128: Dr. Emily Splichal on Foot Sensitivity, Vibration and Athletic Performance | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

12/14/18 • 72 min

Today’s episode features Dr. Emily Splichal, podiatrist and human movement specialist. When it comes to the foot, many coaches and athletes realize its’ importance, but due to its’ complexity, we often don’t dig much further than realizing it is important to spend less time in socks and shoes, and more time moving around bare footed. Dr. Emily Splichal’s background in fitness and training offers a 1-2 punch that makes her an extremely valuable resource to the sport and exercise community. She is also the creator of Naboso technology, which offers textured surfaces to train on, such as exercise mats and insoles. Getting the feet to work properly is more than simply going barefoot, however, it is about understanding how the feet pick up sensory information, and then how to use that in exposing athletes to training environments that maximize the sensory capability of the feet. Too many times we will label a foot as “weak” when it really wasn’t sensing something it needed to in order for the proper muscles to fire and tense up the fascia that spirals up to the legs and trunk. In today’s podcast, Dr. Splichal will cover the ways that the foot picks up sensations, and how to manipulate training surfaces (and shoes) to maximize these sensations and improve performance. She also goes into the role of vibration in foot sensation, as well as how athletes must pick up on this vibration to deliver a proper impulse to the ground through the body. Finally she’ll give us her take on balance based work and the feet, as well as talking about Naboso technology. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Key Points Different types of nerves within the body, interoceptors and exteroceptors Ways the skin picks up sensation in the foot and the difference between slow and fast receptors How to utilize knowledge of the sense receptors in our footwear selection How vibration and surface type plays in to the athletes relationship with the floor Balance work in relation to foot sensation and adaptation Naboso Technology and textured insoles Dr. Emily Splichal’s Quotes “The four main mechanoceptors are broken down into two different classifications, two adapt to the stimulus slowly... the other two are fast adapting, which means that they respond to the stimulus and then they shut off... so they need a continuous on/off of a stimulus” “First slow adapting is Merkel disc and is slow adapting, sensitive to two-point discrimination (best analogy is braille)” “The second slow adapting is Ruffini ending, which is skin stretch” “Fast adapting, FA1 and FA2 are sensitive to vibration” “The vibratory mechanoreceptors are super important because they are tuned to the stimulus of impact... 70% of the receptors in the bottom of the feet are to pick up vibration” “If cushion in the shoes takes away vibration, it took away some of my athlete’s potential energy” “(On properly using elastic energy) You don’t want to be using your muscles for work, to take each step, when you do that you fatigue the muscular system and cardiovascular system” “Every surface vibrates differently” “Surfaces need to be a symbiotic relationship between the foot and the ground” “Dancing with the ground is the art and science of impact forces” “You have to have a sense of your body in space, how hard you are striking the ground, the rhythm of your movement patterns, the grace” “If you wear socks, wear as thin of a sock as possible... as much as I can I encourage people to go without a sock” “Surface hardness is really important, the softer the surface starts to become the more you disconnect the stimulus between surface, foot and brain” “Plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, IT band syndrome,

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127: Chris Chase on NBA Performance Training Menu’s and Tissue Optimization | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

