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Yoni Rosenblatt: Super excited to have Alec Ingold, the captain of the Miami Dolphins with us today. Alec, thanks for joining us. Thanks for being here.
Alec Ingold: Oh, pleasure, man. I'm excited to talk. We've been talking about, Anytime I'm talking in the media right now, it's Tyreek, Tua, Dolphins, and now we get to talk rehab, efficient body movements, ACL recovery? Are you kidding me? Let's go.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Let's go. I knew you would be awesome. And we got a couple of connections in common. One being Colin Thompson, one of the best people that I think we've ever met. I think definitely one of the best people I've ever met. So I'm excited to get to know you a little bit more through this process. You bring up the ACL and that is a passion of mine and of our entire audience of Sports PT. So let's rewind a little bit to Raiders Chiefs 2021, you tear your ACL. Walk me through that injury, what it felt like when it happened.
Alec Ingold: Yeah, so that's about two years to the day almost, right? Like, it is hard of November. I remember Sunday night football game. The Raiders just, we come off a bi-week and they just re-sod the field, brand new footing, everyone's excited for it. We're slipping around. We're kind of going through that kit and caboodle a little bit. So change out the cleats, go out for the game, and we're really competitive, the first quarter, I would say. We cover a punt, and now I'm the special team's captain over at the Raiders at this time, covering a punt, really excited, but I get hummed up a little bit at the line, right? So I'm working, I'm a little bit out of position and in order to get back into my coverage lane, I kind of have to go and fight to get out to my right side, right?
Alec Ingold: So I'm working and I'm kind of running left to right on a little bit of a bend. And the returner makes a little juke move, right? So as soon as I'm kind of rounding this turn, I have some body presence over my right shoulder. I plant on my right foot trying to make a turn to go back left, maybe even a little bit more to lose ground and my knee gives out. And I do the stereotypical, you just tore your ACL, twirl, holding the knee. I heard that pop, knew something bad had happened. I've felt pops and cracks and everything like that before on the football field. So in the back of my head, I'm just praying that we're gonna be all right. Docs come out on the field and within a few seconds they do their first test and then it's gonna be an ACL. So I walk off the field with them, go to the blue tent, we confirm it, I hop over to the little cart that they have for us. And I'm crying a little bit 'cause it's a contract year. I'm a captain, everything's going right. Sunday night football, a lot of heightened emotions for that game. And I know that there's gonna be a whole heck of a lot of uncertainty. No coaching staff returning, don't know what my future's gonna be holding. So really emotional, not so much the physical pain, but.
Yoni Rosenblatt: You're thinking about all that stuff in that tent?
Alec Ingold: Immediately, because I knew what was at stake, right? And like that's something where as an athlete, you're willing to sacrifice and play with all those risks, but when in a snap of the fingers, everything changes, man, it kind of hits you like a wall. So definitely wasn't feeling too much physical pain as much as the emotional. Head inside for some x-rays, just to make sure no bone bruises or anything like that. And then started that rehab process right shortly after. So yeah, man, that ACL injury, I think that was kind of the day off, and those emotions and physical kind of nature of that injury.
Yoni Rosenblatt: And what happens the next few days?
Alec Ingold: Next few days is really just trying to determine, okay, how bad is this thing really? How are we gonna, We're gonna get pictures. The MRIs is an MCL included is an isolated ACL, which was my situation. No meniscus, so I kind of lucked out on a couple.
Yoni Rosenblatt: You're lucky you are a lucky bastard.
Alec Ingold: I was taking all my vitamins and minerals and so the nutritionist gave me some strong tendons there, being able to make sure that it was just that isolated ACL tear. You're trying to figure out, is the team doctor gonna do it? Are we gonna go out somewhere else and get this done? What's that rehab process looking like? You're trying to rehab a little bit to get the quad strength back and make sure that you are as prepared for that surgery as possible. But those next few days is really just logistics coming to wraps with what just happened and kind of planning your path forward, so to speak, so that you can kind of figure out what that rehab process is gonna look like for you.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. You mentioned the surgeon. That is such a hot topic for the sports PTs. What went into choosing your surgeon? Who did you eventually go with?
