Today’s guest is Hunter Eisenhower, Associate Head Coach for Sports Performance at Arizona State Men’s Basketball. With experience in the NBA and NCAA, Hunter blends force production qualities, data analysis, and variability-driven human training methods to build explosive, adaptable athletes. He’s the creator of the “Force System” and a thought leader in modern athletic performance concepts.
Most athletic performance training is centered around outputs. Movement abilities and qualities are discussed, but there isn’t much quantification process that goes towards an athlete’s raw abilities, such as variable jump strategies alongside stiffness and compliance competencies.
On today’s episode, Hunter shares his approach to offseason prep using general physical means that build that “human strength”—developing capacity alongside movement variability. Hunter also breaks down how he quantifies an athlete’s movement capacities and library, their ability to, balance rigidity and compliance in line with force plate data. We wrap with ideas on foot training and using variable surfaces to meet the demands of dynamic sport. This is a great look at training beyond just big lifts—into the true movement needs of the game.
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Main Points and Key Takeaways
2:00- Sandbags, Suffering, and the Mental Edge
6:00- Let Hard and Fun Coexist in Your Program
10:19- The Importance of Variability in Program Design
12:53- Early Off-Season Program Design
19:27- Rewild Your Program: Crawl, Climb, Wrestle, Hang
23:28- Rethink GPP: Don’t Just Prep to Lift—Prep to Move
30:20- Break Barbell Monotony with Sandbags
34:49- Sleds Are a Movement Tool—Not Just a Finisher
41:03- Measure Movement Options—Not Just Output
48:39- Don’t Confuse Explosive with Efficient
54:31- Train Variability by Changing the Rules
58:05- Cue for Change: Let the Jump Reveal the Strategy
59:50- Start with the Foot—It Tells the Whole Story
1:05:07- Polish Boxes, Stall Bars, and DIY Creativity
Sandbags, Suffering, and the Mental Edge (2:00)
Simple tasks like sandbag holds or dead hangs can reveal a lot about an athlete’s mental state and fatigue tolerance. Sometimes mental state—not just strength—dictates how long you’ll last under tension.
What to try:
Program weekly “grit sets”: sandbag holds, wall sits, or dead hangs.
Try them first thing in the session—before the brain can talk itself out of effort.
Pair them with journaling or a quick “mind state” score: how’d it feel today?
Let Hard and Fun Coexist in Your Program (6:00)
Every session can’t be a competition. But not everyone should be brutal either. Hunter encourages toggling between “suck” and “play.” One makes you tougher, the other keeps you coming back.
What to try:
Alternate between gamified partner drills and long isometric work during your week.
Use athlete feedback: which days feel “engaging”? Which feel like “grinding”? Both matter.
Build polarity into the week—not just into the periodization model.
The Importance of Variability in Program Design (10:19)
Sticking to one type of stimulus flattens the athlete’s capacity. Instead, training should live across a spectrum—fun to miserable, slow to fast, light to heavy.