Performance Unchained: Edition 14 - Maximizing Potential
- Randy Palacios
- Jun 18, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Jul 2, 2025
Performance Unchained Insider is back!
Powered by passion, performance science, and a growing network of professionals like you. To every coach, clinician, scientist, and athlete who’s followed, read, shared, or commented: thank you! Your support fuels this mission. You may not realize how much a comment, like, subscription, or share impacts us. Each edition, I handpick the most forward-thinking, evidence-based studies that deserve the spotlight. Together, we’re building a space that elevates performance through community and credible research.
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Randy Palacios
Founder,
Flexfit Wellness & Recovery
PerformanceUnchained FlexfitWellness SportsScience AthleteOptimization DataDrivenTraining StrengthAndConditioning HumanPerformance LinkedInScience TrainSmart RecoveryMatters NewsletterEdition14
Wellness Spotlight: Top Recovery Tip of the Month
Retrain the Brain, Not Just the Knee: What ACL Rehab Might Be Missing
What if your ACL rehab isn’t just about the leg? It’s about the brain’s ability to relearn movement.
A brand-new study out of Sports Health highlights a game-changing truth: athletes within the first year post-ACL reconstruction can still adapt their movement mechanics like uninjured athletes when challenged correctly.
🚀 The Big Question:
Can athletes really retrain their gait mechanics after ACL surgery? Or is their brain too locked into old, possibly harmful patterns?
Researchers tested 15 athletes recovering from ACL reconstruction and matched them with healthy controls. Both groups walked on a split-belt treadmill: imagine one foot on a fast track and the other on slow-mo. This strategy throws your gait off, forcing the body (and brain) to adapt quickly.
🎯 What Did They Discover?
Even after ACL surgery trauma and months of rehab, athletes showed the same level of motor learning as uninjured peers. Their knees adapted flexion and extension angles smoothly during the treadmill challenge. In other words: the brain still listens!
🧠 Why This Matters:
Most ACL rehab focuses on restoring strength and range of motion, but what about relearning how to move? If you’re skipping motor learning principles, you might leave performance on the table—or worse, increase the risk of re-injury.
This study reminds us that adaptability isn’t lost; it’s underutilized. Whether you're a coach, clinician, or recovering athlete, the takeaway is clear:
Don’t just rebuild the leg. Reprogram the brain.
🏋️ How Can This Apply to You?
This isn’t just a lab study; it’s a wake-up call on how we design rehab and return-to-play programs.
✅ For rehab professionals: Don't stop at quad strength or range of motion. Incorporate perturbation-based training, dual-task drills, and variable surface work to trigger neuromuscular learning.
✅ For athletes: If you’ve had ACL surgery, remember, you're not broken. You're in a critical window where your brain is ready to rebuild smarter movement. Find a coach or clinician who focuses on training both the body and the brain.
✅ For performance teams: Use this research to justify investing in motor control protocols, not just sets and reps. Your athlete’s movement patterns and long-term career depend on it.
This research proves we should treat recovery like skill development. Not just healing, but learning.
💡 Final Thought:
Rehab isn’t complete when you’re pain-free; it’s complete when your movement IQ is back online.
Want to level up your rehab or athlete return-to-play protocols with cutting-edge, science-backed movement strategies?
🔧 Partner With Precision
Are you an athlete, coach, or performance team looking for expert-level recovery strategies that actually work? I bring over 15 years of experience in rehab, biomechanics, and performance optimization. From pro athletes to injury rehab warriors, I’ve helped clients move better, recover smarter, and return stronger.
Let’s build your blueprint for better movement, together.
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Athletic Performance Spotlight: Unlock Your Edge Tip of the Month
🦵🏾 The Maasai Jump Secret: What East Africa’s Elite Leapers Can Teach Us About Human Performance
If you’ve seen a Maasai warrior leaping during their adumu ceremony, you’ve probably wondered: How do they jump so high with such ease and barefoot?
A fascinating study published in Scientific Reports set out to decode the jumping performance and muscle–tendon architecture of Maasai men and compared it to Norwegian athletes. The results?
Let’s just say the secrets of elite movement efficiency aren’t forged in a gym like Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, they’re built on tendon length and takeoff timing.
🚀 What Was the Goal?
The study aimed to understand how biomechanical traits like tendon compliance, muscle structure, and leg length influence vertical jumping, especially in cultures like the Maasai, who jump for ritual and cultural expression.
🔬 What Did They Do?
Researchers observed 22 Maasai men and 12 Norwegian counterparts.
Using force plates, EMG sensors, and ultrasound, they captured each participant's jumping power, takeoff timing, tendon stiffness, and muscle architecture.
The athletes performed both countermovement jumps (CMJ) and repetitive jumps (RJ), a unique mix of lab and tribal leap-off.
📊 What Did They Find?
Both groups achieved similar jump heights, but their mechanisms were significantly different:
💡 Key takeaway: The Maasai may not jump higher, but they jump smarter—with mechanics that favor explosiveness + economy.
💥 Why Does This Matter to You?
Whether you’re a coach, physiologist, athlete, clinician, or someone invested in performance, this study serves as a masterclass on how anatomy + environment + tradition shape movement capacity. It challenges the gym-heavy narrative of vertical jump success and reminds us that natural training (barefoot, rhythmic, outdoors) + mechanical efficiency can yield long-term performance gains.
