Zone Motion Mental Performance: Buddy Biancalana
Former MLB shortstop, World Series Champion with the Kansas City Royals, and a leading mental performance coach. Buddy combines his professional experience with cutting-edge techniques to help athletes and coaches unlock their potential.
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-Transcript-
Brad Burrow (00:01):
Welcome to In a World With Real Media. I’m your host, Brad Burrow. In this podcast, we’ll dive into the lives of the most successful people in business. We’ll learn how they overcame adversity, took advantage of opportunities and learned from their experiences. Learn from our experts. Get inspired, then go live your story. It’s In a World with Real Media. Hello and welcome to In A World With Real Media. I’m the host Brad Burrow, and today we have a very special guest. I’m really been excited about this podcast, Buddy Biancalana, if you’re a baseball fan in Kansas CityZone Motion, his name. We’ve been working together on some projects and really gotten to know each other and have learned a lot about Zone Motion. And we’re going to talk a lot about some of the concepts behind that today. And a lot of you probably know, a lot of listeners know that we’re a baseball family, and I have sons that played all through high school and college, and we follow baseball very closely. So this is a subject that’s near and dear to my heart and some of the stuff I wish I had known maybe about five years ago. Me too. So anyway, thanks for joining us, Buddy. It’s awesome to have you on here. It’s been fun working together. We’ve gotten to do some pretty fun things. Yeah,
Buddy Biancalana (01:25):
Some cool stuff.
Brad Burrow (01:26):
Yeah. Be out at the ballpark and learning about how our brains work and really, it’s been enlightening, so thanks for letting us work on this stuff.
Buddy Biancalana (01:36):
Yeah, my pleasure. It was great. You guys did a great job, by the way. Thank you. I love the work you guys do.
Brad Burrow (01:40):
Thank you. And you can see that Zone Motion.com.
Buddy Biancalana (01:43):
Yeah. Well, it’s not on there yet, but
Brad Burrow (01:45):
Okay. It It’s
Buddy Biancalana (01:46):
Coming. It’s coming and it’ll be everywhere.
Brad Burrow (01:48):
Yeah. So I wanted to start, what I like to do on the podcast a lot is tell, talk to people about their backgrounds. Where did you grow up? Did you grow up in California?
Buddy Biancalana (01:59):
Yeah, Northern California, just across Golden Gate Bridge. A county called Marin County. Grew up in Green Bay, up on the hill. Was very blessed to have a father that worked in the stock and bond business, so was able to get home early. Right. The market closes at one 30 on the west coast and after a nice big lunch in San Francisco, he’d be home. And so we were able to get outside and play a lot of baseball and other sports. I was really grateful to have a wonderful family. I was very blessed to have a lot of support around me, and I played baseball at Redwood High School. I had an amazing high school coach. Al Andres was a professional athlete in two sports, played it was running back for the 49 ERs and played in the Dodgers minor league system.
Brad Burrow (02:40):
Is that right? Wow.
Buddy Biancalana (02:41):
Yeah. And very progressive minded coach. And we were actually national champions, mythical national champions. They voted US national champions, my junior in high school, and I think we had 11 players go on to play either professional or college baseball. It was really an amazing program. And so I had really good coaching. A lot of things went my way and it was just a great area in which to grow up.
Brad Burrow (03:03):
Your foundation was built there, right? For
Buddy Biancalana (03:05):
Baseball? My baseball foundation was built in my front yard, throwing to my father and bouncing balls off a brick wall. We had planter boxes and pillars and steps that I had to sidestep to make the play, throwing balls against the wall. So it really helped footwork. It helped with my footwork. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. And I did that for hours every day.
Brad Burrow (03:29):
There’s something about baseball, it’s such a great game, but for dads and sons, I mean, that was the bond with me and my boys was baseball. And there’s something about just going out like the natural throwing, playing catch with your dad. I don’t know. It’s so cinematic. There’s something really great about that.
Buddy Biancalana (03:49):
I agree. And it’s something that really everybody can do for the most part. And you can build that bond. And when a boy’s young, he’s just enjoying being with his dad. And the challenge of catching the baseball and throwing the baseball and you’re exactly right. It really helped bond a father and son. And my dad and I, our relationship was primarily built around baseball, going to games, going to giant games. We went even to Dodger games. We became a Dodger fan later on.
Brad Burrow (04:15):
Is that possible to be a jazz
Buddy Biancalana (04:16):
Fan? No, it was for us because my father was mentoring, bill Singer was the pitcher for the Dodgers at the time, and my dad was mentoring him to try and get into the stock and bond business after, really after baseball. So that was great. Going down, we’d go down to LA and stay at Bill’s house and go in the clubhouse and on the field before games. And it was just an amazing experience for, at the time I was nine. So
Brad Burrow (04:40):
You’re like, wow, this is the most amazing thing ever.
Buddy Biancalana (04:43):
Yeah, it was pretty cool. Really wonderful.
Brad Burrow (04:45):
Do you think that kind of set something in motion in your life that’s like, I want to be a MLB player?
Buddy Biancalana (04:51):
Well, I knew it before when I was five years old. I asked my mother for some reason I liked the Dodgers at five years old. I dunno why. But anyway, I asked my mom, do I play for the Dodgers and then go to college or go to college and then play for the Dodgers? And she said, well, you absolutely go to college. And a little segue into the day of the draft at 1978, about 7:00 AM I was upstairs in my room. I had a phone, no cell phones in those days, phone rang, and I picked it up and my mother picked it up in the kitchen at the same time. And it
Brad Burrow (05:17):
Was John Sheol. You pick up two phones.
Buddy Biancalana (05:19):
We picked them up. And it was John Sheol at the time, it was the farm director and the great general manager of our club and the Braves and now in the Hall of Fame. And it was John saying, Hey Buddy, it’s John Sheol for the Royals. We’re getting ready to go into the draft and we draft 25th and we’re planning on making you our first pick if you’re available, and we just want to make sure that you’re interested in signing. And my mother said, no, he’s going to college. I said, mom, hang up the phone. I got this. Is that right? Yeah. And I said, John, if all things are right, I would certainly be willing to sign. So he said, all right. And sure enough, I was drafted that afternoon and I never thought I’d go in the first round. I thought I was going to go in the third or fourth, but it was quite a day for me and my family and even friends. And
Brad Burrow (06:01):
What did your mom think about that?
