The Athletes Podcast
The Athletes Podcast is a leading source of information, inspiration, and education for anyone interested in optimizing physical performance, maintaining good health, and living an active lifestyle. Join David Stark as he interviews some of the world's biggest athletes and fitness professionals, The Athletes Podcast provides practical advice, expert insights, and real-world strategies to help listeners achieve their health and fitness goals.The goal is to entertain, educate & inspire the next generation of athletes!
The Athletes Podcast
Why Consistency Beats Talent And Shiny Tools In High Performance with Mark Fitzgerald- Episode #273
We explore how elite performance is built on consistency, smart prioritization, and a network that protects long-term availability. Stories from NHL rooms, Kelowna’s rise as a training hub, and a candid look at captaincy, data, and mental health show what actually moves the needle.
• playing the long game with career choices and boundaries
• why availability beats bigger, faster, stronger
• data that validates coaching intuition rather than leading it
• kelowna’s high-performance ecosystem and culture
• chasing the right rabbits instead of shiny tools
• mental health support through trained professionals
• evolved programming and safer exercise selection
• short-window prep: strength, expression, then capacity
• myths around aesthetics vs performance with real examples
• final takeaways on consistency, accountability, and showing up
Thank you guys for tuning in. We’ll see you next week.
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H my T R this here. This will be 260. 270. 271, 272?
SPEAKER_00:What does that mean? 272nd episode. Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry. What the fuck? It'll be 300 before we know it. And then uh do you find you is it worthwhile like you're making money from it?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like I generate I generate money from it. It's not as much as I would love, obviously, after doing it for six years, but I get a lot of stuff in kind. Like right using this stuff here, and it's like I wouldn't have$500 narwhals in my hands if it weren't for the podcast. I also probably wouldn't have spent the last two years up at Kelowna Hockey Fest with you. So for me, it's not necessarily trying to monetize right away on it. Like play the long game.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm young, you know. It's uh we got we got time on our hands, fortunately. And if I can five, ten, fifteen years down the road, then make a full-time job, more than a full-time job, by doing this. I'm like, I get to talk with world-class coaches, athletes, train with them. That's a pretty sick gig. Yeah. If I gotta work a little harder, yeah, yeah, yeah. First couple years, I'll make I'll make do with it. Good. And I feel like you've had to do that growing up. Everyone who's a high performer at some point has to put in the work, the time, not necessarily get rewarded monetarily for it off the hop.
SPEAKER_00:No, I mean I I think like you talk to young coaches now, and it's like they they want they want to skip the line to get to like, oh, I want to do what you do. It's like, well, I started with saying with never saying no. Yeah. Like I never said no to anything. And I remember as I was like doing that, you know, just like clipping along David Branch, who's the former commissioner of the CHL, I was we were very close for a time, and he came to me at one point and he's like, Fitzy, like you, you you can start saying no now. I'm like, what? And he's like, you can start saying no, like start to delegate some stuff and start to say no to, you know, and like he was that guy for me for a while. You know, just advice and like some mentorship, and like it was awesome because I'm like, yeah, I didn't think like that, right? It was more about I'm never gonna say no. Yeah, like I'm never gonna say no. And then you realize the power of saying no, and the power of saying, you know, passing on stuff as opposed to like doing everything. But there is a time where you you should do everything, like you should, hey, you want to train this 12-year-old? Yep, yep, yep, yeah, right? Like you just I don't know, that's just maybe it's a personal thing, but I I think there's never there's there's always value in that as a young up-and-coming coach.
SPEAKER_03:That's a that's a coach thing specifically that I think a lot of coaches ha have to learn, and afterwards, they're like that's how you weed through the good coaches and the ones who stick around. Like I would hear Corey Gilday, uh Jordan Shallow, those guys reference those same things where it's like, man, you gotta put in your time, you gotta do five, ten years where people don't even know who you are, what you're doing, and then eventually you start to build a name for yourself, a brand. For sure, right? And you gotta spend five years within the OHL, five years within the CHL to then make it to the NHL, right? And then you're still in an assistant role, yeah. And you're still supporting others, you're still saying yes to everything else. I'm very guilty of not saying no to anything. Uh you've seen me, I'm like, yo, where do I gotta go? What do I gotta do? But what you don't say no to, you're ultimately saying no to other things that could be more valuable.
SPEAKER_00:And that's the big picture thing, right? Like, is not realizing that if if by saying no to this thing, it opens up the door to this other thing that you didn't even know was there. And that's hard because like I wouldn't say it's like looking around corners, but you have to know that more things are gonna come. Yeah, like you have to believe that, and they do, they uh they always do. I I feel like I'm super fortunate because I believe that I work hard and I'm good at what I do, and I when I do something and be a part of something, I'm all into it, and that just it it opens doors for other things, whether you know it or not. Like it just I don't know, I feel like it always has for me. I said to someone earlier today, it's like I I know I can always make money doing what I'm doing. Yeah, and that's not an arrogant thing, it's just more like I don't know, I just feel like it I I do a good job, right? Like, so it's gonna come, I'm gonna get opportunities to do what I do, right? Whether that's not smart or not, I don't know, but I do it.
SPEAKER_03:So well, when you're when you're doing the good job, when you do good work, you don't even have to speak for yourself. That work does for you. True, yeah. And those other people recognize and they're like, hey, I need this guy part of it, right? That's why you spend two decades with an underarmor. Yeah, that's why you're able to have what you've got teams all around every big four, big five, like now with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. That's why we're here today in Vancouver, fresh off the Cnucks trading Quinn Hughes. You're a hockey guy. I feel like we've got to get your take on that one before we go anywhere else. Mark Fitzgerald, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00:You know what? The the Jim Hughes, the dad, yeah. I worked with him when I was with the Maple Leafs years and years ago, and I I remember coming into the rink when the team was on the road and three little boys out on the ice with their mom and just at 6 a.m. on our practice ice, just just getting absolutely rag dolled on the ice or bagged, sorry, at six in the morning, and I'm just like, what is going on here? And sure enough, Jimmy Hughes would come around the corner and say, Oh, that's just my boys. I'm like, Oh, okay, like wow, they're pretty little for 6 a.m. on a Tuesday in February. Clearly, it paid off. Well, yeah, uh, yeah. I mean, so I've known those kids since they were very little, which is cool. I I think it's you know it's cool to see them all being successful. Jimmy's a great guy. He was our player development for the Leafs, so I spent a lot of time with him. But yeah, what do I think? I think that's part of the game. I think it's to me, to me, when you give a guy like Quinn, who's obviously generational talent and all that stuff, when you slap a C on the chest of a kid like that, I don't think it's fair. I think he's not a captain yet. And I again there's no knock against him. I think he's incredible. But how like to be a captain of an NHL team, to have that pressure, you have to have years. Yeah, you have to know what that means, you have to know how to push the media away, you have to like it's such a tough job. And like, again, maybe that wasn't the issue. I don't know. I'm just saying, like, I don't think that helps a guy like him. Put an A on his chest, sure, whatever. But or or don't, yeah, and just let him be who he is. Like it just it baffles me. Like, it's I think again, part of the game, and it's it's unfortunate to see Vancouver lose a talent like that. But again, what do you what are you gonna do, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I feel like the same thing happened with Austin Matthews in Toronto. Yeah, I mean, like you stripped a guy like John Tavares from the C, who's already spent a decade in the league, knows how to be a captain, one of the best leaders, and then you throw Matthews in there, who's my age, yeah, and who's still trying to figure out he hasn't scored 50 since he got that C. He's you know, there's a lot of pressure that comes with wearing that C in a Canadian market.
