The Adaptable Athlete Podcast

Javier Miller-Estrada
  • 5.0 (22)
  • Fitness
  • Biweekly

The Adaptable Athlete Podcast is a podcast for coaches and practitioners who want to learn more about modern approached to sport movement and skill acquisition; and who ultimately, want to help to their athletes become more adaptable.  Host, Javi Miller-Estrada engages in discussions with some of the absolute best sport coaches, trainers, and practitioners in the world. Coaches who are truly pushing the industry forward.

  1. Oct 21

    Questioning Assumptions, Sprint Variability, and Cutting the Fluff | Cam Josse

    Send us Fan Mail Do strength coaches need to think like researchers, or just understand how researchers think? Cam Josse is an assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Detroit Lions and a PhD candidate at Jean Monnet University. Before the NFL he coached football at Indiana and Auburn, and he is lead author of a Journal of Sports Sciences paper on sprint acceleration in Division I football players. Topics include: Evidence tiers: Separating empirical, anecdotal, and experimental practice so you know how confident to beSingle variable causation: Why “we did more hang cleans and our 40 got faster” rarely holds upReading research: How to pressure test a paper, including with AI, and why methods matter more than conclusionsCutting the fluff: Why Cam asks what he can remove from a program instead of what he can addIn-season training: Simple output work for healthy players, and variability for return to playSprint acceleration by position: How linemen and skill players solve the same task differently, and why there may be no optimal techniqueFor coaches and practitioners who want to be clearer about what they know and what they are guessing. Cam Josse | Detroit Lions Cam Josse on X Kinetics and kinematics of initial sprint acceleration performance in Division I collegiate American football players Resources The Adaptable Athlete Emergence Skill Acquisition Retreat: Friday, November 6, 2026, at Ignite Performance in Chandler, Arizona Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist (CSAS) Free Modern Coach’s Checklist Let’s chat: Instagram | X Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    Questioning Assumptions, Sprint Variability, and Cutting the Fluff | Cam Josse

  2. Oct 7

    In His Own Words: A Journey Through Skill Acquisition | Ian Renshaw

    Send us Fan Mail This episode is a different format from our usual show. It's Ian Renshaw's acceptance speech for the Emergence Lifetime Achievement Award in Movement and Skill Acquisition, recorded live and shared here in full. Ian is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology and one of the most respected names in the constraint-led approach. He has spent over 30 years teaching and researching across England, New Zealand, and Australia, co-edited books with Keith Davids, and co-founded The Constraints Collective. In his own words, he walks through: Backyard football and cricket, and how unstructured play shaped his coachingWhy drills built in isolation don't transfer to the gameThe move from information processing to ecological psychologyA homemade experiment with a fake umpire on a cricket pitchMeeting Keith Davids and the research years at QUTCoaching his own son to a professional cricket careerIf you coach or work in skill acquisition, this is a direct look at how a pioneer in the field built his career. Resources: The Constraints CollectiveEmergenceCertified Skill Acquisition Specialist (CSAS)2026 Skill Acquisition Retreat, November 6 in Chandler, AZCredits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    In His Own Words: A Journey Through Skill Acquisition | Ian Renshaw

  3. Sep 9

    Why Your Fastest Athlete Isn't Always Your Best Problem Solver

    Send us Fan Mail Is speed a capacity, or a skill? Most coaching treats them as the same thing, and that's where the gap starts. Speed as a capacity, not an outcome: why a stopwatch measures something real, but not the thing that actually shows up in a gameSpeed through the constraints triangle: task, environment, and individual, why the same physical capacity looks completely different depending on the sport, the surface, and the athlete standing in front of youSpeed as problem-solving: why raw speed without perception is an incomplete tool, and why some of the fastest testers never make it in their sportA short, direct episode on a topic almost every coach thinks they already understand. Join us this November in Chandler, Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat, and stay the next day for CSAS testing, the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification. Free Modern Coach's Checklist Podcast website: theadaptableathlete.com  Emergence: emergentmvmt.com Follow along: @thecoachjav on Instagram Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    Why Your Fastest Athlete Isn't Always Your Best Problem Solver

