starting with their hands.
44:49
You know, just just little things like that.
44:51
Good athletes figure it out over time.
44:53
And then again, like though, if there's any visual cue like we
44:57
want to see is just initiating rotation with the torso, keep
45:00
the hand and the elbow out of it for as long as possible.
45:03
And that's what's going to create like a the whipping
45:05
action that everybody's like chasing.
45:07
Yeah. Oh, man, that's so good.
45:09
I didn't you know if whenever whenever the US gets their
45:12
women's flag football team Philippines coming up, we'll
45:15
know who to call for some QBs we'll go to SMU volleyball
45:18
program. I wish with okay with with the
45:24
the volume of swings so many volleyball players are going
45:27
through. What do you so like how do we,
45:30
how do we build sturdy shoulders, you know, bulletproof
45:33
shoulders that are able to withstand and be durable through
45:36
the volume swings that are being demanded of them?
45:39
Yeah, yeah, Interestingly enough, anecdotally, we don't,
45:42
I've never had like problems with like shoulder stuff.
45:46
And with that amount of volume, I think outside looking in,
45:50
you'd probably think so, you know, they're not coming with as
45:53
much heat as like a like a pitcher, for example, where that
45:56
wear and tear like definitely compounds.
45:58
But again, going back to what we were just talking about learning
46:01
like the torso to like initiate movement and take the strain off
46:06
of the shoulder, initiating everything like that.
46:09
That's going to be a big mitigator like of, you know,
46:12
stress on that shoulder joint over the macro, over kids
46:16
career. So again, that's why it's really
46:18
important I think is to learn like how to initiate rotation at
46:22
the torso first and foremost. But as far as like managing that
46:25
stuff, like everything, there's points in the year where stress
46:28
is a lot and it is the same points every year.
46:32
And I think knowing that is like, I think when you just
46:35
constantly do something over time and don't go away from it,
46:39
your body's going to adapt to it.
46:40
I think what the issue is like when stress shows its face as
46:44
far as pain or discomfort, that's when people start going
46:47
away and they start managing too much.
46:50
If you let the adaptation happen and you just keep repping the
46:52
skill, they're going to get become adapts to it and it's not
46:56
going to be an issue going forward.
46:57
So this happens to us every year.
46:59
The start of each semester is going to be that point where
47:03
it's the highest stress. So for us, there's this spring
47:06
semester coming off a four week of winter break where you're
47:09
probably doing little to nothing.
47:11
And I hope they're doing little to nothing because that's the
47:13
only break they get. Getting back into.
47:15
It's hard and it's going to suck for these first six weeks.
47:19
But if if you just continue on the same trend and just keep
47:22
going, you don't add too much or you don't do enough and you just
47:26
keep going. Eventually they adapt and it's
47:28
fine. And then same thing in August, a
47:30
little different because we've been playing now.
47:32
But the volume of volleyball is more than ever far as like we
47:37
start 2A day practices, practices probably playing
47:40
volleyball for four hours a day for four to five days a week on
47:44
top of train. And and then of the other
47:47
stressors that aren't volleyball, you know, school
47:49
starting, that's a whole another stress that plays into it.
47:52
Maybe you're moving into a dorm or apartment.
47:54
There's new people coming into your life.
47:56
The environmental stressors are real.
47:58
And then once you start playing volleyball like that, August pre
48:02
season period is really dense and high stress.
48:04
There's a lot of matches in a short amount of time.
48:06
So that period of time, same thing.
48:08
It's a lot and the wear and tear shows.
48:10
But like anything, if you just keep going and you like, you
48:13
expect it and it doesn't like scare you too much to go away
48:17
from what you've been doing, you get through the month and you're
48:19
fine. But as far as specifics and
48:23
training that I think are important that we can control in
48:25
the weight room outside of just play volleyball year round and
48:28
don't be scared and learn how to use your torso to throw
48:32
holistically. The shoulder is probably the
48:34
most mobile joint in the body, like as because the ball and
48:37
soccer joint, the ranges of motion it goes through.
48:39
There's a lot of things involved, you know, by the way
48:42
the shoulder blade interacts on the rib cage is really complex
48:45
and there's a lot of things involved.
48:46
So there's a lot of tissues and a lot of structures that need
48:50
stress to develop and you know, and it's really complex.
48:53
But I think if you just train like big, big rock things that
48:58
go through big ranges of motion and utilize the shoulder blade
49:02
moving in various ranges of motion and it develops all these
49:05
tissues at the same time, I think that can take care of a
49:08
lot of it. So like things I think that are
49:10
valuable in terms of the upper body and the shoulder that are
49:13
big rocks for us in training is the chin up first and foremost.
49:16
And just because when you think about like how much range of
49:19
motion your humerus is going through when you're doing like a
49:22
proper chin up as far as like the dead hang bicep to the ear,
49:26
like chest of the bar, or that like you're almost getting into
49:29
extension at the top, like that's a massive amount of range
49:31
of motion. So that means there's a lot of
49:33
things going to be involved, you know, so there's a lot of things
49:35
going to get stressed and adapt if you're doing the chin up
49:38
right and the shoulder blades are doing what they need to do
49:40
correctly. And then the push up like these
49:42
are just so such basic movements.
49:44
But if they're done right and done over a long period of time,
49:47
the adaptations are great. Same thing with the push up,
49:49
getting parallel handles, something where you're elevating
49:52
so you can create a little more range of motion as far as
49:54
extension in the bottom. And then same thing with those
49:57
shoulder blades. Are the shoulder blades able to
49:59
like retract in the bottom of the push up?
50:00
Are they able to project or protract and like upwardly
50:04
rotate at the top of the push up?
50:05
Just main minor movements like that can take care of a lot of
50:09
the stuff if they're done well and done correctly and not done
50:12
minusly. And then the last like probably
50:14
big rock is within the weight room is overhead pressing.
50:17
Same idea, just the the amount of range of motion the humerus
50:20
is going through is similar to the chin up, but you're going to
50:22
bias probably the shoulder blade like upwardly rotating.
50:26
And I think a lot of like a strength coaches know the
50:28
importance of the shoulder blade being to upwardly rotate and
50:31
that serratus interior get involved as far as like how
50:35
important that is, is stabilizing the humorous so that
50:38
again, these are basic movements.
50:40
We're not isolating like the rotator cuff like we are.
50:43
Don't get me wrong, at certain points of the year, because I I
50:45
think it's important, but big rock movements that check a lot
50:48
of those boxes, if they're done correctly, is just basic chin
50:51
up, push up, overhead press and, and man, it's like if you had
50:55
no, if you had 30 minutes and that's all you can do.
50:57
Like you don't need anything else as far as the upper body
51:00
and the shoulder. Like if they're done correctly,
51:02
it checks a lot of boxes. OK, chin UPS.
51:04
I let's say we, we, you got a girl coming in, can't do a chin
51:08
up. How do we get them from zero
51:10
chin UPS to doing their first chin up and then five chin UPS
51:14
on their own? Yeah, yeah, the chin, it's a so
51:17
why I value like why I value the chin up outside of like just you
51:21
know, the shoulder health kind of deal.
51:23
It's a one piece. I think it's honestly a great
51:25
assessment for us with females because relative strengths when
51:31
you're in like these sports where you're manipulating your
51:33
body weight, like with jumping, sprinting, relative strength is
51:37
like a is a massive piece because it's your ability to
51:40
again, manipulate your body weight.
51:41
So I think it's a great assessment of relative strength.
51:44
And then also like anecdotally, like our best athletes in
51:48
quotation marks that jump the highest, they can all do full
51:52
chin UPS. It's obviously not because of
51:53
chin up, but there's something in there that's like correlating
51:56
their ability. I think it's relative strength.
51:59
I think it's chin and I also think it's body composition.
52:02
So those those 3 facets, the big predicators on their ability to
52:06
do a chin up. And so we can't manipulate
52:08
genetics, but we can manipulate relative strength and body
52:11
composition, a body composition with nutrition, lifestyle,
52:14
managing all those stressors. A so relative strength, like how
52:18
can we like drive that attribute up?
52:22
So most all young females probably can't do a chin up
52:26
unless they've been training or they have like elite genetics.
52:28
So we just work backwards, you know, with basic bio mechanics,
52:32
understanding contraction types, you know, we understand the
52:36
eccentric contraction is much stronger than its counterpart
52:39
concentric. So the chin up is very like the
52:43
limiting factor is going to be the concentric for all females.
