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Strong Ankles & Olympic Feat w/ Cal Dietz
1 Playsin 7 hours
What if the secret to reducing ACL risk, unlocking elite speed, and fixing broken movement patterns starts at the bottom of your athletes' feet?
In this episode, we're live from Summerstrong with Cal Dietz, creator of Triphasic Training and the strength coach behind USA Women's Hockey's Olympic gold medal.
Triphasic Training II - https://amzn.to/4iNvi9M
Cal pulls back the curtain on the methods he used with one of the most dominant teams in Olympic hockey history, and why he believes most coaches are overlooking the single most important muscle in their program: the big toe.
Cal breaks down his Spring Ankle protocol, the Three-Way Foot method, and how two simple muscle tests let him identify ACL risk before it happens. He's been texting coaches mid-game with names. He's been right every time.
Whether you coach high school athletes or Olympians, this conversation will change how you look at movement, foot strength, and injury prevention from the ground up.
Education - Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com
Training - 15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train
C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com
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Transcript
Entering the Arena: Nerves and Energy
00:00:00
Speaker
We go into the arena. I remember I'm going over for warm-ups 40 minutes before the game starts. And I walked in that arena every day for three weeks, and the energy hit me in the chest. I felt it.
00:00:11
Speaker
There's nobody around. nobody I walked through there by myself, and the second I stepped in that arena, because the crowd's already there. They're watching warm-ups. And all sudden, bam. I got nervous, and I don't get nervous. I've been in 20 national titles, 111 of them, right? Like, yeah world championships. I don't get nervous. Let's see what happens, right?
00:00:32
Speaker
This one I was nervous, because the the stage, the lights, the the potential for those women. It's a game changer, right? The opportunities they're gonna have because they won for the next rest of their lives.
Introduction to Captains and Coaches Podcast
00:00:45
Speaker
What if the secret to reducing ACL risk, unlocking elite speed, and fixing broken movement patterns is not your coaching cues or your perfect program, but starts at the bottom of your athlete's feet?
00:00:58
Speaker
Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and
Cal Dietz on Triphasic Training and Olympic Success
00:01:04
Speaker
beyond. I'm your host Tex McQuilkin and today I travel to South Carolina for Soarnex Summer Strong 19 where I sit down with Cal Dietz, the mind behind Triphasic Training and the strength coach who just helped the USA women's hockey team bring home the Olympic gold medal.
00:01:22
Speaker
In this episode Cal breaks down his spring ankle protocol, why the big toe is the most undercoached bone in your body, and how he's identifying ACL risk before they happen.
00:01:34
Speaker
Plus, Cal shares some Winter Olympics experiences. After this episode, you'll never look at your athlete's foot the same again.
Collaboration on Triphasic Training 2
00:01:43
Speaker
With that, let's hand it off to Cal who helps us raise the game. Ready, ready, and break.
00:01:48
Speaker
Action. We're at Summer Strong 2026 sitting down with Cal Dietz. We run into each other at every conference, so glad we've finally found some time. Yeah, it's awesome to be here, and thanks for everything you do in regards to bringing information to people.
00:02:02
Speaker
Well... I got to thank you too. Speaking of two, Triphasic Training 2, Dr. Mike T. Nelson, he's been a friend and you all worked hard for the sequel. Yeah. It was, I appreciate his efforts because he's working with me sometimes, right? Like the email gets pushed down and it's couple of weeks maybe. And he just friendly reminder that I, yeah you know what mean? But, and he did a really good job, right? Like,
00:02:26
Speaker
you know Even just sitting with him on just some aspects of something I've been doing a while and tested. And I'm like, Mike, this is what it does. He's like, I get it. We got to explain it this way. And I'm like, that's why you're here, Mike. I appreciate you for being explained it that way. Right. Yeah. yeah It's good to work with the right people. Right.
00:02:42
Speaker
It's good to work with right people. And magic happens. So I'll link that book up in the show notes. Thank you. Yeah. I love the different foot positions and speaking to that. And then it's not one way to do anything. All these different foot positions lead to an outcome that you're going for.
00:02:58
Speaker
Yeah. ah I call it the three-way foot, right, as the method. And you know where where I started that years ago? I had an athlete who I just started training, and they pull a hamstring once a year. And then they're like I'm like, well, what happens? Well, then I go to rehab, and i do this exercise. It's more like a med ball straight-legged or RDL. But then I just changed the foot position up into three different
Innovative Training Methods for Injury Prevention
00:03:22
Speaker
angles. And I was like, well, what?
00:03:24
Speaker
well, let's just do that in your training. Lo and behold, the hamstring problem didn't come back, right? And it should have been more complex than that, but it worked for that person. You know what I mean? Because hamstrings can be a complex thing. You mean? I'm sure there were some other things, right? The sequence and the patterning of how their glute and hamstring work together, felt we got the right exercise that worked for that person. what mean? So that's a big deal. And then, you know, the big one I think that we've seen a lot was just foot bones being out of place.
Identifying ACL Risks Through Analysis
00:03:53
Speaker
Interesting. And, you know, I released a course on the ACL non-contact, which...