Buddy Biancalana (06:03):
Well, they knew both my parents were very well educated and I was going to go to Arizona State to play baseball. I was recruited by a lot of different schools, but they knew that what I really wanted to do was be a major league baseball player. And when you’re drafted in the first round, you get every opportunity to make it. And I needed that going through the minor leagues, so they didn’t stand in my way. And I went back and took some classes along the way and player schooling and all, and I’ve been an avid reader my life, and so they didn’t want to stay on my researcher too,
Brad Burrow (06:39):
Obviously.
Buddy Biancalana (06:40):
Yeah. Researcher and yeah. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (06:43):
So then you come to the Royals and what great timing to come to the Royals.
Buddy Biancalana (06:48):
Yeah, it was such a great ballpark. I’d never been to the ballpark until I drove upon it on I 70 when I got called to the big leagues and I looked down and I said, oh my
Brad Burrow (06:59):
Gosh, you see it over on this?
Buddy Biancalana (07:00):
Yeah. And what a thrill. And then, yeah, we had some great, in 84, we made the playoffs and lost to Detroit in 85. We won the series, which was just the peak moment in my career and led to Zone Motion. What year did you sign? I signed in 78. So you had
Brad Burrow (07:18):
Been with him for several
Buddy Biancalana (07:19):
Years? Yeah, I spent four and a half years of the minors before getting called up for September call up and all.
Brad Burrow (07:24):
Was that Omaha then? Where you Oma model in
Buddy Biancalana (07:26):
Aaa? Yeah. Yeah. I went all the way through Sarasota, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Omaha, and then Kansas
Brad Burrow (07:31):
City. Yeah, you worked your way up. Awesome. So let’s switch gears. Do you remember when you came got the call to come to the big leagues? Oh yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (07:39):
Joe, what was that like? Joe Sparks? Yeah, Joe Sparks. We finished up in Omaha and called me into the office and told me I was going. And it was just, you can imagine. I mean, I think every kid who plays baseball wants to play in the major leagues, and I didn’t know if I was good enough or it would happen, but when I got to aaa, the light really went off or went on or off, whatever went on it. Just knowing that, okay, I am going to get there. I knew for sure, I knew for sure that it was going to happen for me, and that’s really nice because I really, I believed I could do it, but there were times throughout my career in the minor leagues where I’m like, I don’t know.
Brad Burrow (08:20):
Yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (08:21):
Yeah. I was thinking, what else am I going to do?
Brad Burrow (08:23):
Yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (08:24):
But do
Brad Burrow (08:25):
You think the battle’s more mental at that point than it is from a physical ability
Buddy Biancalana (08:29):
Standpoint? Well, always, yes. Listen, you can have all the physical talent in the world. You can be incredibly gifted and you can have some success, but everything starts with a thought. Everything in our life starts with a thought and underneath the thoughts or beliefs, until that’s really aligned, you’re going to have some obstacles and you’re not going to be able to access your full ability.
Brad Burrow (08:48):
Yeah, we’re going to talk about that a little bit, aren’t
Buddy Biancalana (08:50):
We? Yeah, sounds
Brad Burrow (08:51):
Good. That’s so true. In life in general is getting those aligned is so hard. I struggle with that.
Buddy Biancalana (08:59):
We all do. We’re human. It’s part of being human. The challenge of being human, it’s not easy.
Brad Burrow (09:04):
So do you remember your first start for the Royals? I do. Was it at Kaufman
Buddy Biancalana (09:09):
Stadium? Yeah, it was at Kaufman Stadium. It was called Kaufman at that time. Yeah, my first start, it was a meaningless game. I’d had a few appearances and blowouts and that kind of thing, but it was a meaningless game, last game of the season against the a’s I was a starting shortstop, and it was a warm day, fairly warm day.
Brad Burrow (09:27):
Was Dick Hauser the manager?
Buddy Biancalana (09:29):
Yeah, Dick was the, Dick was the manager. It’s not unusual to get nervous before a game,
(09:36):
And certainly my first major league start. I was a little nervous even though it was a meaningless game. And one of the things that I would do along with making myself sandwiches, we talk more about that, but was I’d hit the Gatorade pretty hard, and so I was sitting in the Gatorade pretty hard, and after about in the second inning, George Brett said, Buddy, how’s the Gatorade? And I was feeling a little light. I was feeling a little light. Something wasn’t right. He said, how’s the Gatorade? And he started laughing at him. Well, he spiked it with vodka.
Brad Burrow (10:10):
Oh, is that right?
Buddy Biancalana (10:11):
Yeah. Which not cool. But anyway, that was George. It was kind of funny. But
Brad Burrow (10:18):
Your first start then. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (10:21):
Oh my gosh. I stopped drinking the Gatorade in that
Brad Burrow (10:22):
Moment. Yeah, no kidding.
Buddy Biancalana (10:24):
Yeah. Yeah. But it didn’t affect my game. I was fine.
Brad Burrow (10:26):
Okay.
Buddy Biancalana (10:28):
I got a hit. I got my first major league hit. It was a triple that I got thrown out trying to stretch inside the park, home run. So yeah, it was quite a thrill. What a great first hit, huh? Yeah, it was
Brad Burrow (10:38):
Cool. Yeah. What’d the guys think when you come off the field on that one?
Buddy Biancalana (10:42):
Yeah, they were happy for me. Right.
Brad Burrow (10:44):
Yeah. That was a pretty good culture back then, right? I mean with the Royals and kind of their, no.
Buddy Biancalana (10:50):
Yeah. Yeah, it was great. I mean, well, cultures today are different. I love this generation right now of kids and they’re not perfect, but I love how they’re really in their heart. They’re really, really good kids back in those days, a little bit different, but I love the way the Royals played baseball. I really feel like I learned to play baseball the right way. Watching Hal McCrae and George b Brett really go hard into second base. I was a short step, but I’ll tell you what, every time I slid in a second base, I was going after that shortstop or that second baseman, and they came after me. But I love that the game’s changed some.
Brad Burrow (11:32):
You can’t do that anymore.
Buddy Biancalana (11:33):
No, you can’t do that. I miss that play. It’s pretty easy being a second baseman. You just catch the ball and throw the ball to the
Brad Burrow (11:39):
First baseman
Buddy Biancalana (11:40):
On a double play. You don’t have to worry about a thing.
