Check out Lance on socials! @LanceBrooks_PhD

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Dr. Lance Brooks breaks down sprint mechanics and biomechanics of sprinting at a level most coaches never reach. Tim Riley sits down with the coach, researcher, and founder of Brooks Performance Methods to dig into first principles of sprinting, sarcomere function, quasi isometric contractions, and why the elastic vs force dominant sprinters debate is built on a false premise.

Lance's path is wild: bodybuilding forums to personal training at 24 Hour Fitness and Gold's Gym, then D1 strength and conditioning internships, a master's under Dr. Ken Clark, a doctorate, and postdoctoral work in a Harvard comparative biology lab implanting crystals into rats and running guinea fowl on treadmills. All of it in service of understanding how muscles actually produce force during locomotion.

The conversation covers acceleration vs max velocity mechanics, impulse momentum sprinting, vertical impulse top speed sprinting, horizontal impulse acceleration sprinting, and what Newton's Second Law actually demands from a coach's programming. Lance also dismantles the lazy "science lags behind practice" talking point and explains why mastering basic first principles of sprinting will always outperform chasing hyper-specific applied studies.

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00:00:00 - Introduction

00:04:09 - Lance's Background and Career Path

00:15:30 - Early Coaching Lessons and Internship Blunders

00:22:34 - Bridging Research and the Field

00:32:14 - Comparative Biology, Animal Models, and Muscle Testing

01:04:30 - First Principles of Sprinting and Biomechanics

01:21:40 - Quasi-Isometric Muscle Mechanics and the Elastic vs Force Myth

01:36:00 - Sprinting/Research Q&A

#SprintMechanics #Biomechanics #CoachEmUpPodcast #LanceBrooks #SpeedDevelopment #StrengthAndConditioning #ForcePlate,#SprintTraining #ExercisePhysiology #Podcast

Check out Ashley on socials! @dr.dwyer

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Dr. Ashley Dwyer joins Tim Riley to break down how chronic underfueling and overtraining wreck your hormones, what the polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) diagnosis changes about previous PCOS treatment, and what creatine benefits for women actually look like in practice.

Ashley Dwyer went from retail pharmacy to NPC bodybuilding to complete hormonal burnout before she hit 30. Every specialist she saw handed her a prescription instead of asking one question about how she was training or eating. Sound familiar?

Tim and Ashley dig into the real mechanics behind HPA axis dysfunction and thyroid suppression, signs of endocrine burnout that most athletes brush off as just being tired, and why your labs can say "normal" while your body is running on fumes. They cover the four distinct subtypes of PMOS, why carbs and cortisol have a direct relationship your coach probably never explained, and what a legitimate reverse dieting after bodybuilding show protocol actually looks like when it is done right.

If you or someone you coach is under-eating, overtrained, and wondering why nothing is working, this episode has the answers. Subscribe to never miss another episode!

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Q6 Media

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00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:55 - College Football and Weight Room Culture

00:07:55 - Retail Pharmacy Life

00:11:15 - NPC Bodybuilding, Orthorexia, and Undereating

00:15:40 - Endocrine Collapse and Conventional Medicine Failures

00:23:00 - Underfueling in Athletes and the Female Athlete Triad

00:28:53 - HPA, HPT, and HPG Axes

00:34:30 - Down-Regulation and Intuitive Eating

00:40:00 - Clinical Intake Process and Reverse Dieting Protocol

00:46:40 - PCOS Reclassified as PMOS and Western Medicine Shortcomings

00:52:15 - The Three Root Drivers of PMOS

00:58:30 - Supplements vs. Foundations

01:04:22 - Three Things, Rant and Rave, and Alternate Careers

01:10:10 - Overrated vs. Underrated and Unsolicited Advice

#CoachEmUpPodcast #DrAshleyDwyer #PCOS #PMOS #HormoneHealth #FemaleAthlete #MetabolicHealth #FunctionalHealth #Podcast #WomensHealth

Check out Zack on socials! @zack_zillner

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Tim Riley and Zack Zillner are back in the Austin studio for a full Q&A episode covering strength and conditioning coach salary debates, NCAA 20-hour rule logistics, shin splints, eccentric quasi-isometrics, AI in programming, NIL culture, and whether Tim could survive a bear fight.

