> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://adamringler.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # #083 - Basketball Season First Tip, NordBord Testing Insights, Creatine Research, Carb Cycling, & OxeFit Integration - URL: https://adamringler.com/podcast/083/ - Published: 2025-11-04T14:30:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T23:48:46.000Z - Description: In this Cardio Talk, I break down preseason prep for college basketball, dive into the VALD NordBord, new creatine research, carb cycling strategies, and why I’m adding the OxeFit XS1 to our gym. Tech, nutrition, and training—all covered in one raw, unfiltered ruck walk. - Author: Adam Ringler - Tags: Decoding Excellence, #podcast, Testing and Assessment, Nutrition In this Cardio Talk episode of the [**Decoding Excellence Show**](https://adamringler.com/podcast/), I unpack five conversations that bridge technology, nutrition, and training as we head into the start of the college basketball season. First, in this week’s Status Update, I share how we’re just three days away from tipping off the season and reflect on the journey that’s led us here. From spring development work to summer grind sessions, every rep and every meeting has built to this moment. I talk about the shift from preparation to performance and how the energy, focus, and readiness inside the gym feels different when it’s finally game week. Next, in the Technology segment, I break down how we’re using the VALD Performance NordBord to monitor hamstring health and readiness. This tool captures eccentric and isometric strength, quantifies left-right asymmetries, and helps us make better decisions on load management and rehab. I share how integrating the NordBord has sharpened our approach to performance monitoring and athlete resilience. In the Health section, I dive into the latest research from Rhonda Patrick and Peter Attia on creatine supplementation, not just as a muscle enhancer, but as a cognitive and recovery optimizer. I discuss how creatine supports both physical and mental performance, our dosing protocols, and why I consider it one of the most underrated foundations for athlete health. Then, in Nutrition, I talk through carb cycling , why we keep carbohydrates lower on off days and ramp them up on high-intensity training or game days. I discuss how carbohydrate timing impacts glycogen replenishment, recovery, and metabolic flexibility, and how this strategy teaches athletes to fuel with purpose rather than habit. Lastly, I dive into the Training section, where I share why I’m fired up about adding the OxeFit XS1 Smart Gym to our training environment. With dual digital motors, up to 250 lbs of deck tension, 140 lbs of rack resistance, and an integrated force plate and 32” touchscreen, this system combines precision, data, and adaptability. I break down how I plan to integrate it for velocity-based work, power profiling, and athlete engagement , bringing next-gen tech into a collegiate setting. Raw, unfiltered, and straight from the ruck , this episode dives into the tools, strategies, and philosophies shaping modern high-performance environments. Tune in, share with a fellow coach, and let’s keep pushing the field forward. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/16/f6164f1b-bb1b-4d5c-af28-2fe8b5a96265/content/images/2025/07/dark-blue-polygon-abstract-backdrop-vector-3437138884.jpg) ## During the Cardio Talk I comprehensively break down the following topics: [Go Directly to Spotify 🎧](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5cwWszL2gNoBEyZNsutMiq?si=dPVpWV4HS62ksCxpFbzWyA&ref=adamringler.com) ## **🏀 Update – Game Day Minus Three** We’re officially three days out from the start of the college basketball season. This is the culmination of months of preparation; the early mornings in March and April, the relentless summer grind, and the focused precision of preseason. Everything we’ve done up to this point has been about sharpening the physical and mental edge of our athletes so they can compete at their best once the lights come on. There’s something special about this time of year; it’s a reset, a chance to prove that the process worked, and an opportunity to put our preparation on display. This is where we see if the small, daily investments pay off. From spring development blocks to fall intensity cycles, each phase has built the foundation for what’s about to unfold. As we transition from preparation to performance, the energy in the gym shifts; there’s more urgency, more confidence, and a deep sense of readiness. This is the moment we’ve been working toward since the end of last season. --- ## **💻 Technology – VALD Performance NordBord** The VALD Performance NordBord has become a cornerstone in our hamstring health and performance monitoring. This device measures eccentric and isometric hamstring strength with precision, giving us real-time data on bilateral asymmetries and overall muscle function. By collecting research-grade metrics in a field-ready setup, the NordBord bridges the gap between lab-based performance science and practical coaching applications. It’s not just about identifying weaknesses; it’s about quantifying progress and catching issues before they become problems. In our setting, the NordBord plays a critical role in athlete profiling and ongoing readiness monitoring. We use its data to inform load management, guide return-to-play protocols, and even tailor corrective or strength programming. Seeing left-right imbalances or eccentric deficits allows us to individualize rehab and training strategies, ensuring our athletes stay healthy and powerful throughout the grind of the season. --- ## **🧠 Health – Creatine Supplementation & Recent Research** Creatine remains one of the most well-researched and effective supplements in sports performance, but recent discussions from experts like Rhonda Patrick and Peter Attia have highlighted its broader applications beyond just strength and power. Emerging research shows that creatine supports cognitive function, cellular energy, and recovery; making it a true foundational supplement for both athletic and brain health. It’s not just about building muscle; it’s about improving total system efficiency. Within our athlete population, creatine use is both strategic and individualized. We focus on consistent daily dosing (typically 5 grams), integrated within a broader recovery and nutrition plan. It’s simple, cost-effective, and supported by decades of evidence. Whether it’s enhancing repeat-sprint ability, improving mental sharpness during academic or competitive stress, or supporting recovery between sessions, creatine continues to be a small lever that creates big returns for our athletes’ health and performance. