Today’s podcast guest is Dan Back. Dan is the founder of Jump Science and a speed and athletic performance coach based in Austin, Texas. A former competitive jumper and dunker, Dan now works with athletes to improve sprinting, jumping, strength, and overall explosive athletic performance.
On today’s episode, Dan Back gets into the role of variety, play, and subconscious learning in developing speed and athleticism. He discusses resisted sprinting, why he avoids over-coaching acceleration mechanics, lessons from the dunk community, and the value of broad movement experience. Dan also explores extensive tempo, longer sprints, training volume, and why specialization and constant measurement can sometimes limit long-term athletic development.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Vert Trainer
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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.
In this episode, Daniel Back gets into the role of variety, play, and subconscious learning in developing speed and athleticism.
He discusses resisted sprinting, why he avoids over-coaching acceleration mechanics, lessons from the dunk community, and the value of broad movement experience.
Dan also explores extensive tempo, longer sprints, training volume, and why specialization and constant measurement can sometimes limit long-term athletic development.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Vert Trainer
View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)
Topics
0:00 – Outdoor Training and Exploration
5:07 – Acceleration and Stride Length
12:27 – Subconscious Motor Learning
17:23 – Resisted Sprinting and 1080 Data
22:28 – Dunking, Fun, and Variety
27:40 – Jumping Outside the Script
31:47 – Volume Beyond Max Effort
35:41 – Task-Based Speed Development
39:42 – Multidirectional Warmups
43:31 – Jump Challenges and Creativity
46:55 – The Problem With Over-Specialization
54:58 – Extensive Tempo and Speed Building
59:09 – Athlete Types and Training Volume
1:06:29 – Extensive Plyos and Foot Contacts
1:10:23 – Fast 120s and Long Sprints
1:17:04 – Dan’s Fall Plans
Dan Back Quotes
“I’m a big believer in just yeah go outside and mess around and find out.”
“Over time, the exposure to those activities is going to take care of that extension and that pushing power for us without much of any coaching.”
“Whatever you’re trying to get good at, whether it’s throwing, whether it’s jumping, whether it’s sprinting, like getting a diverse experience around whatever thing you’re trying to master, helps the motor learning process.”
“In the end you’ve got to realize exaggerating length is not fast.”
“Most motor learning is subconscious.”
“I’ve gone more and more against overcoaching and against making athletes think, and …not trying to give them all the answers.”
“The idea of like measuring everything, analyzing everything. Like I hate, I hate that. I don’t want to do that. That being said, I do like some of the insights that 1080 can provide.”
“Is there something uniquely good about the motor learning experience with the fun and the variety of dunking? And I can’t prove it, but I think so.”
“I’m real big on the fun and variety and not the static, regimented plan of testing everything you do and just see how much you can do or whatever.”
“You need a bunch of just task-focused fun, variety and that is the foundation, and then on top of that you can do your 20 meters times 6 reps.”
“I do a lot of chasing tennis balls. Tennis balls or footballs. And then I get curves in there. I get change of direction in there.”
“Just another additional note, like if you get laughter in the warmups, that’s a really good, really good way to start things.”
“We’re going to do some long and triple jump practice, but also we’re going to try to come up with some jump challenges along the way.”
“Do we have to keep in more variety than we think in order to keep getting better over time?”
“I’m real big on the variety and not just getting locked into, following one thing, and I think track is the most susceptible to that because your event is just one thing scripted out.”
“I think the volume of foot contacts required to develop the lightness on your feet is just drastically underestimated.”
“Volume doesn’t mean conditioning.”
“A fast 120 is a better speed developer than a fast 40 or 50.”
“Being able to relax and hold speed and be able to get exposure to, yeah. You know, holding speed for 90 meters or whatever, or attempting to, I think that might be the thing that really separates track athletes from team sport athletes that don’t go past, you know, 30 or 40.”
About Dan Back
Dan Back is a speed and athletic performance coach and the founder of Jump Science. Based in Austin, Texas, Dan works with track and team-sport athletes to improve sprinting, jumping, strength, and overall athletic performance. A former high-level jumper and dunker himself, Dan has spent more than a decade coaching athletes and educating coaches through his Jump Science and Speed Science platforms.
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