The Strong Savvy Cyclist & Triathlete Podcast

Summer is officially here, and that means it's time to hit the heavier weights (by RPE, or course!) and to get in some plyometrics alongside, to help get your power and strength on the bike or run up! But this goes against pretty much all "common knowledge"! In-season should be just my sport and "core work"....Not if you're looking for your best performances! But the Amount of heavy lifting and plyometrics you do matters, as does the quality of each. In this episode Jason Fitzgerald of StrengthRunning.com shares with us how to think about strength & plyometrics, as well as how to best dose them for the results you want, and deserve!

"Hey Coach, I wanted to ask you what pre-workout supplement do you think I should use?"..... "Hey, Quick Question, I just saw this new sports supplement 'kill the burn' that's supposed to help your FTP- what do you think?"..... The world of sports performance has rapidly been changing as more and more companies (both small and big) have entered the sports supplement market, to the tune of BILLIONS of $$$ being made each year.

So, what supplements are actually worth you hard earned time and money? This Episode covers 3 must-haves for anyone looking to improve their in-sport performance, as well as one supplement which some many consider giving a try.

***DISCLAIMER: You must consult your physician before taking any supplements to ensure that it is safe and healthy for you. I am not a Doctor, Dietitian, or Nutritionist, and these are only my opinions. You should seek professional guidance in order to determine what is right and safe for you.***

How should you train through your season (in strength training)? Should you skip your strength when you feel little sorenesses or tightspots, and just foam roll the crap outta them? Should you snowplow through and just "lift heavy $h!t"? Tony Gentilcore shares with us some fantastic and easy-to-use tips and advice on how to keep your strength training on point mid-season, so that you can look, feel, and move better than ever!

As Masters Athletes, what are the areas we should be looking for special considerations in our training? What are some things that we can do to improve our fitness and outcomes? We cover 3 important areas in this week's episode: 1. Are there special considerations for your "Aerobic Window"? 2. Special considerations for setting your training intensities 3. Special considerations for Strength Training --Please note that this week we do not dive into Peri- or Post-menopausal issues in this episode.

When we start to ride our bikes, or practice endurance sports, it often hits us as a bit of an addiction: How far can we go? What new roads and trails can we find? Where DOES that road at that last turnaround point for your 70 miler actually go? But as we progress, we begin to look around (mostly up) to see what the best around us are doing to see if we can emulate their progress (ok, ok, we want to do a bit better). While some may look to get as fast as possible, as quickly as possible, others, like co-host of the Wise Athletes Podcast Joe Lavelle, are eyeing optimization for longevity. Not this year, or next year, but the next 5, 10, or 20 years.

Joe sat down with us to talk about his journey as a podcast host and his quest to optimize for longevity: How he fell into road cycling through one of life's twists and turns, eventually found track cycling, and how he looks to reap the rewards, one step at a time, from the low-hanging fruits that are being offered to you at each step along the way.

As we venture on our quest to get in shape, get faster, or lose some weight, it seems everyone around us- especially those we love and whom we care for their opinions- have "thoughts" to share with us...which often undermine our very commitment and dedication to where we want to go. This short episode tackles a few of those objections, and shares tips on how you can keep on track.

What does it take to not only see fitness gains, but also more life in your current and future years, as a Masters Athlete?

How can you stay motivated for your longterm goals, while committing to your short term goals, that often don't seem to be in sync? This episode we talked with Dr. Jim Slauson in a deep-dive into how you can progress from being a Masters Athlete, to a Grand Master Athlete- one who not only has fitness and strength, but much more life, enjoyment, and balance, as you head towards Dr. Peter Attia's Centurian Decathlon.

Click to open most web pages related to cycling or triathlon and you're certain to find a number of articles touting the performance benefit of some kind of "new superfood" or "must-have" food. Following these articles can have you constantly shuffling your weekly menu, and constantly stressing about what you are or are not eating. In this episode we cut to the core of what foods we've seen help support hard training and racing over the last 10 years. Simple, easy to grasp, and even more important-easy to include in a sustainable and reasonable diet.

What do you get when you have a highly accomplished endurance athlete with a PhD in applied Physiology and who is an Registered Dietician? You get Namrita Brooke, with some absolutely stellar guidance on how to improve your nutrition for better performances. This week Dr. Brooke shares with us insights as to how we can best cut through the fluff in the media to figure out what and how to apply the latest research, the top 3-4 pillars for masters athletes, and much, much more.

