In this conversation, Samson speaks with Ant Blubello, a physical therapist and strength coach, about his evolution from a self-critical athlete to a coach guided by faith and emotional intelligence. Ant dives into his early struggles with body image, the power of positive self-talk, and how spiritual growth has influenced his approach to both rehabilitation and performance. He offers honest reflections on working with high-level athletes, collaborating with military personnel, and balancing the demands of therapy and strength coaching.
Key Takeaways
- Ant’s journey from overweight kid to respected coach is deeply inspiring.
- Relationships are the foundation of effective coaching.
- Positive self-talk fosters both athletic and personal growth.
- Faith and purpose guide Ant’s approach to performance and rehab.
- Coaching requires empathy, patience, and understanding of human behavior.
- The art of rehabilitation is as much emotional as it is physical.
- Balancing physical therapy with coaching provides a holistic athlete view.
Quote:
“The problem with that was that it worked. Me beating myself up did lead to new PRs and better grades—but that negative self-talk bled into relationships and friendships.”
— Ant Blubello
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Ant Blubello :
So the problem with that was that it was ⁓ like it worked, you know? So like me beating myself up did lead to me losing weight, did lead to me making new PRs for like lifting, ⁓ didn’t lead to better grades. So like when people said awesome job, then it’s like, well, I actually not only like allow these demons, but actually need like
They’re part of it’s like a performance enhancer almost, you ⁓ but that negative self talk I realized also bled into like just relationships and other things to friendships
Samson :
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach Collective listeners? On today’s episode, we have physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach, Ant Bluebello. He is the man, the myth, the legend. I’ve heard his name many times. So I’m very excited to have you on the show. And thank you so much for coming on, man.
Ant Blubello :
Too kind.
Yeah, absolutely, man. Thank you for having me. You we were talking before, but, ⁓ just to, see the guys that have been on here before and just to be invited into this is, is definitely an honor to me. Shout out to Costa for yet another, ⁓ connection. Cause it sounds like I’ve, every time I listened to this podcast, his name comes up. I think he’s going to try to make this into like a tactical podcast here.
Samson :
There’s no choice. Yeah. mean, he’s going to have to start getting kickbacks
from me for sure for the amount of guests he’s put me on. So shout out to Costa once again. Once again, as always. Well, can you just give me a breakdown of your career? Where you first started out, what your journey’s been and then what you’re currently doing.
Ant Blubello :
Once again, man, once again.
Yeah, man, totally. Yeah. So to be honest, my strength and conditioning career started on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was actually a really overweight kid growing up and there was a moment I remember in seventh grade. I was I think 240 and there was this girl in the recess yard and I was trying to talk to this other girl. It’s like 13. You’re like finally interested in women and whatever.
I’m talking to this girl and this other girl yells out from the other side of the recess yard Rachel Why are you talking to the fat kid and I remember being like man? This is just like such a rejected place, you know, so ⁓ I’ve at that moment I guess I felt like my value was attached to you know, my my size right so I started you know dialing in the nutrition and running more I honestly would just run laps around my basement and
do bunch of sit ups. had idea what I was doing. ⁓ But yeah, I lost a lot of weight and ⁓ got into basketball just as a way to run around essentially. And went out for a team, really enjoyed the camaraderie aspect of it. know, like for a kid who was overweight his whole life to then kind of feel like part of something, I think that was like really uplifting. So I wanted to say in sports,
And I started looking up, know, what profession could I do that has some kind of, you know, tie to, to exercise and, found exercise science. I actually, um, went to Westchester university, uh, near, near Philadelphia at GoBirds. Um, and, uh, uh, advisor at the time told me I need to, um, you know, Hey, I don’t think you’ll have a great chance of.
doing strength and conditioning for like, you know, big team or anything. So, ⁓ just do a safe bet and do PT. And honestly, I looked out the Eagles like staff. looked out like, is there a PT on staff and saw that there was a DPD. So I was like, well, maybe I’ll try to try to see if this is a, there’s a shot to get to the pro level with it. But, ⁓ ended up switching to pre PT and, ⁓ there was a exercise science club.
that I was a part of and I went to the first meeting and it was an election meeting. Again, I’m a freshman and I raised my hand for president just because again, the person next to me was like, should do it. So I became president that day and was a terrible president. ⁓ Yeah, definitely would not suggest ⁓ any advisor actually allow that to happen, but I’m thankful that they did because it changed kind of the course of my time there.
Samson :
That’s awesome.
Ant Blubello :
There was a kettlebell instructor that we basically brought in just to do like ⁓ a training, you know, ⁓ group exercise course with, and he bought a, brought a friend of his named Jim Ferris and Jim’s like become a, a huge mentor of mine, great friend, just great dude all around. And actually it was funny because I was ready. I had a, we basically did this meeting and they’re like, Hey, do you want to come?
out for dinner and I remember being like, I got a like literally a full paper to write. Like I procrastinated until the very last minute. We’re at nine PM on a Wednesday. Papers do it like eight on Thursday. And I remember being like, all right, yeah, let’s do it. So like went out to dinner with them and it was the most important probably dinner that I had throughout ⁓ my college career probably.
⁓ So I don’t remember what the paper was about but me and Jim have continued to be friends. So I think it was worth it Well, Jim ended up introducing me to a physical therapist named Bill Hartman ⁓ He has tons of amazing resources to I would check him out online if you haven’t ⁓ United health and performance network is where you find him and his model that he’s came up with and Again, not can’t say enough good things about Bill ⁓
And then Mike’s sorry, Bill suggested ⁓ my name to a strength coach named Mike Patenza. And Mike ended up getting me a job for my first job with special operations in the air force. So my first job with the ⁓ air force or special operations in general ⁓ was with PJs and crows. And that was just like such a humbling experience. Those guys are.
