Today’s episode features Chris Chase, who is currently the Director of Performance for the Memphis Grizzlies.  When it comes to working with professional athletes, the world of sports performance is literally a “different ballgame” compared to what happens in the training of high school or even collegiate athletes.
In keeping players on the floor throughout long and grueling seasons is not a mathematical equation, and coaches must create their own menu systems to ensure that athletes are encountering minimal risk in the weight room while getting maximal benefit to their tissues for resiliency on the field of play.  In learning how coaches such as Chris cater to the needs of these athletes, we can all learn more about how to cater to our own athlete’s needs, regardless of training population.
Chris Chase is the epitome of a coach who has honed his menu system for the needs of his athletes. In this episode, we’ll go into Chris’s go-to training methods and means for keeping his NBA players as healthy as possible while minimizing risk.
We’ll also go into some of his squatting progressions, which has gotten a big influence from the Postural Restoration Institute, and how this is centered around hitting the right muscles in the right positions without inducing risk. Finally, Chris keys us in to how he approaches speed and movement training in this extensive episode on NBA physical preparation.
Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.
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Key Points
- The role of a pro strength coach versus college or developmental ranks
- How Chris approaches barbell training with his NBA athletes
- Why and how Chris uses machine training in the NBA population
- Chris’s trainable exercise menu for his athletes
- How much of Chris’s menu is dedicated to health versus performance KPI’s
- How Chris uses the four jump for his NBA players
- Chris’s use of PRI in his performance program
- Squatting progressions for NBA players
- Speed and movement development for NBA populations and common causes of movement related injury
Chris Chase Quotes
“My job as a strength and conditioning coach is to put you in good, trainable conditions that maximizes the good and minimizes the bad”
“A lot of barbell work is not on our guys’ trainable menu’s but that’s not to say that it won’t be at some point”
“The dirty little secret (to performance and injury prevention) is consistent loading of tissues in the right way”
“Sport is not health and wellness”
“You need to do things that are more about the person in front of you than your own program”
“My S&C performance work is very much just respecting position”
“I just want to do the thing I can load you the most in at the time… I’m putting my athlete on the wall (to squat) because it is the only way he is going to feel his legs”
About Chris Chase
Chris Chase is currently the Director of Performance for the Memphis Grizzlies. Chris has previously served as a S&C Coach for the Atlanta Hawks, University of Southern California & the University of Rhode Island, catering to a variety of Olympic sports.
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