“The best models use the fewest predictors. If your model is becoming more complicated, you probably haven’t made sense of the data yet” Introduction In episode #440 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob speaks with Ernie Rimer, Director of Sports Science at the University of Louisville and Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of a strength…
“If you can measure how an athlete runs, not just how fast they run, you start answering the questions that GPS alone never could.” Introduction In episode #479 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob speaks with Jason Weber, former AFL and A-League High Performance Manager and founder of SpeedSig. Having spent decades in elite sport…
Many strength & conditioning coaches were athletes at some stage in their life. Their strengths often lay in the physical side of performance, as that’s what drew them towards the field. They feel confident delivering gym-based interventions and conditioning work. This leaves a gap in our skill set: speed development. Unless a coach comes from…
Presentation description Les Spellman’s presentation explores the relationship between strength development and sprint performance, challenging traditional beliefs that maximal concentric strength is the primary driver of speed. Drawing from contemporary research and practical experience with elite NFL Combine athletes, the presentation examines how force production, force transmission, tendon stiffness, eccentric loading, and reactive strength contribute…
Hamstring strain injuries (HSI) have a range of contributing factors: age, injury history, muscle architecture, lumbo-pelvic stability, range of motion, and increased sprint running. Abnormal running kinematics are another key contributor. Running mechanics are increasingly part of training models across sports. A targeted intervention programme can have positive impacts on sprint running mechanics and favourable…
“You don’t have to be a speed coach to coach speed. It’s just efficient movement” Introduction In episode #436 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob catches up with Jonas Dodoo to unpack the principles, systems, and technology reshaping how we understand and coach sprint mechanics in team sport. This is not a conversation about marginal…
“We train footballers like Pac-Man but a lot of sprinting in football is not in straight lines, the game is parabolic” In episode #467 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob is joined by Alberto Filter, a Spanish sport scientist whose PhD focused on high-intensity actions in football. The conversation dives into a topic that is…
Rugby Union performance is increasingly shaped by short duration, high intensity actions repeated under fatigue. While total running distance remains a feature of match play, decisive involvements are more often determined by accelerations into space, re-accelerations following contact, and the capacity to reproduce speed late in sequences and late in matches. Despite this evolution, many…
“The best conditioning programmes don’t just build engines, they protect decision-making when the game speeds up” Cam Josse, now with the Detroit Lions, joins the Pacey Performance Podcast in episode # 393 to unpack how high-performance environments actually condition athletes for the realities of elite sport. Drawing on his experience across collegiate, professional, and now…
The evolution of “high intensity / high tempo” playing styles in the English Premier League is increasing the already-high physical demands on the players. [1,2] Practitioners have to emphasise these qualities throughout a competitive season so the players can repeatedly and frequently perform actions at high intensity, while maintaining lower body robustness and resilience. Gym-based…
“Understanding sprint technique is not about chasing perfect mechanics. It is about reducing strain, building robustness and preparing athletes for the moments when fatigue exposes their true patterns” Johan Lahti joins the Pacey Performance Podcast for episode #507 to explore one of the most misunderstood yet impactful areas of performance and rehabilitation: sprint technique, hamstring…
Despite a wealth of academic research into hamstring strain injuries, they remain a significant issue within sports performance. For instance, during the 2021/22 professional European football season, hamstring injuries accounted for 24% of all reported injuries within the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study [1]. Alarmingly, the longitudinal data shows a rise in hamstring injuries as…
“Good movement is good movement, no matter the sport. The challenge is making it work in your environment” In episode #493 of the Pacey Performance Podcast, Rob chats with Tom Taylor, Lead Physical Performance Coach at Chelsea FC. Tom shares a decade of experience across the Premier League, and Scottish Premiership, detailing how principles from…
Speed training has gained a lot of traction in the recent decade, and rightly so. But in our enthusiasm, it’s easy to overstate its importance. We sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture and overlook the context, nuance, and individuality required to develop speed effectively and sustainably. Speed training has gained a lot of traction…
Acceleration gets the spotlight in performance discussions, leaving deceleration as one of the most overlooked aspects of athletic movement speed [1]. Searching PubMed yields over 10,980 results for “acceleration AND sport” compared to just 1,633 for “deceleration AND sport.” That’s more than a sixfold difference. This imbalance doesn’t just exist in the literature, it trickles…