I mean, yeah, just like complete studs, super selfless, really altruistic group, extremely intelligent. Like, you know, they’re, dangerous humans for sure. ⁓ and it was really, it was such an honor to work with them. Their tagline is that others may live. And I just love that, you know, again, they, they’re doing it for other people. They’re putting their livelihood at stake for other people, ⁓ on a daily basis. And so again, such a cool experience to work with them. ⁓
You know, and honestly, too, like it doesn’t fall short on me that they were trusting me with their musculoskeletal injuries and their, their, ⁓ you know, their, even their performance, because that’s like, that’s their means of making, you know, money essentially for their family too. So, ⁓ definitely took that responsibility seriously, but also like, I had no idea what I was doing with the military. it was my first military job. ⁓
And honestly, it was overseas too. So I’m like trying to figure out language barriers for, ⁓ everything else. was 27 basically like went, ⁓ overseas with a back backpack and a, carry on. And they were basically like, you know, this is what you got. Like, yeah, I’m just gonna figure it out as we go. ⁓ those guys are super gracious because they continued to, you know, educate me on their.
job responsibilities on what their day-to-day looks like, on what the mission looks like, and really kind of brought me in so that I could learn better. then, you know, it kind of snowballed my career from there to be able to better understand what does it take dealing with operators? What is the best way to treat them? ⁓ So, yeah, and I’ve worked with a couple of other squadrons since then.
but the common thread is self-sacrifice, like working with, our military, ⁓ the people in it, they, they sacrifice a lot. And, ⁓ yeah, I mean, it’s just continues to be such an honor and a privilege to work with them. It’s, it’s been really cool too, because some of them, you know, I keep in touch with, ⁓ we’ve become really good friends. That was like best man or not a best man. was a groomsman and some of their weddings, they were groomsmen in mine. ⁓
And so, yeah, we, it was kind of like a brotherhood that has extended beyond just, ⁓ you know, a patient or a client. ⁓ it’s really, yeah, become a lot more than that, which has been really cool. ⁓ so hoping to stay in this field kind of going forward. I think it’d be hard to, to go anywhere else.
Samson :
No, that’s amazing. And I really appreciate the background you give on everything. And it was so funny because I had an intern ⁓ interview. ⁓ It was yesterday. And I think I heard, I can’t remember who I originally heard this from. Might’ve been Daniel Ruse, but it was like when I interview interns, I try to tell you every single reason why you shouldn’t take the job. And then if that sounds okay with you, then I’ll tell you about all the positive stuff, right? ⁓ But.
Ant Blubello :
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Samson :
Yeah, yeah. And so we, after I told him about, you know, the negative stuff, he’s like, I’m still interested. And so we talked about the positives. I said, you know, you’re going to have people, you’re going to meet people throughout your career that are going to end up being groomsmen in your wedding and people who are going to become your best friends. And I told him, you know, three of my groomsmen were strength coaches that I worked with, you know, in these relationships you can develop are so special. So I’m glad you had the same experience.
Ant Blubello :
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
yeah.
Totally.
Yeah, absolutely, man. Yeah, I mean, and it’s, ⁓ you know, to have even like within staff and stuff, like you said, it’s been wearing kind of like an integrated model. So being able to meet other incredible profession, professionals, like you said, has been really an awesome part of it as well.
Samson :
It’s a big perk that not many people talk about, but I’m curious. I have a similar story to you. I was a very overweight kid myself. My moment of kind of snapping into it was my mom, I played football and I had to stop playing football because of concussions. And so I gained a ton of weight and my mom wanted to go zip lining and I was 280, like six foot 280.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, yeah, you’re right. You’re right.
Okay. Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
yeah.
Samson :
And my mom was like, you have to be 250 to go zip lining, you need to lose 30 pounds in the next three months or something. And she was like, I’ll pay you. She’s like, I’ll pay you to lose weight. And so literally got paid. was like, not, the most, you know, psychologically healthy way to go about it. But at the end of the day, it worked, you know, and it taught me a lot. But, you know, very similar experience myself of, you know, feeling a little bit isolated. And when you
Ant Blubello :
Wow, man. Yeah.
Yeah.
Samson :
are young, you don’t really know how to detach, like you said, your self-worth from your physical composition. Can you talk to me a little bit more about that experience? Because it brings up a lot of emotions for me, so I’m curious to see what you have to say.
Ant Blubello :
you
Yeah.
Dude, yeah, honestly. I was, yeah, this is, uh, I think something that me and my wife have like, she’s, she’s been amazing in helping me deal with this because for years, actually the weight room became a, uh, I had a really distorted relationship with it. I think to be honest with you, I used it as a way to like, you know, we, and honestly, I would even joke with other like guys I worked with about like, Oh, you gotta get you like fight your demons and whatnot. Um, but dude, it’s like,
When you start really looking at it, those demons follow you. You know, it’s like, for me, I use the weight room as a place where I would beat myself up and basically say, you’re not good enough right now. So you need to like crush yourself to get, you know, better lose weight or gain muscle. ⁓ but it even like translated to like grades. Like I would crush myself to stay up, do all nighters, write papers or whatever, too. Like basically throughout college as well, just thinking.