Alec Ingold: Yeah, so a number of things, right? Are you gonna do the patella graph, are you gonna do a cadaver? Are you gonna do the hamstring double helix, whatever? And you're trying to talk to former teammates, former players that you've played with, try and gather as much information as possible. And when we figured out we were gonna go patella, then we decided to go with Neal ElAttrache out in LA, one of the best to do it. With that specific surgery, it felt like the isolated ACL tear, that would've been the best way to move forward in my career. At that point, being three years in and just our injury, it just seemed like that was the best path forward. So you're talking to your agents, you're talking to family members, you're talking to coaches, teammates, just trying to figure out what's best for you and your knee and your body. So once we finally got Dr. ElAttrache on the phone, I decided to go with him and fly out to LA and get that surgery done the day after Thanksgiving.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. So that's how far out of injury?
Alec Ingold: That was about two to three weeks. So you, Go ahead.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, I was gonna say, what'd your knee look like before surgery?
Alec Ingold: It looked pretty, pretty solid. Like, you get a lot of that swelling out. You're trying to get a good solid range of motion working at that point. So I felt like I had to really attack those first two and a half weeks to try and give myself the best chance to go out of that operating room to be able to make sure we're as good as possible. There was were still a little bit of a question mark on what was gonna happen with my meniscus. That was like a little bit, they could see on the MRI and it was just like, once we get in there, we'll kind of make that decision when it comes. So I remember getting out of that surgery room and like all fogged up. I'm like, Is the meniscus, Did they touch the meniscus? I needed to know if I was load bearing or not right after, and thankfully we were able to just lay that back down. Meniscus was fine and intact and we just went with that isolated ACL reconstruction. So that was my first two to three weeks after that unfaithful day in Las Vegas.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Now, why didn't you use your team surgeon?
Alec Ingold: I just felt like with everything presented in front of me, that was gonna be one of the best possible avenues forward. Now I did my entire rehab with the team and the club, but when it came to that specific surgery, we just, With Dr. ElAttrache's track record, the amount of guys that he went through just the surgeon and the surgery itself, we just felt like that would be the best case moving forward. And the fact that it was only a 30-40 minute flight from Vegas to LA felt like all those check-ins and everything like that would be logistically handled pretty easily so I could be with my team out in Vegas.
Yoni Rosenblatt: This is always interesting to me. Did you feel any type of conflict of interest to have a team employee take a camera and put it in your knee and look what's going on?
Alec Ingold: Yeah, I think that's a, like you said, it's a hot button topic and it's like, who do you trust and who do you not trust? And how many second opinions do you want? And all of that moving forward, I think in my circumstance, in my personal relationship with our staff with the Raiders, I had the utmost trust in whatever decision we made moving forward. Now that's not the case for everyone else. Sometimes they're like, "Hey, we're gonna duct tape whatever we can and put you back out there. We're gonna go the cheapest route, whatever the organization priorities really are". Thankfully with my time at the Raiders, and the relationships that you build, with my circumstance and my situation, it felt like the communication was crystal clear. We're gonna give you every opportunity for you to be a better football player after this injury than before.
Alec Ingold: And that's kinda what gave me peace of mind to say, whoever's looking at my knee, wherever these pictures are at, whatever second opinions, I know that everyone's gonna be as clear, as open in that communication process so we can make the best decision. And I know that sounds like a really politically correct answer, but.
Yoni Rosenblatt: It does.
