Scot Prohaska on Total Athlete Development, Leadership, and The Six Lanes of High Performance

Today’s episode features athletic performance coach, Scot Prohaska.  Scot is distinguished as a nationally recognized sports and executive performance consultant.  Scot runs his performance center out of Los Angeles, California, and works with a wide range of athletes, from professionals and Olympians at the highest level, to scholastic athletes.

Scot has traveled across the globe studying with leading experts in exercise physiology, kinesiology, physical therapy, biomechanics, strength, conditioning, nutrition, mental and emotional focus, as well as strength.  Through his years of coaching, and learning from leaders in multiple fields, Scot has developed the “Six Lanes of High Performance”, which is a holistic view at looking at all elements that go into being an athlete (not just the physical element).  Scot’s athletes not only find success on the field, but are impacted by his work on a holistic level, and often achieve positions of leadership in their subsequent athletic, and life, endeavors.

As I’ve gone further along in physical preparation/athletic performance, I’ve truly realized that there is much more to offer athletes than simply increasing their 1-rep maxes in lifts, or even trying to increase KPI metrics, such as sprint ability or jump height.  These improvements are enjoyable to attain, but I’ve noticed that they don’t always transfer to winning on the field.  Through looking to other elements of athletics, such as the mental-emotional side, perceptual and visual ability, and recovery to name a few, we can offer athletes so much more than simply the ability to increase their muscular strength, and even physical outputs.

On today’s show, Scot will cover some of his key mentors and life experiences that brought him to his current view of sport performance.  He’ll cover the “6 Lanes of High Performance” (Psychology, Sensory Motor, Technical, Tactical, Physical Preparation, Recovery, and Restoration) and get into these distinguishing traits of high performers, as well as how he assesses and trains those traits in his own athletes.  He also gets into the 11 leadership tenets he teaches, which have powerful effects on not only the success of the individual as a part of a team, but also into life beyond sport.

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.

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Timestamps and Main Points

4:45 Defining moments in Scot’s career as an athlete and young coach that led him to where he is today

8:15 What success in sport really means to Scot

12:15 Some major mentors in Scot’s coaching process

16:25 An overview of the “six lanes” of performance and why they are important

32:40 The importance of universal distinctions for key facets of behavioral and emotional traits in athletes

35:55 How an experience in Scot’s facility, in relation to the 6 lanes, unfolds

43:35 The results of the “six lanes” in regards to high rates of leadership and sport captain position acquisition of Scot’s former athletes

47:00 Digging into the elements of leadership in Scot’s system, particularly that of ambition in athletes

59:40 How to teach/cultivate innovation in a weight room style setting

1.04:40 How Scott cultivates optimal communication in his training groups

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“If you are living your dream, you are feeling fulfilled, then that is success to me.  Enjoying the daily optimal experience seems to be sustainable to me.”

“Where I’ve really found immense value (in behavior chance, sport psychology, leadership and team cohesion) is Special Forces training”

“It starts with self-regulation in three domains: the physical (can you push through difficult physical conditions), the mental (can they stay focused), and then there’s the emotional (can they shift into the right emotion at the right time)”

“When you change behaviors you see a lot of things change physically, technically as well”

“(The six lanes) came from me thinking I was really good at physical preparation, and seeing athletes still fail”

“You think a football coach is good at strategic planning? Compare them to a 4-star general, and then see how good they are”

“Psychology and behaviors form a better team”

“A special operator commander can’t afford to lose… their competition isn’t trying to score on them, it’s trying to kill them”

“You are either a transactional coach, or you are a transformational coach”

“Early offseason, we work on your weaknesses.  When you get close to camp/season, we work on your strengths, that is what got you there”

“We may teach courage each month, for 15 minutes at the end of each session.  The next month we will teach responsibility, the next month we teach honor, we’ll teach respect the next month.  So each month you’ll get a deep, deep respect of regulation and behaviors”