How do you keep your strength training adaptations through the entire cycling & triathlon competitive season? It's both simple, and easy...but it takes a little knowledge and effort. Here's how!

Open your computer or smart phone these days, and you're bombarded with articles, social media snippets, and programs touting the latest and greatest "bio-hack" or "training tip" to help you get stronger, fitter, and faster. While some of these may hold some truth, and value, they are often another distraction from the ACTUAL thing you need to get results: Adaptation. In this episode expert cycling coach Tim Cusick shares with us deep insights into the importance of adaptation in the training process, and how he builds programs to ensure that the results they're after come to fruition. Get ready to hit warp speed on your results from your training, as we talk Adaptation!

There is a up and coming "trend" in strength training which is being called "Auto-Regulatory Training" in the research community. It's been mentioned in the Dr. Andrew Huberman Lab Podcast series with Dr. Andy Galpin, as well as through a number of recent articles. But what is Auto-Regulation Training? Is it really new? What do you need to know in order to use it best? 

"How do I improve my results?"

This is a question we all ask ourselves, whether it's in our cycling and triathlon performance, or professionally. While there are a number of ways we can improve our results, the crux of this question boils down to the core of: How do I become a better decision maker? In this episode we talk with Cheryl Strauss Einhorn to learn how to improve our decision making process by improving the process itself, and learning how to better tackle and recognize our blind spots, biases, and poor practices.

Wanna have your best year yet? These 5 steps will help get your on the fast track to a season filled with consistency, recovery, performance, and looking & feeling your best....but you need to start now!

Steven Moody has been a triathlon coach for over 20 years, over that time he has carefully sculpted his craft to allow each and every athlete with whom he works with to have a unique and powerful athlete-coach relationship. In this episode Steven gives you an insight as to how he thinks about the athlete-coach relationship, and gives insights and tips as to how you can improve your results, and your relationship.        A part of that, is building the level of trust to follow your coaches advice and guidance to take time off form training, structured training, or even doing any of your primary sports and instead, trying something different. 

If strength training is supposed to be good for endurance athletes, then why is it that we all seem to know one (or three, or five) others who have gotten injured from strength training? This episode talks about the top 5 general reasons why cyclists and triathletes get injured while strength training.

Breathing can have a far broader effect on your performance than many think. In this episode Mike Robertson shares with us insights as to how incorporating breathing into your strength programming can improve posture, recovery, power, and even mobility. 

Over the last few weeks while I've been recovering from my injury + surgery a few key items kept coming to mind, that I'd like to share with you... simply put: Recovery IS performance. Take a listen to this weeks short episode.

This episode is one I'm very excited to share with you, as I'm joined by Erin Carson of EC Fit Boulder, and Chris Peden of Combined Athletic Performance, to discuss strength training for endurance athletes. We cover a number of topics including Breathing, how we program strength training, as well as the role of strength training in an endurance athletes training regimen, and much more!

If you enjoy this episode, and have a question you'd like to have us discuss in future Coaches round tables, or here on the podcast, click on the "question" associated with this podcast episode, and let us know!

The last decade has been quite a wild ride: from cyclists & triathletes finally beginning to embrace strength training as a necessity, to weathering a pandemic, there have been lots of lessons learned.... This episode shares with you 10 Lessons I've learned in the last 10 years, that can help you get on the fast track to success, whether you're an athlete, a coach, or someone who just enjoys endurance sports. 

Each discipline of cycling has it's own demands on the body...this means different physiological needs, and to some degree, some nature or G-d given abilities are needed in order to succeed in some disciplines. This week we take a mini-dive into the reasons why Track Sprint riders are a completely different beast than the rest of us, and how you begin to weed out your Critical Concepts to help get more from your strength training and in-sport training!

For many of us, the challenge of cycling is not only about getting faster and fitter, but also about our evolution and growth as a human being; being pushed outside of our comfort zone, and to achieve new levels of abilities through our on-bike endeavors. And while power meters, heart rate monitors, and social apps like Strava and Zwift allow us to measure our outputs, what often is not measured, is how we use (or don't use) the process to improve.

Joanna Yates is a MTB Skills Coach out of Sedona Arizona, who is a living example of embracing the process and using the process, not the output, as a measure to growing towards our full potential. We hung out to talk MTB skills development, how to use the bike to become a better version of yourself, and the importance of stepping up to the challenges with a cool, calm, and collected energy. 

