HMMR Podcast Episode 242: The influencers
Creating your own program takes a lot of leg work. It isn’t just about adapting a template to your situation; it is about seeking out influences and inspiration from numerous sources and making them your own. On this week’s episode we dive into the program at Notre Dame High School by analyzing some of the foundational influences and how they have been adapted, as well as important elements done on the periphery.
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Notes and quotes

- 0:00 – Introduction
- 1:45 – Casting a wide net for inspiration.
- 4:00 – Putting the puzzle together.
- 5:30 – Don’t overlook the warmup: “If you’re going to do something for 5 to 10 minutes every day, make it meaningful.”
- 9:30 – The cumulative training effect, microdosing, and defining detail in the small elements.
- 14:15 – Outlining the Michael Conroy weightlifting program: “The program has a checkpoint every 4 weeks. If it doesn’t work and you don’t perform well in that fourth week, then I know I did something wrong or they did something wrong so.”
- 22:15 – Foundational strength and the influence of Vern Gambetta: “Train strength before strength endurance and train power before power endurance.”
- 25:45 – Session design with modules and the influence of Shannon Turley: “Shannon Turley paired movements for efficiency. Everything they did was paired and no one was ever standing around.”
- 29:30 – Final thoughts.
To hear more on these topics, listen to the full episode above. Also be sure to subscribe to our podcast and review it on iTunes.
Further reading
- This episode is brought to you by HMMR Plus. This month’s site theme is microdosing, and we’ve got plenty of new articles, videos, and podcasts about how to get the most out of short training sessions. Become a member for full access to our videos, articles, and podcast archives.
- The full presentation from Nick was available as part of the GAIN Master Class series. Subscribers can watch the replay here.
- More on Nick’s programming is also available in the HMMR Classroom, such as videos of his warmups, medicine ball routines, and multi-jumps. He also details his foundational phase, modular approach, and much more in his numerous articles on HMMR Media.
- On last week’s GAINcast 209, Nick also shared an example of how he utilizes a variation of the 1×20 program for his basketball players.