Pauline Pompei: Early NBA Off-Season at Exos

In this episode, Pauline Pompei from Exos shares her insights on how NBA athletes approach their off-season training, focusing on health, movement capacity, and mental readiness. She discusses practical strategies for assessing athlete needs, designing effective training programs, and fostering athlete buy-in.

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All right, welcome back to the Keiser Human 
Performance podcast. I am with Pauline from

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Exos. Pauline, how you doing today? I'm great. How 
are you? I'm doing awesome. For those listening,

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Pauline has amazing experience working with 
athletes of all ages. She used to work in the

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corporate space and now is working with EXO's 
athletes. She works with youth athletes, adult

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athletes, NFL combine prep. But in a population 
she really enjoys working with is the NBA and pro

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basketball offseason groups. Is that right? Yeah. 
So, I mean, I love working with everyone. kind

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of challenges me in different ways, but for this 
time of the year especially, it's like fresh in my

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mind working with basketball athletes. So, I think 
they should have a more of a light shined on them,

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especially with their offseason work. So, I'm 
excited to be here and it's my first time being

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on a podcast. So, I'm excited it's with you and 
Keiser. We're happy to have you and and that's

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where we're going to focus the conversation 
today. And we are right in the middle of that

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NBA offseason. So, it is appropriate relative 
to the NBA season. That's roughly, you know,

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eight maybe 9 months if you make the postseason. 
This is a pretty small window between one season

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and reporting even for the next. So Pauline, 
when you take like a 30,000 foot view, what's

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your goal for the athlete during that time? Yeah. 
So like you said, there's there's a wide a pretty

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wide range of when some of the athletes have to 
report. If we're just talking pro, rookies have

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to report a little bit sooner. They're also 
in and out of their facility quite a bit. So,

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it's not like a typical off season where if you 
think about American football or the NFL guys,

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they have two different kind of structured periods 
and phases where they're working and away from the

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facility and then they're back in and then they're 
back out. At least with my experience working with

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some of the guys, they like to kind of hop in and 
out of their facility. They are constantly still

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doing their skill work and practicing in their off 
season. I don't think that really stops for a lot

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of guys depending on who the guy is. and then they 
have their offseason time with me or a facility

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like Exos. So, it can be a little bit sporadic. 
So, it's always it's a little bit more of a moving

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target with the offseason. So, it makes it a 
little bit challenging in that way, but I like

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it and it gives me an opportunity to really again 
move with a moving target in terms of getting a

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guy ready for reporting back to camp. Yeah, it 
seems like there's even been a trend now where

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these teams, some teams in the NBA have elected 
to take or invite their team out for like a week,

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right, to like a destination and go somewhere else 
for like a training camp. I'm seeing that more and

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more. Are you also seeing that? Super common. And 
then even first like rookie and uh newer players,

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they'll just stay with the team all summer 
and just work with the team because, you know,

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they're the rookie, they want to stay with the 
team, they want to get acclimated, they want to

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continue to build relationships. So that's really 
obviously understandable, but you'll see a lot of

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that too. So there's a lot of variety in the types 
of athletes that will get in in terms of are they,

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you know, 5, 10 year vets, are they a little bit 
younger and newer in their career. So, um, it

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gives you a little bit of a different perspective 
of how you approach offseason with different guys

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and where they are in their careers and what 
they want to do with their time off cuz it's

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like you said, it's such a small window of time 
that they have to reset vacation like they need

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their vacation and time off too postseason start 
to acclimate themselves to getting ramped back up

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and addressing any injuries and things that are 
nagging at them from the the long season. Yeah.

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And I think like a a third year a second or third 
year player, right, is probably different than a

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nine or ten year veteran, right? We understand 
that. But if we make a generalization here,

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you have such a limited amount of time to identify 
like athletes needs once their season is over. Um,

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again being kind of making a generalization here, 
but between the end of the season and the next

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one, what are you looking to address first? Like 
what questions are you asking when they first

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arrive? And what are you trying to learn about 
that athlete so you can get them ready for that

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next season? The number one thing that I'm doing 
is focusing on their health. That's my number one

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priority. I'm at this point very early on just 
listening. So, I'm asking the questions and I'm

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not really talking much. I'm letting them tell me 
their perspective of how the season went. Okay,

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what do I need to address during this offseason? 
What's really important to them? What's nagging at

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them physically? If there's anything mental that's 
going on, where where is everything at right now?

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So, I'm just absorbing all of the information that 
they're giving me. And the questions I'm really

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asking is, okay, how can I address the lowhanging 
fruit or the big rocks in the short amount of time

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I may have with them. So that could be physically, 
mentally, or even a mixture of both. It's

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typically a mixture of both, but health is the 
number one priority. These guys, like you said,

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they're coming off of a minimum 82 game grind 
season. If they went postseason, obviously even

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longer than that. So, I'm making sure that early 
on we're focusing on just decompression, getting

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their mind off of whatever was nagging at them 
from the season and just focusing on their health.

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So, a lot of time it's systemic stress, it's 
some joint pain that we're dealing with. We're

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thinking about some limited range of motion. So, 
I'm taking down all that information. Obviously,

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at Exos, we're very fortunate to have our PT staff 
on site with us. And so, we worked very closely

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together once they go through a PT eval. Okay, 
where is the range of motion? What's limited?

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what are some of the pillar prerequisites that 
we need to address with them for that specific

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athlete and then I can start to build something 
out with them. But really in the beginning,

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like I said, it's just decompressing, taking 
note of the things that may be bothering them.

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And then if they're ready to talk about this 
is what I need to address, that's what we're

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kind of starting with in terms of conversations, 
right? There's this feel aspect with each athlete,

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like we talked about second and third year or even 
rookie versus veteran, right? They have a better

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understanding. These veterans tend to have a 
better appreciation for kind of the ebs and flows

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of offseason and and ramping themselves back up, 
but let's focus on the physical part. Go ahead. Go

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ahead. Yeah, I was just I was just going to say 
obviously I'm listening to all of these things,

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but by the time guys are walking through the door, 
like they're ready to work. If they're coming into

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the facility, they know, okay, it's time to start 
my offseason work. I've maybe taken my vacation.

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I've taken the time to decompress. But in terms 
of physically, we're just trying to figure out

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what did you play through in the season? What 
bothered you the most? What's locked up? what

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needs a little bit of extra TLC. It's really about 
restoring some baseline movement capacity and

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just getting their big rocks, like I said, back on 
track. So, even the things that are outside of the

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facility, sleep is a big one. They're traveling a 
ton through the season. So establishing a routine,

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getting their sleep back on track, just 
gathering information of how they feel,

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letting their joints heal, kind of recover from 
all the hard things that they're dealing with

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in the season so that I can start thinking 
about when and where can I push some of the

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performance pieces. And a big piece of that is 
how much time do I have with you? Like truly,

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how much time do I have? Because like we mentioned 
just a couple minutes ago, they're in and out.

