The Ready State

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Co-Founder of The Ready State - DPT | 3xNYT
Bestselling Author | Pod Host
Built for decades, not seasons

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06/11/2026

šŸ—£ļø "Strength training will make swimmers slow."

That idea has been floating around pool decks for decades.

So have a few others:

šŸ‹ļøā€ā™€ļø "Stop lifting before big competitions."
šŸŠā€ā™‚ļø "Just spend more time in the water."

This week on The Ready State Podcast, strength coach Jack Brown () joins us to unpack why some of the most common beliefs in swimming and water polo training may be limiting performance instead of improving it.

Jack has spent years working with aquatic athletes, from middle school beginners to Division I competitors, and his message is simple: strong athletes are more durable athletes.

Along the way, we get into what strength and conditioning actually means, why sprinting and jumping belong in nearly every athlete's development plan, how sleep and nutrition often move the needle more than adding another workout.

We also dive into (pun kind of intended) what parents should look for when evaluating a youth performance program.

The conversation starts with swimmers and water polo players, but it quickly becomes a bigger discussion about youth sports, athletic development, and helping athletes stay healthy enough to enjoy the sports they love.

The long-term goal is to help young people build bodies that stay durable, capable, and confident well after their competitive careers are over.

šŸŽ§ Full episode is live now. Comment "195" and I'll send it over.

06/10/2026

Watch what athletes do when speed and load go up. šŸ‘€

This, my friends, is where the truth lives.

At slower speeds, you can get away with a lot. Feet turned out, knees drifting, positions that arenā€™t doing you any favorsā€¦ you can ā€œget byā€ to a degree.

Start adding speed, force, and consequence, and trust me when I tell you āž”ļø The system cleans itself up fast.

Youā€™ll see athletes organize into positions that let them handle those demands, especially at the foot aka your absolute foundation.

A more straight foot gives you access to force. It helps you manage whatā€™s coming through the knee. It keeps options open when things get dynamic.

Whatā€™s interesting is that this isnā€™t about labeling positions as right or wrong.

šŸ’¬ Itā€™s about asking a better question: Does this position give me more options when it matters?

The more you expose yourself to speed, jumping, landing, and real-world movement, the more your body starts to figure that out.

Thatā€™s where you build something that actually transfers.

Now letā€™s all be like and stay connected from the ground up.

06/09/2026

šŸ—£ļø Say it with me: ā€œIf I canā€™t see change, I didnā€™t make change.ā€

Thatā€™s one of the core rules we use around these parts.

A lot of people are doing mobility work without any real feedback loop.

They stretch, roll around, spend time on somethingā€¦ and then move on without ever checking if anything actually improved.

The whole point is to restore position and function.

That means you should be able to test something, apply a dose, and then re-test.

šŸ”¹ Did your range improve?
šŸ”¹ Does that position feel different?
šŸ”¹ Can you access something you couldnā€™t before?

If the answer is no, you either need more time on that input or a different approach.

This is how you stop guessing.

Youā€™re looking for observable, repeatable change so you know the work is actually doing something.

Thatā€™s also why we built this directly into Mobility Coach.

Youā€™ll find opportunities to test, apply the work, and re-test so you can see whatā€™s changing in real time.

Want to try it for yourself? āž”ļø Comment TRIAL and Iā€™ll get you a free week.

06/08/2026

Mobility needs donā€™t look the same for everyone. šŸ‹ļøā€ā™‚ļø

For my powerlifters out thereā€¦ Iā€™ll start by saying this: youā€™re doing exactly what your sport asks you to do.

Youā€™re spending a lot of time in very specific positions, producing a ton of force in a narrow range. Thatā€™s how you get strong. šŸ’Ŗ

Over time, though, that can make the system feel a little dense/fibrotic.

Tissues get robust and your joints get really good at the positions you train in.

Outside of those positions, things can feel a bit limited or harder to access.

So the goal is to give your body a little more access to positions youā€™re not touching regularly.

Spending time on the ground. Moving through deeper ranges. Letting the hips and shoulders explore a bit more space than they see under a heavy bar.

And for strength athletes, sometimes it takes a little more input to make a change. A band, a ball, some added pressure to get into those areas that donā€™t give up range easily.

Bottom line āž”ļø Powerlifters (and literally everyone) need more hip extension.

You also gotta keep an eye on making sure your shoulders are seeing internal rotation & extension as well to support the positions youā€™re asking of them.

Keep up with the fundamentals to avoid slipping into moments of compensation.

Follow me for more ways to keep your strength working for you long term.

Are you gymming for gymā€™s sake? šŸ¤ØAll of that time lifting, sweating, and putting in work is meant to show up somewhere e...
06/07/2026

Are you gymming for gymā€™s sake? šŸ¤Ø

All of that time lifting, sweating, and putting in work is meant to show up somewhere else.

Being Jacked and Tan IS fine by itself butā€¦

Letā€™s test that fitness on a trail. On a court. On a bike. In the way you move through a long day without falling apart.

Thatā€™s where you see if things are actually working.

When you use your fitness, you get feedback.

You also start to notice what feels strong, what feels limited, or what needs a little more attention.

That loop is what keeps training honest.

It gives direction to what youā€™re doing instead of just stacking effort for the sake of it.

Pick something you care about and let your training support that.

Thatā€™s the game.

06/06/2026

šŸ‘€ Every time I watch a clip like this, Iā€™m reminded how much capacity lives outside the gym.