You need to do this like you’re not, you know, making the mark essentially. So ⁓ the problem with that was that it was ⁓ like it worked, you know? So like me beating myself up did lead to me losing weight, did lead to me making new PRs for like lifting, ⁓ didn’t lead to better grades. So like when people said awesome job, then it’s like, well, I actually not only like allow these demons, but actually need like
They’re part of it’s like a performance enhancer almost, you ⁓ but that negative self talk I realized also bled into like just relationships and other things to friendships like value for me was still like again, I’m just like beating myself up subconsciously kind of, know, so ⁓ recently, you know, I remember telling my wife that we were we are still dating at the time and ⁓
I was also kind of psychotic in the gym too. I was yelling and screaming curse words and whatnot. Again, really, really fighting those demons. she was kind of like, why do you kind of do that? And I remember being like, it’s a way, basically just saying that it’s a way for me to get the emotions out so that I can be smiling and happy after. And she kind of challenged me with, what if
What if you frame it instead of that? Like, ⁓ you’re capable, you know, like, okay. Like it’s funny because it’s like, I’m capable of doing this, even though it’s going to be hard, just changing the mentality of I suck and I need to be better. Like both of them can lead you to hitting a new PR or whatever. But, the thing that’s really like resonated with me was that both of those lead to emotions that are going to carry on with you the rest of the day. So if you like,
you tell yourself, you know, if we’re both trying to lift 500 pounds and I tell myself I suck and I’m like ripping, smelling salts and getting like all hyped up and whatnot. And you can still rip smelling salts and tell yourself that you’re capable and able to do this too, you know, but, ⁓ but when you leave that bar, those emotions follow and both can get the same outcome. But I think from a mental health standpoint, it definitely ⁓ is better to kind of believe
You know, I’m actually able to do this. I can, you know, lift this. I know I can do that. Not to say like just, you know, throw throw 800 on there and I can just go handle it. But ⁓ yeah, having that realistic ⁓ mindset, but but also, again, like just believing more in the narrative of ⁓ kind of like a positive psychology and whatnot. So that’s been literally man. That was like, I guess that was.
32 when they had that realization. So it’s been like kind of 32 years of beating myself up and ⁓ learning basically to, you know, and there’s still times I like catch myself, but, ⁓ but I think that is like a process and it’s, it’s kind of well trained in me now at this point. So I’m, got a lot of D training to do on it or, you know, on learning, I guess. I don’t know if that resonates with you at all.
Samson :
A million percent, a million percent. you know, I just I think back to my time when I was doing my masters at Tennessee. ⁓ And I remember, you know, I was going for a new squat PR and I don’t even remember doing this right. Like I hit the squat. I was like, great. Did it awesome. You know, I had a cantilever belt, so I flipped it open hard, you know, like threw it down. I was like, hell yeah, you know. And then one of my another one of the guys who was a groomsman in my wedding, Johnny was like,
Ant Blubello :
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Samson :
Hey dude, do you talk to yourself like that every time you lift? And I was like, what do you mean? And so I literally audibly out loud, I mean, I can’t even say what I said on this podcast, right? But it was the most negative self-talk. was like exactly what you’re saying. Like you’re a loser. You’re never gonna hit this weight. And then that was how I got myself amped up to be able to do these things because again, we had similar backgrounds and similar experiences. Like you talk about like, I’m just gonna do.
Ant Blubello :
Wow.
Sure, yeah, yeah,
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Samson :
anything that it takes to lose this weight because I just can’t be like this, right? Like, so you’re running laps around your basement. I remember getting a sledgehammer and a tire and being out there for like two hours. Cause I was like, this is like the only, like it doesn’t matter. Like I just have to get it done no matter what. ⁓ And then I started to hate the weight room. Like, because like you said, those emotions would stick with me for the rest of the day. So I’d be all pissed off. And then if I had a bad lift, it’d be way worse. And I’d be miserable to be around for the rest of day.
Ant Blubello :
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah, I understand.
Samson :
And it affected my coaching too. I was super, super negative with my athletes, super negative with everybody else I was around. So like I hated the waiting room for the longest time. And then again, it goes back to my master’s because it’s in sports psych. And so I remember while I’m going through this process myself, all the teachers are telling us how positive is the way to go. And I’m like, this is lame. was like, I can’t believe I’m paying for this master’s degree. Like, I can’t believe this. And I literally remember one of our professors was like,
Ant Blubello :
Thank
Yeah, yeah.
Samson :
This is my affirmation. She’s like, every day I give myself an affirmation of I’m a strong, confident, beautiful woman or something. And I was like, you know, like I could get a load of this, right? And like everybody else is like, you’re an asshole. And so I had to like kind of learn though that at the end of the day, like you said, if you can be more positive with yourself, leads to a lot. It leads to the same results. But from a, like you said, PR standpoint or getting work done standpoint. And I think what you say about it still working is so true.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, yeah, right, yeah. Yeah.
Maybe.
Samson :
because I saw results from what I was doing previously. But then like you said, there’s this emotional weight that you carry for the rest of the day too. And it makes you a person you don’t really want to be around. Like I wouldn’t want to hang out with myself. And I’m like.
Ant Blubello :
Mm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah. And honestly, think, ⁓ you know, the my honestly, my gains have been like better, you know, and I think it is because like there’s a weight to like, you know, the emotional side of that, like carrying that around all the time adds to increase stress and ⁓ yeah, other issues that are going to impact your lifts, you know, so ⁓
You know, I’ve hit more PRs recently and that’s been, think, a testament to that. Honestly, too, you know, ⁓ me and my wife also like faith is a big part of our relationship and a big part of our life. And so that’s also been another kind of recent turn is like trying to turn toward strength beyond myself, not focusing on myself quite as much and trying to focus beyond, you know, my own to, know, for me, it’s God. get other people maybe it wouldn’t be, but.
⁓ But I think, you know, sometimes it’s funny. I think it makes you so inwardly focused that people, at least for me, I viewed it that it wasn’t like selfish to feel these feelings. It was almost like cathartic and I’m beating myself up. But by being so self-centered about like beating myself up, I became actually more like internally focused and didn’t think about all the other people, you know. ⁓ So it’s just funny. think.
how that works because you, you, at least in my mind, I wasn’t impacting anyone else. I was being by being in my own head, but just by being in your own head, you, actually are doing just that.
