Hoop Commitment Mike Nilson

Episode 122:  Learn everything you need to know about basketball pre-game meals from one of the best in the business.  Jessica Isaacs, RD, CSSD is a Los Angeles-based Sports Dietitian with an eclectic career working with elite-level athletes, creating engaging social media content, and is a highly sought-after speaker and mentor.
She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Purdue University and is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics. In her career working as a Sports Dietitian, she has supported thousands of athletes from youth to professional level, serving as the Sports Dietitian at Kobe Bryant's MAMBA Sports Academy, the Basketball Performance Dietitian at UCLA, and spent two seasons as the Lead Sports Dietitian for the LA Clippers.

To learn more about Jessica, check her out on social media @jessicathesportsrd

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Episode 121: Dr Andy Galpin has his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Linfield college, a masters degree in human movement science from the university of Memphis and his PhD in human bioenergetics. 

He considers himself a scientist, teacher and coach, with his full-time job being a professor at Cal State Fullerton..  As a scientist, he’s the co-Director of the Center for Sports Performance where he conducts research on anything that is relevant to human performance.  He’s also the founder and director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications and presentations. 

As a teacher, he’s written countless articles, created an awesome YouTube page and teaches grad classes in strength & conditioning, program design, muscle physiology and nutrition at Cal State Fullerton.  And as a coach, he’s worked with professional athletes for over 15 years that include NBA All-stars and Hall of Famers in multiple sports. 

So with a resume like this, I thought Dr Galpin would be the perfect person to share the big picture principles of designing a year long training program while also providing actionable specifics that we can apply starting next week

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Episode 120: Tyler Whitmer oversees the Olympic Sports Performance department at Boise State, works with their men's basketball program, and started an athlete mentorship group for their athletic department.  Prior to joining the Broncos, He earned his masters of science in Education with a concentration in Exercise Physiology from the University of Kansas and coached at Treasure Valley & Oral Roberts. 

Boise State was in town last month and I was lucky enough to reconnect with Tyler.  We hung out for almost an hour and the funny thing is, we talked about almost everything BUT strength & conditioning.  When I asked him what he was passionate about, he started telling about a mentorship group that he helped create for male athletes. 

As he was explaining his mentorship program, Get Reps, I knew the Hoop Commitment community needed to hear about it.  For anyone who has lost faith in high level athletics, it will warm your heart to know there are programs investing in areas that really matter.

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Episode 119: Ben Greenfield is a New York Times best-selling author, health & fitness biohacker, and fellow podcaster who is extreme about practicing what he preaches.  I don’t know anyone who pursues mental, physical and spiritual health more passionately than Ben. 

His book, Boundless, is a health encyclopedia that combines timeless wisdom with up-to-date science and then he wraps it with a nice bow by giving simple, actionable solutions for the reader to implement. 

Today I chose two chapters in his book to focus on that don’t require any complicated technology or expensive supplementation to improve on.  Everyone listening to this podcast sleeps and breathes every day, and with Ben’s help, we can optimize the way we do it.

Check out Ben on social media @BenGreenfieldFitness and his website www.bengreenfieldlife.com


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Episode 118:  Lifestyle Performance with Portlands Bryant Ferate.  Bryant is the Assistant Director of Sports Performance at the University of Portland and works with their women’s basketball program.  We’ve had some awesome battles over the last few years, going back & forth during the regular season and WCC tournament championships.  And so this podcast was a great excuse to reach out to him and build our friendship.

Bryant's mission is to cultivate curiosity through performance coaching, writing and podcasting.  Before joining the Portland Pilot’s staff, he had experience at Washington state, Kentucky, Iowa, UT Arlington and the Minnesota Twins. 

Outside of coaching, Bryant writes a weekly newsletter, the Ferate 5, where he explores and shares something he’s curious about in less than 5 minutes.  He also has a podcast that focuses on health, sport and lifestyle performance… which is what we’re going to dive into today.

I hadn’t heard the term lifestyle performance, but it makes total sense that our lifestyle habits drive our performance.  And so today, I got to pick Bryant’s brain on how he helps athletes improve the way they eat, sleep, study and have fun. 

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Episode 117: There is huge value in doing hard things.  A challenging task can make normal, everyday life seem easier.  If you paddle boarded for 8 hours straight in the ocean, it makes going to the gym for a 30-minute run seem like a walk in the park.  It also raises your pain threshold and gives you confidence that you can try new things.  So many of us focus on how we can do less and less, how we can make our life more convenient, to a point that when difficult times arise, we’re unsure if we can make it through. 

While I see tremendous value in doing hard things, my current passion is finding out how people continue to do the easy thing, every day.  It’s not that I’m against doing the hard thing, it’s just that I believe most people, including me, would benefit way more from consistently doing the easy thing, day in and day out.  Instead of spending a massive amount of energy on doing a 5k underwater with a 70-pound boulder, it would be more beneficial for our conditioning and health to commit to 5 minutes of cardio work every day.  Instead of planning and spending a massive amount of money on a 1 time extravagant get-away with our spouse, most of our relationships would benefit way more from committing to giving our partner a compliment and asking them a good question every day. 

Check out this episode if you want to learn the power of small, easy, daily commitments.

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