  4. Aug 26

    Three Experts on What Really Defines Skill

    Send us Fan Mail What if skill isn't something an athlete has, but something a moment gives them? This episode pulls together three conversations that each answer a piece of that question, more directly than any single guest could get to on their own. What skill actually is: Duarte Araújo defines skill as potential, not possession, using an example from Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon to show how the same person moves completely differently depending on their circumstancesThe mechanism underneath it: Alan Dunton breaks down metastability, the concept explaining why staying adaptable between states, rather than locked into one ideal pattern, is what makes skill possible in the first placeWhat it looks like in practice: Garrett Baker, skill acquisition specialist with the New York Mets, explains why he trains pitchers with more variability before working toward stability, the reverse of what most coaching assumesDefinition, mechanism, application. Three different sports, three different guests, one throughline. This one's for coaches and practitioners who've felt the tension between what "good technique" is supposed to look like and what actually holds up under real competitive pressure. Guests referenced in this episode: Duarte Araújo — full conversation in Ep 113, Why Athletes Don't "Acquire" Skill, They Adapt ItAlan Dunton — full conversation in Ep 112, What Is Metastability, Making Theory PracticalGarrett Baker, skill acquisition specialist, New York Mets — full conversation in Ep 109, Breaking Free from Perfect MechanicsJoin us this November in Chandler, Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat. Garrett Baker, featured in today's episode, will be one of the practitioners on site the next day for CSAS testing, the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification. Free Modern Coach's Checklist Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    Three Experts on What Really Defines Skill

  5. Aug 12

    The Problem With Coaching Pretty | Molly Binetti

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when a strength coach spends nine years unlearning everything she was taught about "correct" technique? Molly Binetti is the Women's Basketball Sports Performance coach at the University of South Carolina, where she's built a program around a really high player availability rate and a training philosophy that runs counter to how most strength coaches are taught to operate. She brings a variability-driven, athlete-centered approach to a field that still leans heavily on uniform technique and control, and the conversation goes deep on movement, motivation, and the limits of data. Topics covered: Why "pretty" isn't the goal — the case against cookie cutter technique cues and what actually happens when athletes are allowed to move differentlyRebuilding her coaching philosophy — what changed after her first year at South Carolina and why the dictator coaching model didn't workSelf-determination theory — the three psychological needs behind real athlete buy-in, and why most coaching problems are human, not technicalVariability as injury prevention — how training in a wider range of positions plays into her program's track record on player healthA contrarian take on tech — why she's skeptical of force plates, GPS, and the broader data obsession in strength and conditioningIf you coach in a setting where "the way we've always done it" gets treated as fact, this conversation is worth your time. Find Molly on Instagram @mbinetti22. Don't forget to join us in Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat! If you want to go deeper on skill acquisition, check out the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification over at emergentmvmt.com. Free Modern Coach's Checklist Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat!  Twitter: @thecoachjav  IG: @thecoachjav Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    The Problem With Coaching Pretty | Molly Binetti

  6. Jul 29

    Everything But the Thing: Boxing's Skill Acquisition Problem | Adam Haniver

    Send us Fan Mail What does it actually mean to train a boxer to be adaptable when the most representative practice, hard sparring, also causes permanent damage? Adam Haniver is a boxing coach and England Boxing DISE program lead who's spent years working through exactly that tension. He brings an ecological dynamics lens to a sport that has historically treated tradition as gospel, and the conversation goes deep on skill acquisition, affordances, and what most boxing training gets fundamentally wrong. Topics covered: "Anything but the thing" — why most boxing training is unopposed, decomposed, and doesn't transfer to competitionPerceive to act AND act to perceive — how the best boxers generate opportunities rather than wait for themThe GAP framework (Great, Average, Poor) as a tool for athlete-directed intention before sparringTeaching boxers to punch versus teaching them to land — why these are two completely different thingsNaseem Hamed and Brendan Ingle as examples of what freedom in movement actually producesPlay sparring, head trauma, and how to build representativeness without increasing injury riskIf you coach in any combat or contact sport and you're thinking through how to square representative practice with athlete safety, this conversation is worth your time. Find Adam at www.theboxgathering.com and on the Box Gathering Podcast on all platforms. England Boxing DISE program: @dice_boxing_brighton on socials. Don't forget to join us in Arizona for the Skill Acquisition Retreat! If you want to go deeper on skill acquisition, check out the Certified Skill Acquisition Specialist certification over at emergentmvmt.com. Free Modern Coach's Checklist Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    Everything But the Thing: Boxing's Skill Acquisition Problem | Adam Haniver