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like they may be in with me for three weeks and 
then they're traveling for a week and a half at

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a camp or you know to visit family or to see their 
skill coach and then they're back in with me for

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two 3 weeks and then they may be out or a couple 
days in and out. So I have to start thinking about

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the wide plan. So early on the focus is very 
wide. So restoration, health, uh capacity work

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is what we're starting to address very early on. 
Conditioning is all low or no impact just so that

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we can make sure that we keep their engine going. 
We never want to go full stop. I want to make sure

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that we keep the [clears throat] engine slightly 
revved during this time. And then just health and

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tissue work and just capacity because we know if 
something's nagging them through the season, it's

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rather something that their body was not fully 
prepared for or it's just an overuse of it. So,

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it's a capacity thing. So, capacity is a huge 
quality that I'm looking to chase after very,

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very early on. And I'm it's never really going 
away. I'm kind of just sprinkling it in as they

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get closer to camp. Okay. So we have here's where 
you're at, right? Coming through our doors based

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on your season. What's been nagging you? Number 
one, because we're thinking about health. Then

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the second thing is okay, how long do we have you 
for, right? When do you need to report back? And

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then what are your breaks in between that time? 
Right? If you are leaving for a week and then

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coming back, right? So how much time do we have? 
Now we start to bucket into okay like these first

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few weeks is this. The the second phase would 
maybe be this. But when we first talk about

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walking through those doors for the first time, 
um the onboarding, is it a lot of talking that

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day? Is a lot of assessments? Is it, hey, let's 
jump into training and I'm going to have you

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move and we're going to talk and I'm going to ask 
these questions as we flow through things. Like,

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walk me through that. Is it a more formal 
assessment day or is it let's jump into it

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and we'll kind of tweak and adjust as we go and as 
we as we get information. Yeah, we have a formal

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intake process with athletes. If they are going 
to be with us a little bit more long term, so say

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an offseason athlete is going to be with us for 
more than four weeks, we'll go through a PTE vow,

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they'll sit with our performance dietitian, talk 
about goals for body comp changes if needed. If

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they need to just maintain a certain body weight 
or a mass, if they want to lose some body fat,

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they want to put on some weight, we start that 
eval process on day what we call day zero. So,

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we get them in a PT if they need it, kind of 
check, okay, what are the joints looking like?

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Like, what are the range of motion? What is the 
range of motion looking like? What's nagging at

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you? Let's take a note of that. Let's gather that 
information so that performance can then take a

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look at it and kind of implement some of the 
things that we may need to again give a little

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bit more extra love in our performance sessions. 
And then obviously with our performance dietitian,

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same thing. What supplements do you need? Are you 
trying to gain weight? Let's make sure that's in

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your post-workout shakes. is make sure that we're 
you're set up for meals because we have our our

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kitchen and our amazing uh staff here. We have a 
kitchen in the facility too, so they can get their

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meals here during the offseason as well. So, we 
can continue to give them structure and routine in

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their off season with them having to think or do 
too much. That's what they're used to in season.

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It's obviously chaotic with their schedule and 
travel and everything, but we want to make sure

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that we establish some level of routine so that 
they don't have to think about anything and it's

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not an extra weight on their brain because again 
coming off of season it's it's tough for them

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already. And then in terms of day one what we're 
doing, I like to just get them into training as

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soon as possible. So if they want a full eval, 
we'll do that maybe the afternoon before if they

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want that and then we'll go into next day we're 
training, we're getting after it. And then if

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they're just kind of popping in and they're like, 
"Hey, I'm healthy. I just want to get after it."

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Then it's a little bit more of the latter. What 
you said, I'm kind of just looking and assessing,

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having a conversation them while we're going 
through our training session and just getting more

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details and information of, hey, what do you need? 
What's important to you? What's bothering you?

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Let's make sure that we address it and let's make 
sure we have a conversation of how that's going

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to be addressed in the four, five, six plus weeks 
that you may be here with me. Yeah, it's great.

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And there's so many things to consider. Obviously 
at Exos, right? You're you're covering all your

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bases there. And the more common injuries, area 
of concern, right? We're talking about basketball,

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so I imagine lower limb. Mhm. Lower limb, knees, 
ankles, hips, sometimes you get like wrist,

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shoulder obviously. So lower limb is typically 
what is the most common thing is it's like, hey,

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this is what's bothering me. I want to make 
sure that we address this. I want to go into

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camp feeling like I'm not waking up with a ton 
of pain or it's just not nagging me as much.

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So very very common is tendonopathy, knees, ankles 
just feeling really tight or really locked up,

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right? So somebody comes in, seven-year 
vet, my knees bother me, you know, all year,

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played through it, really didn't miss any 
significant time, no structural damage on there,

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but theopathy and and it was limiting and that's 
the area of concern. Like what's the approach

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there? Does that warrant after you're with the 
PTS does that warrant some sort of performance

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assessment, right? like are we taking them through 
some jumping if needed, load velocity, like is is

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that a part of it? If there's an area of concern, 
is that part of it anyway? If there's a major area

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of concern, I'm probably not going to jump him 
right away. But typically, what I do love about

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Keiser is we can do a safe low velocity profiling 
with the air squat. So, if an athlete is up to it,

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I can get an idea of what their outputs are 
looking like. So, we'll get we'll do an LBP and

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then obviously I'll get some metrics from there 
and then I can use that as like their offseason

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baseline. If I'm lucky enough to have a guy come 
back multiple times a year, I can obviously look

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at his previous year's data. But again, I don't 
rely too heavily on that in the early off season.

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It's I try to use that more regularly just to get 
a sense of okay, where are you? It's more of a

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monitoring tool. Where are you? And I'll use that 
to one potentiate some of the sessions that we

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have and then two see okay at this percentage of 
your OPR how fast are you moving this today and it

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gives me an idea of coupled with the conversations 
that I have with them when they come in like hey

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did you do your skill session this morning before 
you came in the lift you tired or are you going

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to your skill session after it gives me a better 
idea of the bigger picture so it's a nice little

0:12:45.040,0:12:50.640
piece of the puzzle of that fits into okay where 
are we at right now in this session and what is

0:12:50.640,0:12:54.560
the lowest hanging fruit that I can get out of 
you um to make you feel better walking out of the

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door going into your skill session or coming from 
your skill session. So yeah, I it it definitely

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layers into the performance eval piece with 
using some of the Keiser tools that we have.

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But later on if I can jump a guy if he feels 
comfortable, if it if there's some pain that

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we were able to alleviate, then yeah, I'll get 
them on the fourth place and get a better view,

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a more detailed view of what we're looking at and 
what we're dealing with. Okay. And typically are

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you working a lot in small groups, one-on-one or 
large groups? Small groups. A lot of times with

0:13:21.920,0:13:27.520
these guys is one-on-one. Um I also work with like 
college level and high school basketball athletes,

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right? Those athletes tends to be in groups. So 
we have like a a college group that I'll have

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some of those athletes in. And so that's more of 
a group setting. So, my approach will be a little

0:13:36.720,0:13:42.320
bit different when I'm working with a one-on-one 
offseason pro alete versus a high school athlete

0:13:42.320,0:13:47.840
that's playing ball all year round tournaments on 
the weekends, rarely getting any rest versus an

0:13:47.840,0:13:52.240
offseason athlete where they're at full rest and 
I'm what I'm looking for is something different.

