Coach Em Up Podcast

Check out Nick on socials! @thefitover40man Use code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemup Head over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 off Grab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.com Nick Conaway joins Tim Riley to talk strength training for older adults, how to build muscle after 40, and why most men are overcomplicating everything. Nick went from running nuclear power plants for 20 years to building a men's health platform with hundreds of thousands of followers, and this podcast looks at the road he took to getting there. Nick Conaway built Fit Over 40 Man for guys aged 40 to late 50s who are drowning in social media noise and paralyzed by conflicting fitness advice. His approach strips it down: sleep, a three-day full body workout split, single-ingredient foods, and consistent daily non-negotiables. No extreme protocols. No peptide stacking. No lone-wolf nonsense. This conversation covers the full picture: how golden handcuffs kept him stuck in nuclear energy, what Carol Dweck's Mindset and Atomic Habits did for his identity after a career-ending CrossFit injury, why men's health has to include blood work, and why male loneliness midlife is a bigger performance killer than bad programming. They also get into quitting alcohol for fat loss, fitness and longevity as a long game, and why the best thing you can do for an aging parent is get them lifting weights. Produced by Q6 Media https://q6.media 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:11 - First annual client meetup in Dallas 00:03:50 - Who is Nick Conaway 00:05:33 - 20 years in nuclear power and golden handcuffs 00:11:23 - Leaving corporate life and betting on himself 00:17:10 - Childhood roots and the fear of career transitions 00:24:05 - CrossFit obsession, overtraining, and emergency rib surgery 00:32:00 - Shifting from outcome-driven to process-driven identity 00:36:00 - Simplifying nutrition and managing midlife stress 00:42:00 - Male community and midlife isolation 00:46:05 - Showing up daily and navigating grief while building a business 00:52:16 - Social media growth, blood work, and training for older adults 01:05:49 - Peptide overuse vs. the alcohol-free generation 01:11:21 - Alternative career and actionable steps for men over 40 01:15:15 - Unsolicited advice #FitnessOver40 #NickConaway #StrengthTrainingForOlderAdults #CoachEmUpPodcast #FitOver40Man #MensHealthOver40 #HowToBuildMuscleAfter40 #HealthyHabitsForMen #FitnessAndLongevity #FitnessPodcast

Check out Lance on socials! @LanceBrooks_PhD Use code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemup Head over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 off Grab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.com Dr. Lance Brooks breaks down sprint mechanics and biomechanics of sprinting at a level most coaches never reach. Tim Riley sits down with the coach, researcher, and founder of Brooks Performance Methods to dig into first principles of sprinting, sarcomere function, quasi isometric contractions, and why the elastic vs force dominant sprinters debate is built on a false premise. Lance's path is wild: bodybuilding forums to personal training at 24 Hour Fitness and Gold's Gym, then D1 strength and conditioning internships, a master's under Dr. Ken Clark, a doctorate, and postdoctoral work in a Harvard comparative biology lab implanting crystals into rats and running guinea fowl on treadmills. All of it in service of understanding how muscles actually produce force during locomotion. The conversation covers acceleration vs max velocity mechanics, impulse momentum sprinting, vertical impulse top speed sprinting, horizontal impulse acceleration sprinting, and what Newton's Second Law actually demands from a coach's programming. Lance also dismantles the lazy "science lags behind practice" talking point and explains why mastering basic first principles of sprinting will always outperform chasing hyper-specific applied studies. Subscribe to the channel to never miss another podcast! Produced by Q6 Media https://q6.media 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:04:09 - Lance's Background and Career Path 00:15:30 - Early Coaching Lessons and Internship Blunders 00:22:34 - Bridging Research and the Field 00:32:14 - Comparative Biology, Animal Models, and Muscle Testing 01:04:30 - First Principles of Sprinting and Biomechanics 01:21:40 - Quasi-Isometric Muscle Mechanics and the Elastic vs Force Myth 01:36:00 - Sprinting/Research Q&A #SprintMechanics #Biomechanics #CoachEmUpPodcast #LanceBrooks #SpeedDevelopment #StrengthAndConditioning #ForcePlate,#SprintTraining #ExercisePhysiology #Podcast

