This week’s podcast is with David Durand. David is a coach and author of "B.E.T. On It: A Psychological Approach to Coaching Gen Z and Beyond." He combines his expertise in coaching, strength and conditioning, and psychology to help athletes achieve their full potential. Through his company, Real Development LLC, he provides insights that address athletes' physical, mental, and personal growth, mainly focusing on the challenges faced by Gen Z. David advocates for a holistic approach that emphasizes the nervous system's role in enhancing performance and mental well-being.

As technology and social media have facilitated a drastic change in the world, along with the prevalence of mental health issues, coaching athletes in Generation Z (currently ages 11-26, or under age 27 for current coaches in most situations) demands that we understand how stress impacts the training process.

On today’s podcast, David speaks on aspects of the nervous system in light of modern life and technology and how we can use ideas based on Polyvagal Theory to help athletes have a training experience that gives them maximal benefit in their athletic journey. David’s concepts are a must-understand for those who work with young athletes, but the same concepts resonate with humans of all ages. In this show, David specifically covers how breathing, vision, and touch can drive beneficial responses from the body to the brain, providing mental and emotional benefits to the athlete.

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Main Points
1:47- Holistic Approach to Athletic Performance Enhancement
5:58- The Impact of Social Media on Generation Z's Mental Health
10:02- Optimal Performance through Autonomic Nervous System Balancing
14:41- Behavioral Indicators of Athlete's Action Mode
17:07- Athlete Well-Being: Social Media Stress Impact
21:45- Nurturing Growth Mindsets Through Positive Training
25:57- Nurturing Intrinsic Motivation in Sports Coaching
32:58- Impact of Everyday Gamification on Generations
36:47- Balancing Data Insights with Present-Moment Engagement
46:02- Enhancing Performance Through the Bet Method
1:01 :43- Enhancing Sports Performance Through Vision Engagement
1:13 :38- Enhancing Team Performance Through Physical Interactions
1:16 :14- Team Bonding Through Physical Gestures in Sports



Quotes
(15:17 ) "In action mode, I typically look for an athlete. You know, if it's before a competition, it's pretty easy to see it sometimes. Maybe their eyes are kind of darting around all over. Maybe they're looking into the stands a lot. They're kind of feeling a little tense or jittery"

(25:57 ) "Sometimes, however, when that becomes like your tactic day in and day out where you're trying to motivate by yelling or fear-based tactics, It's like putting gasoline on a fire. You may get a big blow up, which is probably why coaches do, but again and again because they feel like it gets a rise out of players and helps. But at the end of the day, it's not sustainable and that fire is going to burn out."

(33:35 ) “When I talk about gamification, I'm not talking about games like basketball and football and not talking about competitions and track and field more. So just like how our modern culture with social media and just media in general has really latched on to gamification because, you know, humans are the product.”

(47:15 ) "If you extend your exhale longer than your inhale, you're engaging the brake, you're accessing the parasympathetic,