Samson :
Exactly. And it becomes this kind of vicious cycle where you don’t really know where it ends. I’m glad you brought up the faith aspect because we’ve obviously talked a little bit pre-show and I’ve been able to see some of the things that you do on social media. If I’m correct, if I’m wrong, but you run a Bible study group, correct?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Yeah, man. Yeah. So this is another, you know, just testament of having an amazing life. I’m really thankful for that. uh, yeah. Um, the, um, basically how it started was she wanted to do more Bible studies together. Um, I felt like every time we would do a Bible study, it would become like a two hour thing. And I was like, that’s great.
Samson :
Shout out to wife.
Ant Blubello :
But we like, just can’t make that sustainable, you know? So, ⁓ and it probably could have been cause I spent two hours in the gym. again, like probably check on myself on where I need to spend my priorities. But, ⁓ I asked essentially like, can we try to figure out like a ⁓ regiment that would, you know, kind of allow for smaller bite size things. And honestly, I was running a conjugate program at the time. So I was like, what if we did something that was like target focused?
and like hard on two days of the week, like longer and harder sessions. And then the other days were kind of be like, don’t know, like, honestly, I didn’t like really have a picture for it, but I was just like, the other days would be something else. ⁓ so where we land it with it was basically. We would have two kind of like days in the beginning of the week. ⁓ your max effort days, essentially, ⁓ one on an old Testament reading the other on a new Testament reading and a Psalm, and then.
Um, basically the dynamic effort days, uh, would be, um, a, uh, a reflection, basically how does this reading connect with my life now? So, um, it’s basically kind of in my mind, again, I’m trying, I started trying to blend the worlds of faith and, perform or, uh, performance and strength coaching, you know, and that, don’t know, it’s just where my headland, was your max effort day is going to be the hard day really digging in.
The other day is going to be basically a lot of the, you know, same movements, but just basically in kind of in a different way. ⁓ so that’s kind of where we land it with it. And, ⁓ you know, I, I appreciate you bringing it up, bringing it up. My faith walk is a huge part of my identity and, ⁓ it’s been a huge part of my marriage and, ⁓ yeah, so this has been a cool kind of side project one to be able to do a Bible study for me and her together.
it then kind of sparked, well, could we bring this out for other dudes who need basically a way to connect the dots from their faith life to the weight room? Cause I love both, you know? And how do I, like you were saying, how do I take that like angry, like belt flipping, belt slamming, cursing mentality out and like maybe make this a healthy thing too.
⁓ so that’s kind of where we landed with it. We need for sure. Definitely some help on it though. So if you’re interested, if, ⁓ anyone out there listening is, ⁓ is willing to reach out and contact me about trying to either come up with some readings and, some workouts, definitely more workouts, ⁓ we needed for sure. ⁓ and it doesn’t have to be a conjugate thing. That just kind of was what I came up with for the Bible study in itself.
but my hope is to make basically a year of, ⁓ of programs. And we have kind of like something laid out on what we’ve been going through. ⁓ but we’re open to, you know, changing that too. So, ⁓ yeah, I appreciate you giving me the platform for it to kind of put it out there and, know, if anyone is interested, definitely reach out.
Samson :
No, of course, I think it’s such an awesome idea. So do you actually match it with the workout program as well?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, that was the idea. I honestly like for what we’ve been doing, she did my wife doesn’t weight lift at all. she’s a ballerina. So like, ⁓ we haven’t been able to do that, but I’ve run, you know, I still run like a conjugate thing. If I’m not doing like a strong man or any, basically that’s like a free time thing too. It was like trying to do strong man competitions and whatnot. But if I’m not doing that, I’ll just go to a conjugate thing. Cause it’s, you know,
Samson :
Yeah ⁓
Ant Blubello :
I’m just comfortable with it and you can kind of make it up on the fly almost. ⁓ but yeah, that’s the kind of the, the idea is basically reflecting over some of the ideas that you went over in the Bible and maybe kind of milling that over in the workout too. know some guys in, ⁓ the military who basically were trying to do like a Bible and barbell type thing. And, ⁓ that was kind of also like where this started was like at least the bringing it.
branching it out to other people because I figure if I made a program that resonated with, you know, just lifters that it wasn’t a, it could kind of like transcend that with faith and, and workouts verse like this kind of like, I don’t know, like cookie cutter week type thing where it’s just like a body weight or something like that. Like I wanted it to be something a little bit more, ⁓
like have actual periodization and have some structure to it. Because honestly for me too, I think with weightlifting, I’m so regiment on everything. Like it’s got to like follow this progression. But then when it comes to like my faith life, it’s kind of like, yeah, whenever I’ll get around to it. So I wanted it to kind of mirror that kind of structure as well.
Samson :
No, that makes complete sense. And I think a lot of ⁓ principles with lifting can be applied to everything in life, right? And it’s a regular thing that you need to practice and need to intentionally make time for. And so having a structure that follows both of those things can make it a lot easier. I’m curious, you know, I think having a bigger purpose for everybody is really important. Like you said, in whatever context it may be for each individual. ⁓
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Samson :
How do you feel like having a larger purpose has helped your coaching?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, I mean, that’s an awesome question. I think because because honestly, the guys that I work with, there’s ⁓ some again kind of come in with this. ⁓ At least we’ll use the PGA example. When I was working with those guys, they’re like logo is a guardian angel, you know, and like they’re the whole principle of it again is like helping others. So a bunch of guys were really religious and, you know, Christian dudes and whatnot. But ⁓
You also had others that basically went to this as like a last resort. They just did it because it was hard. So they didn’t like believe in, you know, God or anything. But like what was cool, I felt like was our relationship wasn’t like immediately like, oh, this person’s not a believer. Therefore, I can’t like connect with them. It actually like helped me grow a lot of my faith by just having conversations with people.