00:04:01
Speaker
I'm 100% in identifying somebody that had the problem. So basically what I did was anybody that has a problem, i send they send me the game field. They tell me if they're on offense, defense, or on the team, and they're playing in the first 10 minutes. And I send a text to the coach, hey, these three people are at risk. And I've been able to nail it. And it really comes down to, and I talk about this on some internet, is there's two slings that's that I feel, and there's other things that I feel stabilize the limb. the Let's say it's a left limb.
00:04:28
Speaker
Or the right, it doesn't matter, but it's the the spiral sling and the lateral sling. Okay. One runs up the back, the lateral sling goes up your leg, runs up the back. The spiral sling runs up the front through the TFL. And the two key points are the TFL and the glute med.
00:04:41
Speaker
And when I test those, and I'm able to identify when somebody runs if that sling's off. Mm-hmm. I'm actually working on loading that into AI so AI can help us identify people, right? So, and people ask me, what is it? I'm like, well, that's kind of the secret. I'm not going to, what what I see, but you can test people. If you just test the TFL and the glute med muscle test, and for people that don't know muscle testing,
00:05:03
Speaker
Get on YouTube. How to muscle test the glute med? How to muscle test the TFL? You can learn that. Do those two groups and you'll know if somebody's leg is is not stabilizing when the foot contacts the ground, you're at severe risk. Yeah.
00:05:16
Speaker
I think the ACL non-contact is a stability problem from those, I know it is, from those two slings because there's things in the body that the body does when those things are off and everyone that has sent me video on that ACL blown in somebody, they had those problems. Yeah. So I've been able to identify. And I did a short course actually on just, hey, 40. I wanted people. I think I could have charged 300 bucks, but I did 40 because I want people to use it. And i got I've got a high school coach who's not a strength coach, who's not a therapist, soccer coach, had five ACLs, emailed me. Said I did the course. We found seven girls or legs in seven girls, just one leg on each side.
00:05:54
Speaker
And we did it. And this year we had none. So I'm like, that's what I wanted to people. You know what i mean? So I've been fortunate with that. and and But that... That's just not ACL problem. That's a, if you're if you see somebody doing a step up and one leg isn't stable, that's that's exactly the problem. Now, those are the problems? No.
00:06:14
Speaker
If the foot bone is out of place, those slings are shut off. Interesting. Right? How about this one? We were just at the Olympics, won a gold with some amazing women, right? Those women were unbelievable.
00:06:27
Speaker
And we can get more into that, right? Yeah. Couple shoulder injuries, actually three, right? slight Hockey's a tough sport. We watch the deal. Like, it's hard, right? It's good. Those slings shut off, opposite shoulder.
00:06:40
Speaker
Right shoulder injury. Now the leg becomes unstable. Okay. Concussions. Didn't have any there. But i've I've had athletes with concussion.
00:06:51
Speaker
One of those slings shut off.
00:06:55
Speaker
It's opposite side of what. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. I mean, that it's a dynamic system, but so so what I'm saying is the slings aren't the problem for whatever reason. If there's an injury, like a puck in the knee, you get a bruise.
00:07:07
Speaker
slings shut off. Yeah. So I think it's the body going, I actually going to overcompensate by using the big muscles now to stabilize. And those things seem, I think nobody can answer that question for me. And if somebody ever does, just please email me. Put free beer on the title of the email and I'll read it first. Right. Okay. So yeah, no, but yeah anyway, I know there's a lot there. Sorry. No, but I do recall Dustin grooms. He did some research where it was like hit on this side of the head.
00:07:37
Speaker
opposite knee ACL maybe is, is at risk that, that, uh, that, yeah, that research came, it was in an innocent. well I don't know if, was he on it? that He, I believe is one of them. Yes.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. so Dustin grooms ACL, if y'all Google that'll, yeah, it'll come up because that's, I actually referenced that in my course, right? Because it's, and it's a dynamic problem and it could be as much even to, because all this is tied together. We know this now, and like you get an elbow problem. I,
00:08:05
Speaker
wouldn't doubt there might be like shutting the slings off. I haven't ran into that yet or broken hand. I don't know, but I haven't, you know, tested that yet. But it's actually, it's on my next list. As soon as I get a broken hand, I'm going to see.
USA Women's Hockey: Challenges and Triumphs
00:08:19
Speaker
Well, keep me posted. Yeah, I will. I do want spend a lot of time with the Olympics. Yes. Because that is yeah one huge major accomplishment. and I know you've been with the team a long time. Yeah. And so what was the the opportunity that presented itself to start working with USA Women's Hockey? And when was that? Yeah, um...
00:08:37
Speaker
I think it was back in 19. i The director, Katie Million, reached out to me. I trained a number of ah their athletes, right? Because i Minnesota hockey, right? I had a number of them.
00:08:50
Speaker
And I think the the medical staff was all like... A couple of these athletes got 21s on their their assessments or the 21s on their assessment score of the FMS, right? They did that.
00:09:04
Speaker
So, and they're like, these are only two and then who trains them? And it was Cal. And I think thats that that actually started the conversation in their world. And like, I don't train anybody for the FMS, but, you know I think it was just...