0:13:52.240,0:13:58.560
The the approach is a little bit different. So, 
so you also mentioned movement capacity as well

0:13:58.560,0:14:07.040
as maybe aerobic system development and capacity 
there. How are you quickly analyzing where the

0:14:07.040,0:14:11.600
athlete is at when they come to you and then 
deciding what's your decision tree for, okay,

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we need more of this or we need it's a blend in 
terms of just conditioning. The pro guys tend to

0:14:17.520,0:14:24.000
be pretty well conditioned. So, cuz they're never 
really off the court like they're Mhm. they're

0:14:24.000,0:14:28.320
still on the basketball court like maybe playing 
a little bit of pickup, doing their skill work.

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It's it's rare that you find an athlete at that 
level not practicing or working on some level of

0:14:34.000,0:14:40.240
conditioning on the court. So I don't try to get 
too specific with any like basketball specific

0:14:40.240,0:14:46.080
conditioning for me early off season. I'm doing 
low impact work with them. I'm just again keeping

0:14:46.080,0:14:53.440
the engine revved. So it's a little bit of a 
physical and a mental game I like to play because

0:14:53.440,0:14:59.600
if you tell a guy, hey today we're finishing the 
session with 1,000 feet on the verset. That's

0:14:59.600,0:15:03.840
that's a mental thing that he has to overcome. 
So, I like to play a little bit with the mental

0:15:03.840,0:15:08.560
piece of conditioning and obviously some of the 
physical thing like can you go [snorts] for five,

0:15:08.560,0:15:14.240
six minutes straight and stay steady and keep your 
head in the game. So, that's something that I'll

0:15:14.240,0:15:20.080
do. So, as in terms of like a decision tree, low 
impact, no impact to start like they'll do some

0:15:20.080,0:15:25.840
bike conditioning, right? I'll go longer duration. 
I'll do a little bit of like aerobic power work

0:15:25.840,0:15:31.360
over time as we get a little bit closer. Like how 
I tend to progress conditioning is and even just

0:15:31.360,0:15:36.080
the sessions is just velocity based more higher 
power hour outputs. I'm looking more as we get

0:15:36.080,0:15:41.360
closer to training camp. But in the beginning 
they're bike conditioning intervals longer

0:15:41.360,0:15:46.080
duration on the Versa intervals on the Versa. 
I'll give them some like multidirectional movement

0:15:46.080,0:15:52.720
stuff to do in the pool. So, if you do want to 
actually move in different planes, I put them in

0:15:52.720,0:15:57.520
the I'll say, "Hey, do this in the pool. Do some 
skips up to chest height. Do some lateral work.

0:15:57.520,0:16:02.800
Do some, you know, different variations of skips 
bounding in the pool." So, it's still low impact,

0:16:02.800,0:16:07.600
but they're moving right different planes. 
So, that's like some of the tempo work stuff

0:16:07.600,0:16:11.520
that I would give some of the athletes. So, in 
the very beginning, my decision tree is let's

0:16:11.520,0:16:16.880
keep it low and slow, keep the edging revved, and 
then as we move closer to training camp, velocity

0:16:16.880,0:16:22.160
is typically what I'd use to progress all of the 
training, not just the conditioning. I'm looking

0:16:22.160,0:16:29.680
low and slow, right? Low and slow pool. I mean, 
awesome early offseason uh tool. Um then working

0:16:29.680,0:16:36.000
into some intervals and then like you said, your 
higher output, higher velocity movements. I mean,

0:16:36.000,0:16:40.400
and you could do that really with you could go low 
and slow with the with the Versa Climber and the

0:16:40.400,0:16:45.200
bike. You could do your interval work with those 
and then really your shorter burst with with all

0:16:45.200,0:16:50.480
three. It's just changing and manipulating really 
duration and and velocities of it. Yeah. And I'm

0:16:50.480,0:16:56.880
not I'm not waiting until the very end, right, of 
the training to do that or the program to do that,

0:16:56.880,0:17:00.560
the offseason programming to do that. I'm 
sprinkling it in throughout the week. Sprinkle.

0:17:00.560,0:17:05.200
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sprinkling in throughout the 
week, but like very early on it's let's just take

0:17:05.200,0:17:09.840
your mind off of some of the highintensity stuff 
and just let you decompress. So like the first two

0:17:09.840,0:17:15.920
weeks, sometimes three depending on if the athlete 
isn't completely healthy, just working on purely

0:17:15.920,0:17:22.080
capacity stuff. They're not touching a barbell. 
Like I'm doing slow tempo front squat or like

0:17:22.080,0:17:27.840
kettle bell goblet squats. If you can tempo down 
for 5 seconds and then tempo up for 5 seconds,

0:17:27.840,0:17:33.680
I'm building some heavy like that starts to tax 
you. But things as simple as I don't want to put

0:17:33.680,0:17:37.760
a barbell in your hand yet. I don't want to 
put a barbell on your back. We're not doing

0:17:37.760,0:17:42.640
those things. Sometimes that mentally helps an 
athlete just get gets their head back into the

0:17:42.640,0:17:47.760
the performance piece. Um and I'm at the same time 
building their capacity in the first three weeks.

0:17:47.760,0:17:52.480
So, right. And I'm lucky if I have those three 
weeks to build capacity. Sometimes we have to

0:17:52.480,0:17:57.600
rev up the engine a little bit faster, but if I'm 
lucky enough to have that, that's what I'm doing.

0:17:57.600,0:18:01.520
Yeah. It sounds like so much of it, right? Like 
anything, it's just meeting them where they're at,

0:18:01.520,0:18:06.160
right? Like like but but doing that efficiently, 
like getting them in assessments, understanding

0:18:06.160,0:18:11.600
where you're at, subjective assessments, trying 
to understand mentally what kind of mental state

0:18:11.600,0:18:15.040
they're in. I mean, talk through that, right? 
Like that's a huge piece of we have this physical

0:18:15.040,0:18:20.480
state, but the mental psycho emotional side 
of it is so tied into that. So, how do you

0:18:20.480,0:18:27.280
try to evaluate where an athlete is from a mental 
state? Mentally, it's all subjective. Obviously,

0:18:27.280,0:18:31.760
it's based off of conversations. When they're 
coming in, the biggest thing is I want them

0:18:31.760,0:18:36.240
to feel like they can trust me with their 
offseason work. That's super important to

0:18:36.240,0:18:41.360
me. I know my role in all of this. I know that 
I'm not going to do something so specific in the

0:18:41.360,0:18:46.160
weight room that's going to get you better at your 
skill. The most important thing is their skill,

0:18:46.160,0:18:51.920
especially in this sport. That is what's going to 
separate them. So, I know their onc court time,

0:18:51.920,0:18:58.640
even in the offseason, is still the number one 
priority. So, I'm never going to crush you in

0:18:58.640,0:19:04.480
our sessions and then have you go over to your 
skill practice or, you know, your conditioning

0:19:04.480,0:19:10.480
session on the court not feeling great and ready 
to go. So, from a mental standpoint, it's all just

0:19:10.480,0:19:16.640
about building the trust. And really, just buyin 
for me is just a couple of things. I'm making sure

