104: Speed and Power with Angus Ross | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

Today’s episode features Angus Ross, physiologist and strength coach at High Performance Sport New Zealand.  Angus is making his second appearance on the podcast, and is following up on his initial chat on aspects of eccentric strength training with lots of practical knowledge in the realms of stiffness, fascia, and performance. Angus has worked with a number of sports at an elite level within the NZ system including sprint cycling and skeleton in recent years. Angus has a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Queensland and has also worked within the Australian institute system with stints at both the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. He is also a Winter Olympian in his own right having competed at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games.  Angus is one of the most intelligent, and curious coaches I know, as well as incredibly pragmatic, seeking what works and delivers results. As with any training method, eccentric training is just one tool for the job, and learning about the means, and how it fits into the total training process also opens up the questions of usage of training such as maximal overcoming isometrics and plyometrics, as well as monitoring which athletes might respond optimally to one method or the other, or knowing which sequence these means should be presented in over the course of a training year. On today’s podcast, we will go in depth on double versus single leg stiffness, and what that means for team sport athletes versus track and field sprinters.  We’ll also cover the benefits and use of plyometrics versus overloaded eccentric training, and how to look at using these methods in the course of a training year.  Finally, Angus has some fantastic thoughts and ideas on muscular versus fascial driven athletes that resonate with many of my own thoughts and things seen in previous podcasts, such as our recent episode with Randy Huntingon. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more show notes at Just-fly-sports.com/podcast-104-angus-ross