00:09:15
Speaker
They're doing RPR every day and created stability, right? So it was it seemed to work out. um And then they got ahold of me and I was, you know, I went to a first camp and there's no commitment yet. And, you know, the amount of good people,
00:09:31
Speaker
that camp and then working with the national teams and we had in those camps we had the the senior team the olympic team or national team we had the under 20s under eighteen s all the way down to 16 15 kids and everybody's just excited to be there in the atmosphere right and you're going yeah this is pretty cool so you know it worked out and they liked what i was doing so uh for the next four six years i I was able, and I went through China, which we didn't win a gold, right? It was the COVID Olympics. It was a tough one.
00:10:02
Speaker
um ah It was taxing mentally. Unbelievable. um I could probably write a book on that, but it wouldn't be friendly. You know what I mean? i' like Yeah. And then ah this one where i went on and um we had six years ah with this team and this group of people and the women that led us, and they were all leaders, right?
00:10:24
Speaker
Everyone did their part. There was no, you can't go through that in the weak links. And i'm I'm sure they're not all perfect all the time, but, but all the camps that we went through and the the way the coaches progressed them. And like our athletes doesn't even know, like I would sit in the coaches meetings and I'm like, man, this is, they got a plan to progress things. And, and like, it was impressive. And then the support I had where I had a sport scientist back home, um, um,
00:10:51
Speaker
And they they paid for things. We had O-rings. We had, you know, I was monitoring everything all the way For years. Yeah, for years. But then especially during the Olympics, we had. And what those athletes did on recovery, is the the like there's a lot of distractions that could happen at the Olympics.
00:11:08
Speaker
they didn't They didn't let it come into play. You know what i mean? Yeah. They were like pretty pretty religious sleep. and And we knew all the other teams were like going to be that way, so you got to. Yeah. You know, and we were fortunate to going into the gold medal match. I think we were 30 goals to zero.
00:11:27
Speaker
People were talking, one of the most dominant teams to ever play. You know, and then we can get into the game, the big game, where nerves. Yeah. It's like...
00:11:38
Speaker
If you want me to talk about it now or we can save it. but We're here. Yeah. so Well, so we were dominant and I think we'd beat Canada 5-0 a week before this, right? And we go into that last game and I'm not going to keep, like, I walk in. So, see, the big arena, there's so many teams there, there's like 10.
00:11:56
Speaker
Right? 10 or 12. So we we dressed in an arena right beside them. and yeah Yeah. And then we we went through tents. It was really done professionally. It's not like, oh, that sounds horrible. No, it was great. We go into the arena. I remember I'm going over for warm-ups 40 minutes before the game starts.
00:12:10
Speaker
And I walked in that arena every day for three weeks, and the energy hit me in the chest. I felt it. There's nobody around. Nobody. I walked through there by myself, and the second I stepped in that arena, because the crowd's already there. Yeah. They're watching warm-ups.
00:12:25
Speaker
And all sudden, bam, I got nervous. And don't get nervous. I've been in 20 national titles, 111 of them, right? Like yeah world championships. I don't get nervous. Let's see what happens, right?
00:12:38
Speaker
This one I was nervous because of the stage, the lights, the the potential for those women. It's a game changer, right? The opportunities they're going to have because they won for the next rest of their lives. yeah You know what mean? That's a big deal.
00:12:53
Speaker
So then take us to the strength coach perspective during the warm-ups. You felt it. yeah Did you see that in any of the players? And what is what are the words or what is the go-to movement? Did you have them do Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we did. And the one thing that i felt I did, and actually i'm on YouTube, I'm doing like a 15 video series. I'm at three right now. Just three methods that I i felt that I, or 15. And it's, list I think it's in my YouTube page, like gold medal speed. i'm I'm giving you everything, right? The 15 things that I did. It might take me six months to get them all up.
00:13:25
Speaker
know what I For people. But like yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah. And, but all I did was make their patterns better. Like, so, so the way somebody extends, the way somebody moves, you know, and they all showed up and they were in the middle of seasons and they had bad patterns the first day I could say, but, but that was because they're tired and a plane flight and they didn't sleep much. So, you know, it's, it's not their training was bad before. It's the stress. I'm going the Olympics. I got a pack for three weeks. Like there' there's stress. And when somebody's stressed, even, even my athlete that I got a four time Olympian,
00:13:57
Speaker
eight-time world champ athlete that was on that team. And like all of a sudden, she doesn't get great sleep, bad food, things go on. She does. And she's a positive person.
00:14:08
Speaker
Her patterns change the way she moves. I can tell because she's been training with me 13 years. Yeah. So like it's not. Don't blame anybody. This is how that human adapts. You know what I mean? don't think of a strength coach. Oh, well, they're not moving. It's my program.
00:14:22
Speaker
You know, and another thing I caught over the years was I'd see an athlete and they'd they'd revert to this pattern when they were stressed or if they hurt. Okay. And I see their father walk or their mother walk. I'm like, there's the reason it's genetics. It's not me. I'm thinking, what don't I know? But it's it was actually that that that hit me about 15 years ago. Right. And like, okay, it's not always me. It could be genetics. Yeah. You know I mean?
00:14:43
Speaker
Could be some genetics. So anyway, but yeah, so like just things like, I'm making sure like that. I'm a big about the hip extension pattern. Right. So um and then the exercises we were picking, I made sure that the the one big one I like is squeezing that big toe.
