Carmen Del Mastro: Problem-Solving With Curiosity

In this episode of the Keiser Human Performance Podcast, Carmen shares his perspective on performance, coaching, and the role of effective training in building stronger, more capable individuals.

The conversation explores how thoughtful programming, consistency, and attention to movement quality can drive meaningful results across a wide range of populations. Carmen highlights the importance of balancing science with real-world application, while also emphasizing the human side of coaching — connection, communication, and adaptability.

This episode offers practical insights for coaches and practitioners looking to refine their approach and create more impactful, sustainable training experiences.

0:00:00.000,0:00:03.360
All right, Carmen, what's up, my man? Thank 
you for joining me today. How are you,

0:00:03.360,0:00:07.200
Gabe? Thanks for having me, buddy. Absolutely. All 
right, first question today, and it might be the

0:00:07.200,0:00:10.480
toughest question I'm going to ask you. All right, 
you ready for it? I'm ready. Give me one of your

0:00:10.480,0:00:16.880
favorite restaurants in Chicago. Bets is the spot. 
Old school Chicago. What's your go-to order there?

0:00:16.880,0:00:21.680
I I think last time I was there, I had the uh 
ribeye with the bone marrow. Bone marrow is fire.

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Bone marrow is fire. And then they do the mashed 
potatoes. I think they still do the macaroni and

0:00:26.240,0:00:30.400
cheese there as well, but I mean, if you're 
not doing that, I took my parents there when

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uh they came for the first time. Never been to 
Chicago, took them there for the first time,

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took care of it, and it was like a small car 
payment. So, if you guys are interested in that,

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you guys can check that out as well. But, if 
you're looking for something on the lower side,

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I can recommend some of that as well. So, how does 
the cuisine compare to I know you're a Philly guy,

0:00:45.680,0:00:49.360
so how does that how does the cuisine compare to 
Philadelphia? It's right up there. I mean, Philly

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gets a bad knack for like just being a cheese 
steak city, but I think we are one of the best

0:00:54.240,0:00:58.160
food cities in the country as well. You just got 
to get away from the tourist trap. Just like here,

0:00:58.160,0:01:03.280
deep dish, you know, stay away from the deep dish, 
too. I'll be maybe a minority on that end, whereas

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like not a big deep dish fan. I take a lot of 
slack for that, but just not in my DNA. It's like

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a small lasagna. I agree with you. I mean, I I 
think once a year or maybe when somebody's coming

0:01:13.280,0:01:17.840
to visit, I'm in. But, uh, yeah, it's a lot. It's 
a lot for me. And I'm going to be in Philly later

0:01:17.840,0:01:21.440
this month, so I'm going to have to hit you up 
for some recommendations then. All right, I will

0:01:21.440,0:01:25.840
send you the full list. So, I had my brother send 
me a full list since I haven't been there a lot,

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but he sends me the acceptable. In his terms, it's 
the acceptable restaurants. So, I will send them

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all to you with the happy hours included. Yeah, I 
appreciate that. So, tell me, how are things going

0:01:36.320,0:01:40.080
over at Bracy Performance right now? Uh, Bracy's 
been good. We're really busy. Summer really kicks

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up. I know a lot of facilities sometimes you 
lose out on a lot of people, but summertime

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here is very busy. We got a lot of pro, college, 
high school athletes all coming back in and yeah,

0:01:49.120,0:01:53.920
we're running full steam right now. Well, cool. 
Really excited to chat with you today. Obviously,

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you share a lot on social media. If you don't 
follow Carmen, make sure you do. Nooch n o h_13.

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Make sure you give him a follow. A lot of great 
content on there, but really excited to chat with

0:02:03.760,0:02:07.040
you today about all the great things you're doing 
in the performance world. I know you've been in it

0:02:07.040,0:02:11.040
for a long time, but really, you started as a D1 
baseball player. Tell me, how did your experience

0:02:11.040,0:02:17.120
as an athlete end up shaping or influencing 
you as a coach? I think a lot of that led to

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confidence for me as a coach just taking control 
on the floor. So, as you can tell, you've met me

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in person before. I'm not the biggest guy in 
the world. So, having that confidence on the

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baseball field was definitely something that I had 
to learn a lot of. So, from Philly, like you said,

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some hard-nose schools, some hard-nosed games 
back then, but we uh we kind of made it work and,

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you know, it transferred easily for me. I played 
baseball at Temple University in Philly. Uh kind

0:02:41.600,0:02:47.840
of walked onish, transferred in after like half 
a semester at another school and then ended up

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being the captain there by my senior season. So 
that was a really cool accomplishment for me and

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just a testament of hard work and dedication. 
So that was definitely an easy transition into

0:02:56.560,0:03:01.440
the performance world for me. Took me a little bit 
of time though to find my footing on how I wanted

0:03:01.440,0:03:05.840
to train the way I wanted to train. I spent some 
time in Mike Bole's system in Philadelphia where

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they had a different outlet outside of Boston. So 
that really helped me along what I wanted to kind

0:03:11.040,0:03:16.960
of shape on my own programming once I moved away 
from that. Okay. So Mike Bole's facility outside

0:03:16.960,0:03:21.280
of Philadelphia, obviously a satellite facility. 
You started there. Then how did you make your way

0:03:21.280,0:03:24.080
to Chicago in the performance world? Uh so 
I think it I thought it was just time that

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I kind of outgrew Philadelphia. Uh I just saw 
Chicago as a place that had a little bit more

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opportunities and a little bit more eyes focus 
there. So it was kind of a no-brainer for what I

0:03:32.800,0:03:37.760
was trying to accomplish with myself at the time. 
And I just kind of needed a change of scenery. I

0:03:37.760,0:03:42.800
thought that I did uh all that I probably was able 
to do in Philadelphia at that time, which I still

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love the city, love going back, but at the same 
time, you know, growth is good, growth is hard,

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and I just needed to step outside that comfort 
zone. How would you categorize yourself as a

0:03:51.600,0:03:56.320
coach? Maybe some of the maybe elaborate on some 
of the principles of yours in your early days as

0:03:56.320,0:04:01.920
Carmen the coach. Like Carmen comes to Chicago, 
he begins his performance coaching. How would you

0:04:01.920,0:04:05.760
characterize that coach? Uh I think we we were all 
just I feel like we were just trying to find our

0:04:05.760,0:04:10.960
footing still. Um, I remember even the days when 
I was at the boil doing the boil stuff, you know,

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you're just like they have the programming set 
up for you. Everything's kind of layered to

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what you're supposed to do, but then you kind 
of question it because you're kind of like,

0:04:17.120,0:04:20.320
all right, is this really working? I don't 
know if you've ever heard the term murder fit,

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but it's when you just kind of like wrap a bunch 
of things together where you're just trying to

0:04:24.080,0:04:28.880
kill the clients as much as possible. So, we got 
really wrapped up into that. We're just trying to

0:04:28.880,0:04:33.200
like really beat up clients. I was like, this 
isn't good. So once I got away from that type

0:04:33.200,0:04:37.600
of mentality, kind of just figured that sometimes 
a little bit less is more and just understanding

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what programming actually was and is. So it took a 
bit, but we we found it. And then meeting people,

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having good people to learn on there, good 
mentors in the industry definitely helped. Yeah,

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I think any of us can look back at our 
younger days of coaching and be like,

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what were we doing? Right? That's the hope is that 
you can reflect on your earlier days and say, what

0:04:57.760,0:05:02.160
the hell was I thinking? um because it means it's 
you you've evolved and progressed as a coach. So,

0:05:02.160,0:05:06.240
you mentioned a couple mentors or maybe people 
who helped influence you in your earlier days

0:05:06.240,0:05:11.440
as well. Who were some of those people that maybe 
started to help you expand your coaching horizons?