But what I’ve noticed in those guys was they, like you said, they still had a why to why did they sign up to become a special operator? And, you know, if you like look into what these guys have to do for or what they had to do for like in doc, ⁓ it was like brutal, man. So like to picture going through all that just because like, ⁓ you know.
you didn’t want to quit, like, it sounds like too hard to do that. Some guys made it through literally just because of that. Like they just didn’t want the like to have to like ring the bell and like quit in front of other people. But a lot of people like had some, some like deeper thing inside that really drove them. So ⁓ for me, you know, at least in this community, I know that everyone has a why. And just like you said, it just comes.
It actually then allows me as a coach to get deeper with them pretty quickly because ⁓ we can talk about like, so like what made you become a special operator? What made you want to do? You know, if I imagine in the sports world would be similar to like, what made you want to start playing? And usually there is like a meaning for it. And then when you know that meaning, then you can start talking to them about like, you know, if they start kind of like,
going sideways on something. It’s like, Hey, remember, you know, like we talked about this and honestly, I think it just builds trust to like, I don’t even know if you have to bring it up again. I think you just like getting to know their why it helps you connect at a deeper level so that then, you know, any advice you give, or if you have to be like a hard coach every once in a while, ⁓ I think that they’ll, they’ll respect you a lot more.
Samson :
Yeah, a hundred percent. And I’ve had very, very many conversations along those lines. And, ⁓ you know, it’s not like a gotcha card, right? Like you don’t pull it out like that. Like, ⁓ you said you were doing this, you know, right? but it does. Yeah, exactly. But it does help your conversations though. And it does say like, I’ve had conversations many times where I’ll say, well, you told me you wanted to be drafted.
Ant Blubello :
Right.
Yeah, yeah checking people on it. Yeah Yeah
Mm.
Samson :
into the NBA. You don’t even want to worry about signing a contract or two or anything like that. You want to be drafted. so the blueprint’s laid out for you. There’s over a thousand people who have been through that process before and been drafted. And you can look at what they’ve done. Do you think your actions align with what you’re actually saying here? And a lot of times I will typically have those conversations with people who are able to recognize that. But the only way you’re able to do is by knowing their larger purpose.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Samson :
⁓ And so again, I think whether it is doing it for ⁓ faith or doing it for your family, I think at the end of the day, if you can also tie in, okay, well, you have this goal and ultimately it’s via this process of what you mentioned and what’s your larger reason. And so why are we deviating from that reason? And when you have those conversations, I feel like you can really see some of the magic of coaching happen.
Ant Blubello :
and
Yeah, totally man. Yeah, because I think, you know, coaching in itself is the periodization and whatnot and exercise selection is important. But if you, yeah, the relationship, I’m sure so many people have kind of highlighted that on here, but yeah, I think the relationship part is like what makes a coach, ⁓ actual coach, right?
Samson :
thousand percent and that’s why I like doing this podcast because I don’t like talking about periodization a lot. I like talking about the art of coaching a lot more for sure. ⁓
Ant Blubello :
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Totally, man. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think that is a, ⁓ that it’s a great way to put it to it as an art verse, ⁓ just like a, a format that you can put down and then people get it and, know, you just run with it. It’s usually takes emotional intelligence and, ⁓ understanding people, understanding their background, which is the fun part. think. Yeah.
Samson :
Way more fun. I mean, way more fun. Especially when you get to see these people succeed, that’s what makes it super fun. I’ve never, when I think back to a time we had a red shirt I worked with who lost 35 pounds and was finally able to play after his first year and went down and in the first game had this powerful dunk, I wasn’t like, man, I’m so glad we hit five second East Ends or front squats in our summer phase. It was like, I’m so glad we had.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Samson :
all these conversations, I’m so glad I got to know this person on a deeper level because it just means that much more for me to see you succeed.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s amazing. That’s really cool. I really like, yeah, thinking of it in that way. That’s awesome.
Samson :
Yeah, that’s my guy. That’s my guy for sure.
⁓ You mentioned earlier when you were talking about your career, there’s a large theme of self-sacrifice. What does that mean to you and how have you seen that as a theme?
Ant Blubello :
Mmm.
Yeah, man. Yeah. So I think when I originally joined, you know, working with the first PGA group that I did, the what I I envisioned in my head was like Jarhead, like a bunch of like really like intense Marines. ⁓ Again, I didn’t know anything about the military. So like I’m picturing like, you know, that kind of like mentality.
And I remember getting there and no one was like that. Everyone was like super down to earth. They’re extremely humble. I think that was like a cool, it made them people. It made less of like the stigma of like, you’re a soldier, military guy. It became like a person, which was a good place to kind of start.
But ⁓ yeah, for them to ⁓ self-sacrifice or give up the, I would say even like the little things, because I think we may get into these people are sacrificing their life, which totally a lot of them do, but in this community, there’s the day to day, you watch families, like they have to travel. So like now you have a mom at home with four kids.
And that little sacrifice in itself is a lot for the family. So I think for me, was originally like this big, like, man, these guys are all going to war to lay down their lives. And again, so many of them do. And unfortunately, some of them don’t come home. And ⁓ that’s like a choice I know they’re making. even the little stuff of
having those inconveniences for your family, you. There’s a group of guys that I know right now that they’re not gonna be home for Christmas. So they’re not gonna see their one year old’s first Christmas or some might be coming home from ⁓ college and he’s not able to see his dad. So it’s those things that I think are ⁓ extremely sacrificial for ⁓
the military members in our country. And ⁓ for me, that’s super inspiring because I get to work with these guys. But ⁓ it’s something that even as I’m getting to work with them, some days I don’t consider. So I appreciate you even just asking the question because it makes me really think about that ⁓ again. And that is something that we probably all don’t think about enough is just that our freedom isn’t free. It does cost ⁓ people.
in their daily lives and ⁓ cost families. One group that I worked with, there was tons of ⁓ divorce and people went through like lot of hard stuff because of the structure that their lives had to take. ⁓ So yeah, mean, it definitely inspires me and pumps me up on a daily basis. ⁓ Yeah, I hope that answers the question. I’m sorry for being long.