Brad Burrow (11:41):
Yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (11:42):
I
Brad Burrow (11:42):
Mean, most of the guys just lay down if they’re not even going to be Halal Mc Gray would’ve never done that, huh?
Buddy Biancalana (11:48):
Oh, well, you go back and watch some videos of Hal Macra and for all you listeners right here, I
Brad Burrow (11:52):
Mean
Buddy Biancalana (11:53):
YouTube, Hal McCrae sliding into second base or roll block, however you want to Google it. It’s crazy what he was doing. Yeah, you better be ready,
Brad Burrow (12:04):
Huh?
Buddy Biancalana (12:04):
It was like a safety going after a wide receiver coming across the middle is what it was. And if you don’t believe me, go watch it.
Brad Burrow (12:12):
Yeah, yeah, that’s exactly right. So let’s move forward to 85. I can remember 85 pretty clearly. My dad, actually, just a little bit of background. My dad worked for ING Kaufman at Mary Labs. Yes. And so he was a director of HR and part of his job, I can’t believe I’ve never told you this before, part of his job was to get tickets to everybody within Marion Labs
Buddy Biancalana (12:38):
For
Brad Burrow (12:38):
Royals, and so he worked very closely with the Royals, so we grew up following the Royals very closely. He lived in Raytown, and I remember the 85 series and just how exciting that was for Kansas City. I mean, that put us on the map, it felt like.
Buddy Biancalana (12:54):
Yeah, it was amazing. It was amazing. We came back from Toronto after we won, getting goosebumps as I think about
Brad Burrow (13:01):
It.
Buddy Biancalana (13:01):
And I remember walking out of the airport and there was helicopters and music and all, I mean, tons of people. It was really, really something. People were really, really excited.
Brad Burrow (13:10):
Yeah, that was amazing. So talk about your experience. I mean, you got propelled right into the middle of all that. That had to be exciting
Buddy Biancalana (13:22):
With about 13 games to go in the season. Decals put me at shortstop on co conception was a shortstop. We kind of went back and forth all year, but Dick played me at the end and I played pretty well, and we ended up signing Bucky Dent and I thought, oh, Bucky’s going to come in and play shortstop after his great years with the Yankees. And Dick told me, now Bucky’s is going to be there to back up and you got it like, all right, sounds good.
Brad Burrow (13:44):
That had to be pretty good to hear.
Buddy Biancalana (13:45):
Yeah, it was great. Yeah, so played down the stretch and that was really exciting. There’s nothing like a pennant race in baseball for me and didn’t sleep a whole lot every night when I got it done. Talk about being nervous, huh? Were you nervous for those games? I was a little cut off myself in those days, but yeah, there was plenty of tension in my body and mind for sure. And then we beat Toronto in seven games. We were down three games to one and had a pretty good series. Played airless at shortstop, got a few big hits, and then in the World Series I really entered, had a zone experience. It was the most just an amazing experience for me. I was sitting in my locker before game one, and as a kid I knew I always wanted to play Major league baseball, and I never once thought about playing in the World Series too big an event. And even when I got to the big leagues, I’m like, this is great. I’ve achieved my dream of getting to the big leagues and now I got to stay here and never thought about playing the World Series. It’s like, okay, the end of the season we go home and I’ll watch the World Series on tv. And so I’m sitting in my locker before game one of the World Series, and there’s about 20 minutes to go before I had to be on the field for introductions where they announce your name
(15:02):
Camera in front of your face for the World
Brad Burrow (15:03):
Series a big deal.
Buddy Biancalana (15:04):
Yeah, it’s a big
Brad Burrow (15:05):
Deal. All scripted.
Buddy Biancalana (15:07):
And so I’m sitting there and all of a sudden I got completely blindsided with fear to the point where I felt like there’s no way I could catch a ground ball. I’m thinking, oh boy, what am I going to do? And usually I would make myself a Sanders before a game and hit the Gatorade, that kind of thing, just to kind of change how I felt. But I intuitively knew there was nothing that was going to change how I felt in that moment. And I’m thinking, what am I going to do? I was starting shortstop and I just sat there and I sat there and just said, this is really scary. And the fear subsided enough to allow me to stand up, grab my bat, my helmet, my glove, and make my way down to the dugout in which my name
Brad Burrow (15:46):
To be. You could physically feel.
Buddy Biancalana (15:48):
Yeah, I could feel a release. Yeah, you bet. And I went out and played seven of the best baseball games my whole life. I had a zone experience. Everything just really slowed down for me. I wasn’t thinking everything was very fluid and effortless. I choose my words very carefully when I tell you that every single ball hit me right in the sweet spot of my glove, and every throw came out of my hand with just perfect speed trajectory, and it was almost a feeling of not being able to do anything wrong, even if I tried. It was so amazing. There was one play in St. Louis that I loved to mention. There was a ball that kicked away from Frank White, Ozzie Smith stole second, and the ball kicked into the left center field and I ran after it to keep Ozzy at second, picked it up bare hand and just kind of wheeled back and through to Frank just to keep him there. And anybody watching this podcast or listening to this podcast could make the same play. So that’s no big deal. And it wasn’t a big deal except that I felt like I could have kicked the ball to him perfectly. And I dunno if you’ve ever kicked a baseball, but it’s not kicking a soccer ball.
(16:50):
But that’s how I felt. I felt like I couldn’t do anything wrong, even if I tried immensely, were
Brad Burrow (16:54):
Just,
Buddy Biancalana (16:55):
Yeah, I was locked in. I wanted the bigger the situation, the more I wanted the ground ball hit to me. I knew, not that I didn’t think George or Frank would catch the ball, I knew for sure that I was going to catch it and I wanted the ball hit to me, and that wasn’t always the case in my career, but that’s what happened when I was able to get in the zone. These processes, the brain that we now teach by design were just happening by chance. So it was really not just, it was a life-changing moment for me. When you have an experience like that, it’s a new reference point as to how you can live your life. And so it was really a profound moment for me and just so grateful that timing
Brad Burrow (17:35):
Was pretty Sitting at your locker,
Buddy Biancalana (17:37):
That too. Do you
Brad Burrow (17:38):
Think that was the moment or was it the moment on the play where you really
Buddy Biancalana (17:42):
Yeah, all of those moments were big and I a lot of, I fell off a bathroom counter when I was a baby and had several concussions growing up, so I’d had a lot of concussions, so I didn’t feel good. I wasn’t a guy that was loving life and jovial and happy. I was straining. I really didn’t know what was in my way. All I know is during that World series, I was just able to access that level. And so from that experience, 20 months later, I was out of big leagues. I didn’t know what happened to my brain that allowed me to play so well.