0:05:11.440,0:05:16.080
Uh definitely when I moved here, Megan Young was 
probably is and still is a very good friend of

0:05:16.080,0:05:20.000
mine. She definitely helped me with a lot of how 
to go about the business, how to be a professional

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in this business and how to grow just not only 
as a human but as a coach. So that was definitely

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someone who I attest a lot of my accomplishments 
to and somebody who helped me lead. And then Kyle

0:05:29.440,0:05:34.800
Bracy, who's who I work for now at the facility, 
another guy who I owe a lot to just giving me a

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chance in the facility. When I first moved to 
Chicago, just trying to find my footing, like I

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said, and just got mixed up with kind of the wrong 
type of facility and where I wanted to be. So I

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kind of moved away from that during COVID and then 
everything kind of fell into place after that.

0:05:46.880,0:05:52.400
Megan Young, another Kaiser Human Performance 
podcast guest. Shout out to Megan. Yeah,

0:05:52.400,0:05:58.880
shout out to Megan. She's doing some fantastic 
work. So, thank you. So, you strike me as a coach,

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as a coach that really values creativity and 
curiosity in your training. I think that's very

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evident with the content you share in your social 
media. Um, you put a lot out there. You say,

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"This is me as a coach," which I think is awesome. 
Where did that mindset of exploration come from?

0:06:14.320,0:06:19.520
I think it just comes back to like being I 
grew up in a very athletic household. So,

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my dad was a boxer. We had a facility or a gym 
I should say in our basement and even back in

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the day. I grew up in boxing gyms. So just having 
some time to kind of figure out what movement is,

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what things feel like. And that's a lot of what 
I share in my stories, what I share on my page,

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too. Is it necessarily doing these things with 
clients every day? No. But it just for you guys to

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like get ideas of how to be creative, what might 
work for different people. Granted, we have our,

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you know, basics that we're always doing, but like 
not everyone's the same, right? So, if we can find

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one or two different ways that help an athlete 
kind of gain an advantage or better themselves

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in the field that we're in, then essentially it's 
going to help all of our other athletes. So, I'm

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just trying to help as many people as possible. 
And with the content I put out there kind of looks

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like it might look weird sometimes. It might look 
like something you can benefit from, but you know

0:07:08.480,0:07:12.560
what? Happy to be that guy and to put a bunch of 
different creative things out there. Absolutely.

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And I think it's great. And for someone that's 
listening and for somebody's listening and they

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maybe have never seen your content or have looked 
at your page, can you describe what they might be

0:07:24.320,0:07:30.160
seeing on your page? A lot of dynamic explosive 
movements, a lot of rotational dynamic movements.

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Yeah. I I've recently, especially like over the 
past few years, I got way more into the rotational

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aspects of things. I feel like when I first 
started posting a lot, it was more about like more

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speed and agility work. And then I kind of got to 
work with more Kaiser equipment. Shameless plug,

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but here we are. But, you know, it's probably one 
of the more beneficial pieces of equipment that

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I've been able to utilize with my athletes. You 
know, even if it's utilizing a different handle,

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utilizing a different movement pattern, whatever 
it is, I'm not afraid to take a chance and use it.

0:08:01.680,0:08:07.440
So, a lot a lot of dynamic movements. Yeah. So, 
a lot of dynamic movements. And I know for you,

0:08:07.440,0:08:11.040
you've harped on movement proficiency, and that's 
something that's really stood out to you in your

0:08:11.040,0:08:17.040
training. So what does movement proficiency mean 
to Carmen? Uh to me it is about executing not at

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a amount of volume but at a quality of movement. 
Right? So we can have athletes perform tons and

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tons of these different movement patterns but 
are they doing them effectively? Right? Are we

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getting the highest quality with highest outputs 
that we need to get out of these things with our

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athletes? So even if it's a basic pushpull, the 
Kaiser is going to allow us to kind of see what

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we're getting out of it. And it's easy for me to 
cue based on what I'm getting out of the numbers

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and all the reads that I'm seeing, right? 
So if someone's not staying in their hips,

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which is probably something that I cue a lot of 
is like hip loading, right? So not a lot of people

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understand how to load your hips, use the ground, 
and just kind of be explosive from those patterns,

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right? So a lot of people when I say load your 
hips or to rotate, they kind of want to stand up

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and just get rid of all the stored energy that 
they've already created. So that is something

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that I feel like I constantly coach and cue on a 
daily basis. So when you try to measure movement

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proficiency, you find yourself looking at both 
the qualitative movement, the quality of movement

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and then also the combination of maybe some 
objective data. Is that right? Yes, absolutely.

0:09:21.200,0:09:27.040
Okay. Is there anything else that you're using 
to help measure quality of movement to say yes,

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this is a proficient movement? Well, we do it on 
a weekly basis, right? So, if there's something

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I see a lag in, right, on a specific pattern, 
right? Obviously, we have the data now and I

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feel like there's good ways to use data and then 
there's ways that do we really need to, you know,

0:09:43.200,0:09:48.480
see numbers on the specific movement. So I have 
my basis of kind of what I go off of and then

0:09:48.480,0:09:53.440
we'll touch on them weekly and then kind of build 
some different patterns through that. So maybe we

0:09:53.440,0:09:59.920
want to utilize an oscilly method. Maybe we want 
to just go max velocity pulls or maybe some type

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of just, you know, full intent on something. We 
want to go a little bit slower. We want to go

0:10:05.040,0:10:10.240
slow to fast rips. Whatever it is to kind of see 
where they're kind of slacking. And I feel like

0:10:10.240,0:10:14.240
when we get into these patterns too, someone's 
always recruiting a different muscle that they

0:10:14.240,0:10:18.880
shouldn't be using. So it definitely helps me kind 
of see those things and kind of cue from there.

0:10:18.880,0:10:24.880
So that's why utilizing different sequencing, 
it doesn't even have to be actually on a week

0:10:24.880,0:10:29.840
toeek basis. It could be a set to set type basis. 
So just seeing these things how they play out,

0:10:29.840,0:10:35.120
it helps a lot. For context too for someone who 
might be listening here, what populations are you

0:10:35.120,0:10:38.320
working with? Obviously, you know, you work with 
a lot of athletic populations. You also have some

0:10:38.320,0:10:43.760
gen pop, but a majority of your clientele 
is blank. Uh, majority athletes. Yeah. So,

0:10:43.760,0:10:48.240
some higher level athletes. So, athletes 
of all ranges and all different sports,

0:10:48.240,0:10:51.760
all different ranges, all different sports. And I 
think that's one thing that not a lot of coaches,

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I mean, especially with social media now, everyone 
is a, you know, specific trainer in a sport,

0:10:57.360,0:11:01.920
right? Like basketball specific, golf specific. 
And, you know, I think that's one thing that

0:11:01.920,0:11:06.880
has been a difference of what I put out is 
you just train athletes, right? We all need

0:11:06.880,0:11:10.960
the same things. And that's one thing that has 
definitely bothered me on a sense of like, oh,

0:11:10.960,0:11:15.280
I'm the best basketball strength coach. I'm 
the best baseball strength coach. But if you

0:11:15.280,0:11:19.920
could train one athlete, you could train them all. 
You're just looking at a very small sample size of

0:11:19.920,0:11:25.040
movement patterns that you're sampling into their 
programming that is going to get them better.