Samson :
Yeah, it does.
It certainly does. And I appreciate it because, you know, I think, like you said, it can be when you go on a day to day process, it can be a little easy to kind of forget, again, what’s the purpose behind it and what excites you about the job and what you can do to help each other out. Like, I’m almost on the flip side working in college athletics. Like my favorite thing to tell people is like, when I get so amped up, right, we lose a game and I’m like, you know, in my office and
Ant Blubello :
Mm.
Samson :
going back to that negative place and yelling and doing all this stuff, right? Like I have to tell myself, like, it doesn’t really matter. Like, yes, we lost to Georgia Southern. Yes, it’s a school rival or whatever, right? But like, this is not a life and death scenario. We’ll all be here tomorrow. We’ll all still have the freedom to do the things that we want to do. Like these things don’t really matter. So ultimately relax, calm down. Like it’s fine. You know, like there’s not.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, yeah, sure.
Samson :
There’s always sacrifices with everything that you do, but it’s not to the level that other people sacrifice. So I appreciate you shining the light on that because it’s a good reminder for me as well too, as I go about it. Like I was upset about certain things today too. And it’s just like, man, take a deep breath. ⁓ Again, it’s not life or death. not, you know, you do help change people’s lives, but at the end of the day, ⁓ it is not to the level that other people operate at. So I appreciate the reminder too.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, yeah, definitely, man, definitely.
Samson :
Well, you you are in an interesting position where, like you said, you’re a physical therapist and you’re a strength and conditioning coach. You know, can you kind of walk me through how you tow that line? How do you operate with that on a daily basis?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, totally. And honestly, you know, we I’ve worked with really good strength coaches along the ⁓ way. So each squadron I worked at have had great strength coaches beside me. So it’s made it a lot easier because then we can just kind of, you know, think about, know, what’s this guy limit? What are his limitations? What are his right and left boundaries? We can kind of work together on his programs. ⁓ But as I guess, like my.
mental process, I guess, of going through it. You we talk about like the spectrum of health and performance. And ⁓ in this setting, it’s kind of interesting because if you were to take the health side, know, like full mobility, ⁓ again, that’s kind of where my head goes, at least is like mobility, ⁓ you know, even like resting, like heart rate, like chill, parasympathetic.
Like these guys can exist, the guys I work with at least can exist in the health realm. Like the stuff that they do is rucking. They put on like heavy body armor. They put on heavy rocks. They jump out of ⁓ aircrafts. ⁓ They carry like litters and patients and for long periods of time. So like all of those things are going to cost mobility. Like that’s going to restrict mobility. So it becomes like a
more of a consideration of I can’t get them to a hundred percent health and even to push performance. If I push it too far, they’re like kind of the jack of all trades. So they need to be able to ski, dive, ⁓ again, parachute jumping, ⁓ ropes and rock climbing. So like, they have to be able to do a bunch of things pretty well. ⁓ but actually they even like as a community, don’t try to do like,
just like one thing, like they try to become the jack of all trades. So for me, I can’t really dial in a performance aspect of it, like all the way to the end of the spectrum either, because that’s going to probably lead to over training and injury. Cause you just can’t get good at everything at once. Right. ⁓ so for me it’s become, I think the past seven years have really been trying to figure out where am I comfortable? You know, like at what degree of hip internal rotation am I?
Okay with someone still squatting ⁓ or like deep squatting at least ⁓ or doing cleans or what degree of shoulder flexion am I comfortable with someone still trying to force into overhead pressing and snatches and honestly there’s stuff now that like I’ll tell the strength coach, know the strength coaches that I work with ⁓ that I’m like, hey, I don’t think it’s good for
you know, so and so to do a snatch because he only has 160 degrees of shoulder flexion. So if you he’s gonna yeah, you might be able to get the movement, but he’s not going to get it from the shoulder joint. He’s going to get that from probably his thoracic spine or his neck or his low back. ⁓ But he’s not getting it from the joints that we want him to get it from. So ⁓ usually guys are pretty understanding about those things, too. ⁓ There is some.
⁓ sometimes I’ll run into resistance with like using say like a heel wedge or something, because it’s like, I just need to force into the mobility to get better at it. ⁓ verse like we’re changing the context so that you can do the movement without pain and without restriction. ⁓ so there’s times where, you know, we have to maybe have that consideration too, but, but it’s interesting. Like you said, being on the, the PT.
side of it and also wanting to go into the strength and conditioning side of it at like all times because I’d much prefer to like, and honestly, I really think it kind of can exist in a, in a silo. ⁓ because you know, every guy that I treat, if I don’t know their program, like I don’t know how to treat them. ⁓ they’ll come in and they say they have low back pain and it’s, you know, right above the right glute. We can do a bunch of special tests, but like if his
primary like way of fitness is like biking for you know hours on end then like probably it might just keep coming back, you know, so ⁓ For me, I think that’s been really helpful as a practitioner to understand ⁓ You know physical demands the cost of that what it even feels like a lot of these guys are meatheads too, which is really great for me because I’m a you know meathead and will be
probably forever. like, ⁓ when they come in with like, you know, Hey, like my low back hurts and I can’t reach down to put my socks on. And I’m like, yeah, man, I’ve been there, you know, ⁓ this is what we’ll do for it. You know? So, ⁓ I think it’s helped create like a context for me. ⁓ but it’s also, yeah, become, ⁓ helped to be able to understand it so that then I can tell the strength coach.