Alec Ingold: That's truly how I felt, right? Like that it was, I got really lucky with the team and the organization supporting me in that way. So I definitely count my blessings to have that type of experience because I know from talking to a lot of other players, that is not always the case. So yeah, man, I was really lucky to have that situation happen the way it did.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. It is a hot topic. I totally see more of the opposite of what you just said, where the doc, I mean, as altruistic as they are, the name on the bottom of their paycheck is associated with Oakland Raiders or the Vegas Raiders, right? So if that's the case, it just gives me pause. It sounds like you knew enough to ask, but you were confident with the answers you got. And you're right, that is an anomaly. I think it is a hole in the system. I think that system is broken. Now, when I look at it, when I look across pro sports, it's interesting because the NFL has solved that problem with concussions. They have a third party, right? Why don't we have a third party looking at musculoskeletal injuries to say, I don't care about the Vegas Raiders, I don't care about Alec Ingold, I don't care who it is. I just, I'm a physical therapist, or I'm a surgeon. Let me consult and say, yeah, this is an ACL, this is what I would do and I have no skin in the game. Do you know of any moves towards that?
Alec Ingold: I think just speaking from personal experience, I do think that agents and their relationships with athletic trainers as well as outside information and the availability of those second opinions is extremely important, because when you're able to have an agent that's in place that can communicate like that third party, right? They're representing my best interest as an athlete, but at the same time, they have personal relationships with the front office. They have personal relationships with coaches, they have personal relationships with trainers, surgeons, everyone around you. So that's where I kind of was lucky in my agent being able to take all of that communication and see a clear path forward. Now, a lot of guys sign with agents that, man, they're gonna get as much marketing deals as they possibly can. Now when you get hurt, how is that gonna affect? There's a give and a take there.
Alec Ingold: So when you're talking about musculoskeletal injuries or an athlete trying to be the best version of themselves, it is tough to see when you have to sacrifice or make a choice or make concessions based on your health. Like as an athlete, you shouldn't be in the middle of this power and control between a union and the owners. It should just be how healthy can we get? So no, I think agents are a big part of that. If you get an agent that has a lot of communication skills with a number of those parties, I think that's what mitigates the risk in saying, oh, Alec is making a selfish decision based on his health. And no, we can communicate this openly. And if one doctor's diagnosis doesn't exactly line up with the others, alright, where is this gray area coming from and being able to problem solve from there?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, it sounds like you really thought through that. Did you talk to any PTs? You mentioned you spoke to other surgeons, you spoke to other players that have been through it, et cetera. You ever talk talked to PTs about, "Hey, what do you see from these surgeons?"
Alec Ingold: Yeah, so I didn't really talk to any other PTs during, but once I got released from the Raiders, so kind of moving forward a little bit, I have this ACL injury, coaches, front office, all moves on from the Raiders. We had a bunch of scandals that year. It was a nightmare of adversity for the guys. Make the playoffs, end up clearing house, and I'm left on the street for a couple of weeks, right? So I can't walk. And through my ACL situation, I'm a free agent and the new staff that comes in decides not to retain me as a player. Now there's a week or two of this waiting period on if I can go in, like who, what team I'm gonna go onto during free agency. So during those two weeks, I can't go to the facility, I can't get the same treatment rehab that I have been doing in-house.
Alec Ingold: And that's where I was recommended a PT that was the personal PT to Darren Waller, a number of players out and around the Vegas community. Zachi Afzal is one of the best PTs that I've been around where he's very, How do I put it? He takes every single patient like you're supposed to, and you diagnose the entire movement structure, right? So if I'm feeling pain in my knee, all right, is that your foot tightness? Is that your back tightness? He works all the way through that to really diagnose what's going on. So he was the guy that I really leaned on outside of the facility, outside of the NFL to really help me move and be as efficient as possible through that rehab process. So that was kind of my first exposure to outside help from the league, from facilities in dealing with my ACL.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, and you're seeing that more and more, it's been interesting. I'm on the outside. I'm not affiliated with an organization, and it used to be that the guys who would find me that play professional sports were the vets. There are guys who've been around for a while and they asked around and who's decent and et cetera. I'm starting to see rookies, I'm starting to see post-op stuff where they're gonna do their ACL rehab with me. On the outside, I feel like it's becoming more and more popular to kind of have that team, and I think that's super important. I would say that all the sports PTs listening and probably all the athletes listening, you gotta talk to a sports PT or someone who's doing the rehab from all these different surgeons. It's not.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Our ability to see a knee walking, a patient with a knee surgery, I can tell you who did that surgery like before they lay on the table, because they all look the same, right? So that's a great way to begin to build your name. And as an athlete, Alec, I would say now that you have Zachi, you can talk to Zach and say, "Hey, what surgeon is worthwhile or what PT even is worthwhile? I think there's a lot of gold there". You mentioned talking about choosing your graft type and selection. And you went with BTB, which is the gold standard. I would've been shocked if you did anything else. Did anyone talk to you about an LET and like giving yourself a seatbelt on the outside of that knee and working on that ligament? No. Okay. So I think that's a future of ACL work. I worked with probably the third NFL player to have this LET with his ACL, and it's just like bolting down this ligament on the outside lateral of the knee to make it more stable. Have you seen it on other guys? Have you heard of it about this stuff?
