Posts by stevemagness
The Origins of Stress- Understanding our bodies response
In 1915, a young Harvard Physiologist named Walter Cannon described “the necessities of fighting or flight” in his now classic book, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage[i]. With the turn of a phrase, Cannon began the process of ingraining the now famous “fight or flight” instinct into our consciousness. As often occurs with…
Read MoreEpisode #76: Transitions, Ego, and Racing with 3:56 miler Daniel Herrera
We have a special guest for this week’s episode, Daniel Herrera. Dan is a 3:56 miler who trains under Jon Marcus at High Performance West. In this episode, Dan talks all about transitions, in coaching, life, and training. Dan drops a lot of knowledge and provides a unique perspective on running and racing. What was…
Read MoreA Different Way to Look at Fatigue: An Ecological Psychology Framework
Introduction: Understanding how fatigue impacts performance during middle distance running events has traditionally been seen through a mechanistic lens (Coyle, 1994). Dating back to work by AV Hill, scientists have looked at performance being limited via catastrophic failure at the muscular level (Noakes, 2012). Previously, researchers (Tucker & Noakes, 2009) focused on tasks to failure…
Read MoreEpisode #75: The Easy Days: How far, how fast, how much?
It’s all about recovery! On this episode we take on the topic of easy days. The oft neglected cousing to the more “important” hard workouts, easy days are essential for improving performance. We have a tendency to “check the box” and the only consideration we take is how much mileage we need. In this podcast…
Read MoreIs Coaching a Science or an Art?
“This workout is going to make a difference. Start with 100 meters, lengthen out the rep distance by 10 meters, increase the speed by…” was in full workout mode. A master of his craft, a man who was always pushing to learn more, Joe Vigil is the epitome of a lifelong coach. I’d heard the…
Read MoreAre you setting up practice wrong? Understanding Movement and Action.
The running back takes the handoff and the hole that is supposed to be right in front of him isn’t there. He instantly darts to the right, squeezing between the tackles before shifting to the right to avoid the incoming linebacker. How did the running back decide to change his plan? How does a runner…
Read MoreOn Coaching #74: Alex Hutchinson-“The goal isn’t to go faster…the goal is to feel better doing it.”
Special Guest Alex Hutchinson has written the defining book on endurance and fatigue. His latest book Endure is a must read that blends storytelling and science to explain the intricacies of fatigue. In this weeks episode, Alex takes us through not only the surprising insight of his book but to his own athletic career. While…
Read MoreOn Coaching #73: “Keep Showing Up”- Lessons from the Boston Marathon
In this special episode of the On Coaching Podcast, we dive into the lessons learned from the recent Boston Marathon. First, we take you through the race from a coaches point of view. What does preparation look like, how do you train for Boston versus other marathons. Then, we dive into the lessons that Desi…
Read MoreFatigue and the NBA Playoffs: How Players Raise Their Game When It Matters Most.
The puppet hiding behind the curtains, pulling the strings on what team wins in the NBA, is not the oft despised refs. It’s fatigue. With an 82-game season littered with back to back games and late night flights, players are not “giving their all” during each night out. As fatigue rears its ugly head, players…
Read MoreOn Coaching #72: The Intangibles: Can You Develop the “It” Factor
When someone has “it” you know it when you see it. It’s hard to explain, and even more difficult to wrap your head around, but “it” often refers to the intangibles. The unmeasurable quality that we often use to describe individuals who are able to make the difficult seem plausible. In this episode, we delve…
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