004 - Darren Hansen - Training Elite Athletes

All right, Darren, what's up?

How you doing? What up, baby? Stoked to be here.

I'm excited to have you. This will be fun. Darren is a good friend of mine. I worked at his gym for a minute and then I had to move and it was a sad parting, but it's fun to still be able to do the nutrition for them and stay within the loop of what they're doing there. They're doing big things over in Hanson.

Yeah, trying to. We have already had a bunch of kids say they miss you, so you did a good job.

No, thank you. I need to just stop in. They're like, when you come, just make sure you visit. Like, yeah, I'll have to stop in, come see the, the expansion that you guys are doing over there.

Yeah, the expansion is going to be sweet. I think we're going to be about almost 15,000 effective, uh, square feet of training and performance and PT. So it's going to be For Pocatello, it's going to be stellar. You know what I'm saying?

For real. Yeah. I kind of just want to jump in there. I've heard the backstory a little bit, but what inspired you to want to work with high school athletes?

Man, I think, I mean, I've been coaching for, say, like 13 years now. And obviously being an athlete in my past makes it sound fun. What you learn is everyone in the industry That's what they first start wanting to do. Like everybody wants to do athletes and then at least most people, and then you end up kind of fitting the niche that makes the most sense for you. It's pretty competitive. So I just, you know, coached at Utah State after some injuries and then helped at University of Utah, worked with athletes throughout that and just kind of knew I really wanted to work with athletes. But what really made it like a non-negotiable for me was just as I started working with the youth. Realizing the trajectory of difference you can make in their life comparatively to like an adult. You can, you can make changes, but, you know, they're 40, 50 years old. They're, you know, the changes you make are not necessarily going to set their life off into a completely maybe different direction than they were headed or improve them as much. But with the youth, I mean, we get kids in here that, yeah, are boisterous and have confidence and whatnot. But we also get athletes that, you know, have a lot of self-doubt, don't believe in themselves, don't think they can do a lot of things. They always say, I can't, or I can't do this, or, you know, I'm not ready for that, whatever. So once I realized, like, we had sent some kids through after 3 years, 2 years, 3 years working with them, and they're just like kind of completely different individuals, and be able to watch that growth and that process, it really made me be like, man, I need to do this because I want to, I I want to help change kids' lives. I want to, you know, affect them in a big way and give them something that, you know, I had good coaches growing up, but something even beyond that, like an amazing experience that they could fall back to in tough times or, you know, as an adult and take some of the lessons they learned from working hard in a group with their peers and having failures and wins and, and different ways to shape, shape the feeling of failure, right? Like when you come in here and you don't succeed, our environment is very much, uh, a positive, it's a positive experience when you fail still. So it's like, okay, what do you do when it's a positive experience? Well, you're going to learn from it. So it's like, you're not afraid to kind of address that failure and then move forward and try again or find another way to accomplish that. So that's when I knew like, man, the, the way we can change people's lives is insane. And in my hometown, it wasn't an opportunity to train somewhere like we have now, so I wanted to bring it back to Pocatello and work with youth.

That's sick. As I thought about that, and I've noticed that working there for a little while, is, um, like you said, there is a safe place for kids to fail. And I feel like, I feel like sometimes when you're in your high school sport or when you're in your club sport, you feel like you almost can't because playing time's on the line, or you don't want your coach to think you're dumb or lesser or whatever. So like, I love that they have that safe place to go and, and to kind of learn that mindset too, because once you learn it there, you become more comfortable with it and you're, you're not as afraid to try new things outside of that gym. And it's almost— it's a good, it's a good place for learning. And like, obviously they're doing speed, you guys are doing speed and strength work and stuff, but I believe that that's going to translate into a lot of different aspects of their life, not just athletic. So that's pretty cool. Yeah.

Everybody gets to play here. That's the best part, right? Like everybody gets to be a part of the team. You know, we don't have to make that hard choice of like who's on the court and who's not. So everybody gets an opportunity to step in the ring and, and, uh, push themselves and, and be a part of it. So that's why I love the strength and conditioning side for sure.

What's been the most like rewarding part about working with these young kids?

Man, I, I would say Really the best texts I get from parents, it's just number one, that feedback from parents, just noticing a change in their child at home. I'd say my favorite is always the confidence part where they're like, man, my, you know, my kid's gotten faster, he got stronger, but just the way they carry themselves or the way that they're more assertive in sport or, you know, the grades are getting like I've had multiple parents be like, man, my kids' grades are getting better since they started coming in. Like, you know, they're doing better on the field and it, it's just as a whole, like their whole kind of attitude has shifted. I've seen that with handfuls of, of athletes we worked with that parents notice that heavily at home. So those are the, that's the kind of kids that you're like, you get 'em and they're borderline. And I'm like, man, you know, if you can make that shift, especially before they get out in the world by themselves. You can just, you know, change where they would've been, you know, in 15 years, what does their life look like versus potentially if they hadn't came in and built that self-confidence, right?

And so do you feel like it's the self-confidence that they, they get that bleeds into the rest of their life? Is it doing something hard and showing themselves that they're capable of bigger things? Like, what do you think, where do you think that kind of impact comes from?

