Joey Greany - NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Season 7 Episode 19

Catch up on this presentation from the 2024 NSCA Coaches Conference with Major League Baseball (MLB) Tampa Bay Rays Strength and Conditioning Coach, Joey Greany. Greany takes NSCA Coaching Program Manager, Eric McMahon, on a deep dive into plyometrics for a wide range of athletes. He also shares the importance of professional development for strength and conditioning coaches. Tune in to learn in-season training tips and how the NSCA inspired Greany’s path to the Big Leagues.

As mentioned in the episode, here is a link to learn more about the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society (PBSCCS).  

Connect with Joey on Instagram at: @joeygreany | Find Eric on Instagram: @ericmcmahoncscs or X (Twitter): @ericmcmahoncscs

“I was very interested in fitness, in sports training. So I went to school for exercise science, physical education. Upon graduation, I explained to the group that my academic advisor, at the time, printed out the NSCA, I guess, job board and the NSCA website, handed that to me. I was walking back to my dorm room, reading the material that he just printed out from the NSCA, and you know, I was completely hooked. I said, this is something that I want to do. Eventually, I want to work with the best athletes in the world.” 8:40

“The Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Society, is an organization that represents all the strength coaches in professional baseball. When it first started out, there was only a few coaches involved. Over the course of some years, we’ve grown to probably 300 plus coaches that are involved. That’s both Minor League coaches and Major League strength and conditioning coaches, as well as other directors and coordinators are also involved.” 12:45

“Communicating with the players on the team, developing relationships and trust with these players on your team is very important to get them to do the things necessary to improve performance.” 17:45

“It’s important that you manage strength and power levels, while also keeping in mind of fatigue and recovery throughout the whole off season. And there’s a number of different strategies, techniques, and methods to go and to utilize that. As far as sets and repetitions, I like giving a set and repetition range for my athletes.” 20:28