00:15:03
Speaker
Right. And I guess for those people that are listening or watching if it with with a video, um if you can see how. If you look at my sole and my shoe, there's a hole worn in, right, through my big toe. Like, the big thing is
The Big Toe's Role in Performance and Injury Prevention
00:15:19
Speaker
if you if you walk like this and you use your big toe when the foot strikes the ground, it'll fire that glute first to propel you forward, whether you're running or skating. And when we do all of our exercises in the gym, the big thing, and and all these athletes had been with me at the Olympics was – I was making sure they were using their big toes. Some I never had to say it because I'd watch their shoes and you'd see this the toe squeeze in the exercise, whether it was an RDL, right? They go down at the bottom, they squeeze that big toe to reverse. This big toe will squeeze and then the body reverses the action. And we would do a couple others like I'm a big fan of the...
00:15:53
Speaker
One thing actually in COVID when the athletes were allowed to come back, had a lot of bad patterns. um And that primetime straight legged run, you know I'm talking but Like if you look up primetime straight legged run and you watch it I saw that fix glute patterns. okay and And I specifically didn't use RPR to fix the glute patterns for a few of the exercises that I threw back into the the program. cause And I tested people's glute patterns. I'm telling you, 80% them were off. I think they were using flip-flops a lot. now You know what I mean? and And just COVID, right? Being stressed. And they come back to the gym finally. And you're going, okay.
00:16:32
Speaker
And 80% of them were off. And then all I did was I did the prime times. I used the big toe to squeeze. And and these are all videos I educate people on my YouTube free, at overbra right? And I was like, I was able to fix them.
00:16:45
Speaker
Took about three to four weeks, but most of them, i all of them got fixed. Mm-hmm. of the 40 kids that I had. Yeah. Time out. Coach needs a coach. I want you to take a second to reflect on this past season and what did not click. Were there moments where you lost your temper, lost your cool, felt your team was mentally soft, weak, not prepared to face competition? Were there moments where they put their heads down and were not ready or accepting?
00:17:14
Speaker
Did they quit on you? Did they quit on their their teammates during a game? What was that experience like? How did you manage it? How did you handle it? I have a course out here, it's called Why They're Not Listening, Coaching Today's Athlete, where I dive into a concept I've been working on that's called social emotional leadership. How do we use practices? How do we use strength and conditioning sessions to develop our leaders, to have self-awareness, social awareness, and then have a toolkit to then lead not only their teammates but themselves.
00:17:49
Speaker
But it starts with you, Coach. i encourage you, check out this. My first lesson in the course is free. To find that, head to listen.captainsandcoaches.com. Start preparing now for next season, and everything that you're investing will start to pay off.
00:18:06
Speaker
Now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and break. While we're on that, what's the difference between creating a window for good movement and then fixing a pattern long-term for them? Well, I think, well, so so let's go back to the toe thing. if If you're not using your toe, let's say in the gym, I fix somebody in the gym.
00:18:27
Speaker
They do three, four, 500 exercises in the gym, or perhaps total with a good toe and the glute pattern. But they walk out of my gym and they don't use their big toe when they walk.
00:18:39
Speaker
They're racing everything. That's not on me. So so it is because I feel like then i have to teach that person how to use a big toe, be aware of it, keep reminding them. Honestly, and in and about three days, if you get them to do it when they're walking and they do 5,000 reps,
00:18:56
Speaker
That's way better than doing it perfectly. Because here's the deal. The weight room, they can still do it wrong when they walk. But if they do it when they walk, they're going to do it in a weight room. Does that make sense? Big time. So then you start to get the right pattern. Everything falls into place. The posture, my opinion, I've seen it change posture. I've seen it change a lot of things. Good. Yeah. Because the patterns, if the sequence is right. Well, let's let's talk about that four-time Olympian. If if you look up.
Foot Strength in Athletic Performance
00:19:22
Speaker
On my YouTube page, you can see this magic. It's a primetime, four-time Olympian on my page. You will see a female doing primetimes, a straight-legged runs, and it's it's like a violent dancer when she's doing them. and it looks so smooth. You'd be like, oh that's not 100% effort. She is traveling as fast as some of my men that play professional hockey.
00:19:44
Speaker
Right. But it doesn't look like the effort. in Right. Yeah. Because her patterns are so smooth. Now, here's my story. My an interns would see that. and i'd talk about that movement. Right.
00:19:55
Speaker
My interns. And then last summer she came in the gym and they're like, oh, it's it's the primetime lady. right and And her name's Lee Stecklein. She's a four time Olympian. One unbelievable athlete to coach. I've had many like a Kelly. Kelly Panik and Abby Murphy, who was just in the Olympics, right, with the same crew. But but you're guys just going, and they they see her on the first day, and it doesn't even look like the video. It's not even close. Well, she just got done. Her feet are bad. She doesn't have the right pattern. Season's over, right And they're like, well, you're to coach her? to i'm like, no. In my program, like,
00:20:33
Speaker
There's about four problems with her prime time right now, but the program is going to fix it. So then I said, let's watch. You make a note week eight. Let's look at her prime times. Eight weeks later, they're like, oh, that's completely different. Because we'd fix the problems. We'd fix the patterns. And one of the big problems was her weak were her her feet were bad because hockey players are in a boot and they get screwed up. Bones are out of place. Yep.