Brad Burrow (18:17):
So at the time you didn’t even realize what had happened?
Buddy Biancalana (18:19):
No, I just knew. I knew I was locked in and it felt great. The freedom and the success and the confidence was unmatched. But when an athlete is playing their best, they typically don’t know what’s taking place in their brain or body. They will say, well, I’m seeing the ball better. Things are slowing down and things are easier and fluid and effortless. They don’t know what’s taking place. And so we’ve been able to quantify that what does happen and more importantly, teach it in many different sports.
Brad Burrow (18:48):
Yeah, that’s a really good transition into his Zone Motion. 20 months later, you’re out of baseball,
Buddy Biancalana (18:53):
Out of the major leagues, went back to AAA and had injuries, but my confidence was shot. I had no idea. When you have that experience and you don’t know how it all happened, when I went back to spring training the following season in the spring of 86, the anxiety I felt because of the pressure to repeat how I played in the World Series without understanding how I played so well
Brad Burrow (19:17):
Stage, you got there, but you didn’t
Buddy Biancalana (19:19):
Know how. There a big stage, it’s big stage. It’s not like having a sitting behind a desk and having a good day and the next day you don’t quite feel great. Well, you don’t have 40,000 people watching you, and you can just say, you know what? Something’s off today. It’s so big deal wrong in sports. It’s like you’re there. You’re there to entertain. And so the pressure, I felt a ton of pressure of trying to repeat that and live up to who I was in that series and live up to the expectations of fans and the media and teammates and friends and family, and it was overwhelming to me.
Brad Burrow (19:56):
And so that of failure
Buddy Biancalana (20:00):
Propelled
Brad Burrow (20:00):
You into figuring out what happened,
Buddy Biancalana (20:02):
What happened, and I learned from healing my body, healing my brain head injuries. I learned a lot about the brain body connection, and I had some wonderful teachers along the way and put some things together and have made a career of teaching, not just athletes, but executives and salespeople, how to get in the zone and love what I do. It’s just like,
Brad Burrow (20:25):
When did the light bulb come on for you? It’s like, okay, I’m missing something. I got to figure out, I’ve heard a lot of people talking now I’m in the zone here, Michael Jordan. It’s like in the zone, guys like that. But for you to actually say, there’s something here, I need to really dig in and try to figure out what it’s,
Buddy Biancalana (20:44):
Well, I didn’t have that approach. I was just trying to heal the body and the brain and through that and a lot of different modalities that I started just to put a few things together, two and two together per se, and then got back into baseball. I was off the field for 11 years, was offered a job by the Tampa Bay Rays as their infield coordinator and started coaching and managing and doing all that. And then a gentleman, Steven Yellen, who had figured some things out and we put some things together and then I started working with some athletes and was blown away by what I saw from starting to access certain processes, the brain that were taking place when I played my best of the World series. But let’s do that systematically.
Brad Burrow (21:31):
So you saw them doing that?
Buddy Biancalana (21:33):
Yeah, I was working with these athletes and we saw amazing results, and so I just started teaching more of that and just working with the mental and emotional components and had huge success and done a lot of research, which we can talk about if you want, but yeah.
Brad Burrow (21:49):
Yeah, I’d love to get into that now a little bit. So talk about Zone Motion. What is Zone Motion? Give us the 4 1 1 on what it is and what you’re trying to accomplish.
Buddy Biancalana (22:03):
So it’s a mental training program. If you ask a hundred athletes in any sport how they felt when they played their best, if they take a few moments to think about it, they’ll typically answer three or four ways that one things slowed down for them. Two, they weren’t thinking three, their motion was more fluid and effortless, and they may say their timing was really, really good or perfect, and so if that’s what’s taking place when you’re playing your best, it would only make sense for that to be the priority. So we’ve been able to quantify those processes in the brain and more importantly, teach ’em. And a lot of wonderful things happen. Way more than I ever thought could happen. It carries into the classroom and there’s just huge, huge benefits. And then I saw the success and I wanted to start doing research because I could see how it was enhancing performance and it wasn’t just enhancing performance, but it was speeding up the development of athletes. And it was also the pitchers that I was working with at the time. They weren’t getting a sore and they weren’t getting hurt at a time when pitching injuries and still are skyrocketing. Right?
Brad Burrow (23:12):
Yeah. Tommy John is like a normal thing now.
Buddy Biancalana (23:15):
Yeah, exactly. And mechanics are great, really, really important. But I always knew there’s one thing that’s more important than mechanics, and it’s the fluidity of the motion. It’s the muscles and what they’re doing. So we started doing research and studies with the American Sports Medicine Institute, very, very successful research and studies, and so I can sit here and tell you that the training enhances performance, it speeds up development and it minimizes the chance of soft tissue injuries. And although that most of our research is rather small sample size, all of the research aligns with all the testimonials from the athletes and everything that I’ve seen as well. So it’s been, and it carries into the classroom, there’s just so many benefits to when the brain starts to function the way it’s designed to function. We do better in life, we feel better and we do better.
Brad Burrow (24:08):
Yeah, it’s not just sports, it’s life in general.
Buddy Biancalana (24:11):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (24:11):
I want to talk a little bit about the brain function. I’ve learned a lot working with you on these projects, but Dave Meltzer, here’s a quote, I’m going to read it. Zone Motion. Your unfair advantage isn’t just about baseball, it’s about life presence and possibility and all great teachings. Its truth is universal. That fits perfectly what they’re talking
Buddy Biancalana (24:32):
About. Yeah, it really does. And I’ve known David for several years and he wrote the forward to my upcoming book Zone Motion and Unfair Advantage, and it carries over into other areas of life, and it’s a beautiful thing to be in the zone.
Brad Burrow (24:48):
So I want to talk to you, you talk about spin rate and hitter research and brainwave research, but talk about spin rate a little bit. I’m really curious about that. Sun was picture in college and two months, you’re impacting their performance.