Why do endurance athletes rush into heavy lifting? Well, much of it has to do with our misunderstanding of how strength training works, and the processes that need to happen for us to safely and effectively lift heavy stuff. This weeks episode will help you have a better understanding of why we should ramp into heavier weights, as well as why your energy system trainings (intervals), seem to have a much faster time to improvement (because they do!).

When it comes to building top performances (regardless of whether you're a pro or a "recreational" endurance athlete), there are a lot of considerations that go far beyond your primary sport, and training "for sports results".  Kriss Hendy of Strength for Endurance and I sat down and talked how endurance athletes can get a lot more out of their training, not just through strength training, but by having a better understanding of you, as a whole. 

We cover:

and much, much more.

Connect with Kriss:

Back in October, Vern C. replied to an email I sent out to the HVTraining Newsletter with a great question: Does Squatting Make You More Quad Dominant? Should he instead do deadlifts to activate his posterior chain?

This weeks episode, as promised, I give Vern, and you, a deeper dive into this question, helping you understand why these aren't quite the questions we should be asking... 

If you haven't heard of Zoe Backstedt yet, you may not be much into the juniors levels of racing. But I really hope that todays episode with MULTI-DISCIPLINE and Multi-World Champion Zoe, and her performance team, will help you understand the massive wave of changes to how training is done for performance in cycling are happening.... and it's all coming as a trickle-up from the juniors. Thanks in large part to forward thinking coaches and parents, who, instead of relying on "research to tell them what works", would rather look for inspiration and ideas from other sports and realms of performance, to identify trends that are working.

In this weeks episode, forward looking folks are Strength Coach Chris Peden and Magnus Backstedt, who have sought out far better ways to help Zoe attain her "best self", through practicing a variety of sports, utilizing consistent strength training (not how everyone thinks or does it), and allowing Zoe to focus on the overall goal of ENJOYMENT of the process, not just results.

This interview is such a breath of fresh air in todays world of "research based practices" and "technology driving performance", as rather than taking a reductionist point of view, Zoe, Chris, and Magnus look for things that will help keep it fun, stay on track of the overall performance goals, all while allowing Zoe to be her best self, and have quite a bit of fun while doing so!

How do you know the strength training program your following is any good? We take a look at the top 3 ways that will help you know if your strength training program is good for your cycling and triathlon endeavours.

This week we answer an email asking a question many cyclists and triathletes have: How do I choose a strength training program that will actually help me?

We go over the 5 step crucial, yet simple, steps that you should take, when choosing a pre-made strength program. 

Breathing- if you ain't dead, you're doing it right.... right?   Well, not so much. Turns out that your breathing can significantly reduce your performance, and limit your recovery. Figuring out how to train your breathing, and not with some gimmick technology piece that doesn't work, can seem complex and overwhelming. This week Steve Neal shares his 30+ year experience coaching with you, to help you understand why breathing is important, what you can do to improve it, and how to easily implement it.

There are a few questions in history which remain unanswered: Why does Vanilla get such a bad rap? Which came first: Chicken or egg? And ho is a cyclist or triathlete to fit it all (strength training, cycling, recovery) in?  In this episode we take a detailed question on this subject from an HVTraining email list subscriber, and break it down, step by step, to help YOU learn the thought processes necessary to ensure you get the most out of your time and energy training.

In part 2 of this interview with Dr. Stuart McGill, we talk about the so often neglected/ overlooked lynchpin to performance and getting pain-free: move well 24/7/365.

Simple, but not easy. 

Pick up a copy Dr. McGill's Book: "Back Mechanic" to help gain better understanding of back pain, and how you can improve your daily habits to prevent it. 

As August winds down, and fall hastily approaches, many of us feel that we SHOULD be looking forward to the cooler days of fall, and the longer endurance rides that it often entails....yet that excitement to get out and ride is waning, and the appeal to stay in bed a little longer seems to be winning more often than naught.

This episode shares a few thoughts on End of Season Burnout and fatigue, and offers a few uncommon approaches in how to deal with it. While some are uncommon simply in their timing, others just aren't main stream (yet).

Links to the Stronger After 50 Strength Training program, Steps 1-3 now available on TrainingPeaks:

Strength Training is no longer "new" to cyclists and triathletes... Head out on nearly any group ride or masters workout and you're bound to hear others talking about their strength training, or at least something they've read about strength training for their sport. 

When it comes to strength training there is far more to it than the mechanics... In this episode we talk about the 4 Phases of Strength Training that nobody talks (or even thinks) about, yet has massive impact on what results you may get.

