Performance Strategies & Stumbles

In this episode of Performance Strategies and Stumbles, I'm joined by Peter Hughes — a rehabilitation specialist at the Gallagher Chiefs in New Zealand, whose role uniquely combines physiotherapy with strength & conditioning to deliver a truly performance-driven approach to rehab.

At the heart of this conversation is a simple but powerful reframe: rehabilitation isn't just about restoring what was lost — it's one of the biggest opportunities for performance gains an athlete will ever have. Rather than treating rehab as a holding pattern, Peter builds programs designed to return athletes better than they were before injury — and this episode is a detailed look at what that philosophy involves in practice.

We get into why understanding the injury mechanism is the foundation of effective rehab, including assessing the movement patterns that existed before the injury ever occurred. From there, Peter walks through his approach to intensity in rehab (and why it doesn't simply mean adding load), the value of early exposure to game-like scenarios for reintegration, and how he isolates individual qualities before integrating them back into the whole. He also makes the case for why movement quality is so often sacrificed for quantity — and what a whole-system approach to rehabilitation really looks like.

There's a real thread of pragmatism running through this conversation — the idea that the best rehab plan isn't the one that simply clears an athlete to return, but the one that restores, rebuilds, and enhances their capabilities so they're genuinely ready for the demands of the game.

Episode Sponsor — VALD Performance

This episode is supported by VALD Performance — makers of the NordBord, ForceFrame, ForceDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training.

Their website is HERE.

Collaborate 360 — Our First In-Person Event

Collaborate 360 is coming this July. A full day built around applied practice, group thinking, and getting hands-on with technology that can genuinely change how you work. If you want to be in the room, see what we have planned and grab your ticket HERE!

What happens when a coach is willing to admit what they got wrong? In this episode, Les Spellman, founder of Spellman Performance, opens up about the mistakes that shaped his coaching — and why vulnerability, not certainty, has been the real driver of his development. Having worked with athletes across the NFL, NCAA, MLB and Olympic sport, Les has earned the right to be confident in his methods, which makes his honesty about where he's got it wrong all the more valuable.

At the heart of the conversation is the danger of rigidity — how being too wedded to targets, technology and technical drills can quietly hold athletes back. Les reflects on his early mistakes in speed training and the shift towards a more holistic approach, including the role of eccentric work in keeping athletes fast and healthy. We also get into why context is everything in performance training, how feedback from teams has sharpened his coaching, and the often-overlooked challenge of hiring and managing staff in the private sector — and what it takes to build an environment where both athletes and coaches thrive.

Output Sports are the sponsors of today's episode. One portable sensor, one platform — helping coaches test, track and programme athletes with velocity-based training and real-time performance assessment. They'll be at Collaborate 360 this July, so if you're coming along, you'll have the chance to get hands-on with the technology in person.

If this episode got you thinking about how you reflect on and evolve your own coaching, that's exactly the territory we'll be exploring at Collaborate 360 in July.  Early bird tickets have sold out, but if you're a listener of the pod, use the code event25 at checkout before the end of the month and you'll get that early bird price. Link below.

Collaborate 360 tickets: www.collaboratesports.com/360

Enjoy the episode!

In this speed episode of Performance Strategies and Stumbles, I'm joined by Les Spellman — a speed coach who has built a systematic approach to speed training and physical preparation for football athletes, with a particular focus on preparing players for the realities of training camp and the season ahead.

At the heart of this conversation is a simple but powerful reframe: training tolerance matters more than raw speed gains. Rather than chasing numbers on a timing gate, Les builds structured microcycles designed to prepare athletes for the actual demands they'll face — and this episode is a detailed look at what that planning process really involves.

We get into microcycle design for football athletes — how Les balances volume, intensity, and recovery across the week, the specific drills and session structures he uses, and how constraints and coaching cues shape movement without over-coaching it. From there, Les walks through his approach to periodization for NFL players, what progressive overload looks like in a speed context, how sport-specific conditioning and contact prep fit into the plan, and the metabolic and endurance considerations that often get overlooked in speed-dominant programs.

