The Youth Fitness Podcast™

Jeff and Mikki Martin
  • 5.0 (7)
  • FITNESS
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

Lively, expert discussions on Youth Fitness and health, including sport, culture, lifestyle, motivation, physical education, wellness, and mental health. Two great formats- U18 discussions in under 18 minutes and full interviews in under an hour. Jeff and Mikki Martin, Founders of the Brand X Method® and the developers of the CrossFit Kids program and Certification 2004-2014, bring you guest athletes, medical pros, coaches, educators, kids and people all over the world making change to better serve youth.

  1. 10/22/2025

    S5E62: Andrew Menter, Founder of Physmodo "Movement is the Forgotten component of Fitness"

    Andrew provides an informative perspective, a bit of history on movement assessment and evolving technologies in the industry. We chat about how frequency of assessment is key to finding and addressing movement restrictions and issues. HIgh School and Collegiate Athletesathletes, high performance focused organizations and more. Episode Highlights: 1:25 Assessing human movement and the history of Physmodo 2:35 We were focused on creating something objective and fast 3:22 Computer vision, cameras and evolution to observe all three planes of movement 5:47 Future and near term integration of wearables 6:58 Youth populations, good movement and the practice of proper mechanics 9:50 Screening Frequency matters 10:40 Phymodo can help coaches and athletes, How can this help parents, now and into the future? 14:27 One motivation for younger generations is that we give people a score. 17:59 What surprises you from your data? 19:30 Bigger, Stronger, Faster Athletes often have the largest amount of issues and injuries 20:55. Pushing through and gaming movement 22:49 "We dont pretend to get everything" The balance between frequency of capture and more movements captured 27:44 How Andrew's Play History has impacted him Links and hashtags:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-menter-a5a229/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/physmodo-technology/ Find Physmodo in the app store https://thebrandxmethod.thinkific.com/collections https://www.instagram.com/thebrandxmethod/ https://www.instagram.com/theacn.app/ #thebrandxmethod #YouthStrengthTraining #MovementAssessmentTech #TheAthleteCoachNetwork

    34 min

  2. 10/01/2025

    S5E61: "Brutes and Dancers" a passion for Coaching Throwing Athletes with Rick Gaylord

    Listen as Coach Rick Gaylord joins Jeff and Mikki to discuss his passion for coaching youth, his athletic background and professional experiences. Including the tension and interplay of Power and Technique, how they may differ in women's and men's athletic development. Cross Training and Single Sport focus and their respective effects on athleticism, Raising and coaching a multi Sport National level, State Title winning athlete, Character development, "Travel ball syndrome" and more. Episode Highlights: 1. 1:41 How Athletic and professional history can contribute to a passion for coaching 2. 4:52 A football injury leads to becoming a throwing athlete 3. 5:57 Power & technique, "Brutes & Dancers", focus, attention to detail and refinement 4. 8:36 Athleticism is at a turning point 5. 11:02 Cross-Training and complimentary sports for both boys and girls 6. 12:27 Coaching High School, observations on the growing gaps in athleticism 7. 13:59 Performance: Raising and Coaching a successful athlete 8. 18:32 Breaking the "Cycle of Doom" 9. 19:12 Challenges relating to single sport athletes with isolated experience and perspectives 10. 20:47 Multi Sport Athlete dominance and Parent education 11. 22:43 Travel Ball Syndrome 12. 25:00 Embedding an understanding of a path to a healthy life 13. 26:57 Passing It On 14. 32:30 Contributions: Develop a great squat or a great person? 15. 34:54 "A Daily Intensive in Human Interactions" 16. 40:32 Crafting the message and setting expectations 17. 48:38 Teach the technical aspects of the gym itself Links: https://thebrandxmethod.thinkific.com/collections https://www.instagram.com/thebrandxmethod/ https://www.instagram.com/theacn.app/ #highschoolathletics #highschoolcoaching #trackandfieldsport #highschoolthrowingsports #thebrandxmethod #YouthStrengthTraining #TeenFitnessTraining #TheAthleteCoachNetwork

    54 min

  3. 06/02/2025

    S4E60: Send us your input for Season 5, We would love to hear what you want us to cover and any subjects you would like us to go deeper on, guests you'd like us to interview.

    Send us your input for Season 5, We would love to hear what you want us to cover and any subjects you would like us to go deeper on, guests you'd like us to interview.

