Science for Sport Podcast

Few people are better placed to chart the evolution of sports science in professional football than Simon Grayson.

Across a career spanning five decades, Simon has experienced the game as both a player and manager, from an era of bacon sandwiches before training and beers on the team bus, through to the GPS data, individualised programmes and specialist performance departments that are now part of everyday professional football.

This week, Richard Graves sits down with Simon to discuss how that transformation has changed the way players train, recover and prepare for matches, and how his own approach to management has evolved alongside it.

Simon explains what he wants from sports science practitioners as a manager, why information has to be relevant rather than simply available, and why data should always be understood within the context of what actually happened on the pitch.

They also explore one of the challenges facing modern performance teams: finding the right balance between objective data and a coach's experience. Simon discusses why high-speed running is one of the metrics he pays particular attention to, how physical data can influence team selection during congested schedules, and why he has never wanted his training sessions to be dictated entirely by the numbers.

Drawing on his experiences in English football and coaching overseas, Simon also explains how climate, culture and the physical capabilities of players can force coaches to adapt their methods.

And despite everything that has changed, he believes one part of coaching remains as important as ever: getting the best out of people.

In this episode you will learn

How sports science in professional football has changed since Simon began playing in the 1980s

What a manager actually wants from sports science and performance staff

Why more data doesn't necessarily mean better information

Why Simon pays particular attention to high-speed running

How physical data can influence selection during congested fixture schedules

Why training load data needs to be interpreted within the context of the game

How managers balance sports science recommendations with coaching experience

What modern recovery looks like compared with previous generations

How Simon adapted his training methods when coaching in different climates and cultures

Why man-management and relationships remain fundamental regardless of advances in technology

About Simon Grayson

Simon Grayson has spent more than four decades in professional football as a player, coach and manager.

After beginning his career at Leeds United, he went on to play for clubs including Leicester City, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool. His playing career included promotion to the Premier League with Leicester and victory in the 1997 League Cup.

As a manager, Simon has led clubs including Blackpool, Leeds United, Huddersfield Town, Preston North End, Sunderland and Bradford City, with promotion-winning campaigns at several clubs. His career has also taken him overseas, giving him experience of working with players and performance teams in different footballing cultures and environments.

More recently, Simon has worked in international football and advisory roles, while also launching the Simon Grayson Football Academy in Leeds.

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Are elite athletes training harder than the demands of their sport require?

This week, Richard Graves is joined by performance coach Colin Byrne, who spent seven years working with Conor McGregor as part of his training and corner team.

Colin believes many athletes, particularly in combat sports, still confuse doing more work with preparing effectively. He explains why conditioning should reflect the actual structure of competition, how fatigue affects technical execution and why the ability to recover between intense efforts can decide contests.

The conversation explores Colin’s work with McGregor following his first defeat to Nate Diaz. He describes how introducing greater structure, separating skill development from conditioning and helping McGregor understand his own intensity transformed the preparation for their rematch just 14 weeks later.

Colin also introduces his “one-round principle”, challenges the value of routinely exceeding competition distances in training and explains what combat sports can learn from cycling’s measurement-led approach to performance.

In this episode you will learn

Why many combat athletes train too much without training specifically enough

How fatigue affects decision-making and technical execution

What Colin changed after Conor McGregor’s first fight with Nate Diaz

Why skill training and conditioning may need to be separated

How heart rate and power data can help athletes understand pacing

Why recovery between high-intensity efforts matters so much

How the “one-round principle” changes the structure of fight preparation

Why training beyond the demands of competition is not always productive

What coaches can learn from cycling’s approach to measurement

How amateur athletes can make better use of limited training time

About Colin Byrne

Colin Byrne is a performance coach, martial artist and founder of the Shinobi Academy in Portugal. A former professional cyclist and European silver medallist in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he holds black belts in both Brazilian jiu-jitsu and ninjutsu.

Colin spent seven years travelling and working with Conor McGregor, helping to structure his conditioning following the first Nate Diaz fight and supporting him as a trainer and cornerman. His approach combines practical coaching experience, measurable performance data and a detailed understanding of the demands placed on combat athletes.

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​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

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Elite teams have access to more performance data than ever. The real competitive advantage, however, comes from knowing which questions to ask, how to interpret the answers and when to act.

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Jamie Hepner, Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult.

Drawing on almost 12 years of working with leading NFL and college football programmes, Jamie explains how applied sports science has progressed from simply monitoring athletes to actively shaping training and practice.

The conversation explores how performance teams can combine wearable data, video and practitioner judgement to manage player availability without leaving athletes underprepared. Jamie discusses why training load cannot be viewed in isolation, how deviations at individual and positional-group level require different responses, and why feeling tired after a demanding training block is not necessarily a negative outcome.

Jamie also explains how technology such as Vector 8 is connecting physical performance data with the tactical context of practice. This allows practitioners to examine the demands of particular plays, automate player participation and prescribe the type and number of repetitions an athlete may need during the week.

This is a practical discussion about moving beyond interesting information and using data to make decisions that improve preparation, availability and performance.

