Science for Sport Podcast

Are elite athletes training harder than the demands of their sport require? This week, Richard Graves is joined by performance coach Colin Byrne, who spent seven years working with Conor McGregor as part of his training and corner team. Colin believes many athletes, particularly in combat sports, still confuse doing more work with preparing effectively. He explains why conditioning should reflect the actual structure of competition, how fatigue affects technical execution and why the ability to recover between intense efforts can decide contests. The conversation explores Colin’s work with McGregor following his first defeat to Nate Diaz. He describes how introducing greater structure, separating skill development from conditioning and helping McGregor understand his own intensity transformed the preparation for their rematch just 14 weeks later. Colin also introduces his “one-round principle”, challenges the value of routinely exceeding competition distances in training and explains what combat sports can learn from cycling’s measurement-led approach to performance. In this episode you will learn Why many combat athletes train too much without training specifically enough How fatigue affects decision-making and technical execution What Colin changed after Conor McGregor’s first fight with Nate Diaz Why skill training and conditioning may need to be separated How heart rate and power data can help athletes understand pacing Why recovery between high-intensity efforts matters so much How the “one-round principle” changes the structure of fight preparation Why training beyond the demands of competition is not always productive What coaches can learn from cycling’s approach to measurement How amateur athletes can make better use of limited training time About Colin Byrne Colin Byrne is a performance coach, martial artist and founder of the Shinobi Academy in Portugal. A former professional cyclist and European silver medallist in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he holds black belts in both Brazilian jiu-jitsu and ninjutsu. Colin spent seven years travelling and working with Conor McGregor, helping to structure his conditioning following the first Nate Diaz fight and supporting him as a trainer and cornerman. His approach combines practical coaching experience, measurable performance data and a detailed understanding of the demands placed on combat athletes. FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241 ​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively ​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery ​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In ​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese ​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More ​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance ​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes ​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

Elite teams have access to more performance data than ever. The real competitive advantage, however, comes from knowing which questions to ask, how to interpret the answers and when to act. This week, Richard Graves is joined by Jamie Hepner, Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult. Drawing on almost 12 years of working with leading NFL and college football programmes, Jamie explains how applied sports science has progressed from simply monitoring athletes to actively shaping training and practice. The conversation explores how performance teams can combine wearable data, video and practitioner judgement to manage player availability without leaving athletes underprepared. Jamie discusses why training load cannot be viewed in isolation, how deviations at individual and positional-group level require different responses, and why feeling tired after a demanding training block is not necessarily a negative outcome. Jamie also explains how technology such as Vector 8 is connecting physical performance data with the tactical context of practice. This allows practitioners to examine the demands of particular plays, automate player participation and prescribe the type and number of repetitions an athlete may need during the week. This is a practical discussion about moving beyond interesting information and using data to make decisions that improve preparation, availability and performance. In this episode you will learn What applied sports science looks like within NFL and college football Why the quality of the question determines the value of the data How player tracking and video can provide greater context around physical demands Why minimising training load does not necessarily reduce injury risk How performance teams balance player availability with adequate preparation How wearable data can help prescribe practice rather than simply review it Why individual and positional-group deviations require different responses How subjective athlete feedback and objective performance data work together Why fatigue and soreness can sometimes be an intended training response How practitioners can turn performance information into decisions coaches can use Why the next stage of athlete monitoring is likely to focus on context rather than data volume About Jamie Hepner Jamie is Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult He works with leading American football programmes to help practitioners and coaches apply athlete-monitoring data to training, preparation and player-availability decisions. During almost 12 years at Catapult, Jamie has helped the company respond to the evolving performance needs of NFL and college football teams. Originally from Australia, Jamie relocated to the United States when he joined Catapult during the company’s early expansion into American sport. His previous experience includes athlete management with AFL Victoria and strength and conditioning coaching. FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241 ​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively ​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery ​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In ​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese ​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More ​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance ​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes ​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