0:19:16.640,0:19:22.160
I'm listening. A big thing is making sure they 
feel really heard. So, if they're like, "Hey,

0:19:22.160,0:19:27.840
I feel like XYZ really held me back." Let's say 
it's something physical like my knee pain was

0:19:27.840,0:19:32.720
holding me back. I couldn't withstand a gain 
with some of the knee pain. Okay. Obviously,

0:19:32.720,0:19:36.800
there's a physical element to the assessments that 
we do that we have to address. So, we're looking

0:19:36.800,0:19:41.120
at range of motion. We're looking at asymmetries, 
things like that. I'm making sure I'm taking note

0:19:41.120,0:19:45.360
of all that. But a big piece of how I kind of 
address some of this with them from a mental

0:19:45.360,0:19:50.800
standpoint is, hey, I'm going to break things down 
for you so that it's relatable to your sport. I'm

0:19:50.800,0:19:55.520
not being specific in the weight room with what 
transfers to your sport because I know that that's

0:19:55.520,0:20:00.960
not really what's happening, but I can speak your 
language. So, if I can break things down and say,

0:20:00.960,0:20:06.800
"Hey, if you're not able to interact with the 
ground, well, you're probably not going to be

0:20:06.800,0:20:12.560
able to feel good in the game when you're hitting 
sec two over times, right? If you're getting to

0:20:12.560,0:20:16.960
second over time, your knee is starting to bother 
you. This is why I'm doing this so that you can

0:20:16.960,0:20:21.600
have a better relationship with you hitting the 
ground." And so that is a big piece of it, but

0:20:21.600,0:20:26.800
also giving them something to take away with them 
that can give them some of the mental relief of,

0:20:26.800,0:20:33.120
okay, we're doing this. Pauline has put me through 
this warm-up or these ISOs every single day in

0:20:33.120,0:20:38.640
our sessions. And it's also something that I can 
take with me. That's a big mental thing for them

0:20:38.640,0:20:44.000
of like I can take something from her or from 
our sessions and use it throughout the year and

0:20:44.000,0:20:49.760
mentally and physically it's not holding me back 
from the game as much. Hopefully. Yeah, that's the

0:20:49.760,0:20:56.800
goal. So again, like breaking things down is for 
buying things down that's relatable or just speaks

0:20:56.800,0:21:02.000
their language for their sport is huge. So it's 
like, okay, Pauline, why why are you having me do

0:21:02.000,0:21:06.240
this movement today? Okay, well, how does it look 
in your sport when you're when you're doing this?

0:21:06.240,0:21:12.240
Okay, so you're relating it to what positions and 
patterns I have to hit in a game or in practice.

0:21:12.240,0:21:17.280
Okay. That creates a little bit of buyin and that 
also just helps them mentally just checking into

0:21:17.280,0:21:21.680
the session versus being checked out. Yeah, I 
really like what you mentioned about the court,

0:21:21.680,0:21:24.960
right? Your court time. Like what do you have 
today? You said I'm not going to crush you

0:21:24.960,0:21:28.240
if you're going on to the court. So, I think 
even asking that simple question like, "Hey,

0:21:28.240,0:21:31.440
what do you have today on the court?" Right? 
Or or what's your schedule for this week on

0:21:31.440,0:21:35.200
the court? Because it allows them to know 
that you're thinking about that, right? Hey,

0:21:35.200,0:21:39.280
because you're on the court, we're going to do 
X, Y, and Z. Because you're not on the court,

0:21:39.280,0:21:43.760
we will do X, Y, and Z. you're thinking about 
the court as this is your sport. This is your

0:21:43.760,0:21:49.760
time to get better at your sport. And immediately 
for me as the athlete, it registers, hey, Pauline

0:21:49.760,0:21:54.880
is thinking about me and my time on the court 
trying to get better at my sport, right? So yeah,

0:21:54.880,0:22:00.080
and it it change here. I'm sorry. I was just going 
to say mentally like the biggest thing for me is

0:22:00.080,0:22:06.560
I want them to leave both offseason period and 
every session feeling like they have complete

0:22:06.560,0:22:12.080
ownership of their own body and their session. 
this is their session, this is not my session,

0:22:12.080,0:22:18.720
right? I have a plan and a template in mind, but 
this is your session. So, I mentally I give them a

0:22:18.720,0:22:23.840
ton of autonomy. It's a two-way street in terms of 
what the session could look like. I explain and I

0:22:23.840,0:22:28.400
like to educate of like this is why I'm having you 
do this today. This is why we're being consistent

0:22:28.400,0:22:33.360
with this. This is why we're doing the same warm 
up or prep every single day. This is why I feel

0:22:33.360,0:22:39.680
it's important. But they have just as much buy in 
and as much of an opinion on it as I do. So again,

0:22:39.680,0:22:44.480
mentally, I just want them to feel like they 
are in complete ownership of their session and

0:22:44.480,0:22:49.920
their body and they know exactly what they need 
throughout the year. They can take something away,

0:22:49.920,0:22:55.520
like I said. So if it's, you know, patellar 
tendonopathy, hey, this is what we've done. I

0:22:55.520,0:23:01.280
have complete ownership of doing this outside of 
here or not doing it, then I feel like I've won

0:23:01.280,0:23:04.880
with them. I just want them to feel confident 
in control of their routine. That's a that's a

0:23:04.880,0:23:09.680
win for me. Yeah. Yeah. So, if I were to walk in 
on your session, right, and I'm just observing,

0:23:09.680,0:23:13.760
I'm a fly on the wall and I'm looking and and you 
have this group going. You mentioned warm-ups and

0:23:13.760,0:23:18.160
I'm just watching. What am I seeing with this 
group? When you start going through warm-ups,

0:23:18.160,0:23:23.920
is it pretty general for this population? Is 
it specific for the athlete? Like, this person

0:23:23.920,0:23:28.160
needs that or is it generally this is you said 
like this is the same warm-up, right, that we're

0:23:28.160,0:23:32.160
doing? What does that look like? Yeah, like I like 
to build routines with all my athletes regardless

0:23:32.160,0:23:36.400
of what level they are. I I want them to get to 
a point where they can come in and start doing it

0:23:36.400,0:23:40.640
on their own without me saying anything. So, I'm 
like heavily coaching in the beginning. Isn't that

0:23:40.640,0:23:45.440
the best? It's the best. And then towards like the 
middle of it, we're just having a conversation and

0:23:45.440,0:23:48.480
they're going through on their own. They know the 
sets of the reps. They just they're like they're

0:23:48.480,0:23:53.120
locked in on it. Like that's You get that you get 
you get that you get the Wait, which one's next

0:23:53.120,0:23:56.960
real quick? Like, okay, cool. Let's go back to the 
conversation. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's like this one,

0:23:56.960,0:24:02.000
right? Yeah. You said six. That been six. Are 
we doing more this week? Yeah. So, that's always

0:24:02.000,0:24:08.000
the cool part. like I like to build some level of 
routine for them, but for basketball specifically,

0:24:08.000,0:24:14.160
I like them to be on the ground. So, yeah, I've 
was I'm very lucky enough to like be able to learn

0:24:14.160,0:24:20.160
from a lot of great mentors and coaches before 
me, but with basketball athletes, they're not

0:24:20.160,0:24:23.920
me. I mean, I know you can't see how tall I am, 
but I am not very tall. I'm vertically challenged.

