Culture First, Numbers Second: The System Behind Maximizing Group Training

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Coach.
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Matt Schueler, head strength and conditioning coach for the McDaniel
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Green Tear. Welcome to the podcast today. We're getting into
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your training philosophies, but before we do that, introduce yourself
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and give us a brief background on what your current
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role entails.
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Yeah, John, thanks thanks for having me on. Good to
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be here. My name is Matt Schuler. I am the
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head trained coach at McDaniel. Just got hired here in
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early July. A little bit about me. I'm originally from
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the suburbs of Chicago, grew playing a ton of sports,
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ended up picking baseball to be my favorite. Went all
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the way through high school, you know, in high school,
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found out I was I loved working out, love being
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in the weight room, all that kind of stuff, and
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really love playing the game of baseball every day out
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in the backyard, taking ground balls, my dad throwing me
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batting practice, him catching my bullpens. When I tried to
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be a pitcher that didn't work out, and just really
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really loved the game and wanted to go on and
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play at the at the second level there. So I
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ended up going to a few showcases in a few
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other places around Midwest and ended up signing to play
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D two baseball Atville University. It's a small Division two
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in Saint Louis, So thanks to Patrick Evers for giving
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me the chance to fulfill my dream of playing college baseball.
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Played there all four years. Like I said, loved working
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out in high school, so I decided, you know what,
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let's do exercise science. They had said they had a
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strong program there, so that's how I wanted to do.
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Didn't really know a whole lot about the strength conditioning
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field and what that entailed. I just knew, a hey,
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I loved working out, I want to learn more about it,
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so let's do it, and thankfully ran into such an
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amazing program there. Had some fantastic mentors. Doctor Victor Kaiser,
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who was the director of the exercise science program, did
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an absolute fantastic job with the course curriculum and given
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me a job. I actually got to work in their
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human performance lab throughout my undergrad my sophomore through senior year,
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so I was able to work with a ton of
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high level technology and complete a lot of testing batteries
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for all the varsity teams on campus. So got a
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ton of super awesome experience from a very young age,
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So super thankful for him for that. And the head
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trained there, coach Jake fitz Now at Saint Louis High
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School did a director of sports performance there again, super
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awesome mentor taught me a little bit more about the
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weight room side and kind of how he viewed things
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from a day to day basis. So super duper thankful
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for those two. Kind of how I get into some
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of my future There was again doctor Kaiser had the
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presented me with the opportunity to speak at a few
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NSCA clinics. So we ended up doing a presentation at
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the first form HQ in Saint Louis, So did the
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Missouri State Clinic there in twenty twenty three, and then
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in twenty twenty four we got the chance to present
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to do that same presentation at the mid Atlantic Regional
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Clinic in Newman University at Philly. Did that and did
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an awesome job. Had happened to have a guy sitting
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at my table. His name's Mike Wade. We were just
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talking about baseball after I was done with my presentation
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because I had mentioned it a few times. He was
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a baseball guy, so we were just chopping it up
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and he asked me. He's like, hey, I know you're
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you're graduating here in a few months, Like you want
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what do you want to do? And I said, you know,
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baseball guy, like just finishing on my career, Like I
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want to try and be a grad assistant trength coach somewhere,
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get my master's degree, hopefully work with baseball and softball,
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but again open to any other team, any other sport.
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And he said, cool, perfect. I actually know the school
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called Salisbury University on the eastern shore of Maryland. He's like,
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I know. I worked there. I was a GA for
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a few years and now he at the time, he
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was at Central Michigan working with their football staff. He said,
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you have the strength to go up there in front
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of two hundred plus certified coaches and present. So like,
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if you want this job, if something you want to do,
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I'll be more than happy to reach out on your behalf.
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Never met him before my entire life, but I said yes.
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He made one phone call and then ended up connecting
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me with my previous boss, coach Matt Nine, who a
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lot of people know, very very awesome, renowned strength coach,
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was the twenty eighteen collegiate Trength Coach of the Year
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for the NSCA, had one phone call with him, and man,
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he's the best. He's absolutely awesome. We talked on the
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phone for like two hours and it wasn't even all
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about strength conditioning, it was about baseball, was about life.
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Just a super awesome guy to chop it up with.
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And then after that phone call he offered me the physician.
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And being from the Midwest, you know, never really been
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out to the East coast like that before, didn't really
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know what Maryland looked like, but took the risks, said
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yes and drove my drove my car all the way
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through the mountains all the way out to the Eastern Shore.
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Spent my last two years there being a GA. Got
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my master's in Health and Human Performance from doctor Scott Mazzetti,
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who again awesome mentor there, got the chance to work
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under Coach nine for two years and primarily working with
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track and field, baseball, softball, and volleyball, And just finished
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off my master's degree last spring and was hunting doing
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the job hunt for what seemed like a super duper
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long time, and the McDaniel job popped up, and of
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course I applied right away. Coach nine thought that I
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would be ready for a Division three head trink conditioning role.
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So I through my application, had a few phone calls
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with some people here in the hiring committee, and all
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things worked out and I got accepted and took the position.