Samson :
you
Ant Blubello :
who is actually doing all the programming, hey let’s try for more thoracic rotation in his warm up or let’s try for a hip mobility drill before he does squats. Let’s limit again shoulder overhead pressing and let’s just stick with single arm pressing or single arm rows to at least allow for some kind of degree of thoracic rotation. So like all those things have been really helpful to
⁓ to kind of shape programs for guys ⁓ and also yeah shape the rehab program because again it can exist in just like the performance ⁓ spectrum.
Samson :
You know, I really appreciate that perspective and I think it just goes into how everybody should operate as a team, right? Like a physical therapist has specific set of skills and a strength coach has a specific set of skills. And so if you can combine those things and work together as well as with an athletic trainer, as well as with a sports psych, dietitian, that’s why it’s a sports performance team. They can’t just fall down on one person because they don’t have the skills to do those things. So it’s very interesting to see the blend of it. And then also somebody who
Ant Blubello :
Totally.
Samson :
has a lot of skills in both of those areas. It’s interesting to hear your perspective on it. ⁓ You know, with the populations you work with, is there a lot of pump in the brakes on things? Because again, it’s self-sacrifice, right? I’m sure there’s an aspect of, I don’t really care if this is hurting, I need to get back and I need to continue with my job. Is that something you see a lot?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
Yeah, totally, for sure. And honestly, like a, it’s, it’s a tough way to, well, creates a tough, ⁓ I guess problem for me to be able to demonstrate to someone that you shouldn’t do something if they’ve been doing it their entire career for eight years, you know? So like, if some of these guys, I’m like, yeah, your hip internal rotation is five degrees and
They’re like, yeah, but I was doing all of the skiing, the rock climbing, the jujitsu, the combatives. So if you’re telling, like, I’ve been OK for eight years and you’re telling me that I shouldn’t do those things. So if that’s the starting point, then we’re probably going to be on rocky ground. And my words will probably fall short. ⁓ So yeah, I mean, I think that’s. ⁓
I have to basically rely on quantitative measures a lot more. ⁓ Basically to be able to show them, like here’s the number, like your right shoulder, know, external rotators are 20, your left are 10, you know? And so then it’s like, yeah, I mean that is pretty big difference, huh? And it’s like, yeah, man, like I know you can force past that, but like maybe we shouldn’t.
There was a recent example of an Achilles tear where the guy continued to try to go faster than the rehab timeline suggests. And I remember him coming in and he was like, hey, should I? And we were using the Alter G. And he was like, should I use the Alter G or?
I can probably run like regular, like watch, you know, and he like starts kind of like doing like quick, like trot in place. I’m like, you know, like trying to stop them. ⁓ but later on we had a conversation about like, ⁓ you know, when to progress back to running. I essentially said, ⁓ when you can do three sets of 10 calf raises without pain, then yeah, then we can like go to unassisted and he can get maybe like two, you know? So.
Like without and that like just to but he was like, I’m able to run on the alter G but I’m like, yeah, man, but you’re you’re using like your hip flexor. You’re using hamstrings. You’re not using your calf to like essentially propel your body forward. So it was like seeing kind of a light bulb click in his mind too of like, yeah, I get it. That’s like probably not smart because if you’re doing like essentially like hundreds of single leg jumps or bounds, you know, ⁓
Over the course of a run, like, you can’t do a single leg calf raise, then that force is coming from somewhere else. Right. So, ⁓ usually I have to rely on something like that, like basically create a light bulb moment for them, not be like, and that’s where the relationship part I think is really important too, because if I just like come out swinging, like, can you do three by 10 calf raises? And he’s going to be like, no. And I’m going to be like, okay, then you can’t run, you know, and it’s, if you hear it as like,
⁓ Me trying to be restrictive verse like hey, man I just don’t want to see you blow it the tendon again like I want you to Excel and I want you to get back on status as fast as possible But if we get another Achilles tear you’re gonna be set back way worse. So like usually if people hear that my like where I’m coming from then they’re not like thinking this dude’s just like on a power trip and trying to tell me kind of what to do
⁓ That’s a good starting point and then we can use the quantitative test basically to show deficits for them to recognize Okay, this isn’t just like in my head This is an actual thing that I need to get better and it gives them a target because when they have a target they’re like Indestructible, you know, like they’ll they’ll find a way to you know, get their calf strength better They’ll do it at their desk. They’ll you know do it throughout the day
⁓ they’re the most complying group. Usually if they’re not getting better, it’s my fault. It’s not their fault. ⁓ outpatient ortho. Sometimes I felt like I would give people exercises. They wouldn’t do them. They would come in next week and I would say, did you do your exercises? They would say no. And so in my head, I’m like, well, you’re not getting better because of your efforts, you know, ⁓ here it’s more of a matter of if they’re not getting better, I need to do, I need to pick better exercises. I need to pick better dosages.
⁓ because it’s not usually them.
Samson :
Yeah. And again, I really appreciate your perspective on this because one of the things I’ve become a little frustrated with is I feel like everybody always just expects with advancements in science, everything is going to get quicker. And everybody in the rehab culture, it’s like, well, know, ACL people can come back in eight months now, you know, right. And then I don’t know if you saw the study, but a new one just came out and said, basically, if you come back before a year, like you’re 70 % more likely to re-tear your ACL. And so
Ant Blubello :
I know, yeah. ⁓
Right.
