Magness & Marcus On Coaching

Every sport has the items that many of us seem to believe, that are ingrained in the history of the sport, that have no foundation or backing. In this episode, we explore those half-truths. We’re aided by a pamphlet written fifty years ago, with insight that we’ve forgotten. If you haven’t yet, check out Steve’s…

Athletes stress out…a lot! And once you are in stressed mode, it’s hard to get out of it. You can’t sleep hours after competing because your mind is still racing and your body is still buzzing. You can’t let go of the tough loss. It lingers. In this episode, we talk about how to move…

Welcome to this special bonus issue. Steve does his best revisionist history impression, telling you the story of Paul Bear Bryant’s famous Junction Boys football camp, while discussing the origins of ‘old school toughness.’ This is adapted from his new book Do Hard Things, which you can check out wherever books are sold. It’s currently…

Individualizing training is easy at the professional level. You’ve got a handful of athletes, all very good, and can adjust as needed. In larger settings, it’s much more difficult. The athlete’s abilities are spread out, there’s only one of you, and practice can be more akin to herding cats. In this episode, we explore how…

Racing is a skill. How do we get comfortable in a pack? Running from the front, or perhaps stuck in the back? How do you deal with the rising tension of a tactical race? Steve and Jon discuss all of this in more in helping your athletes develop the skills of racing! If you haven’t…

How do you handle pain, fatigue, and discomfort? Do you look for a hole to step into or do you work your way through? In this episode, we discuss Steve’s new book Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and The Surprising Science of Real Toughness. The book is out and available now! If…

What game are you playing? We all may think we are all running the same race. A 1,500m race in high school is the same as in college, and the same as in the pro’s. That’s incorrect. In this week’s episode, we use an obscure book on tennis, written by the developer of Intercontinental Ballistic…

One piece of advice I always give coaches is: Always have somewhere to go. The younger your athletes, the more important this is. We should leave room to develop and grow. In this episode, we take on the debate on whether we should maximize everything, or if we should leave something in the tank for…

“He’s a headcase!” We’ve all heard it as coaches. Maybe we’ve even said it. In this episode, Jon and Steve discuss why this is the wrong approach to take. It’s a self-limiting mindset, that allows the coach to blame the athlete, shirk responsibility, and in doing so defer their responsibility to help figure out what’s…

We are all an experiment of 1! We often talk about individualization in coaching. In this episode, we talk about the contrast between applying your training program to a group, versus adapting your training program to the individual. We discuss how to let go of your preferred philosophy and try something different. Steve & Jon…

If running is going bad do you feel crushed? In this episode, we discuss the importance of letting go, of diversifying your sense of identity, in order to free you up to perform. Steve & Jon Visit our Sponsor The Scholar Program is our one-stop-shop for all things coaches education. And we’ve added a new…

How does your viewpoint impact your coaching? In this episode, we discuss how sometimes we get comfortable employing the same style of training, and it makes it where we aren’t open to considering or exploring new ideas. In this episode, we talk about how to keep open-minded, to adopt an explorers mindset Steve & Jon…

Often, in racing we play it safe. We don’t take the risk. We focus on times instead of competing. In this episode, we talk about how to be brave in racing. How do we train athletes to take appropriate risks, to go for it, to attempt the breakthrough. Steve & Jon Visit our Sponsor The…

In this episode, we take on an important but difficult topic: the differences between coaching men and women. In this episode, we cover differences in biology and psychology, and how that impacts what you do in training. From handling bodily shifts and changes and creating appropriate expectations, to understanding the impact of comparison and competition.…

Training is messy. Progress is not linear. In this episode, we get real. We talk about the messiness of training. How do we handle setbacks, what do we do when things go wrong, and when a workout is going rough? We cover it all in this week’s episode! Steve & Jon Visit our Sponsor The…

In the 1960’s Percy Cerutty made the claim that 1/3 of your training should be non-running. Does this hold up or not as a useful heuristic? In this episode, we examine the training aspects outside of running to see where they fit in, and what they may entail. From weights to hills to bounding to…

What workouts give you the biggest bang for your buck? In this episode, we go through the best workouts for the mid-distance, track distance, and long distance races. What workout has the biggest bang for your buck for aerobic or anaerobic development? We’ve got you covered. Learn why Jon says, “when you don’t know what…

How do you know what’s right? Do you buy into a particular program or coaching style, neglecting anything that runs counter? Or do you get lost in the complexity of training? In this episode, we go back through history, looking at how coaching and training evolved so that we can better understand how to deal…

Too often in coaching, we get stuck. We tie ourselves to one training method, one training system. We approach things from an energy systems model, neglecting the biomechanical, neuromuscular, or psychological. In this episode we discuss how to get unstuck. We need to diversify our thinking, be able to go against our bias. We discuss…

What do you do when an athlete is headed in the wrong direction, when their performance doesn’t match up with their training? You give them a down week. This oft-neglected component to training is essential. Too often, we schedule in down weeks once every 4 weeks, when we should have more flexibility for when we…