488: Sam Elsner on Rewiring Athletic Performance and Movement Learning

Today’s guest is Sam Elsner. Sam is a former NCAA Division III national champion thrower turned motor learning writer and educator. He’s the author of The Play Advantage and creator of the Substack CALIBRATE, where he explores how humans learn movement through play, perception, and environment design. Sam brings a rare blend of elite athletic experience and deep skill-acquisition insight to help coaches and athletes move beyond drills toward true adaptability and creativity in sport. As athletic performance is largely driven by weight-lifting. It digs into maximal strength and force-related outcomes in such excess that all other elements of athleticism are negated. Skill learning and high velocity movement are the wellspring of sporting success. As such, having a balanced understanding of the training equation is critical for the long-term interest of the athlete. On today’s podcast, Sam and I dive into how athletes truly learn to move. Sam traces his journey from WIAC throws circles to Cal Dietz’s weight room, why a rigid “triphasic for everyone” phase backfired with a soccer team, and how ecological dynamics and a constraints-led lens reshaped his coaching. Together we unpack the strength–skill interplay, 1×20 “slow-cook” gains versus block periodization, the value of autonomous, creative training application. We touch on youth development, culture, and team ecology, plus where pros are experimenting with these ideas. This episode is loaded with both philosophy of training and skill learning, along with practical takeaways in program design. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. 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 Use code “justfly10” for 10% off the Vert Trainer View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:18 - Early training experiences and triphasic background 5:44 - Implementing triphasic as a young coach 11:22 - The failure of rigid block periodization 17:49 - Vertical integration and maintaining all qualities 24:58 - Discovery of the ecological dynamics lens 29:57 - Why skill learning changed his view of strength 35:43 - 1x20 as a slow cooking strength framework 43:15 - Autonomy and stance/position freedom in the weight room 52:38 - Culture, environment, and how athletes learn 1:00:43 - Highlight play examples and perception-action 1:14:23 - Constraint-led models in team sport settings 1:20:55 - Where to find Sam’s work Quotes "I use track and field as a segue to bettering my performance and my physical capabilities for football, getting prepped for that." "Traditional skill development or coaching really kind of hindered my capability of my ceiling." "I've always had that overarching question in my head of how do I bridge the gap between practice and game day performance?" "At the time I thought it was drill, rudimentary rote repetition type practices. I'm here today, I'm on the complete opposite end of that on what I believe." "In order to do true Westside, you got to be in Columbus, Ohio at Westside with Louis Simmons or his very close people that he talked with. Otherwise, everything else is just an iteration of Triphasic. It's your own paintbrush on the canvas." "Everything works to a point and it's not just like this way versus this way. No, there's integration. Everything that we do in life is blended together." "If you're able to get younger individuals being able to explore and play, I think later on in their life, they'll be able to be that like "gifted athlete" and be able to allow to come up with their own artistic way of doing things." "I'm in that bank of the more sports, the better as a younger age, like multi-sport athlete, no specialization." "I tried to implement triphasic trainer right away, block periodization and it blew up in my face because it was their preseason work. They're slower. They're not able to adjust on the pitch or anything like that and they're just like slow and just non-athletic." About Sam Elsner Sam Elsner is a former NCAA Division III national champion thrower from the University of Wisconsin-Stout who has transitioned into a leading voice in motor learning and skill acquisition. A six-time All-American and 2018 discus champion, Sam brings a deep, first-hand understanding of performance and training into his current work, exploring how athletes truly learn movement rather than just repeat drills. Now writing the popular Substack CALIBRATE and authoring The Play Advantage, Sam bridges neuroscience, ecological dynamics, and lived athletic experience to help coaches and performers unlock adaptability, creativity, and “feel” in sport. His work reframes coaching from rote technique toward curiosity, environment design, and the art of human learning in motion.