SPEAKER_00:And you can't even say Canadian market, it's the market. Yeah, it's the Yankees of hockey. It's it's right. So I remember when I was there years and years ago, same thing happened. We traded for Dion Fanauf. And Dion is awesome, and he's you know, whatever, and 25 years old, here's the keys to the city. Yeah, you know, and like we traded away the real captain at the time was Francois Boschman. And Boche was like the leader. He was the guy, he was a vet, he was Stanley Cup champion, he was the guy everybody looked at in the room, and now all that pressure, all that responsibility goes to 25-year-old Dion. It's like, what do you expect? Like he's not like, and Dion's a great guy, and he was a good leader, and whatever, but it's just that pressure is immense, and especially in Toronto, it's multiplied. So how do you expect that? You know, it's not just a letter on your chest, it means something, especially in hockey. Like it's probably more than a lot of other sports, it means something. Like it's more integral than people realize, especially when it comes to like managing the room and managing the team, and like it's just it's really tough. And it I feel for even a guy like Matthews, as talented as he is, like it's it's weight, right?
SPEAKER_03:You got two dozen other guys looking up to you looking for direction when shit hits the fan. Yep. And if you don't have an answer or something to say in that moment, then they start questioning, right? Yeah, and that's not fair, again, fair position to put someone in. But yeah, you can speak to that probably better than anyone, right? Having lived, worked in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, that market. And then I don't want to say you go to the other end of the spectrum, but the Anaheim Ducks, where there's maybe not quite as much microscopes dissecting everything that you're doing. Strength and conditioning obviously stays the same for the most part, but having a different market like that, did it allow you guys allow you as a coach to work better with players because there wasn't that scrutiny from a day-to-day?
SPEAKER_00:Yes and no. I think you know Toronto was Toronto, like it was, you know, you're used to having 60 people with microphones at every practice and just you know, security 24-7 because it was Toronto, right? Like, and and people would sneak into the practice rink and do whatever, and it was hilarious. And you get to Anaheim, and it's like I remember you know when we started meeting people outside of the team, they're like, Oh, you you moved here for this? And it's just like, yeah, like it's like, oh, do you play on the team? I'm like, no. Like, this is kind of a kind of a thing, you know, like this is like 30 jobs, and I have one of them, you know, like not to sound whatever, but like I never said that, but it's just like they didn't understand the how big it was, which was interesting because you know, our players loved it. You you'd walk to the rink, you'd you'd leave, and no one knew who you were. Like, and I remember passing Ryan Geslaff and his family, like we were going to the Angels game, and we were going out for dinner first, and his family's coming out because they're on their way to the game as well, and you know, hey, yeah, and like nobody, and like he's the most recognizable guy, and people are just like, Oh yeah, yeah, no, no clue. And that's like to me, that's why that team was you know so good, and because and you know, when we won and stuff, it was parking lot party, it was great, but like it's so big that like you just kind of just blend in, and hockey players don't necessarily stand out, you know, they're normal looking, they're not like basketball or seven feet tall, right? Yeah, so they just blend in and like it's just yeah, it's it's just different. I and for me, for my job, I don't think it really changes a whole lot. I think you know, the the scrutiny or the or the whatever, I mean that's my job to to manage that as well and have the staff and you know that that's more of a job execution thing as opposed to the media, I guess. But unless there's a you know a substantial problem, but I feel like that's more of like an internal thing that's managed pretty well.
SPEAKER_03:I was when I was down in LA talking to Phoenix Copley, goalie for the Kings, he's like, Man, I can go anywhere and I don't get recognized. Right. And it's like, like you said, that would be probably a contributing factor to why that ducks team didn't really have a stress or a care because you got celebrities A-list going up and down the street. You're no big deal.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're bot you're you're lower end on that list anyways, right? Because there's people with like, you know, yeah, hockey guys make a lot of money, but comparatively to some people there, it's not even comparable, right? So it's different spectrum.
SPEAKER_03:I feel like I could talk with you for hours. We have talked for hours at Kelowna Hockey Fest. I want to make sure I get enough value for these next 45 minutes for the people listening, for the young athletes listening who can gain a ton of inspiration, knowledge, wisdom from you. And then in between, we'll probably share some stories too, because we got some good Klona Hockey Fest stuff. First question, though, that we got from one of our listeners when you look at elite athletes versus good athletes, what's one performance habit that consistently separates them?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's an easy answer. I feel like I got that question not that long ago. And it's and it's super simple. From my experience of you know, whether it's a team setting, whether it's a private setting, the most successful athletes are the ones who show up. The ones who show up consistently, the days they're supposed to be there, they show up and they work. And that sounds super, you know, dumbed down and and whatever because it is. And and you look at, I could show you all of our data, all of our uh, you know, all the things that we track from jumps to sprints to you know, everything, everything. The most successful people on those lists, success by by success I mean, you know, the performance metrics that we're tracking are the ones that don't miss workouts, they don't miss training sessions, they don't miss field sessions, right? And it goes back to like my you know philosophy, if you want to call it that, as a coach, is make sure your athletes are available to participate in their sport, right? It's not bigger, stronger, faster. It was when I was younger, but it it's now refined to availability to play and participate. So, what does that mean? It means that like my guys hopefully don't miss games and they don't miss opportunities to practice. If they're not if they're playing every game and they're never missing practice unless they want to, well it's a win, right? Because it means that they're likely performing to the to the way that they should. They're getting opportunities, and they're getting an opportunity to make more money to get another contract. Like, that's my job. Yeah, you know, and it took me a a while to figure that out, and I'm glad I did when I did. I wish I would have figured it a little sooner, but when was it moment? I don't know. I don't know. I I think it's I think you just kind of slowly figure it out as a I hopefully I guess you slowly figure it out because you start to realize that you know the best people in the gym, you know, the strongest gym person isn't necessarily your best hockey player. Right? And not always, anyways, very rarely. And you know, I think working with athletes at that level and you start to realize that, you know, hey, like this person doesn't love the gym, they don't love training, but they always show up and they respect it and they have a they they know it's part of what they need to do, right? So you start to figure out like, huh, like they're successful because this they're not successful because they love the gym, yeah, right? Like it's to me that was always like a light bulb. I remember working with a guy who's with the oilers now and he had an issue with his you know upper back was tight or something, something very minimal, and like you know, he's someone that I work with all year, and before I was had a chance to say anything to him, this is over text message, he's he responded with all the things that I would have said. So I did this and then I did that, did that, now it feels better. And I'm just like learn the process. Yeah, I'm like, great, and like that was the end of the conversation, right? And so it was kind of neat to see that like that success. Yeah, like that's my job right there is to nudge them in the direction of like you need to be responsible and accountable for this. This is part of your job. You don't need to love it, but you have you better respect it and you better, you know, prioritize it, right? And like you would a lot of people would say, like, oh, what do you mean that pro athletes aren't gonna prioritize their training? Not always, yeah, yeah, right? Like, I've I've experienced that too, and it's awful to watch because it's like you have all these gifts and you're just gonna piss them away because you don't know how to self-organize and realize what you need to be doing, right? And that's to me, that's I don't know when that moment was, but that to me is like oh, that's that's what I'm trying to do. Like, that's what I should be, you know, paying more attention to, right? Long-winded.
