The LTAD Network Podcast

Ray Zingler is a Strength Coach, Entrepreneur, Consultant, and Author. He is the Owner of Zingler Strength & Conditioning, LLC., an Industry Leader in Performance Training for athletes, busy professionals, and military personnel. 

Ray is recognized as a Certified Physical Preparation Specialist and has been serving the Metro Atlanta, Georgia area since 2009. His blue collar, consistency and hard work approach to research based training has allowed him to serve thousands of clients. 

In addition to operating his training facility, Ray consults current and perspective gym owners on business structure and implementation. Beyond mentoring strength professionals, Ray consults high school sport and strength coaches, aiding in the development of program structure and design.  Ray also does contract work within local high schools and club sport organizations, implementing S&C programs within the team settings of a variety of sports.

In this episode Ray discusses:

Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor are Registered Sports and Public Health Nutritionists (AfN). Kate is a Performance Nutritionist with over 10 years' experience working with athletes, of all levels across various sports.  She has helped a number of athletes, including teens, achieve National & World Champion status in a variety of sports. She has been working at Crystal Palace Football Club Academy for 6 seasons and works with a number of tennis academies, sports clubs and schools. Fran has over 13 years' experience as a Public Health Nutritionist. She works with schools, youth and community organisations promoting fad free, no nonsense nutrition advice. She also works with young athletes & sports clubs including elite junior taekwondo, rugby, netball, gymnastics and athletics.

Together under the banner of "Performance Canteen", they work with elite young athletes, parents and coaches in academies, sports clubs and schools. They also have teenage athletes of our own and see first hand the lack of good nutrition advice out there, and the challenges that come with this.

In this episode they discuss:

Dr Sinead Holden is an Assistant Professor in Sport and Exercise Science in UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science. Her research interests are in optimizing musculoskeletal health and development during adolescent growth, with a view to understanding and preventing overuse and loading - related injuries and their consequences on health and performance in youth.  Her track record includes over 60 peer reviewed publications and >10 invited presentations.

In this episode she discusses:

Toby Edwards is currently a Strength & power scientist for Australian Track Sprint & BMX Race athletes as well as a Strength and conditioning coach and researcher interested in all things strength, speed, and power development. He had key involvements in podium performances at the 2022 World Championships and Commonwealth Games. He has experience providing strength and conditioning support to National, International, and Olympic athletes in Australia and the United States across several sports including Australian football, college basketball, college football, and track cycling.

In this episode Toby discusses:

Tom Green is the Head of Athletic Development at St Peters RC High School and holds an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in Strength and Conditioning (S&C) as well as being a qualified teacher. Outside of his role at the school, Tom works with the UKSCA to support the delivery of S&C within schools and for Catapult as the Youth Research Reviewer for Science for Sport. Tom has an extensive background in delivering quality S&C with over ten years of practice at elite, University and school levels.

In this episode Tom discusses:

In this episode we provide a preview of our upcoming LTAD Network workshop with Rob Anderson & Jared Deacon on the 25th & 26th February at the Engage Sports Centre, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland.

We cover:

Tom Clough has spent the past 20 years negotiating the trials and tribulations of working in professional Rugby League & Rugby Union. Learning from mistakes he made as a coach, as well as the adversity of clubs going through administrations and relegations through to the highs of promotion. Tom now works as the Head of Athletic Performance at Ulster Rugby, where he has spent the past 4 seasons. Tom has learnt that whilst you can make quick progress going it alone as a practitioner, you can also make big mistakes. Now he fully invests in trying to facilitate a co-created training environment where players and staff can consistently develop and perform.

In this episode Tom discusses:

In this episode Tulshi Varsani is joined by James Baker as they discuss the Youth Physical Development Model.

Ali Jawad is a 4x Paralympian, 2016 Paralympic silver medallist, 2014 World Champion, 2 time Commonwealth Games Bronze Medallist at 2014/18, PhD candidate and Co-founder of Accessercise.

In this episode Ali discusses:

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Lee Taft, known to most simply as “The Speed Guy”, is highly respected as one of the top athletic movement specialists in the world. In the last 30 years he has devoted the majority of his time training multi-directional speed to all ages and abilities. He has spent much of this time teaching his multi-directional speed methods to top performance coaches and fitness professionals all over the world. Lee has also dedicated countless hours mentoring up and coming sports performance trainers, many who have gone into the profession and made a big impact themselves.

In this episode Lee discusses:

Noorin Gulam took part in her first weightlifting competition just six weeks after starting the sport - and she hasn't looked back since. Gulam began lifting in her GCSE PE lessons and soon developed a talent and love for the sport. She was crowned 2022 British Champion in the 49kg weight class and holds the British Records with a 73 Snatch, 89 Clean & Jerk and 161 Total in the 49kg class. This summer she represented England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The 26-year-old has faced numerous ups and downs in her career through injury but never fails to bounce back. Outside of her own sporting achievements, Gulam is a weightlifting coach and content creator.

In this episode Noorin discusses:

Shannon Archer made her senior Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast in 2018 which saw her finish 10th in the Individual All-Around event. She also achieved 5th in the Vault final and competed in the Team Event helping the team secure a 5th place finish. At the 2022 Birmingham Games, Shannon claimed Scotland's first ever individual women's Commonwealth Games artistic gymnastics medal by claiming bronze.

In this episode Shannon discusses:

Beach volleyball was the hardest sport that Jess Grimson ever tried and that struggle for mastery has driven her to a second Commonwealth Games. Initially bound for a college soccer scholarship in the USA, the Leeds star spiked for the first time aged 13 at the behest of her pioneering P.E teacher. The four-time British champion reached the quarter-finals at Gold Coast 2018 with Victoria Palmer and will competed on home sand with a new partner in Daisy Mumby. 

In this episode Jess discusses:

Jake Henry is a professional rugby player, recently representing Scotland in Rugby 7’s at the HSBC World Series and the 2022 Commonweath Games in Birmingham.

In this episode Jake discusses:

Kelly Fillingham is a Performance Coach and Coach Developer. She is currently employed by Scottish Hockey as the West Regional Development Manager and the Head of Scottish Hockey Girls Emerging Talent Squad, as well as leading on the BRAVE Academy Program. She is also the Director of 360 Hockey.

In this episode Kelly discusses:

Professor Mark De Set Croix has published over 100 articles and presented at over 100 conferences across the globe. He works predominantly in football, identifying injury risk via screening and implementing prevention programmes. A key focus of his work is to help coaches develop their understanding of prevention strategies.

After undertaking his teacher training degree he knew he had an interest both in children’s sport and physical activity and a growing interest in science. He completed a PhD exploring how children’s muscle strength changes with growth and maturation and is now using that knowledge to explore how to reduce injury risk in youth sport. This has provided him with opportunities to work with some of the world’s leading football clubs.

Mark has just led an Erasmus+ European-funded project with partners in Spain and the Czech Republic to explore the knowledge and understanding of grass root coaches in terms of youth injury prevention. He has also obtained funding from FIFA, UEFA and the English FA to explore injury risk in female youth football, and works with organisations such as the England and Wales Cricket Board, Athletic Club Bilbao Football Club and Bristol City Football Club.

In this episode Mark discusses: