The Speed Lab Podcast

Episode 21 – Eccentric Loading, Sprint Mechanics & Building Athletes That Last | ft. Colby Wortman Guest host Darren Hansen sits down with Colby Wartman, Speed Lab Director and owner of Origin Performance in Dickinson, ND. Colby shares his personal journey through addiction and sobriety, the mentorship that shaped his coaching philosophy, and how eccentric loading has become the foundation of...

Guest host Darren Hansen sits down with Erica Mulholland to talk about coaching young female soccer players the right way: balancing skill work with strength, reducing overuse injuries, and why load management + recovery matter way more than most athletes realize. Erica shares how a meniscus tear changed her approach, what she’s seeing with ACL injuries in young girls, and the big rocks coaches sh...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast , guest host Darren Hansen sits down with coach and mentor Matt Erdman for a powerful conversation on the art of coaching . Matt Erdman Owns Veritas Athletic Performance and is a Universal Speed Rating Speed Lab Director.  They dive deep into building trust with athletes, the power of positive communication, adapting coaching style to the individual, a...

Darren Hansen sits down with Joe Pedulla to discuss rethinking acceleration training, working with youth athletes, and practical coaching strategies for time-constrained programs. They explore how to identify athlete types, balance strengths vs. weaknesses in training, and prepare for their upcoming webinar. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction & Triple H (Hardship, Highlight, Hero) 05:09 - Rethink...

The Speed Lab Podcast - Episode 17 Substitute host Darren Hansen of HansenAthletics sits down with Ryan Paul, owner of New Athlete and veteran performance coach with over two decades of experience training athletes. With more than 12,000 athletes trained since 2001, Ryan shares his evolution from conjugate periodization to an eccentric-focused training philosophy centered on force reduction and de...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast, Les Spellman sits down with Dr. Marc Lewis, Director of  Applied Sports Science for the Houston Texans, for a deep, practical conversation on what sport science really looks like inside elite performance environments. Dr. Lewis shares his unconventional journey — from military service to earning a PhD and leading applied sport science at the NFL level...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast, host Les Spellman sits down with Matt Hank to challenge conventional speed training. They dive deep into acceleration and max velocity mechanics, why most coaching cues get lost in translation, and how elite speed is actually developed.  The Universal Speed Rating is looking to work with more elite training businesses through our Speed Lab partnership...

In this episode, Les Spellman sits down with Scott Salwasser, Head NFL Combine Coach at EXOS, to break down what goes into preparing elite athletes for the NFL Combine. From managing 50+ athletes at once, to profiling speed safely, to using force plates, and the 1080 Sprint to drive real performance. Scott walks through EXOS’s intake process, how data impacts programming and how low-volume, high-i...

In this different type of episode, Les shares the messy, unpolished origin story: from building the first “Speed Lab” in a school closet, to testing elite athletes before the system even existed, to struggling financially while trying to scale something no one had ever built before. He breaks down how analytics, education, business systems, and community became the pillars that carried the company...

In this episode, Les Spellman sits down with Kyle Bolton , Oregon Football Director of Speed & Performance, to break down how a top program actually builds, measures, and keeps speed all year long. They get into Oregon’s offseason blueprint, GPS and testing, how they balance Big Ten size with real game speed, and what NIL + the transfer portal mean for today’s strength/speed coaches. Kyle also...

In this episode, Les Spellman sits down with legendary quarterback developer Jordan Palmer for a deep dive into what it really takes to build elite quarterbacks. Jordan has trained some of the NFL's biggest names - Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Joe Burrow - and in this episode, he pulls back the curtain on his evaluation process, the mental and physical traits that separate good from great, and why qua...

In this episode, Les and Danny sit down with Brian Buck to dive deep into force plate profiling, injury risk patterns, amortization mechanics, and how elite athletes can monitor and improve movement efficiency across the stretch-shortening cycle. Brian breaks down practical training application, in-season vs off-season decision-making, and how technology, bloodwork, movement data, and performance...

In this episode, Les and Danny are joined by Ken Vick, owner of Velocity Sports Performance, to break down the balance between precision and health in athlete development. They explore how overload, youth specialization, and modern training models impact injury trends across sports. From youth stress fractures to the NBA’s rising injury rates, they dive into how coaches can build capacity without...

Hunter Eisenhower, Associate Head Coach, Sports Performance, for Arizona State men's basketball, breaks down his "Force System" training methodology and introduces his Archetype Quadrants.  See how Hunter challenges traditional strength training by focusing on four pillars: High Force (deceleration), Fast Force (speed/elasticity), Slow Force (tendon health), and Human Force (fundamental movem...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast, Les and Cici dive deep into what it really takes to make an NFL 53-man roster — from the grind of training camp to the politics behind roster cuts. They discuss how performance, personality, and availability often outweigh raw talent, and share firsthand stories from elite athletes like T-Mac and others who’ve fought their way through the system. The conve...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast, Les and Danny dive into the rising problem of youth sports injuries, the balance between health and performance, and why early specialization is hurting athletes more than helping them. They break down how the NFL Combine creates short-term athletes instead of long-term pros, the responsibility shared by coaches, parents, and agents, and why true longevity...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast, Les Spellman and Kyle Bolton dive into how athletes can unlock new levels of performance by rethinking training loads, recovery, and the role of velocity-based profiling. From balancing intent with execution to how coaches can make training data meaningful for both athletes and parents, this episode is packed with insights that bridge science, coaching, an...

In this episode of The Speed Lab Podcast , Les and Danny dive deep into the lessons from the NFL Combine, athlete rehab, and the balance between art and science in coaching. They share behind-the-scenes insights on calf strain rehab, the role of connective tissue, the challenges of interdisciplinary work, and how to create individualized plans inside a team environment.  Interested in learnin...

In this solo episode of The Speed Lab Podcast , Les Spellman breaks down one of the most misunderstood aspects of sprinting: the stretch shortening cycle (SSC) and the critical role of pre-tension. Drawing from research, coaching experience, and case studies, Les explains why faster sprinters actually produce higher braking forces, how tendons act as both shocks and springs, and why athlete develo...

In this episode, Les and Danny sit down with Ken Clark. Ken is a leading expert in speed and sprint biomechanics, serving as a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph. D. in Applied Physiology and Biomechanics from Southern Methodist University and is recognized for his scientific research on the mechanical factors that influence athleti...

Universal Speed Rating is excited to announce the launch of The Speed Lab Podcast with hosts Les Spellman, Danny Foley, and Cici Murray.  In this episode, Les and Danny sit down with Stuart McMillan, Co-Founder and CEO of ALTIS, a globally recognized leading authority in sports education, specializing in coaching excellence for speed, power, and strength training, across Track and Field, and...