52:45
Some, but everybody can probably lower themselves off a bar so we
52:48
can start driving these structural and neural
52:51
adaptations within that movement with just eccentrics off the
52:55
chin up. So a lot of like extended
52:57
eccentrics from the top down are getting really strong and aware
53:01
of working backwards in the lower.
53:03
So overloading the eccentric, getting really strong at the
53:06
eccentric magically. I wish I need to like do my own
53:09
bio mechanic research on what what about the I I know there's
53:13
like structural adaptations and neural adaptations that are
53:15
happening, but I need to like I need to like really pinpoint
53:18
exacts on this, but like getting really good at the eccentric and
53:22
like train that like is going to pull the concentric along with
53:26
it. You don't always need to train
53:30
the concentric contraction to create concentric adaptations
53:34
because the eccentric, like the structural adaptations that are
53:37
in the neural adaptations that are happening sometimes are more
53:39
potent than concentric adaptation.
53:41
So overloading the eccentric because it's in traditional
53:44
training everything is concentric biased where as far
53:47
as like you're moving load, how much weight can you move in any
53:50
movement. So like you're predicated on
53:52
gravity in the concentric. So the eccentric is not getting
53:56
like an adaptation because the limited factor is always the
53:59
concentric and if the eccentric is stronger, it's always trained
54:02
sub maximum. So if we hone in on training the
54:05
eccentric early with the chin up, so eccentric lowers first,
54:09
the driver of intensity for us is time.
54:11
Just we don't need to add weight, just add time, you know,
54:14
just just adding more time under tension like that.
54:16
That's the first driver intensity.
54:18
And so for us, we start with really basic 5 seconds at the
54:22
top of the chin up bar where we're almost like a combination
54:26
of like a yielding isometric, overcoming isometric where we
54:28
want them to like really be driving their chest through the
54:31
bar. Where we're trying to like the
54:33
end position of where the shoulder blade should be, the
54:35
head position, the torso angle at the end of the chin up, and
54:38
then how you initiate the chin up to start.
54:40
So 5 seconds to the top and then a 5 second ecentric.
54:43
So 10 seconds in total time under tension is usually where
54:46
we start. And then we'll probably do that
54:48
for only like 2 weeks, like just that intro coming in.
54:50
And then from there there we'll go just we'll work from 10 to 20
54:54
seconds as far as just true eccentric from the top down, no
54:57
pauses 10 to 20 seconds, depending on the individual.
55:00
Like the sooner we can start adding load, the better.
55:03
So some kids it's like I may be having to assist you in your
55:06
last five seconds. Some kids like we can add load
55:09
week 1, you know, so we don't want to ever like hold people
55:11
back. So adding load to the eccentric
55:14
as soon as possible if they're able.
55:15
Again, how you're doing it matters.
55:17
And if you're able to control the tempo through the whole way,
55:19
that's the only time you're ever going to add load.
55:20
If you're not able to like maintain a certain head
55:23
position, keep the legs straight, like your hips get to
55:25
like all those, then don't add load.
55:27
Get technically sound out of body weight before you start
55:29
adding load. Extended eccentrics, time and
55:31
attention. And then in conjunction with
55:34
that, I think frequency is one of the best drivers of skill is
55:38
just practicing something over and over and over.
55:40
The chin UPS, no different. So early on where we're doing
55:42
chin UPS twice a week. So we'll do extended eccentrics
55:45
one day and then we'll do yearling isometrics on another
55:49
day with the three position pauses where we're pausing in a
55:53
different position throughout the Rep and then we're just the
55:56
same idea time as a driver intensity.
55:58
So with this third progression, you start at the top of the chin
56:01
up bar and you come down maybe 4 inches.
56:03
The top range of motion will hold for four seconds and it'll
56:07
come down to 90 hold for four seconds and then the bottom 120°
56:11
hold for four seconds and then go into the full stretch.
56:13
So this allows us to isolate certain ranges of motion, but
56:19
with more eccentric time and attention.
56:21
And just like a smooth 10 second lower with that, that 10 seconds
56:23
is spread out through the full range and those those spots only
56:27
get maybe a second or two. Now we can get into the top,
56:30
middle and range and add more eccentric time and attention by
56:32
spending time there. I'm so same idea, just adding
56:35
time, 4 seconds, 6 seconds, 8 seconds, adding load as soon as
56:39
possible if they're able to again, tempo and technically
56:42
sound. So in conjunction, those two
56:44
have things happening early frequency, eccentric time and
56:47
attention. Those are the two big things
56:49
early on. And then outside of just
56:51
specificity within the chin up, just address like with a ton of
56:55
variation variations from rowing, ton of rowing
56:58
variations. I, I am a big advocate of the
57:00
relative strength stuff. So inverted row variations, CRX
57:03
is barbell inverted rows, I get same idea.
57:05
It's a, it's a more advantageous pulling position.
57:07
So you can add a little more like a concentric repetition
57:10
unless you're not going to get in in the concentric portion of
57:13
the chin up. And then also honestly,
57:15
something as simple as just train your biceps and your elbow
57:17
flexors because they're also going to be a player into that,
57:21
something like that. And if you have the my favorite
57:24
progression for this, I'll lay it out.
57:26
If you have like the, the weight room to do it, if you have lap
57:29
pull downs, so maybe a nut like if you have like 6 racks and six
57:33
lap pull downs, this is like my favorite progression.
57:35
I got this from the kilo guys. They they do the same
57:38
progression when they're intro, you know, chin UPS is they'll
57:41
they'll start progression with the eccentric.
57:43
So just week 1, we'll do four sets of 1, 110 second lower.
57:48
And then so that's like an A1 and then an A2 is we're going to
57:51
superset this with like a supinated lap pull down.
57:54
So the same exact positioning range of motions happening.
57:58
Obviously the lap pull down is a lot more submaximal because you
58:00
can mitigate load. But now we can also add the
58:02
concentric portion of that like action and range of motion that
58:06
you're not getting into the chin up, but the the motion of the
58:09
humerus is exactly the same. But now we're getting the
58:11
concentric portion that we're not getting in the chin up.
58:14
So week 1, 10 second lower, if you can add load, same thing,
58:17
add load, no rest, you're going right into that supinated lap
58:22
pull down for 6 to 8 reps And then Week 2 for, for a
58:26
three-week progression, the the lap pull down stays the same 6
58:28
to 8 reps with like a four second eccentric or that's where
58:31
we're getting our concentric volume in that specific like
58:35
action. And then Week 2 with the latch
58:38
chin up, we're just adding another Rep of 10 seconds.
58:40
So it's 20 seconds in total. So I'll do 110 second lower, get
58:44
back at the top of the chin up bar.
58:45
Now a second, ten second lower. So now we have 20 seconds of
58:48
eccentric time under detention. And then same thing.
58:50
Go right into that lap, pull down for no rest.
58:53
Third week at A at a 3rd, 10 second lower.
58:55
So we're getting the 30 seconds, the same 6 to 8 on the on the
58:59
lap pull down. I think it's a, it's a really
59:01
potent and we did it for the first time this summer in our
59:04
normal weight room. We lift in, we don't have that
59:06
ability with the lap pull downs, but in the summer we trained in
59:09
our Olympic weight room where we did.
59:11
And I'm telling you, man, like that, that is like a, it gets
59:14
people over the hump. Eccentric volume in that action
59:17
in conjunction with that eccentric timer and attention is
59:19
a really potent way to drive the chin up, up if you can't do your
59:22
full chin up. But the other thing is you need
59:24
time and patience because it takes a long time, a year for
59:27
some people, you know, So that that same idea, just overload
59:31
the eccentric for as long as possible and get a ton of row
59:35
variations in whether it's relative strength or dumbbell
59:37
rowing or barbell rowing. Train your biceps.
59:40
If you have a lap, pull down that same progression.
59:42
I kind of just laid out it is a great way to, again, just so
59:45
it's a lot of things happening over a macro period of time.
59:48
But if you want to start somewhere, square one just
59:50
eccentric, lowers off a chin up, add time, add weight and it
59:53
usually takes care of itself. Yeah, You know, one thing I've
59:56
started because you know, we, we do a lot of eccentrics and
59:59
isometrics with, with the people that can do it.
1:00:01
I mean even the people that can do them, we do a lot of those.
1:00:02
But I have started adding we, we don't have lat pull downs to
1:00:06
use, but you know, I'll add in the next block at least single
1:00:09
arm rows or something like that. We're actually getting some
1:00:12
concentric volume there because you know, I, I feel like maybe
1:00:16
sometime like I think the eccentric does drive the
1:00:17
concentric, but sometimes you like, we need to still fit the
1:00:20
other piece with it and make sure we're not like just missing
1:00:23
out on that piece also. That's really good.
