Be Legendary Podcast

In part two of my conversation with Dr. Paul Comfort, we shift from exercises and metrics to the bigger picture of performance itself. We unpack what performance really means and why it can never be reduced to a single number or test. Performance is technical, tactical, physical, psychological, emotional, and relational. It is how the mind and body work together in real time and how individuals come together inside a team. Paul rei...

In this episode of Research 2 Reps, we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Paul Comfort, whose work has influenced how so many of us think about Olympic lifting, power development, and applied sports science. Paul walks us through how his early research on pull variations reshaped real-world training for athletes who may not be ready for or suited to full catches. We talk about what happens when you shorten the pull, how power...

In part two of my conversation with Jason Dierking, we pick up right where we left off and go even deeper into leadership, identity, and what it really looks like to build a staff and a culture that lasts. Jason talks about how he structures his sports performance department, how he intentionally develops his coaches, and why character has to come first if you want sustained excellence. We get into the reality of retention, growth,...

In part 1 of this Beyond Sets & Reps episode, I get to sit down with my friend Jason Dierking, the Director of Olympic Sports Performance at the University of Louisville. We talk about his path from growing up in the Midwest to becoming one of the most respected leaders in our profession. Jason opens up about how his faith, values, and love for the training process shaped who he is as a coach and a person. We look back at how the f...

In part 2 of my conversation with Brett Hayes, we move from technology and tools into the real glue that holds high performance environments together. Brett talks about what happens when biomechanics, sport science, and strength and conditioning all show up in the same room speaking different "languages," and how ego, vocabulary, and mixed messages can quietly tear teams apart. He shares stories from our days at Mizzou, working wit...

In this episode of the Research 2 Reps Roundtable, I sit down with my longtime friend and collaborator Brett Hayes, a physical therapist who helped us shape what we now call corrective biomechanics. Brett shares how his journey from the Pacific Northwest and years with the Seattle Seahawks led him to Mizzou, where we started connecting clinical rehab principles with what was happening in the weight room and on the field. We talk ab...

In part two, I press into a word we throw around too loosely in college athletics: development. Rashard and I sort out the differences between strength and conditioning, scholar-athlete development across leadership, career, life skills and community, player development for team ROI, and capital or NIL fundraising. We also talk brass tacks on funding: start with your head coach and your development office, get everyone at the same ...

In this episode of Beyond Sets & Reps, I sit down with Rashard Hall, a man who's redefining what it means to be a scholar-athlete. From his days as a standout safety at Clemson under Coach Dabo Swinney to his current mission helping athletes find purpose beyond the game, Rashard's story is all about resilience, faith, and impact. We talk about the mindset that helped him go from a redshirt to an All-American, how adversity prepared...

In the second half of the episode, we take the discussion deeper into the evolution of sport science and the challenges of applying it across different environments. Emaly and I talk about how athletes transition from national teams to their college or professional programs and the difficulties that come with inconsistent resources and data. We also explore how sports scientists are learning to balance the practical realities of te...

In the first half of my conversation with Emaly Vatne on the Research to Reps Roundtable, we dig into her background as both an Ohio State soccer alum and a sport science researcher. She shares how early experiences with HRV monitoring and internal load metrics sparked her curiosity for performance science and eventually shaped her career path. We talk through her master's thesis work with the women's hockey program and how she was...

In the second part of our conversation, we talk about what Krishna is doing now and the lasting impact she is making. After an impressive career as a thrower and coach, she found women's tackle football and made her way to the U.S. national team. She represented our country on the biggest stage, won a gold medal at the World Championships, and then shifted into leadership as the general manager of the Kansas City Glory. Krishna exp...

In this first part of my conversation with Krishna Lee, I reflect on what it means to see one of my former athletes grow, evolve, and accomplish so much. Krishna shares her journey from growing up in Kansas City, where sports were woven into her family life, to becoming a multi-time All American and Big 12 champion at Mizzou. She talks about the impact of her coaches, especially how they...

Read more