Yeah, I think, I think those are one and the same. So I think, you know, you know, coming in, doing hard things, pushing themselves, getting uncomfortable. That's all— that all leads to, like, belief, right? So every day when you can come in and try something hard and walk out feeling like a win, you're just stacking, stacking wins. So a day at a time, right? And they might have some setbacks, whatever. But as long as they're coming in consistently stacking wins, it's really hard to not get back up when you get knocked down. And I think that's really the process, and that's big for— I know all the coaches that, you know, are here is like, it's a win every day. Like, the kids, it's going to be the best hour of their day. So I think we do a good job of that. Old school coaches call it soft. We do more of like that new age strength conditioning where, you know, kids are— I mean, we have all the data. We track all of it. That's what's unique too, is kids are getting better. But they're having a good time. Like the other day I was on the floor and I, sometimes you just in coach mode, you know, I just stepped back. So I was done with the group and watching like 4 other groups go and just watching the kids and how comfortable they are in here and the smiles on their face and like the interactions with each other and kids from all different schools and sports, like together in one environment with the same goal and just how happy they were. I was like, dude, this, Like, this is beyond what I ever imagined it would be. And I think that's why we're so successful is like a lot of kids make it a non-negotiable. Like, once they've been in here for a while, like if their parents were like, hey, you can't go anymore, they'd be like, I'll give up my sport to go in there. Like, we ran into that a couple times. So it's like something that they want to be a part of and they want to show up and train and be— and just like, that's why our business has grown because kids love it. They love being here and they love getting coached in a way. That's motivating and driving, but also like loving. Like that, I guarantee all the kids that come here know that their coach loves them.

So, yeah. When you were kind of mentioning that old school coaches would call it soft, that's one thing I learned from you guys in my time being there is more doesn't necessarily equal better. Better equals better. Can you talk about that? Like, there's a lot of parents listening here too. And I think that kind of the— obviously as we were growing up in sports, it was the more lines that you can run, the more, like, if you can make a kid puke, that's what a successful practice means. Like, can you kind of expound upon that?

Yeah. I mean, that's a big, it's a big one. It's like, even physiologically, it's, you know, really what you're trying to do with the athlete is continue to get progress while draining the battery the least amount possible. So these athletes are doing so much outside of our walls and we are aware of that and cognizant of that. And it's like, this is, this is kind of contrary to most, but like, what's the least amount we can do and continue to get better? Right? So what's the least we can drain? What's the most effective? Like, we always are exploring and trying different things and we track so we know, like, what's the least amount of input we can put in and, and not kill these athletes and then they continue to get better. So it's like a long-term athlete development. Looking at keeping the athlete healthy. I mean, healthy athletes are number one. Like, no matter how good you are, if you're injured all the time, you're not a great athlete, right? So it's part of that, right? And then just so minimum input for maximal output and seeing what we can get out of that. And that's, that's the driving philosophy, okay, is What, what's the least amount I can do? And then from there, athletes get better. And so we found that it's fairly effective, um, with especially with speed work. Like I think you'll see a lot of times people do too much. And I think the problem is with a lot of sports or strength and conditioning is they just think more is better. And when you actually understand, you know, developing speed, developing strength, um, it's kind of the, it's kind of the opposite of that when you look into the science of it.

So.

Conditioning is not going to get your athlete faster. So jogging slowly, like if you're, if you're an athlete, if your athlete's not a cross-country runner, they're not an athlete that's like long duration. They need to be fast and the faster, the faster they can get, right? The bigger speed reserve is what it's called. They have, so they'll look like they're in better shape because relative effort is lower. So like if a kid, so football is averagely played when we do GPS data on it, like 14 to 16 miles per hour. So if an athlete can sprint, let's say they come into us and they can run 17 miles an hour. It's pretty high effort to play a game at 14 to 16 miles an hour when it's almost max speed for them all the time.

Yeah, for sure.

So if we can get that athlete to run 20 miles an hour and the game is still played at 14 to 16, though each of those efforts, every play is going to be relatively lower effort and it's going to seem slower to them, right? Because they're faster. So I think there's this misconception of like, oh my, like my athlete's just not in good shape. I just think it's, they have to work, like you have to flip that mindset of like they have to work really hard just to be at the game speed. But if I can get athletes to where they're really comfortable way above that, and then they have to play slower, um, that's huge. And if you talk to any great athlete, I mean, they would probably say, I swear all my best games were, you know, I was kind of in the flow and everything felt slow. Like that's what you want. Everything to feel slow. Like when things are fast, it's hard to make good decisions. It's hard to be where you need to be at the right time. So, um, yeah, minimum, minimum a dose so they can stay healthy. Number 2, and then making sure you're doing things that are actually improving the markers for the athletes. So whether it's strength, whether it's speed, they need rest. They need, you know, we do pretty big breaks between sprints. I don't believe in a lot, a lot of coaches will be like, oh, we're doing sprint work. And they, You know, okay, we're going to run, you know, 100 yards, which is already pretty wild to run full speed 100 yards. And then, and then you get a 30-second rest and then you're back in line, 30-second rest, back on the line. And so by the middle of that, or even the second, third rep, your athletes are just jogging, right? So they're not developing speed at all. Um, in no way are they getting faster. You're actually probably just going to overload them and then next game day they're going to be slower. And, uh, That's just, that's just the big, the big thing that we believe in. And, you know, Pocatello basketball won state this year and they've had, you know, been state championship 3 years in a row and they bought into that. We've been training them for 4 years. They practice for an hour a day and they just do all, all the things like they just play a lot of game speed stuff. They do some situational stuff. They don't condition. And, you know, they've consistently been one of the best teams in the state. And they, I mean, I went and watched the state championship. They looked like they were in great shape, like, and so they don't spend a ton of time just running. It was more about keeping athletes healthy till the end of the season and peaking at the right time. I think a lot of times coaches try to do too much too soon. So that's kind of a long-winded answer to that, but—

No, it's awesome. I, um, I too, well, I wasn't there in person, but I watched that game and It's pretty awesome to see those athletes and what they could do, especially like they played Hillcrest and Hillcrest has some high-level athletes themselves. And so it was like, it was definitely a tough competition. They just didn't have a walk in the park or anything like that. But as you've been working closely with Pocatello and some of those awesome athletes who are gonna go on and do big things, like, do you feel like they did stay healthier than in— than other teams typically do, like if they would have been conditioning a ton?