0:11:25.040,0:11:31.280
itself and some of the movements that are athlete 
specific you could probably do them on the field,

0:11:31.280,0:11:36.560
the court, wherever their actual, you know, 
training is actually taking place in their sport,

0:11:36.560,0:11:41.200
you know. Yeah. I mean, at at the end of the 
day, training in itself, resistance training

0:11:41.200,0:11:47.120
is general. It's it's general compared to sports. 
It's relevant to sports. It's not really specific

0:11:47.120,0:11:51.440
to a sport. I think there are some nuance things 
that we can all appreciate about a certain sport,

0:11:51.440,0:11:55.440
especially as it pertains to injuries and 
injury risk that Yeah. are very relevant

0:11:55.440,0:12:00.160
to one specific sport, but you know, a strength 
conditioning professional, while they may work

0:12:00.160,0:12:04.480
with a specific type of athlete, yeah, they're 
they're a performance coach and a lot of these

0:12:04.480,0:12:09.680
principles and training methods can be applied 
across a wide range of athletes, um, and it sounds

0:12:09.680,0:12:14.080
like you're experiencing that. So, okay, we're 
really helpful. So, athletes, so I imagine with

0:12:14.080,0:12:18.080
the number of athletes and the variety of athletes 
you have coming into your facility, you see a lot

0:12:18.080,0:12:23.200
of people, sometimes for a long period of time, 
sometimes for a short period of time. So anyway,

0:12:23.200,0:12:28.320
with that, is there a common thing you see amongst 
all these athletes where you're like, "Yeah, I

0:12:28.320,0:12:32.160
know I'm likely going to have to address this when 
they come in and maybe that's something that's

0:12:32.160,0:12:36.720
rotational." Uh you hit on that before. What do 
you find yourself coming back to regardless of

0:12:36.720,0:12:40.560
what kind of athlete is coming in for the most 
of the time? Well, it's funny like you you get

0:12:40.560,0:12:45.440
some of the athletes away from their sport and uh 
I can say this confidently like not a lot of them

0:12:45.440,0:12:50.880
if they haven't been in a facility that is good 
at the strength and conditioning side of things,

0:12:50.880,0:12:54.960
they don't move well, right? So, that's something 
that was very surprising to me uh when I first got

0:12:54.960,0:13:00.400
into training higher level athletes is just seeing 
like general movement is a very like thing, but we

0:13:00.400,0:13:06.320
don't see our athletes move well. And then just 
building those um proficiencies out off the bat,

0:13:06.320,0:13:11.280
just like skipping, bounce, just being able to 
move laterally or very simple things that not a

0:13:11.280,0:13:16.560
lot of athletes I've seen that have come into the 
facility do well at a very ground level. So I've

0:13:16.560,0:13:20.000
had to like kind of reboot some of those things 
or what they've learned or kind of just take those

0:13:20.000,0:13:24.880
out, build them into the warm-up or even into just 
a movement day for them and then kind of go off

0:13:24.880,0:13:29.040
of that because if we can get those foundations 
to where they need to be, then some of the other

0:13:29.040,0:13:33.600
stuff kind of cleans itself up, right? So then we 
can move rotationally better. And that's another

0:13:33.600,0:13:38.160
area as well is just sometimes you're kind of like 
probably never done any of these type of movements

0:13:38.160,0:13:43.280
and we probably should because we are rotational 
by nature. So we should definitely be doing more

0:13:43.280,0:13:47.760
rotational movements in the gym. It's pretty 
amazing, right? They're they're so talented and

0:13:47.760,0:13:52.000
they're so good at their sport. You would assume 
that maybe they're really high quality movers.

0:13:52.000,0:13:55.920
However, that's not always the case. Especially 
with those that have only played one sport their

0:13:55.920,0:14:00.240
entire lives, right? I mean, and that and that is 
very interesting, too. like something so basic as

0:14:00.240,0:14:05.760
just skips, right? I've had to do like full days 
on doing skips, doing bounds and things of that

0:14:05.760,0:14:09.760
nature, but you know, put a ball at their feet, 
put a ball in their hand, different completely

0:14:09.760,0:14:15.040
different human instantly cuz they've been doing 
it for their whole lives. So, it's interesting,

0:14:15.040,0:14:19.600
but it that's why, you know, we're in the position 
that we're in and we're able to kind of help them

0:14:19.600,0:14:23.680
along the way. So, I know you do some work with 
some teams. You've had some experience at Red Star

0:14:23.680,0:14:28.880
and you've worked with teams across the board. 
As somebody who is in Chicago, you have athletes

0:14:28.880,0:14:32.640
coming in and out, right? They maybe come to 
Chicago for a few weeks or a few days, then

0:14:32.640,0:14:37.440
they leave. A lot of people we have on here work 
in a team environment. You're not necessarily in

0:14:37.440,0:14:42.160
a team environment for most of your day. So, as a 
practitioner, how do you get the most out of like

0:14:42.160,0:14:46.640
the short amount of time? What's your approach 
to having somebody in your facility for maybe a

0:14:46.640,0:14:51.280
short amount of time, whether that's a few days 
or only a week, to really make this worthwhile

0:14:51.280,0:14:56.080
for them and get the most out of their training? 
Yeah, I think I think it goes to uh communication

0:14:56.080,0:15:00.240
what they feel like they need to work on the most 
and kind of give them some of those guidelines

0:15:00.240,0:15:04.800
if they're going back into another facility and 
then kind of giving them almost like homework to

0:15:04.800,0:15:09.120
take with them and see what they need to work on, 
right? So that's why we have data, we have numbers

0:15:09.120,0:15:13.200
to kind of look at, maybe they're not doing it 
in another facility. We kind of test and screen

0:15:13.200,0:15:17.520
them and then see what we can work on. Most of the 
athletes I have usually are with me. I don't have

0:15:17.520,0:15:21.600
anyone that's really in for a very short period 
of time like that. I have a lot of like monthly

0:15:21.600,0:15:25.760
I get them for a month, I get them for two months, 
three months. So that that helps, right? So where

0:15:25.760,0:15:30.400
I'm able to kind of get those four-week windows 
where I can kind of do my programming with them

0:15:30.400,0:15:34.800
or kind of go through my eentric phase, maybe a 
little bit more cluster phase and then get them

0:15:34.800,0:15:39.360
into a peaking phase if they're going back 
into what they're training or their school,

0:15:39.360,0:15:45.280
their team, whatever. So, I'm lucky enough to kind 
of get them in like a two, three month increment

0:15:45.280,0:15:49.760
weekly. It's very rare for me, but like if I had 
somebody that is only going to be here for a week,

0:15:49.760,0:15:52.960
I would kind of do like that homework type 
thing where I get some numbers on them,

0:15:52.960,0:15:57.040
kind of show them some movements that they can 
take with them, show them their other facility,

0:15:57.040,0:16:02.320
and kind of go about their time that way. Well, 
it feels like a bit of a delicate balance of

0:16:02.320,0:16:07.040
trying to meet them where they're at, but also in 
a short amount of time get them prepared for where

0:16:07.040,0:16:12.800
they need to get to. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you 
got it. You got it. Well, I guess my question for

0:16:12.800,0:16:17.280
you is like, how do you navigate that balance? 
I mean, a lot of times, too, it's like being in

0:16:17.280,0:16:21.440
sync with where they're going back to as well. 
You know, sometimes in the winter, we have some

0:16:21.440,0:16:26.320
pro guys in them navigating with the pro clubs 
too as well. So having those conversations with

0:16:26.320,0:16:31.680
them and building trust with the clubs that they 
are associated with, that's that's huge because I

0:16:31.680,0:16:36.960
got I really want to be able to have that rapport 
and have that trust from those teams to say, "Hey,

0:16:36.960,0:16:41.440
okay, you're allowed to go back into that facility 
or you're whatever you guys accomplish. We want

0:16:41.440,0:16:46.880
more of that, right?" So I mean, we do a good job 
getting guys bigger, stronger. How strong is too

0:16:46.880,0:16:50.880
strong? And then what else can we kind of work 
on? You know, we get some of the younger pro guys

0:16:50.880,0:16:56.960
in here. They're deadlifting 500 pounds on a trap 
bar, bench pressing over 300 pounds. And I'm like,

0:16:56.960,0:17:02.080
okay, we can do that, but what else can we do now? 
So, the strength side, we have it. And I think

0:17:02.080,0:17:06.720
that's where it kind of separates some of what 
we do here away from other facilities and gets

0:17:06.720,0:17:10.960
back to being creative, right? We're able to work 
on these rotational qualities. We're able to work

0:17:10.960,0:17:16.800
on some more velocity type movements. We're able 
to kind of get them on these crazy treadmills that

0:17:16.800,0:17:21.280
we have and get them faster. And then we have all 
the toys, but now how are we implementing them?

