Check out Jason on socials! @Jason_rotger @jasonrotger

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Speed and performance coach Jason Rotger joins Tim Riley to break down speed training, sprint mechanics, and vertical jump training the right way. From a near-fatal BMX crash at 15 to Division I decathlon at FIU, Jason's story is as wild as his coaching methods. He dropped his own 100m from by ditching heavy squats, and he'll tell you exactly why your weight room obsession might be killing your speed.

Jason Rotger went from BMX national rankings to pole vaulting, then earned a D1 scholarship as a decathlete at Florida International University. Along the way, he dealt with ankle surgery, a torn labrum, a supraspinatus tear, and a sprint plateau that had him squatting 435 lbs at 175 lbs bodyweight and still running an 11.8 hundred meter. The fix? He stopped squatting and started sprinting. That single shift dropped his time almost immediately.

This episode covers the how to run a faster 100m debate head-on, the real role of plyometrics for sprint speed, timing gates as a non-negotiable coaching tool, 40 yard dash start technique, and how to improve broad jump distance fast. Jason also breaks down decathlon training volume, pole vault physics, and why sprint coaches need to invest in timing equipment for their athletes. He also opens up about completing his first full decathlon post-college without injury. You only lose when you quit.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:06 - BMX Racing Career and Near-Fatal Crash

00:11:28 - Transition to Pole Vaulting

00:19:14 - D1 Decathlon at FIU and Injury Streak

00:27:36 - First Full Decathlon and Process Mindset

00:31:00 - Mental Grit and the Rocky Influence

00:34:49 - Sprint Plateau and Heavy Squats

00:39:45 - Coaching Collegiate Sprinters to 25 mph

00:44:49 - Vertical Jump Training and Volleyball Athletes

00:48:25 - Coaching CrossFit Athletes for Combine Events

00:52:54 - Combine Timing Systems and Hamstring Injury Risk

01:02:14 - Pole Vault Physics and Apex Targets

01:12:09 - Hottest Takes on Speed Training

01:16:02 - Authentic Brand Building and Event Swaps

01:20:05 - Three Pieces of Advice for Performance Coaches

01:22:02 - Sprint Coach Rant

01:25:41 - Overrated vs. Underrated in Athletic Performance

01:30:43 - Unsolicited Advice

#SpeedTraining #SprintMechanics #VerticalJumpTraining #CoachEmUpPodcast #Decathlon #PoleVault #JasonRotger #AthleticPerformance #Plyometrics #Podcast

Check out Emmanuel on socials! @Matadi

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Emmanuel Matadi, three-time Olympian and one of the most jacked sprinters on the planet, joins Tim Riley on the Coach 'Em Up Podcast to break down sprint science, recovery, the Enhanced Games controversy, and what it actually takes to run a 9.95 at age 35. From Liberia to the Olympic blocks, Matadi's story is as wild as his 40 time in Timbs.

Matadi didn't start taking track seriously until his junior year of high school. He was too busy playing football, wrestling, and figuring out how to survive as a Liberian immigrant in Minnesota. Then he casually smoked the fastest kid at his school in a race and the rest wrote itself.

On this episode, Emmanuel and Tim go deep on how to run faster in the 100m, why most youth sprinters burn out before they ever peak, and how the old-school method of running 400m repeats until athletes puke is the opposite of what athletes need. Emmanuel breaks down his phase-by-phase sprint cues, why tense muscles are slow muscles, his love of resisted hill sled work over overspeed, and how 8 hours of sleep a night is the ultimate recovery tool.

They also get into the Enhanced Games, where Matadi ran 9.95 at 35 years old and had to address years of steroid accusations head-on. They also explain the science behind fast twitch muscle fiber training and why preserving Type 2X fibers into your 30s and 40s matters more than any 5K you'll ever run.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:15 - Matadi's Background

00:06:23 - High School Football, Wrestling, and How Track Started

00:11:08 - New NCAA Eligibility rules and NIL

00:17:56 - JUCO Grind vs. Pro Sprint Programming

00:27:26 - Trackflation, Youth Burnout, and Why Off-Seasons Matter

00:32:27 - The Mental Side of Sprinting

00:36:22 - Racing in Three Olympics

00:43:16 - 100m Race Strategy, Acceleration, and Sprint Mechanic Cues

00:46:58 - Recovery Protocols, Weight Management, and Off-Season Lifting

00:52:21 - Line It Up 40 Tournament and the Enhanced Games Experience

01:03:22 - Longevity, Fast-Twitch Fiber Training, and APEX Philosophy

01:15:37 - APEX Miami Breakdown

01:19:38 - Crocs 40, Phase Cues, Bulgarian Split Squats, and Plate Marches

01:28:43 - Youth Mechanics, Peaking in Long Seasons, and Rant n Rave

01:37:06 - Unsolicited Advice and Closing

#EmmanuelMatadi #CoachEmUpPodcast #SprintTraining #HowToRunFaster #EnhancedGames #SprintMechanics #FastTwitchTraining #TrackAndField #ResistedSprinting #OlympicSprinter

Check out Q on socials! @coach_q_physio

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Tim Riley sits down with physical therapist and strength coach Q Willey to break down change of direction training, deceleration, and how to actually bridge the gap between the weight room and the field. Q brings his 4 level COD programming framework and zero patience for coaches running circus tricks with reaction lights.