Mikael Erickson is known by many as the host of the very popular That Triathlon Show podcast and founder of Scientific Triathlon, a fantastic resource for endurance athletes.

In this episode Mikael reflects on his last 7 years and over 325 episodes of podcasting, and shares his thoughts on how we've progressed, and where things may be going.

Surf on any social media page or even on popular fitness blogs, and they'll sell you the idea that in order to get to high performance you need to do some crazy complex workout program. Oh, and don't forget the ego boosting or busting super complex exercises that get tons of likes on Instagram and Facebook (Hello high box jump and heavy squat and deadlift!). 

But if you're after real performance enhancement, and peak performances, it's actually a very different story. 

You can't handle the truth! Because it's way simpler than those great liars...(errr marketers), tell you it is. -Hat tip to Seth Godin on this one. 

The title says it all: Nobody asked me to share these concerns, but this is an episode I've been thinking about doing for over a year now. And, well.... it seems that the time is right for these concerns to be shared so that we can all begin having important discussions about them.

There are not definitive answers given, just some observations from some guy who's been in and around the fitness and performance industries for a bit.

Don Larkin is a strength coach based in Harrisburg, Pa, who has been working with endurance athletes of all ages and abilities for over 10 years. We sat down with Don to talk about how to be a more savvy consumer of information and "advice" that we see given online every day, that can lead us astray from what we actually need, or need to be focusing on. Questions covered include:

And perhaps most importantly, the critical skill of building a quality network of professionals with complimentary skillsets, and not hesitating to refer out.

This one's a great one!

Connect with Don

So you are strength training cyclist or triathlete....The big question is almost always: How often in a week should strength training take place?

5 days a week?

3 days?

This episode you get the no-nonsense answer.

Vern Gabetta has been coaching for over 50 years, and has penned more than 10 books on the subject. Over that time he has seen many fads and popular approaches come and go, all the while continuing to build strong, resilient athletes and human beings under his guidance. In this episode, Vern shares some of his wisdom on becoming a better coach, helping us understand the difference between statistical significance and coaching significance. 

We dive into the world of "specialization" and discuss whether it's helping us push training forward, or perhaps not having as big of a positive effect as we would think, and some various ways to help us learn more about movement, the human body, and how to develop strong, healthy, and lifelong athletes. 

This is a great episode that you won't want to miss!

Connect with Vern:

This weeks episode is a short one, as I share the focus for 2022:

Instead of more (books read, content produced) We're going to go deeper, and re-read some of the most influential books read, re-take the best courses, and produce a few new courses ourselves. 

It's not minimalism, but rather the ability to dig 8 inches wide, and go 5 miles deep. 

When it comes to making cyclists stronger on the bike via strength training, it's important to look at strength training from a different lens. Chris Peden does that...but he wasn't always a cyclist- far from it in fact.

In this episode Chris Shares his experiences that brought him to cycling a bit later in his athletic career, how he views strength training for endurance athletes, and some fantastic insights to help you get far more from your strength training, rather than just more weight on the bar or more reps. 

This one's a fantastic one!

Connect with Chris:

I've managed to pick up a case of Strep throat, so this weeks episode is a short, quick hitter with a few topics I've had the last week in the weight room.

Make sure to subscribe, as we've got some phenomenal guest interviews coming up that you won't want to miss!

When it comes to training these days, it seems that "research leads the way".
For most, this makes sense- the research shows us what works, and then we move in that direction....right?

Not exactly.

More often than not, the researchers are looking to figure out why what the best coaches in the field of performance are doing, works.

In the case of strength training for cycling and triathlon, researchers are just now catching up to the use of heavy weights in strength training for performance...but there is a lot of context that is missing in these research articles, much of which can leave YOU at risk of a serious injury!

This week, we take a look at recent posts by popular and well-meaning social media coaches, which lack context and understanding of strength training, it's risks to you, and what you should be looking to do to help you see performance gains from your strength training.

Ah, progression in your (or your athletes) strength training: Easy peasy! Add more weight, or, find a more advanced exercise.

Right?

Well, actually..... In this weeks episode Coach Brodie explains the 4 ways to progress your strength training, and the important criteria that must be met before even considering changing the programming. And the "common ways" of changing the program? Aren't the best options- most of the time. It depends. 

How should triathletes approach strength training?

Should they lift until their muscles are burning?

Should they do "sport-specific" movements that look like their running or swimming?

Do they target "limiter" muscles, like the triceps and calves?

What should their strength training periodization look like?