0:17:21.280,0:17:25.920
How are we utilizing them to benefit them 
and get them ready for camp or for spring

0:17:25.920,0:17:30.480
training? Yeah. And it sounds to me like the 
communication piece is one of the biggest pieces,

0:17:30.480,0:17:34.720
whether that's with the client directly or with 
the team. So, you find yourself actually reaching

0:17:34.720,0:17:39.200
out to these organizations and having, you know, 
communication between one another. Obviously,

0:17:39.200,0:17:42.400
if this is a repeat client, then they're coming 
in, they just know they're going to be in Chicago

0:17:42.400,0:17:45.360
for a few months every summer. So, it sounds 
like you're able to develop that relationship

0:17:45.360,0:17:49.600
with the performance staff there. Yeah. And and 
it's huge to just be able to have someone who

0:17:49.600,0:17:55.680
can just relate to the athlete, right? Like I was 
in Miami over the winter time working for Unrival

0:17:55.680,0:18:00.880
Basketball with WNBA players and you know, you 
get thrown into this setting and you're working

0:18:00.880,0:18:04.960
with some of the best athletes in the world and 
it's just like, hi, I'm your strength coach for

0:18:04.960,0:18:10.480
the next 12 weeks and no one knows who I am and 
I'm just like, you know, how do I, you know,

0:18:10.480,0:18:14.080
literally the best WNBA players in the world and 
you're just like, how do I connect to them? Okay,

0:18:14.080,0:18:18.560
just be yourself, man. Just get used to it. don't 
try to like implement your stuff really fast and

0:18:18.560,0:18:23.280
just like be overbearing and like really assert 
yourself into this setting. And it worked out, you

0:18:23.280,0:18:28.240
know, just getting to know people and, you know, 
being a human. The human element goes a long way,

0:18:28.240,0:18:33.200
right? And now some of the my favorite people 
on this planet. So tell me, I I totally agree

0:18:33.200,0:18:36.640
with you, right? Like we talked about before, 
they're already so skilled at what they do.

0:18:36.640,0:18:41.680
They're there for a reason, right? And without 
us, they'd likely still be in the same position.

0:18:41.680,0:18:45.920
Exactly. It's about maximizing where they're 
at now and really allowing them to continue

0:18:45.920,0:18:50.000
to do what they're doing or make a tweak here and 
there and allow them to increase the performance

0:18:50.000,0:18:54.160
by a little bit and that little margin gives them 
a huge competitive edge. So my question to you is

0:18:54.160,0:18:59.680
how did you get involved with Unravel Basketball? 
Uh I was just reached out um through the director.

0:18:59.680,0:19:05.120
So it was through Instagram which was how a lot 
of opportunities have happened for me. So I was

0:19:05.120,0:19:09.360
reached out through Instagram and then had a bit 
of a conversation. didn't know a new league was

0:19:09.360,0:19:14.240
being started. And then my, you know, obviously 
I perked up really quickly when I heard about the

0:19:14.240,0:19:19.600
league and the opportunity and it was one of a 
kind type thing to create a new league. And once

0:19:19.600,0:19:24.800
I heard who was all involved, it was a no-brainer 
for me. And to get away from Chicago in the winter

0:19:24.800,0:19:31.840
and be in Miami, also also a no-brainer for 
me. Just an overall amazing experience. Yeah,

0:19:31.840,0:19:35.680
I can tell just looking at your face what you 
said, you're like, "Yeah, that was nice." Yeah,

0:19:35.680,0:19:40.320
it was it was fun. Yeah. Once everyone kind of 
opened up and it was like, "Okay, everyone's

0:19:40.320,0:19:44.880
really cool here. Everyone's on the same page. 
Everyone's here to help us get better." And,

0:19:44.880,0:19:49.440
you know, that was it that was fun, man. It really 
was to be a part of a history making organization

0:19:49.440,0:19:54.800
like that. Um, it means a lot to me to be invited 
and to be one of the few males on the performance

0:19:54.800,0:19:58.800
side. That was that was very cool. Yeah. And will 
you be going back there for a second year, you

0:19:58.800,0:20:06.480
think? I believe so. Yes. Like I Miami was great. 
I really hope so. Yeah. Yeah, me too. But like now

0:20:06.480,0:20:10.880
it's just like we we we've made friends, right? 
So we have friends and everyone's really cool with

0:20:10.880,0:20:15.920
each other. But it was definitely an experience at 
first cuz like you said, you know, you're walking

0:20:15.920,0:20:21.280
into these rooms with uh the best WNBA players in 
the world and you're like, why should I listen to

0:20:21.280,0:20:25.280
you? Like what are you going to do to help me get 
better? Right? So just finding where I could fit

0:20:25.280,0:20:30.160
in and like, you know, just being in pro settings 
before definitely helped. You know, it was cool.

0:20:30.160,0:20:34.960
Uh I have nothing but good things to say about 
the experience. So, one of the great parts about

0:20:34.960,0:20:38.160
working with professional athletes, right, is 
they're very in tune with their bodies. They have

0:20:38.160,0:20:44.240
a very good understanding. They're self-aware. So, 
how do you allow them or create a space for them

0:20:44.240,0:20:48.320
to really take their ownership in their training 
when you're when you're training with them? Well,

0:20:48.320,0:20:52.960
it's interesting because a lot of people there, 
they have they already have people, right? So,

0:20:52.960,0:20:58.240
a lot of athletes, they have trainers that they 
listen to. So, you know, once you get into that

0:20:58.240,0:21:03.440
setting and they can kind of see how you respond 
to certain things or, you know, if they're curious

0:21:03.440,0:21:07.280
about their own programming, that's where you kind 
of just have to be that crutch for them. Sometimes

0:21:07.280,0:21:11.840
it's like, okay, I have this, but we don't 
necessarily have this type of equipment. What else

0:21:11.840,0:21:16.480
can I do? Right? And the curious ones will always 
come up to you. The ones that want to get better,

0:21:16.480,0:21:20.880
the ones that know they have to get better, 
they'll ask you, right? So, it's just kind of

0:21:20.880,0:21:25.680
being there and just being available for them when 
they need you. So, and that was that was huge for

0:21:25.680,0:21:29.920
me. It was just just not like like I said before, 
I'm not going to be the guy that's going to be

0:21:29.920,0:21:34.960
super assertive in that situation and b if we 
don't do x, y, and z, then you're not going to get

0:21:34.960,0:21:40.720
better. But like, where can I assert myself? Like, 
okay, I have 7 minutes for this warm-up on day

0:21:40.720,0:21:45.920
one, right? Okay, here we go. This is my interview 
to them. And I have seen it before. Like,

0:21:45.920,0:21:50.800
some people don't like how people warm them up and 
then it's done. This is it. 7 minutes, right? So,

