Science for Sport Podcast

313: Building Durability in Action Sports with Ryan Blake

March 30th, 2026  |  30 mins 8 secs

action sports, action sports science, adventure sports, ai in sport, athlete preparation, athletic durability, british water ski and wakeboard, elite sport, extreme sports, extreme sports performance, fatigue management, freestyle sports, high performance, injury prevention, jump testing, long term athletic development, ltad, olympic sports, performance coaching, periodisation, readiness monitoring, ryan blake, science for sport, snowboarding, sports coaching, sports performance, sports science, sports technology, strength and conditioning, vbt, velocity based training, x games, youth strength and conditioning

Ryan Blake, founder of Extreme Sports Performance and performance consultant for British Water Ski and Wakeboard, joins Richard Graves to make the case for a completely different approach to athlete preparation in action sports. Drawing on over 20 years of experience across elite sport and education, Ryan explains why durability, not peak output, is the real target in disciplines defined by unpredictability, variable terrain, and repeated decision-making under fatigue. He walks through his Restore, Apply, Own framework, the role of technology in bridging the gap between training and competition, and why the explosive growth of the X Games League and Olympic action sports makes this one of the most exciting frontiers in performance science right now.

298: Building Better Athletes. Michigan’s High-Performance Approach with Lew Porchiazzo

December 15th, 2025  |  33 mins 49 secs

athlete development, athletic performance, catapult sports, chatgpt said: strength and conditioning, coaching athletes, durability training, elite performance, gymnastics training, high performance sport, lew porchiazzo, perch training system, performance data, soccer strength and conditioning, softball strength and conditioning, sports science, sports technology, training load management, university of michigan, vbt, velocity based training

In this episode, Richard Graves speaks with University of Michigan’s Lew Porchiazzo about developing high-performance athletes through trust-driven coaching, intelligent use of technology, and a focus on raising the floor of athletic development. Lew shares practical insights on strength, conditioning, velocity-based training, and guiding young athletes toward long-term success.

283: The Future of VBT: Why It’s More Than Just a Training Tool

September 1st, 2025  |  31 mins 10 secs

athleteperformance, athleticdevelopment, chatgpt said: sportsscience, coachingscience, conditioning, datadrivencoaching, datainsport, elitesport, forceplates, highperformance, nbastrengthcoach, nrl, performancecoach, performancetraining, playerdevelopment, powertraining, scienceforsport, sportsanalytics, sportsciencepodcast, sportsperformance, sportstech, strengthandconditioning, strengthtraining, trainingload, vbt, velocitybasedtraining

In this episode, Richard Graves talks with Nathan Spencer, Strength & Power Coach at St. George Illawarra Dragons and former NBA Performance Coach with the Orlando Magic. They explore velocity-based training, using data effectively in elite sport, and practical lessons from high-performance environments.

282: AI in the Weight Room: Jacob Rothman on the Future of Velocity-Based Training

August 25th, 2025  |  25 mins 11 secs

ai in sport, ai in strength and conditioning, athlete health, athlete monitoring, athlete monitoring systems, athlete readiness, athletic performance, camera based training tech, catapult sports, data-driven training, elite sport performance, gym technology for athletes, injury prevention, lsu football training, perch technology, performance analytics, sports analytics, sports coaching technology, sports data integration, sports performance data, sports science, sports science podcast, sports technology, strength and conditioning, strength training, training optimisation, vbt, velocity based training, velocity tracking, weight room technology

This week, host Richard Graves talks with Jacob Rothman, founder of Perch and now Head of Strength at Catapult, about how AI-powered, camera-based technology is transforming strength and conditioning in elite sport. Discover how Perch’s integration with Catapult is helping teams connect weight-room data with on-field performance to drive smarter, safer training decisions.

117: VBT: Overcome The Obstacles To Rocket Gym Performance

June 27th, 2022  |  30 mins 54 secs

gym, hypertrophy, lifting, load-velocity profiling, power, speed, stregnth, training, vbt, velocity based training

Come with us as we delve into the mysterious and exciting world of sports science…

This entertaining podcast explores:

• The science behind the world’s best athletes.
• Current issues and events in the world of sport.
• How to master the art and science of coaching.

Every Monday, Matt Solomon chats with various experts to uncover the science and secrets behind what makes the best athletes in the world so damn good at what they do. They’ll also dive into global issues and events effecting the world of sport, such as COVID-19 and gene doping.

Though anyone is welcome to join us on this journey, this podcast is primarily for:

• S&C coaches/sports scientists
• Physiotherapists
• Nutritionists/Dieticians
• Physical education teachers
• Sports enthusiasts
• Knowledge-seeking athletes

If you’re any of the above, we challenge you to listen to an episode and not fall in love with this laugh-out-loud, brain-swelling podcast.

18: Cluster Sets: The Trick To Maximising In-Season Strength

August 3rd, 2020  |  19 mins 8 secs

cluster sets, football, gym, hypertrophy, power, soccer, speed, strength, vbt, velocity based training, workout.

Come with us as we delve into the mysterious and exciting world of sports science…

This entertaining podcast explores:

• The science behind the world’s best athletes.
• Current issues and events in the world of sport.
• How to master the art and science of coaching.

Every Monday, Matt Solomon chats with various experts to uncover the science and secrets behind what makes the best athletes in the world so damn good at what they do. They’ll also dive into global issues and events effecting the world of sport, such as COVID-19 and gene doping.

Though anyone is welcome to join us on this journey, this podcast is primarily for:

• S&C coaches/sports scientists
• Physiotherapists
• Nutritionists/Dieticians
• Physical education teachers
• Sports enthusiasts
• Knowledge-seeking athletes

If you’re any of the above, we challenge you to listen to an episode and not fall in love with this laugh-out-loud, brain-swelling podcast.