Check out Ashley on socials! @dr.dwyer Use code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemup Head over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 off Grab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.com Dr. Ashley Dwyer joins Tim Riley to break down how chronic underfueling and overtraining wreck your hormones, what the polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) diagnosis changes about previous PCOS treatment, and what creatine benefits for women actually look like in practice. Ashley Dwyer went from retail pharmacy to NPC bodybuilding to complete hormonal burnout before she hit 30. Every specialist she saw handed her a prescription instead of asking one question about how she was training or eating. Sound familiar? Tim and Ashley dig into the real mechanics behind HPA axis dysfunction and thyroid suppression, signs of endocrine burnout that most athletes brush off as just being tired, and why your labs can say "normal" while your body is running on fumes. They cover the four distinct subtypes of PMOS, why carbs and cortisol have a direct relationship your coach probably never explained, and what a legitimate reverse dieting after bodybuilding show protocol actually looks like when it is done right. If you or someone you coach is under-eating, overtrained, and wondering why nothing is working, this episode has the answers. Subscribe to never miss another episode! Produced by Q6 Media https://q6.media 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:55 - College Football and Weight Room Culture 00:07:55 - Retail Pharmacy Life 00:11:15 - NPC Bodybuilding, Orthorexia, and Undereating 00:15:40 - Endocrine Collapse and Conventional Medicine Failures 00:23:00 - Underfueling in Athletes and the Female Athlete Triad 00:28:53 - HPA, HPT, and HPG Axes 00:34:30 - Down-Regulation and Intuitive Eating 00:40:00 - Clinical Intake Process and Reverse Dieting Protocol 00:46:40 - PCOS Reclassified as PMOS and Western Medicine Shortcomings 00:52:15 - The Three Root Drivers of PMOS 00:58:30 - Supplements vs. Foundations 01:04:22 - Three Things, Rant and Rave, and Alternate Careers 01:10:10 - Overrated vs. Underrated and Unsolicited Advice #CoachEmUpPodcast #DrAshleyDwyer #PCOS #PMOS #HormoneHealth #FemaleAthlete #MetabolicHealth #FunctionalHealth #Podcast #WomensHealth

Check out Zack on socials! @zack_zillner Use code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemup Head over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 off Grab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.com Tim Riley and Zack Zillner are back in the Austin studio for a full Q&A episode covering strength and conditioning coach salary debates, NCAA 20-hour rule logistics, shin splints, eccentric quasi-isometrics, AI in programming, NIL culture, and whether Tim could survive a bear fight. Zack breaks down the operational reality of the NCAA 8-hour off-season rule and the full 20-hour in-season window, and explains why sport skill execution will always beat weight room numbers when practice time is limited. Tim reflects on private sector coaching ethics: when an athlete is already buried under school practices, an extra meal often does more than another squat session. Q&A covers how to build work capacity, why eccentric quasi-isometrics are mostly social media noise, meathead hypertrophy as connective tissue insurance, sleep tracking anxiety and its effect on athletic performance, in-person coaching requirements before going online, AI tools like Relay for programming templates, NIL and transfer portal impact on athlete work ethic, low-tech athlete monitoring tools, and bucket list podcast guests. Don't forget to subscribe! Produced by Q6 Media https://q6.media 00:00:00 - Bear Fight Cold Open 00:00:32 - Happy Birthday Zack! 00:03:14 - NCAA 20-Hour Rule Breakdown 00:07:29 - Weight Room vs. Court Time Tug-of-War 00:14:05 - Private Sector Coaching 00:18:05 - Strength and Conditioning Coach Salary Debate 00:37:52 - In-Person Coaching Before Online Coaching 00:44:30 - Managing Shin Splints in Sprint Training 00:47:16 - Debunking Eccentric Quasi-Isometrics 00:51:10 - Meathead Hypertrophy vs. Sport-Specific Training 00:53:37 - How to Find Your Coaching Style 00:57:00 - How to Build Work Capacity 00:58:19 - Sleep Tracking Anxiety and Athletic Performance 01:02:20 - Bucket List Podcast Guests 01:08:04 - Advice for International Coaches Interning in the U.S. 01:09:42 - Biggest Challenges in Basketball Strength and Conditioning 01:12:43 - AI for Strength and Conditioning Programming 01:17:36 - NIL and Transfer Portal Impact on Athlete Work Ethic 01:23:08 - Low-Tech Athlete Monitoring Tools 01:27:07 - Bear Fight Simulation #CoachEmUp #StrengthAndConditioningCoach #StrengthCoachPodcast #AthleticPerformance #CollegiateStrengthCoach #NILAthletes #SportScience #StrengthCoaching #Podcast #ZachEvenEsh

