Upper Left Performance

Season 3 of the Upper Left Performance is brought to you by RockDaisy Athlete Management Systems. 

RockDaisy’s AMS is what the pros use to collect and analyze strength, conditioning, and health & wellness data. Features include:

• Clear and simple charts right out of the box
• Generate personalized athlete data collection forms and questionnaires
• Schedule data collection via mobile notifications or email. (in bulk to all recipients)
• Customize all dashboards and reports with your collected data
• Export your data into popular tools like Excel, Adobe, PDFs

John Garrish is the head Strength and Conditioning Coach and head track and field coach for North Broward Prep in South Florida and he hopped on the pod today to talk about high school strength and conditioning and how far it has come since he joined its ranks 7 years ago.

What blew me away was John’s dedication to his athletes and desire to provide an environment that fosters excellence in his kids regardless of athletic talent. We talked at length about his approach towards working with a wide range of kids and assembling a solid coaching staff that is equally committed to development of the whole person.

John also breaks down what has changed for him since Covid-19 in terms of scheduling and providing a safe experience for his athletes. He breaks down how his schedule works and how he took over the track team several years ago and then we discuss his most recent initiative: free Saturday speed sessions for anyone in the North Florida community.

John’s passion for helping people was really special to hear about. He is truly a selfless person and it certainly left me thinking of ways I can better serve those around me. Thanks to him for hopping on and hope you enjoy our conversation

Jake Rauch is a Performance Scientist at Peak Performance Project (P3) in Santa Barbara, CA. He works primarily as a biomechanist at P3 where he is involved in the research and assessment of elite athletes. Jake has several terrific papers on force-velocity profiling and clustering athletes based on their countermovement jump kinetics/kinematics and we talk about them in depth here.

Jake is also currently working on some research that will try and establish more of a relationship between training interventions in the gym and on-court performance for basketball players. He details some of the obstacles to such research and some of his theories about how to make the process more feasible.

Jake and I have been co-workers for the past eight months. He has taught me a tremendous amount about the research process and what matters in data collection and analysis. So I also ask him to share his recommendations for those looking to establish their own reliable testing process and database of athletes. Then we talk about how we can marry our data observations to the subjective art of coaching and "miss" less often on creating adaptations in each athlete.

While I have spent a lot of time interviewing coaches based on unstudied models and concepts, this was a route I would like to travel down more often. Research has become more refined and is a valuable tool for measuring what we as S&C practitioners do. Jake does a great job kicking off this little foray and I look forward to more of these.

Jason Feairheller and Ryan Heickert are co-owners of Strength and Function, a gym in Pennsylvania working primarily with hockey players of all ages. They are also the hosts of the Speed and Power Podcast, which has put out some outstanding episodes. Jason and Ryan have put together a top-notch program with a particular eye on on COD and agility.

In this episode we discuss different coaching strategies for COD/agility, considerations to be made for off ice training for hockey players and the finer points of curved running. 

Season 2 of ULP is here with a great episode from my buddy and Northeastern Assistant Strength Coach, Alex Pacitti. Alex has mentored under Dan Sanzo at Northeastern and this has impacted his training for various athletes. Much like Erik Huddleston, Alex is looking at the shape of an athlete (particularly at the pelvic and thoracic outlets) to determine areas of high and low pressure, which will influence the movement of fluid and guts within the body.

Understanding these concepts can explain why some people don't have the same explosiveness or propulsive abilities of others. While shapes/structure help predetermine someone's abilities, Alex is training some of his athletes to overcome potential power deficiencies by limiting the amount of traditional weightlifting being done in favor of other interventions. We also talk about how certain shapes or abilities can help the athlete select their respective sport or positions. This predisposition to certain qualities is often overlooked by cookie-cutter strength programs so looking through this lens is in the very least a great way to re-think individualized programming for athletes.

Nicole Surdyka is a former Division I soccer player, doctor of physical therapy and a strength coach specializing in soccer performance training and rehab. She currently owns Surdyka Physical Therapy and Performance and has extensive experience working with athletes of all ages.

Nicole has also worked as a soccer coach and possesses a wealth of understanding about the game and has tremendous passion for growing it in the US. While I am not well versed in soccer, I really admire Nicole’s ability to break down various strategies and tactics and how they might affect a player’s physical training load.

This was the crux of our discussion as we get into the finer points of how reverse engineering a sport can work. Nicole breaks down some basic soccer formations and how each can impact the workloads of different positions and then we deep dive on how we might alter training based on particular strategies.