1:00:26
You know, you you talked about the body count part of it and
1:00:31
and that's going to be a big part for a chance, but also
1:00:33
jumping and just I thought this isn't a volleyball when it when
1:00:37
it comes to nutrition. You know, when I dive into that
1:00:41
a little bit with, you know, with you providing meals for
1:00:45
your team there. But maybe let's just think if
1:00:47
we're talking to some, you know, high school parents or, or
1:00:51
people that are playing in club and it's like, OK, how should we
1:00:53
be thinking about our, you know, let's just talk about breakfast,
1:00:56
lunch and our main meals at first.
1:00:57
Like what should those be looking at looking like if we're
1:01:00
providing those for our for our, for our daughter right now?
1:01:04
Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm not a
1:01:06
nutritionist dietitian. I just, I find the value in it.
1:01:10
I usually like when I'm chasing information, I reach out to
1:01:12
people that are smarter than me and just apply it.
1:01:14
So I think I think sometimes like in my experience, like
1:01:17
nutrition gets way too overcomplicated in what's going
1:01:20
to like move the needle. I think like environmentally,
1:01:24
like is probably going to be the biggest driver.
1:01:25
What you're surrounded by everyday is going to influence
1:01:28
your decision making and nutrition.
1:01:30
So if you're surrounded by bad choices, you're probably going
1:01:32
to have bad nutritional habits. So first and foremost,
1:01:35
environment, like what you're surrounded by day-to-day is
1:01:38
going to help influence some of your decision making.
1:01:40
I mean, America is the fattest first world country in the
1:01:43
world. Environmentally, it's not great.
1:01:45
Texas, the fattest state in the fattest country.
1:01:48
I mean, you and I know this, like you get there, there's a
1:01:50
plethora of really good food environmentally, it's not, it's
1:01:53
not the best for decision making.
1:01:55
So you know, you when you're growing up in this environment,
1:01:57
it's all, you know, it's hard to find that lane.
1:02:00
So what, what, what's a good environment?
1:02:02
I, I think nutrition is simple. If it's just real Whole Foods,
1:02:06
like I don't think it needs to get overcomplicated with like
1:02:09
you need to be consumed in a certain amount of calories,
1:02:12
these specific micronutrients at this time.
1:02:14
Like that gets way too complex if you don't have like the basic
1:02:17
stuff figured out as far as like just a eating Whole Foods,
1:02:20
eating Whole Foods and then eating enough and then like
1:02:23
environmental. So how can we influence that
1:02:26
stuff? So it's environmentally is like
1:02:28
it's really easy as far as like when you're putting in your
1:02:31
pantry or what you're providing for for your kids or in your
1:02:34
locker room is like I'm saying just just whole food, real food
1:02:38
options. Like when you're looking at
1:02:39
ingredient lists, if you are buying something that's coming
1:02:42
in a package, like a minimal ingredient list, like is there
1:02:44
anything like more than five ingredients?
1:02:46
Like you should probably be questioning like if you actually
1:02:48
need it like ingredient. Like when you're looking at that
1:02:50
stuff, though, the least amount of ingredients, the better.
1:02:53
You know, it's probably means like you're eating like a real
1:02:54
whole food thing. But as far as like Whole Foods,
1:02:56
like, you know, when you're going to the grocery store, like
1:02:58
on the outskirts of the aisles, we've always, we've all heard
1:03:01
this, you know, like obviously your animal source proteins and
1:03:05
then like your fruits and veggies and like, like what?
1:03:08
Like there's no, there's no real need for anything else if your
1:03:11
diets are circled around consuming those in all three
1:03:14
meals. So, so with that starting with
1:03:16
environmentally just Whole Foods, like I don't think that's
1:03:19
complicated. You know, it's pretty
1:03:20
self-explanatory. Like one to two ingredient like
1:03:23
foods. They should what you should be
1:03:25
surrounded by and what should be like on your plate for all three
1:03:28
meals. So with with that and like
1:03:31
females, in my experience, as far as like getting more into
1:03:34
the nuance of like macro nutrients.
1:03:36
Again, why is America the fattest countries?
1:03:39
Because our macro nutrient profile is predicated on
1:03:42
carbohydrates. You know, like most of our meals
1:03:45
are, are built around like a carbohydrate being like the,
1:03:48
the, the prime of like your, your dinner, like a pasta or a
1:03:52
pizza sandwich, something along those lines.
1:03:55
Like the carbs are the driver of the meal.
1:03:57
If we can flip the script and make the protein like the main
1:04:01
source and the driver of all three of your meals instead of a
1:04:04
carbohydrate and the carbohydrate being a compliment
1:04:06
to those three meals. Because I don't think young
1:04:09
females eat enough protein. I think it's because there's
1:04:13
like a nuance and maybe social media or growing up that they
1:04:17
think like you eat a lot of protein, you're going to look
1:04:19
like a man, you're going to get bulky, which we we all know is
1:04:23
not the case. There's a lot of hormonal
1:04:24
factors that go into play that you do not need to worry about
1:04:27
as a young female eating more protein.
1:04:30
You know, all three of your meals being animal source
1:04:33
protein, being the main course of your meal.
1:04:35
So breakfast, you know, whether it's eggs or like a like a Greek
1:04:38
yogurt or something along those lines where like that's the main
1:04:42
like fry, like that's the center of your meal at breakfast.
1:04:45
Something's that simple. You know, lunch, same thing
1:04:47
animal source protein, beef, chicken, freshwater fishes,
1:04:50
something along those lines. You know, same thing with
1:04:53
dinner. Like if that is the primary,
1:04:56
like the the star of all three of your meals and then you're
1:04:59
eating enough of it, which is also getting like individual
1:05:02
nuances. You know, I don't want to like
1:05:03
throw numbers out there because again, I'm not a dietitian or
1:05:06
anything like that, but we usually under eating.
1:05:09
I I think like 20 to 40 grams of an animal source protein at all
1:05:14
three meals is like a really good check the box start if you
1:05:17
don't know where to and all and Google, you have Google, you
1:05:21
know, if you're not sure how much protein it is like we're
1:05:24
surrounded by information. It's not hard to find.
1:05:26
And so starting with that and then with the carb source, being
1:05:29
an athlete, obviously carbs are important, but sourcing is where
1:05:32
I think we missed the boat a lot of times.
1:05:34
The carbohydrates where most of us like we when we're young and
1:05:38
we, we're consuming information, we hear like you need carbs.
1:05:42
So you go seek out like the easiest, fastest thing, which
1:05:45
are going to be very like glucose derivative carbohydrates
1:05:49
and refined carbohydrates and sugar.
1:05:51
It's going to be sugar, you know, so there's a, there's a
1:05:55
like a, we don't want to go down the road where sugar being like
1:05:58
a prime carb, I, I can go down this transient of sugar, but I
1:06:02
think sugar is in so, well, what should our carb sources be if
1:06:05
it's not like a refined carbohydrate?
1:06:07
I think start with like fruits and veggies first and foremost.
1:06:11
I for some reason like don't understand why when we're
1:06:14
teaching kids about macro nutrients that like we don't
1:06:17
include where where are we putting vegetables in the
1:06:18
macronutrient profile when we're always talking about macro
1:06:21
nutrients? It's like grains, pastas and all
1:06:23
that. OK, then what is a vegetable?
1:06:25
It's obviously not a protein. Yeah, we're not putting in a fat
1:06:27
profile. It's obviously a carbohydrate.
1:06:30
And obviously the macro nutrients that come with that
1:06:32
are going to be ultra beneficial and why you should be eating
1:06:35
vegetables. But as far as like true
1:06:37
carbohydrate macro nutrients, where we should be sourcing the
1:06:39
most of that fruits and vegetables and then again, Whole
1:06:42
Foods, things like potato starches, rices, oats, and I
1:06:47
think grains can get a little complex in the US, But if you
1:06:50
can find like quality grains and quality breads and quality
1:06:53
pastas, which is really hard, I tend not to like try to push
1:06:57
people in that way. Just start with the, the fruits
1:06:59
and veggies, rices, potato starches, things like that.
1:07:02
That's a that's a great starting point for like a carbohydrate
1:07:05
sources, you know, And then like outside of that, like what
1:07:08
you're cooking your food in is probably where you're getting
1:07:10
your fat sources from. Keep it again, whole food
1:07:12
sources, just keep it simple. Butter is not the enemy.
1:07:14
Like quality butter is great. All oil is great.
