Athletic Lab's Director of Scholastic Training, Matt Hunter, gives insight into a model for long term athletic development. Along the way, he covers training injured athletes, the use of games in training, and thoughts on periodizing training for youth athletes.

Coach Matt Hunter explains the differences in training change of direction ability vs. Agility and how to start/progress training.

Coach Greg Gustin reviews an article by John Grace, originally posted on Fitforfutbol.com about how to simplify the athlete monitoring starter pack.

Coach John Evans picks Coach Mike Young's brain about how limb length matters in sprinting.

In the latest episode of the Sports Performance Podcast, Ivan talks with Dr. John Kiely, Senior Lecturer in Elite Performance at the UCLAN Coaching & Performance Institute. This is Part 2 of a two part series.

In the latest episode of the Sports Performance Podcast, Ivan talks with Dr. John Kiely, Senior Lecturer in Elite Performance at the UCLAN Coaching & Performance Institute. This is Part 1 of a two part series.

Greg Gustin sits down to expand upon a previous article he wrote for elitetrack.com on Reactive Strength, as well as offer a preview of his upcoming presentation at the High-Performance Athletic Development Conference on May 26-27 at Athletic Lab.

In episode 16 of the Sport Performance Podcast, Ivan talks with Dr. Shona Halson of the Australian Institute of Sport about Sleep quality, quantity, and other recovery methods for athletes. Here is the full list of the topics covered in this episode:- Background, education, and experience- Sleep quantity vs quality- Best methods to assess sleep out…

Agility training is commonly mistaken simply as scripted cone drills and lateral changes in direction when, in fact, it's much more than that. Coaches Mike Young, Matt Hunter, and Greg Gustin discuss the mistakes coaches are making and how to make sure your agility sessions are covering all aspects of agility.…

Speed training is commonly misunderstood in team sports and usually what is dubbed speed training isn't speed training at all. Coaches Mike Young, Matt Hunter, and Greg Gustin discuss the mistakes coaches are making and how to make sure your speed sessions are actually going to make your athletes faster. This is part of Discussions in the Lab Episo…

The Vertimax is a popular, albeit very expensive tool used by many Strength and Conditioning Coaches. In this episode of Discussions in the Lab, we are talking about the facts and fallacies of Training. In Part 1, learn why you’ll never see a Vertimax inside Athletic Lab and why our athletes still jump high and run fast.…

Competing is important for both goal oriented and process oriented athletics and can be a fun and rewarding experience for fitness or CrossFit enthusiasts as well. If you enjoy doing the Olympic lifts in your training (Snatch and Clean and Jerk) then you should be competing in the sport of Weightlifting!…

John did a quick interview with Chinese Women’s Volleyball strength coach Rett Larson on preparing them for the Rio Olympics and ultimately winning Gold.

Unstable Surface Training is often mistaken for functional, or even sport specific training. Yet almost all sports are played on a solid, stable surface. So what is the value in this type of training and is there ever a place for it? Greg, John, and Matt have the answer in this final part of our Discussions in the Lab Episode 10…

Velocity Based Training: SPP Episode #15 with Dr. Bryan Mann

Dr. Paul Comfort is the president of UKSCA and professor at University of Salford - Manchester, UKIn this episode: - Background, experience and education- Isometrics (testing and training application)- Dynamic Strength Index (DSI)- Scaling ratio methods while assessing and comparing athletes- Weightlifting movements in sports- “Optimal load“ for pe…

Part 1 of our 3 part "Mythbusters" style Discussions in the Lab looks at how Speed Ladders (or agility Ladders) are being used Incorrectly and how to use them the RIGHT way.

In this episode, Matt discusses some of the more atypical athletes he is currently training. A Dog Agility Racing athlete and two BMX athletes are not your usual basketball, football, soccer, or even CrossFit athlete....but does that really change how you train them? Matt takes you through how he gathers information relevant to assessing and traini…

In this episode Mike, Drake, and Greg are back talking about CrossFit, this time having a little fun. They were challenged with a 15-minute "EMOM" (Every Minute on the Minute) of questions. 5 Questions, each getting a minute to answer.

In this episode....1. Background2. Publishing papers on Cluster training3. What is the mechanism by which Cluster Training overcomes fatigue?4. A case for traditional training methods for hypertrophy5. Standardizing the language in Cluster training publications6. Can you differentiate and describe protocols that have been used as a cluster in scien…

Bob Alejo is a 35-year strength and conditioning and administrative veteran at the collegiate, professional, and Olympic levels. Currently the Director of Sports Science for Power Lift, Coach Alejo has directed strength and conditioning collegiately at CSU Chico, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and North Carolina State University (Assistant AD). Profession…

Reactive strength index (RSI) is a metric we use to help assess an athlete's elasticity. In this first ever live-streamed episode, Drake, John, and Greg discuss how it's used and what to do with the information collected from an RSI testing protocol. The guys also discuss how different box heights can affect an athlete's RSI, and how having an outs…

John, Drake, and Greg talk about common weaknesses seen in beginners and how to address them, followed by weaknesses and challenges in more advanced populations. Finally, the coaches talk about where in training it is appropriate to work on correcting weaknesses.