There's a real thread of pragmatism running through this conversation — the idea that the best training plan isn't the one that produces the biggest gains in isolation, but the one that builds athletes who can tolerate, absorb, and express their qualities when the demands of camp and season arrive.

Episode Sponsor — 1080 Motion

This episode is supported by 1080 Motion — the industry leader for motorised resistance in high performance sport. 1080's technology gives elite practitioners the ability to create precise and unique loading such as overspeed, eccentric overload, and isokinetics straight from a screen, with instant insights from athlete outputs and profiling. From speed to strength to return-to-play, 1080 Motion has everything you need to truly drive performance.
Their website is HERE.

1080 Motion will also be running a dedicated learning zone at Collaborate 360 in July — our first in-person event. Tickets are available now, link below.

Collaborate 360 — Our First In-Person Event

Collaborate 360 is coming this July. A full day built around applied practice, group thinking, and getting hands-on with technology that can genuinely change how you work. If you want to be in the room, see what we have planned and grab your ticket HERE!

Tim Kettenring doesn't hold back in this episode. We go all the way back to the early days of his coaching career - the arrogance he carried in, the relationships he damaged, and a job he lost because of it. It's the kind of honest reflection that's rare in this industry, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.

What makes Tim's story particularly valuable is how he traces the turning point. Not a single lightbulb moment, but a slow and sometimes painful process of looking inward — recognising that the reason he wasn't in coaching wasn't down to bad luck or circumstances, it was down to him. We talk about the absence of structured mentorship, his sensitivity to feedback and how that kept him stuck, and the moment he started seeking it deliberately - and what happened when he asked for too much of it.

We also get into programming and how a support network for sense-checking ideas should always be proactive rather than reactive to avoid mistakes. The episode closes with a moment from Tim's time in professional rugby that might be the most memorable of the whole conversation. Tim describes how a single comment changed his entire approach, moving from a mindset of authority to one of collaboration, and realising that how athletes feel and the trust they place in you matter far more than any session you could design.

This episode is sponsored by TeamBuildr - the platform for strength and conditioning coaches to programme, track, and communicate with their athletes.

Coaches attending Collaborate 360 in July get a full month of free access. To get your tickets to our first in-person live set of workshops, visit www.collaboratesports.com/360

We'd love to see you there!

Enjoying the podcast? Then please consider leaving a review or sharing on your social networks!

Multi-directional speed is one of the most talked-about qualities in performance sport - but is it one of the most misunderstood? In this episode, Tim Kettenring, President of Maverick Human Performance (https://www.instagram.com/tim_kettenring/) makes the case for why so much speed development work misses the mark, and what a more principled approach actually looks like. With over a decade of experience working across developmental and professional sport, Tim has a gift for getting to the root of what drives genuine speed improvement — and this conversation is a clear example of that.

At the heart of Tim's framework is the plyo step — a linking movement that he argues underpins everything else in multi-directional speed. From there, we explore why every change of direction should be understood as a restart for acceleration, and how that reframe changes the way you coach and cue. We also get into the role of perception and action in speed development, how these principles translate to the specific demands of baseball, and why video feedback remains one of the most underused tools for coaches working in this space.

Output Sports are the sponsors of today's episode. One portable sensor, one platform — helping coaches test, track and programme athletes with velocity-based training and real-time performance assessment. They'll be at Collaborate 360 this July, so if you're coming along, you'll have the chance to get hands-on with the technology in person.

If this episode got you thinking about how you design sessions around speed and skill acquisition, that's exactly the territory we'll be exploring at Collaborate 360 in July. Our design section, led by Matt Sayce, will give you the chance to work through better, within-session decision-making in a room full of great coaches. Early bird tickets have sold out, but if you're a listener of the pod, use the code event25 at checkout before the end of the month and you'll get that early bird price. Link below.

Collaborate 360 tickets: www.collaboratesports.com/360

Enjoy the episode!