420: Rob Assise on Foot Dynamics and Explosive Athletic Development
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Rob Assise is a jumps coach and mathematics teacher at Homewood Flossmoor High School (2023 Illinois State Track Champions). He is also a writer, a regular “Track Football Consortium” speaker, and a multi-time guest on this podcast. In addition to high school sports, he owns the private training business Re-Evolution Athletics.

Having good reactivity in the feet carries nuance with it. Some athletes can use their feet exceptionally well for sprinting or straight-ahead pursuits. Others have foot dynamics that allow them a better conversion of horizontal energy to vertical. Ultimately, the goal is to understand why athletes use their strategies and find areas of improvement specific to the individual.

On today’s podcast, Rob covers ideas on intersections of sprint and jumps training in track and field, athletic asymmetry, plyometric coaching, speed and power complexes, and a nuanced discussion on the nature of foot placement in sprinting and plyometrics, on the level of both performance and injury prevention. Rob is a humble and experienced coach, and I’ve always loved having a chance to sit down and talk training with him.

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View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Main Points 1:00- Using Sprint Float Sprint Methods in Track Jumpers 10:00- Understanding Sprinting Better by Being a Jumps Coach 21:03- Enhancing Sprint Performance through Training Variety 27:00- Impact of Sports Tools on Running Mechanics 30:17- Utilizing Asymmetry for Optimal Athletic Performance 31:55- Addressing Athlete Asymmetry for Optimal Performance 42:31- RSI Scores and Foot-Ground Interaction Patterns 48:24- PVC Pipe Balancing for Foot Strength 55:54- Enhancing Athletic Performance Through Varied Plyometrics 57:54- Enhancing Sprinting Performance Through Plyometrics 1:02:01- Dynamic Foot Contact Options for Performance Optimization 1:02:01- Dynamic Foot Placements Enhance Plyometric Training 1:03:06- Enhancing Plyometric Performance Through Midfoot Engagement

Quotes (7:43) "The best thing that happened to me as a sprint coach was focusing on the jumps. It just allowed me to kind of see things from a little bit of different perspective because on the Runway you're really not at maximum speed."

(15:49) "When you do things that the brain finds interesting, your brain doesn't give a damn about volume."

(32:20) “In general, when we're looking at asymmetry with a 1080 or something, like bounding, hopping, whatever, I usually just use, like, a 10% marker. So, like, if that asymmetry is greater than 10% or maybe approaching 10%, maybe we're going to tease in some things to try to get a little bit more of a balance”

(42:31) “I've had sprinters who have had crazy good RSi scores. And they come over to the jumps and I'll have them, like, bound or hop, and they're going to have a contact that's more flat or rolling and they just can't do it. It looks like incredibly labored. It's like they just don't want to. They almost refuse to contact that rear part of their foot”

(44:30) "Those athletes who struggle accessing that rear part of their foot, they were more prone to hamstring injuries."

(48:52) “Very few people are going to hit a forefoot contact gallop”

About Rob Assise Rob Assise has 20+ years of experience teaching mathematics and coaching track and field at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. He also has coached football and cross country, and is also the owner of the private training business, Re-evolution athletics. Additional writing of his can be found at Simplifaster,