We also talk about taking care of the whole athlete, the current landscape of soccer in the US and various training topics especially pertaining to psychological/mental stress and how we can find out what interventions will best resonate with each athlete based on their personality and playing style.

Nicole can be found on:

Andrew Stallings is the Founder of Athelo Group an athlete representation service that focuses on marketing and building a brand for athletes.

Having spent the past 10 years in the sports industry working for the likes of Octagon and Sirius XM, Andrew has accumulated a ton of valuable experience. Even better is that he has taken his skillset to new heights by leaving some comfortable jobs to start his own business in Athelo.

I’ve known Andrew since our time together at Sirius XM and his hustle was always evident. There are few people as talented and energetic as Andrew. On the pod he discusses how that wasn’t enough and what helped him get over the top both personally and professionally.

Andrew details his business, the risks that he took to start it and how his mindset has completely shifted over the past 10 years. He also goes in depth on what his business can provide and how valuable branding is in today’s world.

We also touch on Andrew’s Stranger Experiment that has brought so many professionals together from varying backgrounds in the sports industry. Having participated this past month, I can tell you it’s an amazing way to connect with people and learn about avenues you don’t even know exist.

Chuck McGee is one of the first American Wim Hof Instructors and an expert on all things breathwork.

Chuck was a bartender in the Bay Area who had a random patron at his establishment convinced him to try the Wim Hof breathing method. After trying it, Chuck was hooked and has now gone all over the world learning and teaching the power of breath.

Conor is back on the pod as we chop it up live in California.

We answer your questions on speed, agility, COD, assessments, asymmetries and more! 

Brenan Ghassemieh is a great friend and a damn good trainer. He played football at Idaho State University, has prepared countless athletes for the NFL Combine and is currently working at Equinox as a trainer and Tier X Manager. He has worked with kids, athletes and senior citizens, connecting with all on an extraordinary level, which is why I wanted to bring him on.

Brenan is a firm believer in living well, practicing mindfulness and the art of being present. There are few I see who walk the walk when it comes to these subjects so I wanted to hear about his daily habits and rituals that center him and this conversation didn't disappoint. We went deep down this rabbit hole of what makes people so afraid to face their inner monologue, how to memorialize our thoughts and the importance of acknowledging the realities of our lives.

Rich Clarke is a Strength and Conditioning coach and an academic who specializes change of direction and agility.  He is also a Director of the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association and is completing a PhD investigating speed control and deceleration during change of direction movements.

Quite honestly, I have been underwhelmed by much of what I know and see about COD/Agility and think Rich has done a beautiful job rethinking the landscape in this realm. Among the notable things we discuss are the different COD/Agility demands from sport to sport, perception action coupling and how much we can/should train it in a general setting, the importance of speed control when learning skills and much more.

Rich has simplified the language and litany of exercises we see in COD/Agility by boiling everything down to entry/exit speed and angle change and how those factors will impact deceleration demands. In short, I think he's really on to something and this chat opened up my eyes to a lot of things. The structure that might be necessary for the weightroom does not necessarily apply to COD/agility and once we have established a base (which many athletes already have from their sport) we can mix and match using the above mentioned variables.

Ryan Banta is the Head Track and Field Coach for Parkway Central High School in Missouri. He has coached for over 20 years, brought home numerous state titles and records and has established an incredible culture that has succeeded in developing outstanding human beings and athletes.

Justin Carey is one of my former athletes who is now an assistant soccer coach at Stetson University. Justin's leadership, ability and desire to improve in all aspects of his life is what makes him special and I am thrilled to bring him on the podcast to interview me.

While I typically interview others on the podcast, I wanted to share some thoughts of my own, but have always preferred doing so in the context of a conversation rather than just me going in on a topic solo. Considering I have been doing a lot of self-reflection of late, I thought it would be good to bring on an athlete I coached to help get a feel for how others perceive me and to practice explaining myself to those who possess an athlete's mindset.

What resulted was a terrific conversation. Justin asked some great questions pertaining to my environmental considerations for training, building culture, individualizing connections with athletes and how I have evolved in my thought process as a coach the past few years. We also talked about setting goals, unearthing passions and choosing to pursue excellence. Such a fun convo and props to Justin who may be coming for my hosting gig at some point with the job he did here.

