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Todd Sabol has been working to gain Mental Clarity since he suffered a weight lifting injury about 18 months ago.

Fellow AT and host of The Eli Kassab Experience – Eli Kassab guest hosts this podcast and discusses some of his mental health struggles leading him to leave one position as an AT.

What is Mental Clarity to You?

Not feeling foggy, scattered, busy, angry, confused.

Todd, what mentally got you?

4 am workout crew

Lack of sleep (habitual)

Beats and Barbells

315 front squat did one rep, then passed out mid rep on the second one

Felt like a heart attack at softball practice one day.

Felt like his heart was beating out of his chest

Was driving a couple of hours each day

Would drive to the gym, sit in his car and then drive home because he could not mentally gear himself up to walk in

Cory Carpenter recommended Todd to do the “75 hard” with him

• Follow a diet
• Gallon of water
• No cheat meals
• 2 x 45-minute workouts
• Take a progress picture daily

Before the injury, I thought I was tough mentally

Wake up early, train really hard, get back for grad school class, self-help podcasts and books… I was killing it

But the one injury caused the whole deck of cards to fall.

“YOU ARE BUILDING TRUST WITH YOURSELF”

Todd Sabol on completing “75 hard”

Constant building blocks…but that is how every building is built…from the bottom up with a solid foundation

He had some hecklers along the way, but that did not phase him

Running with Mindfulness

Walking through the snow talking to himself audibly as he was following the book.

Todd believes in the law of attraction – put kindness out and you will get that back eventually.

How did the long drives impact Mental Clarity – 

Fast food

Was this how you were escaping?

Burying himself in work and working out were his other two escapes.

How does your mental clarity affect our relationships?

Sharing your journey is healing

For you and your listener

I pour all of myself into my patient, my students, or clients.

I used this as a way to take care of them instead of myself.

FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!!!

Pick something and go with it, and if it does not work, give it another shot and then alter your path as needed, but do not look for the quick fix.

Where are you at now compared to where you started?

It is really hard to compare since I was at that low point for most of my life.

“Hey Todd, you did X,Y,Z in spite of that thing”

Before grad school, he went to a therapist who said he should not go to grad school because of his ADHD.

The Body Keeps the Score

My communication and vulnerability have grown so much during this.

You are going to have some of those hard days…how do you get through them?

Movement – walks and talking to yourself

Meditation

Getting after it in the gym

Use your mental energy to refocus and get back on track.

Watch Mental Clarity on Facebook

Contact Us:

Todd Sabol

Eli Kassab

Jeremy Jackson

Podcast Partners

Frio Hydration – Superior Hydration products.

Xothrm – Best heating pad available – Use “SMB” or email info@xothrm.com and mention the Sports Medicine Broadcast

Donate and get some swag (like Patreon but for the school)

HOIST – No matter your reason for dehydration DRINK HOIST

MedBridge Education – Use “TheSMB” to save some money, be entered in a drawing for a second year free, and support the podcast.

Marc Pro – Use “THESMB” to recover better.

Athletic Dry Needling – Save up to $100 when registering through our link.

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Understanding why youth burnout of sports is a question Dr. Jennifer Etnier says comes back to coaching.

Who is Dr. Jennifer Etnier?

• A Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Academy of Kinesiology. 
• Former the President of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity and Editor of the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 
• The principal investigator of the Physical Activity and Alzheimer’s Disease 2 study at UNCG.

You talk about sports, but do you even play them?

She plays pretty much all sports

Soccer is the family favorite, but in the days before the interview, she was out water-skiing and playing tennis…so yes she plays

How can we avoid contributing to athlete burnout?

ATs can really help in preventing this, here are a few ways.

• Educating athletes about being in tune with their own body
• Educating about overtraining – leads to higher stress hormones
• Knowing the ability to get over a plateau and encouraging them through
• Being a confidant/peer/friend

Talk more about the confidant role:

• If you have a sports psych they should be the main contact.
• You can really point them in the right direction
• Sometimes the battle is with the parents
• We are already knowledgeable of the needs and burnout, but outside of sports can really play a role…acknowledge, normalize, what does bring you joy… let’s bring those things back into sport.
• EDUCATE, use every tool
• Know that if I push too hard they may burn out of ALL physical activity.
• Avoid sports specialization

After the interview, Sofia, my co-worker, said the coach was the reason she quit playing sports in college. She did not feel she could talk to the coach without retribution. Half of the team left because of the abusive style of the coach.

In your NYT article, published earlier this year, you detailed the lack of “quality” coaches at the youth level. What do you think youth organizations could do now, and in the future, to promote higher quality coaching?

