Evan Peikon (Training Think Tank)
Anyone who has coached or competed in CrossFit for awhile sees things that kind of don’t make sense.
Athletes with 15+ unbroken ring muscle-ups and a 6:30 2k row who are surprisingly bad at “metcons.”
Athletes who can only do 5-10 unbroken strict handstand push-ups who are able to quickly chip away at a set of 50 and beat athletes who can do 20+ unbroken reps.
Evan Peikon from Training Think Tank has done a lot of work with the Moxy unit on measuring muscle oxygen saturation and blood flow, and he’s developed a model that is able to explain a lot of these seemingly confusing contradictions in performance.
In this podcast, we break down Evan’s model for fatigue in mixed modal athletes, and we also give some practical training tips so that athletes can improve their conditioning or their strength based upon their individual limitation.
Individualization in a program isn’t just about understanding what an athlete’s strengths and weaknesses are, but understanding what each individual’s specific limiting factors are and focusing training on improving those weak links.
Check out the full conversation below to learn:
- The 3 different types of limitations in CrossFit athletes – and how each of these types of athletes should think about training to improve their capacity or get stronger
- How Evan currently thinks about fatigue – and what is outdated about the way that most people are thinking about getting tired in a metcon
- When “mental toughness” plays a role in performance – and when athletes are hitting hard physiological limiters that they can’t push through
Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.
Listen Here
- iTunes
- Overcast
- Google Play
- mp3
- Or stream here:
- If you’re enjoying the show, why not a leave a review? It makes a difference in terms of other people finding the show.
Check out more from Evan and Training Think Tank here:
- Instagram: @evan_peikon | @trainingthinktank
- Website: Evan’s Interviews and Articles | www.trainingthinktank.com
- YouTube: @trainingthinktank
Show Notes:
- [01:10] Evan’s opinions on metalcore
- [10:55] The basic physiology of oxygen delivery and what different measures like VO2 max, muscle oxygen saturation and heart rate can tell us about performance
- [16:58] What are different types of fatigue that can occur at the muscle level? And – the 3 different types of limiters in CrossFit athletes.
- [23:35] What is the difference between Evan’s model of fatigue based upon his work with muscle oxygen saturation and more traditional models of fatigue based upon acidosis?
- [31:45] What is happening when athletes feel “burning” in the muscle vs when athletes feel a “pump” in the muscle? How do these sensations in the muscle create global feelings of fatigue? What role does the “mind” play in governing our effort?
- [41:44] Psychological gamesmanship in racing – particularly in track athletes
- [45:00] What role do occlusions play in creating fatigue for athletes in CrossFit? And – the 2 different types of occlusion and what those mean for your ability to “push through.”
- [01:03:40] Why do some people always have one specific muscle group “blow up” – like their grip, their shoulders, their low back, their calves, etc.
- [01:09:23] How can athletes who tend to get muscle pumps improve their ability in CrossFit? What would an ideal training session look like for this athlete – and why do some common training protocols potentially make this kind of athlete worse?
- [01:17:25] What does Evan think the most common limiting factor is for athletes who do not tend to occlude in their muscles? These athletes often struggle to build strength – how should they structure their strength training protocols so they can actually get stronger?
Links and Resources Mentioned
- Norma Jean
- Josh Scogin
- Cory Brandan
- Norma Jean – Redeemer
- The Chariot
- CTP
- Underoath
- Slipknot
- Pound Classes
- What is muscle oxygen saturation?