In this weeks episode we cover all of the above, as well as the top 3 mistakes triathletes make within their workouts, that leaves them programming their muscles (and bodies) for the exact opposite effect than that which they want.

You don't want to miss this one....

As we prepare to turn the clocks back this weekend, many endurance athletes are looking ahead to next summer's events and riding. . .But have you taken the time to dive back into your past years work to figure out a better plan?

Deena Blacking is a cycling coach, lawyer, and writer based out of Girona, Spain. Originally from the UK, Deena has been developed a coaching approach to help her riders, and readers, to not only get great results, but also to develop a far better plan. In this week's episode Deena sat down with us to share her philosophy and approach, to help you (or your athletes) get far better at reading what's been, and plan to a far better what will be.

Connect with Deena:

This weeks episode is a bit different. My energy has been really low (thanks, Corona), but I wanted to stay consistent. So, here we are! I share a few thoughts on the mindset of coaches these days, as well as the state of the fitness world, which has become so obsessed with marketing, and cheap subscriptions models. 

Like it, or dislike it, this week is a slower paced episode, with some thoughts and observations.

This week we sat down to talk with Fast man Colin McKenna, a 2x HVTraining athlete, who's seen absolutely phenomenal results following the strength training for cycling performance approaches here at HVT.

Here's the thing that pretty much no one believes: Colin has gotten stupid strong and fast, not having used a weight more than 45#.....He's not the only one:
Carolyn G. who has been in the Big Gear Blueprint program since March, has also gotten really fast, having set lifetime PR's after 5 weeks off the bike, while continuing just her strength training and doing some free-form running!

Today, Colin shares with you his journey over the last 20 or so months, how he's progressed, some of the obstacles he's faced, as well as the many accolades- and disbelief by others- that he could get so strong and fast without "lifting heavy shit", spending hours in the gym, or getting sore at all from his strength training. So much so, that a number of his rides have been tagged as "e-bike rides" on Strava" (They're not, he has witnesses, too).

Follow Colin:

The more I experience, and the more conversations I have with others who've had corona, and the coaches of those who've had corona, the more I come to conclude that there is no one common pathway to return to sport. 

This week I share an update as to how things are going, and how I'm dealing with these challenges. 

The Strength Training for Cyclists Certification will open here at the end of October, so be sure to sign up for the Insiders List (it's free) to get free bonus content, and $200 off the public price.

What is the ONE thing that can have the biggest impact on whether you succeed in something, or fail?

On a macro level, a huge determination of success or failure, and especially so the speed of which you achieve or fail- is the setup.

Chris Abbott is the co-host of the Breakthrough Secrets Podcast, and has been in the fitness industry for nearly 13 years. In this time he's gone from a trainee, to a trainer, to a gym owner, and has had his fair share of success along the way- and some failures as well.

Today Chris shares with us some insights as to his mental maps which he's developed through his journey, which have helped him speed-up his ability to help his clients, and progress himself as a human and as a coach. The anchor of this mind-map may surprise many, yet it makes complete sense: 

The Setup is the most important part...

Well, this sucks. 

Less than 24 hours before I was due to fly to Leuven, Belgium, to present at the Science in Cycling Conference and to teach a 1 day Masterclass on Assessment for Strength Training for Cyclists, I tested positive. In this short episode I share a brief overview of my experience thus far, and try to add a little value to your life. 

Did you or someone you know catch Corona?
I'd love to hear about their/your experience, and path back to riding/running/swimming!
Email me: Brodie@HumanVortexTraining.com

With Labor Day behind us, many cyclists are turning to base training, which for a growing number of cyclists, means hitting the weights. While hitting the weight should provide a big boon to your on-bike performance, many are making a few simple mistakes that are costing them the very things they're after from their strength training. 

In this episode we talk about strength training for cyclists, and how to avoid the mistakes that following the current trends will lead you to. 

Matt Fitzgerald has helped hundreds of thousands of endurance athletes over the years through his books, writings, and training programs. Over the last few years Matt's books and writings have had major tones of mental training, sports psychology, and "what it takes to make it" above and beyond the physical preparation for events. 

In this episode we sat down and talked with Matt about his latest book "The Comeback Quotient", how he sees tragedy & resilience being the same playbook, the importance of getting comfortable with uncertainty, and how his experiences as an athlete and writer have helped him as a coach. 

Strength Training is here to stay. It's finally getting attention in the mass media, which means articles videos, and lots of content from well-meaning coaches and professional journalists. . . While this is a step in the right direction the vast majority of these resources and the information within, are aimed towards endurance athletes in their 20's, 30's and 40's. 