I mean, here's the deal. We didn't— I mean, no one was injured at the end of the season. I don't think in the last 3 years. Everybody was able to play and they looked like they were in as good a shape, if not better shape than everyone else. And they were able to really run deep on the bench because, you know, they have everybody healthy. They have a lot of athletes. You know, it was really cool is that at state game you had a couple of guys step up that aren't like the star players. They were the guys that came in like when they were young, like Kessler is a good example. You know, he came in and you would have never thought that he would be like a standout on a state championship team, right? He, he came a long way, worked really hard. He's consistent for 3 years coming at least 2 times a week. Hardly missing. And he went from like, you know, maybe starting on JV to then he got sixth man his first— he got pulled up like at the end of his sophomore year onto varsity and, you know, got sixth man in the state tournament. And then, you know, had a great year the next year. And then this year he was one of the all-conference guys. And that wasn't just like a kid that— some kids walk in and I'm like, you're going to be really good no matter what. Yeah, but he, he put in that work, stayed healthy, trusted us, and, you know, was one of the deciding factors in that game was him and Dre, who are both not like the stars on the team at all. Like, it kind of came down to those role players. So that was huge. And it kind of speaks to the development of like being consistent in what you can accomplish, even if you're not the most gifted genetically because genetics play a huge part in sport whether people want to admit it or not. But yeah, man, they came in healthy, no injuries, and were able to kind of just use role players and, and people for minutes that, you know, Hillcrest's bench was not as deep and, and, you know, the stars get tired and it's like who, who's going to have those people that can step up and make a difference on the court or on the field, uh, throughout the entire game that, you know, aren't the people that have the limelight all the time.

Yeah, for sure. Um, with, uh, with speaking towards consistency, I, I would say most athletes— I don't know, what would you say in your gym? Like, how many kids are kind of like those insane, genetically blessed, God poured a little bit more speed and, and strength into them versus the rest? Like, how many of those type of athletes do you, do you work with versus the ones who who just really want to get good by being consistent, by showing up. And that's how, that's how they develop.

Let's say we have like 10% of kids that come in that you're like, okay, you're going to play college. Like you get them 8th grade, 9th grade, you're like, okay, it's pretty clear now after spending a lot of time coaching, like, okay, you guys are going to make it to college, you know, barring something crazy happens and play a sport. And then you've probably got like 90% or 80% that are like, Man, I could make you a great high school player and maybe like a lower and potentially a lower level college player and get your school paid for, get to play sports a little bit longer. Um, and then you got, we have 10% that don't even play sports. Like we have actually a handful of athletes that don't even play sports that just want to get better, want to be able to run faster, want to be able to lift weights and just kind of improve themselves for whatever motivating reasons they have. And those are some of my favorite as well, but Winning the genetic lottery is, you know, it's not— you can't do anything about it and it's not very common. And especially in a small town of Pocatello, you know, there's going to be that handful of athletes that, you know, are going somewhere, but there's 80% of them that, you know, if they work their butts off, they can potentially get their school paid for, right? And go play at a lower level and continue to play a sport they love. And we promote that highly. Like, we don't care. You know, whether they go to University of Utah or they go to Treasure Valley, like that's a win either way. And we're stoked for them. And there's no like glorification put on the bigger stuff versus the smaller stuff. It's just, you know, taking that step that's available to you and is realistic to you. And ultimately like that work paying off and becoming, coming to fruition where you get, you know, you get an education at a cheaper rate than you would, which is a huge win.

So, well, for sure. And then I think people forget. I mean, I was one of those athletes who forgot about it. Like, it was either D1 or bust for a lot of athletes of like, I failed if I didn't make it to Division I. But I think that people forget, like, 3% of the entire, like, 3% of athletes go on to play. Yeah. College sports, whether that's Division I or JUCO, like you're part of the top 3% still. And so in no way is that a failure. And I don't know, how do you drive that home to your athletes?

I think, I think we haven't really had to say much other than just like lead by example. Like, you know, when somebody gets a, like I said, they get a big offer, small offer, like we're going to go to signing, we're going to show up, we're going to take a picture, we're going to post about it, we're going to hang a flag. Like just the result in the gym, like what the athletes experience, whether it's a big school or small school, is the same. So I think athletes just, you know, pay attention to that, notice that, and everyone's celebrated for those wins. And, you know, just subconsciously, those athletes kind of buy into that because that's what they see is like, man, you know, sweet, Treasure Valley, huge, let's go. Like, that's awesome. You know, you're getting your school paid for. We're going to be just as proud of that as we are someone going to a big school. So I think it's just leading by example in that regard. We don't really have to have very many conversations. Like I've talked to individuals and been like, you know, they're kind of bummed about the level that they got because they, in their mind, they were better than that. So it's just framing that conversation of like, let's look at the positives of this, right? You get to keep playing. Most of the time people don't get to keep playing and, you know, you get to go take that education and not either come out with loans or put that burden on your parents. And it's a huge win for your family and for your future. Yeah, just letting them— giving them the mindset. Like, I made a video that I shared with all of them on YouTube about that, just the percentages of people that play college sports all the way from NAIA to D1. And, you know, like you said, it's a huge win no matter what level you go to because there's a lot of people out there that want what you have, want that Treasure Valley opportunity that don't get it.