Check out Tim on socials! @timrileytraining Use code "coachemup10" for 10% off EVERYTHING at https://eleiko.com/coachemup Head over to https://ovrperformance.com/coachemup and get $25 off Grab a Subscriber tee at https://www.dripthatdelivers.com Tim Riley goes solo on the Coach Em Up Podcast for a Q&A covering apex competition rules, sprint training for beginners, OCD diagnosis, sobriety, and much more. He shares combine stories, his biggest coaching blunders, and why carbs are still the OG performance enhancer. He breaks down the viral Hyrox biohazard incident in Beijing and uses it to set the record straight on Apex competition health policy. Then he rewinds to age 26, no car, no phone, no money, walking to his first training job out of a Florida halfway house, and explains how he became the person he is today. On the business side, Tim talks about how watching physical therapist David Gray build ethical, high-value content convinced him to post consistently and eventually launch Cheat Code, open his own gym, and build Apex from the ground up. He shares his rules for hiring new coaches, the real reason Apex does not use weight classes, and his 2026-2027 expansion targets. Tim walks through how to improve broad jump mechanics with the Blaine Broad progression, covers sprint training for beginners with a slow-to-fast, low-impact-first framework, and shares his experience training Xavier Worthy. He also recounts two genuinely catastrophic coaching mistakes involving a plyo box and a Swiss ball on a treadmill. The back half of the episode goes personal. Tim opens up about his OCD diagnosis and how Exposure and Response Prevention therapy finally gave him tools that worked. He also reflects on fatherhood, egocentric bias, and what it actually means to live instead of just survive. This is a strength and conditioning podcast that does not stay in its lane. That is the point. Produced by Q6 Media https://q6.media 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:28 - The Hyrox poop incident 00:10:32 - Advice to his 26-year-old self and early sobriety 00:14:48 - Finding venues for Apex and expansion hurdles 00:18:11 - Building influence, business ethics, and launching Apex 00:29:52 - How to improve your broad jump 00:32:49 - Scaling brands and rules for hiring coaches 00:37:13 - Game speed vs weightroom skill 00:40:46 - Biggest coaching mistakes 00:50:11 - Sprint training for beginners 00:54:08 - Apex 2026-2027 road map and international expansion 01:01:38 - Stepping back from full-time client training 01:06:01 - Why Apex does not have weight classes 01:10:41 - Unsolicited advice, lying, and egocentric bias 01:18:20 - Pure OCD diagnosis and Exposure Response Prevention therapy 01:29:11 - Carbs for athletic performance, fatherhood, anxiety 01:37:27 - Managing career transitions and embracing uncertainty #CoachEmUpPodcast #ApexCompetition #SprintTraining #StrengthAndConditioningPodcast #BroadJump #MentalHealth #OCD #NFLCombine #XavierWorthy #Podcast