Zack breaks down the operational reality of the NCAA 8-hour off-season rule and the full 20-hour in-season window, and explains why sport skill execution will always beat weight room numbers when practice time is limited. Tim reflects on private sector coaching ethics: when an athlete is already buried under school practices, an extra meal often does more than another squat session.

Q&A covers how to build work capacity, why eccentric quasi-isometrics are mostly social media noise, meathead hypertrophy as connective tissue insurance, sleep tracking anxiety and its effect on athletic performance, in-person coaching requirements before going online, AI tools like Relay for programming templates, NIL and transfer portal impact on athlete work ethic, low-tech athlete monitoring tools, and bucket list podcast guests.

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00:00:00 - Bear Fight Cold Open

00:00:32 - Happy Birthday Zack!

00:03:14 - NCAA 20-Hour Rule Breakdown

00:07:29 - Weight Room vs. Court Time Tug-of-War

00:14:05 - Private Sector Coaching

00:18:05 - Strength and Conditioning Coach Salary Debate

00:37:52 - In-Person Coaching Before Online Coaching

00:44:30 - Managing Shin Splints in Sprint Training

00:47:16 - Debunking Eccentric Quasi-Isometrics

00:51:10 - Meathead Hypertrophy vs. Sport-Specific Training

00:53:37 - How to Find Your Coaching Style

00:57:00 - How to Build Work Capacity

00:58:19 - Sleep Tracking Anxiety and Athletic Performance

01:02:20 - Bucket List Podcast Guests

01:08:04 - Advice for International Coaches Interning in the U.S.

01:09:42 - Biggest Challenges in Basketball Strength and Conditioning

01:12:43 - AI for Strength and Conditioning Programming

01:17:36 - NIL and Transfer Portal Impact on Athlete Work Ethic

01:23:08 - Low-Tech Athlete Monitoring Tools

01:27:07 - Bear Fight Simulation

#CoachEmUp #StrengthAndConditioningCoach #StrengthCoachPodcast #AthleticPerformance #CollegiateStrengthCoach #NILAthletes #SportScience #StrengthCoaching #Podcast #ZachEvenEsh

Check out Tim on socials! @timrileytraining

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Tim Riley goes solo on the Coach Em Up Podcast for a Q&A covering apex competition rules, sprint training for beginners, OCD diagnosis, sobriety, and much more. He shares combine stories, his biggest coaching blunders, and why carbs are still the OG performance enhancer.

He breaks down the viral Hyrox biohazard incident in Beijing and uses it to set the record straight on Apex competition health policy. Then he rewinds to age 26, no car, no phone, no money, walking to his first training job out of a Florida halfway house, and explains how he became the person he is today.

On the business side, Tim talks about how watching physical therapist David Gray build ethical, high-value content convinced him to post consistently and eventually launch Cheat Code, open his own gym, and build Apex from the ground up. He shares his rules for hiring new coaches, the real reason Apex does not use weight classes, and his 2026-2027 expansion targets.

Tim walks through how to improve broad jump mechanics with the Blaine Broad progression, covers sprint training for beginners with a slow-to-fast, low-impact-first framework, and shares his experience training Xavier Worthy. He also recounts two genuinely catastrophic coaching mistakes involving a plyo box and a Swiss ball on a treadmill.

The back half of the episode goes personal. Tim opens up about his OCD diagnosis and how Exposure and Response Prevention therapy finally gave him tools that worked. He also reflects on fatherhood, egocentric bias, and what it actually means to live instead of just survive.

