307: Dan John on High-Velocity Learning, Games for Explosive Athletes, and Training Synergy

Today’s episode features strength coach, track coach and writer, Dan John. Dan is a legendary contributor to the world of human performance, having written numerous top-selling books in strength development, such as “Easy Strength”, as well as having coached and taught athletes for decades. He has been a multi-time guest on this podcast, and is one of the greatest influences on the way I see the process of sport performance today. In the world of athletics, it becomes very easy to dissect elements of performance or biomechanics down to a level of minutia where things can actually lose effectiveness, efficiency, or both. In large, fast, multi-joint movements, for example, we reap value that is often times “greater than the sum of its parts” when we are talking about the best way to achieve functional lower body development (such as using a squat or deadlift, rather than several machine based exercises to train the same muscles). Fast sprinting is a more effective way to train the hamstrings than breaking hamstring training down into a series of strength exercises (although you can certainly do both). In a similar vein, a game like volleyball or basketball is often times better than the sum of its parts in terms of agility and plyometric training. Within the scope of complexity and velocity, the human body is forced to adapt to a higher level than a “broken down” versions. In his vast experience, Dan John has been able to see what “big things” in training are truly important, and how we can close the gap that so often appears between common training practices and competition. He knows how to combine key elements in training and one’s life outside of training to create synergistic effects. On the podcast today, Dan speaks whole-part-whole teaching, and how training get actually get dissected to the point where we are creating gaps in actual competitive performance. He will talk about the role of games (not specific to one’s primary sport) in athletic performance, in the off-season, in-season, and as a form of conditioning. From there Dan goes into motor learning wisdom in coaching, and how he uses elements of velocity, complexity, rhythm and relaxation to help athletes adapt to better technical proficiency, as well as dealing with over-analytical athletes in this process. Finally, Dan finishes the show with some practical wisdom on sets and reps in the grand scheme of program design, as well as some thoughts on periodization. It’s always an honor to have Dan on, and listen to his coaching wisdom from decades in his craft. 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: 4:00 – Whole-Part-Whole teaching, and principles of not overly dissecting movements in the process of athletic development 9:19 – Principles on synergy, and the “sum of the parts” being greater than the individual elements, when it comes to a sport or major human movement 16:08 – The importance of games in athletic programming, and how game play can fulfill many conditioning needs of athletes without over-complicating the process 22:21 – How the “fundamentals” of free play and overall athleticism are critical in the general development of athletes 28:50 – What Dan’s throw practices look like in terms of the proportion of drills or constraints vs. traditional throws 33:45 – How giving athletes more complexity can be a cure for “monkey brain”, or over-thinking athletes 43:43 – Dan’s take on the “Rewzon study” on variable long jump training, and how it carries into his throws practice 54:23 – Advanced, or “magic” drills in track and field, or sports performance 1:04:10 – Dan’s thoughts on where to get started with “sets and reps” in the world of sports performance/strength & conditioning 1:07:41 – Dan’s take on periodization, strength and “power” phases in his training organization “I wasn’t a very good basketball or soccer player, but those two sports taught me triangles, they taught me spacing, and they really helped me as a strong safety (in football)” “Most of these (elite Soviet Union athletes) in the offseason either played volleyball extremely seriously, or soccer extremely seriously. Volleyball is what the explosive sports did in the Soviet union to the point where a lot of the guys would push off their jumping for a while, because they had a volleyball tournament, and that tournament was more important than off-season triple jump” “I think (physioballs) are a waste of time and energy, but here is what you use it for; we play two games. One is no-goalie soccer, and the other is not ultimate-frisbee, but ultimate-swiss ball… I throw that game into our training deep into the season” “Playing always makes you speed up your skill-set” “The drills I teach are important, when I teach them” “I am shocked with how poorly athletes come to me conditioned now…. kids show up and they need interventions, not conditioning” “(Regarding isometrics) I’m a big believer that no movement is the best way to teach movement” “Making something more complex, often makes it simpler for the athlete….. (in terms of increasing velocity) the same thing happens in music and typing” “To me that’s when you get wise coaching, when your vision and training reflect the real issues in performance, and performance is when you step up” “Some of the best successes I’ve had of breaking an athlete out of a slump is range throwing” “The rhythm and the speed cleans it up; complexity seems to help the brain in some ways, drills seem to help the brain in some ways, and then playing with percentages seem to help the brain in some ways” “There was a coach in the early 60’s who had a magnificent track team went all in on isometrics, and his belief was isometrics, a magic drill, and the event, and that’s how he coached his athletes” “Most of the time when I see people try to apply these advanced programs, they still haven’t mastered the basics” “Everybody knows, but very few people do” “The farther and farther you step back, you begin to see the pattern so much clearer, and the patterns I see in my life is that all this extra stuff I did didn’t raise this distance or load up, it was more, but it wasn’t better” “You lift, you race, you play basketball…. that’s not bad” About Dan John Dan John has spent his life with one foot in the world of lifting and throwing, and the other foot in academia. An All-American discus thrower, Dan has also competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon, an event in which he holds the American record. Dan spends his work life blending weekly workshops and lectures with full-time writing, and is also an online religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri. As a Fulbright Scholar, he toured the Middle East exploring the foundations of religious education systems. Dan is also a Senior Lecturer for St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London. His books, on weightlifting, include Intervention, Never Let Go, Mass Made Simple and Easy Strength, written with Pavel Tsatsouline as well as From Dad, To Grad. He and Josh Hillis co-authored “Fat Loss Happens on Monday.” In 2015, Dan wrote Can You Go? on his approach to assessments and basic training. In addition, Before We Go, another compilation akin to Never Let Go became an Amazon Bestseller. In early 2017, Dan’s book, Now What?, his approach to Performance and dealing with “life,” became a Bestseller on Amazon. Hardstyle Kettlebell Challenge became available in September 2017, too.