- NIRS(Near-infrared spectroscopy)
- Moxy Monitor
- VO2 max
- The Phosphocreatine System
- Anaerobic glycolysis
- Cellular respiration
- Energy system utilization chart
- Bicarbonate buffer system
- 5-1-5 Step Test
- Improvements in Cycling Time Trial Performance Are Not Sustained Following the Acute Provision of Challenging and Deceptive Feedback
- Max El Hag
- Travis Mayer
- James Jowsey
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Unlearning the Habits of a Bratty Teen
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Help them prioritize the actual thing that is super important that they need to work on – instead of whatever mess of half-baked tactics they’re worried about
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Teach them mental models so that they can make better decisions and problem solve on their own
Top Down and Bottom Up Trust
Chris Mills (Harm’s Way)
Chris Mills is the drummer for Harm’s Way – and he’s also a clinical social worker for an addiction and mental health residential program.
Many folks who are touring most of the year piece together random part-time jobs or have their hands in a few different pieces of the music industry (management, booking, merchandise, etc.).
Chris, however, is a highly trained professional in an extremely difficult field.
We dig into music nerd stuff about how Harm’s Way writes songs – and how they think about the roll of “heaviness” and “rhythm” in their songs. And Chris also explains why he thinks that many of the models that we use to think about addiction are outdated – and what he prefers instead.
Check out the full conversation to learn:
- Why Chris got into angsty nu-metal as an adult – and how that influenced his songwriting process
- Why the most common models for thinking about addiction are outdated – and what methods Chris has found to have more success for patients
- What is typically the biggest barrier to lasting behavior change – and why it’s much harder to “stay sober” than to “get sober”
Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.
Listen Here
- iTunes
- Overcast
- Google Play
- mp3
- Or stream here:
- If you’re enjoying the show, why not a leave a review? It makes a difference in terms of other people finding the show.
Check out more from Chris and Harm’s Way here:
- Instagram: @harmsway13
- Bandcamp: Harm’s Way
Show Notes:
- [01:08] Getting into nu-metal as an adult – and how that influenced the process of writing music
- [08:31] Harms Way’s change in sound was more “organic” in that the new riffs that they were writing started to sound different. And, how songs can be “heavy” without just focusing on the “breakdown.”
- [15:15] The album writing process: trying to create a cohesive work – and writing through jamming, building songs in practice, and grinding it out.
- [26:02] The crappy practice space that Like Rats and Harm’s way share.
- [29:08] Working as a social worker in a residential program in the field of addiction and mental health. How does Chris prioritize what clients work on in terms of their biggest priorities in treatment?
- [37:44] What’s the difference between the 12 step model, the disease model of addiction, and a more behavior-based model? What framework does Chris prefer for treating his patients?
- [45:42] Differentiating psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers – and understanding what is usually the biggest obstacle to creating lasting behavioral change?
- [54:14] Harm’s Way’s history as a straight edge band, and how Chris thinks about playing in a band that often focuses on negative emotion in its art through the lens of a social worker.
- [58:14] Harms Way’s upcoming touring plans
Links and Resources Mentioned
- Nu metal
- Slipknot
- Korn
- Max Cavalera
- Sepultura – Chaos A.D.
- Sepultura – Roots
- Sepultura
- The Dillinger Escape Plan
- Cryptopsy
- Andy Nelson
- Slipknot – All Hope Is Gone
- New York hardcore
- Biohazard
- Cro-Mags
- Snapcase
- Vision of Disorder
- Like Rats
- Hate Force
- Bob Marley
- Bob Marley Posters
- Gateway Foundation
- Twelve-step program
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Ghostemane
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Every Time I Die
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Projecting Confidence as a Leader while Maintaining Intellectual Humility
The Delegation Doldrums
Many people who are growing their businesses have some understanding that they should be “delegating.”
Maybe you’ve read The 4-Hour Work Week. Maybe you’ve read The E Myth. Maybe you’ve heard some dork on Instagram talking about how you need to work “on” your business not “in” your business (which is from The E Myth anyway)
While delegation is, in fact, key to any sort of growing business, it’s rarely as simple as people think it is.
When you delegate something, it’s not like you suddenly have massive amounts of free mental bandwidth with which to create new ideas, work on more important tasks or engage in excessive leisure.
