461: Bob Thurnhoffer on Formative Sprint, Strength, and Plyometric Concepts

Today's podcast features Bob Thurnhoffer, Assistant Track & Field Coach at the University of Louisville. Bob brings nearly two decades of NCAA Division I coaching experience, with past stops at New Mexico, Loyola Chicago, and UIC. His athletes have earned multiple All-American honors, NCAA qualifications, and school records. Bob is also known for his deep knowledge in training for jumps and is a respected voice in the track and field coaching community. On today’s episode, Bob speaks on the formative experience of his past work training speed and power at an NCAA DI school in the confines of a hallway. He also goes into plyometric training concepts, and acceleration development, as well as some of his key complex training methods in the weightroom. Bob also digs into the importance of general strength in his program, along with the nuts and bolts of his weekly training setups for sprint and jump athletes in this fantastic resource on speed and power development. 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(https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 6:02- Bob’s Early Experiences as an Athlete and His Early Mentors 18:55- Innovative Training Solutions for Limited Spaces 29:38- Enhancing Athletic Performance Through General Strength Training 34:55- Individualized Workouts for Optimal Athletic Development 39:14- Foundational Elements in Athletic Performance Training 41:41- Peak Velocity Training for Jumpers 56:44- Intensive Cycle Variation for Optimal Performance 58:51- Force Plate Metrics for Athlete Performance Tracking 1:05:43- Mentorship Impact on Athlete Training Mindset Quotes (17:21) "I do think it's like limitations breed creativity more than freedom of possibilities. Unlimited situations don't create creativity as much as limitations do." - Bob Thurnhoffer (18:05) “(Training in a Hallway) I can do acceleration, I could do plyometrics. I can get very strong in the weight room. And try to learn how to be truly great at these things that I can do. Because I knew that the things I could do I had to be better than everyone else at” - Bob Thurnhoffer (29:38) “I still work general training a very, very large degree. Probably more than most coaches even. Yeah, I remember Brooke, the pole vault coach at Louisville. She said to me at the start of the year how she really liked how much general strength I do. She's like, yeah, I don't know. Coaches never do that anymore” - Bob Thurnhoffer (41:00) “Interestingly enough, I actually, at New Mexico I almost entirely went to Monday, Tuesday neural, Wednesday, Thursday general, Friday neural. The whole two years I was there for everyone. And it worked great” - Bob Thurnhoffer (47:30) “I almost always finish a neural lift with med ball throws; to restore proprioception after heavy lifting” - Bob Thurnhoffer (49:13) "I think like long jump you gotta, it's all about displacement, smoothness, being a passenger, letting the natural inherent reactivity that you've developed in training and it's inherent in the human body do the jumping for you." - Bob Thurnhoffer (1:02:01) "It's the quick ground contact time with the vertical displacement. That's what I'm looking for." - Bob Thurnhoffer About Bob Thurnhoffer ​Bob Thurnhoffer is an accomplished track and field coach specializing in jumps, currently serving as the Assistant Coach for Jumps at the University of Louisville. He joined the Cardinals' coaching staff on July 31, 2023, bringing with him over 18 years of Division I coaching experience across multiple institutions. In his tenure at Louisville, Thurnhoffer has made a significant impact. During the 2024–25 indoor season, he led the Cardinals to podium finishes in all three jump events at the ACC Indoor Championships, with athletes earning bronze medals in the women's triple jump, women's long jump, and men's high jump. Additionally, under his guidance, the team secured three NCAA Championships qualifications and 11 All-ACC honors. Prior to Louisville, Thurnhoffer served as an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico from 2021 to 2023, where he coached athletes in sprints, jumps, hurdles, relays, and throws. His athletes achieved 13 NCAA All-American honors, 25 Mountain West Conference titles, and set 19 school records. Notably, he was named the 2022 USTFCCCA Mountain Region Outdoor Men's Assistant Coach of the Year. Before his tenure at New Mexico, Thurnhoffer spent over a decade at Loyola University Chicago, serving in various coaching roles, including head coach from 2016 to 2021. During his time there, he guided athletes to 27 NCAA Championships qualifications, 65 individual conference titles, and 92 school record performances. Thurnhoffer began his coaching career at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he coached jumpers to 29 individual Horizon League championships and six NCAA Championships qualifications. Beyond coaching, Thurnhoffer is an active contributor to the track and field community through speaking engagements and publications focused on training strategies for sprints and jumps. He holds certifications including a USTFCCCA Master's Endorsement in Horizontal Jumps.