SPEAKER_03:I I mean you bring up the data, and obviously sport science has come a long way. I'm I'm curious, like what the work you're doing with Bryce is also super interesting. He and I obviously have chatted over the past couple summers. I'm getting on the test, the boards, doing the fun stuff there, but like you see it firsthand, you've seen it for decades. Do you think data is being overused, or is data playing an even more important part in sports science now?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's playing a more important part in terms of what we can do with it. Right. I think you know, Bryce does such an incredible job of taking the data and making it meaningful to us as coaches and to the athletes. And and those two pathways are different, right? And you know, for the athletes, it's all about you know chasing the number and and and being into their data and owning their data. And for us as coaches, it's like, okay, what is the data telling us? What is the data you know telling us about our training and telling us about how we're doing things? And the data should, if the data is good and your coaching is sound, then the data should back up your intuition as a coach, right? I should be able to look at our athletes and say, hmm, this this isn't this isn't going well, right? Like the and then the the jump numbers should tell me, the jump numbers should tell me that as well. Hi, bud. The jump numbers should tell me that as well, right? So good data should back up my intuition and should should inform my decision as a coach that hey, if something doesn't look right, the data should match that, right? So um I think when it comes to you know the amount of things that you can do and the amount of toys that you can get, I think some individuals on the coaching side get way too far down that rabbit hole and and and start you know being very gimmicky with training and very like you know, like velocity-based training. Great tool, great metric, but like it for me it doesn't hold as much weight because that's just not just, but I think that's I can influence that by coaching properly. Right. I can influence that by intent and practicing intent. And not that again, we use it, it's great, but like I don't put as much stock into it because that's me. That's up to me as a coach. Like if you're in the room with me, that's up to me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_00:Or that's up to creating the environment, and and that's just one example, but like I think there's lots of things out there that like that tend to distract the you know, the bright shiny objects, but good training is is kind of it's boring. Yeah, it's boring and monotonous, and the people, you know, the people who show up and who can dig into that and and learn to get through it and learn to kind of say enjoy it, but yeah, enjoy that process of it and be willing to be wrong and be willing to be whatever criticized and critiqued, and that's just that that's where it's at. It's not the shiny thing, and yeah, we throw some shiny things in there once you gotta make it fun, but like I think that's what I appreciated about Hockey Fest the past couple years.
SPEAKER_03:We have the conference on the Wednesday night where you get to learn from industry experts. But then during the actual week, you have a couple shiny things, but it is a lot of hard training and it's a lot of just putting in the work. And I think from being able to be on the outside, sort of inside the lines, watching it all, it's a good combination of the two because you've got guys flying from all over North America to Train in little old Kelowna, California, Kelownafornia, we call it in the summer there. And it's really become a hotbed. Yeah. And I think for you, that's probably something that you've got to be pretty proud of over the past few years, building that up. Guys like Jack Finley talking about it on Tampa Bay's podcast, saying that you've got literally guys buying property in Kelowna so that they can train there during the summer. Like that's that's gotta feel good for you to not only have built that, but also to see what's coming for the next five, 10 years, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know what? It's I think moving to Kelowna was something that just kind of like landed in our lap. You know, initially it was I didn't want to go back to Ontario because my wife and I were just, you know, you get spoiled by California when it's 75 and sunny 12 months a year, and you know, Ontario just wasn't as appealing. Not quite 75. Not quite. And yeah, we'd already done that, you know, like we'd already been there, and I just think in my head it was always like, you know, give our kids a you know, California was an adventure, a six-year adventure. It's like, okay, what's our next adventure, right? Like, I don't know, I just my parents lived in the same town their whole lives, which is great. I love it. From Whitby, Ontario, it's a great place to live. Most of my friends live there, and that's fine, and that's great. I just wanted something different for my kids. I just I wanted something different for myself. Like, I I'd like, you know, the moving to a new place and having to kind of meet new people, and like it's I think it's good for the kids, I think it's good for me, I think it's good for you know, lots of different things. And when we when I first started looking into it, you know, I had some clients there already, and I had Okanagan Hockey Academy that kind of allowed me to make it easier to go there. And I was consulting with them, and I I kind of upped my consulting with them, and they were great. You know, Andy Oakes, the president, said, you know, you should you should could probably open a business here. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, there's gotta be people here doing stuff. Like, this feels like there's a lot of hockey guys here. And it just turned out that it wasn't being done to what Trav and I are doing now. And you know, when I first I one of the things I said to Luke Shenham was like, I want to partner, I want to, I want to partner with someone local if if possible, because I know I'm gonna travel, I know I'm gonna, and and I want to partner. It's nice to have like you know doing stuff on your own is hard. It is, man, and I've done it, and it and it's you know, I I was looking for that, and when I as soon as I met Trav, I'm like, Yep, that's this is this makes sense, right? That we just gelled and so many people, you know, small town Kelowna, but like everybody I asked, it was his name that was said first, and it's like okay, and then we happened to meet each other randomly, and we talked in the lobby of the of the rink for like an hour. I'm like, okay. You know, so now you know it's just it was such a cool thing, and to see it grow and to see Hockey Fest go from, hey, I got this idea to you know, kind of taking on a life of its own is pretty neat. And yeah, brand ready, yeah. There you go.
SPEAKER_03:I was gonna ask you about Trap, but like that's he's your guy. Yeah, you guys are.
SPEAKER_00:You know what it's it's tough to have business partners. I'm not perfect, he's not perfect, but I think when we both come at it with humility and you know, willing to willing to be willing to share, I guess. Like, you know, like that's the first thing that comes to mind is like neither of us know that it's it we we both know it's a special thing, right? And and we both know that it's you know, if we can put the right people together and the right team together, this could be a really special thing. And you know, with our practitioners and with all the support staff, like our people on the ice, like it, it it's just you couldn't have planned it better, yeah, right? Like, and that's where I think uh one of the big reasons why it's been successful is that the team, it's not just me and Trav, it's our massage people, our kairos are people that come in and out, our on-ice helpers, Byron Ritchie, Ty Lebel, like Jared Allen, like all these people contribute into this. So I can't sit here and say it's me and Trav or me or who like no, it's everybody that contributes. Like our people care, yeah, right. And I think they realize that like you know, they can be part of this thing too. And it's hey, it's a cool thing to be a part of, and then we get to we get to do some good work and you know, get to make a name for the city and and why it's so special, right? And to me, it was I when I first got there, I'm like, why aren't more guys here? Yeah, like the retired guys were on their way, you know, the Webbers, the Seabrooks, and they were kind of like getting close to the end. I'm like, well, we need new people, like, why aren't they here? And that's kind of how Hockey Fest started, right? It's like, let's just do something. Sorry, long-winded, but it's still lots to say.
SPEAKER_03:It just reminds us, it's like it's ego dissolution. And I talk with every athlete on this podcast, but hockey players, hockey guys in particular, like there's not as much ego involved. No, and I feel like that on its own allows Hockey Fest to be that because you do have dozens of people contributing that are all taking part, but at the end of the day, when that picture is taken, you know, on the ice, it's like you do have all those couple dozen people, but no one's out there trying to make sure they're front and center. No, right? And that's it's different. Not all sports are like that. No, very cool. And I think hockey in particular is one that you can kind of notice. I see like a Jessica Campbell being willing to come up, participate, be a part of that. Like I was talking with her, I'm gonna go down to Seattle at some point, get her on a podcast, but like she's the kind of individual that doesn't go to everything, right? But she's willing to come to Kelowna Hockey Fest because she knows who's a part of it and the fact that it's a team effort.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and you talk about like one of the reasons why my move to Kelowna was well, one of them was her, you know, and I I reached out or again, asked around, and you know, the guys were all skating with her, and like her reputation was incredible. And we got on the phone and I said, Look, like I've realized by working with Barb Underhill, Tracy Tutten, like I need someone on the ice who understands what I'm doing in the gym and who can complement it and grow it together. Again, same thing, right? Like, where's our team? Who's our team? I can't, it's not a solo project because I've done that before. It doesn't work, it doesn't work in the way that you think it would because there's so many other elements to this job than the stuff that happens in the gym. And so, you know, Jess was again one of the reasons why I'm like, yep, okay. And you know, we started doing stuff together, and you know, you watch someone like her, and she's sending me feedback on one of the athletes all video, and I'm like, oh my god, like wow, like she on the she's so technically savvy that she's technically savvy on the ice, obviously, like what she's teaching and like how she's teaching it. I'm like, whoa. And then she backs it up with the actual technical, like video overlay, and I'm like, wow, like this is incredible. So, you know, it was an easy decision, and then in the back of my head, I'm going, well, she's not gonna be here very long because this is you know ridiculous. She's gonna get snapped up by somebody, and obviously, sure enough, she did. But you know, like having having that support network of practitioners, coaches, therapists, like you have to have it. And and you know, you you go into other markets, and you know, I'm outside of Toronto, like so many people, but so many of them are in it for the wrong reasons. They're in it for the ego, they're in it for, and maybe that's where Kelowna is special, where it's not, you know, people don't think about that first, they think about their actual craft first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. But it's a special place.