Instead, even though you are no longer responsible for explicitly completing your taks, you are now responsible the myriad of creative ways that your employees will find to do the task incorrectly or otherwise miss the point.
It’s insufficient to simply have a standard operating procedure and to assign the task to someone. Instead you must:
•Have mastery of the task yourself
•Have a documented and repeatable procedure to complete the task
•Document regular troubleshooting issues and contingency plans for when the task goes wrong
•Develop some sort of quality assurance process for the task to make sure that it is not just being completed – but that is being completed at an acceptable level
•Ensure that it’s not just the “letter of the law” that is being followed, but also the spirit
•Give regular performance communication and feedback to the person to whom you’ve delegated the task
In many cases, delegating the task is in fact more work than simply doing it yourself – at least for several weeks (if not months).
However, once you’ve made it past the tipping point, you will find that employees will start to offer insight about better ways to do things.
Through delegation, you are also creating opportunities for employees to be engaged and learn. So, even if it is a hassle to attempt to delegate and have things constantly go wrong, you are also increasing the buy-in and the teamwork of the organization by spreading responsibility amongst multiple individuals.
Todd and Friel on Fundraising
When people think of “owning their own business,” they usually either think of doing freelance wedding photography on the weekends, or raising a bunch of money and starting the next Google.
This can be a pretty significant limiting belief, since getting investors is an intimidating, stressful and time-consuming process.
But, what do you do when you need to get your company funded? And what are the trade-offs between different funding models?
I’ve raised money from friends and family in the past to cover the buildout and operating expenses of South Loop Strength & Conditioning when we took on a large lease.
And, my friend John Friel is currently in the process of applying to the well-known start-up accelerator Y Combinator for his company Art in Res.
Check out the full conversation to learn:
- What are the incentives of investors and what are they hoping to gain out of investing in companies – and what are the trade-offs and dangers of pursuing the rapid growth that venture capitalists expect?
- How to think about “storytelling” to investors and why some investors like to hear hard numbers and other like more narrative in their pitches
- What are the differences between nerds, fans and utilitarians – and why do suburban dads who don’t even play guitar know so much about different tones and amps?
Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.
Listen Here
- iTunes
- Overcast
- Google Play
- mp3
- Or stream here:
- If you’re enjoying the show, why not a leave a review? It makes a difference in terms of other people finding the show.
Check out more from John and Art In Res here:
- Instagram: @johnfriel | @art_in_res
- Website: www.artinres.com
Show Notes:
- [01:21] Going through the Y Combinator application process required “stepping back” and looking at the entire structure of Art in Res – rather than getting caught up in the day-to-day, in-the-weeds aspects of operating the business. It also required understanding how to “storytell” to investors – which seems to require different skillsets for finance people and venture capitalists.
- [12:30] Why play the venture capital game rather than bootstrapping and attempting to create a “lifestyle business?” What will it take for Art in Res to grow to a scale that would justify venture capital investment?
- [24:15] How much money should you actually raise during the fundraising process? There seems to be conflicting advice regarding being frugal – but also raising more money than you think you’ll need. And – the cognitive biases that make it necessary to game the system so that you can signal a constant and impressive upward trajectory.
- [37:31] Thinking about the incentives of venture capitalists and why they want to invest in companies – and going down a rabbit hole to parse out the difference between nerds, fans and utilitarians. And how art collectors, coffee snobs, music gear heads and sports fans all probably follow a similar archetypal structure in terms of their enthusiasm for esoteric knowledge.
- [53:45] How to potentially tap a latent market for art collectors – and understanding the psychology of potential consumers in order to create a marketplace on which commerce actually takes place.
Links and Resources Mentioned
- Y Combinator
- xhbtr
- “WeWork I.P.O. Is Withdrawn as Investors Grow Wary” from The New York Times
- Pets.com
- Gumroad
- “Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company” by Sahil Lavingia
- Blue Bottle Coffee
- Containers Podcast
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Jason Leydon (Conquer Athlete | CrossFit Milford)
Jason Leydon of Conquer Athlete and CrossFit Milford is an elite-level CrossFit coach – and, much like myself, a continuing education junkie.
