🥇 The Athlete Development Journal

Simple solutions for complex athletic problems.

For the full story, listen to this episode on your way to practice. ⬇️

You can also listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

If you just want the quick-hitters, you can read the summaries below. ⬇️

What’s going on at GT?

Ian DeCerb hit a 10’ 3” broad jump and a 36.6″ vert.
Nate Printz has been a man on a mission. Hit his bench press goal of 135 lbs for a 3RM. Hit 10’ 1.5” on his approach vert. Hit 7’ 9” broad. Hit a 10-yard dash of 1.72 sec. Boy’s getting strong.
Carson Cole is just someone who keeps getting better. Last year at this time he was running a 2.13 sec 1/10 Fly. He just hit one at 1.82 sec.
- That means he’s running three tenths faster in a 10-yard window.
- To put that in perspective, there’s a big difference between running a 4.7 and a 4.4 40-yard dash. That’s a 3 tenths difference, but spread out over 40 yards.
- To make a similar comparison, you’d have to 4x the difference. So, that’s like dropping 1.2 seconds off your 40 (like going from a 6.0 sec 40-yd dash to a 4.8 sec 40-yd dash).
Youth athletes have been crushing it.
We’re just really blessed to get to choose who we work with and have such a kind, hard-working community of athletes and parents.

Training deep dive: Everything you need to know about BPC-157

BPC-157 is a 15-amino-acid chain peptide that was originally isolated from human gastric juice.
It’s theorized to increase angiogenesis, which means blood vessel growth. The more blood flow you can get to a tissue, the more it can repair and regrow.
The most recent systematic review regarding orthopedics found 36 studies: 35 of which were preclinical. Only one human clinical… and it had relatively unconvincing results.
As of right now, there are only 3 human trials in totality, with a combined whopping total of 30 participants.
Only one of those looked at safety profile at all: that study only looked at 2 healthy adults for 72 hours?
It’s not FDA approved so, if you’re taking BPC-157 it’s probably manufactured in a janky compounding pharmacy that’s tainted with God knows what else.
Could it help with healing/tissue growth? Yes, maybe. Could it possibly fast track the growth of an undetected tumor? Also, yes. We have literally no clinical evidence.
There’s such a skewed risk vs reward profile right now, that giving BPC-157 to an adolescent athlete is outright dangerous.

What’s going on through my sports parenting lens?

Grace had a kid be mean to her at soccer, because she scored the first goal. So, we had to teach her about jealousy. She shut down a bit and wasn’t as assertive afterward, so we had to have a talk about that.
Grace is doing really well at swim lessons.
Evie is starting to actually listen to instructions, so we’re considering starting gymnastics soon.
Evie hates swim lessons, though.

Mental deep dive: My daughter wanted whiskey like I wanted the NFL.

On Father’s Day, Evie was reaching up on the counter trying to grab the present I got from my mother and father-in-law: a glass bottle of whiskey.

She wanted it… bad. Who knows why her little brain decided she was interested in that bottle, but she lost her mind when she couldn’t have it.

Everything about that bottle was bad for her.

It’s too heavy for her. She would instantly drop it. The glass would shatter and she’d cut herself.

Or, if by some miracle she did safely pull down the bottle and wave a magic wand to open it up, it’s filled with literal poison.

Her little almost-two-year-old brain is just not able to understand why I won’t let her have that bottle.

And that got me thinking… how often is that true for us, when we have no idea about it?

It used to bother me that I got my opportunity to compete for an NFL spot ripped away from me. I watch guys I played with and against, guys I have film proving that I was better than, have successful NFL careers.

But, that might be my glass bottle of whiskey. I was in a terrible mental spot my last year of college. I HATE traveling. I have simple desires. I don’t like talking to strangers. I become obsessed with being liked by others and crumble under their criticism. It’s quite possible that playing in the NFL could have killed me.

Let’s wrap it up with a couple of important things…

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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!

Go be great out there,

Zach

Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS