Training Science Podcast

Never laugh at ANYONE'S LIFE EXPERIENCE 😮 - build your OWN with various AREAS, countries 🌏and work conditions.  Fergus Connolly wants you to understand that you NEED science, but you also NEED everything else - like the knowledge of how to speak to people that have DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS 🧑🏿‍🤝‍🧑🏼from you. In the 46th episode of The Training Science Podcast, Martin and Fergus speak about...

You NEED to TRAIN your BREATHING SYSTEMS! If you HAVE to compromise (which you should NOT!) then at least work on EXPIRATION. Steve Neal wants you to understand that MOST PEOPLE are under NORMATIVE values when it comes to their breathing ability, AND: YES, it DOES influence your PERFORMANCE! NO, it ain’t something JUST for asthmatics! In the 45th episode of The Training Science Podcast, Paul and S...

Lead by example, and practice what YOU preach as an EXERCISE and SPORTS expert! Allistair McCaw want you to remember that you CANNOT look after others without making sure YOU 🤴🏻 are doing GOOD FIRST. In the 44th episode of The Training Science Podcast, Martin and Allistair indulge in  👩🏻‍🏫 OUTSIDE of training stuff - what makes a great COACH? 🏆 What MINDSET do you need to be GOOD at almost a...

Yes, you have to TAKE RISKS 🎲 and PLAY 🤸🏽 with TRAINING methods as a coach, athlete and sport scientist. Dr Javier Arnaiz wants you to understand that no one knows ANYTHING for sure, and that EXPERIMENTING early and often is a core aspect of good practice! In the 43rd episode of The Training Science Podcast, Paul and Javier go in depth into 🤖 Javier’s AMAZING entrepreneurial journey founding 3...

Do you KNOW enough about your KNOWLEDGE to appropriately discern what to FILTER out and what to TELL your COACHES 🤨 ?! Dr Nick Poulos wants you to be aware that OFTEN it is not the best choice to pull players back, stop them from training nor try to “manage” their load by reducing it.  Sometimes it is BEST to simply try everything else to HELP your athletes, rather than stopping from training! In...

MORE 🤨 training for someone like Daniil Medvedev 🎾 (AFTER!) playing back to back to back tournaments?! Dr Yann Le Meur wants you to be aware of your players ACTUAL load 📊 that is happening daily during their sport, rather than just ASSUMING it! In the 41st episode of The Training Science Podcast, Martin and Yann cover  ⚖️ how tennis is quite SIMILAR to football with respect to how training and...

When working with an athlete you need to be clear about THEIR STRENGTHS. What makes them special? WHY are they good at what they do!  While Stuart McMillan wants you to consider ALL ASPECTS of an athlete and their training, he especially emphasizes you to be clear around what makes them SUCCESSFUL. Then figure out how to exploit these further. Don’t go about working on weaknesses, which more often...

Leaders must look after their wellbeing first ❤️ - you cannot otherwise expect others to trust you looking after them 😎 Dr Craig Duncan is convinced that you are probably not self-managing your health and wellbeing enough on a daily and weekly basis - no, that ONE yoga, lifting or HIIT session 🧘‍♂️ you did last month does not count 🙅! Although sport is all about PERFORMANCE, we have to remember...

PRACTICE oriented research - maybe THE BEST bridge to 🌉 build between scientists and practitioners!  It may be sometimes hard for  ⚽ sport specific coaches 👩‍💼 managers  👨🏻‍🔬 and the brainiacs from exercise and sport science  to get together, but Dr. Israel Halperin has a method that has been extremely successful for him: ✅ Focus the research and science on what practically may have DIRECT...

“ANAEROBIC”, energy or metabolism are NOT limiting your speed. Full stop. End of story - for now! The current data on it is quite clear, but yet most of us have NO CLUE that this is the case. Prof Peter Weyand has spent a couple of decades working in the physiology, physics AND mechanics of moving at high speeds - and he is more than confident that we should abolish the term “anaerobic” zone for f...

Adjusting your RECOVERY 🛀 and TRAINING for INDIVIDUAL players can happen AT THE SAME TIME as generating BUY-IN and developing EDUCATION through AUTONOMY 🤸! Andy Wiseman wants you to consider that “compliance” or “buy-in” can be developed together with the players and THEIR NEEDS, while also providing them EDUCATION instead of just information overload 📚! In our 36th episode of The Training Scie...

There are a lot of fancy SPORTS TECH and ADVANCED methods that usually go HAND IN HAND in sports. Unfortunately, not everyone has the SCOPE and even the NEED to use it.  Mathieu is highlighting how everything that happens has to be driven from WITHIN the WHOLE TEAM that you are working with - whether that involves the ATHLETES & COACHES or the rest of your PERFORMANCE and MEDICAL STAFF! In the...

