209: Rocky Snyder on The Gait Cycle, Single Leg Work, and True Functional Training for Elite Athleticism | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

More show notes and timestamps at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-209-rocky-snyder/ Today’s episode features personal trainer and human movement expert, Rocky Snyder.  Rocky is the owner of Rocky’s Fitness in Santa Cruz, California, and is an experienced personal trainer, as well as accomplished surfer and snowboarder.  Rocky has taken an absolutely immense amount of continuing education in human performance, and is the author of four books.  His most recent being “Return to Center” , which featured a unique integration of a joint-based model of training and movement coaching, combined with neurological assessment of effectiveness. “Return to Center” is the first training book in a very long time (outside of “Even with Your Shoes On” by Helen Hall that I read earlier this year), that I absolutely devoured (both books has heavy inspiration from Gary Ward, who has been a 2 time guest on this podcast, and developed the “Flow-Motion” model of tri-planar joint based analysis of human movement). When it comes to “functional training” we often think of things like working on balance boards, or perhaps in a more realistic world, things like single leg training and lots of bodyweight gait-pattern style movements, like crawling and heavy carries.  Even in using these movements which are inherently more tied to human gait, they are often still performed under “manufactured” paradigms that take them outside of the scope of natural human movement and elasticity.  Rocky has an incredible command of human movement principles, and can describe how these principles are showing up (or not!) in any exercise done in the gym, which is really the core of what we might call functional training. For today’s podcast, Rocky tackles questions regarding his own joint-centered approach to training, as well as specifically how he looks at lunges and single leg training in relation to the gait cycle, and how doing this optimally will improve joint health, VMO and glute development, as well as athletic performance markers and injury reduction.  This was a show that is a real key-stone in being able to truly train athletes on an individual level. 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.