155: Sam Wuest on Rotational Training, Intuitive Coaching and Eastern Thought Integration | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

Today’s episode features track coach and acupuncture student, Sam Wuest.  Sam is finishing his acupuncture degree at New England School of Acupuncture and is a track and field coach at Tufts University. Sam is a former NCAA DI athlete, and holds multiple certifications in strength and conditioning and track and field.  Sam has worked with a diverse array of athletes and has also studied under Ukranian Olympic coach, Alex Ponomarenko.  He coached the recent NCAA DIII high jump champion in the 2018 indoor season, Stefan Duvivier who jumped 2.20m. Sam has blended Western sport performance with Eastern practices, such as acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Zen Meditation, qi gong and tai chi.  When it comes to Sam’s coaching philosophy, as well as this podcast in general, the goal is always to find a blend of ideas from different ends of the spectrum, from the quantitative, data-based realms, to the qualitative and intuitive end.  To this end, this episode is largely about Sam’s outside the box thinking in coaching and recovery.  From his incorporation of multiple planes into basic track and field drills, to feel-based integration of Frans Bosch style stick drills, to avoiding the visual bias in athlete feedback via iPhones and iPads, Sam has a coaching style that is holistic and effective. Sam also has connected training with common concepts in Chinese medicine, including his thoughts on recovery modalities, as well as linking of the seasons and human response into our own models and thoughts on training organization (noting the similarities observed in the practices of Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky).  Another coach who has done just this was the late Charles Poliquin, an absolute legend in this field.  We’ll get into these topics and more on a show today that is certain to expand your perspective on training athletes. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more. View more show notes at just-fly-sports.com/podcast-155-sam-wuest/