SPEAKER_03:It is, and I I I think like you touched on that, like the bigger, faster, stronger piece, Kelowna, you being like having someone who on the ice can compliment what you're doing off the ice. And like the next question comes from Skinner67, not Stuart Skinner, who was recently created. Question two here a lot of people train hard but don't get results. Where do you see athletes wasting effort in their preparation?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's a good question. I think a lot of wasted effort comes from not understanding the rabbits you should be chasing, you know, and I think that comes from again, maybe a little bit of ego, the the willingness to really evaluate your skills and abilities and your you know, your downfalls, your, you know, just a full evaluation of what you're what you need and and how you plan to achieve it. And I think, you know, is it is it a physical thing? Are you, you know, I'm good at bench press and I'm really, you know, I love doing it, but it's probably not the best thing for me to be doing, especially now, right? Maybe I should focus on the things I'm not good at. Right. And it's like, you know, mobility. I don't like we never warmed up when I played sports, like we just you just got into it, right? So which is dumb. Um and I'm paying for it. But yeah, I think athletes, they again, it goes back to what we said, they tend to chase the side the shiny stuff, you know, and they they look on Instagram, and I'm not saying social media is negative, but it it can sometimes lead athletes. You know, I have I could show you messages of guys they send me stuff on social. Hey, is this any good? Are we gonna do this? Like, and it's great. They're thinking about training and they're they're getting excited. And usually, you know, the messages will start like March, April as they start to think about coming home for the summer, and it's like it's great. They're thinking about it, and like there's some really dumb stuff they send me, and there's some really actually good stuff. I'm like, yeah, you know what? This is great. And you know, same thing with nutrition. There's a lot of misinformation around nutrition. And I was talking to an athlete this morning, like, oh, I went carnivore for four months. It's like, okay, well, like that performance well, like number one, you did it for four months. This is not sustainable. Yeah, like you know, you need macronutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Like, you can't, if you remove one, you'll lose weight, but it's not gonna, it's it's not gonna be good. And again, uh with an asterisk, obviously, there's different parameters, different people, but I would so I would say that is is is chasing what they shouldn't be chasing, number one. But I would also say that like in hockey specifically, it's too much time on ice, right? It's it's too much time, and it goes back to the first thing, like it's too much time focusing on what you don't need to be focusing on, right? Like you need dedicated time away from the ice. You need to get out of your skates, you need to get you know into your feet again. Like, you know, last time I checked wearing carbon fiber boots for 12 months a year, like is not good for you.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, if you check out some hockey players' toes, they probably don't look too good.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so mine included. Yeah, and so you know, there's there's education around that, and I think you know, a lot of young hockey players today are just you know, I did a presentation for the in in June at the University of Michigan for the coaches site, and my whole thing was about you know the the evolution of spring hockey and the 10,000 hour rule, which I don't agree with, and it spawned this whole network of year-round sports, year-round hockey. And like I I I talked to a guy the other day whose 13-year-old just has hip laboral surgery, and he's and he's speaking to me like it's normal. And I'm like, Yeah, that's not normal, then that's not good. Like that overtraining, yeah, and and too, like last time I checked, skating is not natural, it's not a natural motion for the body, and there's a lot of people who are not set up to skate that much, to skate at all, yeah, but we still do it, right? So, you know, you know, the question again, not understanding what you should be chasing, and then too much time in the sport, and not having enough of an athletic, you know, toolbox, I guess, or or or repository that you can pull from where your body has no other choice. You know, like my kids play lacrosse, they play flag football, they do, you know, they do other things because to me that my yeah, and my my job as a dad is to make sure that they get exposed to things, right? To mountain biking, to martial arts, to gymnastics, to whatever. And does that mean they're gonna be pro athletes? Probably not, but I don't care. It's not about that, it's about making sure they love activity and being healthy and moving and all that other good stuff, right?
SPEAKER_03:And I would actually argue that to the very first point that you brought up, like them being able to play a bunch of sports, not being injured, yeah, having the ability to go play whatever they want, whenever they want, may actually allow them to pursue those sports to a greater extent down the road, right? And like that kid who's 13 getting his hip replaced, like you know, that's a gonna be a problem again in a couple more years because the workload isn't changing. And that that's what I man, more than anything, over the past six years with this podcast. I'm like, I see so many athletes being a hockey player for the rest of your life, and it's like at 18, if you don't get drafted, don't make it to that next level. Like, what's your plan? And not to say that hey, I don't like putting you know most of your eggs into one basket. If you want to be that NHL player, go for it, but make sure that you are becoming a well-versed human being outside of just being a hockey player. That's my thing, at least. Because I think yo, it's great, but after 30, yeah, unless you're super involved in the alumni association and you're working out, like yo, you've got to have other sports that you can play because when you go play catch with your son 10 years from now and you can't throw a baseball, yeah, that's an awkward thing, too, right? And not like as a father or as a future father, you would want to be able to do all those things with your kids. Yeah, that's like when you get uh that's what jazzes me up because I think people need to hear that more than anything, that their kids should be playing a ton of sports. Yeah, it's everyone wants, I think it's the parents not making the NHL so that they want to have their kid be the one that makes the NHL. You see it probably way more than anyone else. I can't even imagine. I'm just making sure we're still rolling here. We're all good there. We gotta look. This is the one man show. We gotta go. Yeah, I hear you're talking and I'm rolling. Yeah, anywhere you want to go on that one or is that good? I feel like we covered that topic. That one gets me jazzed out because I see it sucks. Like, I have I have friends still to this day who are still my age, yeah, still trying to make it. Yeah, it's like yo, you're you know, keep going, but at a certain point when you have to stop playing hockey, yeah, you are life goes on, right? And uh yeah, I just want to make sure everyone listening knows that there's uh there's other sports out there. Uh, third question again, very specific to what you do here. Okay. How do you balance physical training with mental readiness when an athlete is under real pressure?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think number one, and work with professionals, right? On the mental health side, I work with sports psychiatrists, I work with mental health counselors. So, number one, working with educated people. I think there's a lot of people in our space now, which you know, all things performance, nutrition, mental, everything, right? Who are calling themselves mental health coaches who have no business being mental health anything. And that's my own opinion, obviously, but it's it's kind of scary. Like you get people who are, you know, talking to athletes about their mental health and who who aren't stable in their own, right? Well, not even that, but just like train professionally. Like that's it's an important thing. Like, you know, you can get away with uh hey, I played hockey, I can show you how to work out. Oh, okay. You know, you might be able to get away with that for a little while, but talk about someone's mental well-being, mental health, like that's serious. Like, you number one is find a professional, and that's either a doctor, right? Or that's a educated counselor who has certain credentials and what have you. I think that's number one. You know, outside of that, my job is to again availability to play for the athlete. Well, my my job as a coach is a support network, right? So if I see something that to me looks like, well, you need some support in something that I'm not professionally trained in, I'm gonna reach out to my network, and that's what I do. And like I don't pretend to, you know, there's there's little things like, you know, I I've been doing this a doing this a long time. So there's there's patterns that you see, and there's, you know, you're dealing with young athletes, males and females. They're both very different, and they're both different in how they react to wins and losses, ups and downs, and what have you. And my advice across the board, and this is generic because I'm not a professional, is you know, not too high, not too low.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, even keel.