“What feeling do you want to feel? What feeling do you want to avoid? That’s what invokes action, especially in younger athletes, the feeling”

“In today’s climate, it’s so competitive, practices are no longer practices”

“I’ve found that… the athletes I had that were more athletic in multiple, multiple ways were just happier”

“Everyone is a leader, watch my 2-year old son lead me and my wife around”

“When you develop, and everybody is very clear on the language, you can execute actions so quickly, so precisely”

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Scot’s 6 “Lanes of High Performance” and “11 Leadership Tenents”

6 LANES OF HIGH PERFORMANCE

1. PSYCHOLOGY LANE: “The development of intellect, emotions, and social skills. The ability to put technical and tactical skills into action on the field with greatest intensity-repeatability-accuracy!”
2. SENSORY MOTOR LANE: “The ability of the athlete to use vision, perceptual, and reaction skills to make quick and accurate decisions during the play.”
3. TECHNICAL LANE: “The intensity-repeatability-accuracy in which specific skills are performed on the field of play.”
4. TACTICAL/STRATEGIC LANE: “The ability of your team and self to put technical skills into use and equip yourselves with the greatest likelihood of success against opposing players and teams.”
5. PHYSICAL PREPARATION LANE: “Development of the proper fitness abilities that underpin the ability to express those abilities on the field of play with maximum intensity-repeatability-accuracy!“
6. RECOVERY & RESTORATION LANE: “The ability of the athlete to reset and become ready to compete sooner than later.”

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11 LEADERSHIP TENETS

1. COURAGE – Courage is not the absence of fear, but it is making effective choices, and taking effective and efficient actions, in spite of fear.
2. HONOR – Honor is living up to a code of behavior in which the concerns of the group come before selfish concerns.
3. RESPECT – Respect is to observe and understand how something affects your world and to choose to act accordingly.
4. RESPONSIBILITY – Responsibility is having the power to act and making the commitment to meet a standard of performance.
5. COMMUNICATION – Communication is shown through coordinated action dependent on having a shared background of experience.
6. CONFIDENCE – Confidence is the level of certainty in your ability to produce an expected outcome.
7. PERSEVERANCE – Perseverance is a continued action toward an objective, despite challenges, difficulties, and failures.
8. INNOVATION – Innovation is bringing into the possible that which was impossible.
9. AMBITION – Ambition is a desire to change the current situation into a different future situation.
10. LEARNING – Learning culture is represented by groups of observable actions.
11. LEADERSHIP – Taking effective actions and evoking effective actions in others

About Scot Prohaska

Scot Prohaska is distinguished as a nationally recognized sports and executive performance consultant.  Scot specializes in elevating performance and developing the careers of elite athletes.  His blend of world-class knowledge, research, in conjunction with creative application of an artist ensures there are no “cookie-cutter” programs or diagnostic work for his clients.

Scot carefully evaluates each client and develops a specific program to address individual needs and opportunities, which includes nutrition and lifestyle. He is at the forefront of the newest techniques and discipline, allowing all his clients to maximize their fullest potentials by giving them the tools necessary to compete at the top levels of their field. 

This has made him an invaluable asset to US Olympic athletes, professional athletes, student-athletes, and executives.

Over the past 15 years, Scot has traveled across the globe studying with leading experts in exercise physiology, kinesiology, physical therapy, biomechanics, strength, conditioning and nutrition, and mental and emotional focus and strength.  He’s been published in many wellness publications and is an accomplished author in the field of performance and exercise.

Because of his expertise at bringing out the best in people physically, mentally, and spiritually, players in the NHL, NFL, CFL and MLB consider Scot a trusted friend and part of their inner circle.  Someone they are extremely comfortable referring to their fellow players and associates.

Scot has also improved the performance USA and Canadian Track & Field athletes.  Additionally, he’s worked with members of USA Bobsled & Skeleton teams and with athletes from Division I sports programs.