Today’s episode features Chris Chase, who is currently the Director of Performance for the Memphis Grizzlies. When it comes to working with professional athletes, the world of sports performance is literally a “different ballgame” compared to what happens in the training of high school or even collegiate athletes. In keeping players on the floor throughout long and grueling seasons is not a mathematical equation, and coaches must create their own menu systems to ensure that athletes are encountering minimal risk in the weight room while getting maximal benefit to their tissues for resiliency on the field of play. In learning how coaches such as Chris cater to the needs of these athletes, we can all learn more about how to cater to our own athlete’s needs, regardless of training population. Chris Chase is the epitome of a coach who has honed his menu system for the needs of his athletes. In this episode, we’ll go into Chris’s go-to training methods and means for keeping his NBA players as healthy as possible while minimizing risk. We’ll also go into some of his squatting progressions, which has gotten a big influence from the Postural Restoration Institute, and how this is centered around hitting the right muscles in the right positions without inducing risk. Finally, Chris keys us in to how he approaches speed and movement training in this extensive episode on NBA physical preparation. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Key Points The role of a pro strength coach versus college or developmental ranks How Chris approaches barbell training with his NBA athletes Why and how Chris uses machine training in the NBA population Chris’s trainable exercise menu for his athletes How much of Chris’s menu is dedicated to health versus performance KPI’s How Chris uses the four jump for his NBA players Chris’s use of PRI in his performance program Squatting progressions for NBA players Speed and movement development for NBA populations and common causes of movement related injury Chris Chase Quotes “My job as a strength and conditioning coach is to put you in good, trainable conditions that maximizes the good and minimizes the bad” “A lot of barbell work is not on our guys’ trainable menu’s but that’s not to say that it won’t be at some point” “The dirty little secret (to performance and injury prevention) is consistent loading of tissues in the right way” “Sport is not health and wellness” “You need to do things that are more about the person in front of you than your own program” “My S&C performance work is very much just respecting position” “I just want to do the thing I can load you the most in at the time... I’m putting my athlete on the wall (to squat) because it is the only way he is going to feel his legs” About Chris Chase Chris Chase is currently the Director of Performance for the Memphis Grizzlies. Chris has previously served as a S&C Coach for the Atlanta Hawks, University of Southern California & the University of Rhode Island, catering to a variety of Olympic sports.

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129: Cal Dietz and Chris Korfist on French Contrast, Foot Training and Speed | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

Today’s episode features Cal Dietz and Chris Korfist, two highly regarded individuals in the world of sports performance who are no strangers to this show. I was excited about getting Cal and Chris on the show together since they created one of my favorite sports training book on the market: Triphasic Training for Football. In this manual, French Contrast training is used heavily throughout the entire training cycle, and the results of the program on high school football athletes were huge gains in sprinting and vertical jump abilities. We’ll kick off today’s show chatting about how the Triphasic Football Manual came together, as well as the idea that French Contrast training is something that isn’t just for peaking situations. From there, we get into something that Chris and Cal have been working heavily on, and that is training the foot. A good athletic foot requires more than simply doing calf raises, and Chris Korfist in particular has a variety of isometrics specially designed to train the foot in different aspects of gait. Cal Dietz is well known for his use of oscillating repetitions and the great results he gets form them, and we also cover the use of oscillating repetitions, not just in peaking situations, but their effectiveness to bring out explosive strength in athletes to a greater degree than standard repetitions. We’ll also touch on the Exogen weighted fusiform technology that is revolutionizing technique and special strength training for sports. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Key Points The creation of Triphasic Training for Football Tissue change in deep squatting Importance of the foot in athletic performance/vibration pickup Elastic contribution to movement in athletes and animals Foot strength training progressions Usage of oscillatory reps in strength training in non-peaking situations Use of the Exogen gear in sprint training Cal Dietz and Chris Korfist Quotes “If you consistently do deep squats, then the pliability of that quad tendon becomes less; and then you have altered a ton of free energy return that is a quick and explosive contraction” “The foot dissipates about 30% that comes into the body so you can properly deal with it” “When the foot hits the ground, it’s absorbing vibrations of what the ground is” “Your gait changes momentarily when you switch from one running surface to another; the best athletes can change and adapt quickly” “We wouldn’t have knee problems if we ran on air... the foot is the problem” “The basis of the foot is getting the isometric strength down first... if you don’t have the isometric strength, it’s just not going to work very well” “The true value of oscillatory reps is very specific stress” “Start using Exogen with the calf sleeves.... you are talking about rotational inertia” “The common thing you’ll see with people doing a high knee action is to throw their torso forward” About Cal Dietz Cal Dietz has been the Head Olympic Strength and Conditioning coach for numerous sports at the University of Minnesota since 2000. He has consulted with Olympic and World Champions in various sports and professional athletes in the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB, and Professional Boxing. During his time at U of M, he help founded and chairs the Sport Biomechanics Interest Group with its purpose to explore the physiological and biomechanical aspects of advanced human performance encompassing the various aspects of kinesiology, biomechanics, neuro-mechanics and physics. Dietz has also given numerous lectures around the country, as well as publish several scientific articles and dozens articles on training. Most recently, Dietz co-authored the top selling book, Triphasic Training: A systematic approach to elite speed a...