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So now here I am right now, I'm in the
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midst of planning out our fall semester and our fall schedule.
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So a little bit busy, not really have a whole
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too big of a department here, Still working on trying
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to build things up as much as possible and kind
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of lay that groundwork and foundation so we can be
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successful in the future here. But super happy to be here,
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super thankful to everyone that's helped me along the way.
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And yeah, I'm ready to get into some fun topics
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to talk about.
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All right, let's get into it.
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Is there any philosophies that you kind of had early on,
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like for maybe your first mentor or maybe just like
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your dad when he was training you. You've changed your
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own philosophy as you're starting to get out on your
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own and training on your own.
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Yeah, absolutely, I think to kind of come to mind here,
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and we can start off with the easy one here. Obviously,
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not like you don't know what you don't know when
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you're younger, So I kind of was trying to learn
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how to do well we'll call it sports specific training
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for different athletes, different teams, different demands. So that was
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kind of something when I was in high school and
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early in my undergrad that I kind of believe, like, hey,
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certain teams or certain sports should be doing this kind
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of training, in this kind of training, and you know,
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get being into it a little bit more. I know,
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I'm only three or four years into this, but I
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like to take a very very general approach to training.
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For the most part. You know, every athlete is gonna
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benefit from getting a little bit stronger, from getting a
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little bit faster, getting a little bit more powerful, and
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you can achieve those things very very simply by being
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sure we're hitting all the athletic qualities you know, strength, power, speed, agility, quickness, conditioning, mobility,
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all that kind of stuff. So for every single athlete,
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we're gonna we're gonna lift heavy weights, we're gonna lift
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heavyweights fast, we're gonna sprint, we're gonna jump, we're gonna
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throw uh, and we're gonna condition. But you can get
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into some sports specific qualities within that stuff. But kind
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of manning a department and making my life a little
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bit easier. From a thinking standpoint, taking a general approach
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like that is going to help a very, very large
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ninety nine percent of the athletes you're working with, as
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long as it's done to the quality that it needs
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to be. And the other thing is a very very
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fun topic. Some of my old mentors may not agree
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with me here, but when I was young, same thing,
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high school, undergrad I was like Olympic lifts, Like, why
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would anyone ever do something like that? Right then, as
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I transitioned and got a little bit older, got into
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my in my graduate degree and started really practicing myself,
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like I found a love for them just because they're
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super fun for me to do. Like there's probably, in
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all honesty, in my opinion, there's not a whole lot
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of satisfaction better than hitting like a heavy, clean single.
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I think that's just like super fun. And so then
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I kind of was like, oh, trap bar jumps, Like
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inloaded jumps, I think Olympics are a little bit better,
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and we're not going to do any trap bar jumping.
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But in all honesty, what I've taken a little bit
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more recently is that both of them are super duper useful,
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and it kind of depends on the population. It depends
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on the situation. Like if I have athletes who are
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less than a year into proper resistant training, I'm not
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going to have them do a whole lot of heavy
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snatch and clean work and clean polls and that kind
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of stuff. Like, they may benefit a little bit more
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from some lighter, loaded dumbbell jumps, some trap bar jumps
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stuff like that. So I think both of those tools
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are super duper beneficial. You just have to plug and
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play and kind of get a read on where your
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athletes are at and what they will buy into. Like
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for me, I would much rather clean and snatch than
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trap bar jump. Someone else, some of my baseball players who, hey,
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maybe have a little bit of upper body mobility restrictions
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or they're just not super comfortable with the movement. Yeah,
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if I want to get some lower body rate of
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force development work in, let's do a loaded jump, Let's
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get them on the trap bar, let's do a barbelle
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squad jump. Let's get some heavy dumbells and let's see
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how high we can jump, and that kind of stuff.
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So it's a little bit of both with that, I
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don't think. I don't think if you're on both sides
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of the both extremes, that you're necessarily necessarily right. I
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think there's a little middle ground there that a lot
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of the coaches should be.
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Yeah, that's the beauty of exercise prescription and just coaching
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in general is that you have your own philosophy, you're
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able to apply it, and anecdotal evidence obviously can be
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argued with. But if you're enjoying it, if people are
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bought into it, then it's going to get some benefit.
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Whether it's max amount of benefit or not.
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It's still good for buying, it's still good for keeping
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things light and building camaraderie and competition in the weight room.
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You brought up another great point of like training age,
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how do you program? This might be getting into a
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later point about periodization that we're going to talk about,
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but how do you kind of manage and navigate a
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large population size and sample size of athletes that come
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in with lots of different training ages.
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Yeah. I think that's a great question to kind of
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just very briefly touch on the last point, just kind
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of wrap that up. I think like the seeing a
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lot of coaches in different settings and see how they
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things roll with them, you find out there's a lot
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of different ways to get the same results. So it's
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kind of just it basically depends on what you feel
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comfortable coaching, what you think is going to work best,
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and again, like you said, what the athletes are bought into.
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But working with different kids that have different training ages.
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Like obviously being the head here, there's gonna be different
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teams that are a little bit more advanced than others.