Buddy Biancalana (25:08):
So spin rate’s a big thing in baseball, the revolutions per minute, not that if baseball stays in the air for a minute, but that’s how they measure the spin revolutions per minute, which is really a big deal for pitchers. And
Brad Burrow (25:21):
So that’s going to be your break or
Buddy Biancalana (25:23):
Yeah, and spin rate’s a byproduct of three things, arm speed and arm strength. We don’t get into that. We leave that to the coaches, the strength and condition coaches and other coaches and the kinetic chain, the proper angles in the body that support our movement and most importantly is how information moves through the brain. And so there are three parts of the brain that we’re really interested in
Brad Burrow (25:47):
The front. Yeah, this is good.
Buddy Biancalana (25:48):
The front, the middle, and the back, and I’m going to dumb it down here for the audience, not that our audience is not smart, but the middle of the brain is where your motion,
Brad Burrow (25:56):
By the way, there’s some videos that are going to be on your website to show how this works.
Buddy Biancalana (26:00):
That’s right. And you did them.
(26:02):
The middle of the brain is where your motion is stored and the basal ganglia and the cerebellum part of the motor system is what allows all the muscles to fire a synchronistic, harmonious, sequential manner. And when a pitcher has high spin rate, that information that they’re processing, they’re processing information, we have to process information to do anything in life, including moving my hands right now. I’m processing information. And so when a pitcher is processing information correctly, he’s able to access all the work they’ve done on mechanics with their coaches is stored in the middle of the brain. They’re able to access that in the middle of the brain, and then they’re able to allow that information to travel to the cerebellum. Part of the motor system allows all the muscles to fire synchronistically. And so the bigger, bulkier, strong muscles, which we want, we need strength, right?
(26:56):
But we don’t want them to dominate the motion. We want them to play the supporting role as the more subtle fast twitch muscles. The body become very enlivened, and that’s when the ball comes out of the hand, just perfect, right? Any athlete listening to this knows that feeling. Whether you’re a hitter who’s able to make an adjustment to a ball that starts to run away or in, you’re able to make that last but second adjustment to square it up, or a pitcher who knows that feeling when that ball’s just coming out of the hand just perfect. And that’s a byproduct of how information is moving through the brain and how the neural pathways are blending together. And so the whole key is to build and strengthen and maintain those neural pathways so the zone becomes your default state. It’s not something, my experience in the World Series is like, wow, look at this. And there it was gone, right? They didn’t understand it. Well, now we understand it. So now we’re able to teach it, and now we’re able to strengthen, maintain, strengthen, and maintain those neural pathways so that we’re better able to access our full ability in each given moment, which is what we all want in life.
Brad Burrow (28:03):
And that applies not just to sports, it’s anything in life.
Buddy Biancalana (28:07):
I work in the sales world and I just love working in the sales world because we’ve all been sold to and we sell and we know that when someone kind of nudges us a little too much, we kind of back away. So it’s really, the training in the sales world’s very profound in that it really teaches, trains the nervous system to be in a more empathetic state where you’re more detached from the desired outcome, which you’ll never forget that you want to make the sale, but the more you detach with it and there’s more empathy and trust built in the relationship, the more likelihood you are of making the sale.
Brad Burrow (28:42):
I remember one of the ladies that we interviewed, her son is going through his Zone Motion, great hitter, and you can see him in the videos, but one of the things I thought was profound, she said his school works better.
Buddy Biancalana (28:57):
Yeah. Isn’t
Brad Burrow (28:57):
That amazing?
Buddy Biancalana (28:58):
Yeah. Well, I consider and tell you I’m an honest guy, right?
Brad Burrow (29:01):
Yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (29:02):
I have never worked one-on-one with a student athlete who’s not done better in the classroom. Now when we work in a group setting, I don’t know, it carries right in the classroom.
Brad Burrow (29:14):
So we’re talking about the brain a little bit right now, and what are the things that can stop that process
Buddy Biancalana (29:21):
From working? So the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain can intercept those signals from getting in the middle of the brain, and it happens whenever the mechanic, which is certainly important, and it needs to be worked on. The physical mechanics of any sport need to be worked on with coaches, but anytime that becomes the priority for the brain or the desired result becomes the priority, throwing a strike, making the shot putt, getting the ball in the cup, anytime that becomes the priority for the brain, the information gets blocked and the muscles won’t fire in a synchronous harmonious manner. They’ll be off just a little bit. Does that mean you can’t hit a ball or throw a strike without, no, but what we’re looking for is consistency. We want the best version of ourselves to show up every single moment with everything we do, and so that’s what we teach and it takes work. This is not something that, here try this and oh yeah, it worked. It takes work like anything else, but we want to really change those neuro pathways so they start to fire in a manner where this becomes your default state, where things just work perfectly.
Brad Burrow (30:31):
Is part of that recognizing when you’re in the wrong state of mind,
Buddy Biancalana (30:35):
Of course, where everything starts with awareness, right? Yeah. You got to become, it’s a huge part of what we teach is becoming aware. None of us are aware of what we’re not aware of,
Brad Burrow (30:44):
Right?
Buddy Biancalana (30:44):
Yeah. We don’t know. We don’t know. I’m sitting here right now,
Brad Burrow (30:46):
Kind of like you in the World Series.
Buddy Biancalana (30:47):
I don’t know what I don’t know. And same thing in the World Series. I didn’t know what was happening. It’s like, I’ll ride this wave and the wave crashes like, okay, yeah, no more wave.
Brad Burrow (30:57):
There wasn’t another wave. I didn’t get back on that
Buddy Biancalana (30:58):
Wave. So you get it.
Brad Burrow (31:02):
Yeah. So that’s one of the things, and I want to tell you something. I remember when we were shooting at Coffman and we’d do a few takes and you’d say, can I have a second? And you’d go walk and only for about two or three minutes, walk down the first baseline, come back and you’d be locked in. You were doing something to shut that down probably, right?