From how to train, to what exercises to do and when, Masters athletes over the age of 50 are often not included in the conversation, despite having different needs and some changes to the training approaches. 

In this episode we talk about the important considerations you need to take as your enter your 5th decade and beyond, to help you live a truly strong, fit, healthy, and resilient active lifestyle with the help of appropriately designed strength training plans for you and your body. 

Jay Croft has been writing about fitness for quite some time...but he noticed there's a huge gap in the information that's being written, and the individuals who are looking for good, high-quality information that is going to help them:

Those aged 50+

So he started writing fitness content geared specifically for those aged 50+, their unique needs, and helping to decipher much of the fitness information out there, into easy to understand and enact pieces of information.

In this episode we talk about how masters athletes can get far better results by understanding who the content they read or consume is geared to, how to easily adjust or adapt it for your needs, and much more!

Science, it seems, has become the be-all, end-all for everything training these days.

"Show me the research proving this works" riders and coaches alike proclaim, while talking about training approaches. Many cyclists and triathletes these days outright refuse to do a specific workout- or even strength exercise- if there isn't a research article "proving it works" or "showing it's valuable.

This has now reached "official absurdity levels", as the endurance training world has apparently lost their northern star of the training world: The ONE subject matter who, well, matters:

YOU. 

In this episode we discuss why this mentality is a problem, how it's doing you a disservice, and how research is often driven by whats popular/ buzzworthy in the public, and a number of other outside factors. 

Research is useful, but only when it's used with the right mentality and applied well. 

When it comes to working through and around obstacles in life, Mike Kurkowski has had quite a few- from beating Leukemia as a 3 year old at a time when it was pretty much unheard of, how he re-learned how to move well as a 20-something year old after having a pin in his leg for many years that changed his movements, and how he became the co-host of The Breakthrough Secrets Podcast, where he and co-host Chris Abbot have some the most incredibly deep and meaningful conversations with health, fitness, and training professionals. 

In todays episode Mike and I tackle some pretty important topics- from how he became a really good thinker, and figuring out the foundations and details that matter most to a situation, to the vital difference between train track and highway training. 

In this episode we break down specific action items for each of the 3 types of endurance athletes:

Creating the margin of safety in your training for improved results will take 3 different routes for each of these kinds of athletes. Some will focus on training related things, and others on non-related items. But finding the right thing to focus on will have a huge impact on whether or not you can create that margin of safety in your training to see greater results with less time, or not. 

Lee Welton is a Physical Therapist and strength coach for hikers and backpackers. An outdoor enthusiast himself, Lee enjoys adventures in the great outdoors, and spent some time with us discussing:  The similarities between hiking and biking The importance of strong feet Mistakes cyclists and triathletes make when adding hiking to their fall or winter training How to stay strong, resilient, and injury free and much more! Lee is a wealth of knowledge, and shares some deep insights into how to tie together strength training for performance and cross training, while allowing the latter to be an enjoyable mental and physical break from your chosen sport! 

Get some virtual trail magic from Lee: 

Over the last 15 years or so, there has been a strong tendency to only rely, or to rely heavily, on the newest, latest, and supposedly "greatest". . . but in doing so, many coaches, athletes, and general health & fitness folks have missed out on the huge wealth of knowledge that has been accumulated to date. 

Certainly, some things we have learned from experience are not as useful or applicable as previously thought, yet many other fundamentals have been learned, refined and practiced to far better levels than what those in modern society would. 

NEW dominated old, and once we have used something, read it, or learned it through a passing or two, it's on searching for the next new idea or thing.

In todays episode we talk a little about the importance of re-reading or re-taking old courses, finding sound information in books of yesteryear, and internalizing the truth that: There is very little or nothing new under the sun, and in our micro-focused world, we tend to miss out on easy wins and important details in the macro.  

Greg Choat is a performance specialist based out of Las Vegas who has worked with a number of athletes from a variety of sports, ranging from UFC and Olympic level Badminton to cyclists and triathletes in the amateur and professional levels. In this episode our main topic is when and how to get more aggressive with your bike fit during the season. The answer will surprise many cyclists and triathletes, and bring into light a few really important considerations which are missed when talking about "getting more aero".