I’d been looking forward to this conversation, since Jason is not only very successful in his ability to develop athletes, but also self-aware about his frameworks for coaching and his process for learning new things and applying them in his practice.
Many well-known coaches are able to get great results from athletes, but can’t really articulate how and why they do the things that they do.
Many other well-known coaches just happened to get lucky by having some freakishly talented folks walk through their doors, and have built careers on being in the right place at the right time without much actual knowledge.
Jason is the real deal, and he can articulate exactly what he’s doing and why he’s doing it.
In this conversation, we don’t just hit the nitty gritty details of developing athletes (although there is some of that). We spend a lot of time on Jason’s process for continuing to learn – and how he actually turns the things that he learns through books, seminars and courses into tangible results for his athletes and his coaches.
Check out the full conversation with Jason to learn:
- How an identity-destroying injury started Jason on the path to coaching – and how he thinks about the psychology of athletes who have their identities wrapped up in their performance and their results
- How Jason actually applies things that he learns from continuing education – and how he passes his knowledge on to his coaches so that they can actually apply it as well
- How Jason thinks of the theoretical hierarchy for developing athletes – and how he picks what the top priorities are for his athletes in their training
Compliment with my conversation with Scott Young on Ultralearning for more on transferring knowledge from the abstract to the practical.
Check out the episode at the links below. If you enjoyed the episode, the best way to support the show is to share with your friends, so send them a link.
Listen Here
- iTunes
- Overcast
- Google Play
- mp3
- Or stream here:
- If you’re enjoying the show, why not a leave a review? It makes a difference in terms of other people finding the show.
Check out more from Jason, Conquer Athlete & CrossFit Milford here:
- Instagram: @jasonleydon | @conquerathlete | @crossfit_milford
- Website: www.conquerathlete.com | www.crossfitmilford.com
- Podcast: Conquer Athlete Podcast
Show Notes:
- [1:08] What’s up with Jason’s accent? Is this how people from Milford speak? And – the sudden and shocking end to Jason’s basketball career.
- [11:17] How to handle the sudden change in identity as an athlete who can no longer compete. And – the transition from athlete to coach, as well as the coinciding dedication to continuing education.
- [20:21] How does Jason actually apply the things that he learns from seminars, books and courses? How does Jason think about solving tangible problems with the material that he learns – and how does he go about asking for help when something isn’t clicking for him.
- [25:36] Connecting the practical, in-the-gym application of concepts with the theoretical learning that occurs in books or courses. Outcomes are often messy, so how does Jason figure out what’s actually working and what is just happenstance and chaos?
- [31:14] How does Jason teach coaches who work with him to hold the same standard of coaching? Not everyone is able to learn from courses in the same way, so how does Jason pass knowledge on?
- [37:00] How does Jason decide what his coaches need to prioritize in their coaching development? And, what lessons from learning to manage rowdy teens in a gym class are applicable to coaching adults?
- [44:24] How does Jason manage the sport-specific needs of his competitive CrossFit athletes with their long-term development? How does a coach prioritize what an athlete needs to work on – and how does a coach create sustainability for an athlete in the sport?
- [52:40] How to find out more about Conquer Athlete and the Conquer Athlete Podcast
Links and Resources Mentioned
- Michael Phelps on the Tony Robbins Podcast
- Jumpsoles
- Dan John
- James FitzGerald
- FRC (Functional Range Conditioning)
- Louie Simmons
- Juggernaut Training Systems
- “The 4 Disciplines of Execution” by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey & Jim Huling
- The Mamba Mentality by Kobe Bryant
- Kobe Bryant
- Brett Bartholomew
- “Conscious Coaching” by Brett Bartholomew