Buddy Biancalana (31:27):
Yeah. We get blocked and
Brad Burrow (31:30):
You recognize when that’s happening
Buddy Biancalana (31:33):
And energy gets stuck in the body. And so the emotions, years ago I just taught the mental component and saw amazing things. We had huge success, crazy success, and I wasn’t really understanding what I was doing. I just knew it worked really well. And then I saw some people struggling and I had to figure out, okay, what’s going well? The emotions, our emotions under my brain functioning. The brain is the operating system of the muscles. The brain is the operating system of the muscles. And so again, anytime the mechanic is the priority, that’s going to be a problem to some degree. But you need to work on mechanics. I’m not saying don’t work on mechanics. I’m a huge believer that’s
Brad Burrow (32:19):
A big part of the process, right?
Buddy Biancalana (32:20):
Oh, huge.
Brad Burrow (32:21):
It’s
Buddy Biancalana (32:21):
Not what I teach. I leave that to the coaches, but it’s huge. You’re exactly right. But the brain will undermine the mechanics and our emotions undermine the brain functioning. So really working with the emotional body is essential for all of us to be our best. And quite often we’re not aware of the little blocks that we have in our physiology that are in the way. So yes, everything starts with awareness.
Brad Burrow (32:49):
You think about emotion. It’s interesting you mentioned that, but in sports, we want emotion. I remember being a little league coach, let’s go boys, let’s get fired up. But that could be inhibiting success.
Buddy Biancalana (33:01):
Yeah, it can. When I was coaching in pro ball and I was managing in the Raises organization, I always had a gentle way to get through to players, but there were moments where I’d go to the mound to speak to a pitcher in a tight spot where you could look in the eyes, you could see his eyes were glossed over. It’s like, okay, this guy, he’s not with us. He’s a different place and you kind of have to hit him hard. Let’s go break him out of it, boom, and jolt the system. So that has a temporary effect, but what we really want to do is we want to really train the physiology so that they are locked in on a regular basis, and it really speeds up the development as well.
Brad Burrow (33:49):
What does that look like? I mean, the training for something like that, obviously you don’t want to get into the details of it, but I mean, the kid that’s playing high school baseball, he’s going to probably do well in college and
Buddy Biancalana (34:00):
Stuff. It would take longer than we have on the podcast,
Brad Burrow (34:03):
But just give me an overview. It’s some things to
Buddy Biancalana (34:06):
Do. Yeah. We start with some drills to use while you’re practicing and playing that start to give you an undeniable neurophysiological experience that for sure must be your priority. You start to, so your paradigm shifts instead of thinking, if we’re working in baseball, I work in many different 13 pro sports, we’ve worked in, but we’ll talk about baseball here. So if the paradigm shifts from the baseball hitter, from thinking that the priority is to hit the ball, get the hit, get on base, that paradigm will shift very quickly for them to understand, whoa, no, these processes in my brain and body must be my priority. I don’t have to convince ’em of that. They have this experience and they are as sure about that as you would be if I said, I want you to jump off your roof. You’d know for sure you’re falling down. You understand law of gravity,
Brad Burrow (34:59):
Right?
Buddy Biancalana (34:59):
Well, the athlete starts to understand how motion is produced in the body, and so the paradigm shift is made right away. It’s like, whoa, okay. And so the buy-in is very easy, very simple. There’s no convincing or coaxing or anything like that selling. No, this is how it works. They
Brad Burrow (35:13):
Just know it.
Buddy Biancalana (35:14):
This is how it works. Yeah, that’s strong statement. This is how it works. Then it’s a matter of strengthening those neuro pathways that are changing in the moment. That takes some time and it takes ongoing diligent practice by the athlete. It’s not something that you learn. I got it, because years ago, that’s what I thought. Guys would come in into town and work three days with me and they’d go off to do great, and then it’d be a slow, steady decline, and I didn’t understand enough about what I was doing, but now we really do.
Brad Burrow (35:43):
So how long does it take to build a neuro pathway? I mean, that feels like a long process to me.
Buddy Biancalana (35:48):
Yeah, some people say 40 days, but then you have to maintain it. You have to strengthen it, and it’s very, so
Brad Burrow (35:55):
It’s not just going to build it and you’re good. You got
Buddy Biancalana (35:56):
To No. The thing about Neuropathways and I’ve learned is that they’re either strengthening or weakening all the time, but the good news is you just keep strengthening where they want to go. It’s where they want to go.
Brad Burrow (36:09):
It’s
Buddy Biancalana (36:09):
Where they want to go, so it becomes easier to be committed to. It
Brad Burrow (36:15):
Is that part of the training, it’s like, okay, we’re going to help you learn how to get into the zone, but you’ve got to do these things. You’ve got to continue to do these
Buddy Biancalana (36:24):
Things, and here they are, A, B, C, D. Yeah. These are the things to do that are going to keep you there. So it takes discipline, like anything, it’s not a quick fix, but it’s something that enhances all areas of life. So it’s something that people like and want to stick with.
Brad Burrow (36:45):
You’ve got some pretty incredible endorsements. Matt Ro Buddy cares deeply about people and wants nothing more than to see people reach their potential. I think I would agree with that about
Buddy Biancalana (36:56):
You. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Yeah, appreciate. Pretty cool. There’s nothing better than helping someone, in my opinion. Giving is receiving, so
Brad Burrow (37:08):
It’s a pretty fun seeing guys that you’ve worked with. I mean, you’re working with some MLB pitchers right now
Buddy Biancalana (37:13):
And seeing him
Brad Burrow (37:13):
Have success.
Buddy Biancalana (37:14):
Oh yeah. It’s great. Yeah. We got a kid with Tampa Bay has come up and done Great. Yeah, so I love to see him do well. It’s really gratifying.
Brad Burrow (37:24):
And then Drew Smith from Evolve, I’m just beginning to understand the full impact of Zone Motion has on my team and our intense sales environment. I mean, you’ve got a sales manager or owner, owner of a company saying, this is making an impact on my business.
Buddy Biancalana (37:40):
Yeah. Yeah. He really was open to what I was doing, and I’ve been working with the sales team for two months and it’s been great. Really?
Brad Burrow (37:51):
How are they receiving it?
Buddy Biancalana (37:52):
Awesome. Just really great.
Brad Burrow (37:54):
Yeah. What would you talk to a sales team about?
Buddy Biancalana (37:58):
Because
Brad Burrow (37:58):
It’s different than somebody that’s a hitter or a pitcher or a golfer.
