Joel Smith Q&A on Reflexive Dynamics of Athleticism and Surfing the Force-Velocity Curve

Today’s show is a Q&A with Joel Smith.  It’s a lot of fun to see the questions you all have, and putting together a list of answers.

Some major themes in this show included the dynamics of how an athlete learns and acquires a skill, how to give athletes ideal constraints to learn a skill better (particularly on the level of the arms in sprinting and step-action in jumping), and then questions on training the spectrum of the force velocity curve.

There also were a lot of questions and answers that lent to training individualization based on the individual structure of the body and if one is a “power or speed” based athlete, which relates to an athlete’s ribcage structure and ISA bias, and of course, a lot of speed oriented questions.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, Inside Tracker, and Lost Empire Herbs.

For 25% off of an Inside Tracker order go to info.insidetracker.com/justflysports

For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly.

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Timestamps and Main Points

1:15 – The difference in training fascial vs. elastic athletes

7:33 – How to train a “power” sprinter with poor top end speed

13:40 – Thoughts on training at different points on the force-velocity curve

24:06 – Arm action in sprinting, and constraint-driven coaching versus “positional” coaching

34:14 – Structuring a weight training and performance program for speed and acceleration

36:32 – Why some athletes have a long vs. short penultimate step in jumping

40:45 – Thoughts on in-season programming for team sports

46:56 – Dealing with a toe-sprain and learning to feel other parts of the foot

48:30 – Frequency of training with bodyweight iso holds

49:37 – Thoughts on “inside edge” vs. “outside edge” in movement and training

54:35 – Fascial awareness in movement

55:42 – Is concentric power building in the weightroom worthwhile?

57:01 – How to use falling/slipping/stumbling reflexes to our advantage in training

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About Joel Smith

Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance coach in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast, has authored several books on athletic performance, and trains numerous clients in the in-person and online space.  Joel was formerly a strength coach for 8 years at UC Berkeley, working with the Swim teams and post-graduate professional swimmers, as well as tennis, water polo, and track and field.  A track coach of 11 years, Joel coached for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club for 7 years, and also has 6 years of experience coaching sprints, jumps, hurdles, pole vault and multi-events on the collegiate level, working at Wilmington College, and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse.

Joel has coached 2 national champions, multiple All-Americans and school record holders in his time as a track coach. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance at Rio in 2016.

In 2011, Joel began Just Fly Sports with Jake Clark as a central platform to promote information for athletes and coaches to reach their highest potential.  In 2016 the first episode of the “Just Fly Performance Podcast” was released, now a leading source of education in the sports performance field.  The evolving mission of Just Fly Sports is focused on teaching athletes to realize their true, innate power, and achieve the highest joy in their training, competition, and in the community.