0:21:50.800,0:21:55.920
that first day was my audition for them to trust 
me and to be a part of that. And then maybe people

0:21:55.920,0:22:01.120
didn't trust me right away, which was true. And 
then gradually more and more it built up. And then

0:22:01.120,0:22:06.000
yeah, I'm walking around in a crop top. Okay. Take 
us to those first seven minutes then. And I'm sure

0:22:06.000,0:22:10.960
you thought I'm sure you really thought about what 
you were going to do and what that looked like,

0:22:10.960,0:22:14.480
especially the night before, right? Yeah. You 
know, you you want to practice it, you know,

0:22:14.480,0:22:18.240
but then you got to fill the room out. And then 
it's always like we plan, we plan, we plan as

0:22:18.240,0:22:22.240
strength coaches in those in those settings and 
then the coach comes up to you have three minutes,

0:22:22.240,0:22:26.480
you know, but it luckily that never happened 
to me. All the coaches were great and we always

0:22:26.480,0:22:30.240
had enough time to get everybody prepped and 
ready. But like I always like queue in on like

0:22:30.240,0:22:35.120
one specific athlete on the team, right? You can 
tell you can read faces when you do it length of

0:22:35.120,0:22:39.680
time. We've been kind of in this atmosphere of 
one person who's kind of, you know, the general

0:22:39.680,0:22:43.440
of the team will kind of give you the stare, the 
look to like keep it moving or like, okay, I like

0:22:43.440,0:22:48.320
this. Let's stay here for a bit. So I always kind 
of go off of one specific person on if I'm in a

0:22:48.320,0:22:52.560
team setting like that and that will kind of be 
my guide for where I'm at. I'm very good at, you

0:22:52.560,0:22:57.200
know, calling the audible if I need to get a feel 
for the day, how slow they walk into the facility

0:22:57.200,0:23:01.920
or, you know, who's limping, who's not limping, 
who's getting treatment done. So, you know, you

0:23:01.920,0:23:06.880
just things to be aware of. But that's always been 
a very good thing for me is to just kind of queue

0:23:06.880,0:23:12.480
into one specific person whether they uh are with 
me or not, but you know, it's worked out. Yeah.

0:23:12.480,0:23:18.000
What has been inspiring you lately in performance 
training? I imagine you might weave in and out of

0:23:18.000,0:23:22.640
some things that are really inspiring you. what 
right now is kind of like uh inspiring you as a

0:23:22.640,0:23:26.640
coach in terms of performance training. There's 
some really good other guys doing these innovative

0:23:26.640,0:23:31.520
things in our industry too. So just seeing how 
some of the younger guys are coming along and

0:23:31.520,0:23:36.880
developing their programming and you know some of 
the younger guys just trying to stay in line with

0:23:36.880,0:23:41.280
these guys. So like still trying to be who I am 
and just trying to know that we've been doing this

0:23:41.280,0:23:44.880
for a long time. It's just kind of like the old 
guard. You know what I'm saying? Just trying to

0:23:44.880,0:23:49.440
keep up with the young guys now. But like you know 
we are who we are at this point. I feel like I'm

0:23:49.440,0:23:54.080
very established in our industry enough to that 
people kind of look up to me in those s in that

0:23:54.080,0:23:58.160
sense. But some of these younger guys, the way 
they're moving around being able to program, it's

0:23:58.160,0:24:01.520
pretty cool to see, man, cuz I feel like there 
wasn't a lot of performance stuff that was getting

0:24:01.520,0:24:07.040
posted when my time kind of blew up on social 
media, but now I feel like everybody is doing like

0:24:07.040,0:24:11.040
really good work and people aren't afraid to kind 
of put their stuff out there and show who they

0:24:11.040,0:24:15.760
are and how they program, which is really cool 
to see. And there's a lot of really good minds

0:24:15.760,0:24:20.320
in our industry. Is there a specific example? 
Doesn't need to be a specific person, but just an

0:24:20.320,0:24:23.920
example of some of the things that you are seeing 
where you're like, "Oh, wow. That's that's pretty

0:24:23.920,0:24:29.040
cool." Uh, nothing super specific, but, you know, 
I sometimes I kind of just watch and, you know,

0:24:29.040,0:24:32.960
see how I can kind of implement some of the other 
things that people are doing with their athletes

0:24:32.960,0:24:37.520
into my own programming. Some of it, you know, I 
know a lot of people put stuff out for themselves

0:24:37.520,0:24:41.600
and like how they're training. So, that's 
something I want to get more into is just like

0:24:41.600,0:24:45.680
showing my personality as well and like talking 
over the cameras and just being able to kind of

0:24:45.680,0:24:50.640
show who I am as a person cuz we get looped up 
in this sentiment that we're robots as trainers

0:24:50.640,0:24:54.880
and a lot of us have really cool personalities 
that not a lot of us get a chance to show. So,

0:24:54.880,0:24:59.600
that's something I'll probably be diving more 
into. It's just getting a sense of how to make my

0:24:59.600,0:25:03.920
videos look a little bit more aesthetic and show 
a little bit more of my personality. Yeah. Well,

0:25:03.920,0:25:10.560
earlier you mentioned the Kaiser equipment and I 
know you do share a lot on that. So I am curious

0:25:10.560,0:25:18.320
to hear from you. What is it about that equipment 
that really strikes you as a coach or draws you

0:25:18.320,0:25:24.320
to it to use with your athletes? I think it's the 
loading, right? So we can safely load our athletes

0:25:24.320,0:25:30.320
on every machine you guys have um from a eccentric 
component where it's not like overbearing,

0:25:30.320,0:25:33.840
right? So if we put somebody on a bell squat, 
we put somebody on a air squat, it's not going

0:25:33.840,0:25:39.040
to put them in a position where they're feel like 
something bad's going to happen. Whereas obviously

0:25:39.040,0:25:44.880
there's nothing wrong with using barbells, but 
sometimes we can kind of face that um or like

0:25:44.880,0:25:50.160
bit of a sense of, you know, hesitation with a lot 
of our clients or our athletes. It's just like,

0:25:50.160,0:25:55.040
I'm not familiar with this. Okay, well scratch the 
barbell. Let's go load you a little bit more on a

0:25:55.040,0:26:00.640
bell squat, on an air squat. So that's always been 
my main concern is just like safely loading my

0:26:00.640,0:26:06.000
athletes. And then once we're able to kind of get 
that um under control, we can dive into so much

0:26:06.000,0:26:11.440
more just from a performance standpoint. Yeah. And 
one of the things that we talked about off air a

0:26:11.440,0:26:15.760
little bit was this idea of just problem solving. 
And at the end of the day, sports are incredibly

0:26:15.760,0:26:20.720
complex. It's almost an unsolvable puzzle and 
every day we're doing our best to to solve it,

0:26:20.720,0:26:27.440
right? But it's a complex dynamic environment. 
And so my question to you is how do you approach

0:26:27.440,0:26:32.800
problem solving with athletes? What's what's 
your process for saying, okay, number one,

0:26:32.800,0:26:37.040
identifying a piece of the puzzle that's maybe 
missing and then trying to add that piece. Well,

0:26:37.040,0:26:42.080
I think it's funny, too. We are as coaches, the 
good ones. We are elite problem solvers, right?