Bob Alejo recently stopped by for a guest lecture with our interns and staff. Bob spoke about his philosophy on Power Cleans and whether or not it is necessary to catch a clean or just utilize pulling variations. Very interesting topic and somewhat of a hot debate for many coaches in the industry.

Mike, Drake, and Greg discuss how we program our Performance Fitness (CrossFit) program from the general population pursuing a healthy lifestyle to the athlete looking to compete in the sport of CrossFit.

In a final Q&A with Dr. Mike Young, the summer interns ask him about his coaching career, training, traveling, and more.

Pete Friesen recently stopped by for a guest lecture with our interns and staff. In all honesty this audio is probably not the best way to get this information as there was a lot of hands on stuff going on with demonstrations. If you have the time, go to facebook.com/athleticlab to view the full video and get all the visuals!…

Drake Webster, Matt Hunter, and Mike Young talk about how to still get quality training done when your athlete has an injury.

John Evans talks about quanitifying the intensity of plyometrics

Coach Matt Hunter discusses why a Sprinter would put an importance on Pull-Ups in his/her training.

In this week's episode, we sit down with our summer interns and talk to them about their experience at Athletic Lab this summer. If you're interested in learning more about an internship at Athletic Lab, go to www.athleticlab.com/contact/internship-opportunities/

So you've administered the YoYo test to your athlete and got a score, but how do you use that score to program your training? Coach Greg recently took to anchor to touch on a few key things to think about so you're not just testing the YoYo for no reason.

Episode 2 of "Discussions in the Lab" is up on YouTube NOW. Matt Hunter, Greg Gustin, and John Evans talk about how to prioritize your training when time with your athlete(s) is limited.

In this first episode of "Discussions in the Lab", Mike Young, Greg Gustin, and John Evans discuss a track athlete that is a stud in training but can't replicate those performances when it really counts, in competition. Find out why this may be the case and how to begin to fix it.

Episode 11 features James Baker. James is a Physical Education teacher and Strength Coach for St. Peter's High School in Gloucester, UK. At St. Peter's James developed the Elite Performance Pathway (EPP), a system focusing on the development of youth athletes in the school system and developing strength, speed, power, and agility from the ground up…

Dan is the Head Jumps and Multi-Event Coach at Altis in Phoenix, Arizona. Dan has coached multiple Olympic medalists including 100m Olympic champion and world record holder Donovan Bailey, with his most recent medalist coming in 2012 with long jumper Greg Rutherford. Dan has also coached at famed collegiate programs including LSU, University of Tex…

Part 2 of a two-part series on all things sprinting with Mike Young. Part 2 discusses ways to apply the current research on sprinting on the track and in the weight room. Discussions include general guidelines on sprint volume and rest, how to autoregulate the sprint session based on speed decrement, the importance of max strength and elastic quali…

Sprints Q&A with Mike Young - Part 1 of 2. This podcast features discussions on sprint speed for track and field and court sports, posture as it related to the athlete's ability to apply force and sprint, and the debate on horizontal vs. vertical forces in sprinting and some of the research debunked.…

Dan Baker is a strength and power coach, researcher, and educator. Dan has a PhD in sport science specializing in velocity based training, and strength and power training. Dan was the strength coach for the Brisbane Broncos for nearly 20 years and won league titles in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2006. Dan also serves as the president of the Australian St…

Keith Scruggs is a PhD student and Performance Coach at the University of South Carolina. Keith earned his Master's from East Tennessee State University working under Dr. Mike and Dr. Meg Stone. Keith has also served as a Performance Coach at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center working with the Bobsled and Skeleton athletes.…

Mike Young, Owner of Athletic Lab, answers questions on Olympic weightlifting for sport. Topics of discussion range from why we would use Olympic weightlifting to develop athletes, guidelines on programming the lifts, ideas on work capacity, EMOMs, and complexes, should we use both Snatch and Clean and what types of variations within the training y…

Ryan Horn is Director of Performance for the Wake Forest University Men's Basketball Team. He's in his third year with the team and spent previous years coaching at Tulsa, VCU, Robert Morris, and Liberty University. This episode covers challenges as collegiate strength coach, managing fatigue at home and on the road as well as managing detraining t…

Nick Winkelman is the Head of Athletic Performance & Science at the Irish Rugby Football Union. He has earned a PhD from Rocky Mountain University with an emphasis in motor learning and sprinting. Nick is formerly the Director of Education and Performance at EXOS where he headed the NFL Combine Prep and worked with athletes from the MLB, NBA, NHL.W…

Greg Everett is a weightlifting coach and owner of Catalyst Athletics. The author of Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches and Director of American Weightlifting. When you think of weightlifting and weightlifting education in the U.S., Greg is at the top of that list. In this episode we'll discuss three main ways to become …

Mladen Jovanovic is a Performance Coach and Sport Scientist for Port Adelaide FC of the AFL. Previously Mladen has worked with soccer, volleyball, tennis, and basketball. In this episode we will cover team strategies and cultures with regards to soccer and the AFL, Agile Periodization methods compared to other, traditional, methods, and big-picture…