0:24:23.920,0:24:28.640
I'm 5'3. They see me, they're like, "What do you 
know?" Thank God you can't see how tall I am. 67,

0:24:28.640,0:24:33.600
you know, 220 something pounds. like, "What do 
you know about what it feels like to be me?" And I

0:24:33.600,0:24:41.680
don't. Sure. But I know that them being that tall, 
it's hard for them to come down to my level and to

0:24:41.680,0:24:46.800
interact with the ground sometimes. So, I'm going 
to spend as much time in the off season doing a

0:24:46.800,0:24:52.080
little bit of the opposite of what they have to 
do deal with on the court and also what they have

0:24:52.080,0:24:57.040
to deal with on the court fairly quickly. Like 
they're falling on the ground at a very high

0:24:57.040,0:25:03.200
speed with some force on them. like it's a contact 
sport. So, I like to like have them interact with

0:25:03.200,0:25:06.880
the ground. One, because they're not spending 
that much time in the ground. Two, they can be

0:25:06.880,0:25:12.160
fully supported with the ground to get into very 
deep ranges of motion. So, you're going to see a

0:25:12.160,0:25:16.560
lot of crawling. You're going to see some lizard 
walks. You're going to see some duck walks. Um,

0:25:16.560,0:25:21.760
they're going to get into again these like really 
deep ranges without feeling and like getting into

0:25:21.760,0:25:25.840
these positions and stapes so that you may 
see them vertically, but now I'm going to put

0:25:25.840,0:25:29.200
you horizontally. you're fully supported on the 
ground, but I'm going to get your joints there.

0:25:29.200,0:25:34.080
And then mentally, it's like it's a safe space for 
them to be in while being in some of these deeper

0:25:34.080,0:25:39.120
ranges. So, like I'm doing that every single day. 
You're going to see a ground series and a big

0:25:39.120,0:25:44.240
basketball athlete crawling every single session. 
You're also going to see a lot of hanging. You're

0:25:44.240,0:25:49.280
going to see a lot of like windmills and 
just like creating long positions. So,

0:25:49.280,0:25:54.320
I'll have an athlete put a light bumper plate on 
their wrist. I'm getting some good wrist extension

0:25:54.320,0:25:58.000
here and they're going to do a windmill. They're 
gonna get into their hips. They're going to get

0:25:58.000,0:26:02.240
thoracic rotation. They're going to get some 
shoulder stability work. So, I'm a big like

0:26:02.240,0:26:09.040
how much can I squeeze out of one movement and get 
them locked in. With a movement like a windmill,

0:26:09.040,0:26:13.520
if you're not locked in, that plate is falling 
on your head. So, like I'm trying to find a way

0:26:13.520,0:26:18.880
to get them mentally locked in and getting a lot 
of like juice out of the squeeze on some of these

0:26:18.880,0:26:26.160
movements. Yeah. Those external objects help so 
much, right? Mhm. It's like we're not just going

0:26:26.160,0:26:31.120
through the motions now. It like automatically 
adds intent, right? If I if he give you a forward

0:26:31.120,0:26:36.160
or lateral like leopard crawl and I put even 
a five, it's a completely different exercise.

0:26:36.160,0:26:40.800
Yeah. Yeah. I mean like I have them do like these 
little duck walks and I'm like, "Hey, your goal

0:26:40.800,0:26:45.520
is to stay low in this forward lunge." And so like 
I'll just walk. They're like the same height as me

0:26:45.520,0:26:49.680
when they're in their little duck once. we're like 
talking eye to eye and so I'll just put my hand

0:26:49.680,0:26:55.360
out and like hey don't hit my so things like it 
seems so basic and rudimentary but it works even

0:26:55.360,0:27:00.000
for the most elite level of athletes like just 
to get them to focus in and move with a little

0:27:00.000,0:27:05.840
bit more intent can get so you get you'll get so 
much more out of the session. So I'll always use

0:27:05.840,0:27:10.480
some level of an external constraint or a cue to 
help an athlete get into some of the positions

0:27:10.480,0:27:14.880
that I'm looking for. Um, same thing with like 
the other side of it. A high school basketball

0:27:14.880,0:27:21.040
athlete who is growing so fast and they're not 
used to their new height, their new weight, like

0:27:21.040,0:27:25.120
it the growth spurts that they're dealing with and 
they're still [clears throat] growing. It's like

0:27:25.120,0:27:31.040
they're awkward movers. So, I'll for them like I 
try to keep basketball out of the like their sport

0:27:31.040,0:27:36.080
out of my session as much as possible. But like 
for high school or a college basketball athlete,

0:27:36.080,0:27:41.040
if they can't hinge on a single leg, like I'll 
have them do like these figure eights where

0:27:41.040,0:27:45.840
they basically do a single leg RDL and they'll 
I'll give them a tennis ball. Like you have to

0:27:45.840,0:27:49.840
go in and out of their legs. They'll stand up 
single leg stance. They go inside their single

0:27:49.840,0:27:54.800
leg RDL goes inside the stance leg. So they're 
going back and forth, but I'll give them like

0:27:54.800,0:28:00.160
a visual cue like you have to move the ball 
in and out of your legs. Basketball athlete,

0:28:00.160,0:28:05.040
I gave him a tennis ball and he just wasn't he was 
just moving like not with a lot of intent. Didn't

0:28:05.040,0:28:08.160
look very smooth or coordinated. You could 
tell he was just trying to get the reps over

0:28:08.160,0:28:12.320
with. He's like, "How many?" I'm like 10 on each 
leg. He's like just going through the motions.

0:28:12.320,0:28:16.720
I told I asked one of our performance interns 
to grab me a basketball. And I was like, "Hey,

0:28:16.720,0:28:21.920
loop this in and out like you're you're practicing 
your dribble." and the way that he just locked

0:28:21.920,0:28:28.000
in just seeing a basketball and having to put a 
larger object now in between his legs, right? So,

0:28:28.000,0:28:32.560
he has to move in a bigger range. Before with the 
tennis ball, he was going really shallow in and

0:28:32.560,0:28:37.600
out of the the RDL. And I was like, I'm going to 
give you a basketball. You have to actually move

0:28:37.600,0:28:41.840
through the full range of motion now. And then he 
was just super locked in. We ended up using the

0:28:41.840,0:28:47.120
basketball the entire session, which was fine, 
but I always have to go back to, hey, you can't

0:28:47.120,0:28:51.040
always have a basketball in your session, but like 
this is why this is important. So, the education

0:28:51.040,0:28:58.720
piece is a big piece of it, too. Totally resonates 
with me. It's such a trigger. Like, it's like some

0:28:58.720,0:29:03.520
sort of flip switches. You give somebody a ball 
and all of a sudden it's like, okay, you know,

0:29:03.520,0:29:09.760
I guess works. A boy and a ball. I mean, it's like 
it it will always work. The challenge is like,

0:29:09.760,0:29:14.960
"Okay, like stop dribbling while we're talking to 
everybody." Like, and that's what happened. Like,

0:29:14.960,0:29:19.200
I give him a medball and he dribble the medball. 
I'm like, "Stop dribbling. We can't help it. We

0:29:19.200,0:29:23.680
can't help it. We can't help it." So, I was like, 
"You know what? I'll just give you a basketball.

