456: Michael Bruno on Skeletal Dynamics in Athletic Speed and Power Development

Today's podcast features Mike Bruno. Mike is the Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Performance at Clemson University. Mike has both a sports performance and massage therapy background, with an approach influenced heavily by Bill Hartman’s biomechanical model. He has worked with a wide variety of sports, including track and field, and currently oversees golf and tennis at Clemson. Human movement is composed of more than just muscle and neural signals. It is also heavily influenced by athletes’ strategies to move pressure through their unique skeletal structures. By understanding the role of structure on speed and movement abilities, we can also better understand ideal training modalities and progressions for each athlete. On today’s episode, Mike speaks on speed and power training through the lens of pressure management and skeletal structure. He talks about different structural archetypes and their needs in the weightroom, as well as how these archetypes lend to various performance outputs on the field of play (focusing on track speed and performance). With many anecdotes from the world of track and field, this episode draws numerous links between strength, speed and individual training factors. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Lila Exogen Wearable Resistance Gear. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com Use the code “justfly25” for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 2:01- Optimizing Athletic Performance through Biomechanics 8:19- Optimizing Speed Through Internal Body Dynamics 11:33- Dynamic Insights from Athlete Force Plate Analysis 16:48- Optimizing Jumping Performance with Pressure Techniques 25:34- Optimizing Athletic Performance Through Heavy Bilateral Squatting 27:47- Structural Analysis for Tailored Athletic Training Programs 30:09- Track and Field Performance Based on Pelvic Adaptations 39:21- Infrastructural Angles Influence Athletic Training Specialization 40:53- Structural Archetypes: Tailoring Training for Performance 48:18- Individual Structure Influence on Training Optimization 1:01:33- Enhanced Athletic Performance through Triphasic Training 1:09:03- Long-Term Physical Qualities Enhancement in Athletes 1:21:26- Managing Pressures and Gravity in Track Training Quotes (12:19) "(In a vertical jump) The faster they drop, the quicker it would pop up." - Mike Bruno" (14:04) "If you take it like five singles, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop is going to be different on the pelvic floor and give you a different output than a banded oscillatory squat." - Mike Bruno" (19:20) “The higher your VO2 max, the thinner your diaphragm, which I thought was a very interesting thing, but it lends on the like. Wrestlers are the highest. All they're doing is pressurizing and they're playing like hand fighting. That's all they're doing is being. Judo was the second one. Sprinters were the third one” - Mike Bruno (31:34) "Your structure dictates quite literally everything." - Mike Bruno (37:06) "The fluid hit the top and it suspended them. So if you ever watch someone jump and they jump unbelievable, it looks like they just kind of get suspended up there. It's like, oh, that's the fluid hitting the top." - Mike Bruno (00:37:19)" (46:33) "One of the best things, you know, is if you don't do complexes, especially with an indicator or something where you're seeing the result, you miss the opportunity to get a lot of connections." - Joel Smith (1:00:40) “A lot of times in my setting, I have athletes that come in, they have their, their connective tissues too stiff and it doesn't store at all. And so you're like, you're really powerful, but we can't get into good positions on the track or we can't get into good positions when we're jumping, so you're not going to be able to display it” - Mike Bruno (1:04:32) “That's why triphasic works is because it kind of stays within there (picking up early ER). And then once you get to the later stuff, you've now have all the prerequisite components to be able to output well and store well more” Mike Bruno (1:08:12) "If you drive an adaptation quicker, you get it even faster. Like if you don't want to slow cook the athlete and you want to microwave them, it's going to end up not usually ending well." - Mike Bruno (1:16:30) “We compressed her (through lifting) and her turn, it had to be out wider to be able to put (her foot) down” - Mike Bruno About Mike Bruno Michael Bruno is the Assistant Director of Olympic Sports Performance at Clemson University, overseeing tennis and golf programming. Mike has both a sports performance and massage therapy background, with an approach influenced heavily by Bill Hartman’s biomechanical model. Before joining Clemson, Michael interned at ETSU and The Spot Athletics, along with completing the Coaching Mentorship Program at Athletic Lab while authoring articles on topics such as aerobic system development and post-activation potentiation. Michael holds both a bachelor's degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from Clemson in Athletic Leadership.