In this episode you will learn

What applied sports science looks like within NFL and college football

Why the quality of the question determines the value of the data

How player tracking and video can provide greater context around physical demands

Why minimising training load does not necessarily reduce injury risk

How performance teams balance player availability with adequate preparation

How wearable data can help prescribe practice rather than simply review it

Why individual and positional-group deviations require different responses

How subjective athlete feedback and objective performance data work together

Why fatigue and soreness can sometimes be an intended training response

How practitioners can turn performance information into decisions coaches can use

Why the next stage of athlete monitoring is likely to focus on context rather than data volume

About Jamie Hepner

Jamie is Director of Applied Sport Science – Football Performance at Catapult

He works with leading American football programmes to help practitioners and coaches apply athlete-monitoring data to training, preparation and player-availability decisions. During almost 12 years at Catapult, Jamie has helped the company respond to the evolving performance needs of NFL and college football teams.

Originally from Australia, Jamie relocated to the United States when he joined Catapult during the company’s early expansion into American sport. His previous experience includes athlete management with AFL Victoria and strength and conditioning coaching.

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​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More

​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

What does it take to build a genuinely integrated high-performance programme?

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Trevor Short, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health, Wellness and Performance at Utah State University.

Trevor explains how Utah State is bringing sports science, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, nutrition and mental wellness together around three shared objectives: athlete availability, performance development and readiness to compete.

The conversation explores why alignment must come before data, how monitoring should respond to the questions coaches are actually asking, and why collecting more information does not automatically lead to better decisions. Trevor also discusses the challenge of balancing performance development with athlete availability, adapting thresholds to the demands of the season and communicating the same evidence differently to coaches and senior leaders.

This is a practical discussion about designing high-performance systems in which every intervention has a purpose, departments work beyond their traditional silos and the athlete remains at the centre of decision-making.

In this episode you will learn

Why athlete availability, performance and readiness can be competing objectives

How Utah State is integrating its performance, medical, nutrition and mental wellness teams

Why alignment with coaches should come before collecting data

How to build monitoring systems around meaningful performance questions

Why readiness flags must be interpreted within the context of the season

How multidisciplinary teams can make better decisions for individual athletes

Why the same information should be communicated differently to coaches and administrators

How standard operating procedures can make performance systems more consistent and measurable

Why leadership, culture and trust matter as much as technology

How integrated athlete support can increase a team’s chances of winning

About Trevor Short

Dr Trevor Short is Senior Associate Athletics Director for Health, Wellness and Performance at Utah State University, where he oversees sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports nutrition, mental wellness and sports performance.

Before joining Utah State, Trevor worked as a performance and sports scientist at the University of Hawai‘i, supporting sports science provision across its intercollegiate programmes. His career has also included strength and conditioning, applied research, university teaching, private-sector performance coaching and operational leadership.

Trevor holds a PhD in Kinesiology and is a Certified Performance and Sport Scientist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA. His work focuses on integrated high-performance systems, athlete monitoring and the use of evidence to improve athlete availability, readiness and performance.

FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL

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​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively

​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery

​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In

​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese

​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More

​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research

This week, Richard Graves is joined by Dr Alicia Naser, behavioural scientist and founder of The Naser Institute for Behavioral Sports Psychology.

Dr Naser works with professional athletes and organisations across hockey, tennis, baseball, basketball and golf, helping them understand the relationship between behaviour, physiology and performance under pressure. In this episode, she explains why mental performance should not sit separately from physical preparation, and how fatigue, heart rate, self-talk and emotion can all influence an athlete’s ability to execute when it matters.

The conversation explores the practical value of becoming more aware of internal responses during competition. From using frustration constructively rather than trying to suppress it, to striking the right balance with wearable data, Dr Naser offers a behavioural-science lens on high-performance sport that will be useful for practitioners, coaches and athletes alike.

In this episode you will learn

Why mental health and mental performance are related, but not the same thing

How physical fatigue can affect clarity, decision-making and execution

The relationship between heart rate, anxiety and an athlete’s self-talk

Why emotional awareness can itself be a useful performance intervention

How frustration can be used to create focus and competitive intent

Where breathing strategies fit within performance under pressure

How to use wearable data without becoming overly dependent on it

Why mental and physical preparation should be integrated across a performance programme

How practitioners can use pre- and post-intervention data to build organisational buy-in

A simple journalling exercise athletes and coaches can use to identify performance barriers

About Dr Alicia Naser

Dr Alicia Naser, PhD, BCBA-D, is a behavioural scientist, Board Certified Behavior Analyst and founder of The Naser Institute for Behavioral Sports Psychology. Her work combines behavioural science, physiology and mental performance to support professional athletes, coaches and organisations. Dr Naser has more than 12 years of advanced study, research and applied work in behavioural psychology, and works across a range of elite sports including the NHL, ATP Tour, MLB, NBA, PGA and Premier League.

FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL

SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241

​ Learn Quicker & More Effectively

​ Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery

​ Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In

​ Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese

​ Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More

​ Improve Your Athletes' Performance

​ Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes

​ Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research