Right. Yeah, for sure. Um, with— if I was like an athlete, a part of that 80%, which obviously most athletes are part of that, and say I didn't have the blessing of having Hanson Athletics in my community, where would I even start? Like you said that we need to work our butts off, we need to get bigger, stronger, faster, and do all these things. Like if I'm this athlete who just doesn't really have any direction, What would be your advice to me? Like, where would I even start?

Yeah, like if you weren't in the area to, to come in, I would say, you know, I'd have that conversation of number one, like obviously sport strength conditioning need to happen. Everybody's doing it. So, you know, if you don't have somebody to lead you, you know, and as long as you're blessed enough to have like a gym in your area or, uh, just a commercial gym, whatever. There's a lot of ways to get guidance. Like for, there's tons of people out there that do it and we do it as well. Like we have online training programs. We have athletes, especially we have a lot of volleyball girls around the state of Idaho that live all over the place that kind of follow our, the same workouts that our athletes do on site. So, and that's like $27 a month. So there's, there's really low barrier entries to kind of get some guidance on your workouts. Um, so I think if, if your mind's in the right place, you can make it happen. You just have to. It takes a lot, it takes a lot of dedication and discipline to be able to do it remotely and not have that accountability system of coming into the facility, right? So I'd say you, that's number, that's a big thing. Like you have to, I mean, really, if you're in that top 10%, you can probably get away without doing any strength conditioning in high school. But, um, if you're in that 80%, you know, you're going to have to because everybody else, like there's a lot of people in that 80% that know that and are working hard and are at a facility in their location. Especially in today's world. Like when I was in high school, that wasn't the case. Most people just lifted weights at school in their program. And, um, now I feel like almost everyone, there's a majority of athletes that are also getting extra, more specialized help outside of high school weights. And then I would say, speaking to what you do, like if you wanna, if you really are dedicated, it's like, okay, what are some other factors I can control that are going to help push me forward, push the needle 1%, 2%, 3%. And that's going to be, you know, nutrition. So learning, investing, or, you know, tons of free resources out there on, you know, eating as an athlete. Um, so nutrition is going to be huge. Actually, you know, being disciplined on sleep and sleeping, uh, you know, 8 hours or more every night, even, even if you have to miss out on some stuff, like those are a couple of ways that you can. You can separate yourself. And then lastly, I'd obviously say mindset. So like whether it's meditation, whether it's visual— visualization of like your sport or having successes or whatever, like spending time visualizing where you want to be, how you're going to get there, and practicing that in your mind before the situations come. I mean, those are 3 things that most athletes aren't doing, you know, even if they're, you hitting it hard in training and skill work and strength conditioning, you know, most of them probably aren't really dialing in nutrition or making sure they sleep or, you know, walking through those mental reps. So those are the ways I'd say, like, if you couldn't come in, that'd be the advice I'd give you. And, you know, if you really dove into that, I think it would really help push the needle.

I agree. I, um, Obviously, you know me and you know that that's kind of what I preach, but I find that a lot of athletes almost think that when they hear those answers, those kind of primary answers of, you know, make sure you're getting your sleep, make sure you're eating right, just different stuff like that, I almost feel like it's— they take it as if it's their mom saying, hey, like, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or hey, eat your veggies. It's just kind of like, yeah, yeah, okay, like, whatever. And you just kind of move on and said I can make it, which is true. I've talked— I've interviewed a lot of athletes who have had a lot of success, and, um, they can get away for a while with— without dialing in on the nutrition and the sleep and such, but it catches up to you eventually. There's, there's the law of the harvest that I've always been a huge believer in, is what you plant is— you reap what you sow. So if you plant good seeds and you take care of them, you're going to get good fruit and good vegetables out of it, right? But one thing that I've been learning more and more, especially as athletes and as speaking towards consistency that you were talking about, is you reap more than you sow if you can consistently put time in. Like, if you think about it, you put a couple seeds in, but you get a whole lot more fruit than that couple seeds. And so how that could apply for sports and nutrition and all this in general is, yeah, you could spend 1 or 2 days trying to eat healthy and it's not going to do anything for you. But if you can stack days, if you can have days where you just are consistent and you're consistently training, you're consistently fueling your body, and you're consistently sleeping right, like you said, 8 hours, 8 to 9 hours, the sleep of champions, the compound effect will come into play and big things will happen just through simple things. Athletes kind of look for a magic pill or another supplement or something to elevate their game. And it really is just that those small, simple things that can compound and produce massive results. And I think people overlook that a lot.