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/16/f6164f1b-bb1b-4d5c-af28-2fe8b5a96265/content/images/2025/09/V3_Creatine-90_2000x2000_FEB142025_CC_4.png-1.webp) #### Creatine - 90 Servings Pure Creapure® creatine monohydrate to support strength, power + brain performance. 5g of clinically backed creatine to fuel muscle and cellular energy. Supports lean muscle growth, endurance, and recovery. Enhances brain function and ATP production for mental clarity****.** ****\*NSF Certified for Sport®** ****$39.95 / 90 Scoops** [Add to Cart](https://crrnt.app/MOME/1KvB45B2?ref=adamringler.com) --- ## **🥗 Carb Cycling & Lower Carbs on Off Days** Carbohydrates are fuel, but timing and context matter. We use a carb-cycling approach to match carbohydrate availability with the athlete’s training demands; higher on lift or conditioning-heavy days, lower on recovery or off days. This strategy not only helps manage body composition but also sharpens metabolic flexibility. By intentionally adjusting macronutrient intake to workload, we optimize glycogen storage and recovery without unnecessary caloric spillover on lighter training days. In practice, this approach helps athletes better understand the relationship between nutrition and performance. It teaches them to view food as a performance tool rather than just a routine. When we align carbohydrate timing with energy expenditure, athletes report steadier energy, improved recovery, and better body composition control throughout the season. It’s about aligning the right fuel with the right demand; smarter nutrition for smarter training. --- ## **🏋️ OxeFit XS1 Smart Gym Integration** The addition of the OxeFit XS1 to our training environment opens up a new frontier in data-driven strength development. This system delivers up to 250 lbs of digital tension from the deck and 140 lbs from the rack, paired with dual motors, a 32″ touchscreen, and an integrated force plate for real-time balance and asymmetry feedback. The XS1 allows for precise eccentric control, velocity-based feedback, and adaptive load adjustments; all in a compact, versatile platform. What excites me most is the ability to merge technology with intent. With advanced training modes; from eccentric overload to reactive and adaptive resistance, we can create custom loading patterns that replicate the dynamic demands of sport. The integrated data gives immediate feedback on power output, movement quality, and load symmetry, helping athletes stay engaged and accountable. The XS1 isn’t replacing traditional training; it’s enhancing it with precision, variability, and measurable feedback that elevates both performance and programming intelligence. --- If you want to hear the **full, unfiltered conversation**, check out this episode of the **Decoding Excellence Show;** part of my *Cardio Talk* series where I take you behind the scenes of my thoughts during long ruck walks here in Boulder, Colorado. Thanks again for listening to the Decoding Excellence Show! I appreciate all the support growing this Sport Science, Strength & Conditioning, and High-Performance Coaching resource. If you have taken anything away from the show, please login to iTunes and navigate to [⁠⁠⁠**Decoding Excellence**⁠⁠⁠](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-excellence/id1205636566?mt=2&ref=adamringler.com) page and leave us a **FIVE STAR** ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review. --- If you haven't already, you can head over to [⁠⁠⁠**AdamRingler.com/Newsletter**⁠⁠⁠](http://www.adamringler.com/newsletter?ref=adamringler.com) and sign-up for my weekly newsletter. This is a newsletter for the curious. It's chalked full of interesting articles I've read through the week, things I'm exploring and finding fascinating through my week, and a collections of thought experiences and resources I've cultivated. [NewsletterThe newsletter is something I absolutely LOVE If you haven’t signed up yet for my newsletter, you’re missing out. I often describe my newsletter to friends as the “BirchBox of Newsletters”. It’s a simple bullet point list of all the fascinating, and curious things I’ve explored each month.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/16/f6164f1b-bb1b-4d5c-af28-2fe8b5a96265/content/images/icon/yellowcircle-20.png)Adam RinglerAdam Ringler![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f6/16/f6164f1b-bb1b-4d5c-af28-2fe8b5a96265/content/images/thumbnail/Adam-1.jpg)](https://adamringler.com/newsletter/) If any of the material resonates with you, I'd love for you engage with me at [⁠⁠⁠**@AdamRingler**⁠⁠⁠](https://www.twitter.com/adamringler?ref=adamringler.com) --- ## Key Takeaways - The VALD NordBord measures eccentric and isometric hamstring strength, quantifies left-right asymmetries, and sharpens decisions on load management and rehab. - Creatine is more than a muscle enhancer: current research points to cognitive and recovery benefits, making it an underrated foundation for athlete health. - Carb cycling means keeping carbs lower on off days and ramping them up on high-intensity training or game days, which teaches athletes to fuel with purpose rather than habit. - New technology earns its place when it serves velocity-based work, power profiling, and athlete engagement, not novelty for its own sake. - Game week feels different from every other week; it is the moment months of small daily investments either pay off or don't. ## Listen and Subscribe Find this episode of the Decoding Excellence Show on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-excellence/id1205636566?ref=adamringler.com) and [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/093GVrPwd9l832q3EWhVKc?ref=adamringler.com), or use the player above. --- ## Go Further in This Episode Enjoyed this conversation? Here is how to get more from it: - **Read the transcript below** to revisit key ideas at your own pace. - **Share this episode** with a coach or colleague who would benefit. - **Subscribe to the Decoding Excellence Show** on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoding-excellence/id1205636566?ref=adamringler.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/093GVrPwd9l832q3EWhVKc?ref=adamringler.com), or your favorite app. - **Join the newsletter** at [adamringler.com/newsletter](https://adamringler.com/newsletter/) for weekly insights on human performance. --- ## Episode Transcript *This transcript was automatically generated. While we strive for accuracy, some words or phrases may be misheard.