COMBAT sports 🤼 are CHAOS! So HOW do you MANAGE that from a TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE perspective 💥? Although Mixed Martial Arts have enjoyed a fast increase in popularity and participation, there is still plenty of “figuring” out to do when you are putting individuals from all sorts of backgrounds together 🥊🥋🪓. Thus, we aren’t surprised that Duncan leads his team using a holistic approach 😇...

HARD & SHORT intervals SHOULD never be prescribed based off an AEROBIC parameter 🙄! Dajo Sanders clarifies how at first glance the sport of cycling 🚵🏻 will appear more or less a simple linear sport, there in fact is a massive difference in terms of the “performance determinants” because every stage can be so different - and THE CYCLISTS ARE TOO!  So when designing a cyclist’s training, you...

Do you even NEED BIG DATA 📊 & FANCY sport science in your sport?!😵‍💫 Alan McCall is all about the seamless INTEGRATION & COLLABORATION of exercise and sport science research DIRECTLY with people on the ground, in the field - even if you have only the basics and simple data to work with! It all comes down to working together and finding middle ground. Importantly, we need to STOP ⛔ divi...

FOCUS on INDIVIDUAL 🙋🏼‍♀️ importance of training! Every single one of your athletes needs to be looked after! DETAILS matter on that level more than ever💗. Lorena wants you to understand that at any level it is essential to work with what you have, whether it is tools 🧰 , resources or even OUTSIDE specialists that your players are consulting/training with - start where you are and get all the...

You NEED to consider INDIVIDUALIZING your CONDITIONING programs 👏! Maybe, just maybe, it is BETTER to train your athletes metabolic STRENGTHS, rather than trying to “reduce weaknesses” 😉. Rod wants you to consider that it is unlikely that one type of metabolic training fits all your athletes. There is a large chance that you need to PROFILE them first, and then apply individually designed progra...

Want to have a start in sport? As always, you’ll need to work towards understanding its CONTEXT. But additionally, the context and PERFECTIVE of its leader — THE COACH! Steve Manuel wants you to understand that coaching and leading are not the same thing as BEING at the CENTER of everything in sports ⚪.  In our 29th episode of the Training Science Podcast, Paul and Steve highlight how getting int...

🌞 HEAT, HIIT, HEAT, MORE HEAT! Or was it HIIT?🌞 Yes, it is good for you (obviously with certain limitations) for TRAINING as well as ADAPTATION to hot climates🏖️. And SURPRISE SURPRISE, as so often, it is not the same for male ♂️ & female ♀️ athletes! In our 28th episode of the Training Science Podcast, Paul and Dr Julia Casadio give an all-out overview of why PREPARING for HEAT is so essent...

So you think your breathing 😮‍💨 is healthy and fine - and of course that is ENOUGH 🤗 for your physical activities, sports and training? You might want to rethink that! Prof. Stephen Seiler is diving into some full-on insights into how we are probably underestimating the importance of VENTILATION in exercise, sports and wellbeing.  In our 27th episode of the Training Science Podcast, Paul and St...

Fancy pancy measurements might LOOK GOOD, but a simple TAPE MEASURE around YOUR BELLY might give you the best idea whether you are OVERFAT or not. Dr Phil Maffetone wants you to consider that a FOCUS on WEIGHT means you are missing what matters when it comes to body composition. Think about it. Doesn’t your muscle weigh more than fat? But we need to know how much fat we’re accumulating because a w...

🤖 AI COACHING & PERIODIZATION is NOT what you THINK IT IS! Now you might think that AI just does EVERYTHING by itself, hey 🙃? No one else and nothing else needed? Well, Dr Andrea Zignoli, part of our @athletica_ai team, is here to tell you otherwise. Paul and Andrea discuss what an AI can BE and what it DEFINITELY IS NOT, how we need to consider our MORALS and LAWS for applying training with...

FAST food might be fun - but after a hard match/event/training 🤔? Processed and fast food 🥡 might APPEAR harmless to take in every now and then, but when it comes to NUTRIENT density and how you absorb what your BODY NEEDS after or before training - AYE, different story 😉. Hélène Defrance takes us with her on an amazing journey as a young aspiring athlete, through to how she made her dream happ...

Your athletes are NOT your trophies❌🏆!  Professional collaboration 🧑‍💼 is all about THE ATHLETES and how much empathy you have for them and the other staff working with them. By putting your OWN EGO to the side and accepting that in the end it is all about the ATHLETE 😇 and NOT the staff, will make a MASSIVE difference to your effectiveness as a practitioner. In our 23rd episode of the Traini...

Ok ok, so you DO NOT 🛑 need to STOP EATING CARBS. NOPE! But, please just consider some stuff for like 3 minutes (that is LESS than 5!) if you REALLY need ALL those carbs? 🤔 In our third SUMMARY EPISODE of The Training Science Podcast we go one last time into the various topics discussed with our guests. This one is a truly a classic. Paul starts out with a rather long take on how to implement MO...