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Some teams may be still on a novice level level
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where hey, we're still learning the basic movement patterns and
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trying to get into better positions. Other teams I can
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throw a little bit more at them and they're gonna
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be all right. But for working with both those populations, again,
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like I said before, I like to take a general
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approach for the most part, and the way I kind
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of plan my sessions it allows for different training levels
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to all train in one program. So for example, with
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that kind of stuff, I use a lot of like
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autoregulation and kind of like subjective perceived exertion within like
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some of my main movement stuff. So I'm a big
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like RIR reps and reserve person. And that kind of
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allows people of different levels to kind of dictate what
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load they're going to select for that day, given that
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they stay in the intensity range that I want them to.
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So I can have a freshman who maybe has been
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training for a year working with a senior who's been
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in the program for four years. They're both doing a
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front squad. One person's doing let's say one hundred and
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thirty five pounds for that three to four reps and
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reserve range, and then the senior, because they're a little
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bit stronger and they're a little bit more have a
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higher training age, we can maybe work up to some
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higher loads that one eighty five, two twenty five, two
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seventy five, whatever the number is. But it allows them
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to both work within the same rack and achieve the
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same goal and add different loads. And another part with that,
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I also like to think in terms of movements when
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I plan sessions and not necessarily exercises. So if for
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very basic, if you go through the four fundamental movements,
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you see your squad, your hinge, your press, your pull.
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If I just know I need those four in a session,
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I can say, all right, I'm gonna put my squat
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with my pull and I'm gonna put my press with
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my hinge. Okay, if I program a back squad, for
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for example, and I have a kid who I'm seeing
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during the warm up, they're not really getting the movement,
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like they're struggling with it, like they just don't have
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that in their back yet. Because I know, I just
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need a squad, I can pull that kid off to
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the side. Hey, maybe let's try a front squad. Let's
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try a zombie squad, or even let's grab a heavy
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Dumbell's let's do a heavy loaded gobblet squad so they
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can be in a little bit more advantageous position and
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learn that movement. Same thing for someone with an injury,
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which I know we're gonna touch on that a little
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bit later. If I have someone with a low back
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injury and I can't actually actually load them with a
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bar bell, cool perfect. I know we need some sort
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of lower body movement, So kind of depending on what
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the injury is, we can do some sort of leg press.
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We could even do some sort of leg extension or
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hamstring kertl something that targets the lower body a little
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bit more but takes a load off that spine sets
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out how I kind of plan things I do. I've
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dabbled with trying to have different levels do different programs
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within the same training session, but I think in the
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team setting, especially in the collegiate setting, I think every
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person on a team in a session should be training
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on the same program because I very much value working together,
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working as one team, working as a family, and not
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being a bunch of individuals like I want. Like I said,
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I want seniors working with freshmen because if I have
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four freshmen at a RAQ and they don't know what's
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going on, how are they ever going to learn? So
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you want to pair them with some people who know
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what's going on, who's going to teach them. That gives
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those seniors that leadership opportunity to kind of be the
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voice and try and help them throughout the lift and
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the training and teach them what's right and what's wrong.
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And then that also gives that freshman, that underclassman a
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chance to learn from someone who knows what's going on.
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And that kind of goes back to as a department
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or as a person, having things like key performance areas
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and key performance values and coach nine to talk to
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me a lot about this at Salisbury. He's very very
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big on culture on standards, so I took a lot
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of this stuff from him. But for our department, like
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I have it right here. Some of our key performance values,
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which are things that govern our decision making, are things
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like effort, connection, consistency, communication, and competition. So like those
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are the things like if I want communication and connection
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to be with present in our training, I have to
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have people lifting on the same program and seniors working
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with freshmen. And then the key performance areas things you know,
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what are we trying to develop and what are we
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trying to make as good as possible, And that's things
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like the culture, the environment, the athletic experience. If I
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have six different programs running in the same session, we're
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all just a bunch of small groups. We might be
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working together, but we're all kind of doing different things.
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So it's kind of like, yes, would it be optimal
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to have six programs and have like freshmen be on
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a like a more movement over Max's kind of program,
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and seniors be on some Maybe we can get into
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some like maximum ecentric training and some heavier stuff to
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start for team camaraderie and building that connection, that communication.
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I like everyone working together. For the most part, that's
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what I have found to be most beneficial. And plus
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the sessions are just more fun. Like if I have
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Rack one all the way down on the left and
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they're getting after and they're talking smack to rack number
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four all the way down, like it just makes for
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a fun environment. And then when when vibes are high
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and people are competing, outputs tend to go up. People
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get bigger, longer, faster, and we're and we're better off,
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and they have a positive perception of the weight room
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as well, like, hey, this is something fun I get
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to go in and do every single day, Like, hey,
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you might have beat me last week, Like next week
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when we have our big squat day, like I'm coming
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for you, I'm ready to go. I just think that
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stuff botes so much better for developing a team per se,
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especially at the collegiate level level, and especially in my
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setting as well.
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The environment definitely builds the culture. It builds it without
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you even really having to do much. You set them
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up in a position where they're gonna compete, They're gonna
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be pushed by either an older kid or someone stronger
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than them, and everything else.
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Just falls into place.