* \[00:00:00\] Sport science, strength and conditioning, high performance coaching, welcome to the Coating Excellence Show. Not a series, the walk-and-talk. It's the cardio sessions. It is raw, it is unfiltered, there's planes flying overhead, there's dogs barking, there's cars whizzing by. That's just the nature of the cardio talk series. So I always try to paint the picture like this. You and I, we're hiking, we're walking together, we're having a conversation, and that is it. There's no studio \[00:00:52\] Mic, there's no studio setup, there's no noise cancellation, it's raw, it's unfiltered, and it's straight from my head and my heart to your ears. So today I kind of want to get into another one of these discussions. I kind of got five things that I'm thinking about my brain, I stepped out the door, I hit my apple watch, I hit walk, I get to the corner and I'm like, Adam, what do you want to talk about today while we're walking? And the first just kind of give you an update, right? And then I'm going to kind of dive into something related to your health, \[00:01:26\] Maybe your fitness, nutrition, some technologies because I love that stuff, and maybe some training ideas. This episode is brought to you by Momentus, the supplement company I personally trust for my own performance and recovery. I've been coaching division one athletes for nearly 20 years, and there's one supplement that has never left my program. That's creatine. Momentus creatine is science-backed, it's clean, and NSF certified for sport, meaning it's third-party tested for purity and safety. The same standard used by professional athletes. If you're serious about \[00:02:04\] Getting stronger, recovering faster, and performing better, start with what's proven. Go to livemomentus.com and use code Adam Ringler at checkout to save on your order. That's livemomentus.com code Adam Ringler because performance isn't bought, it's built. Good morning and welcome back to the Decoding Excellence Show. As always, I'm your host. My name is Adam Ringler, and I am a strength conditioning coach, sport scientist, and just a technologist, if you will. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years at this point, going all the way back to \[00:02:41\] The early 2000s, and now I feel like a dinosaur when I say that. Welcome to my cardio talk. This is where I have a 45-pound ruck sack on my back. I'm walking my neighborhood. I am trying to get my cardio, my steps in, trying to keep my metabolism firing, body composition, and check insulin sensitivities great as I'm increasing calories here in my off season. But more so, I'm also multitasking. I'm trying to get my cardio in, but at the same time, record a podcast. Topic number one that I want to kind of just give you, it's just a status update. Where are we at? Well, we are, \[00:03:20\] This is an off day for me, which is rare that it falls on the weekend because I get a little extra family time, which I adore and love. So, here we are. It's time-changed. It's November, second. So, I'm dating this podcast. It's no longer evergreen. And for us, after this off day, we have a three-day grip cycle for our first season opener game here in Border, Colorado. So, I'm excited about that three days, game day minus three. So, you can expect some high speed running, some getting up and down. Right. It's going to be a pretty intense day when we come back to it tomorrow. \[00:03:55\] And then we have what would be Tuesday session, game day minus two, maybe a little bit more small side of games, a little bit more live play up and down. But again, a lot of strategy, a lot of prep. And then game day minus one, which would be Wednesday. That is essentially, it's not a glorified walk through because we still go pretty hard, but it's certainly less physically taxing. But it's certainly also more mentally taxing. Right. It's a lot of strategy, a lot of execution when it comes to scout, our scout teams locked in. And they're ready to give us really good looks and we are trying to \[00:04:33\] Mentally go really sharp mentally, but also physically, physically sharp as well. Right. So, the duration decreased. The intensity is still pretty game speed like, but because we control for intensity in the drill design, it sits a less physically taxing session. And then it's game day. So then we're getting into it. See's an opener. Excited about that here in Border, Colorado. First game for a lot of us strength conditioning coaches that worked with basketball. We've been going since late March. Right. So if you're unfortunate enough, not to go deep in March madness, \[00:05:10\] Then you probably gave your team a couple weeks off, a week off, two weeks off, something like that. And you have athletes back training with you in the gym, whether it's late March or April. And your eyes have been on this moment since, right. You finish up, train through April. You get into May. You send athletes home. Maybe you got athletes staying on campus throughout May. You're hitting national conferences, CSCCA. And then taking some time here and there. But otherwise, you've been going since then, Bay into June, summer one, summer A, summer B, summer two, right. \[00:05:47\] May, Master. Oh, shoot. It's fall. Here we are. It's August. The athletes are reporting back. Maybe you got, you know, your basketball camps prior to that. But all semester preseason, conditioning, right. Mornings, late nights, recruiting, etc. But it's finally, finally here. And I'm excited to kind of get into games, get into those cycles, keep your eyes on the prize for the next game, gives us a cadence that's weekly, rather than, you know, multiple weeks out. So that's exciting to look forward to. That is one thing that I think so many of us can \[00:06:25\] Relate to is that the further you are from competition, you're just, your eyes are on months away, two months away. Now, granted your attentions on the now, on the moment, on the rep, on the lift, on the session, on the week. However, you're preparing for that. All right. Well, the harvest is coming here in November, right. We're doing all this work now on the farm, but the harvest is in November, right, the first game, if you will. Well, that's months and months away. Sometimes that's, like it's exhausting, right, from thinking about it, training in April, \[00:07:05\] For November's games, right, so far away. But now here we are in it. And the luxury of being in it is that when loss this week, it is for the here and the now and for the next moment, which is three days away, right. After that, guess what, we're training for four or five days away. It's like, everything is so immediate and so close when you're in game weeks. And that just gives you a nice little ebb and flow and a rhythm to your weeks that you lose when you're out of season, because it's just so far away. So I'm excited about that. And getting into the swing of basketball season, \[00:07:48\] Traveling and, you know, experiencing the highs, and there will probably be, as there always is, every season, some lows, and navigating that with the team as well. So