Rapid Fire—Episode #4 Featuring Tony Holler: “Making Speed a Habit”

“The byproduct of this less-is-more, performance-based practice is you get good at the things that matter and then kids start to really like the process.”

While there’s a practical benefit in learning the immediate what of another coach’s methods, there’s an even greater benefit in learning how they learned those methods in the first place and how they continue to learn and grow. In this new episode of Rapid Fire, Coach Tony Holler joins host Justin Ochoa to discuss ways to implement his atomic workout and target maximum velocity with timed sprints…but even more importantly, beyond covering the key tenets of his Feed the Cats ethos, Holler shares how he evolved as a coach and where he’s going next.

“I was as traditional as any young coach could possibly be and the way I used to coach is still the traditional thing I have to preach against,” Holler says. “Which is basically that your entire plan is to outwork everyone else. I call it ‘fatigue seeking.’ Lombardi said ‘fatigue makes cowards of us all’…and to me, that means okay, we shouldn’t be tired all the time.”

Prioritizing speed then becomes a daily habit built on a foundation of recovery, nutrition, sleep, and hydration. Holler explains the keys to maintaining that habit, including the importance of targeting maximum velocity in training with timed sprints.

“Max velocity will improve vertical jump, it will improve improve quickness, the faster you can run in one direction the faster you can run in all directions.”

Throughout the interview, Holler continues to touch on ways in which he continues to learn and grow as a coach, even after four decades in the coaching field. Part of that is through the Track Football Consortium, where Holler emphasizes that they bring together presenters who are like-minded in pursuit of excellence on the field without necessarily being in lockstep agreement on how to achieve those results (For information on tickets and scheduling for TFC-Chicago Dec 6-7 2024, click here).

With that eye for the future and willingness to continually evolve, Holler also discusses how he has begun to dive deeper into the spinal engine as a performance-driver and, despite disagreeing on many topics, still being willing to listen to David Weck and integrate some of his perspectives on coiling and rotational ability as it relates to sprinting faster.

“You don’t have to be just like somebody else to gain from somebody else,” Holler says.

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