433: Seth Lintz on Sprint Training and Instinctive Athleticism

Today’s podcast features Seth Lintz. Seth (“Pitching Doctor”) is a pitching and athletic performance coach.  He was a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB draft, carrying a maximal fastball speed of 104mph.  Seth has trained over a dozen individuals to break the 100mph barrier, using a progressive training system that prioritizes neuro-muscular efficiency, human psychology/brain-science, and intuitive motor learning concepts. To understand the fullness of our potential in any athletic discipline, we need to know not only our primary skill but also similar movements that can teach us more about that skill (outward) and the inner layers of our body and mind that dictate our movement quality and potential (inward). Seth fuses both of these in his approach. On today’s podcast, Seth covers his recent work with sprinting, locomotion, and postural balance, and how it fits in with training pitching velocity. We also get into a variety of special strength-oriented movements for sprinting and related throwing aspects, and cover layers of both environmental and internal factors that drive athletic movement to its highest potential. Today’s episode is brought to you by TeamBuildr’s Gym Studio and Athletic Development Games. Use the code “LILAJUSTFLY10” for 10% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to: Lilateam.com TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. Use the code “JUSTFLY” for a free 30-day trial of the TeamBuildr software. For a Gym Studio 14-day free trial, head to gymstudio.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Main Points 5:37- Links Between Sprint Speed and Throwing Velocity 8:34- Efficient Movement Patterns in Athletic Development 14:07- The Role of Intramuscular Coordination in Movement 21:27- Explosive Sprint Training with Squat March Lunge 31:23- Optimizing Sprint Mechanics Through a 45-Degree Start 41:50- Emotional and Physical Integration for Optimal Performance 44:35- Brain Coherence Through Meditative Breathing Technique 54:03- Work Capacity Development for Enhanced Performance Quotes (6:26) “I noticed that as individuals, gait improved, and really, first through myself, as gait improved, and I learned how with a sedentary posture, really, and one where individuals lack the ability to integrate their non dominant side fully, those postural tendencies that result are the same things that I started to see individuals really struggling with when it came to correcting things mechanically within the throw” (8:45) “It's really the intramuscular coordination aspect of it all, that the right parts of the body are working and communicating with other parts of the body in an efficient manner, and that you're not getting a bunch of interference whenever you're trying to throw the ball or walk or sprint or whatever” (14:50) “We can reconstruct that just simply by giving the athletes taking something away and then adding it back in and allowing them to feel the sensation of more power. Because when we experience less resistance and we experience less friction or interference or inefficiency within a movement, we immediately are going to gravitate toward it, because it does feel better for things to be more powerful and for us to put more intent into that movement” (19:20) "If you're doing altitude, drops, and lunge from any kind of height, the amount of force that you're absorbing upon landing far exceeds the amount of force that you're absorbing whenever you're taking a stride”- Seth Lintz (34:17) "It's all rhythms. It's just increasingly complex rhythms, the same way you would experience in music or anything else and dance." - Joel Smith (37:25) “And a five minute isometric lunge. Yeah. You got all your motor units turned on, trust me” (41:55) “Ordinarily the stimulus should create an emotion that recruits an adrenal response and the neurotransmitters necessary with, along with the electrical impulse is necessary to recruit the whole body into action. And then that's going to carve out a neural network, essentially after we've chased down that animal, we've hunted that, we've fought for our lives and protected our village” (44:00) “You have to train so that your reflexes are sharpened so that when you want to move, it's there” (45:00) “I think that really, all of your best athletes out there, that's why they are who they are, is because they're running with their heart or they're throwing with their heart, and it is life or death for them” (52:40) I'm not going to have this kid who's untrained go out there and perform a bunch of sprints right away and do a bunch of really high-intensity work because he's. His positioning is also probably trash About Seth Lintz Seth Lintz is a pitching performance coach.  He was a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB draft, carrying a maximal fastball speed of 104mph.  He goes by “Pitching Doctor” on his social media accounts, and has trained over a dozen individuals to break the 100mph barrier in recent years.  Seth’s athletic and performance career began very early in his youth, emulating top pitchers such as Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez.  He uses a progressive training system that combines a priority on neuro-muscular efficiency with intuitive motor learning concepts.