This is a strength and conditioning podcast that does not stay in its lane. That is the point.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:28 - The Hyrox poop incident

00:10:32 - Advice to his 26-year-old self and early sobriety

00:14:48 - Finding venues for Apex and expansion hurdles

00:18:11 - Building influence, business ethics, and launching Apex

00:29:52 - How to improve your broad jump

00:32:49 - Scaling brands and rules for hiring coaches

00:37:13 - Game speed vs weightroom skill

00:40:46 - Biggest coaching mistakes

00:50:11 - Sprint training for beginners

00:54:08 - Apex 2026-2027 road map and international expansion

01:01:38 - Stepping back from full-time client training

01:06:01 - Why Apex does not have weight classes

01:10:41 - Unsolicited advice, lying, and egocentric bias

01:18:20 - Pure OCD diagnosis and Exposure Response Prevention therapy

01:29:11 - Carbs for athletic performance, fatherhood, anxiety

01:37:27 - Managing career transitions and embracing uncertainty

#CoachEmUpPodcast #ApexCompetition #SprintTraining #StrengthAndConditioningPodcast #BroadJump #MentalHealth #OCD #NFLCombine #XavierWorthy #Podcast

Check out Alec on socials! @alecblenis

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Hybrid athlete and coach Alec Blenis is back for his SIXTH appearance on Coach Em Up! Alec breaks down his pursuit of a sub-2:30 marathon while holding serious muscle, training alongside Paris Olympian Yaseen Abdalla, and surviving sodium bicarbonate's most brutal side effects.

Alec Blenis is a hybrid athlete who has been chasing the sub-2:30 marathon while maintaining elite-level strength. In this episode he lays out exactly how he got there: doubling weekly running volume to 75 miles, outsourcing his programming to coach John Davis to kill decision fatigue, and training on treadmills next to a guy who ran a 2:11 in Paris. The interference effect is real, but Alec explains how adaptation eventually brought strength back online. He also speaks on his unorthodox fueling, drinking a liter of OJ a day and over 400 grams of sugar total to maintain his training.

From there, things get weird in the best way. Tim and Alec break down backyard ultramarathon psychology through Mark Dowdle's 5-day performance in Germany, dissect trainer Joel Seedman's Instagram content connecting 90-degree squats to theology, and then unload a stacked Q&A covering high-carb marathon fueling strategy, unilateral vs bilateral training, hybrid athlete training split design, HRV usefulness for athletes, endurance training for heavy runners, treadmill stiffness vs road running, and whether mental toughness drills are actually overrated.

If you are running a marathon while lifting heavy, training concurrently, or just trying to understand the interference effect without losing your mind, this episode has you covered.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduciton

00:01:41 - Alec's Running Background and Sub-2:30 Marathon Goal

00:07:04 - Marathon Benchmarks, Coaching Value, and the Interference Effect

00:12:48 - Training with Yaseen Abdalla and Mitch Ammons

00:18:23 - High-Carb Fueling: OJ, Sugar, and Surviving Austin Heat

00:27:18 - Backyard Ultras and Mark Dowdle's Psychological Warfare

00:35:36 - Joel Seedman's Eccentric Isometrics and Theological Squats

00:46:14 - Tim's Best and Worst Qualities

00:50:06 - Unilateral vs Bilateral Training

00:52:11 - Session Flow vs Exercise Ordering

00:53:30 - Building Muscle Under High Endurance Fatigue

00:55:04 - Smartwatch Metrics and HRV Skepticism

00:59:01 - Structuring a Hybrid Training Split

01:00:45 - Sodium Bicarbonate Side Effects

01:06:33 - Weekly OJ Totals and Apex Australia Plans

01:09:16 - Single High-Volume Run vs Spreading Weekly Mileage

01:10:06 - Endurance Training for Heavy Athletes

01:15:02 - Heat Acclimatization and Overrated Mental Toughness Drills

01:20:07 - Treadmill Stiffness vs Road Running

#HybridAthlete #ConcurrentTraining #AlecBlenis #CoachEmUpPodcast #MarathonTraining #InterferenceEffect #RunningAndLifting #EnduranceTraining #Podcast #StrengthAndConditioning

