469: Hunter Eisenhower on Building “Human Strength” and Athletic Movement Capacity

Today’s guest is Hunter Eisenhower, Associate Head Coach for Sports Performance at Arizona State Men’s Basketball. With experience in the NBA and NCAA, Hunter blends force production qualities, data analysis, and variability-driven human training methods to build explosive, adaptable athletes. He’s the creator of the “Force System” and a thought leader in modern athletic performance concepts. Most athletic performance training is centered around outputs. Movement abilities and qualities are discussed, but there isn’t much quantification process that goes towards an athlete’s raw abilities, such as variable jump strategies alongside stiffness and compliance competencies. On today’s episode, Hunter shares his approach to offseason prep using general physical means that build that “human strength”—developing capacity alongside movement variability. Hunter also breaks down how he quantifies an athlete’s movement capacities and library, their ability to, balance rigidity and compliance in line with force plate data. We wrap with ideas on foot training and using variable surfaces to meet the demands of dynamic sport. This is a great look at training beyond just big lifts—into the true movement needs of the game. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength and the Just Fly Sports Online Courses Check out the newest mini-course, Sprint Drills Reloaded on how to maximize sprint drills, their specific strength development, building of major sprint actions, along with better integration of sprint drills into sprinting technique. The special intro sale ends July 1st. (https://justflysports.thinkific.com/courses/sprint-drills-reloaded) Use the code "justfly25" for 25% off any Lila Exogen wearable resistance training, including the popular Exogen Calf Sleeves. For this offer, head to Lilateam.com View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Main Points 2:00- Sandbags, Suffering, and the Mental Edge 6:00- Let Hard and Fun Coexist in Your Program 10:19- The Importance of Variability in Program Design 12:53- Early Off-Season Program Design 19:27- Rewild Your Program: Crawl, Climb, Wrestle, Hang 23:28- Rethink GPP: Don’t Just Prep to Lift—Prep to Move 30:20- Break Barbell Monotony with Sandbags 34:49- Sleds Are a Movement Tool—Not Just a Finisher 41:03- Measure Movement Options—Not Just Output 48:39- Don’t Confuse Explosive with Efficient 54:31- Train Variability by Changing the Rules 58:05- Cue for Change: Let the Jump Reveal the Strategy 59:50- Start with the Foot—It Tells the Whole Story 1:05:07- Polish Boxes, Stall Bars, and DIY Creativity Quotes "The polarity in a training program I think is just like so powerful and so important." - Hunter Eisenhower "You, like, learn to appreciate the fun whenever you have to do the suck." - Hunter Eisenhower "And the way I structure (early off-season) is we go, we go a human force day, a slow force day, a human force day and a slow force day. And we just do that throughout a four day training schedule." - Hunter Eisenhower "A lot of people consider GPP like high volume, squat, hinge, push pull; to me, I think GPP is like going back to the absolute ground level, like basics of just like children, what they would do, they're crawling, they're climbing, they're doing gymnastics and flips, they're, they're roughhousing." - Hunter Eisenhower "It's like bigger, faster, stronger. It's like the, the old adage. Then I was thinking like, is that really the goal with elite athletes? Like, is the goal to increase outputs?." - Hunter Eisenhower "If their only strategy that they can rely on is rigidity, maybe I can begin to infuse some of this compliance." - Hunter Eisenhower "If your foot can't get into a position, the rest of your body won't be able to get into a variable position."- Hunter Eisenhower "I love that with like lunge variations because it's like, no, don't just step in a different way. Like contort your body in a different position. And I think that that exposed them to positions they've probably never been in before." - Hunter Eisenhower About Hunter Eisenhower Hunter Eisenhower is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Arizona State Men’s Basketball, bringing a dynamic, force-based approach to athlete development. With experience in the NBA (Sacramento Kings), G League (Stockton Kings), and several NCAA programs, Hunter blends science, intent, and creativity to enhance performance. He played college basketball at Seattle Pacific University. At ASU, Hunter applies his “Force System” methodology—a framework combining data analytics, plyometrics, strength training, and play-based movement to build powerful, adaptable athletes. His work emphasizes not just raw output, but how athletes express force in real-game contexts. A frequent podcast guest and educator, Hunter continues to push the field forward while living in Tempe with his wife Leah, and daughter Elsie.