SPEAKER_00:Even keel. You have a really good day, great. Celebrate it and then get back to here. Yeah, you have a really shit day, great. Be sad about it, but get back to here. You know, like so, you know, one of the girls who I work with who's gone through, you know, tremendous things, even guy like Jack Finley, who's shoulder surgery, hip, you know, all sorts of issues, who's now, you know, do yeah, doing great. And that's so cool to see because he was one of those guys that, you know, a lot of ups and downs because he went through some shit and he had to deal with it, and it was hard. And you know, he came every day with such a great work ethic and attitude, and there was days where he came and he knew he just I said, you know what, just go, just go home. Like, you're good. You know, like it's okay. And that that to me is where I can be supportive is paying attention to who my athletes are, and that that's work, that's getting to know them, that's spending time outside the gym with them in a professional way, that's supporting them. And you know, uh, I get fortunate, I get you know thank you notes on jerseys and stuff like that, but you know, when they create a milestone, which is really cool. And if you looked at all those jerseys and all those signatures, there's nothing about like, oh, your your lunge or your leg workout was the best, or you're like, I learned how to bench from you. Like, no, it's all to do with this stuff, it's personal stuff. It's thanks for your mentorship, thanks for your guidance, thanks for your friendship, da-da-da-da. It's nothing about technical stuff, right? So I think the mental health is more of just like I'm a support network. I'm I get a lot of bad phone calls and I get a lot of really good phone calls, right? Like it, which is great. I I'm I'm happy to answer both, but when it comes to actual mental health, it's get a professional, yeah, right, and and don't try to be something I'm not. Like, oh sit on the couch here, let me tell you all your problems. No, it's it's hey, I have a network of people, here's who I recommend, right? Like, and then checking in with them, you know, borrowing the you know, privacy stuff, like how else can I support this athlete? Anything that I should, you know, and the and the people I work with are amazing, and they tell me those things. Hey, like, here's you know, without breaking privacy, here's some information. Great. Now I can roll with that, right?
SPEAKER_03:It's such a hot topic right now, and I think people, again, they may think about coming to a coach and not going to a professional because that's who they see every single day. And it's hey, maybe recognizing the fact that it's important to go talk to Shallow had the same answer. Yeah. It's like, hey, I'm a Cairo or I'm a physio or I'm a strength and conditioning guy. My biggest strength is also knowing who to go to whenever the situation comes, right?
SPEAKER_00:Well, and you heard me talk about it before is like our network. Exactly. Our network in Kelowna is incredible because you know, I I'm I think that's part of what I'm good at is finding those people who, you know, and and even you know, a guy like Finlay, I I put him with a certain practitioner of ours who I knew he would get along with, a guy who's very black and white, who's very like very credible at what he does, and I knew Jack would respect that guy more so than maybe somebody else. And not not that somebody else couldn't do the job, it's just matching the personality. Like that's superpower. Yeah, like it and it and when you have a when you're able to pick your network and make sure that you have those incredible people who can contribute, like yeah, you're gonna win.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and that's what separates a good coach from a great coach, too, because you have someone who's gonna try and do all of those things versus recognizing what they can do and what they can't do. True, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And and that's like knowing your limitations as a coach and you know, knowing when you the flag goes up in your head, like, okay. This person may need support beyond my, you know, stand or beyond my scope. Yeah. I should be referring them out immediately. You know?
SPEAKER_03:When you think back to the past few decades, who were those people that you were looking up to that you kind of I don't want to say idolized, but coaches that you were like, hey, I I like the way they operate. I want to build my program in a similar fashion.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, I mean, the list is very long because you know that that network of people is still my network. Yeah. Right? Like, and I think that's our our strength and conditioning world. The good people are they all everybody knows each other, right? Like the shallows and the you know, even Trav. Like it there was six degrees of separation from me knowing him, right? So, you know, one of the guys, Mike Coyle, based out of Boston, you know, and Mike is always, I just talked to him two weeks ago. He's a guy that I looked at as like he's doing what I want to do. He had a private business, he you know, he he was the guy that you looked at when I was growing up as a coach of like I'm modeling what he's doing. Not not every single thing, obviously. Taking pieces. You're taking pieces, and you're going like, oh, how's he doing it? Yeah. Well, he's he seems like he's pretty successful, you know. Like, I would say he's one of the most successful private gym guys in my niche that I know. You know, Ben Prentiss is another friend, slash, I guess you somewhat of a mentor for sure. He's he's brilliant. And again, same thing. They they operate very differently, but they're both very successful. Right. And they're both, you know, they have athletes for you know decades of athletes, generational, like the athletes' kids are now training with them, you know, like stuff like that, where it's like, okay, that's what I want because that's the relationship side of it that I feel I'm also good at, or akin to, you know, so those guys, guys like that who are on the private side operating at a high level like that. And then there's guys who are, you know, guys you wouldn't know who are, you know, business leaders and you know, who you can just have a great family life, you know, like you try to look at all these just successful people who that I'm fortunate enough to be in the you know the contacts of, I guess, and and and try to learn from them, right?
SPEAKER_03:Well, and I think you are like you've got those generations now at Kelowna Hockey Pass, not to name the names, guys who I beat on the jump board, no big deal. But like there's there that's coming, right? And it takes time, obviously, for you on your end. But I feel like for someone who does have that network, now it's like, hey, this is my place. You own you and Trav own Kelowna. Let's be real, right? And the hockey space, when people think of Kelowna Hockey Fest, they think of Mark and Trav. And for you, that's got to be a big deal so that you can attract more, right? We've talked about it. We're trying to add our CSM athletes there next year. That'll be another 20, 30, 40, 50 females into the mix. You're probably adding another dozen guys every year. Like, what do you see now compared to the vision? Is it close to where you want it to be? Genie in a bottle.
SPEAKER_00:Yes and no. I think I think I'm always I I I think on a pretty grand scale sometimes, which is it should be. Yeah. We gotta have visions, yeah. We're dreamers. I I was listening to a podcast the other day about a guy who's a very successful diary of a CEO was really good. Stephen Bartlett, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Talking about, you know, one of the guys who was on there who's who founded like 80 businesses or something, and he he still holds on to this evaluation he got from a school counselor or something that said like you know, delusions of grandeur. And he's like, he's like, they these aren't delusions, like this is how I think, right? And like I, you know, to me, I think about like our next step, and I'm actually in the somewhat in the process of doing it is having our own place, like having a having trying to build Disneyland, basically. And now we have someone that is you know that is way more possible than it's ever been, which is pretty exciting. Talking about you know, having our own ranks, having a you know, facilities, having you know everything. Because for for me, it's it's not just about owning a gym, it's about owning or or being part of you know a destination place where you know that team of professionals is just multiplied. Now we have something bigger. Something bigger, you know, and and to me that's you know a legacy thing. It's also uh you know, how do I how do we create more impact? You know, you can only have so many athletes in the gym before you know it gets unmanageable. But what you could have is you know generational impact and you know, our obviously our our charity with with the YMCA, like how do we impact them more? How do we raise more money? How do we you know? So it's beyond just the training thing now. I think my head goes to like you know, can we create a unique environment, facilities and more programs, more this, more that? Like that's where my head goes. And if that doesn't happen, I'm fine with that too. I think I always want to have, or I always want to be thinking about how do I increase my quality of work, and you know, so those two different pathways, obviously they're a little bit different, but I'm I'm happy with what we're doing and and the scale of it. And if it happens to grow into something different, I'm happy that too. You know, I think that's I'm not too attached to one either way because I've been down the road a few times. And if this thing with Disneyland happens, then great. Let's go. And if it doesn't, I'm okay too. Fitzgerald Fitness Forum. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:No chance, no chance. You're probably gonna have some of your blood flow restriction tools in there too, then.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, definitely. I'm part of a company called uh Hydro, and it's it's I've used blood flow restriction devices for a long time, and it's still pretty let's see, it's not it's not that it's unknown, but it's not as bleeding edge. Yeah, I mean it's one of those things that people don't have enough information around, and I think a lot of people just get intimidated maybe by it, or I don't know if it's the right way to say it, but uh Hydro is at first I was very skeptical on because it's actually instead of individual units, it's like compression shorts that you that you use a Velcro strapping system to kind of like engage the blood flow restriction. And at first I'm like, oh, that can't be any good. And then there's shorts, and now there's a shirt as well, and it is incredible how much how many more athletes I've gotten into BFR because of that, because it's easier and because it's barriers to entry are gone. Yeah, it's just lower, right? And now I'm part of the company, which is really, really cool as I got to know them and and some mutual friends who are already involved. So we're putting out quite a bit more BFR education and kind of growing in my network and into hockey. That's kind of my goal with the company, so it's pretty exciting to be a part of.
