This week my guest is Kelly Manzone. Kelly is a wife and mother who utilizes a variety of different modalities to improve strength, flexibility, and fitness. Above all Kelly integrates all of these different disciplines to live a life of movement. We cover a variety of different topics in this interview and there is something for coaches, trainers, and the layperson to takeaway from this conversation.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of catching up with Princeton University Men's Heavyweight Rowing Coach Greg Hughes at the 2016 Joy of Sculling Conference. Greg teamed up with rowing biomechanics expert Connie Draper to give a great presentation on the integration of different types of technology into collegiate rowing. This is a fascinating look at how coaches and athletes can use data from the boat such as force curves, individual data such as heart rate variability and heart rate, and GPS data to become better informed about how to execute during training as well as enhance our ability to recover between training sessions.
Greg has had tremendous success as an athlete and a coach. Here are just some of the highlights of his career.
Greg Hughes begins his eighth season with the Tiger heavyweights in 2017 and has guided Princeton to a 16-2 record over the last two seasons, as well as medals at both Sprints and IRAs both season. Last year, Princeton went 8-1 and won medals in its top four boats at postseason regattas; the varsity boat took silver at Sprints and bronze at IRAs, its best postseason performance in a decade.
Since 2013, Princeton has made every grand final at Sprints and IRAs, and it hasn't finished below fourth in either.
As the heavyweight coach, Hughes has led Princeton to an 48-14 record, including an 29-13 mark in the Ivy League. He has also helped several of his individual rowers to international success, including 2016 captain Martin Barakso, who was a member of the Canadian Team at the 2015 Senior World Championships. Many of his rowers have competed at the U-23 Worlds annually, including eight current or incoming rowers at the 2016 Championships.
Hughes, a former Ivy League and national champion rower with the Princeton men’s lightweights, took over as head coach of the men’s lightweight crew in 2006, following the retirement of his former coach, Joe Murtaugh. In his first year, Hughes turned a team that had gone 2-7 in consecutive seasons into a program that went 5-3 and earned a bronze medal at nationals.
In each of the next three seasons, Princeton’s winning percentage would improve, and the Orange and Black would win at least one medal at either the EARC or IRA championships. In 2008, the Tigers rose to No. 1 in the national rankings, won its first Goldthwait Cup over Harvard and Yale since 1999 and placed second at the Eastern championships.
In 1999, Hughes co-coached the U.S. lightweight men’s 2- and the heavyweight 2+ at the World Championships, with the latter winning the gold. He co-coached the U.S. men’s eight and the men’s pair at the Under-23 World Championships in 2000, where the eight won a bronze medal. The next year, Hughes assisted Murtaugh in coaching the U.S. lightweight eight that won bronze at the World Championships. In 2002, Hughes coached the Under-23 men’s eight to a gold and the pair to a bronze at the World Championships. He also led the U.S. 4+ to a bronze medal at the 2004 World Championships. In 2005, Hughes coached the US men’s 4- which finished 4th at the Under-23 Worlds, and he coached the U.S. men's 4+ to gold at the 2007 World Championships.
Hughes was a four-year lightweight rower under Murtaugh. A 1996 Princeton graduate, Hughes was undefeated in all of his four regular seasons and won two Eastern Sprints titles. He was an All-Ivy League rower on the 1994 and 1996 national championship lightweight crews. He served as team captain in 1996 and won the Gordon G. Sikes Award for the greatest contribution to Princeton lightweight crew. He would go on to be an alternate for both the 1997 and 1998 lightweight U.S. national teams.
This podcast interview has a very special meaning for me personally. I got to sit down and interview Dr. Perry Nickelston who is the person who inspired me to start this podcast. He gave me the belief that it was possible and planted the seed in my mind that it was something I could do. I've had the privilege of learning from Dr. Perry twice in person. The first time was at the RockTape FMT 1 & 2 Seminar and the second time was at his workshop, Primal Movement Chains. This is a phenomenal interview and was a ton of fun. We cover a ton of ground and we also discuss Dr. Perry's upcoming book being released later this year.
Dr. Perry Nickelston is a chiropractic physician with nineteen years in the trenches helping people get out of pain. He is the owner of the Pain Laser Center in Waldwick, New Jersey, which specializes in Deep Tissue Laser Therapy for pain relief and healing, and the owner and director of Stop Chasing Pain, an education company dedicated to teaching people how to move better and take back control of their lives from pain. He is an international speaker and teacher on movement, pain, laser therapy, and corrective exercise programs and the creator of the “Primal Movement Chains: Moving Beyond Mobility” courses, which are taught all over the world. He is also a writer and columnist for numerous fitness and health industry publications; a Master Instructor for Rocktape, Neurokinetic Therapy, Functional Movement Screen, and Selective Functional Movement Assessment; and a board member for the AIMLA American Institute for Medical Laser Application.
Mike is the founder and owner of Skill of Strength. In his thirteen plus years as a Personal Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach, he has trained clients of all ages and abilities including athletes represented in MLS, NFL, MLB, UFC Bellator MMA, CES MMA and other local mixed martial arts promotions.
In addition to providing performance-based training, Mike specializes in training clients with prior injuries including low back pain, shoulder, hip and knee injuries, and virtually any type of movement dysfunction. He works closely with local chiropractors, physical therapists and muscular therapists to ensure his clients are getting the best care possible.
In addition to running Skill of Strength, Mike works as a consultant to several other gyms where he runs in-house seminars for their staff. He is available to present on strength and conditioning related topics including, but not limited to, kettlebell training, barbell training and functional movement.
Mike also works for Pavel Tsatouline’s company, StrongFirst. He is a StrongFirst Senior Instructor (Kettlebell Instructor) and SFL instructor (Barbell Instructor) for StrongFirst. In this position as Senior Instructor, he leads teams of other instructor candidates during StrongFirst certifications and runs one-day user courses at Skill of Strength and other gyms.
Mike also recently accepted a position as an instructor with Functional Movement Systems (FMS).
Mike’s true passion is working with Mixed Martial Artists. He currently trains over a dozen local fighters including several title holders. He runs a website dedicated to the art of strength and conditioning for fighters, www.mmafightprep.com.
In Episode 065 I had the honor to sit down with Brian Carroll a legend in the sport of powerlifting. Brian and I met this past February at the McGill 2 seminar. After chatting a bit during the weekend I asked him to be a guest on the podcast. I was also lucky enough to receive a copy of Brian's book 10/20/Life.
Brian and I discuss his career, his book and how you can apply these principles to your own training.
Here is a bit more about Brian's background:
A competitive powerlifter since 1999, Brian Carroll is one of the most accomplished lifters in the history of the sport. After suffering a debilitating back injury in 2012—including several broken bones—Brian used his 10/20/Life principles, which incorporate the methods of world-renowned lower back specialist Dr. Stuart McGill, to return to competition with a 2610 pound total winning both the 242 open & the overall at the 2015 Arnold Sports Festival.
1030 squat, 633 bench, 755 deadlift
2375 TOTAL (10th best of all time).
1064 squat, 785 bench, 780 deadlift
2610 TOTAL (3rd best of all time).
1185 squat, 825 bench, 800 deadlift
2730 TOTAL (3rd best of all time).
Brian has also totaled more than ten times his bodyweight in three different classes, and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two different classes. In his career, he’s totaled 2500 over fifteen times. Since 2005, Brian has not slipped out of the top two in the American rankings in both the squat and total, and he’s been ranked number one in both categories at 220, 242, and 275 pounds. With 35 competition squats over 1000, spread over three different weight classes, he’s indisputably one of the best squatters of all time.
Here's what you will learn in this interview: