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Ezra Samperi | Sports Performance Coach

@ezrasamperi

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LSU S&C | CSCS | Gonzaga Baseball Alum
@lsubaseball @lsucheer @lsumiketiger
DM ME “TRAIN” FOR 1:1 TRAINING❗️

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A one-size fits all approach fails when it comes to training. The most important thing you can do for your athletes is to train them for who they are and how they move.

Every athlete comes from a different background. All of them will have different training histories, different injury history, and prefer different movement patterns.

Exercise selection should be tailored to the athlete in front of you.

In the video above, there are 6 different variations of a heavy squat pattern used for 6 different athletes in the same training day. All move different, and all have different needs.

When thinking about the squat, limitations that may influence exercise selection might be; knee issues, previous back pain, ankle mobility, shoulder/wrist mobility, and femur length.

There will be times when an athlete moves well and prefers a specific squat variation. It’s good to lean into this because confidence changes performance and affects output. Preference usually reflects the best anatomical fit. Athletes gravitate towards what feels natural to them. taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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a month ago

The three man weave is the best warm up you probably aren’t doing.

This drill beats the simple jog and carioca.

It is great because:
1. It moves the body three dimensional.
2. Forces the athletes to mentally lock in, compared to mindless knee hugs and quad pulls.
3. It’s different and enjoyable while still targeting the same goal as a traditional warm up.
4. It resonates well with the athletes because a lot of them have previously done it growing up.
5. It can be progressed over time by increasing speed, distance, number of throws.

Create a warm up that has your athletes asking for it and still accomplishes the ultimate desired goal of warming up. taken in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field by @ezrasamperi

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8 days ago

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS taken in Omaha, Nebraska by @ezrasamperi

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a year ago

Week 28 Marathon Training

7 days from race day.

Here’s a look into my post-run restoration. I utilize this time to focus on what makes me feel good and to target the specific areas that tighten up the following day.

I’ve had a lot of people this week ask me if I’m ready for the race. It has been a long 28 weeks. There have been times of both mental and physical fatigue. Completing a full marathon isn’t easy. My mind had been a roller coaster of nervousness and excitement. Training for this has provided me with a drive I haven’t felt since playing college baseball. That’s the biggest thing I have come to find through all of this training. It has allowed me to challenge and push myself, to compete again.

196 days ago I signed up for the race. No guru plan and little knowledge of what the whole process entails.

You hope for good weather in a fall race, but you never know what you’re going to get. The current forecast is 63 degrees, 63% humidity, 0% chance of precipitation, and 12 MPH winds. The last time I ran in 63 degrees was in May, week 6 of 28.

I’m fully headed into the unknown and I couldn’t be more excited to compete against myself. taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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13 days ago

Week 27 Marathon Training

Two weeks out from race day.

Not much has changed since last week. Overall running volume decreased and the use of off feet conditioning increased.

The video above is one of my lifts this week. As I’m two weeks out, I can’t afford to accumulate unnecessary fatigue. Therefore, I thought it would be valuable to do a whole lift of lower body isometrics. Most of these are ones that I have done previously throughout training, so there isn’t much introductory to new stimulus on the body. I also want to ensure that I keep my tendons as healthy as possible.

I’ve never felt an exercise more in my patellar tendon than the between the legs barbell split squat. This is one that I’ll continue to hammer leading up to race day.

@coreykent dropped a masterful album. Listening to the whole thing on my recovery ride was the highlight of the week.

Still working on my race day playlist, so if you have any songs suggestions, drop them below 👊🏼 taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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21 days ago

Week 26 Marathon Training

3 weeks out from race day.

At this point in training the goal is to stay as healthy and fresh as possible. However, I still want to push the intensity in my runs to maintain what I have built over the past 26 weeks.

Throughout my training, I have used various modalities to recover. Compression boots, cupping, needling, and scraping to name a few. There’s value in saving other modalities closer to the end of training because a new stimulus can help expedite recovery faster than a recurring method can. It wasn’t till this week I used an ice bath. My long run beat my legs up and immediately after I went into an ice bath. I was instantly reminded why I despise them.

On top of my running, I added three bike sessions. One session was interval based, one was steady state, and the other was a recovery one. For my recovery one, I used @hytro_ BFR (blood flow restriction) shorts. The use of BFR is widely studied. I like these shorts because they force your muscles to utilize nutrients when the blood pools from the straps. When the straps are released, fresh oxygenated blood rushes into your legs and flushes waste, all around aiding in recovery. I can use them while I workout which is the best part.

When thinking about muscle hypertrophy with proper recovery, these shorts top ice baths because they don’t halt the gains like an ice bath does. They also don’t make my feet go numb, which is a big bonus taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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a month ago

Week 25 Marathon Training

28 days until race day.

It was peak week for me. 19 miles on my long run at a 9:03 pace. This was definitely my most difficult run (as it should be). I feel like I am in a really good spot with these numbers.

