Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and the JFS Podcast. Joel is also an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of California, Berkeley, where he works with swimming, tennis, and water polo. He authored the books Vertical Foundations, Vertical Ignition, and, most recently, Speed Strength. Before coming to Cal-Berkeley, he coached track and strength and conditioning at Wilmington College of Ohio.

Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Cedarville University in 2006 and a master’s degree in the same area from Wisconsin LaCrosse in 2008. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA and is also a USATF certified coach.

Joel discusses his personal development as a coach and the evolution of viewpoints he has on multiple aspects of sports performance training. These include ideas on cueing, maximal strength training, periodization, plyometrics, special strength, and mental training. He gives his insights into the optimization of individual athletes that reflects body type, biochemistry, and environmental preferences and how individual aspects of your system can deliver a unique experience to athletes in line with your own personal philosophy.

This episode is not a traditional question and answer segments, such as Joel usually features on the podcast. Instead, he tackles the single topic of his personal journey and experiences that have made him the coach and sports performance professional he is today. This is a must-listen for any fan of the Just Fly Sports Performance Podcast, and it will give you great insight into the philosophies held by our well-recognized host.

Podcast total run time is 58:38. 

Keywords: sports performance, biomechanics, special strength, mental training