00:20:57
Speaker
Does that make sense? Yeah. So that was going to lead to my next question. yeah Yeah. Locked in two skates. And then is there comparable opportunity exercises for guys locked in k cleats? deserter jam i Yeah. Well, the one thing I would say, the big one is,
00:21:13
Speaker
That talus bone, cuboid bone, and the cucaneus, like I've seen in in trainers, those aren't really actually hard to adjust. I can't do them as a strength coach, right? But an athlete trainer or medical, can you can literally get on YouTube. I've had trainers like, I'm pretty sure this bone's out.
00:21:32
Speaker
And they they adjust it, never done it before. They adjust it or manipulate it. And we we chip muscle test everything and everything's turned on. Because it even though the athlete, and I got many stories this where there was a problem.
00:21:45
Speaker
And then we found the problem, but the athlete hadn't registered pain yet in the brain. So the brain was already compensating for that problem. Even though consciously the pain hadn't went right to the conscious. And we know this, right? this is This is science. This is not, science has proven this. There may be problems without pain is showing up yet. yeah And yeah.
00:22:06
Speaker
fixor fix the other problem they had, that they didn't even know they had pain, which fixed other things like a knee problem or, you know what i mean, or bad glute pattern. And that that foot, those foot bones are out of place. I truly know then the next thing up there is either knee pain, but most likely the hips are gonna miss a line, huh right? It's pretty scary what, and and so the only thing that touches the ground when we play sports usually are your feet, at least most of the time, right?
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah. yeah So, yeah, Coach Lacrosse, we don't have access to the weight room, but football guys are still training, weight training with their high school football coach. So I got to manage a lot of lower back, and then I do your muscle test trying to get the glute to fire first. yeah But then we spend a lot of time on active foot and just... Yes.
00:22:55
Speaker
lunging and doing single leg squats. Yes. No resistance, even teaching them with an active foot. They're like, they're also scared their knees are going hurt because where I'm at, I'm sending their knees way out. Yeah, of course they are.
00:23:07
Speaker
So. It's not, but yeah. The football coach said, Yeah. yeah So also managing shin splints. So does foot bone affect shin splints? What is the deal shin splints? Well, the big one is that the foot and the arch,
00:23:22
Speaker
it's it's inhibited whether there's a bone out or it's weak because then it's the shock absorber for that shin splint, right? So the shock absorber is that that arch in the foot, right, as it's spreading. And, like, the foot can collapse some, but then it should have the strength to regather itself and then propel you forward, right? So that's the big thing. It's the – and you I've seen strong feet with shin splints, but the the foot – the The arch didn't function and it didn't like absorb that force upon impact. Like that absorption of force is obviously. Are the the cleats too tight?
00:23:55
Speaker
No. But they look good. um They look good, right? But ah I would assume because all the dynamics of the feet, because how many of them don't
Foot Mechanics and Overall Athletic Performance
00:24:05
Speaker
look? this People don't have the same feet, right? now So then I would assume, yes, the cleats, but who knows at what level. Some cleats are good for us. You know what i mean? I think it's probably gone to an individual point at that.
00:24:16
Speaker
Yeah. Does that make sense? Yes. And i think about the the four different surfaces they're on. They got an artificial turf. They got their basketball indoor running. They got the just the weight room floor lifting.
00:24:29
Speaker
And then they come to our lacrosse field, which is, you know, dirt, grass. Yeah. So that's four different yeah surfaces in a a track in there if they're sprinting. Well, and then, yeah, the foot has to adjust. In shitty shoes. Well, right. And then the foot, honestly, with different surfaces, it's got to figure out and adapt really quick to...
00:24:49
Speaker
the surface and the tension right so there's some adaption there that has to take place and if you got a stronger foot you're quicker to adapt in my opinion versus because if you like i i was watching my dog run one time and ah after ah a snowstorm and this she was running it was a ice storm there was some snow she's running across chasing a bird she's running across the yard and then she hit the driveway which was solid ice and and her first foot or foot hit the ice and her whole body tensed up and she gathered herself but never slowed down and just changed her gait and it was almost instantaneous. I'm like, well, i I'm thinking to my point here is that the foot had
00:25:30
Speaker
has to change with all those surfaces so it's actually functioning differently. You see what i mean? yeah So it's not getting used to the same thing, which actually might be good in the long run, but I'm not sure. Unintended. Yeah. Right. Who knows? Who knows? Right. There's a lot of dynamics here that, that I don't know and I can't answer it. Right. But we just got to be aware. The bottom line I've seen with feet is if I can get them strong, which I use the spring ankle concept. Right. And you can do these in your home on, on the steps. Right.
00:25:56
Speaker
I have friends who say, hey, my kid's got this. And I'm like, do this exercise. why i don't In the gym, I'm like, just do it at home every night. Minute hold, hold some weight, high heel, low heel.
00:26:07
Speaker
yeah Give it a shot. And they're like, yeah they started shaking after five seconds. I'm like, yeah, well, you got a problem then. Because if you get it in those ankle positions that you can look up, people can look up spring ankle. You get in there and you start shaking in like five seconds, you got a weak foot. Yeah.