Q is a former UNC lacrosse national champion, exercise physiologist, and Doctor of Physical Therapy who now coaches out of Austin and collaborates with Dr. Katie Dabrowski on the Confusingly Jacked program and a comprehensive COD Program Guide. In this episode, Q draws a hard line between pre-planned change of direction training and true open field reactive agility, explains why deceleration ground reaction forces run 2 to 3 times higher than acceleration, and lays out exactly how to move athletes through Return to Participation, Return to Play, and Return to Performance phases without blowing them up.

Q also torches the coaching mistake of substituting circus tricks like reaction light games for real cognitive perceptual training, walks through the model for deceleration kinematics, and breaks down how to calculate a COD deficit using the 5-10-5 drill. If you work with athletes and you are still debating whether COD work belongs in your programming, this one settles it.

Topics include change of direction vs agility, reactive agility drills, biomechanics of deceleration, eccentric deceleration drills, return to performance continuum rehab, microdosing change of direction, the 4 level COD programming framework, and catastrophizers vs confronters in physical therapy.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:45 - Q's Background, Adult Lacrosse at 35

00:10:31 - Change of Direction vs Agility

00:13:56 - Bridge Between the Weight Room and the Field

00:17:01 - Reactivity Spectrum and the Reverse Marilyn Monroe Principle

00:25:43 - Circus Tricks vs Real Cognitive Perceptual Training

00:32:01 - Deceleration Biomechanics

00:46:25 - COD Testing and COD Deficit Calculations

00:54:06 - Return to Participation, Play, and Performance

01:00:15 - The 4-Level COD Programming Framework

01:15:36 - Microdosing COD Work Into Your Weekly Routine

01:21:15 - Confusingly Jacked Program with Katie Dabrowski

01:29:21 - Non-PT Coaches, Confronters vs Catastrophizers, Pain Management

01:38:11 - Why Novel Exercises Cause Soreness, PT School Reality

02:03:17 - Clamshells and OVR Force Plates

02:10:33 - Heat Shock Protein Sauna Myth Busted

#CoachEmUpPodcast #ChangeOfDirectionTraining #DecelerationTraining #ReactiveAgilityDrills #SportsPhysicalTherapy #StrengthCoach #ReturnToPerformance #QuentinWilley #AgilityTraining #PhysicalTherapyPodcast

Check out Brian on socials! @briankula @kulasportsperformance

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Brian Kula has spent 27 years turning athletes into weapons, from high school track kids to NFL Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey. On this episode of the Coach Em Up Podcast, Tim Riley sits down with Brian to break down sports performance philosophy, the biggest mistakes coaches make in speed training, and how to safely bring sprinting to the general population. Plus, Brian gets candid about coaching elite pros, building ETS Performance, and why relationships matter more than any X's and O's.

Brian Kula is one of the most decorated performance coaches in the game. A third-generation coach and former decathlete, Brian built Kula Sports Performance from the ground up, including a pivot during the 2020 pandemic that helped him scale his private training business.

This episode covers the full spectrum: why coaches keep making the same speed training mistakes, what vertical integration speed training actually looks like in practice, how to coach sprinting mechanics for athletes without destroying your general population clients, and what Brian learned from his elite mentors. Brian also opens up about the realities of coaching pro athletes, his work with ETS Performance to build career tracks for young coaches, and why plyometrics for speed development are criminally underrated.

If you are chasing faster athletes, a smarter program, or a coaching career worth building, this one is packed.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:20 - Brian's background and coaching legacy

00:06:40 - Athlete to coach transition and developing patience

00:11:12 - Coaching youth athletes vs. coaching pros

00:18:33 - Evolution of training philosophy and mentors

00:27:10 - Learning from coaching mistakes and pivoting your program

00:32:04 - Top mistakes in speed training

00:34:40 - Sprinting for general pop and the Fast Forever protocol

00:45:12 - Assessing and coaching elite pros

00:49:18 - Pros and cons of coaching professional athletes

00:55:25 - Mentorship, ETS Performance, and building careers

01:11:34 - The power of relationships

01:14:37 - Listener Q&A with Brian Kula

01:29:37 - Three Things, Rant and Rave, and Unsolicited Advice

#CoachEmUpPodcast #BrianKula #KulaSportsPerformance #SpeedTraining #StrengthAndConditioningPodcast #SprintingMechanics #PerformanceCoach #ETSPerformance #SpeedDevelopment #Plyometrics

Check out Jon on socials! @what_the_heck71 @HammerAndChiselPerformance

Use code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemup

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"If you're going to go down this road, you better be prepared to be on it for life."

