Our guest today is the owner of SOAR fitness in Columbus Ohio, Mike Kozak. Mike previously appeared on podcast #184 and has written several articles for Just Fly Sports. Notably, Mike has mentored extensively under Adarian Barr, and frequently posts the exercise and training progressions based on Adarian’s work.
Speed is always en vogue in the world of athletics, but something important to understand is that running and moving right not only will make athletes faster, but also make them more resilient and robust, reducing injury rates. When we move as nature intended, and then amplify that in our training, we can make the most out of free-energy return systems. When we simply “produce more force” and muscle our movements, we may gain some speed in the short term, but we can do it at the cost of higher risks of injury and a lower total athletic ceiling.
Mike has experience, not only with Adarian Barr’s methods, but he also has worked closely with elite physical therapists who have extensive knowledge of advanced methods such as PRI and the work of Bill Hartman. On today’s podcast, we are looking at the nuts and bolts of Mike’s performance program “from the ground up” starting with how he addresses the feet and an athlete’s posture, and then designs drills and tasks from that standpoint. We also touch on elements further up the kinetic chain, and how this can impact how we look at the entire athletic system. This was a fantastic, practical episode that features many important elements that we need to be addressing in the training of our athletes to fully integrate the feet, hips, spine and posture.
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
5:30 How adjusting to outdoor workouts with no weights due to COVID restrictions created a unique and effective training environment for Mike and his athletes 16:55 How Mike does not have a formal strength and conditioning background, and how his own experience as an athlete, as well as his physical education experience, formed the base of how he now trains athletes 22:20 Staples of Mike’s program that he learned from Adarian Barr, starting from the level of the foot, and how he works his way up the kinetic chain 27:15 How Mike works on dorsiflexion (or doesn’t) and how he emphasizes the action of the foot as a second class lever in athletes 40:35 How Mike teaches the foot working as a second class lever to improve the efficiency of the Achilles tendon, as well as the preservation of kinetic energy 53:00 Ideas on the transverse arch of the foot and how this applies to athletic performance 58:00 How the feet relate to what is happening upstream in the kinetic chain (hip internal rotation, expansion, compression, etc.)“The start of our session used to be foam rolling, honestly just to take attendance (we don’t do that anymore). Let’s use the start of our session to do something these kids never do”
“To me, level 1 is, do you have any idea what your feet are doing, and most kids do not… if I can get kids to now understand the tripod, not be a toe gripper, and then can I effectively get them on the inside edge (unless you are over-pronated)”
“The main thing I try to get across to my kids is, “shin’s going down, heel’s coming up””
“If they (the athlete’s) do it already, I don’t have any reason to fill their minds with information they don’t need.. they are already there!”
“If the shin keeps moving forward, and the heel stays down, you are staying in first class, you are just stretching the Achilles. If you are someone who has a lot of dorsiflexion range, then your athletic posture has to dial you into a start stance that gets that heel to pull up faster”
“A person who has less dorsiflexion range may strike (in acceleration) with a little more vertical tibia, and that heel is going to come up faster”
“The swing leg is tied to the impulse of the stance foot, if the swing leg is not in position to catch the impulse (coming up from the stance leg on the ground), your body is going to get desperate and do something else”
“A lot of kids who don’t run well start to extend the knee before the hip extends (in swing phase)”
“If you are stepping too far back, and that heel comes down and the knee straightens, that is the mechanism for an Achilles tear… we don’t want the Achilles to be stretching and loading at the same time, and that’s where heel taps come in”
“We don’t want our kids moving forward with a straight knee, and the heel down”
“In the simplest terms, I want kids to understand, that’s where they need the pressure (the transverse arch of the foot)”
“A front-foot elevated split squat biases us more towards early and mid-stance, and a rear foot elevated split squat biases us more towards late stance”
Show Notes
Usain Bolt Sprinting (Barrel Chest, Foot as a Second Class Lever, and Shin Drop as Hips Pass over the Foot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-3cHxXAK0&t=44s
DK Metcalf runs down Budda Baker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ImdWvuzsCY
Heel tap demonstration
https://www.instagram.com/p/Burx-yIB_W4/
About Mike Kozak
Mike Kozak graduated from Ohio State University in 2001 with a B.S. in Sport Performance and Coaching and a Master’s Degree in Sport and Exercise Education. In 2004, he became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He has also added a Speed and Agility certification through the International Youth Conditioning Association.
After graduation from Ohio State, Mike was a physical education teacher at a variety of Columbus Public elementary schools. He also coached 6th grade basketball and worked in conjunction with the G2 basketball camps. In 2002, he created Soar of Columbus with his business partner Nate Fugitt. In between 2002 and 2006, Mike trained youth athletes in a variety of settings throughout Central Ohio including Marysville, Hilliard and Worthington. In 2006, Soar opened its first facility in Lewis Center. There he has trained hundreds of youth athletes as well as a number of current and prospective college and pro athletes. In addition to his duties at Soar, Mike is also working with the NFL as a National Field Supervisor for NFL Regional Combines.
Two simple qualities guide Mike’s training philosophy – expert teaching and sound program design tailored to the individual. Youth athletes receive the teaching that is necessary to establish a sound base of strength and speed technique. Advanced high school and college/pro athletes are trained in a manner that best prepares them for their sport or event. No gimmicks, no bells and whistles – just coaching at the highest level.
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