HMMR Media

•

Channel • 2 Shows

Fitness

Fitness

Updated 10/20/2025
Sports

Sports

Updated Biweekly

JAN 12

Debriefing the year

If you don't try learn from your mistakes, you'll never improve as acoach. Nick and I often reflect on our coaching to see what went well, what didn't, and what we want to try going forward. No time is better to do this than the start of the year. On this week's episode we look back on 2025 and also look forward to what we'll be trying differently in 2026. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2026/01/hmmr-podcast-episode-327-debriefing-the-year/ » Support the show: join HMMR PLUS to get full access to our coaching resources. More notes: This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives. We mentioend the upcoming release of Vern Gambetta's new book Building the Complete Athlete: A Coach's Guide to Athletic Development. You can preorder it exclusively on HMMR Media. We also referenced the work of the late Anatoliy Bondarchuk. We'll have more about him in the coming weeks, including a free webinar on his training methods. In the meantime you can read a few words about his death here, and learn about his training methods in HMMR Classroom Lesson 1. We've done similar season and year debriefs on past episodes such as Episode 205, Episode 117, Episode 110, and Episode 30.

Jan 12

•

26 min
11/10/2025

The golden age (with Larry Knuth)

Southern California is known for its earthquakes, but it was also the epicenter of track and field during the golden age of the sport. On this week's episode, longtime coach and author Larry Knuth looks back at the coaching scene in that era, reflecting on his own path to coaching, as well as the big names he worked with along the way. This episode isn't just a walk down memory lane, but a look inside how some of the century's top coaches got their start and developed their broad skillsets. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/11/gaincast-episode-294-the-golden-age-with-larry-knuth/ The following links were also referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic: The GAINcast is sponsored by GAIN and by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more. Pre-orders are now open for Vern's new book Building the Complete Athlete. Back in 2013, Vern wrote a review of Knuth's book Classic Track and Field Tales.

11/10/2025

•

47 min
11/24/2025

Strong mind (with Wil Fleming)

When it comes to strength, Wil Fleming is one of the top coaches in the world with his athletes having set American records and won world medals in weightlifting. But the key to strength isn't just in the muscles, it is also in the mind. On this week episode Fleming joins us to discuss the mental side of training and lessons he has learned on developing a strong mind. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/11/hmmr-podcast-episode-326-strong-mind-with-wil-fleming/ » Support the show: join HMMR PLUS to get full access to our coaching resources. More notes: This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives. Click here for details on the Strong Mind book pre-launch. You can also get a lot of great weightlifting products and programs from 1Kilo. You can also check out his past books Velocity-Based Training for Weightlifting: Current Concepts & Applications and Complete Olympic Lifting Handbook. Fleming presented HMMR Classroom Lesson 35 about strategies on rethinking strength and power training. Fleming was also a guest on Episode 299 (muscle snatch) Episode 251 (fixing weightliting technical issues), Episode 236 (velocity based training) and Episode 147 (programming). Mental training was the site theme in April 2019. There we featured a special podcast Episode 195 looking at mental preparation with Olympic champions Adam Nelson and Szymon Ziolkowski. We also looked at Ziolkowski's example in a more detailed article. We also have plenty more on the topic of mental training in our archives: Podcasts: GAINcast 159 on sports psychology, Episode 14 on mental toughness with Kibwé Johnson, GAINcast 66 and GAINcast 124 on making the champion's choice. Episode 194 on mental skills with Mona Pretorius de Lacey. Articles: the role of training for mental toughness by Chris McCormick, psychological aspects of coaching from a sports science persepctive and coaches perspective, Vern's definition of what mental toughness is and what it isn't.,tips from Kibwé Johnson, and lessons from mountaineering and climbing.