Tim Riley sits down with elite strength coach and former D1 football player Jon Heck to break down the real science behind PEDs, covering anabolic and androgenic steroids, TRT, growth hormone, insulin, fat burners, and peptides. John Heck gives a no-BS, medically grounded take on who actually uses this stuff, what it does to your body long-term, and why PEDs in sports performance are wildly misunderstood.

This episode covers why pro athletes actually don't use steroids (99% of users are recreational gym bros), how side effects of oral vs injectable steroids differ drastically, why kidney health is the silent killer, and the terrifying reality of insulin risks in bodybuilding and DNP fat burner dangers. Jon also walks through growth hormone hyperplasia bodybuilding, the peptide recovery benefits debate, gray market loopholes, and why steroids ruining athletic performance is especially true for team sport athletes relying on connective tissue elasticity.

The Q&A at the end gets practical fast: reverse dieting, budget nutrition, potassium targets, and phasic diets laid out step by step.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:04:00 - PEDs in Sports Performance

00:07:50 - Who Actually Uses Steroids? Pro Athlete Misconceptions

00:10:45 - Anabolic vs Androgenic Steroids

00:22:20 - Jon's First Testosterone Cycle

00:29:45 - Lifetime Commitment, Fertility Risks, and the Endocrine Shutdown

00:35:55 - Estrogen Management, Gyno, and Kidney Health

00:44:00 - Roid Rage Myth, Side Effects of Oral vs Injectable Steroids, Health Timelines

00:54:35 - TREN: Origin and Side Effects

00:59:20 - Diminishing Returns, Counterfeit Gear, and Infection Risks

01:07:00 - Youth Steroid Use in High School Football

01:11:30 - Growth Hormone Hyperplasia Bodybuilding

01:17:20 - Insulin Risks in Bodybuilding

01:21:05 - DNP Fat Burner Dangers, Clenbuterol explained

01:25:30 - Peptide Recovery Benefits and Risks

01:32:10 - Reverse Dieting and Budget Nutrition

01:45:05 - Jon's Phasic Dieting Protocol

01:48:00 - TRT vs Anabolic Steroids for Real Life

01:51:15 - Nutrition Travel Hack

#CoachEmUpPodcast #PEDsInSports #AnabolicSteroids #TRTvsAnabolicSteroids #JohnHeck #StrengthCoach #BodybuildingPodcast #SportsPerformance #Peptides #DNPDangers

Check out Erica and Ashley on socials! @ericalowreystrength @ashleykowalewski

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Erica Lowrey and Ashley Kowalewski join Tim Riley on the coach em up podcast to break down how to increase vertical jump, fix jumper's knee, and survive the grind of collegiate athletics. The group goes deep on patellar tendinopathy in volleyball players, isometric exercises for tendon stiffness, eccentric overloading, and strength training for female volleyball players. They also tackle the real conversation around female athlete body composition coaching. And if you are a strength and conditioning intern or a young coach figuring out how to navigate your first role, the Q&A and intern advice segments in this episode are required listening.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast! It's free to you and helps us bring on more badass guests like Erica and AK :)

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:26 - Erica's Volleyball Background

00:09:24 - Liberty University & Exercise Science

00:12:08 - Pillars for Strength and Conditioning Internship Success

00:20:08 - Eccentrics and Isometrics for Tissue Longevity

00:23:20 - Recap of the Coach Em Up Conference

00:26:26 - Tackling Body Composition in Female Athletes

00:32:02 - Ashley's Road Back from 98 Pounds

00:37:58 - Body Image Talks with Female Athletes

00:44:44 - Erica's Coaching Journey and USA Bobsled Recruitment

00:52:20 - Ashley's Academic Background and Mentorship Path to LSU

00:59:33 - The Mental Demands of Strength Coaching

01:16:04 - Assessing Incoming Freshman Athletes

01:21:24 - Tendon Stiffness and How to Fix Jumper's Knee

01:31:00 - Overcoming Dumb Athlete Beliefs and Building Exercise Systems

01:33:40 - How to Increase Vertical Jump, Shoulder Stability, and Coaching Autonomy

01:46:01 - Most Impressive Female Athletic Feats and Handling Difficult Sport Coaches