What does it take to build a genuinely integrated high-performance programme? This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Trevor Short, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health, Wellness and Performance at Utah State University. Trevor explains how Utah State is bringing sports science, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, nutrition and mental wellness together around three shared objectives: athlete availability, performance development and readiness to compete. The conversation explores why alignment must come before data, how monitoring should respond to the questions coaches are actually asking, and why collecting more information does not automatically lead to better decisions. Trevor also discusses the challenge of balancing performance development with athlete availability, adapting thresholds to the demands of the season and communicating the same evidence differently to coaches and senior leaders. This is a practical discussion about designing high-performance systems in which every intervention has a purpose, departments work beyond their traditional silos and the athlete remains at the centre of decision-making. In this episode you will learn Why athlete availability, performance and readiness can be competing objectives How Utah State is integrating its performance, medical, nutrition and mental wellness teams Why alignment with coaches should come before collecting data How to build monitoring systems around meaningful performance questions Why readiness flags must be interpreted within the context of the season How multidisciplinary teams can make better decisions for individual athletes Why the same information should be communicated differently to coaches and administrators How standard operating procedures can make performance systems more consistent and measurable Why leadership, culture and trust matter as much as technology How integrated athlete support can increase a team’s chances of winning About Trevor Short Dr Trevor Short is Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health, Wellness and Performance at Utah State University, where he oversees sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, mental wellness and sports performance. Before joining Utah State, Trevor worked as a performance and sports scientist at the University of Hawai‘i, supporting sports science provision across its intercollegiate programmes. His career has also included strength and conditioning, applied research, university teaching, private-sector performance coaching and operational leadership. Trevor holds a PhD in Kinesiology and is a Certified Performance and Sport Scientist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA. His work focuses on integrated high-performance systems, athlete monitoring and the use of evidence to improve athlete availability, readiness and performance. FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241 ​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively ​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery ​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In ​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese ​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More ​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance ​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes ​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Alicia Naser, behavioural scientist and founder of The Naser Institute for Behavioral Sports Psychology. Dr Naser works with professional athletes and organisations across hockey, tennis, baseball, basketball and golf, helping them understand the relationship between behaviour, physiology and performance under pressure. In this episode, she explains why mental performance should not sit separately from physical preparation, and how fatigue, heart rate, self-talk and emotion can all influence an athlete’s ability to execute when it matters. The conversation explores the practical value of becoming more aware of internal responses during competition. From using frustration constructively rather than trying to suppress it, to striking the right balance with wearable data, Dr Naser offers a behavioural-science lens on high-performance sport that will be useful for practitioners, coaches and athletes alike. In this episode you will learn Why mental health and mental performance are related, but not the same thing How physical fatigue can affect clarity, decision-making and execution The relationship between heart rate, anxiety and an athlete’s self-talk Why emotional awareness can itself be a useful performance intervention How frustration can be used to create focus and competitive intent Where breathing strategies fit within performance under pressure How to use wearable data without becoming overly dependent on it Why mental and physical preparation should be integrated across a performance programme How practitioners can use pre- and post-intervention data to build organisational buy-in A simple journalling exercise athletes and coaches can use to identify performance barriers About Dr Alicia Naser Dr Alicia Naser, PhD, BCBA-D, is a behavioural scientist, Board Certified Behavior Analyst and founder of The Naser Institute for Behavioral Sports Psychology. Her work combines behavioural science, physiology and mental performance to support professional athletes, coaches and organisations. Dr Naser has more than 12 years of advanced study, research and applied work in behavioural psychology, and works across a range of elite sports including the NHL, ATP Tour, MLB, NBA, PGA and Premier League. FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241 ​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively ​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery ​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In ​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese ​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More ​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance ​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes ​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dave Emsley, physiotherapist and movement specialist at The Body Mechanics, for a practical conversation on why successful rehabilitation needs to look beyond the site of pain. Dave explains how the body adapts around injury, why a scan or strength test is only one part of the picture, and what practitioners can learn by observing how an athlete actually moves. From hamstring tears and persistent knee pain to golf swings, fast bowling and return-to-play decisions, this episode explores the relationship between biomechanics, motor patterns and long-term performance. The discussion also unpacks “adaptive potential”: the body’s remarkable ability to find a way to keep performing when something is not working as it should. But that capacity is not unlimited. For practitioners, the challenge is recognising when an athlete’s compensations are taking them closer to the gutter and helping them restore better options before another area of the system breaks down. In this episode you will learn Why pain should be treated as information, rather than simply the problem to remove How movement compensations can shift load elsewhere in the kinetic chain Where scans, strength testing and force-plate data fit within a complete assessment Why data should help confirm a clinical decision, rather than make it in isolation The difference between quantitative testing and the qualitative assessment of movement What “adaptive potential” means for injury risk, performance and longevity Why athletes with the same diagnosis may need very different rehabilitation plans When technical changes are worth making—and when practitioners should protect an athlete’s existing strengths Why return-to-play should account for the athlete’s actual performance demands, not just symptom resolution How practitioners can use movement quality to guide more individualised rehabilitation About Dave Emsley Dave Emsley is a physiotherapist and movement specialist at The Body Mechanics. With a background in sports science and physiotherapy, he works with athletes across a range of sports, including golf and football, and consults with Premier League footballers. His work focuses on biomechanical assessment, movement patterns, rehabilitation and helping people return to performance with a better understanding of how their body moves. FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241 ​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively ​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery ​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In ​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese ​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More ​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance ​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes ​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research