FOSBURY FLOP

In training, we have increasingly accepted that we will never find the perfect technique, because it will depend on the characteristics of the player who executes it in the environment she is in; we are beginning to assume that there will never be a universal collective game model, but that its perfection will depend on the individual and emerging qualities of those who make up the group. Why, the...

Ferran Adrià is one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was the chef at elBulli, 5 times chosen best restaurant in the world. In sporting terms, it is as if Barça had won 10 Champions Leagues in a row and he was the head coach. We met one evening to talk about it at a hotel in Barcelona... the rest is history. It is in Spanish. If you prefer the English version, you can watch the Y...

An unpopular opinion about “technique” in sport Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Abraham Maslow said that “if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail”. As coaches, we unconsciously carry a toolbox made up of our favorite ones that condition how we perceive and act in the reality we find ourselves in. As a result, we do not observe reality, but a biased image of it conditioned by what we want to see. Craig Morris beat the game and chose not t...

Lost in the search for the perfect design Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Oscar Tusquets explains that when he was very young he learned that, when faced with a question for which they did not have a clear answer, only good teachers responded: "Well, I have to admit that I don't know.” The bad ones never recognized it. Àlex Terés has been linked to basketball in multiple ways: as a coach of Catalan teams, of the American G-League, of lower categories in clubs such as FC...

How to make your players learn because —not in spite— of you Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

How to promote —and not hinder— learning Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

This is the conversation I had with Bernat Cardenas for The Padel Row, a padel coaching project to help every player whatever their level. Padel is still surrounded by an infinite number of incomprehensible mechanistic beliefs. The current way of training and understanding padel is not consistent with its true essence. The best Brazilian footballers become stars playing in the street, but in padel...

My coaching mentors. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

The sprinter Michael Johnson had a singular running “technique”. That didn’t stop him from winning 9 world championships and 4 Olympic golds. One day, a journalist asked him: “Do you think that if you had run like the other sprinters you would have been a better athlete?” And he, very smart, answered: “If I had run like them I would have become one of them.” The best version of oneself is achieved...

Evolution depends on adaptation: those who best adapt to their environment survive. If you have an adaptive advantage, you have a better chance of surviving and passing it on. Sometimes these advantages are achieved by those who are different, those who have undergone a mutation compared to the majority. In nature... but also in sport. Véronique Richard is an expert in performance psychology and t...

Carlota Torrents is a professor at the National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia and a member of the Complex Systems in Sport research group. With her doctoral thesis, Carlota was one of the pioneers in bringing dynamical systems theory to training. She has published dozens of articles on creativity, complexity, and movement, and recently published one of the most educational books I’v...

Following Fosbury's example, we can study the path of Arturo Coello to become world's N1 padel player. Go to https://www.fosburyflop.blog/ to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Robert Hristovski is an experienced professor of Sports Science in Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. He has carried out research on DST, echological dynamics, complex systems approach... among many others. In fact, when I hear the following quote I think of him: “As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully choose his...

If you see fraud and you don't say fraud, you are a fraud Go to FosburyFlop.blog to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

One of Joan’s characteristic phrases is: “We will never capture basketball.” As coaches, we often try to over-control the game, anticipate it, decide what will happen... but we always end up behind. I feel the same about his wisdom. No matter how hard I try, I will always be behind. Joan Cortés is a unique coach, pedagogue, teacher, father, mentor, professor, thinker... Sometimes, he is called cra...

A man is not a machine Go to FosburyFlop.blog to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

The labels Professor of the National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia or Founder and Director of Complex Systems in Sport Research Group are too small to describe Natàlia Balagué. She applies complex systems approach to understand human behaviour in sport. From his wisdom have emerged professionals of great caliber, works like Training or Synergizing and Network Physiology of Exercise...

The Soviet Lev P. Matveyev was considered by many an eminence in the global approach to training and periodization theory. The story goes that Stalin asked him what where the most important training principles to beat the Americans in the next Olympics. Matveyev, after investigating, replied that the key was the principle of individuality. This clashed with communism and was not applied as the spo...

The conversation is in Spanish. You can watch it with English subtitles in the YouTube video of the episode or read the automatic English transcript by clicking on the menu above. AntiCulturista and I are united by the purpose of questioning beliefs —which we consider erroneous— that are normalized throughout society. But, the truth is, we do it from two completely different battle fronts. Avoidin...

One plays as one lives Go to FosburyFlop.blog to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

John Kiely won the “monkey mind” every human has inside him and broke with all the biases, beliefs, thoughts... that unconsciously and erroneously reigned —and still do— in the world of sport. Unlike many, he does not go against the complexity and uncertainty of the sport, but moves in them like a fish in water. John Kiely is a sports professional with a way of doing things, of thinking... that al...

How do we improve what we can't measure? Go to FosburyFlop.blog to check the written version of the episode, its notes and much more content This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.fosburyflop.blog/subscribe

Manuel Sola —great disseminator about to complexity and sport, among many others— interviews me in his podcast Evolutionary Performance. On it, Manuel connects science, practice and experience to talk about everything that helps you improve your performance, without neglecting your health. The conversation explores the story of a change of perspective towards training and life. I answer the questi...