00:26:23
Speaker
Especially in that position, right? That's pretty crazy. it Yeah. So then spreading that on 40 guys and you you just see all different forms of shape. And now I get to the point where I can see you guys aren't trying. They're just hiding and going through the motions but then getting to really drive and press.
00:26:41
Speaker
And then they're like, oh, crap. Yeah, you got to push, right? and and And what I eventually got to is just, I call it level three spring ankle. You can people in video. It's just a belt squat. I latch it into, I just put it on. And then we we measured it. You can get a 200-pound kid, which and he's just on the one foot, four foot, like the toes in the front of the foot.
00:27:01
Speaker
And he's producing almost 600 pounds of force on that foot. And we just do it for 10 seconds. Do each leg. We do about three or four sets a day. in between while they're resting. So it's not like I'm, you know what I mean? It's not like, you look at my program and there's a lot of little things that they do.
00:27:16
Speaker
And let's say i got 30 exercises. Well, there's all the rehabs stacked in there and all the, you know what I mean? So it's, it looks like a lot and it is, I do high volume training, but it's, it's not as much as it looks though. But,
00:27:29
Speaker
Foot is always train after before I see wherever it fits. I don't care. Because once you get your foot strong, it doesn't matter if you do at the beginning. The foot is going to be fine once you get them trained. Right. So, yeah. yeah Is there a way to replicate the Bellscott without a weight room?
00:27:43
Speaker
So we have bleachers. Could teammate like. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Push on their shoulders or their hips. Right. yeah Well, there's one video of me demonstrating on one of my one of my best skaters I ever had.
00:27:55
Speaker
And it made sense, right? She could get in that position. She's about 160 pounds. I won't say her name. She's a lot less now than she's, right? And you can see she would get in that position. She's 160. I was probably at the time 270. I would grab around her hips and try to break her.
00:28:11
Speaker
And and she's the she was, like, we had devices measuring, like, people's skate. Smoothest skater we had. And she had a foot that was so powerful and strong. It had to be like an elite ballerina level.
00:28:23
Speaker
And... I couldn't break it. I couldn't break her. I wouldn't even phase her. Her feet were so, but that's why I'm telling people she was so smooth when she skated and it looked like you would read her readings on how much she moved in regards to like the the undulations. It didn't look like she moved that much, but she was a busiest person on the ice because she was so smooth. right Her efficiency.
00:28:47
Speaker
She was one of the best skaters I'd ever coached. yeah Right? Her feet were the strongest female I'd ever seen at that point. yeah And there's a correlation to it, right? I believe it. Yeah. I'll throw this stuff different stuff in, send send you some videos and give you some feedback because there's a lot of lot of feet to fix. Yeah, there is. It's it's unbelievable. And just get strong and a lot of things can... You you might get 80% of the problems are 90, right? Honestly. Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah. that's That's the aim because I got to... work with what football's doing and keep the whole team healthy. Yeah. And it's, yeah, it's an interesting experience. Yeah, yeah.
00:29:27
Speaker
Well, ah I know, i do want to highlight, you have an opportunity to film, film sprints, starts, and tell a lot about it. So that's one of the cool things too, is because just with an iPhone, we don't need fancy tracking or tech.
00:29:44
Speaker
So what are you looking for when you film the, like the starts or a change direction? Yeah, um I'm kind of like on the base, let's say I can do a change of direction.
00:29:54
Speaker
um What I'll see is sometimes it's like if somebody goes to change direction and and this this hip isn't ah is higher than the other one, right? That's actually a stability problem. So those slings are off, but a lot of times it can be that foot is the problem. So these are all tied together. So those two slings that I talk about, the spiral and the lateral sling and then the foot, there's a problem. And if you can just see them like, okay, when they go in to change directions, they slow down versus this side was quick and in and out, right? Those are things. The big one, I think, well, let's say they're top end speed running versus acceleration. Like the big one is,
00:30:31
Speaker
um What I see is with with the foot, let's say the foot, like they don't keep pushing. Like the foot comes off the ground and there's more there's more range of motion that could have happened. Tells me there's not enough strength in that foot to keep pushing. You know what mean? And then a lot of times, too, is that people think, oh, they don't. The split in their legs isn't very, isn't enough maybe. And yeah like Ken Clark did some research on, like I call it the Clark 105 lift. And it's just in that position, right? People can look it up. It's a really great one. but Thank you.
00:31:01
Speaker
you None of my athletes, when they run, will get to 105 degrees because that was world-class runners. But I do the exercise isometrically trying to squeeze it together. you'll People will see that. But the magic is is that the one thing is that I found that people don't necessarily have tight hips. That's why the gap isn't wide. They don't have enough power coming out the back to propel them in flight. So your brain will shorten that stride length if you're not pushing, if you can't push very hard. So it's kind of tied together saying how much juice you can push yourself forward with and foot mobility. And then what happens without ever working hip mobility, the split gets wider yeah as they run faster because you're in the air longer. and now you can And then if you can get a wider split, there's a greater stretch reflex for your your other leg loop in the hamstring to slam backwards. Now, let's talk to that. If you've got more mobility from more power being produced out the back, now the leg slams down harder. It also slams back harder, which creates a greater stretch reflex in the hip flexor to slide the leg forward. So if you can fix one problem, you might see this entire cycling of the leg increase and in in improve power. That's the way I see it and the way I look at it, if that makes sense. Yeah.