01:58:03 - Overrated vs. Underrated in Athletic Performance

02:02:06 - Final Advice for Interns

#CoachEmUpPodcas #StrengthCoachPodcast #EccentriOverload #JumpersKnee #FemaleStrengthCoach #VerticalJumpTraining #TriphasicTraining #CollegiateStrengthCoaching #EricaLowrey #AshleyKowalewski

Check out Ben on socials! @drbenhouse

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Dr. Ben House returns to the internet to drop some hard truths: baseline testosterone does not predict hypertrophy, the TRT industry is largely built on noise, and your environment matters more than your willpower. Tim Riley and Zack Zillner dig into Ben's wild journey — from MCAT prep and Teach for America, to building a volcano compound in Costa Rica, farming through COVID, and working in the NBA — before landing on his new venture, Biomolecular Athlete. In this episode, he dismantles some of the most pervasive myths in the performance world — testosterone optimization, biohacking culture, and the obsession with chasing biological mechanisms over real output.

Ben breaks down why obesity is the number one driver of low testosterone, why androgen receptor sensitivity matters far more than serum testosterone levels, and why women can build comparable relative muscle mass to men despite having a fraction of the hormone. He also shares his evolution from authoritarian coach to 'Sherpa', how Self-Determination Theory explains the gap between knowledge and action, and why the best coaching often means doing less.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:41 - How Dr. Ben House Changed Tim's Coaching Career

00:07:00 - Ben's Origin Story: Sports, MCAT & Hating Clinical Medicine

00:10:45 - Teach for America, Austin, and Finding the Fitness World

00:16:19 - Biohacking Skepticism & What Actually Drives Adaptation

00:19:10 - The Costa Rica Volcano Compound & Farming Through COVID

00:30:00 - Memphis Grizzlies Tenure & Leaving the Internet

00:42:25 - Coaching Philosophy Evolution

00:49:22 - Sobriety, Obsession & the Gap Between Knowledge and Action

00:56:50 - Building Ecosystems Over Willpower

01:12:56 - Testosterone & TRT Reality Check

01:21:57 - Obesity, Leptin Resistance & Why Your Testicles Are Inflamed

01:30:42 - Sleep Myths & Why Women Can Match Men's Gains

01:44:41 - Chasing Mechanisms

01:50:35 - Unsolicited Advice

#CoachEmUpPodcast #DrBenHouse #TestosteroneMyths #Hypertrophy #StrengthCoaching #NutritionalScience #BiomolecularAthlete #AndyGalpin #FunctionalMedicine #Podcast

Check out Dylan on socials! @dylan_shannon @_dylanshannon

Grab a Subscriber tee at https://dripthatdelivers.com

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Dylan Shannon is back and he's built different. Tim Riley and Zack Zillner chop it up with the PowerJacked creator about his move to Boston, prepping for Apex, and why your perfect program is probably the one you're already sleeping on. Plus, Dylan reveals the WWE actually slid in his DMs — and he said no.

Dylan Shannon went from a part-time strength coach with zero online presence to one of the most engaged creators in the fitness space. In this reunion, Dylan breaks down his training philosophy, why science based lifting is quietly ruining young lifters, and why he finally got serious about fixing his hormones and his relationship with food.

The listener Q&A goes deep: body dysmorphia, TRT, junk volume myths, bench press mastery, content creation strategy, and how to build a training business from the ground up.

Produced by

Q6 Media

https://q6.media

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:03:46 - Why Dylan Moved to Boston

00:05:05 - Training for Apex Boston & the Fitness Scene

00:08:22 - How One Podcast Episode Changed Dylan's Life

00:11:16 - PowerJacked Program & Chalk Performance

00:15:35 - 10-Year Plans & Why Rigid Goals Kill Momentum

00:20:17 - Peaking for Apex & Mile Strategy

00:26:08 - Binge Eating, Body Dysmorphia & Getting on TRT

00:32:28 - Performance Bulking, 550 lb Squats & High School Beef

00:35:54 - How to Build a Personal Training Business from Scratch

00:39:31 - Midbod Freak Athlete vs. Mr. Olympia Trashlete

00:42:22 - The Truth About Junk Volume

00:46:06 - Top 3 DM Questions Dylan Gets Every Day

00:48:02 - Lifetime Lift Goals & Top 3 Exercises

00:50:51 - How to Build a Freakishly Big Bench Press

00:52:08 - Dylan's Foolproof Content Strategy

00:55:11 - The WWE Slides Into Dylan's DMs

01:00:16 - From Self-Doubt to Self-Belief

01:06:01 - Overrated vs. Underrated in Athletic Performance

01:08:48 - The #1 Piece of Advice for Coaches Who Want to Create Content

#DylanShannon #PowerJacked #CoachEmUpPodcast #StrengthCoach, #FitnessPodcast #AthleteTraining #BenchPress #TRT #ContentCreation