0:29:23.680,0:29:28.480
I'll give you a basketball." And so, like, he's 
a little bit more bought in. He's having a little

0:29:28.480,0:29:34.000
bit more fun. Especially with younger basketball 
athletes, they don't always understand why is the

0:29:34.000,0:29:39.600
weight room important. And it's so important 
for them especially because again this is a

0:29:39.600,0:29:44.960
yearround thing for high school college basketball 
athletes like you're playing basketball all year

0:29:44.960,0:29:50.320
round. So it goes back to the capacity piece 
like your capacity to play all year round and

0:29:50.320,0:29:55.200
making sure you're in the weight room building 
up that armor and getting more I hate to use the

0:29:55.200,0:30:01.360
word but like just robust like you're getting more 
prepared for your sport to play it all year round.

0:30:01.360,0:30:06.800
Like if your consistency is not there, you can't 
just work out in the gym with me for eight weeks

0:30:06.800,0:30:11.520
in the summer and then think that your body 
is going to be able to handle all year round

0:30:11.520,0:30:16.160
basketball. So all of this is important from an 
education standpoint, especially with the younger

0:30:16.160,0:30:21.120
basketball athletes of like you're playing all 
year round. Your consistency of strength work,

0:30:21.120,0:30:26.720
mobility, all of this needs to be consistent. 
Your conditioning, your sleep recovery needs to

0:30:26.720,0:30:32.320
be consistent. Your nutrition has to be on point. 
It's this is all so important for high performance

0:30:32.320,0:30:37.120
and you know with this generation like they're not 
sleeping a lot. They're on the I'm like what are

0:30:37.120,0:30:40.480
you doing at night? He's like I was on the game 
until 3 in the morning. Okay. Well, you're in here

0:30:40.480,0:30:44.720
now at 8 in the morning working out. How do you 
think that's going to work out? Right. No. Higher

0:30:44.720,0:30:50.720
brain does not have high performance outputs. So 
just educating them is a big piece. And I I love

0:30:50.720,0:30:56.160
to do that. That's like my style of coaching too 
of just like hey this is why I'm I'm not just like

0:30:56.160,0:30:59.840
hey do three sets of 10 on this because I said 
so. like, "No, I'm going to tell you why this

0:30:59.840,0:31:06.560
is important for you. Like, I'm here for you." So, 
the education piece is critical and and you it it

0:31:06.560,0:31:10.480
oozes through what you're saying, right? Like 
that that that is important to you and that is

0:31:10.480,0:31:15.520
a huge piece of it because at the end of the day, 
especially with basketball, right, like this is

0:31:15.520,0:31:22.080
complimentary to what you're doing. This is not 
taking away. And sometimes, right? And sometimes

0:31:22.080,0:31:26.960
it feels like you're almost fighting that where 
you're like trying to convince somebody that it's

0:31:26.960,0:31:32.160
complimementary and going ultimately going to help 
them versus this is taking away time taking away.

0:31:32.160,0:31:38.080
So, um it's great to have practitioners like you 
in the field, you know, out there. I appreciate

0:31:38.080,0:31:43.920
that. Yeah. Doing exactly that because you 
you know what it takes and it's like look

0:31:43.920,0:31:48.400
at this professional who's been in the NBA for 10 
years. Like this is how they go about their thing,

0:31:48.400,0:31:52.880
right? versus Yeah. I mean, you got to give it 
up to Michael Jordan. I feel like he was the one

0:31:52.880,0:31:56.960
that kind of started to pioneer like basketball 
players need to be in the weight room. They need

0:31:56.960,0:32:01.520
to be getting stronger. They need to be making 
sure that they have the capacity and they're

0:32:01.520,0:32:07.680
they're working they're working in a different 
way, right? And again, like whether I'm working

0:32:07.680,0:32:11.520
with someone who's a vet who's been in the league 
for a while and they know the routine and they

0:32:11.520,0:32:16.880
know why it's important, sometimes they still need 
to be reminded of that because they are tired. And

0:32:16.880,0:32:21.440
that that happens with all of us, right? Like most 
coaches just love working out, but we even run

0:32:21.440,0:32:25.120
into times where it's like, I don't want to work. 
I don't want to do this. We know it's important,

0:32:25.120,0:32:30.880
but you still don't want to do it. And even 
on the other side of the coin of like a young

0:32:30.880,0:32:37.520
athlete who is so like they are laser focused on 
elevating their skill level and so all they want

0:32:37.520,0:32:42.240
to do is train with a basketball. They want to 
train their skill, which again, I know my role,

0:32:42.240,0:32:46.880
I understand that that's what's going to separate 
them. The skill is the number one thing and I will

0:32:46.880,0:32:52.320
always respect that. because that's again that's 
what's going to make them more successful. But

0:32:52.320,0:32:58.320
what I know I can do and what I educate on is I 
can help you be more available for your sport.

0:32:58.320,0:33:05.200
And so that piece is huge of hey if you're hurt 
and you're not strong enough to withstand playing

0:33:05.200,0:33:09.680
basketball all year round. Then you get no tape. 
Then you're not able to practice your skill. Then

0:33:09.680,0:33:15.040
you're not able to play your sport. And if you're 
not available, what does all of this mean? Right?

0:33:15.040,0:33:20.240
So let's build some robustness. Let's build some 
armor. Let's make sure you're available for your

0:33:20.240,0:33:25.920
practice, your skill work, your games. And then 
just understanding from my perspective, like yes,

0:33:25.920,0:33:31.360
we have to push, but also knowing the other end 
of that coin of like sending a guy crush no going

0:33:31.360,0:33:37.600
knowing that he's going into a practice or a skill 
session is not the right approach. Yeah, there's

0:33:37.600,0:33:44.160
a nice there's a very delicate balance that we 
have to always kind of balance in both scenarios.