We go off the rails a little bit in this week's episode as Adarian comes back on with Mike and Jermaine to talk all things speed. Mike is the owner and head coach at Soar Fitness in Ohio and Jermaine is a coach out of Florida, working with a variety of youth athletes. 

Some of the topics addressed:

-Injuries in sport and the RTP process

-Top speed ground contacts

-Deceleration training in isolation

-Practical applications that have been working for Mike and Jermaine

-How multidirectional speed is linear speed

-There's a timezone change in the Florida panhandle??

This was so fun and organic. Hope you enjoy this change of pace!

Navin Hettiarachchi is the Director of Health, Wellness and Performance for the Washington Wizards. He has been in the NBA since 2003 following a brief stint in the NFL and is one of the most decorated coaches I have had the privilege to chat with.

Navin is certified in various massage techniques, athletic training, strength coach and PRI. He has traveled all over the world to learn and share information with other. He is also a self-proclaimed learning junkie and is constantly experimenting with technology and hacks for sleep, nutrition, mindfulness and correct movement.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to have this chat with Navin who radiates positive energy, authenticity and pure joy in everything he does. So many of us are not grateful enough for our experiences and Navin is a shining example of how to maximize our ability to help others and be happy.

We discuss mindset and how to impact others to kick off the pod before diving into some performance topics such as individualizing sleep based on data and conversations, PRI and breathing as tools in the NBA. We also discuss the performance vs health model and what works the best with elite athletes, NBA Bubble life and hypnosis.

Mike Tucker is the Head Athletic Performance Coach for Villanova Football. He is entering his third year at the program and has done an incredible job implementing the High/Low model into the football setting in order to best develop high outputs and robust aerobic bases. In this episode we talk about scheduling the right stressors at the right time, modifying lifts in-season to accommodate football stressors and progressions for COD/Agility drills. 

This was an awesome deep dive into planning out a year of football training while avoiding common pitfalls such rigid warmups, an overabundance of medium intensity stressors and a lack of attention to sprinting. Mike is doing big things and I appreciate him sharing this information as he has done throughout quarantine on a weekly basis on his outstanding zoom chats.

Dan Brandi is the owner of Build, a gym in Connecticut where he trains athletes and general population utilizing a concurrent model of training and a handful of cool pieces of technology. One of these is the Moxy Monitor which can help determine O2 delivery and utilization at the muscular level. In today’s episode, Dan and I discuss how the Moxy is helping to reframe the energy system model with O2 being the centerpiece. We also talk about O2’s connection to PCr, why we need to understand individual differences to prevent training for the wrong adaptations and concurrent training vs. periodization.

Adarian Barr is a human movement coach located in Northern California. His sprint concepts are gaining notoriety in the S&C world and they are a breath of fresh air in a realm where things have been getting quite stale. I have been fortunate enough to get to know Adarian the past six months and talking with him about movement has been instrumental in my development as a speed coach.

In the episode we discuss force and effort and how we can use our bodies to apply force in more effortless ways to go faster. We also touch on his foundational concepts for young athletes and why play and self-discovery are so important. Finally we dive into impulse and ground contacts times and why stiffness or pretension might not be ideal to promote timing and smooth gait.

Erik Huddleston is the Director of Performance at Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training and this was without question one of the most informative chats I've had to date on ULP. He works closely with Bill Hartman at IFAST and as such has been well schooled in some very revolutionary concepts involving the the human body. In particular, Bill has done some tremendous work analyzing the various shapes of the body and how they influence internal fluids and pressures that in turn affect the position of the guts in movement.

Jamal Hill Richardson-Albini is a world champion Karate and Kickboxing martial artist. He is also a strength coach, former division one basketball player and business owner. So he has a lot of stories and we had a lot of time to sit back and kick it at his gym, Prevail Fitness in Laguna Beach this past month.

Jamal gave me the run down on his athletic career and motivations, learning to find his ideal flow state before fights (it took him some tinkering with his walk-in music to get the right vibe), and what the flow state means to each individual. We also dove down the rabbit hole in regard to the training schedules of MMA fighters and just how insane they are, which led into some really interesting places.

Jamal has been a good friend for a few years now and I love talking training with him. He is very meticulous in his approach yet knows when to turn his brain off and compete, a rare find in our world.

Rob Campbell is this week’s guest and is here to talk all about force plate technology. Rob is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Detroit Red Wings with prior experience at the New York Mets and St. Louis Blues and gives some terrific analysis on how to meld technology with the art of coaching to get the best results for his athletes.

