Ep 58: How to Use Coordinated Contractions to Maximize Human Performance with Aaron Davis

Rebel Performance Radio

Today, James Cerbie speaks with Aaron Davis, Co-Founder, Owner, and health and sports performance coach at Evolve Health and Performance based in Austin, Texas. Aaron has had a long and varied career in the fitness industry. Starting out as an assistant track and field coach at Fort Hays State University in 2005 (where he also earned his BS in Exercise Science), Aaron went on to serve as the head cross country and track and field coach at Bethany College in 2008. In 2011, he was the Director of Programming at CrossFit Austin. Finally, started his own company, Evolve, in 2014.

The big topic that the vast majority of my conversation with Aaron revolves around is coordinated contractions. This is the factor that Aaron pays most attention to when training his athletes: “How can I maximize the number and volume of coordinated contractions I’m getting?” We dive into the definition of coordinated contractions, its impact on exercise, and how to actually implement it into your own training or your client’s training.

We start our conversation off discussing Aaron’s onboarding process for new athletes. His insistence on focusing on levers outside that of exercise gives us a peek into his multipronged, holistic approach as a trainer. Aaron explains the importance of looking at factors such as nutrition, sleep, and the individual’s energy levels outside of the gym. From there, we go into his foundational pillar for energy system development: coordinated contractions.

In Aaron’s words: “Coordinated contractions, to me, means I can keep a very high power output with great oxygen utilization”. High volumes of these coordinated contractions leads to massive benefits all around, from greater oxygen utilization to more muscle growth to increased performance. He looks “at the coordination issue as intramuscular compensation to an intramuscular issue.” Aaron then shares how he applies this principle as a coach as well as how to use the Moxy to monitor and “fill the holes” of their athlete’s performance.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• [04:25] An introduction to Aaron and his gym, Evolve
• [06:18] Aaron’s top influences that contributed to his ever-evolving framework as a coach
• [09:03] How Aaron goes about onboarding a new coaching client
• [14:25] Defining coordinated contractions and their importance
• [17:35] Coordinated contractions in practice
• [21:00] Using the Moxy Monitor to investigate coordinated contractions
• [25:00] Priming an athlete’s psychology for the training ahead
• [29:52] What makes a “good” Crossfitter?
• [35:45] Distinguishing between supply and utilization with the Moxy
• [39:23] Subjective markers to track coordinated contractions for those with no access to technology
• [43:29] How to contact Aaron
• [44:02] The most impactful content that Aaron recently consumed

Links:

• Email Aaron Davis here: [e-mail]
• Follow Evolve Health and Performance on Instagram here

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