    2 min

  4. 05/12/2025

    S4E59: Rachel Steadman of Ellipsis Training and Adventures Delivering "Robust Risk Management"

    Rachel Steadman hops on with Mikki and Jeff to discuss a little "how we got here" CrossFit history, 2006, fish tacos, and some serious guidance. The community has grown up over the past two decades and Rachel's knowledge on how gyms can plan ahead to avoid "the risks of not managing risks" is pure gold. Episode Highlights: 1. 1:30 CrossFit and Rachel's Professional Background 2. 3:16 Message Boards and Painstorms 3. 4:45 Internet Friendships  4. 6:56 Level 1 at the OG Brand X® in San Diego  5. 8:12 Coaching evolution  6. 8:59 Ellipsis Training and Adventures, Environment, Safety and Quality 7. 12:31 From Safety Lady to teaching kids to Recognize, Assess, Manage  8. 14:46 Risk & Challenge and how they are different 9. 17:12 Addressing both Professional Competence and Legal Compliance 10. 19:00 The cost of not investing in Robust Risk Management 11. 21:49 Most Common "problems" encountered, and youth specific concerns 12. 27:25 Advice to Parents, Coaches and Owners in regard to Social Media exposure 13. 31:45 Creating structure to limit Coaches use of phones during training 14. 35:47 Thoughts on Teens in Adult Class 15. 39:47 Teens, brain development timelines and the high possibility of "poor decisions" Links and Hashtags: https://ellipsistrainingandadventures.com https://www.instagram.com/ellipsisaffiliatesystems ellipsisaffiliatesystems@gmail.com https://thebrandxmethod.thinkific.com/collections https://www.instagram.com/thebrandxmethod/ https://www.instagram.com/theacn.app/ #BusinessRiskStrategies #RiskManagement #gymbusiness #ellipsistrainingandadventures #thebrandxmethod #YouthStrengthTraining #TeenFitnessTraining #TheAthleteCoachNetwork

    46 min

  5. 03/12/2025

    S4E58: U18 - Positive Coaching Through Growth Spurts

    Keegan and Mikki share proven strategies for positive coaching through growth spurts. Keeping youth engaged when physiological changes and challenges can create extra adjustment for both the youth and the coach. Episode Highlights: 1. 1:31 "Early Bloomers" kindness, options, normalizing the experience and getting back to mastery 2. 3:29  Highlighting how their new body proportions have advantages 3. 6:32  Defining "Spend time in new positions" 4. 8:43  Awareness that the results of spending time in new positions are often discomfort, pain, struggling through tightness, and the need for specific mobility exercises 5. 10:55 "New Range of Motion is weak Range of Motion" 6. 11:36 Plan to incorporate more midline, core exercises, building core from more than a single direction- includie proprioceptive, rotation and anti rotation Links and Hashtags:  https://thebrandxmethod.thinkific.com/collections https://www.instagram.com/thebrandxmethod/ https://www.instagram.com/theacn.app/ #thebrandxmethod #PositiveCoachingYouth #YouthStrengthTraining #YouthGrowthSpurts #TeenFitnessTraining #TheAthleteCoachNetwork

    17 min

  6. 02/17/2025

    S4E57: Dan Uyemura of PushPress "How transparency enhances culture, trust and resilience"

    Dan Uyemura, Founder of PushPress joins Jeff and Mikki to discuss a myriad of topics from how fear of failure can be a real motivator, Glee Club and the positive outcomes of challenges, Staying humble, having true empathy and how a Coaches impact can be lifelong for youth. We discuss the similarities and differences in Adult and Youth Program needs, How actual human experience is still key for accurate data, and notably why PushPress is leading the way in SaaS for gyms with excellent products and strategies that help their customers (gyms) do their jobs helping their customers (members) to feel good about their experience. Episode Highlights: 1:00  A focus on solving customer pain points. 3:54  Play History, A typical day after school. 5:26  Fear of Failure as a motivator. 9:00 Resilience from a bad experience "...can be so defining". 10:52 Resilience from choices, belief in humanity and empathy. 12:39  "Do the right thing every day". 14:09 How transparency enhances the culture at PushPress. 16:03 Be humble, admit when you're wrong. 17:31  Remember how tough youth culture can be, how empathy can provide a safe place  20:15 For youth, a Coaches impact can be lifelong. The importance of "they showed up for me". 22:35 How PushPress helps gyms do their job 24:46  Making the customer experience memorable "I love Coach Dan" and manufacturing for the desired outcome. 27:18 Thinking of a youth program as a business. 28:50  In business, work on one thing and fix it, which may break something else, fix it.  31:14  Parents want their children to reach full potential. 33:07 Challenges are motivating. 36:22 Data in a holistic gym setting to define who is successful and why, it can corroborate, improve and refine the human experience. 39:40 Data concerns include bias, skewing of definitions and more. We still need both data and actual human experience. 46:21 New PushPress tools. 49:05. How we look at problems and creating solutions that are as aotomatable as possible. 51:33 The Question no one has ever asked. Links & Hashtags www.pushpress.com www.thebrandxmethod.com Brand X® Kids & Teen Programming now on PushPress Train PushPress website: PushPress.com The PushPress Podcast: https://www.pushpress.com/podcast Dan's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/danuyemura/ Dan's Instagram: @danielsan #Gymmanagementsoftware #PushPress #SaaS #YouthAthleticDevelopment #YouthFitnessBusiness #YouthPrograms