[00:00:00.00] [MUSIC PLAYING]
[00:00:04.49] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast, season 7, episode 19.
[00:00:11.72] I was very interested in fitness, in sports training. So I went to school for exercise science, physical education. Upon graduation, I explained to the group that my academic advisor, at the time, printed out the NSCA, I guess, job board and the NSCA website, handed that to me.
[00:00:32.87] I was walking back to my dorm room, reading the material that he just printed out from the NSCA, and I was completely hooked. I said, this is something that I want to do. Eventually, I want to work with the best athletes in the world.
[00:00:47.22] This is the NSCA's Coaching Podcast, where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to know, but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning, and then there's everything else.
[00:00:58.33] This is the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I'm Eric McMahon. We are coming off of the 2024 NSCA Coaches Conference, last month, and one of our speakers, Joey Greaney, is with us here today. He's a Major League strength and conditioning coach with the Tampa Bay Rays. Joey, welcome to the show.
[00:01:18.51] Eric, thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:20.65] Yeah, I enjoyed catching up as always. We've been catching up a lot lately. We were at the Winter meetings, and then we were, a few weeks later, in Orlando at Coach's Conference. You gave a couple sessions there, one on plyometrics and one on career development. But before we get into that, how is the conference for you?
[00:01:40.80] Yeah, overall, the conference was absolutely amazing. You know, I met different coaches from all over the world, various different sports. So I was able to connect with them, to grow with them, and learn a ton of information. We had great speakers at this year's conference, and the NSCA, like always, always puts on an exceptional event, and this was one of them. I was glad to be a part of it.
[00:02:07.60] Yeah, for baseball, strength and conditioning coaches, this is usually the one you get to go to just with Spring training right around the corner, but not being able to go typically to National Conference during July, because that's the middle of the season. I do want to ask you about some of the MLB schedule and the role of strength and conditioning coaches. But before we do, let's jump into your sessions. You gave a couple sessions at the conference. I mentioned plyometrics. What were some of the progressions you took coaches through, and what were some of your takeaways?
[00:02:45.80] Yeah, absolutely. The session was practical plyometric programming for team sport athletes and its various drills strategies, methods that I learned through the Minor League levels when I was a young Minor League coach. And then we put this into a system and this process to help develop our athletes. What we like to do is split the programming up into three different levels. Level one, strictly focusing on body position, landing mechanics, kind of like your intro to plyometrics.
[00:03:21.13] Then level two, that's more your continuous jumps, single and double leg takeoff and landings, and then level three, that's when we introduce complexes in the weight room. We either use weights, such as dumbbells or resistance bands, to progress our plyometrics. So that's kind of what we covered. We covered three planes of motion during this presentation, horizontal, vertical, and lateral. And then we progressed each of these drills, starting from basic snap downs to vertical jump snap downs to double contact jumps, and then we went into our horizontal segments, where we had the participants line up in rows of about 10.
[00:04:05.14] We worked on are broad jump, our single leg broad jump, and then we finished that section with resisted broad jumps. And then we went into our lateral component or lateral aspect of the presentation, and that was strictly focusing on lateral bounce going from one leg to another leg, really, work on loading your one leg and then exploding over into your other leg. And then we progressed that into a double contact, so it's a lateral bound with a lateral hop.
[00:04:34.93] So it's a two hop into a lateral bound, and then we progressed that to a level three plyometric, which we added a band to the lateral bounce. So that's kind of how we went over that presentation and how we designed that course, and overall, we had great participation, great questions at the end. And I think we all learned from that, and we took a lot of things away.
[00:05:01.54] I like how you went through the progression there, and coaches can connect with that. We all identify with the importance of progression, level one through three, as you mentioned, and planes of movement. You're coming out of a sport with a huge frontal plane or lateral movement component it baseball, so making it translate over to sport.
[00:05:23.37] But I want to ask you about the use of single leg plyometrics. This is something that we do see in the speed world quite a bit, but maybe as an area that's underrepresented in some areas of strength and conditioning. Typically, everybody tests the vertical jump or the standing broad jump, and that's something that we base a lot of information on of how powerful our athletes are. How important is it to progress athletes from double leg into single leg jumps? Where do you see the biggest takeaways for them in their athleticism?
[00:06:03.85] Yeah, great question, Eric. Definitely, early on, you want to have your athletes starting with double leg takeoff, double leg landings, like I talked about in that level one. And some of your elite professional athletes, maybe they only need a week or two of that introduction to plyometrics before they start jumping off that single leg, landing on that single leg, and that would fall into that level two category that I was talking about.