00:32:11
Speaker
And we're... aiming to fix one thing triage if we're starting with the foot that may fix everything up chain it may fix a lot most of it yes it's terrifying because when you look at my most elite athletes one of a ah few number of them like i had one that was a freak 44 inch vertical and not the verticals you see on the internet today like where the arms are swinging right like legit uh we'll just go with the most strictest the hands on the hip vertical 39.
00:32:37
Speaker
thirty nine yeah wild Yeah, wild, wild, elite, right? And muscle test, I was just like, let me see how strong strong your big toe is. Put it on there. i said, go. And I'm trying to almost, I felt the joint move in my thumb. Thought he dislocated my thumb. That's how hard.
00:32:58
Speaker
what What's that test? I just, he was laying on his back and I put my thumb against his toe just to see how strong it was. And he squeezed his toe. It was bad. I think he sprained the ligaments in my toe for sure. I mean, it was hurt for a week. Or you did toe to toe. No, I did my thumb to the toe. I'm holding on to his, I'm literally trying. I'm like, all right, your big toe's pushed up. Yep. And he's pressing back. And he, well, he pressed, he lifted his toe back. I pressed and I said, squeeze your big toe. And it literally would have tore my thumb. If I didn't let go and break, yeah.
00:33:27
Speaker
So then I noticed over the years, like in hockey, we we have, we'd have broken feet because of the 90 mile an hour puck hitting a, right? Break a toe. The glute. shrinks on that side.
00:33:39
Speaker
Why? Because they're not using their toe when they walk. Very interesting. Yes, I seen it. So that and and I have something that I got an article on my blog, I taught it the toe glute reflex.
00:33:51
Speaker
If you want people want to look that up. It just talks about how important it is in the things I've seen. And I'm like, and then it sets, if you have that glute firing first, and I talk about it even on the bench press, like in my athletes, when the bar comes down, if you, and this is not coached in most people.
00:34:08
Speaker
I have a three-time Olympian on there doing it. She squeezes her toe, then her hips come off the bench just a little bit. And then the bar reverses. So the bar should reverse about one to two hundredth of a second after the hips extend. But the toe squeezes.
00:34:25
Speaker
so if the athlete's benching, the toe squeezes, then the hips move. And then the bench or the bar should be reversed on the upper body because you have to stay. So even if I was going to push you right now, I have to i have to stabilize my hips.
00:34:40
Speaker
grind my feet into the ground to push you. And for you to stop me, you still have to use your toes and glutes yeah correctly to stop me from pushing you. It doesn't matter whether you're pushing or pulling or or whatever.
00:34:54
Speaker
still good so if I'm just going to grab you and pull you, I still have to fire at least one glute to stabilize things to pull you this way yeah if we're wrestling. It's crazy. It's all tied together. And then so my point is, is and there's many of my exercises in my gym.
00:35:09
Speaker
One's like a glute ham hyper where I got one of my athletes doing it. And you can see her foot, big toe grab. ah She's coming down on the glute ham hyper with her knees high. She goes down to reverse. The toe grabs about right now.
00:35:21
Speaker
Then the glutes grab, and then she reverses it. It's it's pretty interesting, right? yeah Yeah. Now, I've never coached her on that. That's just because it kind of happens once they get a timing, right? Yeah. But if for if her foot's dysfunctional, that timing's not going to happen.
00:35:36
Speaker
Wow. yeah Well, you gave a lot of resources. i took the notes to then link them up. Yeah. And I mean, you're a wealth of knowledge and you're all at all the conferences and you're always willing to have a conversation. So that's what I appreciate about you. Thank you. And one of my favorite things to do is when you present is to sit.
00:35:55
Speaker
And then wait for the sharks to come after and try to win. And they like flip through their book and page 73, you said this. So they're like yep circling, trying to get their moment versus listening to your presentation, which I always thought was interesting. Well, then you're always ready. Yeah, I do. I enjoy I'm not sure what 73 is, right? But in the reference, I'm like, I'm supposed to know that. Because, like, I mean, I wrote that book. And I don't write books, right? Ben Peterson wrote The First Drive Basic with me because he saw this and we're like, yeah, we need to write a book about this stuff, right? And Ben's now at the – he was at the San Francisco 49ers as a vice president. And I think he's at the Atlanta Hawks, right? Cool. And Ben and then Mike T. Nelson saw it. and Yeah, it's –
00:36:36
Speaker
Yeah, I, you know, and I just find good people to help me write, right? Because, I mean, I think Ben, I gave most of it on napkins. And didn't even that and he produced a 300-some page. Pretty good book, really, as a masterpiece and as far as what I could.
00:36:50
Speaker
I would call masterpiece. Other people may not. But like I'm like, holy buckets, it's really good, Ben. Yeah, make change. Yeah, no, it was good. And and you know what? It just helped helped a lot of people over the years maybe think a little differently.
Coaching Philosophy: Understanding Movement Patterns
00:37:04
Speaker
And that's the end aim to see better versus just following a program that they wrote or handed down. Now we're actually coaching a program. It's how. Combining the what and the how.
