The Adaptable Athlete Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Nine years in, and the "room" for SMSC keeps getting smarter every year. This one landed three genuinely different debates, a set of award winners worth knowing, and a founder's-eye view of what the conference has become. Coach Jav starts us off with some quick takeaways from a busy month of June traveling across the country, presenting at various conferences and ev...

Send us Fan Mail You can't talk a fighter into confidence. And if you've been trying, Andy Grahn has been quietly building it the right way for 30 years. Andy Grahn is a martial arts coach at The Academy MN in Minneapolis, a co-author of the 2024 ecological dynamics MMA paper in Sports Coaching Review, and one of a small group of combat sports coaches actively applying motor learning sci...

Send us Fan Mail The best pass rusher in NFL history didn't break the sack record because he's fast. He broke it while being double or triple-teamed on more than half his snaps. Shawn Myszka returns for the annual Mover of the Year episode. This year's pick: Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns. But this conversation isn't about stats. It's about what Garrett's movem...

Send us Fan Mail NBA shooting coach Dave Love has spent over 15 years working at the highest level of basketball, with the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks, and currently an Eastern Conference team. He's also one of the few practitioners at that level actively contributing to peer-reviewed research. In this episode, Dave and Coach Jav dig into why the pursuit...

Send us Fan Mail Use Code: Javi26 for 10% off of your SMSC registration 🎟️ In this "Ask Emergence" episode, Coach Jav answers three questions from coaches about skill acquisition, constraints, and practice design. The conversation starts with a foundational question: What is skill?  Too often skill is viewed as repetition or the ability to reproduce the same movement over and over. But i...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Coach Jav sits down with Steve Whalen to explore his journey into coaching, his shift toward ecological dynamics, and what it means to truly design learning environments that transfer to competition. Steve shares how he entered tennis coaching from a non-traditional background, the tensions he experienced within traditional coach education, and the turning points...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Coach Jav sits down with Emergence co-founder Shawn Myszka to preview the 2026 Sport Movement Skill Conference (SMSC). They unpack this year’s theme — “Challenge Point” — and explain why the conference will feature debate-style matchups between leading voices from differing theoretical foundations. The conversation explores why now is the right time to bring contr...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Adaptable Athlete Podcast , Coach Jav breaks down three mistakes he made while applying ecological dynamics and the constraints-led approach in his coaching. From prioritizing drills over principles, to progressing athletes from decontextualized work instead of designing representative learning environments, to failing to give athletes ownership in the skill...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, coach Jav breaks down the most common mistakes coaches make in agility training—and why many popular drills fail to transfer to sport. Inspired by a recent Six of the Best contribution with Sportsmith (Emergence Co-founder Shawn, Myszka was also featured), the the episode centers on a core problem: coaches often give athletes the answers instead of setting real pr...

Send us Fan Mail The Modern Coach's Planner — built for coaches who think differently — Back! Order yours today at: https://thecoachjav.com/products/modern-coach-planner In this episode, coach Jav sits down with Rob Gray to explore what comes after the basics of ecological dynamics and the constraints-led approach. They discuss why “fundamentals first” thinking continues to persist in sport,...

Send us Fan Mail The Modern Coach's Planner — built for coaches who think differently — is now available for pre-order. This is a limited run, and once these copies are gone, they’re gone. Order yours today at: https://thecoachjav.com/products/modern-coach-planner In this episode, Coach Jav sits down with Greg Souders , founder of Standard Jiu-Jitsu , and DeAndre Corbe , one of the top grappl...

Send us Fan Mail *Checkout the free practice guide at the end of the show notes! For decades, coaches and scientists have used the term skill acquisition — but what if that’s not what’s really happening? In this short episode, we dive into the idea that athletes don’t acquire skill — they adapt it. Inspired by our recent conversation with Duarte Araújo , this concept challenges the traditional vie...

Send us Fan Mail *Checkout the free practice guide at the end of the show notes! What is skill, really? And what if it’s not something athletes acquire — but something they continuously adapt ? In this episode, Duarte Araújo joins us on the pod to unpack one of the most fundamental questions in sport: what does it truly mean to be skillful? Duarte breaks down why “acquisition” is the wrong metapho...