SPEAKER_03:So give us a high level, because I've seen in a bit, Mitchell Hooper, world's strongest man, rocking them, using them. We talked about it a bit on the podcast, but like for athletes who are interested in it, obviously we got our palm coolers here, which is on the recovery side. Your blood flow restriction is something that again, some people I say bleeding edge with a bit of a pun involved. Yeah, but like what should people be aware of? How should they be going about it? Is this probably I would say seems like one of the easier ways to go about BFR and to kind of have something that's self-controlled?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, and and I guess number one is educate yourself, you know. Like if you if you have a if you have a coach that you can lean into or there's there's education online, and we're gonna be obviously producing a lot more of it, but blood flow restriction is all about changing the environment inside the body, right? Is is changing the environment to to to basically multiply what a normal movement would do. Now we're we're adding to that, we're adding to the we're we're changing the environment so much that it changes the outcome of the exercise or the outcome of the work. And with blood flow restriction, it's an old technology, but it's just something that, you know, as soon as I say, you know, you're gonna cut off your blood. Well, no, it's not like that. It's a systemic effect that you know you're you're pushing more blood to areas, you're you're making your body work, but it's but the result becomes the effects of the result just become amplified, you know. So you get a dip very different feeling with blood flow restriction, and it's one of the tools that you know there's lots of different ways to use it. The ways in which I use it is you know, a table setter, right? So it sets the table for the training. It to me it brings blood to tissue, right? So cranky knees and shoulders, there's things we can do to you know change that environment and so that oh the athlete feels like there's something else happening there, yeah. You know, and and you know, at the end of the training session, then we can add a little bit more, right? There's you know, anywhere from 14 to 8 to 14 weeks in the summertime, sometimes shorter, depending on playoffs and Stanley Cups. And so you got to make the most of every day, right? And BFR helps me make the most of a shortened off season or or what have you. It also acts as a recovery modality, you know, we're plunging with coal tubbing with the with the BFR shorts on. Yeah, so we do a lot of work in the water with the BFR engaged as well. So it's an amazing tool that you know not everybody's using. I I use it and have used it for a lot for a long time and feel very fortunate. I got introduced when I did. And you know, again, with with a lot of guys that tend to come our way because of injuries and what have you, so it becomes a big part of what we're doing, right? So I'm excited to try them. Yeah, yeah, we'll get you some. We'll get you some for sure.
SPEAKER_03:The the part that I like, I it's like I was telling you, it's like over the past six years, I just get to have conversations like this, and it's like, yo, now I get to go train using BFR. Yeah, and I'm like, oh yeah, I can speak to this now, and hey, younger athletes could benefit from it. But if I didn't have that or I didn't know, like just all of this knowledge is for lack of a better term, gate kept. That's part of what I'm trying to do here with this too, is like you, Trav, all these other coaches, the only way you get access to them is if either you have money or you follow you online, yeah, which everyone should do. Go to check out. But with this, it's another medium for people to absorb this information for younger athletes to be able to say, hey, like I can use palm cooling, I can use BFR, I can maybe use some of the other tools that you're the 1080p tracking, right? Yep. And those are all little things that athletes don't know about, aren't aware of, and if they don't, then it's like that's the reason why the people who work with you get to that next level. Anyway, a little sidebar. Hopefully those people are appreciating it. Number four, what's something you've changed your mind about in performance training over the years?
SPEAKER_01:Hmm.
SPEAKER_00:I obviously I think there's a probably a long list of things. I think you maybe a one-two thing. Yeah, I think I think you realize as a young coach, like I already said, it's not necessarily about bigger, faster, stronger. It's how do you make sure that athletes don't miss time to play their games and participate? And I think that that was a big epiphany. And what comes with that is you start to look at exercise selection, you start to look at, you know, even training blocks, you know. Way back when it'd be like, okay, you have to four weeks, right? Like four weeks of the same exercises with slight variations, and then once you get to four weeks, then then you change. Right. And it's like, well, if I only have someone for six weeks, I have to, I can't do that. Right, yeah. So and again, everybody's a little bit different, and people would maybe argue with me. But realistically, now our training blocks are two weeks long, yeah. And I can get a lot done in that time, and I can manipulate that with lots of different things because there's so many tools out there, right? Like, you don't just have to be in the squat rack and you don't just have to be with a barbell, like it's there's so many options, and I think it cripples some people too, and it's it is a lot, but I think just you know, looking at how we actually train now, yeah. Whereas before, like some people even did six-week blocks, but like again, I you don't have the luxury of that time, and you know, one of the other things would be like even what we do with a barbell, Olympic lifting, and stuff like that. I don't tend to do as much of that because it's just not bang for your buck, and and and you know, the I always look at the downside of an exercise, like if it's a really good exercise and there's the it's all upside, you know, that there's nothing that you know, out of obviously weird stuff, but you know, there's the risk is very minimal, I'm gonna put that exercise in. But if there's an exercise that has a higher risk because it's putting the athlete in a precarious position, or maybe they're not good at it, or they don't feel good about it, yeah. Like I'm not gonna use that exercise.
SPEAKER_03:And it's like, okay, if you're a hockey player using a split squat with dumbbells on your side versus a back squat and 400 pounds on your back, you're like, okay, I can drop those dumbbells if I need to. That back squat's probably not like you know, it's a precarious position to be in.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm not saying that I don't like back squats. I think they're a great exercise, one of the best exercises you can do. They're just every exercise is not meant for everybody. Yeah. So it it's just, you know, and Stu McGill is another mentor of mine, and you know, it's something he said that I always have tattooed in my brain is you know, not everybody is meant to pick up a barbell from the ground. You know, and I'm chatting with him in December actually. Oh, you really know he's the best. Yeah, yeah. Um I still keep in touch regularly because I think he's the best at what he does. I think he's a little legendary. And you know, when he said that, I'm like, yeah, you're right. Like, you're right. And and it's so clear to me after he said that and we started talking about the why and the you know how levers and the different bodies that you're gonna come across. And you know, when you start working outside of hockey, I work with some NFL players, you know, like a guy who's six foot six, it's like that guy, you better change your approach with a guy who's that long because he's not gonna be able to do the same things, or if he can do them, it's gonna come at such a higher cost risk that it's not worth it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Victor Wemignana is not built to be deadlifting. No, and that's yeah, that's a tough one too, because you know, you're that's deadlift's an amazing exercise, right?
SPEAKER_00:Like, but there again, there's just so many, yeah. You know, so what have I changed my mind on? It's that exercise selection. There's so many different ways to do it, and I'm not I am not married to one methodology, I'm married to what works. And again, I you could have thousands of coaches that would argue up and down that with me of you have to do barbell this, and you have like, well, okay, but I'm not, and I'm not gonna change that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, to me, that's just maturity though, right? That's the difference of having worked with thousands of athletes probably at this point compared to people who have maybe worked with hundreds and they haven't seen the negative ramifications from picking up a barbell from the floor when you maybe aren't built for it.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, for me, I I always look at you're the expert in the field, you're hired for a reason. Let the coach do the job, which is also probably a tough thing to do when you deal with players. Again, I've talked about hockey, but you're dealing in lacrosse, other sports. That's gotta be a difficult thing to deal with, the egos at times.