  7. Jul 8

    SMSC 2026 Recap: Debates, Awards, and the Challenge Point

    Send us Fan Mail Nine years in, and the "room" for SMSC keeps getting smarter every year. This one landed three genuinely different debates, a set of award winners worth knowing, and a founder's-eye view of what the conference has become. Coach Jav starts us off with some quick takeaways from a busy month of June traveling across the country, presenting at various conferences and events, before turning to his main reflection on SMSC 2026. Then Shawn Myszka, founder of the Sport Movement Skill Conference, gives his own take on this year's event and what's ahead for 2027. Altis and the NHL: Where capacities fit in athlete development, and what a full day with 30-plus NHL and AHL coaches revealed about translating skill acquisition into a pro environmentQuestioning industry claims: Why the industry needs to audit ideas it treats as settled, using the SMSC debate stage as the case studySMSC 2026 debates: What came out of this year's public debates, where they landed, and where they didn'tAward winners: This year's Lifetime Achievement, Researcher of the Year, and Practitioner of the Year recipientsThe challenge point: This year's conference theme, and what it actually means to get pushed to the edge and stay thereShawn Myszka's reflection: Nine years in, what's changed, and a first look at where SMSC is headed for 2027For coaches and practitioners trying to figure out where skill acquisition actually fits inside a performance organization, not just in theory. 🎟 The next CSAS testing is November 7 in Chandler, Arizona. Learn more and apply. Shawn Myszka | Instagram | Twitter Resources The Adaptable Athlete Coach Jav on Instagram Emergence Free Modern Coach's Checklist Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    SMSC 2026 Recap: Debates, Awards, and the Challenge Point

  8. May 20

    Why the Best Fighters Are Problem Solvers | Andy Grahn

    Send us Fan Mail You can't talk a fighter into confidence. And if you've been trying, Andy Grahn has been quietly building it the right way for 30 years. Andy Grahn is a martial arts coach at The Academy MN in Minneapolis, a co-author of the 2024 ecological dynamics MMA paper in Sports Coaching Review, and one of a small group of combat sports coaches actively applying motor learning science to what happens on the mat. This conversation covers how he got there and what it actually looks like in practice. Competence before confidence: Why telling athletes to "just be more confident" doesn't work, and what the ecological approach says about how confidence actually developsAlive training in combat sports: What representative practice looks like in an MMA gym, how Andy navigates the line between safety and specificity, and why sparring is still the anchorThe partner probability paradox: How to design practice when you don't have the right training partner, and what constraints-led coaching looks like when the pairing isn't idealJKD to ecological dynamics: The philosophical thread connecting Bruce Lee's framework to Gibson's ecological psychology, and how Andy's background primed him for the shiftWriting the paper: What it was like to co-author peer-reviewed research as a practitioner alongside Keith Davids and the rest of the teamFor coaches in any sport trying to build real skill, not just clean-looking technique. 🎟 Listeners of the podcast receive 10% off the Sport Movement Skill Conference (June 5–6 in St. Paul, Minnesota) using code JAVI26 at registration. Andy Grahn | The Academy MN The Academy MN Instagram Facebook Applying an Ecological Dynamics Approach to Mixed Martial Arts Resources The Adaptable Athlete Coach Jav on Instagram Emergence Free Modern Coach's Checklist Credits: Song- "Starstruck" by Freebeats.io Let's Chat! Twitter: @thecoachjav IG: @thecoachjav

    Why the Best Fighters Are Problem Solvers | Andy Grahn
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5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

The Adaptable Athlete Podcast is a podcast for coaches and practitioners who want to learn more about modern approached to sport movement and skill acquisition; and who ultimately, want to help to their athletes become more adaptable.  Host, Javi Miller-Estrada engages in discussions with some of the absolute best sport coaches, trainers, and practitioners in the world. Coaches who are truly pushing the industry forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Javier Miller-Estrada
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    132
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Adaptable Athlete Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Adaptable Athlete Podcast

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