0:33:44.160,0:33:50.000
offseason veteran or high school athlete who is 
playing all year round and is just getting crushed

0:33:50.000,0:33:56.000
by what's what what youth basketball is today or 
just youth sports in general. No question. Goes

0:33:56.000,0:34:02.000
back to saying right like the best ability is 
availability. Yeah. Yeah. So you mentioned the

0:34:02.000,0:34:07.200
warm-ups again. I'm a fly on the wall. I'm 
watching earlier you also had talked about

0:34:07.200,0:34:12.720
when you're building movement capacity these five 
second eccentrics and 5-second concentric squat. I

0:34:12.720,0:34:17.120
know it's an example of just like one thing that 
you were pointing at. You also mentioned some

0:34:17.120,0:34:22.720
ISOs. I'm curious more about the session itself. 
Like if I'm watching the session post warm-up,

0:34:22.720,0:34:28.080
what types of things like week one, week two am 
I seeing? Is it long duration isometrics? Is it

0:34:28.080,0:34:32.800
elongated eentrics? Like what what what Yeah. So 
I'm like I'm always reverse engineering everything

0:34:32.800,0:34:38.160
that I do like okay what's the goal today? If 
today is like just our the main stimulus of the

0:34:38.160,0:34:43.280
day is just capacity work. I'm just tempoing 
things. If this is week one, week two, put

0:34:43.280,0:34:47.760
a goblet. I'm doing a kettle bell goblet squat. 
We're going to tempo you. It crushes them actually

0:34:47.760,0:34:52.960
because them moving slow is just the opposite 
of what they've just come out of. So like, hey,

0:34:52.960,0:34:58.320
let's we're going to do a nice three sets of 
eight reps. A 3se secondond eccentric goblet

0:34:58.320,0:35:02.720
squat and a 3se second concentric. We're going to 
do the same thing with a TRX row. We're going to

0:35:02.720,0:35:07.680
do a three a 3se second concentric and a 3se 
secondond eccentric. I don't mean to cut you

0:35:07.680,0:35:13.200
off but before we continue then okay so if we kind 
of zoom out for a second the week itself then you

0:35:13.200,0:35:17.040
have one day that you try to dedicate and again 
everybody can be a little bit different but if

0:35:17.040,0:35:20.960
we make a generalization you have one day that 
is maybe geared towards movement capacity then

0:35:20.960,0:35:25.040
and one day that's geared towards strength or 
maybe one day that's power is that how you look

0:35:25.040,0:35:29.200
at the week in general let's talk looking at the 
week in general let's take out their basketball

0:35:29.200,0:35:34.880
schedule as right forget about that the other 
factor right so like Monday coming in from the

0:35:34.880,0:35:39.520
weekend I think a lot of People will hit it hard 
on that day. I like to actually treat that day as

0:35:39.520,0:35:44.480
a nice like let's prime you for the week. Let's 
get you set for the week. So, it's like a little

0:35:44.480,0:35:50.320
bit of a not a speed session, but like a a little 
bit of a mix of ground series, some capacity work,

0:35:50.320,0:35:53.600
and a little bit of speed stuff. Like, 
let's just get you revved up and going. So,

0:35:53.600,0:36:00.480
that's the f insert any exercise. As long as 
we're priming the system, I'm good with it. So,

0:36:00.480,0:36:06.320
I keep it I I take all the stress. And this took 
me a really long time to get really comfortable

0:36:06.320,0:36:11.440
with is harping on exercises and exactly what sets 
and reps and all the variables that need to happen

0:36:11.440,0:36:16.160
for them to hit a like, hey, what's the goal of 
the day? And then just make that the main thing

0:36:16.160,0:36:20.480
and then everything just becomes a little bit 
less stressful and easier. So like Monday will

0:36:20.480,0:36:25.200
be like my priming day. Okay, great. Tuesday is 
actually when I'll start to hit things a little

0:36:25.200,0:36:30.160
bit harder and that'll be a strength day. So 
that might be depending on the guy like we'll

0:36:30.160,0:36:35.120
do a heavy trap bar deadlift. If guys don't 
like to dead deadlift, okay, maybe we'll go a

0:36:35.120,0:36:42.800
belt squat with the Keiser. So it'll be a strength 
focused day and then Wednesday is just a recovery

0:36:42.800,0:36:48.000
regen day. Wednesday's EXOS is always like a 
Wednesday recovery midweek regen day just to help

0:36:48.000,0:36:53.680
them recover. That tends to be a day where again 
they're rather doing yoga outside of the facility,

0:36:53.680,0:36:58.160
doing a pool workout for conditioning, 
longer duration conditioning, low intensity,

0:36:58.160,0:37:03.680
or they're doing just skill work. So, they're not 
practicing, but they may be doing some some skill

0:37:03.680,0:37:08.000
work, more focused on shooting with their their 
sport coach, their basketball coach. Thursday,

0:37:08.000,0:37:13.280
we'll come back in will be our speed day. So, 
we'll do a little bit more speed focus work.

0:37:13.280,0:37:19.600
And then Friday will then be a capacity day, a 
little bit more volume, just hit some arm farm,

0:37:19.600,0:37:24.080
just higher volume work before they set off for 
the week. Especially Especially that's how I like

0:37:24.080,0:37:29.600
to set up the week. Yeah, makes makes total sense, 
right? Like I I agree with the Monday, you know,

0:37:29.600,0:37:33.680
and Tuesday, usually a midweek high neural output 
and then right, you have it sounds like with the

0:37:33.680,0:37:37.920
Wednesday recovery day about 48 hours before 
your next like speed high neural day again.

0:37:37.920,0:37:41.680
And then yeah, if we're going to do some 
eccentrics and a lot of time under tension,

0:37:41.680,0:37:45.680
then we're going to leave that for the weekend. 
So yeah, we're going to leave that for like you're

0:37:45.680,0:37:51.360
excited for the weekend, but I'm about to crush 
you. [laughter] Mondays I found like is very

0:37:51.360,0:37:56.880
tricky. And so like I used to approach Mondays 
as like this is our you had two days off. This is

0:37:56.880,0:38:00.960
when we're going to hit it hard. Let's be honest, 
the weekend is the weekend people are going

0:38:00.960,0:38:05.280
to I this is where I have the least amount of 
information of what's going on with their bodies,

0:38:05.280,0:38:10.320
their sleep, their nutrition. weekends is when we 
tend to go out more. So, I've kind of switched my

0:38:10.320,0:38:16.480
mindset on weekends to like assess them on Mondays 
and just do a lighter priming session and like,

0:38:16.480,0:38:20.960
hey, let's get set up because Tuesday was going 
to be a little tough. So, I give them like an

0:38:20.960,0:38:27.520
extra day to get some good quality work in but 
not have to work hard on a potentially like

0:38:27.520,0:38:32.960
physically unreovered body or even a mentally 
unreovered body. So, yeah, I agree. Yeah,

0:38:32.960,0:38:38.080
I I've worked with Genpop and athletes now like in 
the private sector too and I learned this lesson

0:38:38.080,0:38:41.680
while working in college strength and conditioning 
with baseball like right we had Friday, Saturday,

0:38:41.680,0:38:45.200
Sunday games and Monday would be okay like 
we're the furthest away from the next game like

0:38:45.200,0:38:50.160
I learned that lesson like Monday especially 
college age kids like but even gen pop like

0:38:50.160,0:38:54.880
people are enjoying their weekend Sunday night 
like Monday for me became just kind of like a

0:38:54.880,0:39:03.920
moderate low moderate volume like ISOs day like I 
don't need to stuff some Keiser squat stuff like,

0:39:03.920,0:39:07.840
"Hey, let's just move this pretty fast. Let's 
see how you're moving. Let's just get you let's

0:39:07.840,0:39:12.720
get you feeling good for Tuesday." Yeah. Yeah. 
Tuesday. And then if I'm in a three-day split,

0:39:12.720,0:39:16.320
it's like, "Okay, it ends up being Wednesday." 
Cuz in Gen Pop Hero, we we don't have, you know,

