The Athlete Development Journal🥇

Train your mind. Build your body. Fuel your soul.

Listen to this episode in the car with your athlete. ⬇️

You can also listen on ​Spotify​ or ​Apple Podcasts​.

Mind. I’m concerned.

I am concerned about the lack of concern that we currently have around sports betting. Our kids, especially our young men, are in danger.

Before you tune out and think “my kid is too young for that,” I implore you to think differently. I’m around these young kids all day, every day when they’re not guarded in parent mode. This stuff is a problem.

You cannot turn on any sporting event without being bombarded by sports betting ads. It seems benign enough, but we’re in a really unique point in history that makes it anything but.

Up until recently, gambling was confined to casinos and Nevada. There was a lot of friction between you and being able to place a bet.

Now, you have a slot machine in your pocket. You can place a bet on anything at any time of day. We thought it was bad when the first thing people did in the morning was roll over in bed and check their social media. That seems innocuous compared to how many people are now logging into FanDuel or DraftKings as soon as their eyelids open.

Gambling in general is incredibly addictive. Yet, the National Council on Problem Gambling reports that the rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as among gamblers in general. For those betting online, it’s even higher.

Worse yet, athletes are a particularly vulnerable target. They live and breathe their sport. They “know it.” This creates a dangerous illusion of control.

They think their knowledge gives them a unique edge over the house. Spoiler alert: the house always has the edge. This illusion makes it easier to start and harder to stop, especially when they’re chasing losses.

Be on alert. Talk to your kids about it.

This is a public health issue hiding in plain sight; we have to start addressing it.

Body. Three systems you need to train for dynamic balance

When you play sports, you get into crazy positions.

In fact, that’s one of the things that usually separates great athletes from the rest. The great ones can fluidly get into and out of crazy positions without missing a beat.

This is a display of dynamic balance. Dynamic balance is an intricate symphony between many systems in your body.

The balance receptor systems (which we’ll go over in a second) are responsible for being able to detect and communicate your position.

Your musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc.) is then responsible for acting on those communications and keeping you stable.

If you can’t sense and communicate your positions effectively, you’ll fall or be uncoordinated.

Likewise, if you aren’t strong, stiff, or flexible enough to act on those communications, you’ll fall or be uncoordinated.

There are three balance receptor systems in your body that send signals:

1. Visual system
2. Proprioceptive system
3. Vestibular system

1) Visual System

This is the one we rely on the most as humans. We look at our environment and take in clues. Our brain interprets those clues to figure out what “upright” is and sends signals to our muscles to keep us stable.

You probably instinctively know this, because when you need to focus on balancing you normally pick a spot to stare at.

If you don’t believe how much we rely on vision, try standing on one leg with your eyes open, then close your eyes. I bet you’re much more wobbly with your eyes closed

Once you take away your vision, we have to rely on our other balance systems.

2) Proprioceptive System

Proprioceptors are little tiny cells that are specialized to sense the position, movement, and force of your joints and muscles.

Your brain and proprioceptors work together to create an internal map of where your body is in space, how it’s moving, and how much effort it’s using, without you having to look.

To make this make a little more sense, think about you sitting on a treatment table with your eyes closed. Your physical therapist then moves your big toe up or down. Without looking, you know exactly what position your big toe is in because of your proprioception.

That’s a very controlled example, but the same concept applies when you’re in the middle of a quick change of direction and your ankle starts to roll too far inward. Your proprioceptors sense the excessive roll and initiate a sequence that results in your muscles being fired to correct the ankle position, before you stretch your ligaments too far and get hurt.

You didn’t have to see your ankle roll, your body just knew what was going on.

The more you train your proprioception, the better calibrated that system becomes. The more efficient that system is, the more you can control the positions you get into.

Proprioceptors are highly concentrated in areas that require very precise control, like your fingers, feet, ankles, and upper neck.

3) Vestibular System

Your vestibular system is quite under appreciated.

The epicenter of your vestibular system is in your inner ear, in an organ called the “vestibular apparatus.” (Quite descriptive, huh?)