1:07:17
Avocado oil is great. And then like sourcing your fats
1:07:19
from other foods is like avocado.
1:07:21
Everybody's eating avocados, you know, like it's not it's not
1:07:24
complicated. It's not hard to fill the
1:07:26
macronutrient gap when you're just again eating Whole Foods
1:07:29
surrounded by animal source proteins, fruits and veggies and
1:07:33
quality fats like olive oils and butter.
1:07:35
It's like if all three of your meals have all three of those
1:07:38
things like you, you're in the 1% of elite nutrition.
1:07:42
And that is so simple. But what happens is like the
1:07:46
outside noises of social media is what I think construed some
1:07:50
of the mindset with this stuff where it gets complicated.
1:07:54
So if you're like a young athlete, you know, like just
1:07:56
just keep it simple. Whole food animal source
1:07:58
proteins, trying to hit that macronutrient number of 20 to 40
1:08:02
grams of animal source protein at all three meals and then
1:08:05
making sure there's a fruit and veggie fruit or, and fruit and,
1:08:08
or veggie at all three meals. You're, you're in a really,
1:08:12
really good spot as a young athlete.
1:08:14
And that's where like when we're getting kids, that's where
1:08:18
they're all like lackey. So what, that's why we're
1:08:20
emphasizing this so much because unfortunately that's where
1:08:23
everybody's lacking the most. So it's on my realm where it's a
1:08:27
little different where I can supply food and knowing that
1:08:30
like time is always the, the limiting factor is if they're,
1:08:34
if it's left up to them and they have no time in their day,
1:08:36
they're going to get the fastest, easiest thing because
1:08:38
they have no time. So if we can obviously put
1:08:40
quality food like I'm telling you what in front of them, it
1:08:44
makes it really easy for them. Environmentally for us, it's the
1:08:47
same surrounding them with Whole Foods in the locker room.
1:08:49
The meals are supplying them around the same idea of whole
1:08:52
food, quality meals. Mentally, I think in the
1:08:55
environments everything as far as a quality nutrition.
1:08:58
What do you think an ideal timing and also options for food
1:09:03
on a game day? Like how are you setting that up
1:09:05
for you, for yourself in terms of, you know, how far out in
1:09:08
front and and the other meals throughout the day for a game
1:09:11
day? Yeah, yeah.
1:09:12
I I think like game day nutrition, it's a little more
1:09:15
complicated with the individuals, how they, you know,
1:09:18
like their mindset on things like some people are unsettled
1:09:21
when they're eating a lot of food on game day versus like,
1:09:24
and some people like there's, there's routine.
1:09:26
Also, you know, some people have routines and we promote routine.
1:09:29
So if there's a certain routine for an individual like like they
1:09:32
need to eat a certain thing in a certain time, like so be about
1:09:35
these, these concepts as far as like these three meals, like
1:09:39
they don't change year round. Like it's, we wanted like that
1:09:42
to be a constant routine in their life outside of here.
1:09:45
So, so why change it on the game day?
1:09:48
So it's, it's honestly not going to look any different as far as
1:09:50
like what we're giving them from a breakfast, lunch and dinner,
1:09:52
the same Whole Foods, same supplying the same like animal
1:09:55
source protein, fruits and veggies and like a quality fat
1:09:58
at all three meals. You know, we're not front
1:10:00
loading carbohydrates like 4 hours before a game.
1:10:03
So it's the same meals just now we're just playing a game.
1:10:06
But from a, from a timing standpoint, there's a lot more
1:10:09
nuance for us, like with, you know, travel and like getting on
1:10:12
the court and all that. So usually for us 3 hours
1:10:15
before, like worse like game time is we're going to have our
1:10:18
pre end meal. Sometimes people go 4 hours.
1:10:21
I think it's a little, I think it's a little too long where
1:10:23
people are wanting to like snack in that like hour before.
1:10:26
So I think we can cut the snacking, which is not an issue
1:10:30
at all, but I think we can mitigate some of that stuff just
1:10:32
going 3 hours before, like 3 hours before a game.
1:10:35
And some people, depending on how they are, whether how much
1:10:37
they eat, I'm not going to force it on them because some people
1:10:39
don't perform well and have a full meal.
1:10:41
We're also getting a postgame meal.
1:10:43
So it's not like they're not going to eat again.
1:10:44
But same thing with the breakfast.
1:10:46
You know, we're going to wake up and have breakfast depending on
1:10:48
logistics of time, have that pregame meal and then you have
1:10:51
your postgame meal like immediately after the match.
1:10:54
Like there's a lot of time constraints that are out of my
1:10:56
control. But the one that we are in
1:10:57
control is that that timing of three hours before.
1:11:00
I think it's, I think it's a sweet spot if it's, it's not too
1:11:03
much time and it's also not too close to the match where you're
1:11:05
you're hungry. Yeah, let's talk warm ups now.
1:11:08
Like what is a what is a good warm up for volleyball practice
1:11:12
or a volleyball game look like? Yeah, this is a warm ups are
1:11:17
becoming really pot like a fancy nuanced warm ups are becoming
1:11:20
really, really popular with volleyball specifically, I think
1:11:24
a lot of game and playing. I think it's great because like
1:11:28
there's a warming up, like when you're going through like a 12
1:11:33
months of training volleyball, like it gets really like you're
1:11:37
just beating a dead horse and it becomes mindless and you're
1:11:40
almost not getting anything out of it if you're doing like the
1:11:42
same warm up over and over if the intent goes out the window
1:11:46
really fast. So I think games and having some
1:11:49
creativity is great to keep like the brain involved and
1:11:52
stimulated and excited, especially right before like
1:11:56
playing, you know, it's nice to be in a good mood.
1:11:58
So I think some of that stuff's great.
1:12:00
But warming up wise, you know, we're still going to do like a
1:12:03
depending on like, OK, for practice for us, we, we always
1:12:07
lift right before we practice. So we can cut this monotonous
1:12:11
warm up out, so we can go straight from training into
1:12:14
volleyball practice without having to do the drill 10 jog,
1:12:18
10 warm up kind of deal. But on but on game days, we, we,
1:12:21
we do, we're not obviously not lifting on game days.
1:12:23
So we do have to have a time. We're having like a traditional
1:12:25
warm up. And so there's some like
1:12:27
traditional nuanced things. Is that like where we're going
1:12:29
to do, like we're going to do some like in place like feel
1:12:31
good mobility stuff. Probably not going to like yield
1:12:34
any structural adaptations, but from your brain standpoint, it
1:12:37
feels good. You might feel like, OK, you
1:12:39
know, it's one thing. Just like if whatever's going to
1:12:41
make you feel good, like before a match, like we're probably
1:12:44
going to do, even if it doesn't do anything.
1:12:47
So I will do like an in place mobility, you know, going
1:12:49
through like what specifically? Like the hips more in the spine
1:12:52
more than anything. And then after that it's just
1:12:55
your basic kind of ramp warm up, you know, like you get your core
1:12:58
body temperature up. And then like you're going from
1:13:00
general to specific with this like the in place mobility.
1:13:03
I'm a big advocate of like rhythmic things like skipping
1:13:05
and all those kind of things. And instead of like jogging, we
1:13:08
skip. And then same thing like we're
1:13:10
talking about like the rudimentary plyos, just going
1:13:12
general to specific, like the rudimentary plyos more intensive
1:13:16
with the bounding, getting specific with the approach.
1:13:18
And then after that, like we're playing, you know, like I, it's
1:13:21
not like this big elaborate like deal, you know, after that, then
1:13:25
they'll go into their own like volleyball warm up that is
1:13:28
submaximal in itself. So, but I do think with warmups,
1:13:32
I, I think it's really important to like have more than one and
1:13:36
not do the same monotonous one because I get like I was saying
1:13:40
the intent will go out the window really quick if you're
1:13:42
doing the same warm up for six months.
1:13:45
And so I think having like in your back pocket like 3 to 5
1:13:49
variations of like your warm up to keep the monotony out of it.
1:13:53
But we're also like layering things.
1:13:54
There's another way to like train, you know, like rehearse
1:13:57
these skills like I was talking about with the approach and like
1:14:00
the rudimentary plios, layering those rudimentary plios, maybe
1:14:03
that's where you get like creative, you know, like things
1:14:06
like that I think is really important in the warm up.
1:14:08
So you can do the same warm up, but be able to like layer like
1:14:11
your rudimentary plios, maybe the constraints of like your
1:14:13
approaches and those things. One thing I would love to get
1:14:17
into this year, like, especially in our game days is like a more
1:14:20
detailed like systemized, like throwing warm up.