Yeah. And that's just like strength. I mean, that's the same thing, like in the gym, I feel like people are always looking for all these special, unique exercises and it's like, it really comes down to the basics. Same as what we're talking about with habits. Like The best are the best because they're really good at the basics. And I like your— it's going to catch up to you. I like your point there because it's like, okay, let's say you're— you don't have to do anything to be a good high school athlete. You know, you're going to go play college. Cool. Odds are in college you're going to be around a bunch of other people that are just like you. And now that skill level is higher. They were the kids in high school that didn't have to work hard. And so now you're in the middle of the pack and it's like, It caught up to you, or you're that freak that, you know, you might make it to the NFL or you might make it to the NBA, but as soon as you show up there, you know, the guys again that were doing those little things since they've been in high school are going to be ahead of you when you show up to the NBA, NFL. So no matter what level, you know, realistically you have of going, there's always going to be value in compounding that work early because, you know, you're gonna run into, as you go through those pools of athletes and, you know, obviously smaller and smaller percentages make it to the top and you're not just gonna have that genetic gift above everyone else because everyone there is that, is that 10% athlete, you know what I'm saying? So it's gonna catch up to you no matter what. And, you know, you're probably gonna at some point regret not putting that effort in when, you know, you had people telling you, you had coaches telling you, you had parents telling you, you know, and you just thought, you know, I'll be fine because I'm good at this level or, you know, so those are all huge things. And that's kind of hard in retrospect. It's hard to get athletes to understand that when they're young, you know, being older and it's easy for us to see, harder for them to see. So any way that we can convey that and keep it in like a fun manner, I think is important. So you can instill those habits early.

Yeah, I was talking to a girl, her name is Mercedes Staples. She played for San Diego State University and she broke the 3-point record there and she's working for the BYU women's team now. But we were talking about her experience at San Diego and I kind of asked her that. I always like asking people the nutrition questions and just kind of getting their take on it. And she said for the first 3 years— well, she, she played 5 years— so she said for the first 4 years, the nutritionists would come in, they'd give their spiel, they'd tell them like, yeah, you, you'll have more energy, you'll have this and that with nutrition. And she just kind of, like most athletes do, put it on the back burner. She's like, I'm just here to hoop, like, I'm good, I'm, I'm fine, I'm, I'm performing okay. And, and she said that later on though, she she kind of wanted to change her build a little bit. And so she sat down with some coaches and she said, all right, teach me, like, teach me really what I need to be doing and why. And she said it was way simpler than she ever thought like it would be. I think that that's what a lot of athletes do, is that it has to be this extreme shift and they can never eat out again and they can never have treat skin, which is not true at all. And there can be some very simple shifts that can make massive results for the game and for the results that you're putting in. But what she had said though, is that she finally, it finally clicked once she tested it out. She just decided to experiment on it. And she said like, she could last so much longer in games. She was a very key player on their team. And so obviously she had to have a lot of playing time. And so she was able to basically have those energy reserves kind of similar to the speed stuff that you were talking about. If we could get it to the point, like, sure, if you have 75% capacity in your glycogen storages, as we call it, those muscle tanks, fuel tanks, like, yeah, you'll be able to play pretty well. But when the fourth quarter hits or when like the very key moments in the game come up and you're only able to give 50%, that's tough. Like you've worked really, you've worked too hard to only be able to put 50% in those big situation type games. And so that's what I talk to my athletes about is I'm like, hey, like you can make it through most of the game without taking a look at your nutrition. But if you just make these minor, these very minor tweaks and changes, like imagine going 100% in the fourth quarter when all the other athletes around you can only go 50, you know, like how big of a difference that can make. I never say that like, I don't think nutrition's gonna make the athlete or anything like that, but I definitely think that nutrition and recovery and all of these great things is going to set that athlete apart, especially in the deeper parts of the game.

Yeah. And an easy way to visualize it is like, imagine feeling in the fourth quarter like you did in the second quarter, you know, like easy. Like, yeah, that would be great if I was able to feel the same way, you know? That I was, because I started the game at 75%, but, you know, you start doing the right things and now you start the game at 100%. And it's like, you know, you finish the game at, you know, 75%, 50%, and then you're going to be able to recharge faster for the next game too. Because if you think about the compounding, you know, cost throughout the season on your energy stores and your tank and your ability to recover with all the other stuff you're going to be required to do, because I promise if you show up to college, you're going to be required to lift weights, you're going to be required to probably condition more than I like, and all those are going to have a cost. And if you aren't able to keep that tank high to where you can actually get it back to 100% by the end of the season, you might be down to starting games at 30% instead of 50% or instead of 70%, you know. So it's like you got to think long-term and, you know, how am I going to make it through this whole season, not just this game, healthy and being able to perform at the highest level? And that's when it's most important. Important, right, is at the end, so.

And I think that even looking beyond that, I mean, 30% players, that's when you start getting hurt. That's when injuries start happening. That's when, like, people's worst nightmares come to fruition is, it's just sad to see. And I'm not saying that it, that totally, like, there's some athletes who sleep 8 hours a night and who, eat how I would love them to be eating and who train as hard as they can and follow exactly what their coaches say and they still tear an ACL and that's really unfortunate. But I think the likelihood of, just the likelihood of it goes down. If you can just kind of cross your T's and dot your I's and make sure you're doing those small things as we've been talking about that really don't take much extra time at all.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think athletes, and this is what I talk to the athletes I work with, I'm like, I really only wanna work with athletes who want to maximize their potential. And they're the ones that take it the most serious. They're the ones that don't waste my time or their parents' money or anything like that. Like it's the athletes who, like if those who are listening to me now, those are the ones who want to be great. They don't wanna just be better than the other kids on their high school team. Like they want to show up and, be able to compete at high, high levels of sport, whether it be college or pro. They want to maximize their potential, which is pretty cool to see.