Check out Jason on socials! @Jason_rotger @jasonrotger

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Speed and performance coach Jason Rotger joins Tim Riley to break down speed training, sprint mechanics, and vertical jump training the right way. From a near-fatal BMX crash at 15 to Division I decathlon at FIU, Jason's story is as wild as his coaching methods. He dropped his own 100m from by ditching heavy squats, and he'll tell you exactly why your weight room obsession might be killing your speed.

Jason Rotger went from BMX national rankings to pole vaulting, then earned a D1 scholarship as a decathlete at Florida International University. Along the way, he dealt with ankle surgery, a torn labrum, a supraspinatus tear, and a sprint plateau that had him squatting 435 lbs at 175 lbs bodyweight and still running an 11.8 hundred meter. The fix? He stopped squatting and started sprinting. That single shift dropped his time almost immediately.

This episode covers the how to run a faster 100m debate head-on, the real role of plyometrics for sprint speed, timing gates as a non-negotiable coaching tool, 40 yard dash start technique, and how to improve broad jump distance fast. Jason also breaks down decathlon training volume, pole vault physics, and why sprint coaches need to invest in timing equipment for their athletes. He also opens up about completing his first full decathlon post-college without injury. You only lose when you quit.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:06 - BMX Racing Career and Near-Fatal Crash

00:11:28 - Transition to Pole Vaulting

00:19:14 - D1 Decathlon at FIU and Injury Streak

00:27:36 - First Full Decathlon and Process Mindset

00:31:00 - Mental Grit and the Rocky Influence

00:34:49 - Sprint Plateau and Heavy Squats

00:39:45 - Coaching Collegiate Sprinters to 25 mph

00:44:49 - Vertical Jump Training and Volleyball Athletes

00:48:25 - Coaching CrossFit Athletes for Combine Events

00:52:54 - Combine Timing Systems and Hamstring Injury Risk

01:02:14 - Pole Vault Physics and Apex Targets

01:12:09 - Hottest Takes on Speed Training

01:16:02 - Authentic Brand Building and Event Swaps

01:20:05 - Three Pieces of Advice for Performance Coaches

01:22:02 - Sprint Coach Rant

01:25:41 - Overrated vs. Underrated in Athletic Performance

01:30:43 - Unsolicited Advice

#SpeedTraining #SprintMechanics #VerticalJumpTraining #CoachEmUpPodcast #Decathlon #PoleVault #JasonRotger #AthleticPerformance #Plyometrics #Podcast

Check out Emmanuel on socials! @Matadi

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Emmanuel Matadi, three-time Olympian and one of the most jacked sprinters on the planet, joins Tim Riley on the Coach 'Em Up Podcast to break down sprint science, recovery, the Enhanced Games controversy, and what it actually takes to run a 9.95 at age 35. From Liberia to the Olympic blocks, Matadi's story is as wild as his 40 time in Timbs.

Matadi didn't start taking track seriously until his junior year of high school. He was too busy playing football, wrestling, and figuring out how to survive as a Liberian immigrant in Minnesota. Then he casually smoked the fastest kid at his school in a race and the rest wrote itself.

On this episode, Emmanuel and Tim go deep on how to run faster in the 100m, why most youth sprinters burn out before they ever peak, and how the old-school method of running 400m repeats until athletes puke is the opposite of what athletes need. Emmanuel breaks down his phase-by-phase sprint cues, why tense muscles are slow muscles, his love of resisted hill sled work over overspeed, and how 8 hours of sleep a night is the ultimate recovery tool.