00:37:15
Speaker
That's what I appreciate. it And I hope like somebody came up to me. He's like, Cal, like I was running a program a couple of years. And he he kept the same program. He just put some of the triphasic in. He was like, now it kind of excited me. And and like, what else is there? And i'm like, yes, there you go. yeah That's what I'm doing, right? i Now in my gym, i have an athlete.
00:37:35
Speaker
Athletes are training and the big thing I do is I'll watch movements. And even I tell my athletes or my interns, first year guys, this is what I'm looking for. If you don't see that, you let me know. And what I do then is let's say somebody's not moving correctly or i don't think they're optimal. Then I pull them over and I've learned muscle tests a lot of the muscles in the body.
00:37:55
Speaker
And I don't tell them what to fix. I muscle test things, find out what's wrong, try to get that app that muscle working on its own. So then when they go back really quick, I haven't coached them, but now they move right.
00:38:08
Speaker
Because I can coach them to maybe move right, but did I really fix the problem? No. No. Windows, but you want to create and fix patterns. I want to fix it right. Well, the the big one is, you know, i have a, when athletes running towards me, and let's say one of their arms are sticking out.
00:38:26
Speaker
When I was young, most young coaches are like, yeah, hold that arm in. Okay. But if you look at why the arms out? The problem is, like, I didn't fix anything other than told the arm's out because here's here's why the arm's out 98% of the time.
00:38:43
Speaker
The arch is collapsing on the left foot. The arch, this foot's weak. That means it's unstable. So the body says, when you your foot hits the ground, I got to hold the opposite arm out to help stabilize and balance.
00:38:56
Speaker
so So fix the foot problem. Literally, I've seen it. I've either reset the arch with reflex performance reset or I've had a trainer adjust the bones. Guess what?
00:39:07
Speaker
I never coached the arm. The arm comes back in. The brain says, oh, I'm stable now. I don't have to compensate. yeah And that's that's what I do almost every day in my gym. Like there's days where i at least run 500 muscle tests during a six-hour window of of the athletes coming in because I'm just looking for bad things. Yeah.
00:39:26
Speaker
and figuring Then it's taught me a lot more about the body because now, well, they don't do this. When this happens, I'm like, okay, this is... And that's how I kind of found the slings, right? Some of them. And they've been identified with Stucco and Tom Myers, right? We all know this.
00:39:40
Speaker
But... the The lateral sling or the spiral sling, the one I see, um they list a few more muscles. But when I tested it, the functionality, ah they're right. Those muscles are on that sling.
00:39:53
Speaker
I just didn't see those muscles shut off. So in my course, I talk about, hey, these are the muscles that shut off in the spiral sling. Some of the associate muscles, I didn't. so I'm not saying they're not there because they have to be there. Actually, it's crazy because don't know how I explain this, but the muscles shut off in this pattern on the sling. But there's another sling that runs across. that that this muscle is also attached to this one and I can prove it. It just didn't seem to shut off in that sling at that time. So it's really a complex system, obviously, right? We're just- don't say. Yeah, right? And and I don't, I'm not going to say I know it all because you would go to Thomas Myers. If I read all his books and you go to his anatomy lab, I hear you're still going to learn more stuff. And yeah all the stuff he's produced, you're like-
00:40:34
Speaker
Yeah, if i if I knew all that, I think I'd know a lot. But he's telling you that there's still way more. Yeah. Right? But it's it's helping the kids 1%. If you see it's something, say something, and there's no magic program, but you can help reach and make them better and then hand them off to sport coach to mess it all up. Maybe. Yeah, hopefully. Hopefully not. So hopefully you can do that, but hopefully they don't. But yeah. Yeah. Well,
00:41:01
Speaker
Cal, I appreciate your time, man. I know got to get back to summer strong. So thanks for... Absolutely. was pleasure. Strong start to the morning here. Thanks for chatting. Yeah, dude. All right. Well, what handles, websites?
00:41:13
Speaker
Yeah, I have... I'll link everything out Okay. I have tryphasictraining.com as one of my websites. if you If you search principles, I have a whole list of... 60, 70 principles and methods that I use, right? And then I think Instagram is triphasic training, I think. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. We'll go with it. You should be able to find me. guess Yeah. If people want to look. um Email.
00:41:34
Speaker
I don't get to it. I get i do a lot. Like, caldeets at Gmail is the one. Like, that is the main one. And put, like, free whiskey on there if there's a question, right, for people if they want. I tend to open those faster. I get it. All right. Well. Hey, thank you. We'll get after, man. Appreciate you. All buddy. All Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Captains and Coaches Podcast with Cal Dietz. I went ahead and put a link for Triphasic Training 2 written by Cal Dietz and Dr. Mike T. Nelson, a Captains and Coaches Podcast alum.
00:42:06
Speaker
I put a link for the book in the show notes. Go ahead and check that out. If you're looking for more education and information, i encourage you to sign up for our newsletter at newsletter.captainsandcoaches.com.
00:42:20
Speaker
That's going to give you weekly insights from the best coaches in the world, just like Cal. If you enjoyed your show, I encourage you, please like, rate, review, thumbs up, whatever it takes this episode. That's really going help us and push this out to more people interested in taking people where they can't take themselves just like you.
00:42:40
Speaker
Thank you again for tuning in and helping us raise the game. And see you.