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So you also made a few other great points that
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I wanted to bring up and just kind of talk
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about a little bit in the rehab setting. Is REPS
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in reserve and individualization. I think this is such a
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The REPS in reserve and RPE is such an underrated
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and underutilized tool, not only in strength and conditioning, but
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also in the rehab setting. Right, we don't hear about
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this like three rounds of ten two pounds of ten
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for rehab. But again that's not in increasing or establishing
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an environment that is actually going to increase demands, increase
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physiological properties to change. So again getting that subjective feedback.
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I know we're not one rep maxing or through ivaxxing
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fire repmaxing and rehab, but it is nice to utilize
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a very subjective rating to get an idea of if
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you're actually making the adaptations that you're going after. And
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again it's just I just want to make a point
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that it applies to not only strength conditioning but also
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rehab from our rehab providers out there that are listening there.
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And I think, sorry to cut you off really quick,
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but just to touch on that a little bit, something
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that like I'm kind of learning a little bit more
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and doing a little bit more research is when you
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use First of all, when you use things like rir
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we don't have a whole lot of technology here. We
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don't have VBT validation. I've never seen these kids lift
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before and in this program, so I'm not going to
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base them off percentages. So ri IRS is how we
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kind of get our subjective measures from there. I think
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it does a great job of teaching athletes kind of
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how like hard they're pushing them so so they can
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make more informed decisions about that. Obviously, it's tough when
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they first start, like they may think they're in that
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two to three ri R range, but they didn't grind
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for a single rep. So eventually we can teach them
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like what failure truly looks like and kind of use
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that RIR GAUG and go back from there. I think
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is going to be such a such a fantastic tool.
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Plus another thing dealing with a lot of team sports,
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court sports, field sports where speed and freshness is of
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very very high demand all year round. Like a lot
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of our teams have one competitive season, but that non
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traditional season they're practicing all the time too, So we
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technically still need them to be fresh. So using those
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higher RIR sets where we're kind of doing inverted inverted sets.
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So instead of doing like, hey, we're gonna do a
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three by six, we're gonna get down to that one
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to two ri R and those last ones are going
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to be a little bit grindy. Well, that generates a
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lot of fatigue, right, So instead of doing, hey, we're
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gonna do a three by six, why don't we flip it.
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We'll do a six by three. We'll get a little
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bit higher reps in reserve for each set, take a
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little bit less rest in between sets. That allows you
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to still get the same amount of repsins. We're still
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getting eighteen reps in. We're doing it at a lower
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subjective intensity, which means we're able to increase volume loads.
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So there's your work capacity right there. You can obviously
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when you're accumulating transition that up over time and they're
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00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:29.720
not gonna be as crushed. So when they go if
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I have a lacrosse player and we'll train heavy squats
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00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:34.440
in the morning, like I said, we'll do that six
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00:19:34.519 --> 00:19:37.079
by three, a little bit higher reps in reserve, they
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can go out to practice that afternoon and not be like,
406
00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:41.759
Holy Kyle, I can't feel my legs if I try
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and make a ninety degree cut, like I'm gonna crumble.
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00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:46.759
So you get almost a little bit better work in
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and even with that six by three two, you can
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theoretically maybe able to lift a little bit more weight.
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00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.000
Those reps become of higher quality. You're not as close
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to fatigue, So it's better for learning. You get a
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little bit more vol load out of it, You build
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that work capacity, and they're still able to practice their
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sport because for a lot of these kids, they play
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at the Division three level because they love their sports.
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So why I don't want to crush them to the
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point where they're not able to develop their skills, especially
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for someone who is still very young looking to develop
420
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those skills, like a freshman sophomore. Even for my juniors
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and seniors as well. Hey, they want to stay healthy,
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they want to feel good for the last few years
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of their career. Like, we can't crush them to a
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point where they're not able to acquire the skills necessary
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to be successful.
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Another principle you brought up was an individualization.
427
00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:35.079
I think it's a common misconception that you can't individualize
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workouts in a group setting. I think that one including
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00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.000
them in the environment that they're going to be working out,
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and I think is a very easy way to make
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sure they're still feeling part of the group, even if
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their exercises may be a little bit different because of
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either an injury, either a very unique situation in training age.
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I think just it's a common misconception that people aren't
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individualizing things when they're tasked with a big group and
436
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a big group size. So I'm glad you made that
437
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point as well. Let's briefly touch on your thought problem
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is on periodization. So are you following a linear, blocked
439
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or anguliney periodization or a combination of both, and do
440
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you follow the typical like macro meso and microcycles.
441
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Yeah, I think obviously that philosophy has changed over time.
442
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I used to be a big like linear periodization guy,
443
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but again being in a little bit more seeing how
444
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it actually works in real life and being introduced to
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some more advanced things during my graduate program, I personally
446
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like to break it up in non traditional and traditional season.
447
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So you're off season and you're in season during odd
448
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of season times. It kind of is it kind of
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still is linear periitization, but I follow I call it
450
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it like a long conjugatesequential model, where it is some
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sort of linear periodization, but it's not like, hey, block one,
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we're doing work capacity and then we move to high
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purchavmac strength, power. All that we work every single quality
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all year round. I think that's super valuable for team sports.