Alec Ingold: No, I haven't. I haven't heard of that at all. No, it's the first time I'm hearing of it.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. Well it's out there and I highly recommend you listen to our entire pod that talks just about the LET. And its import, but okay, so you just do BTB, that's the only damage to your knee. How quickly do you start rehab?
Alec Ingold: Yeah, so obviously you're in the hotel for about a week, right? So I'm out in Marina del Rey, they put me up and I'm just.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Sounds terrible. That sounds hard.
Alec Ingold: Yeah, it was tough. It was so hard. Just doing the range of motion, right? That passive range of motion machine. I'm on that thing three times a day, taking all of my supplements, doing everything I can until I can meet with one of the PTs out there, start doing quad sets after a week. And once we get the dressings taken out, once we're able to, I'm sorry, these dogs are going crazy.
Yoni Rosenblatt: You're good. I love dogs.
Alec Ingold: Not for podcasts though.
Yoni Rosenblatt: No, not for podcasts.
Alec Ingold: The bad guest for podcasts. Once I was able to spend that week out with Dr. ElAttrache, get the dressings removed, start to feel like myself again after a week, then I flew back to Vegas and really started rehab. And that was quad sets that's sitting on the table. That's all of the basic movement patterns that you need to kind of go block by block by block before you can really start moving again. So we would always sit down with our PT on the tables and we would discuss, okay, this is your sheet. This is what we're doing today, and this is what your next three weeks are gonna look like. This is the block, this is what we need to accomplish. This is how the biology of the rehab process of your body needs to catch up with your mental. And I know you wanna do all of these things right now. You wanna be super aggressive. This is what we're working on for these next three weeks, and we're gonna master it before we can move on to this next block. So that's kind of how my rehab process started off out in Vegas.
Yoni Rosenblatt: And you, he put you in a CPM? That's the machine you're talking about. That's just.
Alec Ingold: Yep.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. And that's, that is not uniform, not all guys get that. It's actually a little bit old school, but it sounded like it helped you a bunch. Why'd you wait a week to see a therapist?
Alec Ingold: I'm sorry. Like we were seeing the therapist throughout right that week that I was there.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay.
Alec Ingold: But until the dressing is removed, and I'm on that CPM machine, which was very old school. I'm glad you brought that up because it looked like it was from the seventies, but.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: But it was moving and it helped me out a lot. But yeah, once I could get those quad sets rolling and we could actually get some sort of movement with actively exercising my knee and my leg, straightening it, that's where I was able to, after that week with that trainer, with the PT, get the dressings removed to fly out to Vegas.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. So now you come back to Vegas. Is, are you working with the same physical therapist every single time?
Alec Ingold: Yeah.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay.
