About this episode
Paul Drake of First-Cardio Performance has spent the last several years immersing himself in the world of college tennis. He has worked with several of the top Division I college tennis programs, allowing them to train their athletes in a much more efficient manner which in turns increases the probability that the team will truly maximize their potential on the court. He takes the guesswork out of how hard to train, how much to recover, and understanding when players are overtraining or potentially burning-out. Paul also discusses how programs can start tracking vital data on their athletes for little to no money. In this conversation we build upon the last “Expert Interview" with Nick Winkelman; understand that less can definitely be more and how we now have no shortage of science to back up this old cliche. Key parts of this conversation have been marked for your listening convenience: 01:35 - How did you end up in the college tennis landscape with such a diverse background in cardio? 03:35 - How does having a strong cardiovascular system help student-athletes? 04:31 - Why do you believe it is better to condition a tennis athlete on a bike rather than a court? 08:10 - How efficient are your workout routines? 10:40 - What is a starting point for a coach looking to understand how to use heart rate and analyze that data? 13:44 - What do I do with my heart rate data? 17:06 - How did your routines work for previous student-athletes like Paul Jubb (South Carolina)? 22:40 - Are there recommendations that you have post-practice/post-match? 26:22 - What does a sample conditioning week look like? 31:43 - What is your ideal pre-match routine? 38:30 - What advice do you have for coaches moving into a new mindset with heart rate training & recovery?