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Muscles and Management
Over the last near decade, Gerry DeFilippo has trained THOUSANDS of athletes from the youth to pro level across all major team-sports.
Gerry started his gym and brand, Challenger Strength, as an ambitious 22 year old still finishing his college degree.
In the time since, he has built his facility and following into a nationally recognized performance company training thousands of athletes both in-person and online.
Gerry brings guests across all areas of sports and performance training, giving the listener inside access to his rolodex of collegiate, world renowned private and professional performance and sports coaches.
If you are looking to improve your own performance OR knowledge of performance/sports training (and learn how to shape your career), Muscles and Management is for you!
Muscles and Management
Episode #251 Travis Hash on Semi-Private Training Models, True Individualization, and Cutting Through Coaching Gimmicks
Send us your questions, or thoughts on today's episode!
In Episode 251 of Muscles and Management, Gerry welcomes Travis Hash, Director of Strength and Conditioning and owner of Absolute Sports Performance, for a deep dive into what it really takes to run an effective athlete training program. From the logistics of scaling individualized programs in a semi-private setting to eliminating unnecessary complexity in assessments, Travis shares practical strategies that work in the real world.
The two break down their shared philosophies on athlete development, including how to balance individualized programming with group training atmospheres, why most young athletes need the same foundational work, and how to separate evidence-based training from flashy social media trends. They also explore the realities of pro athlete training—what’s truly different, what’s surprisingly the same, and why basics done at a high level always win.
This episode is packed with actionable insights for coaches, parents, and athletes who want proven systems for long-term development without the fluff.
Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction to Episode 251 and overview of Travis Hash’s background
2:11 – Travis’s coaching journey and population focus at Absolute Sports Performance
3:50 – Semi-private training models and scheduling logistics
6:32 – Scaling from one-on-one to group training without losing individualization
9:02 – Why every athlete should work with multiple coaches’ voices
12:32 – Defining individualization in youth athlete programming
14:36 – Load prescription, scheduling, and exercise selection nuances
17:11 – Using first sessions to assess competency and set starting points
18:42 – Screening for consistency and commitment before training begins
20:27 – Why early test improvements aren’t always true performance gains
21:38 – Shifting from posting “results” to showing the “how” behind improvements
23:16 – Communicating progress to parents and building trust
25:10 – Avoiding overcomplicated assessments that don’t affect programming
28:35 – Why most 10–16 year olds need the same core approach
30:07 – Avoiding flashy programming done for clicks instead of results
33:05 – The surprising simplicity of most pro athlete training programs
34:53 – Early off-season priorities for pro athletes
35:37 – Causation vs. correlation when copying pro athlete methods
37:37 – Why genetic outliers aren’t the best training models for most athletes
38:43 – Debunking “this pro does it, so it must be right” thinking
39:19 – Appropriate vs. misused instability training in sports performance
39:53 – Social media “experts” and the reality of pro athlete marketing
40:18 – Why athlete caliber doesn’t define coaching quality
42:05 – Closing thoughts and shared philosophies between Gerry and Travis
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