Buddy Biancalana (38:03):
What we do, we work with the neuropathways and also and work with the nervous system and really helping them understand, one, making the paradigm shift how if they can really detach from the outcome as they take action towards achieving the outcome, it reduces the tension in the body, reduces the fear that whoever you’re selling to can easily pick up. We know when someone’s starting pushing us a little bit, it’s like, whoa, I can feel back off. Right? And so making that paradigm shift and then training the nervous so that they can be more in that state of empathy of being more interested in the person and the relationship than the sale. And they’re not going to forget
Brad Burrow (38:46):
They, the sale seems the opposite of what a salesperson would be
Buddy Biancalana (38:49):
Exactly.
Brad Burrow (38:50):
Thinking. Right?
Buddy Biancalana (38:50):
Exactly.
Brad Burrow (38:51):
Yeah. Yeah. And they’ve received that. Okay. I mean, even Drew, you’re the sales manager, you’re managing these people. He’s
Buddy Biancalana (39:00):
The president of the company.
Brad Burrow (39:01):
Okay, president. But it’s like, okay, I don’t want to keep us off of the goal,
Buddy Biancalana (39:07):
But No, no, no. And it is not a substitute for traditional sales training. By no means we need that. I’m not that guy. I’m just going to work with the nervous system and how the brain functions so that they can apply all of the tools that are necessary that they’ve learned that they can access them when needed. That’s the key. You all want to, again, access the best version of ourselves when it’s needed.
Brad Burrow (39:33):
Just learning that something like that is happening has probably got to be the light bulb moment for a lot of those guys that is like, okay, my instinct is to go after this hard, but maybe I should pull back and listen.
Buddy Biancalana (39:45):
Allow the state of allowance I love. And patience is essential. It’s not easy for humans to have patience. It’s not easy for them to trust, and it’s not easy for them to have faith. But when you start to, they start to have this experience, okay, this is real. I can feel it. I know it’s real. I don’t have to convince them. I have to support ’em, keep supporting ’em until they know for sure. There’s a difference between belief and knowing. When you know believe there’s a little doubt attached. And so we all want to get to the point where we know then we can just be a little bit more at ease as we move through. A day. Takes
Brad Burrow (40:28):
Pressure off, doesn’t
Buddy Biancalana (40:29):
It? Yeah. It doesn’t mean everything goes perfect all the time, but we can respond more easily to anything that comes our way and become more resilient and really enjoy ourselves more. So
Brad Burrow (40:42):
Yeah, when you’re working with a team like that is half of the battle just educating them on what’s happening. They have no idea. Kind of like the baseball players,
Buddy Biancalana (40:53):
It’s like, whoa. Things are shifting and yes, holding their hand and telling this is where you’re going until they know just you have to assure them this is where they’re going and it works really well.
Brad Burrow (41:11):
So you’ve got a book coming out.
Buddy Biancalana (41:12):
Yeah. Very excited about it. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (41:14):
Tell me about the book.
Buddy Biancalana (41:15):
It’s called The Zone Motion, your Unfair Advantage. Worked on it for a long time, had plenty of help with it. I’ve got a lot of hybrid publishers really are interested, and I’ve had people tell me, no, go to the publishing route. It’s traditional publishing route. So just kind of waiting. I’ve got some agents I think I’m speaking to this week and just kind of seeing what’s out there, but it’s really, it addresses performance development and the injury epidemic in baseball
Brad Burrow (41:50):
And
Buddy Biancalana (41:51):
Very well supported. The injury portion of the book is very well supported. Someone will read that book and they will know that, oh yeah, this is what’s going on with the injuries for pictures, and I’m not trying to sell books right now. Just so you know. That’s the truth. That’s there. And they’ll be supported by a lot of the comments or they’ll recognize that that’s the case from a lot of the comments and the research that’s in the book. All the research we’ve done will be in the book.
Brad Burrow (42:19):
Why wouldn’t every sports franchise want that book?
Buddy Biancalana (42:23):
Yeah, it seems
Brad Burrow (42:24):
To me,
Buddy Biancalana (42:25):
Why don’t you answer that question? Yeah.
Brad Burrow (42:27):
Yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (42:27):
Because the belief system has to be there. One thing that I’ve learned, I’ve learned a lot over the years. One thing I’ve learned of teaching this for a long time that you can tell somebody, you can show them and prove it to ’em, right? With science and everything, if the belief, if there’s not space for the belief, that’s the key. And that’s been a challenging thing for me over the years because people’s
Brad Burrow (42:55):
Beliefs, that’s a base built on a lot of
Buddy Biancalana (42:57):
Beliefs.
Brad Burrow (42:58):
Yeah,
Buddy Biancalana (42:58):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (42:58):
Values,
Buddy Biancalana (42:59):
Yeah, whatever that mechanics, there’s nothing more important than mechanics and strength. They’re very, very important. But again, the brain’s, the operating system your whole life. If it’s not your priority, you’re just kind of rolling the dice a little bit. You,
Brad Burrow (43:14):
It seems simple to me after being with you and understanding all this, but why is that so hard?
Buddy Biancalana (43:22):
Well, when an athlete is playing their best, one of the things they’ll typically say, you know what? It was pretty easy today. It’s pretty simple today. But they don’t know what’s taking place. It allows it to be simple. And so certainly we use simplicity to teach simplicity. We want simplicity for the athlete. And so a lot of people can think, well, this is complex. No, it’s simple.
Brad Burrow (43:45):
It’s
Buddy Biancalana (43:45):
Teaching simplicity with simplicity, not teaching simplicity with complexity.
Brad Burrow (43:51):
Have you had teams ask you to come in spring training, things like that? I mean, it probably takes longer than spring training to actually train these things.
Buddy Biancalana (43:59):
Well, the corporate world’s interesting. There are a lot of layers and it doesn’t take much to, I’ve had teams very interested, people in high positions interested that they will ask their mental skills guy and whatever they kind of like. They’re like, yeah, who knows what, but some doors can shut. But I’m patient. I’ve been very patient. I’ve known the profundity of this training and the importance of it, and everything’s moving this direction. So just keep educating, trying just to educate people on this and do the research. I’m looking forward to doing more research, more studies.
Brad Burrow (44:46):
What would you be like? What area would you be going into?