In this episode we also talk about:

-Explosion of indoor cycling (via Corona, Zwift, and Peloton)
    -The difference between riding indoors vs. riding outside
-His deep dive the last 4 years into the nooks and crannies of bike fitting (After nearly 20 years of bike fitting)
-The horrible bike fits that can be seen at Professional Triathlon's and TT races (and why they prevail despite our knowing better)
-Why your musculoskeletal FUNCTION will dictate your on-bike FORM
-Why you shouldn't deadlift off the floor as a cyclist or triathlete...at least not to start

And much more!

Connect with and follow Greg on:

In this episode we talk about the acceptance of low back pain in cyclists- especially in their non-riding daily life- and how we need to be very mindful of the culture(s) which surround us: Their strengths, weaknesses, biases, and how we should continually ask good questions and not simply follow along.

Dr. Kasey Hill has joined us again to talk about strength training for runners, the process of getting the most out of your strength training. We talk about a number of absolutely vital topics including: Injury Prevention, Barefoot Running, not-so popular variations of plyometric warmups to help with better coordination and power expression in your running, and even the use of walk-run intervals and how they can help you become a much better runner and triathlete!

Connect with Dr. Hill:

As we learn more about training, racing, fitness, and ourselves, there are many different items vying for our attention, screaming that we'll fail without it.

But what truly is the most important thing?

This week we take a look at the most important thing for cyclists, triathletes, coaches, and well, actually, anyone who's looking to improve themselves in their health and wellness!

Chasing PR's, podiums, being a stronger, faster cyclist or triathlete is great- but where does it get you in the big picture of life?
If you're not paying attention to what you're becoming in pursuit of those goals, the answer is: Not Much!

In this episode I sat down with The Breakthrough Secrets Podcast's co-hosts Chris Abbot & Mike Kurkowski to better understand:
Are you being COACHED, or ENABLED? And what's the difference between the two?

What makes each one of us a success?

Is it the same in fitness and business?

What are we actually after with our athletic endeavors?

This episode we get into 4 unfounded and completely unreasonable "common sense" and popular items making their way around the internet these days, and why each one of them is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes, the internet is full of "information", but without a gatekeeper, fact-checker, or better understanding of the foundational knowledge needed to actually understand what's flying, we're all prone to follow incredibly bad advice.

Running with a power meter may seem a bit, well, odd, as many tend to think of power meters as being these relatively big pieces of equipment. But thanks to STRYD Power Meter, runners from around the world are now able to dial in their running with the help of power. But translating the data and HOW to utilize it takes a very different skillset and understanding than that of cycling.

Steve Palladino has been helping runners of all abilities learn how to train smarter through power based training, since the introduction of the running power meter. In this episode Steve shares the metrics you need to pay attention to to help you get more out of your time running, a few of which may surprise you. 

Are you looking for the latest and greatest "recovery" tool? 

Thinking about buying a theragun, or  those fancy recovery boots?

Sure you can spend your hard earned cash on some things that you can hold in your hand....or.... you could spend some time doing something that actually has a far bigger impact on your recovery and adaptation:

Sleep.

This week we talk about the top 3 reasons how your lack of sleep/sleep quality is keeping you from gaining the fitness that you are training for, and 5 simple ways you can turn the tables on your training, recovery, and fitness- most of them free, and the others far less expensive than a theragun. 

Tim Robinson was born into a "coaching & teaching family", and has found his own passion and love in coaching. After having worked in the Division 2 football world, has transitioned to helping coaches reach more athletes via the TrainHeroic platform. Tim and I sat down to talk about coaching and how to be the best coach you can be.

But our conversation went so much deeper than to be only for coaches, we went deep on topics that effect anyone who is involved in fitness, for themselves or others, and wants to leverage fitness to help them perform more optimally in their own lives. 

Perhaps the two biggest takeaways from this conversation:

1. Understanding how to communicate

2. Becoming a better listener and "interviewer"- as a coach, and human being. 

If you looking to become a better human being and coach, this episode is a must listen!

Connect with Tim

Are you cutting strength training out of your weekly training schedule?

This episode is a MUST listen, and NOW is the time to lift heavy things! (March to May/June for northern hemisphere).

But you'll need to have done the preparations in order to be truly prepared. Take a listen to learn about why and how to keep your strength training going, to see on-bike performances.

Mike Robertson has been a leader in the field of Strength Training for Performance for over a decade. Through his writing for T-Nation and his educational courses, Mike has helped shape hundreds, if not thousands, of strength coaches over that time to be the best coaches they can be for the only client that matters: The one right in front of them.

In this episode Mike talks about:

I asked mike some tough questions, and we got to really dig in to some great areas. 

Connect with Mike

Why do cyclists and triathletes seem to inevitably get back pain?

