In this episode, David is joined by sports science consultant, Rob Pacey.
Rob previously worked as a strength and conditioning coach & sports scientist in professional soccer.
Rob then set up strength of science, a consultancy and education company.
Rob is well known as the host of the Pacey Performance Podcast which features interviews with world leading strength and conditioning practitioners.
David & Rob discuss the current state of employment in professional sport and what students can do to enhance their chances of employment.
Full shownotes available at: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode109
In this episode, David is joined by Dr. Reid Reale.
Reid Reale is the Performance Nutrition Manager for the UFC Performance Institute Shanghai. The UFC Performance Institute Shanghai provides interdisciplinary services of MMA technical training, sport science, strength & conditioning, sports nutrition and physical therapy for professional and academy UFC athletes. The UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai and Las Vegas also share best practices for performance optimization with athletes and coaches around the world in other sports.
Recognized as a leading expert in sport nutrition research and practice, in particular combat sport nutrition, Reid Reale has over 10 years’ experience working with elite, professional and Olympic athletes. Prior to joining the UFC, Reid was most recently employed as a Senior Scientist with the Gatorade Sports Science Institute at the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida; where he conducted research and provided sports science and nutrition services to elite and professional athletes, including those in the NFL, NBA and MLB. Prior to his role with GSSI, Reid was the lead dietitian for the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) Combat Centre, working with the country’s best Judo, Boxing, Wrestling and Taekwondo athletes in the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympics and beyond.
In addition to working with Australia’s best combat sport athletes, Reid provided services to many of the top combat sports nations in the world’s elite teams, including; Japan Judo, New Zealand Judo, China Judo, Philippines Boxing, Brazil Boxing, Ireland Boxing, Thailand Taekwondo, Egypt Taekwondo, as well as many high performing individual Olympic and World Championship medalists.
During his time at the AIS, Reid also completed his PhD which focused on acute weight management (weight cutting and post-weigh-in recovery) in Olympic Combat Sport athletes. As a researcher and speaker, Reid has published heavily cited work on the topic of weight management for combat sports, and has presented this work at a number of sports science and nutrition conferences around the world.
Full show-note available at:
www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode108
In this episode David is joined by researcher and lecturer Dr. John Fernandes.
John joined Hartpury University in August 2017 as a lecturer in Strength and Conditioning and has recently course led the BSc Sport and Exercise Sciences degree. Prior to this he lectured at the University of Chester whilst completing his PhD which examined the acute strength and power responses to resistance exercise in trained middle-aged males. John’s recent research has focused on velocity-based training, particularly seeking to explore the reliability and agreement of wearable accelerometers and linear position transducers. His other research interests include fatigue, exercise-induced muscle damage and ageing. During the course of his education he gained experience as strength and conditioning coach in a number of settings (e.g. Warrington Wolves RLFC, Welsh RU, GB rowing, Chester Hockey Club).
Twitter: @DrJFTFernandes
Instagram: @life_of_a_lecturer
In this episode, David is joined by researcher and performance nutritionist Dr. Fionn McSwiney.
Dr. Fionn McSwiney is a researcher at Dublin City University and a runs Lucid Nutrition Consultancy.
In this episode, David & Fionn discuss the ketogenic diet in an objective and fair way, delving into the role it may play in athletic performance and health.
In this episode, David is joined by PhD. researcher and strength coach, Kedric Kwan.
Kedric is currently completing a PhD. under the supervision of Dr. Eric Helms. Kedric's research examines weight cutting practices in strength sport.
Kedric is an experienced strength coach and performance nutritionist, particularly in the sport of powerlifting. Kedric is part of the very progressive coaching company, The Strength Guys.
David & Kedric discuss their training/coaching philosophies and give practical advice for strength athletes.
Full show-notes available at: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode105
In episode 104, David is joined by DCU researcher Dr. Stephan Behan.
Stephen’s research is all about children’s physical activity. At the moment, Ireland is on track to become the most obese nation in Europe by the year 2030. There are lots of reasons why Ireland has come to this and you can see it all around you in everyday life. How many of us can say we don’t spend half our day staring at some form of screen or another? When we dig a little deeper, we can see that Irish children are spending less and less time being physically active. Stephen’s research is trying to stop this.
The project, called Moving Well Being Well, aims to break the mould and intervene early in a child’s life to increase their physical activity levels. How can we do this? We want to focus on improving children’s confidence and motivation towards physical activity through developing their fundamental movement skills.
Fundamental Movement Skills are basic skills, like running, jumping, catching, throwing, etc., and these are the foundation on which all other movement or sports specific skills are built. If a child does not develop these skills early, they will not have the confidence in their physical ability to try anything new. Fast forward a decade and we have now have a generation uninterested in physical activity.