Buddy Biancalana (44:52):
Probably do a lot more before and after. Maybe more extensive research, maybe more. We’ve done EMG research measuring the muscle activity, which was very successful. We saw that there with pitcher, there was a decrease in the lat, an increase in the pec. And the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Kevin Whitty, who analyzed the research said that that shows that there’s more SPO for the shoulder and we can assume the elbow and even the core of the body. So that was small sample size, but we would probably do more of that. I think, and I’ve taught this for 18 years, and we’ve had only one player with an oblique pole, and it was a very minor one, a pitcher in Japan several years ago. Because what happens when the brain is not in the right state? All the muscles are not firing in a synchronistic manner. So
Brad Burrow (45:45):
They’re going to get injured much easier.
Buddy Biancalana (45:46):
Yeah, exactly right. And so think about it as our industry has understood proper mechanics and mechanics based on physics and gone to teach them, which is a good thing. What has happened, injuries have increased, not decreased. And the reason is that you combine people not understanding how the brain functions and they’re teaching the mechanics, which is good. I’m not faulting them and teaching mechanics really important and we need them. And you combine that with the fact these athletes are bigger and stronger than ever clearly train wreck, and that’s what it’s been. And it’s continuing. And the solution is not better mechanics, the solution is not more strength. We want all of that though. Keep teaching better mechanics, keep teaching more strength. We need to make sure the brain is functioning the way it needs to function.
Brad Burrow (46:46):
I feel like I have this image of an engine with the pistons not running correctly.
Buddy Biancalana (46:53):
Exactly.
Brad Burrow (46:53):
The engine’s not going to run.
Buddy Biancalana (46:55):
No, the car’s going to be hopping down the road, right?
Brad Burrow (46:57):
Yeah.
Buddy Biancalana (46:58):
Yeah. I’m not a car guy, but I’m assuming that’s what happened,
Brad Burrow (47:01):
But Right, so you got these guys who are bigger and stronger. I mean, I look at even some of the kids, you watch the College World series and stuff and some of the pictures that are coming up, man, they are throwing hard and they’re big. It just feels like, so what you’re saying is the idea that they could get injured is probably a much more likely without having this figured out.
Buddy Biancalana (47:26):
Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (47:29):
Everybody needs to get this book and everybody needs to be working with you.
Buddy Biancalana (47:32):
Well, that’s how I feel. I mean, that’s my truth. I’m not a hard salesperson, but it’s true.
Brad Burrow (47:39):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to go ahead and wrap up. How would somebody, if somebody sees a podcast and they want to get ahold of you, tell me how they can do that.
Buddy Biancalana (47:47):
The best way is zone motion.com is great, and they can email me at Buddy@zonemotion.com. I’m happy to do a call. We do an introductory call just to chat and hear. Can you
Brad Burrow (47:57):
Work remotely with people?
Buddy Biancalana (47:59):
I do. I do a lot of work remotely in many sports.
Brad Burrow (48:01):
So like a Zoom call or something like that?
Buddy Biancalana (48:03):
Oh yeah,
Brad Burrow (48:03):
You could actually
Buddy Biancalana (48:03):
Work, do a lot of FaceTime or Zoom and Yeah, you bet.
Brad Burrow (48:06):
That’s a lot of that. Probably good for you then I would
Buddy Biancalana (48:08):
Think. It’s a big part of my business. Yeah,
Brad Burrow (48:10):
Yeah, yeah. Home in your office and making calls so they can reach you through the website. I really appreciate you being on, Buddy. This has been really fun for me.
Buddy Biancalana (48:20):
It’s been great for me.
Brad Burrow (48:22):
Lot. Lot of fun talking about the World Series in 85.
Buddy Biancalana (48:25):
I just want to say for anyone who’s the real media, I mean the work you guys do and this studio we’re in is top not, I couldn’t believe it the first time I walked in here. So it’s really, really first class and everything you guys do is first class and I just really appreciate the work you guys did for me and we’ll continue to do for me.
Brad Burrow (48:41):
Well, you know what? I thank you for that. What I’m most interested in is that it works. I want these videos to really, and that’s my hope. So just in transparency, we did three videos, but they really lay out the program and learned a lot doing that. But I hope people see those videos and they’re like, okay, I get it.
Buddy Biancalana (49:01):
Yep. No, having high-end videos is really, really important in promoting any business. It just provides more credibility.
Brad Burrow (49:09):
Yeah. Awesome. Alright, so the last thing, the podcast is called In a World With Real Media. I’m kind of throwing this at you. Oh. But it’s the movie Voice. So I’m wondering if you might be able to do the Buddy Biancalana in a world with Real Media movie Voice. Wow. Maybe you can look right into the camera right here
Buddy Biancalana (49:29):
In a world with Real Media. Pretty good. How was it? Pretty good. Yeah, that was great. One to 10. One to 10.
Brad Burrow (49:38):
I think it’s an eight.
Buddy Biancalana (49:39):
Okay.
Brad Burrow (49:40):
Yeah. You want to
Buddy Biancalana (49:40):
Try again? We’ll work on it.
Brad Burrow (49:41):
Yeah. It’s funny, there’s a whole story on why I do that, but I’ve always done that as a joke, like the movie Voice. And doing that, I became the voice of the Miami Heat. I remember I didn’t tell you that story because I’d run around with the guy that runs the Heat Television network and I do that. We’d play golf and stuff, and he goes, I want you to audition for our voice to do the intros for the game. I’m like, are you serious? So I did it and I did that for four years.
Buddy Biancalana (50:10):
Oh wow.
Brad Burrow (50:10):
So that’s where In a World From Real Media came from, it’s like, oh, fabulous. So pretty funny.
Buddy Biancalana (50:17):
Okay,
Brad Burrow (50:17):
Well thank you for being on. I really appreciate it. This is a lot of fun.
Buddy Biancalana (50:20):
Thank you for having
Brad Burrow (50:21):
Me. Please subscribe to the podcast, share this, a lot of really great information here. Share this with your baseball families and golf and all the sports, even your sales teams. Need to hear this and reach out to Buddy if you have any questions, can really help a lot. And I wish I would’ve known you like five, six years ago. Honestly, that would’ve been really awesome. But do that. We look forward to seeing you guys around, and we’ll see you next time. This has been In a World with Real Media. Thanks for joining us, and be sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow real media on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. So you never miss an episode.