11/24/2025

•

40 min
10/20/2025

The program (with Nick Garcia)

Hundreds of athletes, dozens of sports, and just one coach. Nick Garcia is a master of building an efficient and effective athletic development program. He joins us again on this week's GAINcast to walk us through his setup at Notre Dame High School, how he started the program, its critical success factors, and all the nitty gritty logistics of coaching. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/10/gaincast-episode-293-the-program-with-nick-garcia/ The following links were also referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic: The GAINcast is sponsored by GAIN and by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more. Pre-orders are now open for Vern's new book Building the Complete Athlete. If you enjoy this topic, we have a lot more from Garcia in the HMMR Classroom. In GAIN Video 19 is his presentation from GAIN 2023 breaking down his training session structure and design. We also have videos of his warmup, med ball routines, jump series, and leg circuits. He also discussed the evolution of his program in GAINcast 209. Garcia has frequently been a guest in our year-end episodes to discuss trends in coaching in 2023 (GAINcast 258), 2022 (GAINcast 234), 2021 (GAINcast 206), 2019 (GAINcast 150), 2018 (GAINcast 98), and 2017 (GAINcast 46). Garcia will be hosting a shot put and discus clinic on December 27 in the Bay Area. You can learn more here.

10/20/2025

•

48 min
07/14/2025

It starts with the plan (with Richard Parkinson)

Canada gets a lot of headlines for their recent dominance in the hammer throw, but there are aren't the only ones making their mark internationaly. Over the last decade, coach Richard Parkinson has been building several world class shot putters out of his group in Toronto. This isn't just by chance; it's by plan. Planning is key to Parkinson. It seems so simple, but is often overlooked. On this episode Parkinson discusses his planning philosophy, as well as technical training. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/07/hmmr-podcast-episode-324-it-starts-with-the-plan-with-richard-parkinson/ » Support the show: join HMMR PLUS to get full access to our coaching resources. More notes: This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives. Planning has been a topic several times on the podcast, including a planning Q&A on Episode 286, fitting S&C into planning on Episode 67, as well as GAINcast Episode 4. For more on planning, visit our periodization and planning resource page.

07/14/2025

•

50 min
09/08/2025

Tokyo 2025 throws preview (with Don Babbitt)

The world championships in track and field kick off this weekend. There is some thrilling action ahead in the throwing events, and University of Georgia coach Don Babbitt joins us on this week's podcast to talk about trends in the throwing events, what we're keep an eye on next week, and the future of American throws development. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/09/hmmr-podcast-episode-325-tokyo-2025-throws-previewwith-don-babbitt/ » Support the show: join HMMR PLUS to get full access to our coaching resources. More notes: This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives. You can read Nick's full article on the silent crises in American throwing. Babbitt was also a guest on Episode 319 recapping the Paris Olympics, Episode 318 looking at throwing trends, Episode 305 previewing the 2023 world championships, Episode 256 on throwing trends, Episode 170 on throwing biomechanics, and on Episode 116. And he sat down for a lengthy interview on individualization and other training topics back in 2012. For more in depth coaching insights from Babbitt, watch HMMR Classroom Lesson 25, a 3+ hour master class on rotational shot put. Several of the throwers mentioned and their coaches have been guests on our podcast including coach Mitch Crouser, Matt Denny and his coach Dale Stevenson, Stahl's former coach Vésteinn Hafsteinsson, Camryn Rogers's coach Mo Saatara, Sarah Mitton's coach Richard Parkinson, Ethan Katzberg's coach Dylan Armstong, and Trip Piperi's coach Dave Dumble. For more in depth technical breakdowns from Stevenson and Armstong, they break down Denny and Katzberg's technique in our recent HMMR Classroom Lesson 43.

09/08/2025

•

1h 8m
09/23/2024

Training by design roundtable

Coaches education is filled with lessons on technique, methods, sport science, and more. What is often missing is how to put it all together. How to design a training session, training cyle, or training year is a key skill that many coaches struggle to learn in the trenches. On this week's GAINcast we bring together an elite roundtable with Nick Garcia, Brian FitzGerald, and Jimmy Radcliffe to discussion their own mistakes in planning, putting together progressions, planning in-season training, defining themes, and much more. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2024/09/gaincast-episode-285-training-by-design-roundtable/ The following links were also referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic: The GAINcast is sponsored by GAIN and by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more. The GAIN Workshop on planning will take in Los Angeles on December 14-15. If you are a GAIN member, renew your membership to get free access. FitzGerald was a guest on GAINcast 139 and HMMR Podcast 153. Radcliffe was included on roundtables in GAINcast 163 on progressions and GAINcast 190 on creating adaptable athletes. For more on planning in genreal, list to GAINcast 4. We also looked at planning the training session on GAINcast 249.

