Podcast 006 – Phil Wharton interview

Posted on January 25, 2012 by CoachJay

Phil Wharton is one of my heros in the sport of track and field. He’s extremely knowledgable, extremely passionate about his craft and his compassion for athletes is tremendous. He works with his father Jim at Wharton Performance, working with athletes from a variety of sports. He and his father are best know for their Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) with ropes – “the rope stretching” – but as you’ll hear in this podcast, there is so much more to Phil’s approach than just rope stretching.

In this podcast we cover a lot of territory, including his work with Matt Centrowitz Jr., the 1,50mm bronze medalist from the 2011 World Championships, as well as insights into his own training, where he is currently coached by Matt Centrowitz.

I highly recommend this link which will take you to a list of strength exercises that Wharton Performance has put together. Similarly, check out this video from Running Times where you can see examples of the some of the work that Phil does with athletes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:27 — 29.7MB) | Embed

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KRIXL7URWLJ2LBS4IM4R3EHREA Matthew

    This was great, Jay! You two seem to have a great chemistry / energy.

    Just one quick thing: a runner who listens to these, reads a few blogs, and Running Times, will be hit with 20-30 new exercises / stretches every month. I’m not surprised many runners don’t do anything, or just stick with the static stretching they know from when they were a kid. 

    I liked your “give me 15 minutes and I’ll make you a better runner” article. I wish it could be the only thing promoted!

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    That’s a great suggestion…and the only irony is that I think Phil joint integrity work is probably the first step in a smart progression, with the work that I promote coming later.  I think what is interesting about the podcast with Scott Douglas and now this one is that Scott is doing a combination of both and ideally that is what an athlete would do.

    But that said, I will work on “the next 15 minutes” – what people should be doing if they only have 15 minutes and want to stay healthy.  

    Thanks for your comments Matt – really appreciate you taking the time to write.

  • thomas_t

    Great interview. I’m always wondering about our weight training routine. I’ve been of the opinion that what we want out of the weight room as distance runners is basically the same as the throwers: power and explosivity (is that a real word or just one that people on ESPN use?) so high weight low reps instead of low weight high reps (we can get our endurance (high reps) out on the road) but you guys bring up some very good issues. I wonder if a 20 week progression from joint integrity to power could be put together or if it needs to be more long term (first year: x; second year: y; etc, etc)? I think I know what is ideal but working with the constraints of a high school coach I know what is more practical too:)

    It was interesting to hear Phil discuss some of the Oregon philosophy although a bit hard to conceptualize when he talks in terms of pace instead of effort (i.e. 90 seconds is easy for him but faster than cross country race pace for some kids. Is 6:00 pace what he does his recovery runs in (obviously slower than his PR marathon pace)?

    But like I said, good stuff. Consider my appetite whetted:)

    Thos

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    Glad you enjoyed the interview.  I’ll get back to you next week with a response.  Many emails to respond to from OATCCC clinic…good problem to have.

    Again, glad you enjoyed the podcast.

  • http://predawnrunner.com Greg Strosaker

    Another solid interview Jay, I love how you are covering a wide spectrum of topics by bringing in experts from different fields thus far.  As always, I learned a lot and am looking forward to researching more about Phil’s work.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    Thanks Greg. Hope to get another one out before the end of the month, but working on some other projects. But there are other people I really want to talk to and who I think the readership will enjoy listening to as well.

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