0:39:16.320,0:39:19.200
the excess recovery day. But yeah, three days 
split, like Wednesday, I'm like, "Cool." Like I

0:39:19.200,0:39:22.720
know that you're ready, you're fresh, middle of 
the week, like Monday because these people have

0:39:22.720,0:39:26.960
work stressors that are like happening on Mondays. 
Like it's just not a good day. Monday things just

0:39:26.960,0:39:34.160
tend to kind of I don't know. You just never know. 
Especially with like especially with like elite

0:39:34.160,0:39:39.200
level athletes. Like another thing that I had 
to kind of reset my brain on is they're elite

0:39:39.200,0:39:45.440
for a reason. They're they're outputs are very 
high, higher than I could even imagine. Like I

0:39:45.440,0:39:50.400
try to put myself through some of the stuff that I 
program, right? And even obviously I'm never going

0:39:50.400,0:39:56.640
to remotely perform at the level they are, but at 
least I can I can feel it. And so at that level,

0:39:56.640,0:40:02.000
I understand like their outputs are so high. 
When I ask them to do something at a high level,

0:40:02.000,0:40:07.040
they're going to do it. It's a ton of stress on 
them. So if you have high [clears throat] outputs,

0:40:07.040,0:40:12.960
you need the appropriate amount of recovery. 
And so that's always in order to get another

0:40:12.960,0:40:18.640
repeated high output day or session. So that's 
always something that's very top of mind and how

0:40:18.640,0:40:23.680
I plan out my week. It's not perfect, but like 
I you do the best you can with the information

0:40:23.680,0:40:28.400
that you have. Like I said, I'm also looking at 
court schedules throughout the week with them

0:40:28.400,0:40:33.120
and that changes a ton. And so it's like I said 
at the very beginning of our session, like it's

0:40:33.120,0:40:38.160
a movement target. And so that's what I enjoy the 
most about it. It's like you're I'm always on my

0:40:38.160,0:40:42.880
toes. If I have to make an adjustment, I have to 
be I have plan B in the back of my mind, but I

0:40:42.880,0:40:47.120
usually have to go to C and D sometimes. We know 
it's never going to happen. going to never become

0:40:47.120,0:40:51.200
a professional basketball player. But if it does 
and I have to train with you in the offseason on

0:40:51.200,0:40:57.920
a Friday, I guarantee I'm scheduling my court time 
after that workout on a Friday. No, don't do that.

0:40:57.920,0:41:04.480
Don't do that. It's funny how like, are you going 
to court? And they'll know sessions. Yeah. They're

0:41:04.480,0:41:08.000
like They're like, Pauline, I'm going to come to 
you at 2:00 cuz I'm going to shoot first. Like,

0:41:08.000,0:41:12.080
I'm not doing this with you. Cuz I'm like, you're 
barely going to be able to drive home. Like,

0:41:12.080,0:41:17.520
you're not going to be able to extend your arm 
after this arm fart. Forget it, dude. You have

0:41:17.520,0:41:21.280
the rack run. You have the eccentric ISOs. 
You have the time and retention. And I know

0:41:21.280,0:41:25.760
you you're like, you know what? 5 minute all out 
versa, you know, 1,000 ft, whatever. You can do as

0:41:25.760,0:41:30.720
fast as you can. I'm not I'm scheduling. Like, I'm 
sorry. I I got to do my court afterward. Yeah. So,

0:41:30.720,0:41:35.760
you'll you'll actually It's funny because you'll s 
you'll typically see me on a Friday where like the

0:41:35.760,0:41:38.960
facilities kind of slow down because we don't 
have our youth athletes in the afternoons on

0:41:38.960,0:41:42.800
Friday. So, it's pretty dead. I'll be the only 
one in there with the basketball player at two

0:41:42.800,0:41:48.400
in the afternoon because they're like I'm shooting 
at 11. I'm not shooting after I hang out with you.

0:41:48.400,0:41:53.520
So we and like it when you build the relationship 
with athlete when you can joke around cuz like yes

0:41:53.520,0:41:59.040
like the way I coach is very like hey this is very 
much your session too. I'm educating you on why

0:41:59.040,0:42:03.760
this is important. I also talk a lot of [ __ ] So 
like once we've built that relationship with each

0:42:03.760,0:42:08.640
other it becomes really fun and we can and we 
can like play around sessions and have a ton of

0:42:08.640,0:42:13.360
fun with the sessions. So yeah, it's it's cool. 
You get to move like you get to problem solve a

0:42:13.360,0:42:19.120
lot of things. You I learn so much every time I 
work with a different athlete. So yeah, right now

0:42:19.120,0:42:25.120
my biggest my biggest hurdle is this basketball 
athlete that's a high school athlete who is just

0:42:25.120,0:42:30.720
getting crushed with the schedule and just trying 
to find ways again to like address some of the

0:42:30.720,0:42:36.880
big rocks. He's like grown exponentially from what 
he's told me in the past year. Um he's a guard and

0:42:36.880,0:42:41.280
so he has to move a lot. conditioning needs to be 
in tip-top shape to handle some of this stuff. And

0:42:41.280,0:42:44.960
he also he also just needs to get stronger. So, 
I'm trying to address all these things with the

0:42:44.960,0:42:51.120
time that I have with him. And he does. His ankles 
don't move. Like the stiffest ankles I might have

0:42:51.120,0:42:57.520
seen in my entire life. So, wow. Again, like this 
is a fun new project for me to problem solve and

0:42:57.520,0:43:03.120
figure out. Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate I know 
I know you're a little short on time. You got to

0:43:03.120,0:43:07.600
get back back out there and start coaching again, 
which is awesome. But um I just want to say thank

0:43:07.600,0:43:15.040
you so much. And I don't believe you. This is your 
first podcast. This is I swear. I swear it. No,

0:43:15.040,0:43:18.080
you should do some more. This is a lot of 
fun. This was a Yeah, you should do some

0:43:18.080,0:43:24.880
more. And you're locked in. Like I can tell like 
you're very locked in on your process and and

0:43:24.880,0:43:29.520
this group and obviously all groups and I would 
expect nothing less obviously coming from Exos,

0:43:29.520,0:43:33.680
but you guys do a fantastic job and we're 
obviously appreciative of of our relationship

0:43:33.680,0:43:37.440
with you and thank you for your time. Thanks 
for sharing. Do you have a social media that

0:43:37.440,0:43:41.200
we could share? Yeah, I mean I'm not super active 
on there. I probably should be a little bit more.

0:43:41.200,0:43:46.560
It's just my first name. So Pauline. Pompei 
on Instagram. I'm not really anywhere else,

0:43:46.560,0:43:51.760
but if anyone's interested in chatting, yeah, 
that's where I am. Very cool. Be sure to give

0:43:51.760,0:43:56.160
Pauline a follow to say thank you. And then also 
Exos um has plenty of socials. We'll make sure

0:43:56.160,0:44:00.560
that we share all those accounts in the episode 
notes. Pauline, best of luck the rest of this off

0:44:00.560,0:44:05.440
season and and this summer and we'll talk to you 
soon. Thank you. Thanks, Gabe. I appreciate your