Today’s podcast guest is Bob Thurnhoffer. Bob is the jumps coach at the University of Louisville, with over 20 years of Division I coaching experience. He has coached NCAA champions, All-Americans, and numerous conference champions and is known for his innovative approaches to speed, power, and athletic development.
On today’s podcast, Bob returns to discuss the balance between specialization and athletic versatility and the role of variability in high-level speed and power development. Bob shares his approach to coordination-based strength training, balancing linear progression with movement exploration, and creating both competitive and learning-focused practice environments. He also discusses practical applications of velocity-based training, Olympic lifting, and sprint technology, including how variable resistance can help athletes bridge the gap between acceleration and maximal velocity.
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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.
Bob Thurnhoffer returns to discuss the balance between specialization and athletic versatility and the role of variability in high-level speed and power development.
Bob shares his approach to coordination-based strength training, balancing linear progression with movement exploration, and creating both competitive and learning-focused practice environments.
He also discusses practical applications of velocity-based training, Olympic lifting, and sprint technology, including how variable resistance can help athletes bridge the gap between acceleration and maximal velocity.
View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/)
Topics
0:00 – Versatility and Specialization
6:33 – Coordination-Based Strength
19:34 – Where Bosch Fits
24:55 – Progression and Variety
35:33 – Athletic Development Beyond Output
43:56 – Using Data in Coaching
51:06 – Force, Power, and Speed
57:58 – Readiness and Adaptation
1:02:27 – Acceleration to Max Velocity
Bob Thurnhoffer Quotes
“I think like any younger coach or when you first learn something, you feel like you have to do it all the time.”
“I don’t really see it in terms of a progression, like a linear progression, but more in terms of variety.”
“We can’t just see strength in terms of the weight room, because I think athletes think of strength that way is in a very polarized manner where it’s just, we work on strength when we go to the weight room and we lift heavy weights, but strength is a lot more nuanced and complex than that.”
“Anytime you start to go into being too narrow with things. I think that’s when problems start to arise.”
“I’m always thinking of training, whether conscious or unconscious, as like this balance of these two things, the yin and the yang.”
“That kind of like experimentation breeds a lot of proprioception within the athlete and helps them to understand their body and their position within space a lot.”
“Not every aspect of our training should be entirely technical.”
“If it’s extreme variety, then it’s just, you don’t really have a system. You just throw a bunch of crap at the wall.”
“Human development… it’s linear in many ways, but it’s a messy linear.”
“Doing too much of the same thing is always the problem.”
“The stimulus is not more weight. The stimulus is, okay, you lifted the speed at this 30 kg snatch at 2.89 meters per second. On the next set, can you hit 2.95? Can you hit 3.0?”
“It’s not just about PBs. We’re tracking adaptation as a whole and helping them understand that.”
“Max velocity is really like quite different… at that point, the sprint is built. You’re not building anymore. It’s built.”
About Bob Thurnhoffer
Bob Thurnhoffer is an accomplished track and field coach with over 20 years of Division I coaching experience, currently serving as the Assistant Coach for jumps at the University of Louisville. Throughout his career, he has coached numerous NCAA All-Americans, conference champions, and school record holders across the jumps, sprints, and hurdles. In 2025, he coached Synclair Savage to the NCAA women’s long jump title and earned USTFCCCA Southeast Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year honors. Previously, Thurnhoffer served as head coach at Loyola University Chicago and assistant coach at the University of New Mexico, where he earned the 2022 USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year award. Known for his innovative approaches to speed, power, plyometrics, and skill development, Thurnhoffer is also an active coaching educator, clinician, and author of training publications.
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