1:14:24
Like for us, like with the football, it's very nonchalant,
1:14:26
like relaxed. You know, I would want to, I
1:14:29
want to build that out to like a more standardized systemized.
1:14:32
Like we're all going through the same kind of deal in the same
1:14:34
way we're going through like I was just explaining that like
1:14:36
monotonous warm up. I want to build out the same
1:14:38
thing for this throwing. But if you have the ability to
1:14:41
like layer and play in games, like do it like honestly, like
1:14:45
spike ball, like things like that, like various tag, very any
1:14:48
game, like that's an amazing warm up.
1:14:50
And luckily our volleyball coaches are good at that.
1:14:52
Like on game days, they'll they'll come up with like a like
1:14:55
a fun game, whether it's volleyball or something within
1:14:58
the volleyball standpoint that that is our game for me, like I
1:15:02
don't have to come up with it because they're coming up with
1:15:04
it. So yeah, I think having layers
1:15:07
of a warm up or you're not doing the monotis thing year round
1:15:10
where you're still able to train, rehearse some of these
1:15:12
skills like the approach or the throw.
1:15:14
And then if you have the ability to throw in a game to keep it
1:15:16
like fun, I do. Yeah.
1:15:18
And you know, one as you talk about like layering and throwing
1:15:22
as part of the warm ups there, you know, I know 11 big time.
1:15:25
We have Tom House who does a lot with baseball and football
1:15:28
quarterbacks. You know, I remember hearing him
1:15:31
talk about how like he doesn't want his throwers or like, you
1:15:34
know, pitchers to warm up through the the act that they're
1:15:37
using. Like he doesn't want to just
1:15:39
progressively throw harder with a baseball.
1:15:41
Take it ready to throw like he wants to prepare the shoulder to
1:15:43
be. Warm and then.
1:15:45
Throw. Do you think about that with
1:15:47
hitting where it's like, OK, you know, a lot of times volleyball,
1:15:49
you know, teams will warm up and then they'll they'll just kind
1:15:52
of hit to, you know, hit two partners and stuff and kind of
1:15:55
warm up through that progressively.
1:15:57
Do you think about that maybe with the football throwing,
1:15:59
maybe with different other other aspects of warming up the
1:16:01
shoulder so that when they're starting to hit their shoulders
1:16:04
already prepared to go hit? Yeah, yeah.
1:16:07
So like the ball and partner piece, like I'll like what
1:16:09
you're talking about. We'll consider that within our
1:16:11
warm up. So like we'll do our full deal,
1:16:13
they'll do their ball and partner, then they'll do the
1:16:14
game and then we're playing. So yeah, I, I think, but like I
1:16:17
was saying before with the difference was like maybe
1:16:21
quarterback or like a baseball player, the velocity in which
1:16:24
like the the arm stuff is happening with voila, I don't
1:16:27
think is as extreme as what some people think.
1:16:30
It is where you have to like be super conscious of it.
1:16:33
And honestly, if you're training well over a long period of time,
1:16:37
you should have to worry so much I think.
1:16:39
But I traditionally have like kind of just gone like this
1:16:44
general to specific or specifics like hitting the volleyball at
1:16:47
100% and that ball on a partner piece being part of it.
1:16:50
But there are layers in like the ball on a partner where like we
1:16:52
we do have them do some things that we think are important,
1:16:55
like what I was talking about the constraints of like throwing
1:16:57
the volleyball first before you start even hitting it.
1:17:00
So like in that piece, that's where I would love to have the
1:17:02
football instead of just throwing the volleyball and get
1:17:05
like we're talking about like what rotating the torso first in
1:17:07
the angles. You're throwing a very like sub
1:17:09
maximum. Then we're doing the same thing
1:17:11
as you're hitting and then we're working into like again, 100%
1:17:13
hitting and then we're like actually playing.
1:17:15
So for us, that's that's kind of like the extent of our shoulder
1:17:18
warm up. I don't think it's as crazy as
1:17:22
some people, like some people will get really into the band
1:17:24
stuff, which is fine if that's like what somebody likes.
1:17:27
We don't do like any band warmups or anything like that.
1:17:30
It's yeah, just just throwing some maximally, throwing the
1:17:33
volleyball, some maximally hitting the volleyball so
1:17:35
maximally, but again, not the same.
1:17:38
You're going to be like hitting from all positions, you know,
1:17:41
hitting with different constraints of the torso on the
1:17:43
legs, you know, not just like you're saying, the same way
1:17:46
they're going to throw or hit, you know, keeping that like
1:17:49
global, like just open, you know, 'cause who like in a
1:17:53
match, like you're not going to hit from the same spot every
1:17:55
time. So why just train that same
1:17:56
spot, you know, train all those positions in the warm up, you
1:17:59
know, because who knows what you're going to get exposed to
1:18:02
when you're actually swinging. What do you think about the
1:18:05
balance of physical development, skill development, kind of where
1:18:08
we're allocating resources and energy to at different times
1:18:13
throughout the year and, and how much we're given both, you know,
1:18:16
between those two factors? Yeah, this is a.
1:18:19
This isn't an interesting like a thought I've had honestly,
1:18:23
probably this past year with the really the importance of skill
1:18:26
development and honestly our positions and our ability to
1:18:29
influence skill development. I think specifically like where
1:18:32
college athletics is going as far as like you for me, talk
1:18:35
like being make yourself invaluable and adding value in
1:18:38
any way. I we're turning so much into a
1:18:41
way like where you're almost, you're like a sport coach in the
1:18:43
same sense. So you're going to have to have
1:18:45
some knowledge of like skill development.
1:18:47
So one person that I think has got had this figured out from
1:18:52
early on is like Corey Schlesinger when he was back in
1:18:54
college, he he kind of talked about like the importance of
1:18:57
like bridging the gap of the skill development and the
1:19:00
physical development as a strength coach.
1:19:02
Because like you're hearing me talk about with the jump and the
1:19:04
throw, like skill is so important and it's such a
1:19:07
limiting factor with even the physical development of the
1:19:10
output. Like if the skill is the
1:19:11
limiting factor, doesn't matter how physically gifted you are.
1:19:13
So I think it's a it's a very relative to the individual and
1:19:18
maybe the the caliber of athlete you're working with of what's
1:19:22
more important. Skill is always important, but
1:19:25
maybe lower caliber athletes, younger athletes, physicality is
1:19:28
just as important because like you see it with high school
1:19:32
athletes, like when those kids are more physical at an early
1:19:35
age are such an advantage, like with with the overarching goal
1:19:38
of just winning and losing, you know, and so I think it becomes
1:19:41
relative to maybe the the time frame of their career and the
1:19:45
caliber of athlete and just the individual in general.
1:19:48
Well, what's most important. So it's a really fine line.
1:19:51
I don't think it's like really set in stone, but but I think
1:19:54
skill development is extremely important and I think strength
1:19:57
coaches will got us a sport need to find a way to influence skill
1:20:01
development because. A lot of times that's moving the
1:20:04
needle more than physical development, especially at the
1:20:06
highest level, especially like even like with with, with our
1:20:09
program now we're not at the highest level, but skill
1:20:12
development is, is honestly like where we made it to the Sweet 16
1:20:17
this year. And like sometimes like skill
1:20:20
with the limiting factor for us, like winning points and winning
1:20:24
matches, not any physical like thing, because usually like when
1:20:27
you're at the highest level, these teams are in the final for
1:20:30
this past year, physical, physically, they're probably
1:20:33
even playing field, but the, but the skill was what predicated
1:20:36
them winning and losing. And like the mental component
1:20:38
and all those factors, but, and just physicality and skill, like
1:20:41
there becomes a point where physicality is even.
1:20:43
And I think that's at the highest level.
1:20:45
And then skill shows its face. So I, I think it's, it's, it's
1:20:48
important. I think it should be
1:20:50
concurrently trained at all points in the year.
1:20:53
But what you're trained specifically is relative.
1:20:57
You know, what physical attributes are you training are
1:21:00
very relative. And then same thing with skill,
1:21:02
like what skill attributes are you are very relative to how
1:21:05
long you've been in a sport? You know, like, are you just
1:21:08
training the most basic skills that you don't even know the
1:21:10
verbiage versus like we're training like a grad transfer,
1:21:14
you know, that knows everything and is pretty skilled.
1:21:17
And now it's just minor, minor nuances in their skill
1:21:20
development as far as maybe it's more taxable than tech
1:21:22
technical, you know, so I think it's very important.
1:21:25
I think I'm, I'm learning as I go.
