About Merritt Made Human Performance
The Performance Spectrum
From Rehab to Resilience
Every athlete lives somewhere along this continuum:
Expansive Movement → Output-Driven Performance
Expansive Movement:
- Joint control
- Variability
- Sensory input
Output-Driven Performance:
- Strength
- Speed
- Power
We train across this spectrum — not by jumping between random methods, but through a structured block system that’s individualized and auto-regulated.
The 5-Block Modular System
Each session is built using these five core building blocks. Your needs determine how we blend, emphasize, and prioritize them.
1️⃣ Joint Prep
Control Before Capacity
- CARS
- PAILs/RAILs
- Foundational joint motion strength
- Postural bracing
- Mobility restoration
- Locomotion
Goal: Build joint workspace and sensory readiness
2️⃣ Elastic Tension
Reflexive Strength & Rebound Capacity
- Yielding isometrics
- Overcoming isometrics
- Oscillatory/deep tier pulses
- Rhythmic/extensive/reactive plyometrics
Goal: Prime the nervous system and connective tissue
3️⃣ Velocity
Speed expression
- Bounds
- Hops
- High velocity running
- Acceleration
- Change of direction
Goal: Expose the body to true high-velocity demands
4️⃣ Force Production
Raw Output & High Intent Loading
- Heavy/slow resistance
- Impulse generation
- Rate of eccentric loading
Goal: Drive up maximal strength and power in order to express and accept force along the force-velocity spectrum.
5️⃣ Variable Capacity
Chaos-Ready Athleticism
- Offset loading/various load profile demand
- Multi-planar stressors
- Volume tolerance
- Energy system development
Goal: Develop comprehensive physical resilience by exposing the body to diverse loading patterns, multi-directional stress, volume challenges, and energy system demands.
From Injury to Peak Output
Rehab and Performance Are Not Separate Worlds
I use the same modular system to guide athletes from joint instability and pain all the way to high-velocity output.
It’s not about switching programs — it’s about shifting emphasis within the blocks to meet the athlete’s current needs.
Each block contains built-in regressions and progressions, allowing us to match the training inputs to the body's current capacity and readiness.
Factors like injury status, tissue healing timelines, and ongoing subjective feedback determine which blocks are emphasized, which inputs are introduced, and which are temporarily held back.
Depending on the case, certain blocks will naturally take priority.
Not every block will be trained in every session — the framework is dynamic and individualized, not rigid.
The core progression follows a simple principle:
- Restore range of motion
- Gradually build tissue load tolerance
- Progressively introduce loading at higher velocities
- Move from controlled to reactive and unpredictable demands
All of this is coordinated in alignment with physiological healing principles, and whenever appropriate, in collaboration with other healthcare providers involved in the athlete’s care.
Grounded in Elite Theory
I pull from the best in strength and conditioning, neurophysiology, and rehab integration:
✅ Yuri Verkhoshansky
- Dynamic Correspondence (training the function of sport, not isolated strength)
- Shock Method (true plyometrics)
- Strength Deficit (gap between max force and usable force)
- Residual Training Effects (retention curves for qualities like strength, power)
✅ DB Hammer
- Neurodynamic Profiling (Rate, Duration, Magnitude types)
- Drop-Off Autoregulation (fatigue management based on performance output)
- Reflexive/oscillatory strength concepts
- Force-Continuum Mapping (Elastic → Force → Duration)
✅ Anatoly Bondarchuk
- Transfer of Training (what transfers vs what doesn’t)
- Exercise Classification (GPP, SPP, CE hierarchy)
- Periodization tied to performance and adaptation curves (sports form development)
✅ Frans Bosch
- Attractor-Fluctuator Model (movement stability under dynamic chaos)
- Coordination under mechanical stress
- Motor learning under fluctuating environmental conditions
- Chaos loading and constraint-based development
✅ Marv Marinovich
- Reflexive/reactive instability loading
- Sensory-ground priming through the foot and lower limb
- Multiplanar movement control under load (not just linear output)
✅ Bill Hartman
- ISA Typing (Wide/Narrow breathing and compression biases)
- Compression/Expansion Bias management for movement strategies
- Loading Archetype Decisions based on structural needs (Wide needs IR, Narrow needs ER, etc.)
✅ FRC / FRA / BioFlow (Functional Range Systems)
- Control Before Capacity Model (joint function before global strength)
- CARS/PAILs/RAILs for articular workspace and resilience
- Mobility linked directly to usable output (not just passive ROM)
- Sensory-motor sequencing (pre-load progression strategies)
✅ Jay Schroeder / ARPwave Systems
- Extreme Isometrics for neural priming and tissue resilience
- Reflexive intent pre-load training
- Rapid tissue and CNS recalibration principles (recovery optimization)
✅ David Grey Rehab
- Structured foot-ankle rehab layering (Sensory → Strength → Plyometric)
- Soleus-first loading strategies
- Reconnection of ground contact → energy return → athletic movement chain
✅ Matt Watson (+Plyos System)
- Advanced plyometric progressions across multiple planes and contexts
- High-velocity elasticity preparation (bounding, cutting, sprinting)
- Structuring elastic training for high-output sports without just defaulting to “power lifts”
✅ Jake Tuura
- Tendon loading specificity (staged isometric → isotonic → elastic progressions)
- Patellar, Achilles, and general connective tissue resilience strategies
- Integrating tendon durability within performance progression
- Managing chronic tendinopathies inside high output environments