Steven Sahyoun coaches performance and rehabilitation, helping people move from injury back toward the demands of training and sport.
Steven joins me to discuss why rehab should look more like training, how to appropriately load injured tissue, and why simply becoming pain-free does not necessarily mean someone is ready to perform.
We discuss:
• What Steven means when he says “tendons need load, not needles”
• Why passive treatments alone rarely rebuild physical capacity
• Peptides, needling, and the temptation to search for shortcuts
• Why rehab is still training
• Why aggressively pushing knees over toes may not be the best starting point for an irritated knee
• Adjusting exercises around symptoms instead of forcing one movement philosophy
• How Steven thinks about constraints in coaching
• Isometrics and where they may fit into rehabilitation
• Why pain relief does not necessarily equal readiness
• The difference between low-stimulus rehab and higher-performance demands
• How to progressively rebuild the qualities required for sport
• Late-stage rehabilitation
• Return-to-sport decision making
• Steven’s “hardware versus software” analogy
• How rehab changes in-season versus off-season
• The mental challenge of Steven’s own Achilles tear
• Training around an injury instead of stopping everything
• Why knowing an injury is likely to improve can be psychologically reassuring
• Lifestyle factors and persistent pain
• What happens when pain or injury becomes part of someone’s identity
• Coaching through curiosity rather than simply telling people what to do
• And much more
Follow Steven:
@coach_steven_sahyoun
CHAPTERS
00:16 Meet Steven Sahyoun
01:19 Tendons Need Load
01:30 Needles and Peptides
05:28 Rehab Is Training
07:38 The Knees-Over-Toes Debate
11:01 Constraints and Movement
14:14 The Isometrics Controversy
23:08 Pain-Free Doesn’t Mean Ready
27:24 Low Stimulus vs. High Stimulus
30:20 Building Toward Sport Demands
33:53 Return-to-Sport Constraints
35:15 The Hardware vs. Software Analogy
37:21 In-Season vs. Off-Season Training
39:29 Achilles Rehab and Mindset
42:32 Training Around an Injury
44:00 Your Injury Will Improve
49:19 Lifestyle and Chronic Pain
51:27 When Injury Becomes Your Identity
59:38 Coaching Through Curiosity
01:00:24 Final Thoughts and Where to Find Steven
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