299: Tony Villani on NFL Combine Speed, Game Speed, and Focusing Where it Counts

Today’s show welcomes Tony Villlani, sports performance coach and owner of XPE sports in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Tony has coached over twenty #1 finishes in the NFL combine and is the creator of the Game Speed and Separation Movement Web. Tony has worked with many of the top NFL players in the league, but will tell you that his learning from those athletes was a much bigger deal in Tony’s development than the fact that he “trained them”. Clearly you have to have a level of speed that’s well above average to be successful at many high level sports. At the same time, the fastest athletes in sports where having a level of speed is important, such as at the NFL combine, are not the successful ones in pro-football. Interestingly, the fastest receivers in the history of the combine have never had truly successful careers. This brings up the question, not only why this is, but also, how can we distribute our training efforts over time to optimize the way that athletes actually move on the field? Clearly, we need to work to get athletes fast in a linear sense, but how much are we helping if we overly focus on linear speed (and spend lots of time hair splitting linear speed in twitter arguments) and don’t address the types of speed utilized in sport. Tony deeply understands the nuances and categories of direction change in sport, and actively trains these components in his sessions. This isn’t to say that Tony doesn’t love traditional speed training (just look at his combine success) but he also loves building speed that gives athletes the highest chance of success in their sport. On the show today, Tony talks about how he “ratios” linear speed training to game-speed training, as well as how he frames NFL combine style training in light of game speed to those trainees. He’ll get into why he feels that the fastest athletes in the history of the combine have never been the best actual football players, and then gets into a substantial layout of his key points in change of direction training. Tony also lists some key aspects of offensive and defensive agility, as well as how agility can differ between sports. This was a podcast that you’ll never forget if you train any type of athlete for speed in their sport. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for FREE (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points: 6:07 – How having young children has taught Tony about the process of athletic development 7:47 – Tony’s take on the balance of how linear and game-speed training should progress as an athlete develops 23:48 – Tony’s thoughts on why the very fastest NFL receivers in the combine actually never had a good playing career 29:22 – Approaching linear speed development when an athlete is truly not as fast as they need to be from that perspective 36:14 – Tony’s take on the inverse relationship between the 40 yard dash times and 3-cone/shuttle events in the NFL combine 41:29 – How Tony feels the NFL combine agility tests transfer to performance, and what he does for agility instead 54:12 – Comparing types of game speed between athletes, and the general zones of speed pro football athletes will use in competitions 59:58 – Tony’s finer-point breakdown of change of direction technique 1:07:42 – How Tony views “first chance” opportunity in change of direction (one point of attack opportunity) in football vs. basketball or soccer “Everyone should get as fast as they can possibly get with their own genetics, but after that, I turn off the (linear) speed switch” “With our combine athletes, it’s, unfortunately, how to teach them to run out of control… I always tell our combine athletes, quit thinking of football, think track and being out of control” “It’s not that hard to (cut .2 off a 40 yard dash) you just have to shut down everything else and get them fast” “We spend about 30% of our time on linear speed training, but it’s not our holy grail anymore” “The younger you are, the easier it is to win with speed…if someone has always won with speed, and then they get on the field of play where they can’t win with speed, they are not equipped to” “I think increased speed hurts your agility” “I see too many coaches working on acceleration drills with kids but you need force to accelerate” “Watch us prepare 30 guys for the combine every year, and you’ll see the fastest guy require the most time on the 3-cone shuttle” “For the shuttle and 3 cone, we have to do it the perfect way, those are planned steps. When we are out in the field (of play) we don’t know when those planned steps are going to change and we have to find 3-4 ways to do the same thing” “I call that “playing basketball”… you’re in a wide base, you’re shuffling. When you are playing zone and man to man you want to “play basketball” as long as you can” “Anyone who is attacking on the lacrosse or soccer field is trying to play a setup for where they want to go” “(For all sports) Learn defense from a defensive back, learn it in tighter spaces from a linebacker, and learn how to fight from offensive and defensive linemen, and boxers” “Basketball, they don’t have to turn and run as much as you think; a DB doesn’t set up in a wide base like a basketball player, their shuffle is different” “The great players in the NFL have told me “teach me how to not run on that football field”” “Luca Doncic is not fast! He is one of the most un-athletic guys on that court, but he gets to the hoop at will, not by going around people, but by going through them… all of that dancing stuff, it doesn’t work, but it looks cool” “We are working on all of those techniques that allow us to win between that 14 to 18 mile an hour zone” “Instead of just running around cones for position work, my athletes ask me “how do you want me to run around that cone?... we change directions 6-8 different ways”” “Speed kills (the athlete’s ability to change directions) and fast-feet don’t eat… fast-feet are for salsa dancers. Fast-feet don’t eat…. Feet that separate do” “(regarding the importance of first-chance opportunities) I’m setting (the defense in an agility drill) up for the loss because I’m not letting (the offense) dance, he’s got one move, he’s got to pick a shoulder and run right through it” “I understand why they got off the ladder… great strength coaches are like, I’m not doing dance drills with my athletes, I’m doing force application. But force application into what? Force application into the right foot position; so let’s go back to the ladder and let them learn foot position, then throw your force application into the right foot position and you’ve got an athlete” Show Notes 4 Ways to Attack COD Using Ladder https://youtu.be/qDG2fMlWiyQ Tony talks Agility and Change of Direction with NFL Pro Anquan Boldin https://youtu.be/hebzMFw-86o Intro to “BPS”: Brake-Plant-Separate https://youtu.be/6sQMU2K9Vx0 About Tony Villani Tony Villani created XPE Sports in 2002 and has trained many top athletes in the world, most notably in the NFL. He loves creating speed in athletes, as shown by almost 20 number one 40-yard dash finishes at the NFL Combine, but more recently he has dived into creating a Game Speed and Separation Movement Web curriculum. This “Web” helps athletes, coaches, and trainers alike understand how to use speed and agility correctly to win on the field of play. Tony likes to say, “If speed is king, then agility is the queen that keeps the king moving in the right direction.” Notable athletes trained during his first decade were WR Cris Carter, WR Randy Moss, WR Hines Ward, RB Jamal Lewis, RB Dorsey Levens, LB Takeo Spikes, and DE Osi Umenyoria. The second decade under XPE Sports only got better as notable athletes included WR Anquan Boldin, DB Darelle Revis, S Eric Berry, DB Stephon Gilmore, RB Mark Ingram, OL Mike and Maurkice Pouncey, LB LaVonte David, TE Travis Kelce, S Justin Simmons, and many more. These names are important to Tony because he feels as though people think he “trained” them, but they were actually teaching and training him how to pass along knowledge and train others. Currently, Tony spends most of his time training athletes in Fort Lauderdale at XPE Sports with Matt Gates and his off-time with the development of the SHREDmill, a manually powered treadmill that is a key piece of XPE’s speed training.