Samson :
everybody expects everything to happen so quickly and everybody thinks it’s like, well, science is just getting better. We’ve got all this new technology. Now we’ve got data trackers and force plates and all these things. And it’s just like, no, it’s actually telling us that what we’re doing has been correct. And there’s a system of how we have to do these things. there’s a, like you said, there’s quantitative numbers that really show us where we need to be. ⁓ So it’s tough to have those conversations, especially with
sport coaches or, you I don’t know in your realm who that would be of who oversees it and is expected to, why isn’t this person back yet? When it’s like, just so you understand if they come back right now, they could be out for double the amount of time they were out previously. Unless let’s just give me another two, three weeks, maybe two, three months, and then we’ll be in a really much better spot.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
100%.
Totally.
Yeah, absolutely, man. that is a, ⁓ luckily, like the, the commanders that I’ve worked with have all been, ⁓ pretty understanding of that and have had a good rap on, ⁓ you know, like the sport performance realm. But, ⁓ I w I think, you know, you look into the, programs that I’ve worked with are extremely expensive. Like they do, it costs a lot of money to get people, you know, strength coaches.
⁓ PTs, athletic trainers, all for like a single squadron of special operators, but each special operator in itself is wicked expensive too. So it’s, it’s kind of like an insurance policy of paying toward, ⁓ trying to have these resources cared for. Well, now you are not getting people back faster than, you know, say, like you said, take a, an ACL.
And it’s like, well, why should we invest then in this other group if, or this, you know, specific asset, if they have to just go by healing timelines anyway, like they’re not going to get better faster. And I think at least for, you know, my own advocate for having these like embedded units is it is really, I think, pivotal to be able to speak to the day to day. Again, like, ⁓
loads that people are putting on themselves. That guy that I was saying earlier, if you know, not to say like, Oh, I’m not there. He’s not in like hurt him, you know, himself, uh, their studs and they’d probably be resilient too. But, um, there’s a potential that him not having the daily check-ins of like, let’s gradually load this. He’s going to go back to operator mindset and then push through and then end up, you know, again, setting himself back. just like you said, that could,
this one individual I’m thinking of that like changes the course of deployments that changes the course of team dynamics. So it makes a big difference if ⁓ one guy goes down ⁓ for another, like you said, an eight month to two year ⁓ rehab. So yeah, I think, you know, these programs are valuable in that way. But unfortunately, just like you’re saying, we can’t, we can’t
expect that just putting more money into these problems will make it any like, you know, faster. you’re, you’re, you’re taking a gamble on it either way. Like, ⁓ whether I have dry needling and, ⁓ you know, BFR and ultrasound and, shockwave therapy or all these like gizmos and gadgets, it healing.
processes are still healing processes. Like the body is what it is and we can’t like just put more money and hacks into it to expect it’s going to just like magically heal faster.
Samson :
Yeah, you know, the body was made a specific way and it’s existed this way for a long time. And just because, like you said, we figured out that, you know, infrared light could be good for healing. It doesn’t mean that all of sudden the body is going to figure out how to regrow tendons. think it’s a very, very challenging aspect. Well, OK, so.
Ant Blubello :
Right, yeah.
Sure, yeah, yeah.
Maybe one day, but
yeah.
Samson :
Maybe one day, that’d be super cool. we can figure that out. You and I need
to get together after this podcast and we’ll figure it out. We’ll find out the way to do it.
Ant Blubello :
I, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, hopefully,
I mean, you have the college kids, man. I don’t know if I have the resources like you do over there. They’re the kids that probably are going to be able to figure that out. Yeah.
Samson :
Yeah.
We’ll see, who knows?
But I’ll still credit you with it too. So we can both make some money. ⁓ Well, my final question for you, and I always like to end with a more fun question. I remember as a younger chubby kid, I had a very favorite snack and it was very specific. It was chuckles, ⁓ like these jelly, like terrible, I don’t know, my dad put me onto them.
Ant Blubello :
Alright, fair enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nice. Yeah.
Samson :
And he was like, I ate these when I was a kid. And I was like, well, these are delicious and I’m going to eat a million of them. So what was your favorite snack as a kid?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Bro, is bad. ⁓ Taco Bell used to have these, it was like this cheese, like an orange cheese that I don’t know what it actually was, but it was labeled as cheese. ⁓ And I remember I would pour the whole thing onto a taco and then eat it. And usually my brother wouldn’t like it, so I would get his and then pour it on another taco.
Samson :
You
Yeah.
Ant Blubello :
And then eat that too, bro. I can’t imagine how many calories of saturated fat were consumed in that like five minute period. yeah, that yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, it’s funny. also before I jump off here, I remember you gave Justin Lima a question about worship songs. And for those who are interested, there’s a metal Christian playlist out there.
Samson :
Outrageous. It’s outrageous, yeah.
Yeah.
Boo.
Ant Blubello :
Conjugate
Christian, if you put it on, you’ll be able to get all the songs that you guys were talking about. Shout out to Justin Lima for ⁓ his viewpoint on that.
Samson :
That’s awesome!
We’re slowly developing a seriously insane faith-based playlist group. So I love it. That’s awesome.
Ant Blubello :
It’s really cool, That’s,
yeah, yeah, it’s really great. That’s amazing. ⁓ Yeah.
Samson :
Well, dude, I can’t thank you enough. Seriously, I had a lot of fun getting to speak with you and learn from you. If anybody wants to follow up with you, if anybody wants to join the Bible study, or if they want to follow you on social media, what’s the best way to do that?
Ant Blubello :
Yeah.
Yeah, man, if you just do Ant Bluebello ⁓ on Instagram, you’ll find me. feel free to direct message me there. We can chat about the Christian conjugate or conjugate Christian program. ⁓ And ⁓ yeah, kind of go from there.
Samson :
That’s perfect. Well, and thank you so much, man. I really appreciate you coming on.
Ant Blubello :
Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me, man. I really appreciate it.
Samson :
Absolutely.