I want to move on to a new topic, right. This is a, my Ruck Walk today is about, I don't know, 40 minutes. I think maybe about 48, about 50 minutes. I'm, what, where am I at? Nine minutes into this already. I've changed how I'm doing my splits on this Ruck Walk, because I realized when I'm doing it, that I'm only getting my own splits. And it's like it's hard to tell if I'm walking fast enough. No, I can listen to my \[00:08:35\] Breath. I can look at my heart rate, et cetera, but I've changed it to half mile splits. So now I actually get every half mile, my watch buses me and says, Hey, who faster? You're only going at a nine minute half mile walk. Now, you could say, Adam, there's people that are running five minutes, six minute miles. I get that guys. I'm, I got a 45 pounds amount back that I'm walking with here. So, and I'm walking just about getting steps in. It's not about setting a mile PR. So I'm trying to enjoy some sunshine. It's windy today out here in Boulder, but otherwise, \[00:09:16\] I'm trying to just get some steps. Morning steps fasted. Keep my cardio in check is I ramp up these calories. Now, let's move on to a new topic. Sorry about the wind. Let's just hey, it's cardio talk series. It's raw. It's unfiltered. I want to talk about the Nordboard. Uh-oh. Here's Adam again talking about vaude performance technologies, but \[00:09:39\] I love game day minus three. If I'm four or five days out, we're going to deploy some type of muscular skeletal testing in a, I say submax capacity, but it's, ideally, it's going to be maximal capacity, right? And I do this typically furthest away from the next game. So let's just go and rewind the tape a little bit. We had an exhibition game. Boy, I don't even remember now. Was it Thursday? I think it was Wednesday. And Thursday was off. Yeah, that's what it is. Exhibition game. \[00:10:25\] Had it Wednesday. Thursday off day. So think of that as your game day plus one recovery, treatment, medical, getting after it. Really trying to return back to homeostasis. Get her body feeling good. We had athletes come in. A lot of self recovery, modalities, infrared sauna, armor text, massage therapy. I think our massage therapist came in on that day. And then the next lift, we ended up deploying the use of the Nordboard. So lower body session, we hit Nordboard. It would be Game Bay plus two. \[00:11:04\] At this rate, it's actually like Game Bay minus six. We actually had the luxury of being pretty far away from our first official tip off here this Thursday, upcoming Thursday. And I always love to do some muscular skeletal test. Now, what I would say is that we just completed a full round of log testing. So this is our isometric 90 degree knee extension. So think of it like a lot of testing. We've done a Nordboard now. We've done four-stream adductor and AB reduction test. And then a series of different types of jumps, right? Kind of movement jump. And then a \[00:11:46\] 10, 5, hop test. Now, oh, and an isometric mid-vipool with a belt squat. So we have a wide degree of testing that we do that we rotate through. Why do we do this? Let's talk about this. Well, I like to have a period of testing where the athletes are most fresh, right? This is when they're most optimal. A lot of the times it's prior to the start of October 20 hour weeks when we're in pre-season still. Yes, we're doing some conditioning. Yes, most of the testing comes off the back end of an off day in the next training cycle. But I like to get a series of testing when the athlete is \[00:12:31\] Not as fatigued. And I call that their performance ceiling. And I like to have those numbers because that's the top most optimal threshold for that athlete. And then this most recent round is what I like to call the performance floor. And that is off the back end of an exhibition during pre-games when coaches are still grinding and still pushing and still adapting and still challenging athletes. And they're fatigued. And I get the floor. I get the trough. So I have now both their performance peak and their performance trough. And that range gives me an idea of where this athletes at from \[00:13:19\] Their performance continuum. Now, mind you, on the performance trough at that last round of performance testing we just concluded. There's very, I'll say, little periodization going into the, I'll call it meso cycle, but micro cycle, if you will, into the prep for exhibition. Most coaches, yes, we did a little bit. We were monitoring our ACWRs, actually our EWMAs. All right, we're within the optimal loading window, although high on the ratio, if you will, because we're still pushing. We're not trying to peak for the next mission game. \[00:14:07\] Like we're still preparing for season opener and building chronic loading and trying to build a robustness for higher and higher loads. But I say that in that we have the floor, we have the ceiling from here on out as we deploy more routine testing on that game day minus four or minus three or the lifting session or training session furthest out from the next series of competitions. I have an idea of where this athletes at within their own individualization on their performance continuum. Are they near their floor? Are they near their ceiling? Are they pushing \[00:14:52\] Their performance ceiling higher as i.e. A PR? Or are we trending downwards towards the floor? And this gives me an idea about their musculoskeletal force outputs, where we need to concentrate our training, what their fatigue index might look like off of a game. It allows me to better individualize their training i.e. Some athletes respond well to a game. Say, man, it's just a game. Let's get back into training. We're good. Other athletes fatigue quickly and they might need additional recovery or volume decreases in the weight or etc. Right? So \[00:15:34\] I love the use of the Nordboard, the force frame, force decks. We use the dynamo as well for like internal rotation, external rotation, shoulder ash testing, hand grip down anometry, but I'm looking at our large muscular skeletal force regions. So IMTP, CMJ, hop test, and the force decks, Nordboard, Nordic. Some instances with early acute stage ACL will do a 180-degree prone late curl on that and just get some isometric forces through both hamstrings while that needs somewhat in a not challenging position for their ACL. \[00:16:23\] We're going to skip this or MCL, whatever it might be. If there is a lower extremity injury or acute injury. And then I love the use of the force frame, right? So again, we've long done a hip abduction, abduction testing. Again, basketball is not just played up and down the court baseline to baseline, but so much of it's about getting down in a defensive stance, driving opponents to the sideline lateral