We discussed the high-performance model being implemented by the Red Wings and the different variables you can obtain from force plate testing. Rob details what these variables mean and what implications they could have upon exercise selection and training. Rob also talks about the various qualities different groups of players tend to have and how to best potentiate the right qualities. He had some great insight on gameday lifting and also shared advice on how young coaches can advance their career.

Rob can be found on the following platforms:

Sam Portland is a Strength and Conditioning Coach with experience at several professional Rugby teams in the UK. He is currently operating his own company Sportland where he trains athletes ranging from the NFL to the Olympics.

I brought Sam on to discuss speed, RTP protocols and having a business during this pandemic. While we hit those things, we also took a deep dive on the state of S&C in our current world and had a ton of fun doing it. Sam is passionate, genuine and was extremely gracious to come on after I botched our recording time due to being bad at figuring out time differences.

I really enjoyed talking to Sam about aligning efforts between professions in rehab and building certainty for athletes by using KPIs. Our discussion on speed with team sport athletes was really interesting and he went in depth on training one of his NFL athletes and the changes he made with him.

Sam can be found on the following platforms

Josh Washington is a S&C Coach with the University of Auburn men's basketball team where he helped the program make the Final Four in 2019. He has previous experience with the Sacramento Kings, University of Stanford and Marquette.

Like Josh, I started my post-college career working in a field that had nothing to do with exercise science. We both made our way to this field through self-discovery and a love of training and even both had our cars totaled/stolen while in grad school. I loved hearing Josh detail his journey and be challenged by the likes of Dr. Ramsey Nijem and Cory Schlesinger. His insights on asking questions and challenging the status quo were particularly poignant for me as I think that is the mindset we all need to have to evolve the profession.

Having met Josh last year the Bay Area Sports Symposium, I saw Josh's passion during the roundtable that featured the entire Sacramento King's staff and knew I had to get him on the show. Josh has had some big moments in his career already and has met all of them with that same passion. His authenticity and care for the craft has set in motion what is sure to be a memorable career in S&C. 

Kristina Ushakova is a strength coach in Vermont with experience as a GA and weightlifter at East Tennessee State University. She has coaching experience at ETSU and the University of Vermont and was accepted as part of the high performance team at US Ski and Snowboard this summer.

I love to talking to coaches who also participated in college sports especially when they really understand the nuances of coaching and Kristina certainly fits that mold. By identifying good mentors and sacrificing countless hours to extra work in the research department at ETSU, she has created some outstanding opportunities for herself. Many young coaches don't understand what it truly takes to be successful in this industry, but Kristina gets it so this is a powerful listen.

We also discuss her perception of female coaches in S&C. I loved hearing her opinion on what needs to change and what is currently working. Kristina has done some research on females in S&C and some of the conclusions she reached in that research left plenty of food for thought about what we can all do better to be inclusive. 

Adam Virgile is the Sports Science Coordinator for the University of Vermont. Formerly a Performance Analyst and Strength Coach for the New York Rangers, Adam helped evolve the Sports Science model in the NHL, creating a unique database to track training loads and open up more lines of communication between coaches and players on best practices for optimal performance.

Now at UVM, Adam is responsible for developing data driven insights to all sports with a special emphasis on men's ice hockey. He is also an Adjunct Professor at UVM, teaching the next generation of strength coaches how to incorporate technology into their skillset. Finally Adam is a PhD candidate doing some extensive research into improving wellness questionnaires so that they can better impact decision-making on training loads.

What Adam has done over the last several years is really unique and we went in depth on what he helped build with the Rangers and how it impacted the franchise. We also chatted at length about his PhD project, which ought to further the model of athlete questionnaires and align coach/athlete perceptions of stressors.

Today we talk networking and the power of conversing with other coaches to both learn and advance a career. Kosta Telegadas joins the show to talk about how he did just that while working as a GA at the University of Miami and how it translated to a job at EXOS in Detroit as a Performance Specialist. Kosta gives some great tips on how to network humbly and effectively while also learning from other coaches in the process. He also goes in depth on some of things he has done in job interviews to give him an extra edge.

We also discuss simplicity in training for most athletes and how he worked on changing the culture in the weight room at Henrico High School in VA. While our priorities as S&C coaches might be more focused on athletic performance, there are many cases where that often isn't all that important and Kosta learned that firsthand at Henrico.

