ASCA Podcast #133 - Antonio Squillante

Antonio Squillante earned a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. With over a decade of experience as a strength and conditioning coach at both the collegiate and professional levels, he now works as an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. In this role, he teaches evidence-based practice in the graduate program in Strength and Conditioning. Antonio is the Head of Sport Performance and Training for the USA Cycling National Track Sprint Program and serves as a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association Board of Directors. In addition to his academic and professional roles, Dr. Squillante is also a published author and an internationally recognized speaker and lecturer. QUOTES “If we look at the field of research, minimum effective dose is more technically called a dose response effect, meaning how much training load is necessary to see a significant increase in strength. So if I'm training someone, what's the minimum amount of volume, and intensity that is needed to drive adaptation?” “I just don't want the idea of the word minimum to ever trick anyone or leave anyone to believe that it's very little volume by default. Minimum just says that among all possible combinations of load and intensity and sets of reps and frequency for any individual at any point in their career, we're going with the bare minimum that works.” “The notion of strength and conditioning can be somewhat deceiving because it makes it sound like when it comes to the neuromuscular side of things, our goal is strength. Our goal is never going to be, and it's not supposed to be strength. Our goal is speed and power. We build strength because strength supports speed and power.” “That velocity will tell me throughout the week, from week to week, and all year round, when it's time to go up in volume, when it's time to go up in intensity, and when it's time to go up in frequency.” "The single biggest change, biggest in the sense that added both the greatest impact on results, but also the biggest paradigm shift in the way I go about training was reevaluating the importance of aerobic conditioning in resistance training and strength and power athletes” SHOWNOTES 1) Antonio’s back story and how his experience playing American football in Italy brought him to S&C 2) The concept of minimum effective dose and its background in dose-response models 3) The influence of volume and intensity on minimum effective dose 4) Feedback loops and monitoring dose response and fatigue with athletes 5) Using velocity based training (VBT) to prescribe and monitor training adaptation 6) How to use VBT to decide whether to add volume or intensity to an athlete 7) The positive impact of aerobic conditioning on strength and power and its relationship with athletes ability to handle greater resistance training volumes PEOPLE MENTIONED Dr. Brent Alvar Carmelo Bosco Keijo Häkkinen Fred Hatfield