09/23/2024

•

44 min
06/30/2025

Tools vs. tasks (with Dale Stevenson)

According to coach Dale Stevenson, technique is overrated. Technique is a tool, just like strength is a tool. We need tools, but we can't forget that tools are there to help us accomplish a task. On this week's podcast Stevenson joins us to look at his approach to technique in training, how that translates into session design, and much more. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/06/gaincast-episode-291-tools-vs-tasks-with-dale-stevenson/ The following links were also referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic: The GAINcast is sponsored by GAIN and by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more. HMMR Media members can hear Stevenson discuss technical development and technical models in the new Video Lesson 43. You can read our notes on the above presentations here. Coach Stevenson also presented Video Lesson 37 in the HMMR Classroom where he draws parallels in 3 key areas: orbit, rhythm, and posture. Stevenson was also a guest previously on HMMR Podcast Episode 66 and Episode 121. Matt Denny's technique was also discussed with the thrower himself on HMMR Podcast Episode 309 and we broke down his technique in more detail in this article.

06/30/2025

•

51 min
05/12/2025

High school coaching (with John Larralde)

What are the demands of modern high school coaching? John Larralde calculated that he has just 43 training days to prepare his track athletes this year. Add to that a small student population, multi-event athletes, a young coaching staff, and little connection to the daily campus life. Some might see these as problems, but for Larralde that's no big deal as he describes himself as a problem solver. On this episode of the GAINcast Larralde talks about how he approaches high school track coaching. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/05/gaincast-episode-290-high-school-coaching-with-john-larralde/ The following links were also referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic: The GAINcast is sponsored by GAIN and by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more For more from Larralde, listen to our interview with him about endurance training on GAINcast 95. Larralde shared examples of how he has used different methods with different athletes from different athletes can produce top results. For another perspective on high school coaching, check out GAINcast 69 with high school coach and athletic director Patrick McHugh. Some discussion points in this episode included The Russell Cup and training by design (covered on GAINcast 285).

05/12/2025

•

44 min
02/24/2025

Mo's pros (with Mo Saatara)

Out in California, coach Mohamad Saatara has been slowly putting together one of the top throws training groups in the world, led by athletes such as Olympic champion Camryn Rogers and world record holder Mykolas Alekna. On this week's podcast Saatara joins us to talk about his backround and coaching philosophy, including how to program for transfer and indvidiual strengths. For more information on this topic, read the complete show notes at: https://www.hmmrmedia.com/2025/03/hmmr-podcast-episode-321-mos-pros-with-mo-saatara/ » Support the show: join HMMR PLUS to get full access to our coaching resources. More notes: This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives. You can read more about Saatara's background in his university profile. You can also follow him on Instagram at @mohamad.saatara. We have developed a lot of content about Alekna's world record over the last year in collaboration with biomechanics professor Kristof Kipp. This includes a video lesson on breaking down discus biomechanics with professor Kristof Kipp, as well as a 4-part article series on Alekna's rhythm and release, delivery subphases, phase durations and orbit, and center of mass. For more resources on the throwing events, check out our throws topic page. We also discussed the influences of coaches such as Don Babbitt and Anatoliy Bondarchuk on Saatara's training. Both have been featured in video lessons, interviews, and more such as our Bondarchuk training webinar and Don Babbitt's rotational shot put master class.

02/24/2025

•

50 min

Helping coaches and athletes train smarter. Subscription gives access to full archive, as well as episode transcripts.

Website

HMMR Media

Top Shows

Debriefing the year

The golden age (with Larry Knuth)

Strong mind (with Wil Fleming)

The program (with Nick Garcia)

It starts with the plan (with Richard Parkinson)

Tokyo 2025 throws preview (with Don Babbitt)

Training by design roundtable

Tools vs. tasks (with Dale Stevenson)

High school coaching (with John Larralde)

Mo's pros (with Mo Saatara)

About

HMMR Media

Top Shows

Top Episodes

About