121 episodes

The Hoop Commitment Podcast is your place to get the latest in Basketball Sports Nutrition, Strength & Conditioning, and Leadership. Join us every week to get inside the greatest minds in basketball to improve the way you eat, train and lead. Topics covered include sport performance, sport training, nutrition and sports science. Mike Nilson is the Head Strength Coach at Gonzaga University, an owner of U-District PT, a sports nutritionist and holds a masters degree in Leadership. Go to HoopCommitment.com for the best in basketball-specific training.

Hoop Commitment Mike Nilson

    • Sports
    • 4.9 • 425 Ratings

The Hoop Commitment Podcast is your place to get the latest in Basketball Sports Nutrition, Strength & Conditioning, and Leadership. Join us every week to get inside the greatest minds in basketball to improve the way you eat, train and lead. Topics covered include sport performance, sport training, nutrition and sports science. Mike Nilson is the Head Strength Coach at Gonzaga University, an owner of U-District PT, a sports nutritionist and holds a masters degree in Leadership. Go to HoopCommitment.com for the best in basketball-specific training.

    How to Create a Year-Long Training Plan for Basketball w/ Dr. Andy Galpin

    How to Create a Year-Long Training Plan for Basketball w/ Dr. Andy Galpin

    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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    • 45 min
    Athlete Mentorship Groups w/ Boise State Basketball's Tyler Whitmer

    Athlete Mentorship Groups w/ Boise State Basketball's Tyler Whitmer

    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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    • 38 min
    Sleep & Breathwork w/ NY Times Best-Selling Author Ben Greenfield

    Sleep & Breathwork w/ NY Times Best-Selling Author Ben Greenfield

    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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    • 1 hr 1 min
    Lifestyle Performance with Portland Basketball's Bryant Ferate

    Lifestyle Performance with Portland Basketball's Bryant Ferate

    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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    • 53 min
    Easy vs. Hard

    Easy vs. Hard

    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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    • 18 min
    Toughness with ESPN's Jay Bilas

    Toughness with ESPN's Jay Bilas

    Episode 116: Today’s guest needs no introduction.  Anyone listening to the Hoop commitment podcast knows who Jay Bilas is.  And I feel so lucky that I was able to pick his brain on what it means to be tough.  If you’re like me, you read his legendary ESPN article and immediately shared it with your players and coaches.  It was the first time that someone defined toughness in a way that inspired me.  
    Toughness isn't about pounding your chest after a routine play or getting in an opponent’s face.  It isn't about being physically intimidating.  Jay defined toughness as setting good screens, running to a teammate when they need help up and talking on defense. I loved the article so much that I bought his book, and in preparation for this interview, I just read it again.  
    It is full of amazing stories from when he played at Duke, when got drafted in the NBA, when coached alongside Coach K, and when got his law degree.  There’s very few people that are more qualified to write a book on toughness than Jay Bilas.  He lives it every day with the amount of preparation he does as an ESPN announcer and the humility he shows as he lifts up those around him.  If you want to learn what it means to be tough on & off the court, you’ll love this interview. 

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    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
425 Ratings

425 Ratings

Alan Stein ,

This show is PHENOMENAL!

Mike does an amazing job corralling amazing guests and curating amazing perspectives. This content is applicable to life off the court as well. I love this show!

coachdanleadershipconsulting ,

Elevate!

Mike is truly one of the most genuine people I have ever listened to on a podcast. He is detailed, shares great personal stories and asks his guest phenomenal questions!

I have enjoyed every episode I have listened to! Keep up the great work! Thank you!

DO-PMR ,

A Sports medicine must listen!!!!

As a physician seeing sports related injuries I can say this is a brilliant podcast. The conversations and information are helpful no matter what area of sports you are involved with, whether you are in clinic , rehab, training, coach,athlete, etc. Mike brings you the information you need to team with your athletes to prevent and if needed treat injury and creat successful outcomes. His conversation with Dustan Lang this week was truly brilliant. I actually listened twice , it was that good!!!! I highly recommend to all my colleagues, peers, athletes.

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