movements, shuffling, crossing over. So that adductor complex gets worked during a basketball game. And if you can't push off that hip, \[00:17:03\] Then you're not going to get in front of an opponent and you're not going to be as a astound on defense that we need you. So the abduction is also important as well. When you think of the role of the adductor and abduction in the stability alignment and control of that femur, as it specifically relates to when it's basketball's highly, highly critical complex relationship between adduction and abduction. When we're talking about prevention of knee injuries, so monitoring that on a routine basis is critical for us as well, making sure that we have adequate \[00:17:43\] Strength, adequate asymmetries and adequate rate of force development in those areas. If I'm breathing heavy, number one, like Peter Attia, we'll talk about him a little bit later here. That's a good indication I might be getting into closer into zone two. I have a conversation with myself on a podcast, but I'm, you know, I'm labored. You're my talking and my breathing. So heart rate right now, yeah, high teens, but nothing dramatic. Like it to be 130, but outside of one big stretch on this, it's mostly flat. \[00:18:25\] I have one incline hill, really else is mostly flat. So nonetheless, let's move on to another topic here today. I think I'll beat that down. No, there was a latest round of podcasts between Rhonda Patrick, researcher and Peter Attia. I already talked about Peter Attia and his the drive podcast, but physician, researcher, podcaster, YouTuber, you name it, right? Rhonda Book, I say the comorbidities of what ends up killing most people, and then what we can do about it, right? I think it's called outlive, \[00:19:17\] Phenomenal book. I listened to it on a audible. I didn't buy the book. I think it's actually a pretty big book, but it's all the factors that you can control, right? Through nutrition, through diet, through training, what to look out for, the four horsemen of death. Let's see if I can recall it off the top of my head, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neuro, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic disease, right? Those are the four things for horsemen. How can we affect those four horsemen through training, nutrition, lifestyle, etc? Good book nonetheless, \[00:19:55\] But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about his latest podcast with Rhonda Patrick, researcher, and I want to talk about creatinine. And there's some really interesting studies coming out about the neuroprojective quality of creatine. But as a strengthening coach, we've long advocated for the use of creatine in the weight room. Probably one of the few supplements that I think strength coaches can confidently recommend the weight room. There's a lot of crazy supplements out there, right? That's probably gone \[00:20:29\] Through our arrow over the last 20 years. We've seen them all in the collegiate weight room, I'm sure at some points from the early 2000s to 2010s to where we are now. But creatine is the most research supplement that has the most efficacy in affecting positive outcomes, with almost zero downsides from a negative health standpoint. \[00:20:57\] We've seen athletes administer creatine on a routine daily basis, breakthrough strength plateaus, breakthrough weight plateaus for athletes that are looking to positively add weight to their scale. We've seen athletes deploy creatine and strategic usage during high contact portions of their season, i.e. Game seasons, from a neuroprotective concussion standpoint. Dr. Rhonda Patrick has talked about the neuroprotective qualities of high dose creatine, although that's still maybe somewhat controversial, right? \[00:21:37\] Of course, 20-30 grams of creatine from a neuroprotective focus standpoint. But ultimately, the recommendation, if you will, for creatine administration, five grams every single day, non-time dependent. So if you take it in the morning, you can take it around your workout, you can take it after your workout, you can take it in the evening, you can take it right before bed, it does not matter. What matters is that you actually consume it and you have it in your body, so that you have creatine saturation in your body throughout the day. \[00:22:14\] That's what matters most, not timing, not the type of administration, there's a lot of different creatine types. Some are fancier than others, but generally creatine monohydrate is the most basic form of creatine. There is some interesting research that has looked at creatine supplementation of females, which due to just the class go understanding or anatomical differences or physiological differences, right? Women carry less muscle mass than men on average, so they have less creatine storage or an average, which means a gender that would benefit most from creatine supplementation \[00:22:59\] Because of the decreased or limited muscle mass on their frame is actually women. So, counterintuitively, if you will, because most people think of creatine as, oh man, I want to get in the weight room and get strong and bulk up as a male ideology, right? But women would actually benefit the most from creatine supplementation, which is why when I look at women's basketball, a sport that has a concussion risk due to the contact nature of the sport that has a necessity for strength and power component with the physicality of basketball and the physiological and anatomical \[00:23:48\] Needs of creatine by the gender-based aspect of women's basketball. They are such a sport that would benefit so vastly from creatine supplementation, which is why I confidently, confidently recommend creatine to all my women's basketball players. Now, the next issue is, okay, cool Adam, where do I get it, right? Now, this is where your mileage may vary, this is where you got to do your research because you can just walk into Costco or GNC pick any supplement off the counter and feel like you want to trust your eligibility on it, which is why I tend to look only at supplements that aren't \[00:24:42\] NSF certified for sport safe. So this would be, there's a logo, this is third-party tested for all ingredients in that supplement, in that plant, in that manufacturing facility, to make sure that there is no supplements, no contaminants, no ingredients that could maybe affect a drug test. So when you got athletes that want to play professional basketball, when you got athletes that are performing, right, competing internationally for their national teams, I do not take lightly my recommendations. I want to make sure that all of the supplements that I recommend, if any, are NSF's \[00:25:29\] Certified, right? And that gives me confidence as a practitioner that if I