1:21:27
Like I think you need to be able to influence the skill just as
1:21:31
much as a physical because I think at least in the college
1:21:34
setting, like speaking for for myself, like where I feel like
1:21:37
this is this heading is, is like you, if you can influence the
1:21:40
skill component, you know, along with the physical component,
1:21:43
like your value again, just goes through the roof because that's
1:21:46
just one more sport coach that that this program has access to
1:21:51
and one more set of eyes and opinion to influence decision
1:21:55
making that that a program has. That could be beneficial if if
1:21:59
you know what you're talking about.
1:22:00
Also, like everybody has an opinion, but you need to know
1:22:03
what you're talking about. So I think it's important.
1:22:04
It's very relative. I think it should be
1:22:06
concurrently trained all year, but it's very relative to the
1:22:09
level of athlete, I think. I couldn't agree more.
1:22:12
And you know, Anthony, you mentioned though, with with the
1:22:14
younger athletes where the physicality will probably right
1:22:17
increase in athleticism younger is going to make a bigger
1:22:20
difference probably than when you're older.
1:22:22
And one thing, one thing I I hear a lot with youth athletes
1:22:27
was talking to parents like, you know, we want to get them in to
1:22:30
train with you more, but they've got skill, you know, a private
1:22:34
lesson that you know, this night, they've got club projects
1:22:36
these nights, they got turns these nights and it's like we
1:22:39
have time to fit it in. What would what would you advise
1:22:42
say it's a high school parent? What would you advise the high
1:22:46
school parents that have that mindset?
1:22:49
I would advise them, OK, let's what we're going to like, we're
1:22:52
going to hone in on like a like a 1516 year old age group.
1:22:56
And let's say they're they're at like TAV or Mad Frog or
1:23:00
something, for example. And maybe they're not on the the
1:23:03
best fifteens team. You know, I would go watch that
1:23:06
best fifteens team and go, what is the difference between this
1:23:10
things and that fifteens? They have kids that are touching
1:23:13
over 10 feet. That's why they're on the best
1:23:15
10 fifteens team. It's probably not a skill thing.
1:23:18
They're just physically dominating their competition
1:23:20
where honestly they're probably even playing field like from a
1:23:24
skill standpoint, it's just they're out physical.
1:23:27
Like just the physicality is so massively different between like
1:23:31
the elite and an age group and like the not elite.
1:23:34
It's just pure like from my when I watch like club volleyball,
1:23:37
that's it. I'm like these kids just fly out
1:23:39
the gym like they're not, they're not technically or
1:23:42
tactically great. Like they're just, they're, they
1:23:44
just fly. They hit harder and they
1:23:47
probably just move a little better, you know, like that that
1:23:49
is, it's not a skill issue. It's never a skill issue at that
1:23:52
age. It's it's purely physicality.
1:23:54
So if you're like a young athlete and, and you're trying
1:23:57
to get noticed and you're trying to get recruited, the first
1:23:59
thing that stands out like when you're watching like club
1:24:02
volleyball is physicality. Like that kid flies because once
1:24:06
they get to college, we're going to develop the skill, you know,
1:24:08
like that, that no, no freshman coming into college is like just
1:24:12
well-rounded from a skill standpoint there.
1:24:15
That's, that is a gaping hole. That's why you're here, you
1:24:18
know, to develop the skill over the course of four years along
1:24:22
with physicality. But physicality is going to get
1:24:24
eyes on you first and foremost and get you recruited,
1:24:26
especially in volleyball at a young age.
1:24:29
I'm I'm pretty like set on that. Just in my experience, like
1:24:33
watching this is they're the best players in volleyball in
1:24:36
high school are just physical freaks and a lot of it's
1:24:40
genetics, you know, like this is God-given like talent, but
1:24:45
that's a trainable thing and you can close the gap on it.
1:24:48
So like my suggestion is like those three nights a week
1:24:52
you're, you're investing in skill work for your 13 year old.
1:24:56
Like I would say reframe that and like start investing 3
1:25:00
nights a week of like physical development with the strength
1:25:02
coach and just let them practice their normal like with their
1:25:05
club and let that take care of itself because that is going to
1:25:08
give them the edge the fastest. Just again, go watch the best
1:25:12
club teams in America play. It's because they're just
1:25:15
physical freaks compared to their competition.
1:25:17
It's not because they're they're just super skilled, the Super
1:25:20
skilled kids. You don't, you don't see that
1:25:22
till the final four of college volleyball.
1:25:25
It's physicality that that really sets it apart.
1:25:27
No, I love it that that's really good.
1:25:29
When you have your athletes, whether it's a freshman or or
1:25:33
transfers coming in, do you have a assessment or evaluation
1:25:37
process with those athletes? Yeah, I mean, kind of I was
1:25:41
thinking about this this year, like trying to like at the end
1:25:44
of every season, it's never perfect.
1:25:46
So we kind of self audit and what can we do better.
1:25:49
I for me, I think it's the assessment process.
1:25:52
Obviously, you know, in college there's there's a lot of hands
1:25:55
in the paw and a lot of constraints with some of that
1:25:57
stuff and time and just resources.
1:25:59
So working through like what we're able to do and just based
1:26:02
off of this past year and where I think I need to be better
1:26:06
going forward is the initial assessment process.
1:26:09
Because don't get me wrong, I think when you have experience
1:26:11
like just your, your coach's eye and you know, like when you
1:26:14
watch the same thing for years, you kind of, you know, you're
1:26:16
able to see some things. I think that's beneficial.
1:26:18
But you know, like, not everybody has that.
1:26:20
It takes time and people don't have time.
1:26:22
So like right now, obviously within volleyball, like
1:26:24
physicality, the, the approach, the vertex, everybody's doing
1:26:27
that. And then if you have the
1:26:29
resources we we utilize like the force plates, we keep our
1:26:32
assessments in the force place really simple, but just a
1:26:35
counter movement jump on the force plate and then a drop jump
1:26:37
in the force plate. And then obviously the metrics
1:26:39
we're dissecting out of that data for us again, going back to
1:26:42
stretch shortening cycle things, the metrics that are probably
1:26:46
going to influence that, you know, obviously height time to
1:26:49
take off, like the eccentric utilization ratio and just to
1:26:52
name like a few things that were kind of taking out of that
1:26:54
stuff. And with the drop jump, you're
1:26:56
getting a true like a more true like plyometric like, so you're
1:26:59
getting a better read on the stretch shortening cycle with
1:27:01
like an RSI or an MRSI. So that's going to be like for
1:27:05
the drop jump, that's going to be like our assessment of the
1:27:07
stretch shortening cycle initially.
1:27:08
And then the counter movement jump like that's what we'll
1:27:11
take. We'll do that more frequently
1:27:13
year round with the vertex to gauge obviously just like trends
1:27:16
over time with the jump. And then just like the same
1:27:19
metrics. I, I told you there's certain
1:27:21
like macro trends we like to see.
1:27:23
And then with that body going back to like health and body
1:27:26
composition first and foremost. So assess body comp with with an
1:27:30
in body. It's not the not the best tool,
1:27:32
but it's all we have. And then one thing we added this
1:27:35
past year that I hope to keep evolving is like the the
1:27:38
metabolic panels. So full blood panel will take
1:27:41
about 24 markers out of that. And so with that, that allows us
1:27:46
to really hone in individually with like the nutrition and
1:27:49
supplementation as an individual.
1:27:51
It's easy to throw like just the same thing at everybody, which
1:27:54
is honestly will get a lot done. But you know, everybody needs
1:27:57
something a little different that helps our decision making
1:27:59
with and again going when you're assessing health, I think that's
1:28:02
probably the ultimate assessment of health that we can do at the
1:28:04
moment. And then one thing we're going
1:28:05
to add in this year is the Nord board.
1:28:08
I don't really have a thought out reasoning or where I want to
1:28:14
go with it. But yeah, I think it gives us a
1:28:17
better influence. Like we understand the
1:28:20
hamstrings and knee flexors are important for a lot of reasons
1:28:24
and are usually under trained. And I think the ability to
1:28:28
identify asymmetry, you can get some asymmetries off obviously
1:28:31
the forge plates, but that's in like a the jumping standpoint.
1:28:35
I think obviously identify asymmetries there, but this is
1:28:38
gives us another tool to identify asymmetries in a
1:28:40
different constraint with the Nord board.
1:28:45
And then that's it. I would love to get more in
1:28:48
depth if I could joint by joint like that, the FRA functional
1:28:52
range assessment, but it's just not realistic in the college
1:28:54
setting and putting hands on kids and time like this.