Through Moving Well-Being Well, we hope to instil Irish children with a confidence and enthusiasm for physical activity for years to come, and in doing so, turn the tide on obesity in Ireland.
In episode 103, David joined by applied sports psychologist Hugh Gilmore. Hugh holds an undergraduate degree in sports and exercise sciences and a masters in applied sports and exercise psychology. Hugh is also an accredited sports psychologist with the Irish Institute of Sport & BASES. David & Hugh discuss athlete identity, coping with anxiety & uncertainty, motivation vs. commitment, pragmatic advice for coaches dealing with stressed athletes.
In this episode, David is joined by GAA performance nutritionist Conor O'Neill.
Conor is the founder of Know Yourself Nutrition, an online nutrition coaching business working primarily with GAA players both at club and inter-county level.
David & Conor discuss common issues they see with GAA players, tips on behaviour change and reflect on some of the challenges with growing a coaching business.
Full show notes: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode102
In episode 101, David is joined by performance nutritionist Mark Germaine.
Mark Germaine is a Performance Nutritionist (SENr) currently working with the Dublin Senior Hurling team, Dublin U20's football team, Dublin U20's hurlers and a number of elite professional boxers, in addition to his role as a researcher in the School of Health and Human Performance in Dublin City University.
He completed his Masters degree in Sport Nutrition from Liverpool John Moores University, where he also picked up the Don MacLaren Award for the research he conducted during his time there.
Finally, Mark is the co-chair for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Combat Sport Special Interest Group, who put out content as it relates to combat sport and weight cutting, and also host an annual meeting at the annual ACSM event in the USA.
As such, Mark's interest lie in Performance Nutrition and developing nutritional strategies to augment athletic performance, improve athletic recovery, enhancing the adaptive response to training stimuli and weight cutting sports.
In episode of the podcast, David is joined by Alan Flanagan, John Kiely & Ciaran O'Regan.
The groups discusses the topic of meta-cognition; thinking about how we think.
Topics include; what is science? what is knowledge? what does it mean to be evidence-based? how do we improve our critical thinking ability?
In episode 99, David answers a listener question on the topic of: Does Psychological & Emotional Stress Impact Adaptation to Exercise?
You can contact the show and submit questions by emailing: david@synapseperformance.ie
Full show notes available at: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode99
In this episode, David is joined by Luke Jenkinson.
Luke is the current Head of Academy Sports Science & Medicine at Derby County FC, while also undertaking a professional doctorate at Liverpool John Moore's University.
In this episode, David & Luke discuss the pros and cons of early specialisation, and the potential role of isometrics in applied S&C.
For full show-notes: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode98
In episode 97, David is joined by Sami Dowling & Shane Cahill of APEC courses.
Sami Dowling is the Director of Athletic Performance & Sports Science at Athletic Performance Education Company. Sami brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the APEC education team. Working at the elite level of both rugby union and GAA, Sami has become a household name within the areas of speed development and the sport of Weightlifting.
Sami was a Strength & Conditioning coach with Leinster Rugby Academy for 10 years, one of Europe’s top professional rugby Academy’s.
Sami worked at the highest level in GAA, serving as Head Strength & Conditioning coach with the Dublin Senior Football team, winning an All-Ireland in 2011.
Sami served as Performance Director for Weightlifting Ireland, having coached at the World Junior, European Junior, and European Senior.
Sami is currently the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at Hockey Ireland for the u16-u18 girls’ and boys’ national teams.
Sami has recently completed his MSC in Strength & Condition at the Institute of Technology Carlow. His role as Director of Athletic Performance & Sports Science at Athletic Performance Education Company is primarily focused on the development and growth of all strength & conditioning programs and service contracts run through the company.
Shane Cahill is the director of education and operations at APEC. An ex-professional athlete, Shane spent the majority of his professional rugby playing career in the UK playing in the RFU Aviva Premiership and Championship.
He has worked at the elite level of professional sports in the UK with teams such as Rotherham Titans in the RFU Championship where he served as head of strength and conditioning for two seasons before making his way back to Ireland to take up the role as of the head of strength and conditioning with Blackrock College RFC.
He is currently studying his MSc in Strength and Conditioning at the Institute of Technology Carlow. Shane has gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience as both a professional athlete and as a strength & conditioning coach. His role as Director of Education and Operations at Athletic Performance Education Company is primarily focused on the development and growth of all education programs run through the institute.
In this episode, David, Shane & Sami discuss the realities of working in professional sport and being successful in the S&C industry.