say, take creatine, take this brand, that the product that they are taking is only what is listed and nothing else, right? Which is why I am such a huge fan of momentous creatine, right? There's two brands I typically recommend, Zorn, which funds are a lot of our USA Olympicsports and momentous. Now, momentous has a career peer, which is a type of creatine in it, but they have are certainly a lot of world-class elite athletes trust this creatine and trust this brand. The cool thing is I do have a \[00:26:16\] Discount code for everyone, not just college athletes. So if you go to live momentous.com, leave that's their website URL, I'm walking right now, so I can't quite look at it. And you find their creatine product and you add it to your cart and aren't check out. You add Adam Ringler as a promo code or discount code. You will get your order, I want to say 10 to 15, maybe upwards to 20% off, right? Don't quote me exactly on it, but you will save some cash on your discount, right? More money back in your wallet or less money deducted from your bank \[00:27:00\] Account. You get a high quality NSF product, some of the best creatine on the market from the most reputable brand momentous and you get it at somewhat of a fraction of the cost of what you would spend if you were to go somewhere else. So check it out, momentous creatine. What is super rad? Is that they have three types of creatine? Now I have all three, I've tried all three. They're first, it's their classic powder. I travel with it everywhere I go, especially through TSA, they give me a little eyeball, but I say, hey, you know, I'm a strength and conditioning coach, \[00:27:38\] Just creatine and they're like, okay, so you can pass through, right? So you might get a little look from TSA, but whatever. I travel with their travel packs, which is, I think it's like crystal light to go. You rip the package, it's a single serving, you dump it into whatever beverage. That's an easy way of traveling. If you don't want to travel with, you know, a 90 serving quantity tub of creatine powder, cool. Throw a couple of the creatine travel packs into your gym bag or into your travel bag. You're ready to rock. You got your creatine servings. The other newest product \[00:28:13\] That they have, which I'm so excited about, is their creatine juice. What is that? Well, it's a chewable product. It's like a little disc. It's about the size of a nickel. You pop five of them in your mouth, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chew it up, dissolves, almost immediately, tastes great, and super easy to travel with. So sometimes I do the juice because I don't have liquid on me. I could just chew it, rock and roll. It's kind of like dry scooping creatine except it's flavored and you can chew it and it dissolves. And you don't need liquid. So \[00:28:50\] If you're out and about, that's an easy way of doing it, where you don't have access to water, liquid, or anything. Well, for me, that never happens because I always carry my Yeti yonder bottles everywhere I go. But check it out. Live momentous. Use discount code, Adam Ringler at checkout, save yourself a little bit of cash. Now, let's move on. Because I'm on my final stretch coming back. Now I probably only have 15, 20 more minutes of this walk. We're in my 30-ish minutes in. That's about right for this loop. I do my extended \[00:29:23\] Loops are in the weekends because A, it's the weekend. And it's my off day. I like to get a little bit more mileage on my off days because I'm not training in the gym. Now, you would say, Adam, aren't you trying to gain muscle mass? Yes. That's what I'm trying to do. I got down to the end of my cut here in the summer late middle fall, if you will. Now I'm shifting into growth season, progress season. Right. And I'm trying to add some muscle mass, lean muscle to my frame. Now these walks allow me to keep my metabolism going. I want to keep my insulin sensitivity in check \[00:30:08\] As I increase calories, which is something I'm observing of. Something I think I've struggled with as I've gotten older, 40 now. And I don't want to slap the leaf. That's a word. Add weight, right? I'm really conscientious about that word weight. I want to add lean weight. I don't want to add adipose weight. So I'm trying to make sure that my calorie expenditure is still high that I'm feeding the machine, increasing my calories, keeping my expenditure high because if I ever wanted ways of increasing maybe that gap or that surplus, I could always bring my cardio down a \[00:30:53\] Little bit. Right. And that would naturally create a greater surplus between my expenditure and my intake. But if I can keep my expenditure pretty high while ramping up my calories, my weight might not move initially, but I get my calories up to a nice high point where I'm sort of creating a maintenance calories level, maintenance weight intake versus outtake or output. Then I can start pulling some of the cardio back and I can start creating a little bit of a calorie surplus. Ooh, that's attractive. Now I'm eating more. And I'm starting to slowly \[00:31:35\] Titrate up the weight gain and a positive balance. So that's my that's my game plan. Now this is a great segue into this next topic I wanted to talk about kind of centered around nutrition today. And that is about carbon cycling. I have gone through, I've seen everything from the old school muscle bodybuilding forums of the day, right? Those of us that grew up or was on a computer during the 90s, early 2000s, right? That was like your library, right? There was no library for muscle heads. We had message boards and a lot of different nutrition \[00:32:19\] Strategies that was maybe deployed or recommended or advised during those errors. Now I've seen things from the keto diets to high carb diets, low fats, high fats, no carb. So again, keto or but again, I have always been a sort of middle of the road sensible approach, which is why I'm a huge advocate fan personally. Now athletes are different. Let's remove my strength conditioning caps, recommendations for elite performance, right? I'm talking about just physical changes at this point. And I'm just kind of talking about me right now. So because hey, I'm out here, I'm doing \[00:33:09\] The cardio right now. It's about me. I personally, for me in of one, I'm a fan of car cycling. Now what's that mean in a practical sense? For me, I train in the gym for upwards to about an hour DC training Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. It's high intensity, no reps in reserve, two failure, three cluster sets per muscle region. So my upper body day would look like, but I'm just getting very nuanced into the weeds. My upper body day would look like chest, some type of horizontal pushing. I warm up to my