Angus Ross: Enhancing Strengths & Weaknesses; Eccentric Training for Speed and Power

Angus Ross is the Strength and Conditioning and Power Physiology Lead with High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ), working with elite track & field athletes and multiple Olympic sports across lead coaching, s&c, and sport science. He is also a three-time Winter Olympian in bobsleigh and the full-time coach of New Zealand 60 m record holder Tiaan Whelpton. His PhD focused on sprint performance and tapering, complemented by many peer-reviewed publications on topics including eccentric strength training and acceleration biomechanics. In this episode, we dive into athlete profiling, training elastic vs muscular qualities, eccentric loading, and the art of individualising strength work for sprinters and jumpers. Topics / Timestamps: 0:00 Angus’ background (PhD, high performance sport, Olympic experience) 3:05 Athlete profiling: vertical jump, drop jumps, optimal cadence & fiber type links 5:50 Training strengths vs weaknesses — what actually moves the needle 10:30 Case study: developing extreme power in sprinters 16:00 Force expression vs elastic efficiency in acceleration 26:30 Integrating S&C within a technical coaching framework 29:00 Pairing speed & strength — when to combine or separate sessions 34:00 Eccentric training: benefits, risks, and long-latency adaptations 42:50 How to program eccentric work without compromising speed 49:00 “How much strength is enough?” for elite sprinters 57:00 Isometrics, sarcomeres in series & speed development 1:05:20 Communication, trust & the evolving role of the coach Angus's Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angus-Ross Support the show