Lifestyle

S2E42: Training Philosophy, Building Better Athletes & Coach Burnout w Jorge Carvajal

SEASON 2, EPISODE #42

Dr. Bubbs sits down with expert Strength and Conditioning Coach Jorge Carvajal to talk about why his training philosophy starts with “people first”, how to build trust with athletes and the importance of failure in the learning process. He also talks about how strength and conditioning coaches are effectively load managers, the lessons he learned working in NCAA college football and coaching in Russia, and common mistakes made by young coaches. Jorge also shares how the “other 22-hours” in the day impact an athlete's load and why sleep (and naps) and getting the training process right are his big rocks in the recovery process.

Summary of This Episode

1:30 – Coach Carvajal’s “People First” philosophy

4:45 – How to build athlete “buy-in”?

8:45 – Strength coach are effectively load managers

12:45- Roadblocks to effective load management

21:00 – Training lessons learned in NCAA football

24:30 – Getting outside your comfort zone – Working in Russia

31:45 – Lessons learned from early career mistakes

36:50 – Different mindset working with military and special ops

45:10 - How getting back to nature support mental health & performance

52:15 – Building the life you want & defining success

58:30 – Common traits of great coaches 


About Jorge Carvajal

Jorge Carvajal is a performance coach and consultant who has worked with elite athletes in multiple sports and the tactical world for over twenty five years. He has trained thousands of athletes at the University of Florida, the University of Nebraska, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, along with numerous professional athletes from the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, World Surf League Big Wave Tour surfers, and much more. Follow Jorge on Twitter @carvperformance.


S2E41: Athletes, Exercise Immunology & Immuno-Nutrition w Dr. David Pyne PhD

Season 2 Episode #41

Dr. Bubbs interviews expert physiologist Dr. David Pyne PhD to talk exercise immunology and keeping athletes cold and flu free. In this episode, Dr. Pyne reviews the fundamentals of immunology and how the immune system is regulated by exercise and nutrition. He’ll discuss how training volume, intensity and load impact immunity, and more importantly, why keeping athletes cold and flu free is paramount for athletic success. Dr. Pyne also discusses the key immunity biomarkers and how effective they may (or may not) be at flagging at-risk athletes. Finally, he dives into the topic of immune-nutrition and how the food you eat, and supplements like probiotics, can impact athlete immunity and therefore ability to train and compete. 

Summary of Episode

2:40 – Immunology 101 – Review of the fundamentals

8:00 – How exercise impacts immune function

9:45 – How to manipulate exercise to support immunity

13:00 – Immunity biomarkers and assessment

16:00 – Importance of lifestyle factors in supporting immunity

18:30 – Impacts of probiotics on immunity

21:45 – Can probiotics reduce severity and/or duration of infection?

26:00 – Impact of carbohydrate on athlete immunity

28:00 – Impact of omega-3 on inflammation and immunity

31:30 – Role of supplements in immunity – research & practice

33:00 – Extreme temperatures and impact on immunity

36:00 – Recovery strategies and immunity

38:00 – Dr. Pyne’s reflections on 30 years of work in exercise and immunology


About Dr. David Pyne PhD

Dr. David Pyne PhD is a sports physiologist with 30 years practical and research experience across a range of individual and team sports such as, basketball, rugby union, rugby league, Australian Football, cricket and swimming at the Australian Institute of Sport and national levels. David has attended four Olympic Games and numerous international competitions with the Australian Swimming Team.  Between 2013 and 2017, David served as the Discipline Lead – Physiology for Swimming Australia.

Dr. Pyne's research work in the areas of exercise and the immune system, environmental physiology, the applied physiology of swimming, and fitness and conditioning for team sports is recognised internationally. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in exercise and sports science journals and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.


Links to Research Papers

Probiotics supplementation for athletes – Clinical and physiological effects

Exercise effects on mucosal immunity

Position statement part two: maintaining immune health. Exercise Immunology Review

Salivary IgA levels and infection risk in elite swimmers.


S2E40: Dietary Interventions for the Prevention of Diabetes (Type-2) w/ Dr. Nicola Guess PhD

Season 2 Episode #40

Dr. Bubbs interviews diabetes expert Dr. Nicola PhD RD to talk all things diabetes (type-2) and nutrition. Nicola defines pre-diabetes and diabetes (type-2), outlines the current nutrition guidelines for the prevention of diabetes (T2D) and why we’re struggling with epidemic levels of diabetes worldwide. She also highlights how weight loss is the biggest driver of diabetes prevention and delves into different nutrition strategies – low-carb, Mediterranean, intermittent fasting and low energy diets – to achieve this goal. As well, Nicola touches on how the rate of weight loss appears to be an independent driver of the glucose-lowering effect, the importance of the first insulin response in this whole story, and her thoughts on how to stem the tide of the current diabetes (T2D) epidemic.

SUMMARY OF EPISODE:

2:00 – Definition of pre-diabetes and diabetes (type-2)

4:00 – Current nutrition guidelines for prevention type-2 diabetes

6:00 – Why can’t patients stick to diabetes prevention diets

9:00 – Low-carb diets and prevention of type-2 diabetes

11:45 - Mediterranean diets and prevention of type-2 diabetes

16:00 – Role of ultra-processed food in calorie consumption, weight gain, diabetes

18:00 – Intermittent fasting and prevention of type-2 diabetes

22:30 – Low-energy diets and the prevention of type-2 diabetes

25:40 - Combination of weight loss and caloric restriction (10kg or more) in normalization of beta-cell function and remission of type-2 diabetes

27:30 – How to maintain weight loss in the long-term

30:25 – Busting the “insulin-spike” myth and unpacking the first insulin response

33:30 – Pulsatile insulin secretion response

35:45 – CGMs, C-peptide and diabetes support

37:45 – The current processed food environment

42:50 – Nicole “big rocks” of nutrition for diabetes (type-2) prevention 


About Dr. Nicola Guess RD, PhD

Dr. Nicola Guess is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in the dietary management of prediabetes from Imperial College London. She is currently a lecturer in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London where her research focuses on the role of diet in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. She has a particular interest in the use of low-carbohydrate diets in the management of type 2 diabetes, and leads a research programme investigating dietary modification - including increasing protein or the use of very-low-calorie-diets - on the factors underlying type 2 diabetes. Follow Dr. Nicola Guess on Twitter @Dr__Guess.


Links to Research Papers

Dietary Interventions for the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes in High-Risk Groups: Current State of Evidence and Future Research Needs