Case Study: Michael Johnson Performance
Michael Johnson Performance (MJP) is one of the world’s leading training organizations. Located a bit north of Dallas, their clients include Nike, Eli Manning, and of course, The Dallas Cowboys. Founded in 2007 by four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson, the mission of MJP is to help athletes “maximize every ounce of their potential to perform at the highest level.”
MJP strives to provide athletes with the most cutting-edge training methods available. Understanding that the brain plays a large role in physical performance, MJP has long been interested in how neurotechnology can be applied to athletics.
The Hypothesis
Following extensive research in a lab setting, Halo Neuroscience turned to Michael Johnson Performance to help test Halo Sport with elite college athletes. From football players hoping to make the draft to bobsledders preparing for Olympic trials, all athletes were hoping to launch a professional career. By pairing Neuropriming with training, Halo looked to help the athletes realize measured gains in lower body strength in order to help make their professional aspirations a reality.
The Study
Ten athletes followed a five-week training regimen with Halo Sport. MJP’s trainers and performance team provided feedback that helped Halo develop a Neuropriming program focused on improving the brain’s response to training and boosting leg strength.
Specifically, this involved isolating periods of intense lower body work, which included weight training and explosive plyometric exercises — i.e. “jump training.”
MJP’s existing interest in neuro-training made them an ideal partner. “We’re always looking for what’s next, and we’ve just scratched the surface of the brain’s role in human performance” says Lance Walker, global director of performance at MJP.
The Results
The ten athletes who trained with Halo Sport saw an average 12% gain in lower body explosiveness over baseline. Compare that to a group of 10 athletes who did the exact same training regimen without Halo: these control group athletes only saw an average increase of 1.7%.
Lower body strength was assessed across three metrics:
- Keiser Air Squat
- Countermovement Jump
- Squat Jump
The Keiser Air Squat is akin to exercise performed on a typical squat machine, except that it uses pressurized air to supply resistance. The machine allows athletes to get a quantitative assessment of their maximum power output during a squat.
The countermovement jump and squat jump both measure vertical leap height. The countermovement jump begins in a standing position that allows the athlete to wind up while the squat jumps begins as you would expect — in a squat.
At the conclusion of the Halo-paired training, all three tests generated a 12% gain across the athletes’ performance metrics, indicating that the increases seen weren’t just a coincidence.
These results are particularly impressive considering that the Halo sport program occurred at the very end of the training season — a time when gains in strength are usually marginal or nonexistent. The bulk of improvement happens at the beginning of the season, so it’s exciting to see significant gains at a stage of training in which athletes have typically already reached their maximum.
“We know the brain is an untapped resource. With Halo Sport, it’s going to rewrite the way we think about training the body by focusing on what we can do above the neck,” says Walker.
Check out our video highlighting our training program at MJP:
— — — — —
We’d love to hear from you! Shoot us a note at [email protected], and follow us on on Medium, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