    28 min

  7. 01/27/2025

    S4E56: U18 - "Some days you have a shovel and some days you have a spoon" Intensity in Training Youth

    Keegan and Jeff share effective systems for appropriate Intensity when training Youth. They talk about what is ineffective, effective, dose response evaluation and the vast difference between training for health and longevity and training for competition. Episode Highlights: 1:58 Defining What is effective 2:42 Dose and Volume- Using speed, reps and load for positive effect. 4:04 Health & intensity, balancing goals, recovery and fun. 6:09 Effective Youth models differ from Adult models. 7:35 Leverage High Skill Low Skill pairings. 8:48 Evaluating Sport- Seasons, Cycles and stressors. 10:50 The goal is to boost performance in their Sport of choice. 11:19 Coach Movement rather than Cheerlead Intensity. 11:50 Know your athlete with planned facetime and interaction. 13:35 The whole goal is to make training gains while still recoverable to be effective. 15:24 What is the appropriate age to sprinkle intensity into training? 17:16 Training for Health vs. Training for Competition, redlining carries risk. 17:55 Training for Health and Longevity should be and look different. Links and Hashtags https://www.instagram.com/thebrandxmethod/ https://www.instagram.com/theacn.app/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikki-lee-martin https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-martin #intensityinyouthfitness #sportperformance #youthsportperformance #effectiveyouthstrengthandconditioning #teenfitness #youthdevelopmentprograms #youthfunctionalfitness #gyms #sportsfacilities #youthtraining #boutiquegyms #wellnessbusiness #youthhealth

    23 min

  8. 01/09/2025

    S4E55: Farran Mackay, of Virtuous Coach Development- Making the fitness ecosystem more sustainable through exceptional member experiences

    Mikki and Jeff host Farran Mackay to discuss her unique and client centric approach to creating success for gyms, coaches and clients. Sustainability is the goal through optimal member experience planning. Episode Highlights: 1:32 Teaching through love of Sport 2:43 Researching long term changes for positive practices in teachers 4:32 "Unless you can support the person in front of you to take the next steps in their growth, whatever it is then it doesn't matter what the content is" 5:41 Strategies for accountability 8:34 Templates only go so far 9:50 Choices based on the right information 11:50 Understanding why members are there in that moment 13:14 Create space to connect  15:30 The old way and the new way, generational change 17:05 You don't have to muddle through, get a mentor 22:14 What is meant by "just be better"? 24:11 Expansion of member analysis is leaning into healthspan and innovation 27:16 Development of expanded measures and benchmarks beyond the rehab model to an opportunity model 33:38 All investments have time horizons 37:40 Developing a human takes at least 18 years 45:38 Defining explicitly exceptional member experiences 46:15. Considering development path for trainers and coaches as integral 48:06. Putting yourself in the shoes of every type of customer 50:43 Farran: What question have you never been asked on a podcast, that you would like asked? Links and Hashtags https://www.virtuouscoach.nl/ https://www.instagram.com/virtuous.coach.development/ https://nl.linkedin.com/in/farran-mackay https://www.instagram.com/thebrandxmethod/ https://www.instagram.com/theacn.app/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikki-lee-martin https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-martin #fitnesscustomerexperience #customerexperience #youthdevelopmentprograms #youthfunctionalfitness #gyms #sportsfacilities #youthtraining #boutiquegyms #wellnessbusiness #youthhealth

    55 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Lively, expert discussions on Youth Fitness and health, including sport, culture, lifestyle, motivation, physical education, wellness, and mental health. Two great formats- U18 discussions in under 18 minutes and full interviews in under an hour. Jeff and Mikki Martin, Founders of the Brand X Method® and the developers of the CrossFit Kids program and Certification 2004-2014, bring you guest athletes, medical pros, coaches, educators, kids and people all over the world making change to better serve youth.

Information

  • Creator
    Jeff and Mikki Martin
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    62
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 The Youth Fitness Podcast™
  • Show Website
    The Youth Fitness Podcast™