[00:06:29.27] So, I mean, it comes down to knowing your athletes, testing your athletes, using force plates or other various jump-training tests that you can do and to find where your athletes are weak, where their strengths are, and really, focus on programming from those numbers, from that information. But a lot of the-- I would say, from the college level up into the elite professional levels, single leg power, I don't believe we spent enough time on that. And I think athletes can benefit more from the single leg broad jump, single leg vert jumps, learning how to land on one leg, and it's easy to program into that too. But I would definitely have, at least, a week or two of the level one plyometrics, where you're focusing on body position, landing mechanics, and so forth.
[00:07:25.61] Yeah, it's important to start with the basics, but I hear you. And I think it's important. The takeaway here is, as strength and conditioning coaches, these have been around for a long time. And, now, it's time we can develop more robust jumping and landing programs that translate to sprinting agility, different areas that athletes are required to move in their sport, and single leg plyos are a great way to do that.
[00:07:54.14] Your second session at coach's conference, you got to take a group of aspiring coaches or young professionals through progression into coaching, and they wanted to learn from you, how to get into pro sports. You could share a lot from your background. What advice do you have for coaches who want to get into pro sports?
[00:08:20.24] Yeah, great question. So I shared my story, kind of how I got involved in professional sports, and it all started from growing up being physically active. I was very intrigued, very-- you know, I was very interested in fitness, in sports training. So I went to school for exercise science, physical education.
[00:08:47.42] Upon graduation, I explained to the group that my academic advisor, at the time, printed out the NSCA, I guess, job board and the NSCA website, handed that to me. I was walking back to my dorm room, reading the material that he just printed out from the NSCA, and you know, I was completely hooked. I said, this is something that I want to do.
[00:09:10.76] Eventually, I want to work with the best athletes in the world. And then I went ahead and ordered the NSCA essentials textbook that night, and possibly, this was before Amazon. But yeah, I got that book as soon as it came. I started reading it, studying for the [? NSCA ?] exam. I took that, graduated college, started personal training, and then I worked at Velocity Sports Performance for about a year.
[00:09:38.59] And then, in 2008, Kansas City, I was looking on the NSCA job board, and I saw a lot of positions being posted from the NHL, NFL, MLB. I applied to a number of different teams, but I heard back from the Kansas City Royals in 2008. And then, shortly after a few interviews, I was on my way to Surprise, Arizona, and the rest is history.
[00:10:01.93] I'm going on to my 17th season in professional baseball, currently, with the Tampa Bay Rays in my eighth year in the Major Leagues. But I explained to them, continue to check the NSCA job board. There's a lot of different postings, come to the NSCA conferences, network with other coaches from all around the world, all around the industry, and provide good value where you are, whatever organization you're in or whatever coaching title you may have, just continue to be a good person, and provide value for where you are, and just let the chips fall where they may.
[00:10:47.25] That's great advice. We hear a lot about working with pro athletes. What are some of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to working with the best athletes in the world from a strength and conditioning standpoint?
[00:11:04.08] Yeah, great question. The professional athletes, the elite, the best of the best, they're at the top of their game. They're the top 1% of their sport, but they do have weaknesses. And they have a lot of strengths, but they do have weaknesses, and it's our job to find those weaknesses and figure out ways to improve them to make them that much better, whether it's a mobility issue, a strength issue, explosive power issue.
[00:11:35.52] Our job is to tap into that, find the means necessary in terms of methods, strategies, drills, exercises, and then have them perform them. And, hopefully, at the end of the day, the athlete enjoys doing those, and they can continue to perform that throughout the season. And, physically, they feel their best, and that's what we want to help the team win to have our athletes feel their best throughout the year.
[00:12:08.37] You mentioned the NSCA job board, but another resource for coaches looking at professional baseball specifically is the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society, the PBSCCS. We were both at those meetings, at the MLB Winter meetings in early December. Share for coaches who maybe haven't worked in a professional sport, what are these groups? How do they support strength and conditioning professionals, and just what's been your experience going to the Winter meetings and learning from other coaches?
[00:12:43.05] Yeah, so the PBSCCS, the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Society, is an organization that represents all the strength coaches in professional baseball. So when it first started out, there was only a few coaches involved. Over the course of some years, we've grown to probably 300 plus coaches that are involved. That's both Minor League coaches and Major League strength and conditioning coaches, as well as other directors and coordinators are also involved. But it's a great society. It's grown over so many years.
[00:13:18.52] I've met so many incredible coaches from all over baseball, and it's really helped push the baseball strength and conditioning profession in terms of knowledge, and growth, and compensation among coaches in all of baseball. But it's a remarkable group, and we continue to meet each and every year at the Winter meetings. And we push each other to become the best coaches in the world at what we do, and it's been fun to be a part of that.