Organizations like SportsMedDiscussion that help educate

FUN – people play sports because it is fun…if it is no longer fun it is because of the people in it

Focus on process, not the outcome when a kid says:

“Oh my coach only cares about winning”

They figure it out quickly, if you focus only on winning then they learn there is no point of playing unless you are winning.

Even at the professional level this is true, focus on the process.

FUN and the Process

With respect to the effects that COVID has had on the mental health of student-athletes (young and old), what do you feel are the most important principles that should govern the way we approach coaching?

Dr. Etnier reminds us: Do not cross the line – if you are not a mental health professional do not take on that role

Find joy and fun in our lives

I have never dealt with depression, but in May of 2020 I was dealing with some

Calling friends on the phone.

“Isn’t it great that we are back together” – maybe you need to help amplify

How do we teach “process”

Mental imagery is a great tool if you can teach it

Goal Setting is important

Setting up short term goals that move you to long term goals can help prevent burnout…small victories

Have coaches provide positive feedback not just negative.

From a coaching standpoint: How do you suggest dealing with the kid who isn’t necessarily the “most talented” or “least attentive”? How do you get them to buy-in?

Only as strong as your weakest link the top athletes are going to get the attention, but the bottom half of the order can strike out and kill the rally.

If we all get better than we as a team will have more success than we did last year.

Equitable vs equal is an important shift

What are some suggestions you have for compliance to exercise/practice that coaches can use/we can use ourselves?

Revisit goals

Routine and Rut can get old

• Is it always the same old thing?  Let’s mix it up

Make it so they want to come.

Always have something new as part of your routine

Play music

Picture wall

Change the location some – outside, hallway, gym

***it comes back to relationships***

Watch Dr. Etnier on Facebook

Contact Us:

Dr. Jennifer Etnier – jletnier@uncg.edu

Ray Olivo – https://twitter.com/RayOlivo20

Jeremy – https://twitter.com/MrJeremyJackson

Links and Resources

Article in NY Times

Sponsor for today's podcast

Podchaser sponsored today’s podcast with Dr. Etnier.

Get connected with potential guests or find some new podcasts on podchaser.com

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We are ordering Smart Cuffs by Smart Tools to provide Blood Flow Restriction training to our patients. Sofia has taken the course and we are excited to add this tool to the high school. First, we have some questions for Nick and Ed.

“BFR is the ultimate biohack and tricks your body into “thinking it is doing a heavy load without the heavy load”

Ed LeCera

Talk about the Gen 3 BFR cuffs that are fully automatic.

Gen 1 cuff in 2017 was kinda a POS

But they quickly learned that was not best practice

Multi-chamber system does not allow for limb occlusion.

The new systems are single chamber which are much more effective.

5 sizes of the cuffs that are over 4 inches

External doppler was chosen because it is close to the computer monitored systems

SmartToolsPlus is focused on taking what the expensive units do and making it affordable and compact.

Currently Two models of Smart Cuffs: commercial and consumer

It auto measures the LOP

3 steps, inflates in 45 seconds

The manual model is available, but the system auto senses occlusion and auto shuts off.

Keep it connected for autoregulation of pressure.

What is in Level 1 Smart Tools Training?

Level 1 is a rehab or clinical-based training that is from scratch.

It focused on getting the cuffs on and doing a hands-on workshop.

Discuss the recommended frequency and duration of treatment. 

It depends on the goal.

You can train multiple times per day as there is not any damage being done

One study showed D1 basketball players – 11% increase by using the cuffs on walking programs.

2-3x per week is as effective over the long run

I always have to ask about my elderly parents and grandparents.  How can Smart Tools be used with them safely?

Ischemic preconditioning – getting ready for surgery and being under a tourniquet

Cellular swelling protocol is great for reducing swelling.  As the limb starts to swell from the cuff, then the cells start to reabsorb the fluid which leads to muscle protein synthesis without the muscle damage

Lots of growth factors start moving

Bottom Line: We want to drive growth hormone

Smart Tools Resources

We currently have a Spring Sale going on. 25% off and free shipping SmartCuffs Basic and Personal sets (code: smart25): https://www.smarttoolsplus.com/detail.cfm/id/76/name/smart-cuffs

Our Level 1 live courses booked for this year: https://www.smarttoolsplus.com/courses/index.cfm/level/1-day-bfrOnline course for $59 How to Train Clients Online: A Guide to Virtual BFR Training : https://www.smarttoolsplus.com/online-courses/

Contact Us

SmartToolsplus.com – email preferred

Joel –  athletictrainingchat.com

Jeremy / Sofia – info@sportsmedicinebroadcast.com