This question, and pain, has plagued tens of thousands of cyclists and triathletes over the decades, yet nobody seems to have a clear-cut answer.

In this episode, McGill Certified Practitioner and USA Cycling + USA Triathlon Certified Coach, Menachem Brodie, helps explain some of the unique variables and not-so-well-known facts about development of back pain, and a few tips to help you turn the tables on that ache!

Erin Carson, whom many know as the coach at EC Fit Strength Boulder, is one of the few strength coaches in the endurance world who has been able to interlace strength, performance, and long-term athlete development for those she coaches of ALL ages and abilities. 

In this episode Erin and I talk a lot of the details of strength training for performance, and how it is very different than just picking things up and putting them down. 

In particular, we talk about how it takes time to get under load. This is something many endurance athletes and their well-meaning coaches miss, as they rush to add kilos to the bar or to load a movement...

It depends on your previous strength training and loading experiences. 

Just because you can produce force, doesn't mean that your tissues are able to handle those forces: For example, in 2019 there were 7 of top 20 men in pro triathlon has sacral stress fractures, due to tissues not being ready. Talk about a completely avoidable training related injury!

We cover this, and a number of other really important, but not oft talked about parts of strength training for endurance athletes, and how to program and progress for performance where it matters!

Check out Erin's ECFit Strength company:

All-out efforts: the bane, and backbone, of many cyclists training regimen.

While we dislike the pain, we love the rewards....You ARE getting the full rewards from these, right?

In this episode Coach Brodie shares a few insights on how to get far more out of your all outs, to help you achieve the best possible results you can, on the time and energy you invest in your training.

As endurance athletes, we tend to think that we are tough.... soccer (football) players, not so much...But what does it take to continue to keep fighting, building, and progressing, through the bigger setbacks life throws at you?

And to become a World Champion.

And then an Olympian.

And then to have the Olympics delayed a year due to the pandemic?

Amber Neben sits down and shares with us her journey to becoming a World Champion and Olympian, where we dive into a number of topics that many don't talk about- from mental toughness and the struggles that help you become the best you can be (if you respond instead of react), as well as how faith and gratitude has been a guiding light for her over the years. 

What is "The Core"?

Why does everyone seem to think that it's just your stomach/ soft midsection?

What do you need to do as a cyclist or triathlete to train your "core" to actually see performance benefits?

And, why many who say they're "evidenced based" actually fail the litmus test, when it comes to training "the core" for performance...

All that and more on this weeks episode!

Colin Sandberg has been coaching cyclists from all ages and abilities for over 10 years, including time in China, and working with the Young Medalists program in Philadelphia. In this episode Colin and I talk about:

And much more

Find Colin Online:

Training with Heart Rate Variability: Peeking Under The Hood & Knowing Which Dials to Turn

Heart Rate Variability based training is becoming more of a buzzworthy topic these days. While many are spitting out highly marketable information about HRV, very little of that information will help you get more dialed in with your training.

In this episode we take a dive into the world of HRV training, to help you choose the right tool, and the right method, to help you actually TRAIN with HRV- not just work out. 

Hunter Allen is known around the world for his work in helping make the power meter into the incredibly powerful training tool that it is today. His work with Dr. Andy Coggan to write the foundational book "Training & Racing with a Power meter" has revolutionized how cyclists and triathletes approach their training (and racing)....Yet there are still a few areas that have either misconceptions about, or straight up are being done incorrectly thanks to "common knowledge" (aka heresy!)

In this episode we cover:

What myths Hunter wishes would just DIE, when it comes to training with power

- How unlike Formula 1 racing, where there is a "trickle down" effect of the technology, in cycling it's a "trickle up and out" effect from coaches and amateur racers
- How power based training can allow you to ride WITHOUT staring at the numbers the entire ride
- Why the center of your training should be FUN, with numbers giving guidance to some of the ride, so you can get what you need training wise
- Why you DON'T HAVE to hit the exact numbers on every ride
- Why if you're using power, you NEED a bike fit from a great bike fitter, to really help you harness & use those numbers
- The skills that EVERY cyclist must learn in order to improve. . . with or without power
-Why preventing poor habit from the beginning is integral to success

and more!

Lift Heavy Sh!t! May be the current mantra, and while it offers some returns, there's a far smarter way to work, that will offer you even better returns: Purposeful Movement.

This week we take a deeper look into what purposeful movement is, and how you can begin to think on how to build purposeful movement into your programs, for far better results.