Look at whatā€™s happening here.

Reaction. Speed. Weird positions. Problem solving on the fly. People moving in ways that donā€™t show up in a neat, controlled environment.

And theyā€™re doing it because itā€™s FUN. šŸ™Œ

That matters more than we give it credit for.

Weā€™ve gotten very good at building strength and conditioning systems.

Programming is dialed. Inputs are precise. You can make real, measurable changes in the gym.

At the same time, a lot of the movement richness that makes you adaptable as a human comes from environments that arenā€™t scripted.

Games do that. šŸ¤ø

They expose you to angles, speeds, and shapes you didnā€™t plan for.

šŸ§  They force your brain and body to work together in real time and give you variability thatā€™s hard to recreate with sets and reps.

My big takeaway? More play.

My challenge to you this weekend āž”ļø Get out and move in a way you wouldnā€™t typically. Let me know how it goes.

06/05/2026

šŸ’¬ A lot of people drink to de-stressā€¦ but your body may experience alcohol as just another stressor.

I get it. When life ramps up, most of us reach for something that helps take the edge off. Thatā€™s a very human response, and for a lot of people itā€™s been the default for a long time.

But if you zoom out and look at it through a performance lens, alcohol adds load to a system thatā€™s already working hard.

šŸ§  Your brain and body are constantly asking one question: Am I safe?

When stress is high (training, work, life) your system is already managing a lot of input.

Adding another stressor (like booze) into that mix can make it harder to recover, regulate, and show up the way you want.

šŸ¹ I enjoy a good margarita as much as anyoneā€¦ what Iā€™m touting here is really about timing and awareness.

When the pressure is lower and youā€™ve got more bandwidth, your system tends to tolerate it better.

When demands are high, itā€™s worth thinking about what actually helps you come down and reset.

Weā€™ve seen this play out over and over again with athletes.

When they reduce alcohol during high-demand phases, things tend to move in the right direction with energy, recovery, performance.

So Iā€™m not here to rain on your paradeā€¦ just something worth paying attention to. šŸ˜‰

06/04/2026

What does breathing have to do with nutrition and weight gain? More than you think.

Patrick McKeown explains how poor breathing can disrupt sleep, increase cravings for sugary foods, stimulate appetite, and create a cycle that impacts overall health and recovery.

šŸŽ§ Full episode is live nowā€¦ comment ā€œ193ā€ and Iā€™ll send it over.

06/04/2026

ā€œWalking on glassā€ first thing in the morning? šŸ˜¬

Yeahā€¦ thatā€™s a pretty classic plantar fasciitis experience.

Iā€™ll ask you to kindly ignore my team so we can actually chat about what you need to knowā€¦ ā¤µļø

Overnight, that tissue cools down and stiffens. Youā€™ve been in one position for hours, circulation is lower, and the system hasnā€™t had a chance to load or move.

So when you hop out of bed and immediately ask it to bear weight, itā€™s not exactly thrilled about it.

A couple things tend to help:

šŸ”¹ Give the tissue a heads-up before you load it. Move the foot and ankle a bit while youā€™re still in bed. Point, flex, roll it around, get some gentle input into the system.

šŸ”¹ Think about gradually loading instead of going from zero to full bodyweight in one step. Even just standing and shifting weight side to side for a moment can make a difference.

And zoom out for a second.

That morning pain is often a signal that the tissue isnā€™t tolerating the total load itā€™s seeing across the day.

That could be volume, footwear, stiffness upstream, or how much variability you have in your movement.

So yes, we want to make mornings feel better.

But we also want to build a foot and lower leg that can handle the job.

Scope out the Mobility Coach app for more ways to keep your feet (and everything upstream) moving the way they should ā€” you can search by pain point/body part to hone in on the regions around the foot. .

Not a member yet? Comment TRIAL to get linked up with a FREE week and see what I mean.

06/03/2026

Your knees should support all the cool stuff you want to do this summer.

Hike, squat, run around with your kidsā€¦

Chase adventure and jump into activities without needing a five-minute negotiation with your joints beforehand.

Which is exactly why we built the new 10-Day Knee Pain Challenge inside Mobility Coach.

Over 10 days, Iā€™ll walk you through simple daily sessions designed to help you:
šŸ”¹ improve knee range of motion
šŸ”¹ build capacity and control around the joint
šŸ”¹ restore better mechanics
šŸ”¹ address some of the upstream/downstream issues that often contribute to cranky knees in the first place.

Hereā€™s the thing: knees are rarely just ā€œa knee problem.ā€

So weā€™re going to look at ankles, hips, tissue quality, loading tolerance, and how your whole system is actually moving. šŸ™Œ

Sessions are intentionally on the shorter side, but that means Iā€™m asking you to commit to consistency.

The goal here isnā€™t to annihilate yourself with volume, but to give your knees consistent inputs that help them tolerate life and movement better.

If your knees have been feeling stiff, irritated, crunchy, sketchy going downstairs, or generally older than the rest of youā€¦ this is for you.

And given my recent injuries from the winterā€¦ this one feels extra personal to me, too.

Comment TRIAL and Iā€™ll get you set up with a free week of Mobility Coach so you can jump into the challenge. šŸ‘‡

If youā€™re already a member, you can sign up for the full challenge through: https://thereadystate.com/10-day-knee-pain-challenge/

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