As we explore how to improve our relationships with our bodies and increase the effectiveness of performance, we can only help those who want to help themselves. This month, we feature Easton Brown Belt Claus Antunes de Souza, a strength and conditioning coach for the Denver Nuggets.
As a strength and conditioning (S & C) coach, Claus specializes in improving athletic performance through tailored programs that help enhance athletes’ physical abilities, prevent injuries and elevate overall performance through building strength, speed, endurance, agility and flexibility.
Originally from Brazil, Claus started training in martial arts when his parents put him into Judo at the age of six. He did Judo for nearly 10 years before taking a break and falling into BJJ at 18. By the time he moved to Canada for undergrad, Claus had his blue belt.
He didn’t train BJJ during the time he spent in school, but early on in his career, he realized he needed to get back to it. Several jobs after graduation, he had landed in Auburn, Alabama, working as an S & C coach for a womens’ collegiate basketball team.
Claus found that much of his work hung on the ability to connect mentally with his athletes. While he greatly enjoyed strength and conditioning coaching when the athletes wanted to put in the work to become stronger and faster and more powerful, he quickly realized that his work wouldn’t go very far if the athletes weren’t ready to join him.
“When they’re not motivated to do that,” Claus says, “it’s like trying to teach kids a subject they don’t like.”
[Should I Incorporate Strength Training Into My Grappling Routine?]
The women on the team were there on scholarship, had to manage tough course loads and many didn’t plan to continue into professional athletic careers. Their post-college aspirations ranged from physical therapy to dentistry school, and Claus frequently experienced resistance from them in aspects such as weight-lifting. Those who didn’t see how it was relevant to them feared getting bulky from the weight room rather than acknowledging how it helped their game.
The resistance he was experiencing from his athletes was causing him to question his work. “Am I good enough?” “Am I going to get a high profile job?” “Am I connecting with the athletes the right way?”
It was during a time like this that Claus rejoined Jiu Jitsu. He found that not only did it help him physically and satisfy his itch to roll, but it also saved his career. He began training every day, learned to stop second-guessing himself, and began to see the openings.
“Usually to every sticky situation in martial arts,” Claus says, “there’s always a counter escape or counter attack. All you have to do is frame it that way. If I’m having a hard time at work, there’s a way around that.”
[Unlocking Greater Flexibility For Training In Jiu Jitsu]
As his study of Jiu Jitsu deepened, so did his ability to navigate blocks in his career and find different ways to connect with people.
By the time Clause got his job with the Nuggets and moved from Alabama to Colorado, he had earned his purple belt. A fellow student from his Alabama academy, Brady, had also moved to Colorado some time earlier. His teammates advised Claus to get in touch with Brady and see where he trained.
Brady, who at the time held a purple belt, led Claus to Easton Denver. Today, Claus has been with Easton for five years and has never looked back. Brady now holds a black belt with Easton!
Navigating the world of professional athletes
While working with professional athletes differs from training those on a collegiate level in that pros need their bodies to help earn their millions, it still involves considering their entire body, mind and soul system.
Professional athletes are extremely in tune with their bodies as their vehicle for success, yet everyone has different needs. Depending on their bodies, experience or season, they require different aspects of focus from their coaches.
Along with the work Claus does to help improve performance through physical aspects like speed, strength and flexibility, he also coaches athletes on nutrition, recovery strategies and injury prevention.
At high levels, strength and conditioning coaches work with sports coaches, physical therapists and sports scientists to personalize everything. Together, they create a well-rounded and comprehensive approach to each athlete’s unique development and well-being.
Everybody has a unique process. One player needs to lose weight first and build more athletic skills, while a rookie who’s underdeveloped needs to focus on putting on a lot of muscle without putting on a lot of fat. At a basic level, the work manipulates body composition – working with “good” tissue versus “bad” tissue to shed fat and then add muscle.
A seasoned vet, on the other hand, may have the majority of his focus on staying robust to avoid injury. On a basketball roster especially, a lot of players who need special medical attention work more with a physical therapist. For someone who has a recurring injury, the work involves strengthening that area so it won’t happen again.
Frequently, however, the job is more cerebral, Claus tells us. Each person comes from a different background, and they often experience a vast range of mental and emotional spaces. Most importantly, you have to listen to their goals. This may also mean that you get pulled in different directions between what the coach’s goals and that athlete’s goals.
The coach might want the player to get stronger, but the player feels he needs to get faster. Claus has to navigate both goals and their individual limitations in order to create a blend that meets both needs effectively. Usually, even while you can work within both qualities at once, the way you put the ingredients together makes a difference in the final result.
Because Claus spends so much time with the athletes, he also ends up understanding their mental struggles. By seeing obstacles as puzzles to reframe and solve, he can avert roadblocks and speak to his clients in a way which works best for them to hear and be heard.
“Once you know how each person ticks,“ he says, “you can help nudge them along their way.”
At the end of day, Claus maintains, he’s dealing with people who have emotions, a body, legs, arms, soul, a spirit. To truly tailor a program for an individual, he needs to understand a little bit of all of that.
Strength and conditioning doesn’t just help people on the courts; it can teach you life lessons that apply just as easily to your career and your life, and it makes you a better athlete and a healthier, more durable and stronger human being.
Shared load
Claus likens working with athletes to the way a bus which carries teams and sports equipment is called a “coach.” A coach can get you to the place you need to go, but it’ll only take you as far as you’re willing to stay on the bus. You have to understand how to ride on the roads, the maintenance of the vehicle and what fuel and service to use. Most importantly, athletes need to choose to get on.
A coach can only help if athletes let them. No matter how hard they train in the weightroom, or how hard a coach may push them, if they’re treating their body like garbage the other hours of the day, there’s not much an S & C coach can do. All the work, knowledge and benefits can only work if you’re willing to meet them halfway.
This can create a disconnect between a coach and the people they’re trying to help, and often places a limit on what they can do.
Even when, as a coach, you have the whole system lined out, like Claus did in Auburn with the female collegiate team, that doesn’t necessarily mean the people will want to go along with it. In this way, it can feel hard to separate your worth from clients’ success, but understanding the role they play in its outcome lightens your load by sharing it and puts your work into perspective.
It took Claus realizing through Jiu Jitsu that if he’s feeling resistance from his athletes towards the programing, he needs to readjust and modify something so they can all get on board. Only through understanding what makes each person tick can he get them back.
“If I‘m stuck under someone way heavier than me,” he says, “I know there’s a way out. I just have to be smart enough, skilled enough and studious enough to be able to do this.”
[Easton Black Belt and Lowry Co-Owner Professor Amy Fidelis: Committment to Conquer Fear]