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We need to athletes need to be prepared for everything
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all the time because that's what their sport demands. So
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why don't we train that in the weight room if
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during block one? So let's say, let's let's backtrack a
459
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little bit here for the long conjugate sequential model. Here
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we're again, like I said, working on every single quality
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every all the time. But we're just depending on what
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time of year we're in, we are advocating a little
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bit more volume, a little bit more economy towards a
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given quality. So like that first phase when when when
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kids get back on campus, we're gonna be hitting work capacity,
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we're gonna be hitting hyperge fee, we're gonna be touching strength,
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we're gonna be touching power. But a lot of that
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bulk of that work is gonna be based around some
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work capacity qualities and some higher rep lower intensity sets,
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maybe some some maximum eccentrics to get them back accumulated
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to training. Maybe we're doing some circuit style stuff for
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just to get them reacclimated to consistently training and not
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totally crush them. And then as we go on through
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the traditional off season, we're gonna transition a little bit more. Hey,
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we're gonna take away a little bit of work capass
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from phase one to phase two, and we're gonna bucket
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a little bit more towards some strength, some relative strength,
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some max strength, and maybe some power. And then you
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kind of go on throughout the off season. We're at
480
00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:15.279
the end. Work capacity takes a very little like you're
481
00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:17.880
still touching it, but it takes up little economy, and
482
00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:20.319
a lot of your buckets are filled with some strength
483
00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:22.599
work and some power work because we've done all We've
484
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:24.720
done all of that work leading up to it, we've
485
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.319
done the work capacity, we've done the hyperge fee. Now
486
00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.559
we're ready to train at higher intensities and higher loads,
487
00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:32.799
so we can do that towards the off season. But
488
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.440
we're still working on strength week one through week four.
489
00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:39.240
If that if you're thinking in four week phases. So
490
00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.759
you have if you if you have let's just say,
491
00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:47.920
sixteen weeks perfect world, which it never is at first,
492
00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.799
you have if I'm max strength and really wanted to
493
00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:54.119
get after it with strength in the fourth phase. If
494
00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:58.079
I use this long conjugatesequential model, I have twelve weeks
495
00:23:58.119 --> 00:24:01.079
of building strength work before I get into that block,
496
00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:05.359
whereas in typical linear models you don't get to max
497
00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:08.319
strength until that final phase. You're not even touching the quality.
498
00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:11.000
So I just personally have never seen the benefit in
499
00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:14.799
waiting that long to express that quality. It just I
500
00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:18.559
think the dough the volume makes the poison. And if
501
00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:22.000
you start off at lower intensities and lower volumes and
502
00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:24.480
just touch to start and kind of build from there,
503
00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:28.200
I think can be super duper beneficial. But at the
504
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:30.480
end of the day, like I used to block out
505
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:35.000
annual plans before my year started in a beautiful Excel
506
00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:37.799
file that I built out, shout out to the people
507
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:40.640
at Northwestern and Mark Ellis and Ashley Christy who helped
508
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:43.920
me out with that super awesome internship I did there
509
00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:48.319
with them. But looking back, like like I just mentioned,
510
00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:50.480
things never work out the way you're supposed to, So
511
00:24:50.519 --> 00:24:52.000
I would spend all this time. Hey, we're going to
512
00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:54.839
plan out this perfect off season. This is how it's
513
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:58.079
gonna go. Never worked out the way it was supposed to.
514
00:24:58.279 --> 00:25:00.359
So I take a little bit more of a short
515
00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:04.079
term approach and kind of more of a bottom up approach,
516
00:25:04.119 --> 00:25:06.400
which is something I've read a little bit about in
517
00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.200
Strength Training Manual by Milan and Yavanovich, which for any
518
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:14.000
strength coach is absolute foundational read. It's a large book,
519
00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:16.240
but man, the stuff you learn in there, in the
520
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:19.359
way that he describes stuff, it blows your mind and
521
00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:21.400
it changes your perception on a lot of things. But
522
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:23.759
taking that bottom up approach kind of starts with, k,
523
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:27.119
where are my athletes? Now? What do I have access to? Like?
524
00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:29.279
What do I need to do in the moment to
525
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.599
get better? And then you do that, you make your
526
00:25:32.759 --> 00:25:36.359
MVP your most valuable program or your most viable program,
527
00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:39.480
like a little bit more robustness, and then you see
528
00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:41.119
how that works, and then you go from there and
529
00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:45.279
it just becomes a retest and refined, retest and refine
530
00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:48.279
over and over and over again. So I also personally
531
00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:50.680
don't like to block out more in two or three
532
00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:55.359
week blocks. I think planning out super duper far takes
533
00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.119
you away from being in the present moment and seeing
534
00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:00.279
what's going on with the athletes right now, because if
535
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.079
I'm focused on where I need to be at in
536
00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:05.640
fourteen to sixteen weeks, I'm not focusing on what I
537
00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:07.880
need to be doing right now, which might be some
538
00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:10.680
sort of accumulation and kind of seeing how they're responding
539
00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:13.319
to the volume that I'm throwing at them. Like, I
540
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.200
need to be present in the given moment, so I
541
00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:19.359
kind of try and not tend to look super far
542
00:26:19.480 --> 00:26:22.160
into the future, because for some of my athletes, if
543
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.319
I give them something and they continue to get better,
544
00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:26.400
like we might just do that for a very very
545
00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:29.920
long time. If estimated one rem max continues to go
546
00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:33.559
up and they're feeling good and practice is going awesome,
547
00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:37.400
Like why would we stray away from that? It's when
548
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:40.599
progress stalls out, things get a little bit stale. That's
549
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.440
when you refine and kind of move on to the
550
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.839
next thing because it was done working for that population.