Yeah. From your opinion, you know, I've watched the handful of athletes you're working with from our gym and, you know, Martin always comes to mind because he's the guy that will do whatever you tell him. And I mean, he's noticeably had more energy and has put on weight and is looking looking really good in here, and I feel like his strength conditioning work is paying off, uh, compounding, like you said. Now, what do you— so I have an idea in my head, but I want to hear, like, commonly with these guys, these youth athletes you're working with, you know, would you say that they're— I feel like a lot of them feel like they're overeating. Would you say they're overeating or under eating?

Like the ones who are just generally coming in?

Yeah, well, just the people, the people that you're working with, like when you first talk to them. Or you start working with them? Yeah.

What, like? Yeah, let's take, let's take Martin for instance. He came in thinking he was overeating, like eating too much, and he was eating about 1,000 calories below what we have him at right now. Yeah. So I think a lot of kids just kind of see Instagram or see what other bodybuilders are doing and kind of just say, yeah, chicken and rice, like I'll do it. But athletes need to realize that they need to fuel themselves a lot. Differently than a guy training for a bodybuilder competition or something like that. Our goals are completely different. We're training for, obviously, muscle growth, but we want that to translate into performance. And so with Martin, we can— I've made it very simple for them to dial in how much protein, carbs, and fats their body is able to be getting in. And he's able to maybe plan for his week in 10, 15 minutes. And just off of like that 15-minute planning session, he's seeing all these massive gains that, like, that you're able to be witnessing as well. Yeah. Obviously, like, he wouldn't be having those without showing up and doing the work that you guys are giving him, but it's definitely helped.

Yeah, I mean, his training hasn't changed drastically in terms of volume or consistency. And, you know, in a couple months he put on 15 pounds of muscle. So it's just like giving your body what it needs and You know, we're talking about a male athlete here and one of my, you know, if I could hammer home something to my female athletes, like I just by being on the floor, watching, observing, like a majority of them under eat for sure. And, uh, it's kind of frustrating cuz you just see like how much they want this, how hard they're working, but then they have all this pressure, societal pressure, whatever. They're seeing stuff on Instagram, like you said, of people giving out nutrition advice and whatnot. And everybody wants to obviously be lean and skinny and it's like, Just to hammer home the, like, the fact that, you know, we're not talking like you need to be eating more and not because you want, need to get bigger. It's because you just need to match the amount of effort that you're putting in, you know, between the two sports you're playing and coming in and training at the facility. Like, you need to at least get to that baseline of where you can recover and be healthy. And I mean, I've seen females that start eating more. Actually drastically improve their body composition towards the goals that they, you know, had in their head by eating more instead of actually eating less.

So that's a first. I completely agree. And especially like if you're able to kind of, and it doesn't have to be to the exact gram or anything like that, but make sure that they're eating enough protein, make sure that they're eating enough carbs. But like, I think people forget that food is fuel. It's not just stuff you put in your body. It literally— like, if we put premium— I always, I always talk about this with kids. I'm like, hey, like, what would you put into a Lamborghini, like a $500,000 car? And they said the best fuel possible. And I'm like, okay, so you get one body, you can't go out and buy another body. Like, how— what type of fuel should you be putting in that? And they're like, oh, like the best fuel possible. And so, and that's when I say, like, you can still have a Snickers, you can still enjoy a donut or something like that, but It's all about kind of getting down to the what nutrients are we giving your body and are we giving it enough? Like you were saying, like so many, let's talk just about a female athlete for a minute. Like they're doing a lot. For one, like they've hit puberty and so they're having their bodies constantly growing. Like their bones need to get bigger and stronger. And I mean, that's a lot of long-term health stuff that we could talk about, but just short-term, They're going to multiple practices. They're coming into your gym 2, 3 times a week. They're wanting to put on muscle. They're just burning a whole lot of calories and they might be eating 1,500. And that amount of calories isn't even enough to keep their body the healthiest if they were sitting in bed all day. Like their baseline, their basal metabolic rate, that's not enough. To be fueling them. And so then that's when sicknesses can come in. That's when injuries can come in. And so, like you said, I would love to just hammer home for these athletes, girls and boys, like, imagine, like, you're already this good. Imagine what you could do if you just make a couple of tweaks. Yeah. You know, and I, and I found with a lot of my athletes too, if it's really not that hard, it just takes a little bit more remembering and guidance of like, Hey, make sure you're eating between second and third hour. Make sure you're grabbing a snack. Like, here's some snacks to keep in your backpack as you're driving over to Hanson's or whatever it may be like that. Just keeping it super simple and giving them solutions instead of more problems.

Yeah, 100%. No, that's right on the dot. And hopefully any kids listening to this can kind of, you know, take that advice is eat more, you know, just try to make better, it can be simple. Just try to make better choices if you're not in a position to, hire someone to help. It's like, you know, people inherently mostly know what's better for them, what's not. Just think about whole foods and just eat more. You know, and I'd rather you have the problem of like you're eating too much and you're like maybe gaining a little bit of weight and you're like, okay, I need to dial it, like I'd rather have that so you're in here performing well and at least providing everything you need versus the opposite of that where you're under eating and now you're, nat— like your joints are achy, you're, you're, uh, having a hard time recovering and you're, you know, seizing up and getting cramps in practice and like all, all these little aches and pains you have, not necessarily are because you're under eating, but they can be. Like, that's one thing that you can control. You know, even if it's, even if your parents are not making the highest quality food, it's like eat more, just eat more at first and figure out, you know, where you're at because Obviously there's obesity problems in this country, but like our youth athletes that we're seeing, that's not the issue, right? Like it's a completely different issue. Most of these kids are not overeating, they're under eating in my experience.