0:26:42.080,0:26:47.040
So, how can we kind of take, like you said, that 
missing piece and turn it into something that's

0:26:47.040,0:26:52.080
going to benefit them? So, just having a bunch 
of different exercises has gone a long way for

0:26:52.080,0:26:56.960
me. So, if I feel like someone's struggling with 
a specific exercise that we're doing, obviously,

0:26:56.960,0:27:00.160
we're going to call a quick audible and get them 
on something that they're more comfortable with

0:27:00.160,0:27:04.960
and then kind of just understand what was causing 
the problem with the first exercise. That's

0:27:04.960,0:27:09.520
something we'll kind of go over after cuz I'm a 
big notebook guy. I will write everything down.

0:27:09.520,0:27:13.040
I know a lot of people are laptop, but I'm stuck 
in the stone age. I still have the notebook out

0:27:13.040,0:27:17.840
writing things down all the time, you know, little 
notes for people's sessions. So just understanding

0:27:17.840,0:27:23.920
or seeing what that issue was for that particular 
exercise the first time that needed a bit of a

0:27:23.920,0:27:29.440
uh regression or a different you know flare on 
that and sometimes it could just be a sense of

0:27:29.440,0:27:33.280
how we're queuing things which I think goes a 
long way as well. How are we queuing things? How

0:27:33.280,0:27:39.040
are we relating it to the athlete to the client? 
Just giving them cues. I feel like when we have a

0:27:39.040,0:27:43.360
higherend athlete that's not familiar with some 
of the movement patterns that we're done. for

0:27:43.360,0:27:46.560
trying to get a little bit more complex. How 
can we relate it to their sport? That's been

0:27:46.560,0:27:50.160
something that's helped me a lot, especially with 
the basketball guys. Just give them a cue probably

0:27:50.160,0:27:54.560
that they would relate it to a movement in the 
game or in practice, right? So, that's helped me

0:27:54.560,0:27:58.960
a lot. What's an example of that? I know there's 
a lot of works, but Nick Wkelman talked about

0:27:58.960,0:28:03.520
internal queuing versus external. Do you find 
yourself doing a lot of external queuing? What's

0:28:03.520,0:28:06.880
maybe a cue that you find yourself constantly 
going back to, let's say, with the basketball

0:28:06.880,0:28:11.840
population? Uh, just some stepout type work. 
So, relating that to a little bit of a jab step,

0:28:11.840,0:28:19.040
which is a specific that I kind of uh used last 
week actually with one of my basketball guys here,

0:28:19.040,0:28:24.240
um doing a variation of a lateral step or a 
lateral lunge. Just having them understand just

0:28:24.240,0:28:28.960
think of it more as like a deeper hesitation step 
or a deeper um jab step where we're trying to get

0:28:28.960,0:28:33.440
into your hip like really create that upper half 
separation, the lower half just moving together

0:28:33.440,0:28:39.200
type. So, things like that. And as you try to 
problem solve, as you do your best to identify the

0:28:39.200,0:28:46.320
problem, how do you find or how do you identify 
if this is a strength issue, if this is a velocity

0:28:46.320,0:28:52.240
or speed issue, if this is simply just a motor 
pattern issue and a muscle recruitment issue and

0:28:52.240,0:28:58.000
sequencing, how do you find yourself deciding in 
the moment or maybe after reviewing the session

0:28:58.000,0:29:02.880
that hey, we need to maybe put more eggs in this 
basket? Yeah, I mean looking at some of the data

0:29:02.880,0:29:07.520
that we use too. So if we end up using force 
plates, so that can kind of help gauge where we're

0:29:07.520,0:29:12.800
at. And then a lot of our screening definitely 
helps us a lot. I mean, obviously I will do a lot

0:29:12.800,0:29:17.760
of just through the first warm-up I'll do with my 
athletes, a lot of like single leg balancing just

0:29:17.760,0:29:22.560
through like a dynamic warm-up and that's all I 
kind of need to see. Sometimes if I don't have a

0:29:22.560,0:29:27.600
plate available to me to kind of see where the 
testing is kind of failing at. Yeah, a lot of

0:29:27.600,0:29:32.880
the things I can see it's like through the warm-up 
generally I'll be able to assess without the data.

0:29:32.880,0:29:37.360
And again, having the data always goes a long 
way, but I can kind of see it initially through

0:29:37.360,0:29:41.520
our warm-up and some of the testing drills that 
I've done with some of my people through like a

0:29:41.520,0:29:45.760
uh little bit of a different movement screening. I 
remember when some like the FMS movement screening

0:29:45.760,0:29:50.640
was kind of popular. I don't know how much we're 
still utilizing that, but you know, just kind of

0:29:50.640,0:29:54.480
developing a screen that kind of helps and is a 
little bit more dynamic for our athletes. It's

0:29:54.480,0:29:58.160
more relatable to them. So for athlete that comes 
in and starts training an athlete who's never been

0:29:58.160,0:30:04.320
to brace before. Do they all go through force 
plate jumps? Uh not all of them. It's specific

0:30:04.320,0:30:09.920
to the trainer. I feel like if we're a little bit 
more educated on the plates, then yes. If they

0:30:09.920,0:30:14.320
have a team that wants to see numbers, then yes, 
I would like to see more of that kind of used.

0:30:14.320,0:30:19.040
But that's just me. Yeah. But we definitely have 
a system in place. And I think that's one of the

0:30:19.040,0:30:23.520
cool things with the facilities. We all have the 
kind of freedom to kind of develop and see what we

0:30:23.520,0:30:28.960
want to do and how we want to train our athletes. 
Is utilizing the plates an end all be all to just

0:30:28.960,0:30:34.640
you know seeing these things? No. But it does help 
a lot. So a combination of okay this movement come

0:30:34.640,0:30:39.920
in warm up let me see you move. I have my own type 
of qualitative screening obviously relying on your

0:30:39.920,0:30:46.640
coach's eye in concert with some of the objective 
data along the way. Okay. So I use the frames a

0:30:46.640,0:30:51.520
lot actually for myself. I use the course frames a 
lot. Yeah, I just feel like it's I mean just from

0:30:51.520,0:30:56.240
a strength side, too. Just seeing where we're 
at, especially joint to joint and limb. And is

0:30:56.240,0:31:00.960
that something you're doing weekly, bi-weekly? I 
do it weekly. Yeah, I do it weekly. Yeah, I do it

0:31:00.960,0:31:05.920
weekly. Yeah, especially some of the basketball 
guys that come in just seeing where they're at

0:31:05.920,0:31:10.320
because sometimes I don't necessarily know what's 
happening in the on the performance side when

0:31:10.320,0:31:15.360
they're with some of their basketball coaches. 
So, I just want to see where they're at. Okay. So,

0:31:15.360,0:31:20.160
going back to some of the Kaiser equipment, 
because I'm just curious about it for you, what

0:31:20.160,0:31:24.480
was your first experience? I know Mike Bole has 
some Kaiser equipment in their facility. For you,

0:31:24.480,0:31:29.200
what was that first time that you started getting 
your hands on it? Oh, yeah. So, it was back in

0:31:29.200,0:31:34.880
Philly at that facility. Uh, I believe it was just 
a functional trainer was the only piece that we

0:31:34.880,0:31:40.960
had there. And then it was the chop sequence, the 
pushpull sequencing, a lot of the sequencing. So,

0:31:40.960,0:31:46.480
that was my first experience there. and then just 
being very new in the performance world. Had no

0:31:46.480,0:31:51.600
idea what the numbers were, just no idea what 
they were when I first started training and then

0:31:51.600,0:31:55.680
obviously educated myself a little bit more and I 
was like, "Oh, this is really cool." And came into

0:31:55.680,0:32:01.600
Bracy and Bracie has all the Kaiser equipment. 
So then once that was um introduced to me, then

0:32:01.600,0:32:06.240
it was just like game on. Now I can really kind of 
program how I want to program and kind of develop

0:32:06.240,0:32:11.840
these types of patterns that I really want to 
develop for my athletes. Yeah. Once you understand

