Today’s podcast guest is Gary Gray. Gary is a pioneering physical therapist and movement educator who helped shape the modern functional training movement. Through decades of teaching and innovation, Gary’s work on multi-planar movement, gait mechanics, and “3D” training has influenced generations of coaches, therapists, and performance professionals around the world.
On today’s episode, Gary goes into a deep dive on movement literacy, biomechanics, and the power of variability in athletic development. Gary shares lessons from decades of coaching and rehabilitation, covering everything from locomotor patterns and rhythm to adductor function, sprint mechanics, and why authentic movement should “feel like a dance.” The conversation explores how coaches can better understand human movement through context, three-dimensionality, and the body’s natural problem-solving abilities.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength
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The Just Fly Performance Podcast is dedicated to all aspects of athletic performance training, with an emphasis on speed and power development. Featured on the show are coaches and experts in the spectrum of sport performance, ranging from strength and conditioning, to track and field, to sport psychology. Hosted by Joel Smith, the Just Fly Performance Podcast brings you some of the best information on modern athletic performance available.
On today’s episode, Gary Gray goes into a deep dive on movement literacy, biomechanics, and the power of variability in athletic development. Gary shares lessons from decades of coaching and rehabilitation, covering everything from locomotor patterns and rhythm to adductor function, sprint mechanics, and why authentic movement should “feel like a dance.” The conversation explores how coaches can better understand human movement through context, three-dimensionality, and the body’s natural problem-solving abilities.
View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)
Topics
0:00 – Basketball Movement Roots
3:58 – Biomechanics and Coaching
8:21 – Variability in Locomotion
15:44 – Training Science and Spectrum
18:43 – From PT to Movement Science
21:10 – Applied Functional Science
26:56 – Context Matters in Training
34:52 – Rhythm, Jumps, and Rotation
38:01 – Why Rotation Matters Most
40:44 – Treat Causes, Not Symptoms
46:12 – Rotational Sprinting Basics
50:52 – Adductors and Athletic Power
54:55 – Rethinking Functional Movement Screens
1:04:38 – The 3D Dance Assessment
1:08:21 – Sport-Specific Movement Maps
1:15:23 – The Authenticity Dial in Training
1:24:01 – Isometrics in Real Motion
1:26:55 – Wrapping Up the Conversation
Gary Gray Quotes
“If I know the biomechanics of pivoting and if I know the biomechanics of a drop step and if I know the biomechanics of shooting and passing and setting a strong pick and rolling, then if I can break that down and give my kids some movement literacy but take them beyond what they need in the game, when they play the game, it’s going to be easy. We call that kind of resiliency or a buffer zone.”
“I’d like to be respected as a coach. That’s it.”
“The power of variability and the power of nomenclature allows us literally to come up with a million different locomotor paths.”
“Can’t be a movement scientist without being able to describe movement.”
“If you don’t name it, you won’t use it.”
“There are bad exercises that will actually facilitate proprioceptively the exact opposite that we want that I think would create injury.”
“The best way to get authenticity is do authentic things.”
“I’ve screwed up most of my life, and I don’t want to anymore. So I follow science.”
“I can give you a million things. I can give you 1.4 million jumping jacks, but if it’s not the jumping jack that makes you hit a golf ball better, that was dumb.”
About Gary Gray
Gary Gray is a pioneering physical therapist, movement specialist, and educator widely regarded as one of the founders of modern “functional training.” Over the course of his career, Gray helped reshape rehabilitation and performance training by emphasizing multi-planar movement, gait mechanics, and training the body in integrated, real-world patterns rather than isolated muscles. His work laid the foundation for many contemporary approaches to athletic development, corrective exercise, and return-to-play rehabilitation.
Gary is the founder of Gray Institute and creator of systems such as Applied Functional Science® (AFS), Chain Reaction®, and the “3D” movement model. Through decades of teaching, lecturing, and mentorship, he has influenced generations of physical therapists, strength coaches, athletic trainers, and fitness professionals around the world.
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