The vestibular apparatus has two main parts:

1. Semicircular canals
2. Otolith organs

The semicircular canals are responsible for sensing rotation. The canals are tiny loops filled with fluid and hair cells. When you rotate your head, the fluid flows over the hair cells and bends them. The hair cells are connected to nerves that send a signal to your brain about which way your head is moving and how fast it’s moving.

This mechanism is also why you feel dizzy after spinning: when you stop, your head stops, but the fluid inside the canals keeps moving for a few seconds, pushing the cupula and telling your brain you’re still spinning even though your eyes say you’re not.

The otolith organs are responsible for sensing linear movements (like accelerating and braking in a car, tilting your head, or going up and down in an elevator) and static gravity. The otolith organs are made up of a structure that resembles a layered cake.

• The top layer is made of otoconia, which directly translates to “ear stones.”
• The second layer is a gelatinous membrane.
• The third layer is made of hair cells
• The bottom layer is filled with nerve fibers connected to the hair cells.

When you accelerate in a direction, the pressure on the membrane from the stones changes and triggers the hair cells underneath. For example, if you’re shooting up an elevator, the pressure from the stones increases all through the membrane, which tells your brain that you’re accelerating straight up.

Or, if you tilt your head to the right, the stones shift to the right on the membrane and increase pressure over there. This tells your brain your head has tilted to the right.

A reminder on the musculoskeletal system…

If you’re too weak, you’ll fall down regardless of how great the other three systems are. If you aren’t mobile enough, you won’t be able to get into the positions that you need to stabilize yourself.

Don’t get so fancy that you forget to get strong and mobile.

Why did I write all of this?

I wrote this because you need to train it. And you need to train it regularly.

If you walk into our gym, you’ll see athletes on one leg, eyes closed, spinning, on uneven surfaces, and doing gymnastic movements. (Don’t worry, we’re not doing all of that at one time.)

These systems are trainable, so go train them.

Soul. Take care of future you and current you

I like this concept from James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter so much that I’m just going to quote it here.

“Each day, spend some time on two things:

1. working toward something that will pay off years from now

2. appreciating something that is happening right now”

I find the simplicity in that framework to be beautiful.

Do something to set future you up for success and contribute to the world, but don’t forget that all we really have is here and now.

Don’t get so caught up in the future that you miss the beauty around you right now.

Last week’s podcast AMA ⬇️

The Truth About Creatine: Myths, Teen Safety, and What to Buy

You can also listen on ​Spotify​ or ​Apple Podcasts​.

IN THIS EPISODE:

01:15 – The NBA Betting Scandal Explained (Rozier, Billups, Albanian Bruce)

07:35 – Main Topic: Supplements in High School & College Locker Rooms

10:10 – The Most Important Rule: The FDA Does Not Regulate Supplements

12:55 – What to Look For: NSF Certified for Sport & Informed Sport

14:45 – What is Creatine and How Does it Work? (The Phosphocreatine System)

17:51 – How to Read Research: A Guide to Scientific Studies

22:25 – Does Creatine Actually Work? (The Adult Research)

28:29 – The “Effect Size” vs. Statistical Significance

31:00 – Creatine Safety: The Kidney Myth (Creatinine vs. Cystatin C)

32:21 – Creatine Safety: The Hair Loss Myth

35:51 – The Real Question: Should Adolescents Take Creatine?

41:34 – What Form of Creatine is Best? (Avoid Gummies)

We’re recording another “Ask Me Anything” episode this week. If you have any athlete development, sports performance, rehab, or life questions for me, send them ​here!​ (Or just email me back if you find that easier.)

A couple important things…

1. This newsletter and podcast is completely free. I spend many hours each week researching, writing, illustrating, recording, editing, and uploading. The best way you can support it and allow it to continue is to share it with people you know. You can just send them to ​gtperformance.co/newsletter​ and they can subscribe there!
2. Everything in these newsletters, podcasts, social media, and on our website is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice for you or your athlete. Consult directly with a healthcare professional.

Thanks so much for your help in spreading the word about athlete development!

Be >,

Zach

Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS