Coach 'Em Up Podcast

Coach 'Em Up Podcast Hosted by renowned coaches Tim Riley and Zack Zillner, Coach Em Up traverses all things training, performance, gains, and growth.

Guests include your favorite coaches, current and former pro athletes, entrepreneurs, and influencers.

08/14/2026

Trainers are the front line of healthcare. encourages strength coaches and trainers to get comfortable providing basic rehab and injury management. Working with a provider or PT is absolutely useful, but only when it becomes necessary and not just to get palliative care. Find out what you're missing, if they actually do need imaging, what any red flags are, or if you're overlooking something that may need someone with more medical understanding.

Trainers should feel pretty confident that they have a good purchase on biology and physiology. There shouldn't be so much stipulation around whether or not someone is "licensed". At the end of the day, people see their trainers multiple times a week for years, and it's through that avenue that someone can make lasting change. Training and rehab are on the same spectrum.

Should more trainers get comfortable with rehab concepts? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/13/2026

gives his pitch for implementing deceleration training into your programs. Deceleration is something athletes will get exposed to more than any other thing that's going to happen on the field. If we know that deceleration precedes some of the key moments in games that change wins and losses, that there's more of them, and that deceleration has far greater force output than acceleration, then wouldn't it make sense to train it?

What do you think of deceleration training? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/12/2026

speaks on viral "reactive" cognitive perceptual training, and why it's making no difference in the context of sport. Generally, people can become fairly quick at making the right decision. It's can you get your body to now task couple to move in that direction, which requires you to have the necessary force capabilities and the physical qualities to make that decision, as well as all of the contextual gameplay.

In elite athletes, one of the biggest predictors of agility is cognitive perception. However, one of the biggest predictors of cognitive perceptual ability is anticipation. In real time it may look like an athlete has insane reaction time, but really they've just watched a ton of game film and are good at reading the play and anticipating what will come next. You can take a sub-elite athlete and have them get really good at reacting to lights and balls and whatever, and they're not going to become a better soccer player because the stuff they're reacting to in their sport is so dependent on the sport itself.

In training, give your athletes control over their environment. Let them know the task because you're looking for output. They're going to get exposed to chaotic things in games that you can't possibly control, but in training you can control for their intensity and output. When you introduce this novel stuff to react to, most of the time all that's doing is slowing the athlete down, preparing their tissues less, and has no actual impact on their in-game reaction time.

Do you think reactive training has a place in S&C? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/11/2026

joins the to talk change of direction training, and why should be added to your program. Even if it doesn't have to do specifically with the exact motion that's going to happen in sport, it's still useful to train. It's the same reason we do plyos. For reasons of coordination, stiffness, to build some musculotendinous unit coordination pattern, timing. No one's skipping during a basketball game, but we still train like that because it has value.

Change of direction training is the bridge between really strong athletes and the chaos of in game situations. Even if it's not reactive, we still need to do it because we don't know how they're going to react when things get crazy. You need see what they look like at certain joint angles at high speeds. If they can't handle it in a controlled environment, then why would they be able to handle it in chaotic one? There has to be something to mediate in between those two environments.

Do you train change of direction? Should more people add it into their program? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/07/2026

What's the most important quality a coach can have? says it's their ability to be relational with athletes. Knowledge can be learned over time, but you have to have a heart for people and be able to relate to the athletes you're coaching. If you're a genius but can't connect with people or relay information, then it doesn't matter how much you know. It's the relationships, the impact, and the people that matter the most.

How do you develop the skill of being relational? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/06/2026

Is submax work beneficial? says it largely depends on the athlete. He's found that submax sprinting helps athletes build capacity, get more elastic volume, and work on mechanics. Speed is still the priority, but getting in some extra submax work has proved to be generally beneficial.

Do you program submax sprints for you athletes? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/05/2026

walks us through the pros and cons of coaching elite athletes. Although most people just see the cool social media posts and stacked client rosters, there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

What's the hardest part about coaching elite athletes? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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08/04/2026

joins the to take us through the biggest mistakes he sees coaches make regarding speed training. Sometimes it's just a logistical issue, but in a perfect world, you should prioritize speed. Lifting before sprinting will almost always result in subpar speed reps. Have some intent behind your sprints. Simply going through the motions isn't enough. And finally, get proper rest and recovery!

Are there any mistakes we left out? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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07/31/2026

Steroids are not dangerous acutely; they're dangerous chronically. speaks about steroid abuse and how mismanagement and improper use over decades is the real danger. It's not that steroids are toxic, but the continued unchecked use contributes to poor metabolic health.

Alternatively, when you see a premature death in bodybuilding or in a steroid user, oftentimes it was because there were underlying health conditions to begin with. Genetics load the gun, and steroids pull the trigger. If you already have a heart issue or a blocked artery and you throw drugs on top of it, you're playing with fire. Before you start, make sure you don't already have an underlying health issue that's going to get triggered by steroid use. It's not just enough to get bloodwork either. Get an echocardiogram, get a calcium score, get some organ imaging done.

Do you think steroids get a bad rap? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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07/30/2026

clears up the roid rage myth that has surrounded steroid use for decades. Steroids will of course have an affect on your mood and hormones, but they won't make you a murderer. It might turn up on the k**b on anxiety or make you a little moody at times, but any notion that taking steroids is just gonna make you fight people is total bogus. You are still in control of your actions. It's more so that steroids might enhance the personality that you already posses. If you're an as***le and you take steroids, you'll just be a bigger as***le. But steroids won't make you suddenly start punching people at the gym.

Why has the "roid rage" myth been so perpetuated? Let us know in the comments!

Special thanks to our sponsors who make the show possible👇👇

➡️ ovrperformance.com
➡️ code "coachemup10"

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