They also get into the Enhanced Games, where Matadi ran 9.95 at 35 years old and had to address years of steroid accusations head-on. They also explain the science behind fast twitch muscle fiber training and why preserving Type 2X fibers into your 30s and 40s matters more than any 5K you'll ever run.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:15 - Matadi's Background

00:06:23 - High School Football, Wrestling, and How Track Started

00:11:08 - New NCAA Eligibility rules and NIL

00:17:56 - JUCO Grind vs. Pro Sprint Programming

00:27:26 - Trackflation, Youth Burnout, and Why Off-Seasons Matter

00:32:27 - The Mental Side of Sprinting

00:36:22 - Racing in Three Olympics

00:43:16 - 100m Race Strategy, Acceleration, and Sprint Mechanic Cues

00:46:58 - Recovery Protocols, Weight Management, and Off-Season Lifting

00:52:21 - Line It Up 40 Tournament and the Enhanced Games Experience

01:03:22 - Longevity, Fast-Twitch Fiber Training, and APEX Philosophy

01:15:37 - APEX Miami Breakdown

01:19:38 - Crocs 40, Phase Cues, Bulgarian Split Squats, and Plate Marches

01:28:43 - Youth Mechanics, Peaking in Long Seasons, and Rant n Rave

01:37:06 - Unsolicited Advice and Closing

#EmmanuelMatadi #CoachEmUpPodcast #SprintTraining #HowToRunFaster #EnhancedGames #SprintMechanics #FastTwitchTraining #TrackAndField #ResistedSprinting #OlympicSprinter

Check out Q on socials! @coach_q_physio

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Tim Riley sits down with physical therapist and strength coach Q Willey to break down change of direction training, deceleration, and how to actually bridge the gap between the weight room and the field. Q brings his 4 level COD programming framework and zero patience for coaches running circus tricks with reaction lights.

Q is a former UNC lacrosse national champion, exercise physiologist, and Doctor of Physical Therapy who now coaches out of Austin and collaborates with Dr. Katie Dabrowski on the Confusingly Jacked program and a comprehensive COD Program Guide. In this episode, Q draws a hard line between pre-planned change of direction training and true open field reactive agility, explains why deceleration ground reaction forces run 2 to 3 times higher than acceleration, and lays out exactly how to move athletes through Return to Participation, Return to Play, and Return to Performance phases without blowing them up.

Q also torches the coaching mistake of substituting circus tricks like reaction light games for real cognitive perceptual training, walks through the model for deceleration kinematics, and breaks down how to calculate a COD deficit using the 5-10-5 drill. If you work with athletes and you are still debating whether COD work belongs in your programming, this one settles it.

Topics include change of direction vs agility, reactive agility drills, biomechanics of deceleration, eccentric deceleration drills, return to performance continuum rehab, microdosing change of direction, the 4 level COD programming framework, and catastrophizers vs confronters in physical therapy.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:45 - Q's Background, Adult Lacrosse at 35

00:10:31 - Change of Direction vs Agility

00:13:56 - Bridge Between the Weight Room and the Field

00:17:01 - Reactivity Spectrum and the Reverse Marilyn Monroe Principle

00:25:43 - Circus Tricks vs Real Cognitive Perceptual Training

00:32:01 - Deceleration Biomechanics

00:46:25 - COD Testing and COD Deficit Calculations

00:54:06 - Return to Participation, Play, and Performance

01:00:15 - The 4-Level COD Programming Framework

01:15:36 - Microdosing COD Work Into Your Weekly Routine

01:21:15 - Confusingly Jacked Program with Katie Dabrowski

01:29:21 - Non-PT Coaches, Confronters vs Catastrophizers, Pain Management

01:38:11 - Why Novel Exercises Cause Soreness, PT School Reality

02:03:17 - Clamshells and OVR Force Plates

02:10:33 - Heat Shock Protein Sauna Myth Busted

#CoachEmUpPodcast #ChangeOfDirectionTraining #DecelerationTraining #ReactiveAgilityDrills #SportsPhysicalTherapy #StrengthCoach #ReturnToPerformance #QuentinWilley #AgilityTraining #PhysicalTherapyPodcast