SPEAKER_00:At times for sure. I I think you know, football was definitely different. I mean, the guys I worked with were awesome. I had some experiences with some guys that no, not that they weren't good people, but it was just different. Yeah, you know, it was just a different thing. Hockey and even lacrosse, they're the guys are awesome. Yeah, the girls too. Like they're the this minimal ego in this in both of these sports, and I think that's why I enjoy you. Asked me before about you know, do I like working in lacrosse? I love it because it's very much like hockey, and the guys are are very, you know, open to coaching and they're very appreciative and they're very like into it. And I love that. And same in hockey, you know, they're very you know, they want to they want to learn, you know, like and you've seen the guys that we have in in terms of hockey, like like there's also a no asshole rule, right? Like there's just none of those guys, right? And it's just like they're all great guys, they you know, they spend time with my kids, they you know, they're kind, like they're just great role models, like, and and and not because we asked them to, it's just because that's that's just who they are.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. I was gonna bring that part up because what was it the Thursday morning? Trav and I did our VO2 test. Yeah, yeah. ISO Kapnik came in. They're forgetting his name, it'll come to me. Luke. Luke, thank you. Luke Wei. Luke to coach Luke Wei. He came, did that test with us. I'm dying there because we had a couple pops the night before, probably weren't primed for performance. But either way, Luke Shen was to my left, and he was cheering us on, giving us tips about how to do that. And it's like he doesn't have to do that, he just sees two Joe Blows, one guy who kind of looks like a Walmart McDavid, and he's like, What's he doing this VO2 test for? But he saw he sees us battling, he sees us going through it, he's supporting, right? And it's like that's the kind of stuff that you're not gonna get anywhere else.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and like you talk about a guy who's you know one of the best guys I've met in hockey is Luke and and his brother too, Brayden Shen. Like they are, you know, phenomenal guys, phenomenal people who have like Kelowna High Performance wouldn't be it in the way that it's growing without those guys. Yeah. Because they're the guys that not not just them, but they're a big proponent of supporting what we're doing. Yeah, and you can't grow unless you have guys like that who care. Yeah, you know, you have guys that like you know that just they know that I think they also know that Trav and I are doing it for the right reasons. Yes, yes, it's a business and all that stuff, but like they know we care. Yeah, they know we care and they know that we're there for them, and you know, they bring their kids to the rink, they play with our kids. Like it's just it's so cool to have guys like that who who who understand what we're trying to do and support us in doing it. And like you said, like I don't know if that happens in other sports like it happens in hockey, and that's what makes hockey special, right? Like, you know, when I first started coming to Kelowna, Luke recommended a real estate guy, Tyler Bauk, who played in the NHL a little bit, played for the Canucks, who's played hockey in Germany with Trav. No way. So, like, that's the guy who picks me up at the airport, yeah. You know, like and now we coach together with my youngest boy. Right? Like, that's cool. How does that even it's just ridiculous, man? So I don't know, the uh that hockey world is I've been very fortunate to be on the very positive end of it and and you know, benefiting from it and what have you. And there's ups and downs, obviously, but man, I would say over the course of my career, whatever you want to call it, is it's been beneficial and and so supportive.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and I think just to touch on the the captain piece that we've talked about, that's Braden, that's the guy like that, right? I think that's the definition of a leader, yeah. Someone who's willing to do whatever it takes, right? Yeah. And I don't know, you see it. There's a certain level that you just see from afar, even the way people handle themselves, right? Yeah, definitely. Last question for those who are listening, this is number five. If you had an athlete for just 30 days before a major event, this is the four-week training block, I guess. This is what Schmidty's talking about. If you had an athlete for just four sorry, if you had an athlete for just 30 days before a major event, what would you prioritize and what would you ignore?
SPEAKER_00:Phew, that's a very tough to answer question.
SPEAKER_03:There's exceptions to every rule, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03:We're just getting the audience, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I would say like barring, you know, all the sport stuff is handled, and you know, there's no other you know, there's no other things that would get in the way of whatever. It's you know, all the controllables are controlled. Like it's looking at the sport itself and understanding what said athlete needs to do. You know, what you know, it so it starts with an evaluation of uh Of their abilities, right? Speed, power, strength, understanding okay, where where is their detriment? And also, what does the sport require? What are we optimizing for? Yeah, what are we optimizing for? So it I know it's a generic answer, but that's you know, then it's just training, then it's just time under tension and reps, and and you know, I I talked to an athlete yesterday about it of like, look, like this process of you getting back and playing your sport, it requires you to maybe downshift some of these other things that you're really good at or that you really like to do. And you you have to like up shift these things that I'm you know seeing that you need, and you may not be able to see them like I see them, or like the Cairo sees them, or that you know, yeah, but we see these things, and and you gotta push what you see over here and and lean into what we see because we think what we see is gonna be the gateway that opens up to you know improving all those variables. And I think that bird's eye view, yeah. And like I think you know, when you're working with an athlete and you have a good team of practitioners, everybody gets to look and say, you know, hey, as a strength coach, I see this. Hey, as a physio, I see this, and you take all that information, you say, okay, because of all that, I'm gonna do this. And I think the process would look something like that. Yeah, you know, conditioning and whatever the sport is, that that's it's not that difficult, right? Like, are you strong? Okay, once you have once you're strong, and can you take that strength now and express it in a way that is related to your sport, powerful, fast, whatever that those metrics are. Now, can we condition those things? So conditioning comes last. Can we condition all that into now you can do it repeatedly? Right? So day one's not gonna look like day 30 as it shouldn't, but they're gonna have similarities, they're gonna have crossovers, right? Like again, talking to the lacrosse player who's injured, and oh my conditioning. I go, I don't care about your conditioning, you're not gonna play for another six weeks. Yeah, the last two weeks we'll condition and you'll be fine because you'll be strong, you'll be stable, you'll be powerful, and now we're just adding the the uh cardiovascular. Yeah, we're we're adding the capacity piece, which is the in my opinion, the the easiest and simplest to add because it's just now you gotta do work, yeah, right? Like now we're just gonna push. Now you're gonna push mentally, and and that's when conditioning should happen. Side note, like you talked about Trav, like he's so good on social media, he does such a great job. And you know, when you have a bigger audience, it opens you up to whatever. I mean, you know, some guy he he he ended up getting into it with somebody about like conditioning, and it was people young coaches who are who are bagging hockey players in May and June, and it's like so what? Yeah, sorry guys, you like you're not playing in a game until October 1st. Yeah, like you're doing conditioning workouts in May? Like, it's crazy. Why? It's crazy. Why? Like, ask that question. Why do we do capacity work? Do we do endurance? Sure, but not to the level of like you know, airdyne sprints and like 800 meter runs, like just like you know, because hey, if if you walk away from my workout and you're really tired, well, I did a good job, you know, like like it's time and place, yeah. And I'm again, I'm not saying I'm better than anybody or anything like that. It's just you realize that like your your value as a coach is the long term. Yeah, you know, it's it's not day one of that 30 days, it's day 27 when the athlete goes, Oh my god, I feel so good, I'm ready to jump out of this thing.
SPEAKER_03:Or when they turn 40 and they've had a successful career, their body still works, they've made their money, and they can do other things. Yeah, it's true. Like I'm I'm looking at it long scale, right? Like you just said day one to day 30. I'm like day three thousand. Yeah. Right? Because uh they you know, there's a lot of time in between there, and if you get them injured here, or if you don't treat them right here, they don't even get to there.