[00:13:58.52] I can think of early years in professional baseball. Not everybody was going to those meetings. Organizations pay the way for coaches to be involved at the MLB Winter meetings. So at first, it was 30 Major League coaches, and then it was 30 Major League coaches and 30 Minor League coordinators, and that expanded a lot over the years.
[00:14:23.54] So it is significant to grow and have an event with, like you said, nearly 300 people. And one thing I really like about that group, in particular, is that they've always had a growth mentality of we're going to be welcoming to anybody who needs a home within the game. That's registered dietitians, physical therapists, other professionals who want to check out our exhibit hall, learn from the education content that we're putting together.
[00:14:55.69] So the PBSCCS, Joey, I like to think of it as an advocacy arm of our strength and conditioning community. And I know, in my role at the NSCA, that's really valuable, because we do that from the NSCA. But we do it on a really broad sense.
[00:15:14.62] So when you get a group, like the PBSCCS or the other groups in different sports, they're allowed to really focus on the needs of professional baseball, thinking about facilities that maybe weren't always so great. That's probably one of those misconceptions, as well as you think facilities are going to be off the charts at the Major League level, but not always so. So these groups advocate for those things.
[00:15:42.13] They advocate for what types of professionals are eligible to get jobs within the game, what credentials are necessary. That's where we come in from the NSCA. So it really is a great group. We dig from a lot at the NSCA, and I appreciate you sharing that.
[00:16:04.05] So you've worked your way up. You were in the Minor Leagues. You worked your way up to the big leagues. There's some similarities there in terms of schedule, but also, some differences. For coaches that are listening and thinking, hey, maybe I want to try to get one of those baseball internships or baseball strength and conditioning jobs at an affiliate, what does the calendar year look like within pro ball? What can young coaches expect when they get to their first off season, and what are some of the duties and responsibilities outside of just the normal sets and reps that we would expect?
[00:16:46.46] Yeah, great question. Yeah, so young coaches starting out either in an internship program or a first year cohort, you're looking at spring training starting in February and then being with the clubs in Spring training. You may be asked to stay for extended Spring training with some of the lower level affiliate teams, and then when your affiliate goes ahead and breaks off for the season, you'll travel to whatever affiliate that may be in whatever league that may be in the United States. And then you'll be with that.
[00:17:22.98] You'll be with that affiliate for the season, carrying out the strength and conditioning program set forth by the organization, your coordinator, your other coaches that is put into place, and you will carry that out. Communicating with the other members of your staff is very important. Communicating with the players on the team, developing relationships and trust with these players on your team is very important to get them to do the things necessary to improve performance.
[00:17:53.16] So you would continue that throughout the season, and then after the season, you may be asked to go back to instructional league, and that's when the organizations bring in their top prospects for some intense instructions at the end of the season, usually, right around the end of September, October range. So you would work instructional league from that, and then from that point, you would go into your off season months. And then, typically, wherever you reside in the off season, you would reach out to your players, make phone calls.
[00:18:28.08] Perhaps, you may go visit some of your players in the off season to check in and document those encounters about their workouts, about kind of their training that they're doing. And then from that point, you just continue to help the organization in the off season, help your coordinators, your other coaches, and then you better yourself, go to the NSCA conferences in the off season, if you can, take some of the courses, continuing ed, always engage in growth and in opportunities that way, and then the off season goes by pretty quickly. And before you know it, you're right back out in Spring training and ready to go.
[00:19:14.00] So it's a year round commitment. You're doing something year round that's really come with-- at one time, it was all internships. So the organizations couldn't retain their staff through the off season, but now, they can, and reaching out to players, connecting with players in the off season. But one thing I want to point out is, most of the time that you have access to players, they're in their competitive season or approaching it.
[00:19:42.52] So Spring training through the end of what's a long season, how do you approach in season training in a lot of sports? The in season, you know, I'm thinking football. You have a lot more off season than you have in season, but in baseball, not so much. How do you approach in season training, so that maybe players in the Minor Leagues that have a long way to go developmentally can progress and still be at their best on the field?
[00:20:12.51] Yeah, great question. Baseball's unlike any other sport. We have the longest season. We play so many games. Before the games, too, we can't forget that these guys, they're out on the field, practicing, taking batting practice, ground balls.
[00:20:27.28] So it's important that you manage strength and power levels, while also keeping in mind of fatigue and recovery throughout the whole off season. And there's a number of different strategies, techniques, and methods to go and to utilize that. As far as sets and repetitions, I like giving a set and repetition range for my athletes.