Alec Ingold: So I was assigned one physical therapist and that's where the personal connection really locks in, right? You're able to see the progress from day to day, week to week, the ebbs and flows of are you feeling good? Are you not understanding the tone of voice with how you answer questions. The attention to detail I think is extremely important. And that's what I loved so much about having that singular PT consistent throughout that first initial rehab process.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Alec, this is a tutorial in how to be a good physical therapist because you didn't mention the guy's certifications. You didn't mention who he's worked with. You mentioned that he's reading or she is reading the way you're responding, your intonations, your overall demeanor and making decisions based on that. That's exactly what an outstanding sports PT should be. Again, having worked with guys in the NFL, you are so lucky because that does not exist in a lot of organizations. So I'm thrilled you got it there in Vegas. At that moment, let's say you're in that first stage, you're trying to get your range of motion. I'm sure you had some expectations of what rehab would look like. What was different about what actually happened?
Alec Ingold: The difference for me in what actually happened was like, man, I thought as soon as I would be able to do one thing, we're moving on to the next. I'm sorry, they're drilling me to the side of my house right now. I feel like I'm the worst podcast guest in the world right now with these.
Yoni Rosenblatt: This is your first podcast.
Alec Ingold: Yeah, it seems like it, man. No, but I think it always felt like, man, if I accomplish something, let's move on to the next. I have a goal, I'm gonna accomplish it. I'm gonna move forward. And one of the biggest things that PT and I talked about was, you can't cheat biology. You can't speed up biology. You can't go past any of these little details because as soon as you miss a single thing that you aren't perfecting right now, it's gonna show its face down the road six months from now, seven months from now. So just being that, that ultimate diligent and disciplined version of showing up every day is little and as minute, especially in the front end with all of those movements and having full control before moving on to that next stage. I think that was the biggest change for me in an ACL rehab versus man, I just need to start feeling better 'cause I sprained my ankle and now I can go play football again.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. Okay. So having been through that and developing the relationship with your PT in Vegas, what else was outstanding about that care that you think other sports PTs should know?
Alec Ingold: I think there was a balance in like the expectation and the standard that we had set throughout the rehab process. I need to show up and I need to give just as much as a PT is giving, right? This is a relationship and you're building something together. So they're just as accountable as I am, where there's a standard that has been set, there's an expectation that's set when you're showing up. This is the work we're putting in both in the room and out of the room. There's things you can and can't do, and that's something that we're gonna commit to ourselves together. Now, on that same token, once you build that, when I felt like dog crap, right?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yep.
Alec Ingold: I felt terrible to be able to understand those moments where we can pull back and just make yourself feel good and just make yourself, maybe we're just gonna do grassing today, or maybe we're just gonna go lean off of things. We have a sheet, but you've been so consistent for these past three, four weeks. I know you're doing everything right. If your body's feeling bad, man, we're not gonna push it. We're gonna wait till tomorrow. We're gonna show up and we're gonna attack it again today. So, being able to balance that I think was extremely important, because my mental health was just as important as my physical health throughout that marathon that we were going to to get back onto the field. So that was a big thing for me.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. That's awesome advice, how long were these sessions?
Alec Ingold: I mean, they could be anywhere from an hour to two hours depending on how long you're on the training table that day, and then how long you had exercises to do. And I was gonna be a person that wasn't gonna try and get out right away or be on my phone the whole time. Like, when we are here, it's intentional work. So I knew that when it's time was over, the time was over. So it almost helped, like, man, we're not gonna do a four hour session where you're on your phone half the time, you're gonna take a call, you're gonna leave, and then you're gonna come back like when it was time to work, you only got an hour or two hours to get better that entire day and the other 22 hours are yours. And that's kind of how it allowed for a lot of accountability in those sessions.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Was that Alec Ingold being Alec Ingold, or was that the Raiders or the Raiders PT saying, "dude, here's how we're gonna work?"
Alec Ingold: I think it was a combination of both, and that's what I needed.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: I think of one big thing when I was talking to a lot of other guys is what I need as a person as Alec Ingold isn't gonna work for every other PT. It's not gonna work for every other situation. So, being able to combine that or have a open line of communication on the front end to set those standards as and expectations, I think that helped us build a good working relationship that brought us closer together throughout the rest of the rehab time.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I mean, dude, you're a fullback. So the fullbacks that I've worked with are nose to the grindstone. Like they're walking through walls, right? How do I get a Prima Donna off of his phone to focus?