0:32:11.840,0:32:15.920
a little bit more. Yeah. I mean it it looks like 
you're continuing to explore and I think that's

0:32:15.920,0:32:19.840
maybe what you're getting to is like once you kind 
of understand it, once you understand pneumatics,

0:32:19.840,0:32:24.400
it kind of allows for you to really explore as a 
coach. Absolutely. And now you guys have the new

0:32:24.400,0:32:28.720
interface. I haven't gotten a chance to work with 
the new model with the interface, but that'd be

0:32:28.720,0:32:34.880
something that I would love to explore, too. Yeah. 
And and of course, and taking a look at, you know,

0:32:34.880,0:32:39.360
some of the things that you've shared, I guess, 
with the rotational work, right? I just want to

0:32:39.360,0:32:43.520
spend some time there because if you were to visit 
your page and and and the things that you said

0:32:43.520,0:32:49.600
you're really interested in it now is it simply 
power output for you that is your guide? I mean

0:32:49.600,0:32:55.200
a lot of people can compensate different ways. I 
could create power or more wattages by changing

0:32:55.200,0:32:59.600
the way I actually perform the movement. So I 
guess how do you create enough constraint so you

0:32:59.600,0:33:03.840
can look at the data and say yeah we're actually 
improving here the way we want to improve it

0:33:03.840,0:33:07.840
versus okay cool it's just a higher number on the 
screen right? Well, I mean, we're just looking at

0:33:07.840,0:33:12.560
at a volume type, right? So, you take the volume 
and then you kind of base it over time to see how

0:33:12.560,0:33:17.920
much these guys are improving. So, if we're just 
trying to get like we'll use some of the baseball

0:33:17.920,0:33:21.920
guys, right? So, if we're trying to just see 
what a push pull looks like on a weekly basis,

0:33:21.920,0:33:27.840
if we're just keeping that number very simple from 
a 3 to five rep range, right? and we're not going

0:33:27.840,0:33:31.440
maxing anything other than that. There's a good 
chance with some of the other stuff we're doing

0:33:31.440,0:33:34.800
that we're going to see those numbers kind of 
increase if we're doing the right things increase

0:33:34.800,0:33:39.200
or like queuing the right things as well because 
those guys are fun to work with, right? Some of

0:33:39.200,0:33:44.400
those guys you you see and you hear you can hear 
it, right? You can hear when some of those reps

0:33:44.400,0:33:48.720
are strong like you'll hear the arms kind of 
move in a different way that you know you might

0:33:48.720,0:33:54.480
not hear them move from like a general population 
standpoint. So I'm a big believer in, you know,

0:33:54.480,0:33:59.760
just hearing patterns as well, like sound and 
like rhythm. So do we have good rhythm? Can we

0:33:59.760,0:34:03.680
hear these things? Even when we do some of the 
speed work, you know, you want to hear, you want

0:34:03.680,0:34:07.600
to make sure it's rhythmic, the cadence is there. 
Same thing with rotation. We want to make sure the

0:34:07.600,0:34:11.360
thing it's free flowing. And that's the advantage 
that we have using the Kaiser equipment that it's

0:34:11.360,0:34:16.160
free flowing and that the numbers are where they 
need to be, but keeping it simple and having the

0:34:16.160,0:34:20.320
volume where it needs to be. I don't think I do a 
lot of when I'm looking chasing numbers more than

0:34:20.320,0:34:24.400
three to five reps. So, there's a good chance 
we're able to kind of produce the outputs that

0:34:24.400,0:34:28.160
we want to get out of them in that rep range. 
I totally agree with you with the way it looks

0:34:28.160,0:34:33.760
and the way it sounds, especially with it sounds 
it sounds weird, but if you've never like heard

0:34:33.760,0:34:42.320
someone like pop like a like a 4K on like a pull, 
you're going to hear it. Yeah. And those groups

0:34:42.320,0:34:46.960
are especially competitive. I know. Yeah. Session, 
not that the session can get out of hand, but it

0:34:46.960,0:34:52.160
almost turns into Okay. Like, you know, I want to 
go again. I want another one. Um, so okay. So then

0:34:52.160,0:34:57.840
I guess for you as a practitioner now, how do you 
translate? Great, we've increased the performance

0:34:57.840,0:35:04.160
here on this rotational, on this punch pole on the 
Kaiser equipment. How do you evaluate the impact

0:35:04.160,0:35:09.280
that that's having on their actual sport and sport 
performance? Is that a communication piece between

0:35:09.280,0:35:13.040
you and the athlete? Like, hey, this feels 
different. I I'm seeing increased performance,

0:35:13.040,0:35:19.040
exit velocity, whatnot. Sorry, brother. I'm 
getting this uh low device storage message on my

0:35:19.040,0:35:24.480
uh screen. It just keeps popping up. Sorry about 
that. Oh, you're good. I think that's okay. Um did

0:35:24.480,0:35:29.280
it go away? No, it's still Hold on. Let me hit 
okay again. No, it keeps popping up on my end.

0:35:29.280,0:35:33.760
I don't want it to mess up our stuff here. Sorry 
about that. No, you're good. I don't know how else

0:35:33.760,0:35:38.560
it would uh It's probably my iPhone 10 that's 
messing up. Well, let's see. It should be good,

0:35:38.560,0:35:42.800
right? It's It went away for a little. Maybe it'll 
stay. Yeah, we'll just keep riding with it. So my

0:35:42.800,0:35:47.440
question for you with that is great, you've 
increased performance in the weight room, we

0:35:47.440,0:35:52.640
have a higher output number, it looks great. How 
do you evaluate the impact that that's having on

0:35:52.640,0:35:58.160
sport performance? Right? Is that a communication 
piece between you and the athlete? Hey, my exit

0:35:58.160,0:36:03.040
velocity has jumped or hey, I'm seeing a big 
increase in my performance on the field. Really,

0:36:03.040,0:36:07.920
how can we translate an increase in rotational 
power or performance in the weight room into

0:36:07.920,0:36:12.320
sports specific movements? Yeah, I mean I mean I 
think it's the word of mouth, right? communication

0:36:12.320,0:36:16.720
aspect. So if the athletes feeling good, they 
believing in everything we're doing. If they're

0:36:16.720,0:36:22.080
noticing a difference, you know, at batting 
practice on the field, on the pitch, then yeah,

0:36:22.080,0:36:27.440
obviously it's very communicative. Would I like 
it to be more to be able to kind of see it myself?

0:36:27.440,0:36:31.440
But yeah, you kind of just have to take it with 
a grain of salt and just understand. I mean, I'm

0:36:31.440,0:36:36.720
always following my guys like statwise and just 
seeing where they're at and being able to like

0:36:36.720,0:36:42.160
evaluate them that way, right? So if it's a simple 
process of like, okay, we hit. Granted, do I have

0:36:42.160,0:36:48.320
any bearing on seeing or like hitting for them? 
Absolutely not. But can I help them stay healthy

0:36:48.320,0:36:54.000
and engaged in, you know, throughout the whole 
season? Absolutely. I feel that way. So following

0:36:54.000,0:36:58.880
their progress throughout the season, okay, maybe 
this was something that is my end. And I'm a maybe

0:36:58.880,0:37:04.000
a weird performance guy in that sense where I will 
bear some of the blame if it is my fault because I

0:37:04.000,0:37:09.120
was an athlete. I know how it is. I want the best, 
you know, performance people to help me along the

0:37:09.120,0:37:14.160
way as I'm going through this. And obviously, I 
will bear a lot of the responsibility on that,

0:37:14.160,0:37:18.320
even though I shouldn't. It has no bearing on 
me. I'm not in the batters box. I'm not shooting

0:37:18.320,0:37:23.280
threes. I'm not playing soccer. You know, 
you got to let it go at some point. But yes,

0:37:23.280,0:37:27.600
I will take into consideration stats and have 
that conversation with them once they come back

0:37:27.600,0:37:32.000
into the facility like, "Hey, did you like what 
we did last offseason? How can we be better?"