Kosta can be found on the following social media platforms:

Sean Light is the Founder and CEO of the 4A Health Club and is revolutionizing S&C with his GenMax model. He also happens to be a good friend and mentor. Sean is a coach, entrepreneur, teacher and lifelong learner who has spent time in the MLB with the Arizona Diamondbacks and NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers. In short, he has a ton of experience and has profoundly impacted myself and countless other coaches with his ideas and model.

On the show, Sean discusses what makes elite athletes so special and how many of us do not understand the level of preparation and work that goes into making them great. He also talks about how the common perception of hard work is not the key to their success. Many in the world and in S&C misunderstand what type of work must be done to ensure elite athleticism and Sean goes in depth on some outside the box concepts such as the neurological emergency brake, gait, and fluid athleticism in an extension based, sympathetic world.

Sean's perspective of elite athletes is spot on in my opinion and illustrates the need for a change in the mindset of coaches to accommodate the gifts athletes possess. He also discusses how S&C can alter commonly held dogma to fit this world of elite athleticism.

Sean's time in the minor league yielded some terrific stories which he also shares before outlining his latest entrepreneurial exploits with the 4A Health Club. This venture focuses on education and networking for coaches across the country and has been of vital importance to my recent development.

Kevin Ives is a former bobsled athlete for Team USA and a two-sport division I athlete (football and soccer). He is also a great teacher, coach and friend. Kevin has spent time as an S&C coach at the University of Mary Washington and Wounded Warrior Project and is now the Health and Wellness Supervisor for Mountain Fitness in Gypsum, CO. He also owns Nomadic Fitness where he offers his services as a trainer and certified yoga instructor.

Most importantly Kevin has spent the past two years preparing to enter into grad school to continue coaching and also plunge into research. Kevin's wide array of experiences and desire to continue performing at a high level as an athlete is a potent combination especially when combined with his passion for helping others. Kevin was born to be a coach and teacher and I am so thrilled to have been a part of helping him further his education.

In today's episode, we discuss his journey and process of selecting Old Dominion University for grad school. We also talk about how valuable to it is to have a former athlete who is so attuned to coaching and then Kevin shares some of his stories about being on the US bobsled team.

George Greene is the Associate Athletic Director of High Performance and Competitive Success at Stony Brook University. With the high performance model becoming more commonplace in US sports, George is on the forefront of bringing it the college sector. He is the first S&C coach in the country to manage competitive success and has been instrumental in enhancing the student athlete experience at Stony Brook.

George and I discuss the many facets of his role in providing a holistic mindset for his athletes. George details the level of collaboration between himself and the various sectors of the athletic department, his oversight of the nutrition program and his continued efforts to educate his athletes with data driven insights into their performance and recovery.

George also outlines his work in the gym with the men's basketball program and how "feel" is important in making programming decisions. His insight on building relationships was especially impactful as nothing is more an important to a streamlined approach in a high performance setting with all the moving parts involved. I really enjoyed this conversation and urge other collegiate S&C coaches to think about George's message, which left me thinking about how much more I could provide for my athletes by communicating and sharing information with others. 

George can be found on the following platforms:

I feel that many S&C podcasts ask experienced coaches to give advice to young coaches. While this is very valuable, I have decided to go right to the source and interview several young strength coaches on how they landed jobs, networked, picked their places of education, etc. I know I made my fair share of mistakes in identifying mentors and choosing academic institutions. Only recently have I gotten more comfortable networking and reaching out to other coaches as well. I only wish I had done these things at a higher level earlier in my career so I am dedicating several shorter podcasts to career development for young coaches from the mouths of other young strength coaches who I feel are succeeding.

First off is Collin Kohlasch who just finished his first year at Lindenwood University in St. Louis. Collin works with Women's hockey and lacrosse as well as men's lacrosse. He spent two years as a GA at George Washington University and also interned at George Mason with a brief stint for the Washington Capitals as well. 

Collin did an incredible job staying patient and locating an ideal situation out of grad school. Lindenwood is an outstanding university and Collin utilized his network to acquire a great position right off the jump. In addition we talk about load monitoring and bridging the gap between athletes and coaches. Hope you enjoy!

You can follow Collin:

Ryan Connor is today's guest and he talks about the importance of having timing be the central focus of quality speed training for youth athletes. Ryan explains his system for teaching speed and then how he incorporates weight training and some PRI-related concepts to restore sagittal plane competency for his kids. He also talks about how he tries to consolidate stressors given the other demands imposed upon youth athletes. Finally, he gives a few tips for young coaches attempting to start their own business.