If you're in rehab, strength & conditioning, or athletic development, rethink how you measure “efficiency” and where you draw inspiration from.
📌 How Can You Apply This?
Coaches & S&C Pros
Study tendon compliance and leverage it in plyometric design.
Test takeoff time and impulse, not just jump height.
Program barefoot or rhythmic movement sessions to develop lower limb control.
Athletes
Efficiency wins championships; learn to use less for more.
Explore tendon-friendly mobility + eccentric loading drills.
Consider nature's role by trying varying terrain and ground contact.
Everyday Movers
Short on power? It may not be strength; it could be timing.
Warm up your jump with tempo control and tendon prep.
Ditch the shoes once in a while (with caution!).
🧠 Final Thought
Sometimes, the best athletes aren't made in high-tech labs; they’re made in the dirt, on the plains, leaping with purpose. The Maasai remind us that elite biomechanics can be found far from barbells and data points.
And maybe performance isn’t always about doing more; sometimes, it’s about doing it better.
📬 Like what you read? Follow for more biomechanics, performance science, and recovery strategies you won’t find in your average sports mag.
👉🏽 Need an expert guide to help your team, program, or body leap forward without injury or wasted effort?
I offer 1:1 and consulting services for elite athletes, organizations, and recovery specialists. Let’s connect and build your movement advantage.
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Mental Performance Spotlight: Mind Over Matter Tip of the Month
🧠 COACHES: THE UNSUNG ARCHITECTS OF ELITE PERFORMANCE
When you think of an architect, do you picture someone with a blueprint in one hand and a vision in the other? They design bridges and skyscrapers. But what if we told you that the best coaches in high-performance sport also act as architects? Not of brick and mortar, but of environments built on values, trust, and relentless ambition.
That’s precisely what a new study out of Denmark reveals.
🎯 The Big Question: What creates a truly high-performing athletic environment that thrives, not just in medals and records but also in sustainable success and athlete well-being?
🛠️ The Coach as the Builder: Researchers observed four elite Danish Olympic and Paralympic coaches along with their athletes and managers. Through in-depth interviews and analyses, they discovered that great coaches don’t just train bodies; they engineer systems, culture, and human potential.
🧱 2 Game-Changing Coaching Blueprints Emerged:
1. Non-Negotiables: These foundational values and guiding structures coaches refuse to compromise on include:
Leading with authenticity and vision.
Creating a tight-knit, value-driven team culture.
Developing the whole athlete, not just their statistics.
2. Delicate Balances: High performance is a high-wire act. Coaches must balance:
Pushing for results vs. preserving well-being.
Elevating the elite few vs. including the collective.
Giving freedom vs. maintaining structure.
This balancing act is not chaos. It’s strategy, experience, and empathy wrapped into leadership.
💡 Why It Matters: This study shifts the spotlight onto process, relationships, and leadership in a world fixated on outcomes. Coaching isn’t simply about X’s and O’s; it's about fostering ecosystems where athletes feel seen, supported, and challenged.
🔗 How This Applies to You
Whether you're a coach, clinician, or performance director, ask yourself:
What are my non-negotiables as a leader?
Am I striking the right balance between intensity and sustainability?
Am I creating an environment where athletes want to grow?
If you’re just following a training plan, you’re missing the big picture. You’re not just coaching a person; you’re building a system.
👋 Need a Consultant in Performance Culture?
If you're leading a program and want to develop a resilient, values-driven, high-output team, I can help. With over 15 years in athletic performance and rehab, specializing in environments where trust, intent, and exceptional outcomes thrive, I would be honored to collaborate with you.
📢 Let’s build better, together.
Follow for more science-backed strategies, human-first insights, and collaborations that move the industry forward.
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Thank you for diving into Edition 14 of Performance Unchained Insider.
Whether it was the biomechanics behind ACL recovery, the explosive capabilities of the Maasai, or the role of elite coaching environments in shaping performance, I hope this sparks new ideas, questions, or breakthroughs in your own practice.
💬 I’d love to hear what stood out to you; drop a comment below.
🔗 Know a coach, clinician, or performance pro who’d benefit? Share it with them!
✅ A simple like or reaction goes a long way in helping this reach more of the community.
📩 And if you're not subscribed yet, now’s the time! Each edition is packed with real science that fuels real results.
Together, let’s keep building smarter, stronger, more resilient athletes, and championing the research that moves the field forward. To momentum, mastery, and meaningful connection, thank you.
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🔗 Partner Spotlight: Supporting Performance at Every Level
At Performance Unchained Insider, we’re proud to collaborate with brands and organizations that share our mission: elevating athlete performance, recovery, and human potential through science, innovation, and purpose-driven tools.
🙌 Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:
Garmin (Garmin Health) provides cutting-edge wearable technology and data solutions that empower individuals and professionals to monitor health, performance, and recovery in real time. With clinically validated metrics, such as heart rate variability, stress, sleep, and VO2 max, Garmin Health supports high-performance training, remote monitoring, and personalized wellness strategies for athletes, clinicians, and forward-thinking coaches. We’re incredibly grateful for their continued support in helping bring evidence-based, actionable insights to our community of coaches, clinicians, and performance professionals.
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We're always seeking to align with companies and brands that believe in science-backed performance, innovation, and community impact.
📩 Interested in sponsoring a future edition or collaborating with Flexfit Wellness & Recovery? Reach out at flexfitwellness or message us directly on LinkedIn.
Let’s build something great, together.💡
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