Send us Fan Mail *Checkout the free practice guide at the end of the show notes! Alan Dunton is a lecturer in Coaching Science and Skill Acquisition at Munster Technological University (MTU) in Cork, Ireland. A former Taekwondo athlete and coach, Alan has spent his career exploring how people learn, adapt, and perform skill under dynamic conditions. In this conversation, we unpack metastability —...

Send us Fan Mail Adam Singer is the head coach of SBG Athens, where he and his brother Rory have been developing fighters for over 25 years.  A longtime practitioner of ecological dynamics in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA, Adam has coached multiple athletes to the highest levels of competition, including two world champions.  He’s also a co-author of a landmark paper on ecological dynamics in combat...

Send us Fan Mail Shawn Myszka  (the “Movement Miyagi” )  returns to the pod to discuss the theme he and his NFL athletes embraced this offseason: Wu Xin , or “no-mindedness.” It’s an idea that runs throughout skill acquisition — how athletes can free themselves from rigid intentions and better attune to the “what is” in front of them.  From there, we dig into his new book, Enhancing Skill in Ameri...

Send us Fan Mail Garrett Baker, Skill Acquisition Specialist and pitching coach with the New York Mets, returns to the Adaptable Athlete Podcast to dive deep into the realities of skill development in baseball. In this episode we discuss: Why breaking free from “perfect mechanics” often unlocks better performance Why pitching velocity isn't everything How reframing pitchers as “out-getters” c...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the Adaptable Athlete Podcast!  In this episode, we dive into another edition of the 6 Minutes of Skill series — where Coach Jav breaks down a key skill acquisition concept in under 6 minutes (or close enough). This time, we’re tackling a big one: How does the weight room fit within an ecological approach? The weight room and ecological dynamics can often feel like...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Adaptable Athlete Podcast ,  I'm joined by Justin Ferguson — Director of Player Development at Minnesota United FC and a coach who’s deeply committed to modern coaching principles. We dig into what it really means to rethink player development, why talent is not a linear process, and how coaches can better support athletes through complex, messy learnin...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a special repost of my conversation with Stu McMillan on the ALTIS Podcast, originally recorded as a lead-up to the ALTIS Speed Summit where I will be presenting.   If you’re attending the Summit this weekend, this will give you a preview of what I’ll be covering in my talk on Saturday, June 7th . The session will be titled "This is Not a Drill: Developing Spe...

Send us Fan Mail This episode of the Adaptable Athlete Podcast is part of our special SMSC 25’ Speaker Spotlight Series , highlighting some of the world-class minds presenting at the 2025 Sport Movement Skill Conference, June 26–27 in St. Paul, Minnesota. We're bringing back a classic: Episode 8 with Michael Zwiefel , an impactful voice in our field and a longtime influence on how we approach...

Send us Fan Mail In this repost episode of the podcast, we revisit one of our most favorite conversations — a deep dive into combat sport skill acquisition with Scott Sievewright , founder of Primal MMA and host of the Primal MMA Coaching Podcast . Scott brings an athlete-centered and constraints-led approach to his work with MMA athletes. In this conversation, we discuss how to design representat...

Send us Fan Mail SMSC Speaker Spotlight: Garrett Baker  In this episode, we’re highlighting one of our featured presenters for the 2025 Sport Movement Skill Conference — Garrett Baker, Skill Acquisition Specialist and Pitching Coach for the New York Mets. Garrett joins us to talk about the current state of skill development in baseball and why he believes coaches must move beyond traditional notio...

Send us Fan Mail In this Speaker Spotlight episode, Coach Jav sits down with Dr. Rob Gray—renowned researcher, author, and podcast host—for a timely re-release of their impactful conversation on ecological dynamics, information, and movement learning.  Rob is one of the featured speakers at the upcoming 2025 Sport Movement Skill Conference , taking place June 26–27 in St. Paul, MN . As the SMSC re...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode of the Adaptable Athlete Podcast powered by Emergence, Javi welcomes back movement specialist and Emergence co-founder Shawn Myszka for the official preview of the 2025 Sport Movement Skill Conference (SMSC) . They break down what to expect at this year’s in-person event -including immersive learning sessions, athlete-led demos, roundtable discussions, and...