I’m starting to think more and more about the actual race on a daily basis. For me, it’s literally the unknown. I won’t know what 26.2 miles feels like until the actual race, which is a little intimidating. I don’t know what I’m going to struggle at or what’s going to be working for me. The biggest thing I keep coming back to is trusting that the time I spent training has put me in the best spot to succeed.

For lifting this week, I did two EMOM (every minute on the minute) circuits. One upper and one lower. Both were low rep and low volume because I didn’t want to accumulate too much fatigue. I would have rather done two full body lifts, but after my 19 miles I had some intense soreness so I elected for an upper lift and hit legs later in the week.

Now, I head into my taper. Volume is going to decrease as readiness and health become the most important factor here. I will invest more in off-feet conditioning during this time. taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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a month ago

The first time an athlete runs the bases in a fall practice SHOULD NOT be the first time they run on a curve.

Athletes must first be prepared for the demands of practice before they can meet the demands of a game.

It’s important that players get exposure to curvilinear running early on in the fall. The game of baseball doesn’t occur in a straight line. We see curvilinear running when tracking fly balls or running out a double. It challenges single leg stability and the way the foot interacts with the ground much differently compared to traditional linear sprinting.

A proper fall sprint progression introduces curvilinear sprints prior to the first time athletes run the bases.

It’s the same idea as sprinting pre game. The first time you sprint in a game can’t be the first time you sprint that day. taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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a month ago

Week 24 Marathon Training

This week is the start of my two week peak phase. One highlight from this week of training was my 9 mile interval run. My average pace was 8:46.

As I said last week, I’m trying to align my runs with the same start time of the race. Knowing the conditions I’m training in are more extreme than the ones I’ll be racing in, I’ll take an 8:46. My average heart rate for that run was 159. When it comes down to it and I’m racing with other people, I’ll naturally increase my speed and maintain higher heart rates. Also, my legs should be feeling the best after I finish the taper.

This week was hard, and I know this upcoming week will be harder. I am going to treat my last peak long run exactly like the race.

Above are some of my favorite movements I’ve used to prepare my body for runs throughout my 24 weeks 🤙🏼 taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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a month ago

Week 23 Marathon Training

The last week for me before I head into peaking. 42 days out from race day.

As of late I’ve definitely felt the fatigue, and this week of training wasn’t easy. Training circumstances weren’t ideal, but I tried to optimize them the best I can. For the remainder of training, the “perfect” time to run will be hard to come by.

I’ve been thinking about the best ways to physically and mentally prepare myself for race day. Moving forward, I plan to approach each long run with the same preparation that I would go through in race day. This could be timing of meals, stretching routine, and intra workout fuel to name a few. Granted, I don’t know exactly what the race will physically require, but I want to continue to prepare the best I can.

Above are some clips that I used in preparation for my heavy day of lifting this week 🙌🏼 taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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2 months ago

Week 22 Marathon Training

7 weeks out from race day! Similar to last week, there were a lot of moving parts so training had to be modified. I traded an easy run for steady state on the bike because my long run is getting moved up a day with school starting. Lately I have been putting less stock into weekly mileage and more into quality long runs and tempo runs.

This upcoming week will be my last week of the build phase before I peak. After this following week, I will be on short rest again because I’ll be moving my long run back to Sunday. This aligns with my race day and ultimately saves me from running in the evening since I’ll have lifting groups at 6 AM Monday - Friday.

Note to self: if I ever run another marathon, it will not be in the fall.

Here are some videos from my first full body lifting session of the week 👊🏼 taken in LSU by @ezrasamperi

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2 months ago

Week 21 Marathon Training

This week of training was very physically fatiguing. I started a new block of lifting and the new stimulus hit pretty hard. With that, my final run of the week I opted for bike intervals instead.

I was curious to see how much I’ve truly improved over my program. I have tracked every single run with mileage, pace, temperature, humidity, and time of day. I did some research and found that I can use an efficiency factor to determine if I’ve been improving. This factor tells me how much speed I am producing per heartbeat. A higher EF means I am running faster at a lower economy.

What I found was that in my long runs, there was no net change. This might look like there is no improvement, but since my distance tripled (5 miles to 16 miles), this still shows aerobic gains. Due to cardiac drift, your heart rate should increase as you go deeper into long runs. My aerobic fitness grew enough to cancel out that extra strain.

On top of this, an EF is very sensitive to heat. The number will naturally be suppressed with heat even with no change in fitness. Even running in the mornings couldn’t save me from 75 degrees. I’d be interested to see how this number changes as I run throughout the fall.

Lastly, one of the biggest things I’ve learned throughout training is to see things from a Birds Eye view. I’d previously think that it was important to stay on schedule and hit progressively increasing mileage week to week. Although that is important, I find it more important to zoom out and understand how much training I have under my belt. One run won’t ultimately dictate my race. Opting for an alternative conditioning stimulus is still beneficial even though on paper the mileage number might not be what I had hoped for.

Above are the exercises that left my legs in shambles for my tempo run. Also, another impulse buy at the end 😅 taken in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by @ezrasamperi

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2 months ago