1:28:57
You know, I wish maybe like we would probably have to outsource
1:29:00
something like that to realistically happen and maybe
1:29:03
one day, but that's it for us. You know, I, I think you don't
1:29:05
want to over assess also because then you're going to be like
1:29:08
trying to influence all these various assessments over time.
1:29:11
And then I think you start to the boat with the macro training
1:29:14
goals. So if you can keep your
1:29:16
assessments specific to the macro.
1:29:18
So for us like health and then jumping high and if your
1:29:22
assessments can, you know, help influence decision making in
1:29:26
that umbrella of things. And I think if you keep it as
1:29:29
simple as possible. So like it's, it's a good start.
1:29:31
So for us, that's it. We used to do like the Dynamo,
1:29:34
the grip strength. Again, I don't really know what
1:29:36
that's influencing too much in my decision making.
1:29:39
So we're going away from that. But it was like I was saying the
1:29:42
the metabolic panels is a big deal for us.
1:29:44
I want to keep evolving that and then I would down the road like
1:29:48
joint by joint assessment, I would love to be able to do
1:29:50
that, yeah. No, that that's so cool that
1:29:52
you're able to, you know, have that aspect of the blood panels
1:29:56
and really dive in, obviously doing high level stuff before
1:29:59
then with nutrition supplementation, but really able
1:30:01
to see kind of what each person needs.
1:30:02
And you know, it also like as you talk about like the FRA and,
1:30:06
you know, go and jump by join like I've at the same thing.
1:30:09
Like it sounds like though from a movement perspective, you're
1:30:11
still and this this is a lot of what I do in my situation too,
1:30:14
is like, I feel like during like those first five weeks you've
1:30:16
talked about where you're creating that awareness of
1:30:19
movement and really aquimizing them to the beginning phase of
1:30:22
training. You're able to really assess
1:30:24
their movement in those first, you know, first period.
1:30:28
Something like you're saying, we talked about the long learned
1:30:30
athletes, you know, you kind of assess, okay, once we finish
1:30:33
that, we start to intensify a little bit more.
1:30:35
Are they able to go into maybe those bilateral squats or do we
1:30:38
need to pivot to a unilateral and you're able to kind of suss
1:30:41
through maybe those lower intensity phases of of what they
1:30:45
can handle and what direction we need to go from a movement
1:30:48
standpoint? A. 100% that's kind of like why
1:30:51
I'm not too urgent or I would have probably tried to get it
1:30:53
done a long time ago. Like, like, again, going back to
1:30:56
just the coach's eye and experience of being able to
1:30:58
identify those things in the moment of training.
1:31:00
But like one thing we, we do like we have like these extra
1:31:03
need sessions where we're like, we're doing true mobility work.
1:31:06
And that, that I think that'll allow us to individualize that a
1:31:09
little more for the individual the same way like the nutrition
1:31:11
and supplementation standpoint. And then it's like, like
1:31:14
transparency, like we had a, we had an injury this year, like we
1:31:17
had a kid tether ACL and like it was the first time we had AACL
1:31:21
since we've been here. And so it's like, OK, obviously
1:31:24
this the nature of athletics, like you can't if, if it, if
1:31:27
you're able to prevent Acls, like we would know by now.
1:31:30
Obviously that's not the case, but there's a way to mitigate
1:31:32
things. And I think an assessment like
1:31:34
that can help us aid in it because like the the kid like
1:31:37
moves well, you know, like there was no signs of like risky
1:31:41
movement, like within training, Like it's just the nature of
1:31:44
high level athletics. Like it, there's a risk every
1:31:46
time you step on the court. And like sometimes the risk
1:31:49
shows its face. So I think it just allows to
1:31:52
mitigate it a little more. Maybe maybe we there was
1:31:55
something I could identify in my own eyes that something like
1:31:58
that assessment could show. Hence like why we're bringing in
1:32:00
this N board. I'm like, maybe this can show
1:32:02
something I'm not seeing. So like, yeah.
1:32:04
And like transparency is just a kind of, we don't want,
1:32:07
obviously we never want that to happen, but unfortunately for us
1:32:10
to happen this year again, auditing myself and trying to
1:32:13
mitigate that never happening again.
1:32:15
Like going back to like why I said my assessment process needs
1:32:19
to be better. And it's not like a like you're
1:32:21
saying, it's not like something I need to implement, but maybe
1:32:23
it's like what I'm watching specifically in the moment needs
1:32:25
to be a little better. And maybe if there is like
1:32:28
something I'm questioning, I need to address sooner.
1:32:30
So hence why also, like I mentioned earlier, like
1:32:33
prolonging this five week period out a little longer to maybe
1:32:37
honing in on some of these limiting factors, maybe with
1:32:40
like a structural balance or like like things like that, you
1:32:43
know, to address it early. So that's kind of how we're
1:32:46
approaching it. Again, ideally I'd love to do it
1:32:49
differently, but college athletics, you know, you're at
1:32:52
the constraint of a lot of things.
1:32:53
So that's kind of a mindset. Yeah, yeah, man, I know from
1:32:57
experience to those, those injuries are the hardest,
1:32:59
especially when it's an athlete that moves well and, and trains
1:33:03
hard and, and does all these things.
1:33:05
And like you're saying, sometimes, sometimes those
1:33:07
things happen. But I know for me when I'm in
1:33:09
the situations too, it's like that's when you get most
1:33:12
reflective and evaluative of your, of your process and like
1:33:14
what? 100% man.
1:33:16
Like what, what should I have done differently?
1:33:17
What could I have been differently?
1:33:18
What do I need to do differently moving ahead?
1:33:21
And really brings a lot of reflection and evaluation to
1:33:25
change things moving ahead. But I think at the same time,
1:33:28
it's like we can't let different things that are gonna happen
1:33:31
because of the nature of sport change everything we do because
1:33:35
we might have done things right 95% of the of the way.
1:33:39
And just because of nature sports, something happened.
1:33:41
So it's like, OK, yes, let's evaluate, but don't feel like we
1:33:45
have to change everything because I know for for me,
1:33:46
sometimes it's like I'm doing everything wrong.
1:33:49
Like, yeah, I got to change everything with something like
1:33:50
that happens. But sometimes it's like, OK,
1:33:52
like let's calm down. Let's let's look at it and see
1:33:55
is probably things we need to do better, but there's a lot that
1:33:58
we probably still should continue to do that we're doing.
1:34:00
Yeah, same thing, You know, like I'm thinking about that over
1:34:04
this Christmas break and it's just going back and realizing,
1:34:07
like, again, it's just the nature of these things.
1:34:10
There's a lot of influences on why injuries happen and it's not
1:34:15
just training. Training is just a blip on the
1:34:17
radar from like an injury mitigation standpoint.
1:34:20
Some people are just like born at a disadvantageous, they're
1:34:23
just born in a in a way where they're just more susceptible to
1:34:26
certain things happen. I'm not saying that's the case
1:34:28
for this individual, but you have taken all factors, you
1:34:30
know, maybe the stress level of this individual, maybe like just
1:34:34
the moment of like what happened?
1:34:35
What happened in that moment? Like what were the positions
1:34:38
like being exposed? You know, what was going on in
1:34:40
this kids life leading up to this?
1:34:42
You know, like all those factors play a role.
1:34:44
Previous injury history is always the biggest like
1:34:46
predictor of like an upcoming injury if the one was ever
1:34:49
happening. So, but what was the previous
1:34:52
injury history like? You know, so that that was like
1:34:54
a big thing like for us, like just back story with this again
1:34:58
with this kid, because I think it's a good example of why like
1:35:01
injuries are complex and you can't like mitigate like this
1:35:04
kid, she transferred into us. She has an injury history with
1:35:08
like like tibial things on the same knee that's taken her like
1:35:11
it, it's like a like weird knee injury, but she has some, she
1:35:15
had some issues previously. And then she has siblings that
1:35:18
have like, also like, had knee surgeries in high school.
1:35:22
So like, your immediate thought was like, OK, they're just
1:35:24
genetically predisposed. Like something's a little more
1:35:27
than like the average female. And then this kid, she had also
1:35:31
come off an ankle sprain recently prior to this on the
1:35:34
same leg. So like that's obviously going
1:35:36
to be a massive influence going forward.
1:35:38
And so all those factors play a role.
1:35:40
And again, not saying like we can influence it to where it
1:35:44
couldn't happen. Like honestly, I think if
1:35:46
injuries are going to happen that are especially our non
1:35:48
contact, they're going to happen eventually.
1:35:49
You know, I think there's no mitigating it.