weight. I find what my target weight is. \[00:33:50\] And then I'm going three failure sets to achieve a desired rep total. I take each set to failure. I take it's essentially a cluster set. I take about 15 seconds off from set one to set two to set three. And by the end, I add up all my reps. Hopefully I've achieved the rep target I look for. If I didn't, then next workout, I try again, I try to get one more rep every single time progressive overload. Or if I hit the target, then I'm trying to add five more pounds to the bar next time. I'm either progressing every single time and beating the logbook by weight or I'm beaten it by \[00:34:30\] Repetitions or value, right? And that's how that's what I do Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Now I do upper on Monday. I do lower on Tuesday. Take Wednesday off and do cardio. Thursday, I repeat a different upper body lift Friday. I do a different lower body lift. And I do cardio on the weekends. I'm always doing cardio, right? Every single day, seven days a week. That said, are my training days? I have higher carbohydrates. Why? Because I have activities that require greater glycogen output. I need that glycogen because I'm resistant to training and I'm \[00:35:04\] Pushing the threshold into somewhat high intensity. I'm going to failure on those sets multiple times throughout that 60 minutes. I'm also doing morning faster cardio on those days. I'm also coaching on those days. I'm actually in the gym. I'm getting upwards greater than 16, 17,000 steps a day. I probably don't need to be doing cardio because I'm already getting so many steps. Nonetheless, I need that glycogen. I need that carbohydrates. So those days, my cardio or my nutrition looks a little bit different. I keep my protein constant Monday through Sunday. My protein stays no matter what \[00:35:45\] For me right now. It's like 1.2 grams per pound. So I'm about 200 grams of protein every single day. But on my training days, my carbs are upwards to I'm rounding slightly, but like about 240 grams of carbs. Now, on my conditioning days, which would be my Wednesday and my weekends, I bring my carb intake lower because I'm not training. I don't need that. Oftentimes, I talk to people in a way that carbohydrates are like fuel. They're like gasoline for your car. Now, for those training days, I know I'm going to get out, \[00:36:26\] And I'm going to drive my car 200 miles. I need to make sure my gas tank is fueled up. And at the end of the day, when I pull back into my driveway, that I have gas in the tank, that I'm not pulling into the garage and my car is on empty. So I got to make sure that I fuel up the tank. But if I know on Wednesday, my off day, my cardio day, and the weekends, my output is lower, that I'm not going anywhere. I'm not driving my car. My car is going to stay in my garage or in my driveway all day long. Does it really matter if it's less than a quarter \[00:37:04\] Of a tank of gasoline in the car? I'm not driving it. I'm not taking it anywhere. It's going to stay there. So that's the same analogy to carbohydrate intake. I am going to have higher carbs in my training day. I'm going to bracket those around the workout, pre-intra, and then post-workout, really kind of keeping it bracketed intake of carbohydrates around that high intensity activity. One of my off days, I'm not. I lower my carbohydrates down. I'm down to about 120 grams of carbohydrates those days. My fat intake rises up to make a caloric neutrality across all days. It's all \[00:37:44\] The same calories. Right now, I'm about 2,200 calories. I'm trying to find my total daily energy expenditure across my conditioning and my training days and just my basil metabolic rate. I'm weighing in every day and I'm monitoring both my food intake and then my physical changes on the scale and that's going to help determine algebraically what my energy expenditure is. Now, there's some things that my factor into things like gastric emptying, hydration, \[00:38:23\] Trying to think of what else, urination, holding water, all those things, but generally smoothed out across a moving average. We can get a great sense of what your total daily energy expenditure is. And if we know what your TDEE is, then we can determine through caloric deficits or caloric surpluses plus 500 calories or maybe nets or negative 500 calories. We could have that sort of, okay, this is your maintenance calories based on your energy expenditure, based on what your activities are. If you eat 500 calories above that or whatever, then you may be gaining about a \[00:39:05\] Pound of body mass a week. And that's what my, that's what my aim is. Every Friday, on my final check-in, I'm hopeful that my average weight gain is about a pound. Multiply that across 16 weeks of this hot season, 16 to 20 weeks as I get close to April. And I'm hopeful that I am a clean, not a, not just a sloppy 15 pounds heavier, but hopefully somewhere in the vicinity of 15 pounds. And then listen, I'm realistic, 15 pounds of muscle mass as a 40-year-old is ridiculous. That's crazy. That's not going to happen. But if I can get, you know, 5 to 10 pounds, 5 pounds, \[00:39:52\] Lean muscle mass in this hot season, maybe again a little bit of fat. I can again do the same steps from a caloric standpoint and then just bring the calories down, keep the conditioning high and go back into a summertime and shed a little bit of adipose tissue. And hopefully I'm, you know, have a little bit more of a 5 pounds of steak on this body going into 20, 26\. So big fan of carbs cycling, that's what I love. And that's the strategy that I'm going to continue to do. Now, I am about 10 minutes away from my doorstep. So this is my final topic on \[00:40:28\] Our Decoding Excellence Show, cardio series, our walk-in talk. And I have to tell you about key piece technology. I am ridiculously excited about. And I don't use this word lightly. And I think it's overuse, certainly in the AI era. And that's game changer, right? I often look for game changer. And if you can say game changer, I feel like it's chat GPT. I'm guilty of it because I use it a lot because I see it a lot. So then I just end up saying it a lot. But guilty of it as well. But I don't use that word lightly. I do think this piece of technology is going to be a game changer \[00:41:03\] For at least some applications. Now, I'll get into those specific applications here in a moment. We have acquired new piece of technology, University of Colorado, CU Boulder. And I am so excited about it. And that is the Oxfet XS1 smart gym. All right, tell me more about it. Let's get into it. Yo, this piece of equipment is awesome. Let me tell you, it is essentially a rack that has a force play minute that has upwards to 250 pounds of digital tension. So