DNA Sport Performance

Not typically into the self improvement style books but I am currently reading “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This quote hit hard. Success isn’t accidental. Success is intentional and must be built on a foundation that can carry us though the doubt and struggle: Desire.
Pursue dreams. Seek excellence. Strive ceaselessly. But before these things, desire fervently.

My Valentines ♥️

If you’re not training each area in your “Core Training” then you’re just creating imbalances. Each movement and the surrounding joints should be strengthened for optimal core function. Neglecting any of the above areas can lead to dysfunction, injury, and an overall decrease in performance.

Train your core with precision and specificity with

Fasted cardio from a surface level makes sense:

1. Burn calories before you eat anything and it will burn stored calories
2. We store calories as fat
3. Fasted cardio will burn directly from fat stores

While 1 and 2 are correct, 3 neglects a very important fact concerning macronutrient storage: we also store glucose in the form of glycogen in our muscle and liver so that we can access it quickly and easily.

When we do fasted cardio, we eat into those glycogen stores to fuel our exercise rather than break down fat. When these stores become depleted, that’s when we will start breaking down storage of fat to use as energy.

So next time you think that you’re burning fat from your 400 calorie fasted cardio session, remember this when you eat that post workout meal and replenish the stores that you just burned through.

When our competitive careers inevitably come to an end, it doesn’t mean that we stop training. We should adjust our goals and walk them down with the same passion that we pursue sports. However, It’s not uncommon for athletes to struggle with direction after they hang the cleats up. I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to train in high school, sporadically through college and now again as he pursues his career and other big life goals. And now, I even let him curl in the squat rack 😂

In 2020, one of my goals has been to get back to writing. Over the past few years, I have written for , , and and after taking some time away, I am ready to jump back in. I loved my time writing for these publications but I am excited to see what I can do without oversight from an editor. Freedom to write whenever and about whatever I want is why I have begun writing for

With two articles already published, my goal is a minimum of one article per week. The topic of these articles will range from performance to fitness/nutrition and I am always happy to take suggestions. If you have any topics you would like covered or questions, DM me.

I’m excited to get back to writing and I am excited to see how regularly honing this skill can take me.

“Never trust a knight in shining armor for he has never had his metal truly tested”

~20 year old still going strong and still spins better than some brand new bars out there. The age spots and wear are a testament to the work that’s been done with it

It’s said that every wildfire starts with an ember. One little ember can grow and spread and eventually become an all engulfing flame. That’s what makes fire such a great symbol, it engulfs, it immolates, and most importantly, when harnessed, can be used to mold.
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Everyone has that spark.
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Training gives that spark the kindling and oxygen that it needs to grow.
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To be great, we must set aside the things that diminish our flame and seek more of the things that will fan it.
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It is this discernment that sets apart the good from the great.

-DP

There’s an episode of Seinfeld where an old man named Izzy Mandelbaum is trying to prove his physical dominance of Jerry. At the end of the episode, Jerry finds himself with a harness around his waist tied to the back of a car for “training.”
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Though this is obviously for comedic effect, there is a powerful lesson in this scene concerning conditioning in sports.
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Often, athletes approach conditioning as if all they need to do is survive that training session and they will be better conditioned, failing to realize the very point of conditioning in the first place.
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We don’t only condition with the intent of survival. We condition with the intent of pushing and maintaining a pace that our opponents cannot handle. To force them to survive. To drag them out into deep waters that they cannot handle.
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Now go back to the example from Seinfeld. Do you condition with the intent of being Jerry or do you condition with the intent of being the car?
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If the car is going 5mph, Jerry can easily keep up, fading after a long period of time.
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10mph, Jerry is going to have a much more difficult go at it.
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20 mph and now Jerry is being dragged behind the car.
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Condition with the intent to drag your opponents. Overwhelm them with a relentless pace and they will be crushed under the pressure. Conditioning is not about surviving, it’s about pushing harder, faster, and more powerfully for an extended time. Hit the gas pedal and drag your opponents.
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Credit to the following guys for the inspiration for this post:

A quick visual to explain a concept that I feel people routinely neglect: More Power/Strength/Speed will provide better “conditioning.”

Conditioning is all about being able to continue performing. It does no good if you focus on endurance and neglect the power/strength/speed aspects in training because you start with a lower ceiling.

Take for example Athlete A and Athlete C. Even at 70% of max, Athlete A has a power advantage over athlete C working at 100%.

Who do you think will be able to maintain longer?
Athlete A working at 70% of max effort or Athlete B working at 100% of max effort?

Or you could ask “Can I sprint longer at max speed or at 70% of max speed?”

The concept is simple but so many coaches and athletes revert to this flawed way of thinking that they will “outlast” their opponents. You can outlast your opponent but first you must actually have something worth lasting.

Once we have strength/power/speed, we can begin improving endurance through lactate training and other forms of conditioning but only after we have power/strength/speed.