Matt Gifford is currently General Manager and Director of Sports Performance for NX Level’s Mequon, Wisconsin, location. Gifford started as a sports performance coach at NX Level’s facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin, in 2009. He earned a degree in exercise science with a minor in coaching from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and was a member of the 2007 UWW DIII National Championship team. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the NSCA.

Coach Gifford takes a deep dive into his philosophy on football speed training and its common characteristics, as well as differences, from track speed training. He also gives details about his speed development progressions. Matt discusses his ideas on building an aerobic base in speed/power athletes. Additionally, he gives insight into the recovery, work capacity, and volume of training for an in-season athlete. Coach Gifford believes in creating mental images with his cueing system and discusses how he uses that to connect athletes to the workout.

In this podcast, Coach Matt Gifford discusses with Joel:

• What a developmental speed session for field sports looks like, in detail.
• The use of lateral movement in all aspects of training to improve movement and decrease the rate of athlete injury.
• The possibility of diminishing returns in transfer to sport with strength training by field sport athletes.
• What training max percentage range he believes transfers best to movement skill acquisition and power outputs.

Coach Gifford has also written a piece for SimpliFaster on the use of acceleration ladders in sprint training.

Podcast total run time is 39:04.

Keywords: cueing, maximal skill acquisition, tempo, strength