I agree with you. I think that, I mean, I work just depending, I meet the athlete where they are. And so even if athletes aren't working with me, the biggest advice I'd give them, like you just said is, Hey, like the first step is eat more. That's level 1. Just add a little bit more than what you think you should be eating. Just add a little bit more to the plate, especially if you're having trouble gaining weight. And then the second step, we kind of look at the quality of food. And so we say, okay, so let's make sure we're getting protein, carbs, fats, different stuff like that. And then we take it up an even bigger step and we say, okay, like let's look at the timing. When should you be eating it? Like, let's make sure you're eating before your games, after your games, this is what you should be eating. So I work in levels or tiers. Years with athletes. I don't expect an athlete to start like in at a level 1 and jump to a level 10. I think it's definitely just small and simple steps to seeing the big gains. It's really not very hard. Yeah, simplicity is the best, the best that someone can do. So if parents are wondering what to do, I'm like, just feed, feed your kids, give them fruits, give them vegetables, give them protein every meal, and that's a good, that's a good start.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think, I think it's just like too, as parents, like if I could talk to the parents, it's, you can't control everything, but trying to just control or trying to have some input into where your kids are getting information from, like social media makes it really hard. But you know, if you can tune them into like, you know, ask, ask me, ask Kelsey Higginson, ask some, you know, coaches you trust on like, what are some good influences on Instagram, TikTok that are actually kind of preaching this? And, and then be like, hey, you know, ask your kids to follow them. So at least a little bit of their feed starts to be information along that way. Cause if they're going to be absorbing information every day via social media, you can't control that. But what you can do is try to just shape a little bit of what they're seeing. And, uh, you know, doing that legwork to figure out some good resources. That you can turn your kids onto that they can just start to take that in on their own and start to see that and see that example versus maybe what they're getting just naturally through the, through the feed. Because a lot of these coaches online and a lot of these people, they're not, they're not speaking to athletes. They're speaking to like insecure adults that are, you know, they're trying to make some money off them wanting to lose weight or, you know, insecurities with their body. But I mean, these kids are not that yet. I mean, there can be some insecurities, but it's like they really should be in that performance mindset as a youth versus, oh, something's wrong with me, I need to change, you know?

Yeah, it's hard to— it's tough to navigate that, especially with how many influencers are out there, especially as a girl. I— like we were just kind of talking about in the past of Girls obviously are always— most of them are self-conscious about how they look. And so like you said, they equal food to fat gain and they don't want that. But I, like you said, I think just educating these girls on, hey, if you eat more and if you eat these things, you're probably going to come out looking— not that it matters what they look like, but you're probably going to come out performing way better and looking kind of closer to what you would hope for instead of just starving yourself. Because that makes me so sad, seeing girls think that the only way to get to be acceptable or fit society or whatever like that, they need to stop eating, which is very much not the case. I hope that we can debunk that in the next decade, that that can kind of go away.

Yeah. And that's, that's, I mean, that's one of my pet peeves, I think, too, is even, even like In person is going to be even a stronger influence than online. And I don't feel like a lot of parents do a good enough job at vetting, um, you know, either nutritionists or mostly in my experience strength and conditioning coaches on like what kind of influence they're going to have on your kid. Like what's the environment? Number one, like, okay, obviously training, looking into how they train athletes. Are they getting results? Is it healthy? Do they have injuries? But also like what's the message that they're sending? Like if a kid comes in, let's say your kid's a little bit over, like, you know, needs to lose a little weight or your kid's super skinny. Like, what's the message that, how is the strength coach going to relay, you know, these improvements to 'em and, and the information and like what kind of manner are they gonna be promoted? Like I've heard all the time, even in our own area, like sport coaches telling girls like, yeah, you know, you need to lose weight to be faster or, you know, you need to, uh, it's almost never like they never tell a skinny athlete anything really. It mostly seems like, you know, if they look at a girl and their body doesn't look quite like another girl's body that's faster, like, well, you need to look more like X and X to do this, which is not the case at all. Like, if you look at athletes, there's all kinds of different body types that are successful and, and, you know, fast and strong. And so, you know, and the damage that can be done, um, by someone that the kids put their trust, like a coach that their kids put their trust into. Whether, you know, they're highly impressionable. So whether it was a smart choice to trust that coach or not, it's like what they say matters and it really affects the kid. And so I think it's important for parents to be a little bit more of an active buyer when it comes to coaches their kids are working with and facilities they're going to and whatnot. Like I've had one, I've had two parents in 7 years come in for training and, uh, or for our assessment and actually, you know, asking my background or what certifications I hold or, you know, anything along the credibility line, like whether that's good or bad, like, and we have a good reputation now, but I do wish sometimes parents were a little more active in, in the hiring and with somebody that your kid's going to spend time with in person, you know.

