399: Alex Kanellis on Explosive Rotational Strength Development

Today’s podcast is with Alex Kanellis. Alex is the founder of Landmine University. He is a former state champion wrestler, Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year (Football), and University of Iowa football player. He has been a scholastic strength coach, wrestling and football coach, as well as having spent time as a performance coach for Weck Method. Currently, Alex’s focus is on training youth wrestlers, as well as his work with Landmine University. Strength training for athletes is fundamentally basic. The powerlift variations, as well as Olympic lifts recruit a large amount of muscle mass and are fundamentally stimulating. At the same time, with the potential to be over-used, “functional” training has emerged, offering light-weight movements with high demands for balance and coordination. Landmine oriented training movements offer a happy medium in a high potential for force application, a rotational and arc-like orientation, as well as short learning curves (unlike the longer learning curve of the Olympic lifts). On today’s podcast Alex goes into his experiences that brought him into landmine training, and how he uses the method with athletes. He also gets into the advantages and unique aspects of the method, and touches on the transfer points to a number of athletic movements and practices. Alex touches on isometric landmine variations, as well as gets into GPP methods for young athletes in general, and what we can learn from the athleticism of wrestling and combat sports. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30 day trial of the TeamBuildr software at https://teambuildr.com. 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. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing. Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 4:39- Enhancing Athletic Performance Through Rotational Core Movements 10:12- Rotational Landmine Training for Athletic Performance Gains 17:50- Rotational Landmine Exercises for Explosive Athletes 21:23- Spinal Engine Theory for Athletic Performance 32:00- The Role of Fat Grips and Unilateral Landmine Lifts 43:50- Rotational Resistance Training with Landmine Exercises 49:41- Building Athleticism Through Wrestling Movements 55:57- Focused Training for Elite Performance in Gymnastics 57:49- Enhancing Athlete Skills Through Wrestling and Free Play Alex Kanellis Quotes "Landmine lifts too is you really do feel the load go from one glute to the other glute and you can feel, and that's something that is really powerful and also just safe because they're just limited in a way that I like." - Alex Kanellis" "Your spine is the primary engine for locomotion, as opposed to bracing your spine to neutral and powering locomotion with your hips and legs." - Alex Kanellis "What if it's not an argument? What if you just started with more stuff like landmine cleans, or it's a lower bar to jump over, it's more athletic then maybe in high school or later (bring in Olympic Lifts)." - Joel Smith "If we are going to spend those skill points as a coach who's not their sport coach, it does feel really satisfying when just at least a couple of those skill points overlap with what they're working on in their sport." - Alex Kanellis" "Yeah, but it makes you play differently, and it gives you something. And so much. I think a lot of times we almost find things by accident that are because of these constraints." – Joel Smith “And you could ask Donnie Thompson or any of the guys that are into the fat grip stuff. But for me, I remember with even bench press, but deadlift, particularly when I did work with a fat grip, it sort of auto corrected my form. It just became almost impossible to do it with bad form” "So, in the whole system, there's principles that I wrote out, sort of just as a way, a measuring stick, and make sure that these movements were as functional as possible. So it's forward intent, rotational intent, core driven movement, and then progressive overload. – Alex Kanellis “And that also lights up your lat, lights up your oblique. I'm big on giving proximal cues and sort of letting the distal stuff take care of itself. People do come back really sore in the lower leg” – Alex Kanellis “It's interesting because I've always thought it was a great question, like, do wrestlers need a strength coach or do gymnasts need a strength coach? Wrestlers and gymnasts are extremely strong, regardless of their weightlifting background. And they look it, too” ~ Alex Kanellis "Play wrestle. That's all you're going to tell them to do. Let each other win once in a while, try some different stuff." - Alex Kanellis" Show Notes Landmine clean with Alex Kannelis https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jOgiGBmCdyM About Alex Kanellis Alex Kanellis, is the founder of Landmine University. He is a former state champion wrestler, Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year (Football), and University of Iowa football player. Following a career ending football injury Alex interned in strength and conditioning with coach Chris Doyle. For a decade, Kanellis served Regina High School as a strength coach, also contributing as an assistant football coach for eight years and briefly as head wrestling coach. His impact extended to WeckMethod, where he worked as a strength coach, gaining recognition in Men's Health magazine and other media. Currently, Kanellis focuses on training youth wrestlers, combining his athletic background with innovative strength training methods.