551
00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:47.880
So you take where you're at right now, and then
552
00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:49.440
you kind of just have to go from there. I
553
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:53.599
think building out in long blocks can be, in harsh words,
554
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.240
a long waste of time. Because, like I said, never
555
00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:58.200
goes the way it's supposed to. But that's kind of
556
00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:01.759
my off season philosophy. Now get into in season. This
557
00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:06.279
is something Joe Padula of Oklahoma has talked about a lot,
558
00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:09.440
which I love all of his content. For anyone out there.
559
00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:11.519
If you don't know who that name is, please go
560
00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:14.759
watch his YouTube channel and all the free resources he
561
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:18.039
gives out. Man. He is an absolute legend in what
562
00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:22.319
he does. But in season, we like to take or
563
00:27:22.359 --> 00:27:25.200
I like to take what's called a fractal approach and
564
00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:29.599
fractal periodization, so kind of basically in very short terms,
565
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:31.839
making it simple for me. I'm not the brightest person
566
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:36.440
in the world here, so it's pushing qualities when the
567
00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:40.680
schedule allows us to do so. So for example, if
568
00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:44.400
I let's say I'm working with baseball here as my background,
569
00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:49.319
if we have just a weekend series, we play Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
570
00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:51.680
it's home. We don't have him midweek on that Tuesday
571
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:55.559
or Wednesday, like you bet that that Monday, that or
572
00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:57.680
that Tuesday. We're gonna get after a little bit with
573
00:27:57.720 --> 00:28:00.920
some higher volume stuff, some heavier load, and kind of
574
00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:03.960
and replicate that stress of what a game would be
575
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:06.160
for that day, we get to work on a little
576
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:08.400
bit more qualities. Now on the flip side, if I
577
00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:12.440
know we have a midweek on Tuesday, that's a way
578
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.119
and we're getting back late, and then we have an
579
00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:17.880
away series Friday through Sunday like that has a very
580
00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:21.559
very stressful time. So we're not gonna do as much
581
00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:24.000
in the weight room from a volume and from an
582
00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:28.000
intensity standpoint, because the game is going to serve as
583
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.039
the stressor for them. We don't want to crush them
584
00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:32.319
more than they need to be, So some of those
585
00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:35.160
things like on that day. Within that fractal model, I
586
00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:38.839
kind of take a daily undulation or daily undulating model
587
00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:41.680
where one day is kind of gonna little be more
588
00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:43.680
strength focused and the other day is going to be
589
00:28:43.720 --> 00:28:46.839
some more rate of development stuff. So on that strength
590
00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:48.759
day is going to be positioned as far away from
591
00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.759
the next game as possible. Like I said, if we
592
00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:53.680
do have a midweek, we can try and target it
593
00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:58.119
postgame or something like that. Unfortunately, just how it's gonna
594
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:01.359
work out, But that strength day is gonna feature some
595
00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:06.079
heavier loads, some higher percentages, some longer ground contact plios,
596
00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:10.160
maybe some acceleration qualities. And stuff like that, so we
597
00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:12.920
can train the strength and then as we transition to
598
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:15.119
that second day, maybe it's a little bit closer to
599
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:17.720
game day, we're gonna do some more power stuff. We're
600
00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:20.759
gonna raise the bar speeds, we're gonna get some snappy
601
00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.880
reps in, some quicker ground contact plios, and make sure
602
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:27.000
they feel good and almost serve as a primer for
603
00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:29.240
the rest of the weekend. So there's your two days.