Yeah, that's great. I think that's great advice. There's just so much. Information, so many people out there, and you don't— I mean, your kids are thinking— I only have an 8-month-old, but thinking of him in the future, like, I'm gonna be very picky of who I let influence him. Yeah. Um, like, not even from a sporting perspective, like, yeah, like with coaches and stuff, but teachers, uh, friends, other, other adults. Like, just kids are very moldable. Um, up until probably the age 18 to 20 is they can— they're very moldable, and it makes a big difference of who you can have around them. So it's, it's awesome that they have people like you, because yeah, if, if you were just kind of this jerk who told girls to go start losing weight and this and that, like, parents would probably subscribe to that and start repeating what you say, and then, and that's just going to drive the problem deeper and deeper as we've been talking about. So I like that advice a lot. That's, I'm gonna take that and use that.

Yeah, 100%.

Sure.

Here's the thing too, is it's like, okay, let's say you're a little uncomfortable with like your knowledge of, okay, what would I even ask a strength and conditioning coach? Right? It's like, find a coach that you trust or whatever. Like even if I don't know you and you listen to this podcast and you, you, you know, get ahold of me, I'm happy to like, you think about taking your kid to a facility, I'm happy to have a phone call with that facility and I like, just gauge over like 10 minutes whether— I can ask a lot of questions that would give me a good insight into kind of what they do and how they do it. You know, I would be happy to do that for people, and I'm sure people can find other, you know, talk to other parents that have had their kids there, you know, find a professional that they know, you know, from their past or whatnot that they trust and be like, hey, would you have a conversation with, with this facility I'm about to bring my kid into and invest like the next 3 years into? So Um, there's people willing out there willing to help you. And, uh, you know, just make sure you just do your homework before, before you, you buy something like that where your kid's going to be, you know, in person and being influenced.

So yeah, I think parents don't realize how willing coaches like you and like me and people, we want to help athletes. Like, that's why we're in this business. We're not necessarily like, of course you got to make make a living or whatever, but could you— could do that in a lot of other ways than working with high school kids. And so I think that parents underestimate how much coaches will actually help if you find someone you trust and how much they want to see your kids succeed. So I love that. Well, I have one more question and then I'll let you go, but, uh, you work— you work with a lot of athletes, you work with a lot of different people, but If like, as your athletes leave your gym, um, or go on and like move away, what is the one thing that you want to leave with them and remember? Like, okay, Coach Darren said that.

Yeah.

I think like, what do you want them to remember you by?

Um, there's a lot of things. Like I, I want them to, number one, I guess down to the root of it, walk away with a love for, um, improving themselves physically and mentally. So. If I had to pick one thing, that's it. Like if a kid goes and plays college sport, whether they do or don't, number one, if they do, they show up and they're already in love with that process and the work, and they'll be able to drastically get ahead of their other peers that aren't when they are showing up on a sports team and also get buy-in from coaches because they're showing up ready to go. They understand how to do things. They like to be there. It's not a fight to get them there and they become leaders. And for the kids that don't go to college, like if you love this stuff and you like to, we have a lot of kids that follow our online after they graduate that are at college now that like, they're not playing a sport, but they're like, man, that's when I feel and do the best in life is when I'm, you know, I'm sprinting and I'm jumping and I'm lifting weights and I'm staying healthy. And I think I, I'm biased, but I think a lot of the, I think a lot of mental health is tied to physical health. Like I do think. A lot of times when people are struggling with, you know, depression or things like that, like movement, getting their body in a better situation tends to have the mind follow. So, uh, just keeping athletes in love with training. And most of the time in the past, what I've seen in talking to others is, you know, they come outta sports with a kind of a hate or a discomfort with strength and conditioning or training their bodies because they were kind of forced to do it. And they didn't enjoy it and it wasn't a good experience. So number one, like I said, just walking out with a love of improvement and a love of taking care of their body. Like you said, you know, you get one body. Like if you think of $500,000 Lamborghini, $500,000 Lamborghini is cool. Like what's your body worth to you? Because that's the only one you get. You can't trade it in. You can't sell it. Like, it's like, man, that's, that's what you get. So what are you going to do? What are you going to do with that? How are you going to make sure that it serves you? The best throughout your life. And I, I just truly believe like training like an athlete, like I think that's how the human body is supposed to train is just like to be able to do these tasks that are not novel, like lift a little weight, sprint, move fast. If you can move fast, you can move slow. So keeping that high part of the pyramid intact so that you can do everything else for the rest of your life. Like as long as I can kind of run fast for myself at my age, like, let's say I'm 60 and I can kind of do something that looks like a sprint, I guarantee I'll be able to walk upstairs, I'll be able to sit down, I'll be able to play with my grandkids, or I'll be able to put something in the cupboard. Like, keeping those high, you know, tip of the pyramid abilities intact. And so loving the training and loving the process is gonna allow them to do that and overall lead to higher quality lives. And that's, that's what I, that's what I want. Like, I don't care I like that they go to colleges. We have like 65 banners up now. It's really cool. Crazy. But I don't care. Like it's, it's really about teaching them how to enjoy the benefits of doing this stuff. Like I, like I'm 32 and I feel amazing. Like I'm not old yet technically, but I know a lot of people my age that have lost a lot of capabilities already by 32. And I think it's a struggle for them. So yeah, setting them up for success. That's, That's it.

Love it. Thanks so much, Darren. Thanks for taking the time and talking to me. And I, I mean, if I would have had knowledge that we talked about here back when I was 16, 17, that would have made a huge difference. I appreciate this and you taking the time to give some of your golden nuggets.

Yeah, of course. I think we all do. That's why we started this is like, man, what, you know, what, where could our career been a little bit better if, you know, we had the opportunity to learn this stuff and experience it younger, right? I always think about that. So that's why we do it.