Expert Profile #6 - Kelly Starrett

Portrait Artist: Natalya Kopylova
About, Workout/Exercise
3-minute Read

Kelly Starrett is an athlete, physical therapist, and (above everything else) strength and conditioning coach who focuses on movement. He has worked with several national and international teams including the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, Golden State Warriors, New Zealand All Blacks, Toronto Blue Jays, and a variety of sports organizations like the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and international Rugby as well as multiple (if not all) branches of the military. Kelly also coaches top-performing athletes one-on-one at his gym, San Francisco CrossFit, where he focuses less on volume and power and more on form and function being the keys to performance.
 
Kelly states that there are three categories or ways to train:

1. General Physical Preparedness, or GPP, is working on foundational strength or fitness by practicing basic skills like push-ups and pull-ups.
2. Sports Preparation is mastering coordination and skill, like jumping and landing with your feet straight, to work on being able to pick up new sports and skills quickly.
3. Sports Specific Training is training skills for a specific sport so that you can be “good at your job” and/or be prepared. This means you are possibly sacrificing work in the other two categories.

 
The reason for having these categories are to know when you should be working on which area and to be aware of all the areas of strength training so that you can be a better athlete all-around.1
 
He gives the general public advice on strength training and ways to improve outside the gym through mobility exercises which he provides in his New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Becoming a Supple Leopard, and his online coaching program, The Ready State. Kelly is popularly known for teaching people to use tools like foam rollers and lacrosse balls to increase mobility in joints and to downregulate and he suggests doing this for about 10 minutes each day outside the gym.
 
Kelly has many other accomplishments worth mentioning, including:

• Being a two-time Whitewater Kayak and Canoeing champion.
• Being co-founder of StandUp Kids with his wife, Juliet. StandUp Kids is a non-profit organization with the mission to give all public school kids standing desks in a matter of 10 years and so far have been very successful, implementing standing desks in school all over the United States.
• Running The Ready State Podcast with Juliet, interviewing friends and people with heavy influence on topics like longevity, nutrition, pain, CrossFit, and children’s sports practices. Guests include folks like Laird Hamilton, Matt Hasselback, Geoge St. Pierre, and Alex Hutchinson.
• He has also written other books than Becoming a Supple Leopard, including: Ready to Run, Waterman 2.0, and Deskbound, focusing on more specific topics.

Impactful Tips & Quotes

• “We’re contending with a lot of the demands of being modern humans and it sets us up to not really reap the benefit and the bounty that is so extraordinary about being human. Because these bodies… They’re badass, man.”2
• The joint you move first will carry the bulk of the load during that movement.3
• “If you don’t start right, you won’t finish right. And if you don’t finish right, your next position will be compromised.”4 If you find yourself in a bad position, start over and instill good position before continuing.
• You need a coach to assist you in scaling your capabilities up and down. Coaches and training partners are also needed to hold you accountable by reinforcing good positions and movement patterns.5
• Don’t just listen to your strength and conditioning coach or physical therapist. Seek out experts of assorted fields to find what works best for you.6
• Avoid caffeine after 4:00 p.m. If you are sensitive to caffeine, avoid it after 12:00 p.m.7

Resources

1. Alpha Brew Podcast - "Ep. 2 - Kelly Starrett"
2. Ever Forward Radio - "Ep. 242: How to Best Recover From Injuries and Training for the Infinite Game with Kelly Starrett"
3. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 59
4. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 96
5. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 126-`128
6. Becoming a Supple Leopard, p. 132
7. Below the Line Podcast - "Ep. 22: Kelly Starrett - Foundational Thinking"