604
00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:31.559
You get your strength work in and you get your
605
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:33.519
power work in. But kind of what that looks like
606
00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:38.640
from an exercise standpoint, from a volume, intensity, velocity standpoint
607
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:41.079
kind of is dictated by the stress of the game
608
00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:44.640
and what the schedule allows. Because in season, you need
609
00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:47.240
them to be ready to go for practice and ready
610
00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.680
to go for games as much as possible. So we
611
00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:51.720
kind of take I kind of take that approach into
612
00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:53.880
the weight room, push it when when we can and
613
00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:55.920
when it's safe to do so, and kind of back
614
00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:59.200
off when it's necessary, because pushing qualities in the season
615
00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:01.519
is great, but I need them to be their best
616
00:30:01.559 --> 00:30:04.400
out on the field or out on the court wherever
617
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:06.640
they play. I need them to feel one hundred percent
618
00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:10.240
because winning games and feeling good while you're doing it
619
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:12.279
is the number one priority when it comes to end
620
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:15.759
season stuff, But that fractal approach and kind of undulating
621
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:20.839
how much volume you're utilizing as a schedule allows. I
622
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:23.839
found a lot of successful with that last spring. Working
623
00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:26.119
with our baseball and softball teams, we were able to
624
00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.920
train a lot more consistently and train a lot harder
625
00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:33.680
towards the end of the season, where in previous years,
626
00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:36.000
you know, we kind of like fall off, fatigue starts
627
00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:38.279
to set in a little bit, training becomes a little
628
00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:41.440
bit more inconsistent, and something I was also fortunate to
629
00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:45.279
do the last spring was at the Division III level,
630
00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:47.640
especially the conference I was in the last two years,
631
00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:49.759
we didn't have a set schedule every single week, so
632
00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:53.559
it wasn't a Tuesday Wednesday double or midweek and then
633
00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:56.839
you play weekend series. It was week one, We're playing
634
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:02.759
on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and next week is gonna be Monday, Wednesday,
635
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:05.160
Saturday Sunday double header like it would never was the
636
00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:07.880
same two weeks in a row. So something I was
637
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:11.519
thankful to do, had the opportunity to do, and the
638
00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:14.000
schedule allowed was kind of manipulate what days we were
639
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.599
lifting based off that game schedule, So kind of using
640
00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:21.279
that game plus or minus model, which very very popular
641
00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:22.960
in the soccer world, by kind of trying to take
642
00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:26.160
that into baseball, where if I know we're three days
643
00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:28.160
away from a game and we had it, we're coming
644
00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:30.240
off an off day on Sunday, like you bet we're
645
00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:31.799
gonna go. We're gonna go get it a little bit
646
00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:35.039
on that Monday. But depending on the game schedule, you
647
00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:37.279
can kind of position your lifts and if it's a
648
00:31:37.319 --> 00:31:40.039
super duper stressful week and they have a lot of games,
649
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:41.920
there's a lot of travel, like, hey, maybe one session
650
00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:43.519
is good for this week as long as a really
651
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:46.759
really good session. So kind of like letting the game
652
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:50.759
schedule and that intensity and that stress dictate what we
653
00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:52.920
do in the weight room is a very very solid
654
00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.880
approach and can be manipulated for any sort of sport,
655
00:31:57.000 --> 00:31:59.759
team or setting facilities that you have access to.
656
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.960
Yeah, the same mentality when rehabbing someone in season, I
657
00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:06.480
always try to kind of fit into their schedule as
658
00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:09.440
opposed to force something into their schedule. I know that
659
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.559
they're getting so much stimulus from their practices from if
660
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:15.480
they are lifting in season from either the athletic training
661
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:18.000
that they're seeing at their school. I always try to
662
00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:20.920
use our sessions to kind of fill the buckets that
663
00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:23.920
they're not getting. Obviously, this is reliant on the patient
664
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:27.079
telling me accurate information, but it is something that I'm
665
00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:29.960
trying to kind of fit into the picture as opposed
666
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:31.440
to like run the picture.
667
00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:33.039
But again, it seems like.
668
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:36.119
The same philosophy applies to your programming and your in
669
00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:39.519
season approach. So thank you for clarifying that. One more
670
00:32:39.599 --> 00:32:41.920
question to finish up, and I know you're very early
671
00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:45.039
on in your first head strength conditioning stint, but what
672
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:48.079
advice that you've learned would you give to another young
673
00:32:48.119 --> 00:32:50.720
coach that's looking to be a head strength and conditioning
674
00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:51.720
coach for the first time.
675
00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:54.359
Yeah. I think this is a question that at the
676
00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:56.319
end of every podcast I listen to I hear, and
677
00:32:56.359 --> 00:32:59.359
I've been kind of thinking about what avenue I want
678
00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:01.119
to go here. I think I think two things come
679
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:05.079
to mind. Really. The first thing is just be curious.
680
00:33:05.880 --> 00:33:07.839
When you're young, you don't know what you don't know.
681
00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:11.519
When I worked in a million different settings and I
682
00:33:11.559 --> 00:33:15.599
see something something done the way it's done, you shouldn't
683
00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:17.400
just oh, Okay, that's how it should be done. You
684
00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:20.960
should be curious on why they're doing it and the
685
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:23.960
reasoning behind that stuff. It just gives you a little
686
00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:26.599
bit better understanding, and then when you step into that
687
00:33:26.599 --> 00:33:29.599
that head role yourself, you're able to explain that why
688
00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:33.000
to your athletes. I'm never gonna be someone who's gonna
689
00:33:33.039 --> 00:33:35.799
give something to any of my athletes that I can't
690
00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:39.480
explain why we're doing it. So if you are curious
691
00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.319
and you try and figure out like the underlying mechanisms
692
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.240
behind why things are done the way they're done, you're
693
00:33:45.240 --> 00:33:47.920
gonna be able to back up your training a lot
694
00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:50.519
more and what you're giving to your kids, and be
695
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:53.160
a little bit more solidified in your in your approach.
696
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:56.480
So always be curious. Always find a new book to read.