[00:20:51.31] For example, three to five sets of three to four sets, three to five reps and three to four sets. So that way, when athletes come in, they may be a little fatigued. So maybe they're doing, say, three sets of three on that day, but great intensity.
[00:21:07.66] Another athlete that comes in can be feeling really good, really fresh, ready to go. So maybe they're doing five sets of five on that day. So you can kind of adjust the program based on what is going on, on the field between the games, between the practices, between the travel schedule. That's something that we don't talk a lot about, but also, it needs to be mentioned is that in the Minor Leagues, these players are on the bus. They're traveling quite a bit of hours at a time.
[00:21:41.66] So as far as sitting in one position for nine hours, rolling into a town or a city either late at night or early in the morning and be expected to pop up, and be at the field the next day, and ready to go, there's some things that you have to keep in mind. And maybe there's some things that you can add into stretch or add into your workouts to help combat the travel, maybe some extra mobility or stretching into their routines. So that's something else we got to keep in mind and the food, too, traveling on the road.
[00:22:18.39] They're not home. They're not used to their food that they're getting at their actual stadium or ballpark. So I like to use set and rep ranges for our teams, especially in the Minor Leagues.
[00:22:31.14] So some athletes are feeling fresh. You can push them a little bit. Athletes that maybe are a little fatigued, you can cut the repetitions and sets in half, but still get some forward progress with their work.
[00:22:43.24] Yeah, flexible programming, we've heard more about that in recent years, especially with in season training. And it's something that, when you're in school and you're learning about strength and conditioning and how you're going to train athletes, I think a lot of us think of the off season when you're going to have-- we're going to have the hypertrophy phase, and then we're going to go into strength, and then we're going to go into power. What happens when that in season phase gets stretched out so long, and at the professional level, players go home in the off season months?
[00:23:19.93] You don't have as much time to work with them, or maybe they work with a coach in their area, someone, maybe their college coach or high school strength and conditioning coach, whatever resources they have. So it becomes a really complex scenario of how do you serve this athlete best, and no, I think that's really interesting. And I like how you broke it down even to rep ranges. It sounds like you just keep it simple, focus on what needs to be the number one, whether that's you get in early in the morning, and you've been on a bus for 12 hours.
[00:23:59.75] Well, they probably need some good sleep, and they wake up. They probably need something to eat. And from there, you look at when the game time is, batting practice, these different things, and then you interject different training, recovery, other modalities and training areas that we can have an impact. So the hours of the day really fill up quickly when you start doing that in a professional sports environment, but it is good for everyone to hear this.
[00:24:30.77] And I know there's some college coaches out there, listening, and just thinking about how many hours their athletes are putting in as well. But this mentality of a professional season, and I think, in baseball, we call it the baseball day. That mentality of how you approach the baseball day, or the training day, or game day is really important for coaches to conceptualize, really, beyond what's in the essentials textbook.
[00:25:03.86] So, Joey, man, I appreciate you breaking it down with us today. We went through your conference sessions, a little bit about pro ball, and just your experience. I thought your session was really great at Coach's, and you had great participation. One thing I'm pushing for is to get even more hands on sessions like that at upcoming NSCA events, because that's what we do.
[00:25:29.33] It's coaches coaching other coaches, and we can-- even if that's a progression that you mentioned that another coach is familiar with, maybe the way you say it or deliver it, a coaching cue resonates, and that's just something that you may not be familiar with. So there's, really, value in going back to the drawing board, and even listening to some progressions that we have a good understanding of as strength and conditioning coaches. So, Joey, thanks for being with us.
[00:26:01.49] Eric, thank you for having me, and thank you for the NSCA for having me on.
[00:26:05.42] One last thing. For anyone who wants to reach out, what's your contact info, social media, whatever you got?
[00:26:13.31] Yeah, questions, reach out to me. You can reach out to me on Instagram just at my name, Joey Greany, J-O-E-Y G-R-E-A-N-Y. Just shoot me a message, and I'll be glad to talk shop and talk training with you.
[00:26:28.32] Sounds good. We'll throw that in the show notes. Joey, thanks, again, and everyone, thanks for tuning in to the NSCA Coaching Podcast. Special thanks to Sorinex Exercise Equipment. We appreciate their support.
[00:26:39.90] Hey, everyone. This is strength and conditioning Coach Scott Caulfield. You just listened to the NSCA Coaching Podcast, one of the best sources of information about the strength and conditioning profession. If you're new to this podcast and you want to learn more, subscribe now to always get the latest episodes delivered right to you.
[00:26:55.60] [MUSIC PLAYING]
[00:26:57.09] This was the NSCA's Coaching Podcast. The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded in 1978 by strength and conditioning coaches to share information, resources, and help advance the profession. Serving coaches for over 40 years, the NSCA is the trusted source for strength and conditioning professionals. Be sure to join us next time.

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