think of like a tonal, if you will, right? Like LeBron James's tonal with the cables, right? It has 140 pounds \[00:41:54\] From the rack, dual monitors, 32 inch touch screen digital display right in front of it. Or he said force plate, right? So you get asymmetries, you get force outputs in a real time way. And it informs the athlete of their loading strategy, rate of force development, monitors, metrics like power of velocity balance. And it can also be a number of different things from a Pilates reformer to a cardio piece to a strength piece. But the tension on the thing is cool, right? It has multiple modes. So perturbation mode for your ACL return to place, right? So you can \[00:42:42\] End up influencing slight perturbation on one limb versus the other limb through their dual system has about 280 different strength exercises that one could do, non-conventional strength exercises, conventional strength exercises. The cardio, you can kind of convert it into a cardio piece so you can do things like rowing and ski sort of cross and kayaking and paddleboard and digital Pilates on this thing. It is awesome. It is really cool. Now, it also has adapted AI determined optimal loading, which sounds fancy, but it's just a way of looking at all the various \[00:43:19\] Metrics, your concentric velocity and force and reactive force on the dual force plate system. And then it will end up intelligently loading. I'm not saying it takes off coaching out of the equation, but you're still the strength and addition coach. You still have to apply what you think are your best metric measures, but it will end up I'm telling you for one-off athletes for athletes with little hamstrings or glutes or instability in one limb versus the other return to plays or whether it's a lower extremity return to play and upper body shoulder labor on type of \[00:43:58\] Things. The application of using that perturbation, right? So it adds tiny little oscillation forces to tap into that reactive stabilization. That's going to be a game changer, right? So I'm trying to think of, you know, you can do that with bands, you can do that with an earthquake bar, like earthquake bar squats, where, you know, you have that light sort of shaky bamboo bar with, you know, elite FTS bands on it, so it adds that little perturbation to it. But having a machine do that or a piece of equipment intelligently doing that key points of the athletes movement, \[00:44:41\] Whether it's on the eccentric, whether it's on the position or point of zero velocity, the bottom or the top, that is, that's going to be awesome, right? So I'm just trying to think, like for any high performance athlete, with the lower body strength lifts upwards 250 pounds, the upper upwards to 140 or so for upper body poles, presses, cables, etc. I think the force plates embedded and integrated into the system. So now in real time, an athlete squatting, you're bringing an athlete back and you're having them do a back squat or a front squat or a goblet squat or whatever \[00:45:21\] Type of squatting. And in real time on that digital touchscreen in front of them, they can see that they're loading their left limb more than the right or that their center of mass is not nearly low enough for their desired sort of eccentric target that they're trying to get down to a range of motion, looking at irregularities in their squatting motion or kinematics. So having that flag on the digital display right in front of them, like, oop, eccentric forces down, oop, your concentric forces down or up one way or another, the gamification of this data ridiculous. Now it is a strategic \[00:46:01\] Investment that we're making in our weight room. I think it's going to be a huge, huge piece in keeping our athletes healthy, keeping them out there on the playing courts, keeping them performing at a high level. So I'm super excited about this piece of technology. I hope I'll share a little bit more on Instagram and some of my social media as well, but this is something I'm excited to get and it's November. So I think it's coming in five days from now. I think November 6th is the date. The install date. So you will see it here later. I think this week, as it gets installed into \[00:46:37\] Our facility and we get up and running with this cool piece of technology. All right. Those are the topics I want to talk about. We are at about 47 minutes. I'm finishing up my walk. I'm red at my door step. Ultimately, I just want to say this. Thank you for listening. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for supporting the Decoding Excellence Show through all of these episodes. I just wanted to say from somebody that records these and that loves this show, you guys are awesome. Thank you for supporting it. Thank you for sharing these episodes with your friends, with co-workers, \[00:47:16\] With people in the industry. Continue to do that. That helps the algorithm. That helps gain some exposure for what we're doing here. There's always stay strong, stay healthy, and I'll see you on the next episode. Hey, everybody, that's going to be it for this podcast. As always, if you missed any of the episodes here in the Decoding Excellence Show, you can go and explore the back catalog. I host all of our episodes not only on every sort of podcast hosting site, whether it's Spotify or whether it's YouTube or anywhere else, but you can go to my website. It is AdamRingler.com \[00:47:56\] Forward slash podcast. From there, you can listen to all of the interviews, whether it's other support professionals, whether it's the monologues, whether it's the basketball discussions, or the sport science intent. Go to the website, check it out, listen to the podcast. I'm telling you, you will take something away from the back catalog of the Decoding Excellence Show. Now, one of the ways that you can support this show. Now, there's two. Really, you could go to AdamRingler.com forward slash newsletter. You can sign up for my newsletter. And in this, you're going to get access \[00:48:33\] To everything, the cool things that I discover from a monthly basis, new books I'm reading, things I'm discovering, articles that I've found related to support science. That's really cool and coaching. So pop in your email there. And that is just an easy way of supporting the show. And you'll get free behind the scenes access to all the cool things I'm discovering. If you took anything away from this episode, I would encourage you. No, I would thank you to share it with any of your friends, your coworkers, your family members, share it with somebody that could get a little bit \[00:49:08\] Of value from hearing what we've discussed today. And as always, I appreciate you. I thank you. Until next time, stay strong, stay healthy, keep pushing on.