Welcome to the Firstbeat Sports Podcast where we talk with coaches and sports scientists to explore the latest in performance monitoring and how it is making a difference in NCAA and pro sports alike. We’re going to connect you with practical advice from the best in the business to help you take your athletes to the next level.
Firstbeat Sports (https://www.firstbeat.com/en/professional-sports/team-solutions/) is a pioneering sports technology company with 20+ years of experience developing physiological solutions for team sports. Its platform helps coaches use physiological data to make individualized decisions throughout the season. Hundreds of professional teams across the NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, and major European leagues use Firstbeat to optimize performance, support safer athlete development, and reduce fatigue-related setbacks.
Elite alpine skiing demands strength, endurance, technical precision and the ability to perform across changing altitudes, time zones and conditions.
In this episode, Bernd Wiener, Strength and Conditioning Coach with the U.S. Alpine Women’s Ski Team, shares how he prepares athletes for these demands. Bernd discusses individualizing training, monitoring load and recovery, managing travel and altitude, building athlete buy-in, and using physiological data to guide daily coaching decisions. He also explains the importance of aerobic development, communication between coaches and combining internal and external data to create a more complete picture of performance.
13 Aug 2026
Coaching Across the AHL, NCAA, KHL, and Liiga: HIFK’s Matias Sarvela on Adapting to Different Hockey Cultures
Welcome to the Firstbeat Sports Podcast (https://www.firstbeat.com/en/podcasts/) where we talk with coaches and sports scientists to explore the latest in physiology monitoring and how it is making a difference in team sports. We’re going to connect you with practical advice from the best in the business to help you take your athletes to the next level.
In this episode, we’re chatting with Matias Sarvela, S&C Coach at HIFK. Matias is an experienced strength and conditioning coach with a uniquely international background in professional ice hockey and athlete performance. Throughout his career, he has worked across Finland, U.S. college sports, and professional organizations in China, Russia, and North America, gaining extensive experience in a wide range of coaching environments and performance systems.
Matias has built his expertise through years of working closely with elite athletes, helping teams optimize performance, manage training loads, and navigate the demands of long competitive seasons. His international experience has given him valuable insight into different coaching cultures, athlete development pathways, and approaches to performance management.
In this conversation, Matias shares the lessons he has learned from working across diverse hockey environments, including managing demanding travel schedules, adapting to new cultures, and individualizing training for athletes with different needs and backgrounds. He also discusses how heart rate-based internal load monitoring data can be translated into practical coaching decisions, along with his perspectives on player development, weekly load planning, effective communication within high-performance teams, and the future of strength and conditioning in ice hockey.
8 May 2026
Data-Driven Football Performance in Bundesliga - with Jonas Bode, Lead Performance Coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach
Jonas Bode is a performance coach working with the first team at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Bundesliga.
He has built his career through the German football system, starting in youth development at Carl Zeiss Jena, then moving to Bayern Munich’s academy, before progressing to Borussia Mönchengladbach where he worked with the U23 team and now the first team.
Jonas is responsible for load management, training planning, and integrating physiological data into daily coaching decisions. His work focuses on balancing training intensity, supporting communication with coaches and players, and applying data from tools such as heart rate monitoring and GPS.
Jonas’s career path and transition to the first team (1:31)
Role and responsibilities in load management and planning (2:25)
How Firstbeat was implemented and integrated into daily workflow (7:04)
Using heart rate data to guide rest and training decisions (8:33)
Weekly microcycle and training structure (8:33)
Submaximal fitness testing: why, how, and when (12:12)
How testing data informs training adjustments (17:15)
Building player and coach buy in using physiological data (19:01)
Key metrics used in practice: high intensity minutes and TRIMP (20:52)
Managing data overload and focusing on key parameters (22:37)
Future needs for monitoring and real time data quality (24:43)
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
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