0:37:32.000,0:37:36.560
And it's just, you know, taking accountability 
and just having these conversations. Yeah. And I

0:37:36.560,0:37:41.440
think I'm curious to know and hear from you. You 
know, Bracy Performance has a great reputation

0:37:41.440,0:37:47.360
in Chicago obviously as a terrific performance 
facility. What is it about Bracy Performance?

0:37:47.360,0:37:52.000
And I know you've been there for some time that 
makes it such a great facility for people to

0:37:52.000,0:37:56.960
come train at. Uh, I think it's the atmosphere. 
I've been in a lot of gyms and it's welcoming,

0:37:56.960,0:38:01.440
right? You walk in, everyone says hi to you. 
Everyone knows who you are. I think it's very

0:38:01.440,0:38:05.760
simple things like that that go a long way. You 
know, you don't want to walk into a facility

0:38:05.760,0:38:10.560
and no one acknowledges you. No one knows your 
name. It's almost like cheers. So, you go in,

0:38:10.560,0:38:14.160
everyone kind of knows who you are. You know, 
you're welcome. You kind of feel this sense of

0:38:14.160,0:38:17.440
family. I know that's a word that gets thrown 
around a lot in our industry. You know, it's

0:38:17.440,0:38:21.760
true. We take care of each other. We look out for 
each other. And it just kind of, you know, goes

0:38:21.760,0:38:25.680
down the line of things. And doesn't hurt to have 
all the cool toys in here as I was going to ask

0:38:25.680,0:38:30.640
about the toys because I know you have the tread 
ramp, but among the toys for someone listening in,

0:38:30.640,0:38:35.760
can you tell us like what are some of those toys 
that you have there? Um, so I I believe that Tread

0:38:35.760,0:38:43.760
Ramp is the second biggest in the country actually 
by Tough Tread. I think only the Houston Rockets

0:38:43.760,0:38:49.280
have one that's as big or bigger than ours, but 
that like helps because Tough Tread's like down

0:38:49.280,0:38:54.240
the street from the Rockets facility and 
not halfway across the country. So yeah,

0:38:54.240,0:38:57.680
we have one of the biggest treadmills in the 
country. Goes to an incline of 30, goes about

0:38:57.680,0:39:04.160
like 25 miles an hour. We have another tread from 
Tough Tread, super fast Kaiser equipment, airspot,

0:39:04.160,0:39:09.680
belt squat, the cage. I call it cage. I don't know 
if you guys call it cage. Different attachments.

0:39:09.680,0:39:15.840
The squat rack and everything. We have a jumps 
that I feel like not a lot of people have um

0:39:15.840,0:39:23.280
access to where you know is it the um I'm blanking 
on the weighted jump machine. You'll see a lot of

0:39:23.280,0:39:27.680
basketball facilities where it's like cables. Why 
am I blanking on the name? But we have a loaded

0:39:27.680,0:39:32.720
one where we can kind of get some good vertical 
training in and you have some of the best trainers

0:39:32.720,0:39:37.360
in the world which help the toys. Yeah. I mean, 
even when I visited, you know, what was that one

0:39:37.360,0:39:43.680
or two years ago or so, it's easy to tell when you 
walk into the facility, right, that uh how welcome

0:39:43.680,0:39:48.160
people are when you walk in. You know, people ask 
you your name, how you doing, and and you can just

0:39:48.160,0:39:54.240
see the vibe of when someone walks in through the 
doors. Um, it's easy to see that family culture

0:39:54.240,0:40:00.480
that's been curated over time there. So, that's 
always appreciated for sure. Okay. So, my question

0:40:00.480,0:40:07.440
for you as you look around at the industry, 
as you reflect back on where you've come from,

0:40:07.440,0:40:11.600
what excites you about performance training 
moving forward? Is there something right now

0:40:11.600,0:40:16.640
that's maybe underappreciated that you think, hey, 
there's there's a space for this in the future,

0:40:16.640,0:40:20.880
performance training? I think that's a really 
good question. I don't think we, you know,

0:40:20.880,0:40:25.360
sit down and think about that too much. But I 
would definitely like to see more rotation develop

0:40:25.360,0:40:30.400
through just all different programming because 
again like the way some athletes or just the way

0:40:30.400,0:40:34.240
some trainers kind of look at it, it's just like 
we're going to do this anyway. It's all things

0:40:34.240,0:40:38.720
that we don't necessarily have to do. It's an 
eyewash exercise. Just seeing that more developed

0:40:38.720,0:40:43.200
into more programming, even if it's one exercise, 
that's definitely something on my end that I would

0:40:43.200,0:40:48.400
like to see more of. But, you know, sometimes it 
takes more people to kind of lead that charge and,

0:40:48.400,0:40:52.240
you know, I'm more than capable of doing that. 
Yeah. I think especially a sport like basketball,

0:40:52.240,0:40:57.280
I mean, we've talked about that a few times. 
So much is dedicated to any sort of vertical

0:40:57.280,0:41:02.400
movement, right? Landing mechanics, jumping, 
power development in a linear or sagittal plane

0:41:02.400,0:41:08.080
and not so much always dedicated to the transverse 
plane and rotation. So, I think that that's super

0:41:08.080,0:41:12.960
cool. Even though like you said like sports in 
itself it's a very rotational you know sports in

0:41:12.960,0:41:17.840
itself is very rotational. So well you think about 
just how much time basketball guys spend in these

0:41:17.840,0:41:21.920
patterns that they probably only just do on the 
court. They don't really load them or just take

0:41:21.920,0:41:26.160
the time to kind of just find a position where 
it's comfortable to load, right? So just have

0:41:26.160,0:41:30.480
them to understand that and once we can get them 
into the facility and just buy into it a little

0:41:30.480,0:41:34.400
bit more, it's going to go a long way. And I see 
it a lot more basketball guys are starting to,

0:41:34.400,0:41:38.240
you know, or basketball trainers, if they're just 
basketball trainers or market themselves that way,

0:41:38.240,0:41:42.880
or taking into the rotational development of their 
athletes. So, it's really cool to see. Yeah. Well,

0:41:42.880,0:41:46.640
Carmen, I really appreciate it. I got one more 
question for you. It's a quick fun one for you.

0:41:46.640,0:41:54.000
Favorite thing to do on a summer off day in 
Chicago? Sleep. No, no. I'm a golf guy. I'm

0:41:54.000,0:41:58.720
going to probably go golfing somewhere. Golfing 
or hit the lake up. So, you know, we don't get

0:41:58.720,0:42:03.360
the weather too much. So, you know, we got to 
embrace the two months of the hot weather that

0:42:03.360,0:42:08.000
we get here. I appreciate it. Big thank you Carmen 
Dastro from Bracy Performance for joining me today

0:42:08.000,0:42:12.560
on the Kaiser Human Performance podcast. If you're 
listening, make sure you throw Carmen a follow.

0:42:12.560,0:42:16.960
Show him some love. He shares so much great 
content, highlighting all the great work that

0:42:16.960,0:42:26.560
he's doing here in Chicago. His IG is nooch_13. 
That's n o_13. Carmen, on behalf of Kaiser, thank

0:42:26.560,0:42:30.160
you so much for your time. Can't wait to visit 
you again soon. Appreciate you, brother. Thank