697
00:33:56.680 --> 00:33:59.480
I love to read, even if it's not about strength
698
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.960
and condition if it's about coaching or it's just about life. Reading.
699
00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:06.480
Trying to find out as much information as possible, I
700
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:09.480
think is a big one. And then also it should
701
00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:12.880
be a given. But train yourself like I I have
702
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:16.320
learned so much about strength conditioning and what works and
703
00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:19.519
what doesn't through through testing it on myself. Like same
704
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:22.119
thing I'm never gonna give my athletes something I haven't
705
00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:27.440
done before. So train, like learn what certain things feel like,
706
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:30.679
Learn how hey, if I do this session, like what
707
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:33.039
is like, how am I gonna feel later in the
708
00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:34.679
day or what am I going to feel like the
709
00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:37.000
next day? So you're able to make a little bit
710
00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:40.719
better informed decisions about your training and what you're giving
711
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.880
to kids. Cause it's very very easy to see what work,
712
00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:46.199
see what's said in a book or in a paper
713
00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:49.119
and like, yep, that's it, give it to your athletes
714
00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:52.039
and not know how it works and just kind of
715
00:34:52.039 --> 00:34:55.480
like throw it and see if it sticks. So train yourself,
716
00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:58.960
learn how to do movements. It improves your queuing so
717
00:34:59.119 --> 00:35:01.880
much more when you when you take yourself through it, like, Okay,
718
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:05.400
I understand what I should be thinking about with this movement.
719
00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:08.920
Say it's a squad. Now I'm able to express that
720
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:11.800
a little bit more and in a concise fashion to
721
00:35:12.440 --> 00:35:17.079
my athletes. So be curious and train yourself. And if
722
00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:19.599
I had at another thing, it would be to get
723
00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:21.480
on the floor as much as possible, get in as
724
00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:24.519
many settings as possible. Like I've worked. I'm twenty four.
725
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:27.239
I turned twenty five in September here. But I worked
726
00:35:27.239 --> 00:35:30.159
in a million different places, and I'm super thankful for
727
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:32.519
all of them. When I was in underground, like I said,
728
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:36.480
I worked in the Human Human Performance Lab. I also
729
00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:39.440
trained youth hockey players at a private facility when I
730
00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:42.480
wasn't playing baseball and I had some odd days from practice.
731
00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:45.559
I did an internship at the Big ten level with Northwestern.
732
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:48.559
Like I said earlier, I've coached at the Division III level.
733
00:35:48.599 --> 00:35:50.760
I've seen what it's looked like at the D two level.
734
00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:53.599
I even last summer was thankful enough to work with
735
00:35:53.719 --> 00:35:56.880
the Del Marvras Shorebirds, which are the Class A affiliate
736
00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:59.360
of the Orioles. I was able to learn what things
737
00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:02.360
look like in a professional setting from some awesome, awesome minds,
738
00:36:02.599 --> 00:36:05.239
Will Ali and Will Richel. So super thankful for that.
739
00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:07.920
Now I get to bring all that knowledge that I've
740
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.639
learned from a million different settings and bring it to
741
00:36:11.079 --> 00:36:13.960
my training. So get on the floor. Like those coaching
742
00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.719
reps are so so valuable. You learn how to communicate
743
00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:19.960
with people and and be an outgoing person very very
744
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:23.599
quickly when you are trying to coach a team of
745
00:36:24.039 --> 00:36:27.159
Big ten volleyball players that you've never met. Before, Like,
746
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:29.559
you learn really really quick how to be a good person,
747
00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:31.880
how to communicate well, and how to get your message
748
00:36:31.880 --> 00:36:34.599
across in a in a concise fashion. So get on
749
00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:37.639
the floor, train yourself, be curious. If you do all
750
00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:39.800
those things, you're gonna be you're gonna be pretty well off.
751
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:42.000
Plus you gotta love it. Like, at the end of
752
00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:43.800
the day, this doesn't feel like work to me. I've
753
00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:47.679
been doing this for only four years and figured out
754
00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:50.360
very quickly. You're my ga, Like you work very long hours.
755
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:53.320
They're they're they're grind they're grinds of a day. But
756
00:36:53.639 --> 00:36:55.719
it still hasn't felt like a day of work to
757
00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:57.599
me in my life, Like it's just something, Hey, I
758
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:00.360
get to come in, I get to blastom to dunes
759
00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:03.760
and get after it with my teams and have a
760
00:37:03.800 --> 00:37:05.639
good time doing it. So it just feels like something
761
00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:08.360
fun I get to do. So I truly love it.
762
00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:11.960
I pour everything that I can into wherever I'm at,
763
00:37:12.079 --> 00:37:14.960
So yeah, you gotta love it. It's an awesome field.
764
00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:18.360
It's very very rewarding. I like seeing people realize their
765
00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:21.719
true potentials and raise their ceilings and allow them to
766
00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:24.800
be the best people that they can. So super thankful
767
00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:26.159
for all of it as well.
768
00:37:26.239 --> 00:37:27.920
Awesome Matt, thanks for so much for your time.
769
00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:29.280
Yeah, of course, thank you.