What speed training methods should team sport coaches take from track & field (and what they shouldn’t)? with Cam Josse

This week’s Pacey Performance Podcast guest is Cam Josse - Athletic Performance Coach for football at Indiana University. Cam spent 7 years prior in the private sector with DeFranco's Training Systems, operating as Director of Sports Performance from 2014-2020. He has worked with a multitude of athletes in high school and collegiate sports as well as professional athletes in the NFL, NHL, UFC, and WWE. 

He's on the podcast to primarily talk about speed training, starting with how working in the private sector can help a coach transition into the collegiate setting. This includes becoming more familiar with coaching larger groups and being able to tailor a speed training program for several athletes in the same team. Staying on the subject of speed training, Cam discusses what team sports can learn from track and field in this regard, and how to find a middle ground that works for athletes that aren’t primarily top sprinters.

There’s also insight into non-verbal cues for athletes in order to prevent micromanagement, and how to balance programming for athletes of various body types in American football. Cam also shares how to integrate sprint training from an upright start, as opposed to the crouch start found in track. Finally, he talks about sprint profiling methods and how they integrate within a program, and the non-sprint-based profiling Cam uses too. For all this top-level insight into speed training and much more, hit the play button now.

This week’s topics:

• Cam’s recommendations for coaches working with large groups
• How to deliver speed training to a larger group of athletes
• What team sports coaching can learn from track and field
• Cam on the ‘speed obsession hype cycle’ and finding a middle ground that works
• Using non-verbal cues to lead training and avoid micromanagement
• Specific areas and scenarios where Cam would choose to use cues
• Balancing programming for both larger and smaller athletes
• Developing sprints from an upright, jogging start
• Profiling methods and how they integrate within a program
• Non-sprint-based profiling Cam uses to inform his speed program