🥇 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?

From our athletes:

Lauren White hit a 1.62 sec 1/10 Fly, 5 consecutive chin-ups, and a 23.2” vert!
Troy Downs went from 6′ 10.5″ in broad jump to 7′ 3″ and got 8 consecutive chin-ups!
Mason Wozniak ran a 1.36 sec X/10 fly!
Paige Sansonetti went from a 1.95 to a 1.74 1/10 fly!
Nate Meeder and Ryker Stecko have been crushing their weight gain on our nutrition coaching program. Nate’s put on 8 lbs in 4.5 weeks of nutrition coaching. Ryker’s put on 35 lbs since this time last year. Crazy what happens when you lock in your nutrition…
Jimbo Barry hit a 12.2″ vert!
Eric Guiser helped us break in the new force plates with an Isometric Mid-Thigh Pull of 1912 N and a peak RFD of 18,698 N/s!

In our business:

We’re getting more toys! Tech is becoming ubiquitous; coaches can’t hide by gatekeeping fancy machines anymore. Knowledge, application, and coaching skill win now… which makes us very excited. 💪

Physical deep dive: Don’t analyze your sprint technique until you master these 19 tests

You have to learn how to count before you can add, you have to learn to add before you can multiply, multiply before fractions, fractions before algebra, and algebra before calculus, so on and so forth.

The same goes for your speed development.

It doesn’t make any sense to start going in depth on what errors you’re making in the calculus of your sprint if you haven’t mastered multiplication yet.

Here are 19 things that you must master before you start breaking down your sprint technique:

Slow SL hop for 10 yds (both legs)
Fast SL hop for 10 yds (both legs)
Mini skips for 10 yds
Gallop pattern for 10 yds (both legs)
Hopscotch rhythm for 10 yds
4 Power skips for distance (both legs)
Power gallops for 10 yds (both legs)
Hopscotch for distance (both legs)
Broad jump
Triple broad jump
A-Marches
Double Tap A-Skips
Single Tap A-Skips
Quick Switch A-Skips
SL Double Tap A-Skips (both legs)
Seamless A-Skip Transition on command
B-Marches
B-Skips
Alternating Claws

What’s going on in my life?

Grace is still loving gymnastics and school.
Evie wrapped up soccer and was just incredible.
We are so blessed with the girls that we have. We’ve got a big surprise planned for the girls here in a couple of weeks that may or may not have to do with some magical mouse ears. If you see them, don’t tell them!
Rachel is feeling a little bit more sick again, but still better than the first trimester. We find out 1 week from recording this episode whether she’s carrying a little boy or a little girl. We’re unbelievably excited to find out!
I’m training to play in a Turkey Bowl with 4 objectives:
1. No major injuries on game day.
2. Have 4/10 or less pain on game day.
3. Be back to 0/10 pain within 5 days of game day.
4. Have fun playing a game I used to love.

Mental deep dive: The most motivational book I’ve ever read

Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote an autobiography when he was 30 years old.

He was the best bodybuilder in the world, but hadn’t yet done anything at all in the acting, business, or political spheres. He wrote it as man still gripped by obsession and you can feel it drip off the pages.

It consists of banger after banger of quotes.

The main themes I took away:

There is no place for being average or having a victim mindset.
Community and environment are non-negotiables.
Obsession is a gift. If you have it, you have to use it.
The gym is a training ground for life.
Your mind matters most.
There is so much beauty in the human body and the training experience.

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

This newsletter and podcast are completely free. I spend many hours each week researching, writing, illustrating, recording, editing, and uploading. The best way you can support them and allow them to continue is to share them with people you know. You can just send them to gtperformance.co/newsletter and they can subscribe there!
Everything in these newsletters and podcasts, on 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