SPEAKER_00:I was talking to Duncan Keith about it, not name drop, it's because we were at the rink the other day and I did a little presentation for his team, and you know, he's very well educated in training. He trained with a guy who actually I looked up, I bought DVDs online, CD ROMs. Probably your audience might not know what the hell that is, but he trained in a very different manner and it was really cool, anyways. And I say, like the the tough part now with our our industry and training is that you can get away with murder from 13 to 18. I said, but it's like compound interest in a very negative way. If you're doing really dumb shit in those areas, you won't really start to pay for it potentially for years after, yeah, but it does catch up to you. And that to me is like I I think about that every time I'm in the gym, every time I'm with an athlete, is how and you talk about like exercise selection and you talk about volume, and and if by doing this thing, what does it look like down the line? Right? Am I can I find another way to get to where the athlete needs to be without sacrificing X, Y, and Z? And like that's constantly, and some people may argue with that, and oh, you're you know, what whatever, whatever. I don't care. I just it's a longevity game, and it's you know, so Dunks and I were talking about it. I'm like, like you have to be careful, you have to teach, you have to educate young athletes as to the why you have, you know. Again, I'm going off now, but another guy asked me, but oh, what are you doing with your 13-year-old this summer? I'm like, playing flag football. He's got me, we're getting a basketball net, and yeah, we're gonna train for sure because he wants to train, and that's great. And we're gonna sprint, jump, and throw, and he's gonna continue to learn how to lift weights. Become an athlete. Yes, like and he is he special? I don't I don't know. He's my kid, so yeah, he's special, but he's not like I don't know. He he's a good little athlete, but is he gonna be? I don't I have no idea. I have no idea. I don't care. It's he's gonna love sports and he's gonna love training. Hopefully. Hopefully.
SPEAKER_03:Shout out Duncan recently inducted into the hockey hall fame. Pretty cool. The uh like I look at even a guy like Jagger who's like still trains, and like there's a reason why he was able to play until he's still playing, he's pulling Jackie Moon playing, whatever else. I have to ask before we wrap up. Okay, we have one other question. You were with the Leafs, but there's a guy named Phil Kessel training that guy. Can you tell me any stories?
SPEAKER_00:One of the best athletes on the team. I've heard. This is what I keep hearing. Yeah, he whether you like it or not, there's people who have who are gifted. Yeah, yeah, he's a scratch golfer. Yeah, he's you know, one of the best 10-yard sprints consistently, one of the best vertical jumps. I think the one year I remember he jumped over 33 inches, which is absurd, yeah, for for his stature. Yeah, but when you think about it, right, you think about what is he really good at? What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Phil Kessel? Like shoot the puck. What does shooting the puck involve? It involves generating force and it involves rapid hip flexion and extension. Why can he jump and sprint? Rapid hip flexion extension. Yeah, so there's no it doesn't surprise me he can do what he does because he's just wired that way. And you know, Phil was an underarmor athlete for a while too, which was awesome. Yeah, you know, so we did a bunch of like photo shoots and stuff together, and just a phenomenal guy, number one, which is the most important. And you know, he'd come into the gym with his freaking Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich. Meanwhile, in in Toronto, we have the best catered food, beretta farms that you could possibly imagine. Like they're bacon, I still remember how it tastes, like it is like ridiculous. And this guy's coming in with a breakfast sandwich. I go, Phil, like, you know, like we have like the best caterers ever. He's like, Yeah, I just like this stuff. I'm just like, all right, man. Like, we have like fucking organic coffee and he's drinking. I'm like, dude, what are we doing today? I'm like, oh, we're trap bar deadlift, Phil. You're pretty good at that though, buddy. Like, so we're good. Yeah, you'll be all right. And like, yeah, did could his body composition have been better? Sure. Like we all we all can. Like, I don't think that's you know, people discount him for that because you know, the media, whatever, whatever. But he's talented, man. And he and he trained hard. He did. I could tell you right now, like, there's did he did he act the best in terms of you know his no. Was his body language that was the best? Probably not, but like you can't, you know, you you can't take away his ability, and you can't take away that he I watched him do the work, and there was a reason why he played the Iron Man Street. Like, there's there's Success Leaves clues, man. Like he knew exactly what he was doing, and like I laugh when people say, like, oh, he's out of shape. No, no. Did he again aesthetically did he look like how his numbers portrayed him?
SPEAKER_03:No, but athletes don't look like bodybuilders on stage at four percent. Like, and that's another thing that people need to dismiss too. That's a whole other podcast on its own. I also just wanted to make sure we clear the air because again, like you said, Phil gets a lot of heat online for that body composition stuff, but like you're the one seeing it behind the scenes and can speak to it more than most. Yeah, like even Luke Gazak, when I did it of some stuff with him a couple years ago in Toronto, is like the most unassuming guys can lift the most amount of weights. McDavid is pulling more from the floor on a deadlift trap than any other guy. And it's like he doesn't look like he's anything crazy, right?
SPEAKER_00:But he's a phenomenal athlete, and like again, you know, you you try to you bring up his name when you're teaching young athletes how to move, and it's like you you think that's just part of it is some natural for sure, but like it's a trained thing. Yeah, how to evade somebody, how to teach evasion, that's a teachable thing. Now he does it at his as an at an elite level for sure. Yeah, not taking anything away from him, but he I've also watched him train. He he trains like a madman, like he he's dialed, practice. Dialed, so it's not surprising, right? But yeah, Phil the Thrill is is great, dude, and and watched him do some special things in the gym and on the ice, and and he deserves doesn't deserve the way that it's portrayed, but like again, he he broke the Iron Man streak. Like, how do you argue with that?
SPEAKER_03:We'll get him on the pod, we'll clear up all the myths at some point. The way we wrap up every episode, Mark, as you know, we ask our guests their biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes. You've dropped like an hour and 15 minutes of them, but if there's anything specific that you would wrap things up, encapsulate into a 60-second one sentence, what do you got for the squad?
SPEAKER_00:I think it goes back to consistency. You know, if you want to be a better athlete, hockey player, football player, it's show up and do the work. And that is super generic and boring, but those are the athletes that that have the best and longest careers, those are the athletes who make generational money for their families, are the people that show up and do the work. And they don't they don't lie to themselves about the work that needs to get done or how they're doing it, right? Like, and I watch it, I've watched it with guys who maybe shouldn't be in the NHL because their lack of talent, but they're there because of the way they work and the way they have understood how to change the roles within the game or or or whatever. And they're they're setting themselves up for a life of, you know, a pretty good life, right? As opposed to, you know, sabotaging every step because you don't want to do the work. And I think that, you know, it's consistency, accountability, and showing up. And it opens the door to a lot of other things, but I think that's step one is like how how can you be consistent in what you want to uh achieve? And I think that's such a I still working on it for myself, right? Like I think it's it's endless, it's infinite, right? And that to me is like there's no one thing I can say to you or the audience that like, oh, that's the thing. And once I do that thing, then it's over. It's like, no, it's infinite. Like you you gotta show up with everything. Like, I try to show up to be a good dad, and like what does that mean? It means that I try to see and have connections with my kids that you know the three most important times is breakfast before school, right after school, and right before bed, right? And like, do I nail that all the time? No, I'm missing two days this weekend, and it sucks, but I'm getting out of here early tomorrow morning and I'm gonna watch both my kids play hockey tomorrow, and I'm gonna go to pitching practice with my daughter. So I win, right? Like to me, I do, anyways, right? Or so like, but that that that game never stops, yeah, right? My kids get older, it'll be different things, it'll be whatever, and I'm not perfect by any means. I got lots to work on, but it's it's I gotta show up. If I show up, it'll open the door to other good things happening.
SPEAKER_03:But if I don't show up, then Yeah, you gotta give yourself the opportunity to do it, walk through that door, right? Yeah, Mark Fitzgerald, thank you, man. I sincerely appreciate it. This has been long, long overdue. A couple years overdue. But hey, it's okay. At least this one was recorded. I did one with Trav and my Jeep, and we didn't even get all of it. So he's he's well overdue to get on here as well. Uh current strength and condition coach for Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Yep. Also a man who trains basically everyone in the Kelowna region. So it's Mark Fitzgerald or Fitzgerald on Instagram. Uh Fitzgerald ETS. Fitzgerald ETS. Yep. And we'll make sure to link everything down below. Thank you. Sincerely. Thanks, buddy. Uh, we'll do it again sometime. Sounds good. Maybe at Klona Hockey Fest next year. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. There we go. Cool stuff. Okay. Thank you guys for tuning in. We'll see you next week. Bye. That's good. We got a lot to talk about. That's good. Oh, you know what?
SPEAKER_00:What would you recommend?