1:35:51
That was just the the perfect storm of things for that to
1:35:54
happen. But like you're saying, we don't
1:35:56
need to flip the script completely.
1:35:58
We just need to honestly be more aware of individual situations
1:36:02
in previous injury history. How can we address that early?
1:36:05
Yeah, yeah, no doubt, no doubt. You know, the last, last thing I
1:36:08
want to ask you about the last podcast we did.
1:36:11
You know, we, we talked a little bit about you reflecting on the
1:36:15
past season and, and kind of when you got to the tournament,
1:36:18
you felt like the outside stress was a lot for some of your
1:36:23
athletes with, you know, them getting drafted, some of them
1:36:25
graduating, some of them, you know, going through finals, some
1:36:27
of them moving like in a lot and just felt like maybe didn't
1:36:30
handle it the the best when you got to the tournament and you
1:36:33
were building kind of this like accountability point system
1:36:36
during the summer to help try and hopefully educate them on
1:36:39
how to handle stress and and different things better.
1:36:41
How do you, how do you feel that helped with the team this year?
1:36:45
It worked and like, do you want to use it again?
1:36:47
Are there any changes you make? Like, you know, you, you went a
1:36:50
little further in terms of this year, but like what, what are
1:36:52
you, what are you doing as you're evaluating that type,
1:36:55
those types of things in terms of pushing forward to go win a
1:36:57
national championship? Yeah, Yeah, yeah, I really,
1:37:00
yeah. The point thing like the
1:37:01
accountability we did it in the summer is great.
1:37:04
I'll do it again. I'll just keep refining
1:37:05
obviously until it's like it's perfect.
1:37:08
But it was it was good because for the macro goal was to try to
1:37:12
establish going back to routine teens, you know, so when we get
1:37:15
in these high, high stress points of the year, there can
1:37:18
always fall back on these routines and have that
1:37:20
consistency in their life. And there's a lot of
1:37:22
inconsistency, especially at the end of the semester, like like
1:37:25
you're talking about with the whether it's a tournament, who
1:37:28
you're playing, where you're playing and then like school
1:37:31
finals. And then like you're saying kids
1:37:32
getting drafted and leaving like as soon as school starts, if you
1:37:35
can always fall back on a routine and what you know, think
1:37:38
it, I, I think it's important. So I think it was, it was much
1:37:41
better. It's never perfect.
1:37:42
I'm not saying every kid is like bought into this, like they're
1:37:44
still young kids and it takes time and it takes honestly some
1:37:48
trial by fire for them to realize that they, they need
1:37:51
these things. But it, I think it was
1:37:53
definitely much better and surprisingly, because this team
1:37:55
was much younger than the year before where you would think
1:37:58
like they, the older kids would kind of have it figured out, but
1:38:01
they, these young kids kind of, they really, really bought into
1:38:04
it early. And it, it create, cultivates an
1:38:07
environment of these kind of things, which when you have an
1:38:09
environment of people that have these same similar mindsets and
1:38:13
how they carry themselves and their decision making on for
1:38:15
these sayings, it makes our like, what we're preaching
1:38:18
really easy because it's also internally their peers are
1:38:21
preaching and doing the same. So it was great.
1:38:23
So yeah, I, I think it was really good.
1:38:26
I was a little like, again, being like, these are younger
1:38:29
kids and they need more guidance, a little more hand
1:38:31
holding. I was a lot more aggressive in
1:38:33
that also as far, especially when we got to this point of the
1:38:36
year. But what it's great because
1:38:37
they're receptive, you know, and it goes back to like the
1:38:41
recruiting process and like, this is how we do things.
1:38:43
You know, it's not a shock that I'm this aggressive and this
1:38:46
hands on with this stuff. So it was good.
1:38:49
It was a perfect never until I got like all like 17 of these
1:38:52
kids, like with the perfect morning and night time routines,
1:38:56
eating perfectly, which is never going to be the case, but at
1:39:00
least it's in the back of their mind with their decision making,
1:39:03
you know? And like the biggest thing like
1:39:06
like we can that we hope to get out of it honestly is like the
1:39:09
sleeping because we can influence the nutrition a lot
1:39:11
because we're feeding them. But if we can influence their
1:39:15
ability to have like a quality nighttime routine and morning
1:39:18
routine. So they're like circadian rhythm
1:39:20
is is not out of whack. And they go to bed at the same
1:39:23
time and have the same routine for bed.
1:39:25
So they're getting quality sleep regardless of how stressful the
1:39:28
time of year is. I think we did a good job there,
1:39:30
surprisingly. And I'm not saying it's always
1:39:33
going to be that way because kids come and go.
1:39:35
So the environment change. But yeah, it was good.
1:39:38
So hopefully continue to build off of that with the kids that
1:39:41
are returning and hopefully we'll just continue to cultivate
1:39:44
an environment that just runs itself.
1:39:46
Hey, man, this has been this has been incredible.
1:39:49
Longest episode I've done, but I'm gonna have to go and take a
1:39:52
bunch of notes. Come in.
1:39:53
There's so much gold that you had in here that yeah, I'm going
1:39:56
to go back and review that a bunch as I'm going through.
1:39:58
I don't know if if you're listening this year, take notes
1:40:01
because there's so many things that Anthony shared there that
1:40:03
are so good as we wrap up here, you know, where where can people
1:40:07
go find more what you're doing? You've got really great
1:40:10
Instagram. You've basically got, you know,
1:40:12
pretty much a lot of what you've done in your offseason program,
1:40:15
with your team, with the program you're selling, with framework,
1:40:17
the flights to kind of let people know about those things
1:40:19
there. Yeah, yeah, Instagram is my go
1:40:22
to social media. I'm not sure if I'll ever expand
1:40:25
elsewhere, maybe to YouTube. I like this podcast.
1:40:28
I love the long form stuff personally.
1:40:31
And I think like with the human brain, I think you start to
1:40:34
crave this long form stuff with the saturation of short form
1:40:39
content, hence why people listen to podcasts, you know, and why
1:40:42
podcasts are popular. So maybe down the road to
1:40:44
YouTube of more longer form stuff.
1:40:47
Yeah, Instagram. I try to be as transparent as
1:40:49
possible and sharing our processes and why we do things.
1:40:53
I try to interact as much as I can and with people that reach
1:40:56
out to me. I do go through these tangents
1:40:58
where I don't even touch my Instagram though.
1:41:00
So if I don't get back to you, I'm sorry, that's why.
1:41:02
But yeah, Instagram and then like, yeah, the program
1:41:05
framework for flight was almost the exact offseason program we
1:41:10
run every year. There's some things in there
1:41:12
that we do and don't do, but for the most part it from the
1:41:15
overarching systems and methods and reasoning, It's exactly what
1:41:19
we're gonna start doing here in the next couple weeks and do
1:41:21
through April. So if anybody is interested in
1:41:23
that, it's always available. But yeah, Instagram.
1:41:25
Yeah. And you started doing having
1:41:27
some offers or options for some consulting too and then that the
1:41:31
last year, didn't you? Yeah, I was doing some good
1:41:33
consulting, like it gets hard for me during the in season with
1:41:36
time. So I kind of shut that stuff
1:41:37
down when we're in season off. I always open that option back
1:41:40
up in the spring when I have time and people are working
1:41:43
through their offseason and getting ready for their seasons
1:41:45
also. So if there's anybody that ever,
1:41:47
you know, have questions or need to guidance, doesn't even have
1:41:51
to be college coaches to be high school or just private, I'm
1:41:54
always available and gladly will rant about training volleyball
1:41:57
to anybody. I'm going to open book.
1:41:59
I got nothing to hide obviously putting everything out there.
1:42:01
So yeah, I'll get back on the consulting book here the next
1:42:04
month or so. Yeah, I love it.
1:42:06
And definitely if you haven't, go check out the first episode
1:42:09
of Anthony That Believe episode 14 most downloaded again that
1:42:13
we've ever had. Anthony, man, thank you.
1:42:16
Yeah, John, my pleasure. If you enjoyed this conversation
1:42:18
and want to go deeper, check out my book Strength in Numbers,
1:42:21
Insight from top Coaches, and How to Build your Career, Handle
1:42:24
failure, and Achieve long Term Coaching Success.
1:42:27
It brings together insights and wisdom from over 100 coaches
1:42:31
across all levels in sports. You can find it on Amazon and
1:42:34
LinkedIn, the show notes, and if this episode helped you follow
1:42:37
the show and leave a review. It's the best way to support the
1:42:40
podcast and help it reach more people.