Full show notes available at: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode97
In episode 96, David is joined by Dr. Harry Dorrell.
Harry is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Lincoln, where his research focuses on the use of velocity based measures to dictate training loads in an attempt to optimize adaptation to resistance training.
David & Harry discuss why velocity-based "loading" may be a more suitable term that velocity-based "training," how to practically apply velocity-based measures in a team setting and the future research direction of velocity-based training.
Full show-notes available at: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode96
In episode 95, David is joined by Dr. Oliver Barley.
Dr. Barley is a lecturer and research at Edith Cowan University.
Oliver's research interest are in the domain of exercise physiology, specifically combat sports.
The focus of Oliver's PhD studies was in the area of weight cutting strategies in combat athletes.
David & Oliver discuss heat acclimation and it's potential benefits for both performance and the weight cutting procedure.
In episode 94, David is joined by Broderick Chavez.
Broderick Chavez is the Evil Genius. He’s a renowned trainer based in the US and has trained champions, Olympians and IFBB Pros as well as hundreds of other athletes. He is a sports performance expert, biologist, chemist, coffee connoisseur and an insomniac.
Not only has Broderick worked in Sports Performance field 30 years, he’s competed at a national level in bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman.
He’s a critical thinker, lifter, speaker and thought provoker.
Broderick is uncensored and controversial. Rather than trying to prove to you or anyone else that he is the singular outlet for truth, he hopes to stimulate thought, experiment and dialogue that will bring us all closer to the truth.
This is a guy to listen to if you coach athletes or you’re an athlete yourself, wanting to get to the top of their game.
In this Episode, David & Broderick discuss why understanding the tenants of biology is crucial to effective programming & decision making.
The pair also discuss the value of regularly getting blood work done to optimise both health & performance.
In episode 93, David joined by applied sports psychologist Hugh Gilmore.
Hugh holds an undergraduate degree in sports and exercise sciences and a masters in applied sports and exercise psychology.
Hugh is also an accredited sports psychologist with the Irish Institute of Sport & BASES.
David & Hugh discuss behaviour change, the benefits of motivational interviewing & applied sports psychology strategies.
Full show notes available at www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode93
In this episode of the podcast, Arthur Lynch moderates a debate between Synapse Performance's own David Nolan & Andrew Patton of Stronger By Science.
The pair debate whether there is any utility to the functional movement screen or whether it is a pointless exercise.
This is a valuable conversation for any applied practitioners in the strength and conditioning field.
In this episode of the Synapse Performance Podcast, David discusses all the key elements of performing high quality performance testing. As well as the common mistakes he regularly sees in performance testing procedures across multiple sports.
In this solo episode, David gives advice for those wishing to begin or advance their career in strength and conditioning coaching.
David also discusses the importance of S&C in sports performance and what the key purposes of a solid S&C program are, and how to audit your own coaching practices.
In this episode, David is joined by teacher and coach, Shane Smith.
Shane coaches right across the spectrum from underage to elite senior level. Shane's passion lies in the coaching of children and creating an environment that fosters development and life long sport participation.
In this episode, David & Shane discuss how to effectively coach children, some of the pitfalls coaches fall into when working in youth sport and how we can all reflect on our own coaching practices.
For full show notes see: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode89
In this episode, David is joined by Dan Garner.
Dan is a S&C coach, performance nutritionist, and educator.
Dan works with UFC fighters and other elite athletes through his online business.
In this episode, David and Dan discuss:
Laboratory Based Nutrition Prioritizing Athlete Health & Effective Remote Coaching of Elite Athletes
Full show notes can be found at: www.synapseperformance.ie/podcasts/episode88
In this episode, David answers questions submitted by Listeners through social media.
These questions covered the topics of;
Steroids in GAA & Rugby, Advice for Young S&C Coaches, Recovery Methods for Team Sports, The Problem with Assumptions.
In this episode, David is joined by Dr. Alan Ruddock.
Alan is a physiologist at Sheffield Hallam University with a wealth of experience in sport science. He has has worked with a range of individual athletes and teams, including FIFA World Cup referee Howard Webb and Commonwealth games medalists England Table Tennis. Alan has worked extensively within Boxing at the highest level, having a huge influence on Kid Galahad’s British, Commonwealth and European Title wins and most recently Kell Brook’s IBF welterweight world title victory. Alan is a BASES accredited sport & exercise scientist, doctoral researcher and one of the UK’s first chartered scientists in sport science.
In this episode, David & Alan have an in-depth discussion around strength and conditioning for the sport of boxing.
In this solo episode, David answers questions submitted by listeners through social media.