Alec Ingold: Yeah, man, I think that's the essay conversation you need to have. If you want the best out of me, I'm gonna need the best out of you. And like, putting it kind of the ball in an athlete's court or challenging an athlete, you challenge an athlete, like I, the one player I would think that you would, you would imagine on the outside looking in on our team would be like, Tyreek Hill is probably on all of his phones. He's got a million different business deals. You challenge that dude, he is going to out, he's gonna outwork you. He is gonna out discipline you. It doesn't matter. So being able to challenge an athlete and not being afraid of how they view you. 'cause like you have your standards and you have your ways of working, like if it's gonna work, it's gonna work. And being able to have those conversations on the front end, all athletes are competitive man.
Alec Ingold: And nobody wants to feel like, "oh, I'm just kind of going through the motions, or I'm gonna really mess myself up later". So the earlier you can set those standards and expectations and as soon as you aren't missing them, you can go back and be like, dude, we talked about this. Like, this is a conversation that we had. And I feel like those are, those are solid ways when I see guys on the table when they're having bad days or good days to be able to lock back in and be like, okay, let's find a way to get better today.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I know you do a lot of public speaking, I know you do a lot of charity work, Alec, I've done a deep dive on Alec Ingold in the last 48 hours, you need to be talking to sports PTs because that is an awesome answer to, I think a lot of the intimidation that exists out there to sports PTs that are like, I wanna treat pros crap, I have a pro athlete. What do I do with this guy? I mean, he's gold. It sounds like your answer in terms in terms of the best way to coach a pro athlete or rehab a pro athlete is to challenge them. Is that right? Challenge them.
Alec Ingold: Challenge them, set expectations and standards. And if you're gonna stay accountable to it, they gotta stay accountable to it. It's a working relationship and making something any bigger than it has to be because it's a pro athlete or because of a tag. Like, you're doing a disservice to everyone in that relationship. We're all human beings. We all have the same goal. We're pushing in the same direction. Let's align ourselves and let's move forward. And if something's not working, I mean, you can't sacrifice as a PT your standard of work and your accountability because of someone else's circumstance.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: You can't do that. So, being able to set that standard upfront, I think it is a huge, a huge plus to anybody that can do that.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Remember, part of a good rehab process is always challenging the athlete, but also challenging the tissue or challenging the goal. So it doesn't have to be that you put 300 pounds on the athlete's back and force them to work like that. Maybe they can't get extension. How do you challenge them to get their terminal extension? They're sitting on that table, it's just a quad set, right? But once they get that quad set, first of all, you make it today we're getting a quad set. Here's how we're gonna do it, et cetera. Once they get it, I think it's also important to celebrate that success. Freaking A Alec. Look at that. This is how your heel should pop up when you squeeze your quad. Great work. Now we can add on this. Or now, like you said, you gotta own that.
Yoni Rosenblatt: So I think that's awesome advice to the sports PTs out there. Now, looking at your ACL rehab and your expectations of it to me, I know I'm dating myself a little bit, but I think the concept for a lot of people is this is Adrian Peterson, he's gonna be back on the field at six months and he is gonna look like a freak and he is gonna run for 1500, 2000 yards, six months post-op. We've moved a little bit away from that, but usually there are some setbacks. There are some hurdles you gotta get over. It's not smooth sailing. What kind of setbacks, smooth sail are? Not things that weren't smooth did you face in your rehab?
Alec Ingold: I think one of the biggest things was transitioning from the Raiders facility over to the Dolphins facility. Right Now, all of a sudden the PT that I've been working with for however long is gonna change. The daily care is gonna change. The process is gonna change the, even the the weather, right? Like you're going from a desert to tropics and all of those things changed. Now, thankfully, I was 12 ish weeks outside of my rehab process. And both teams, clubs, PTs communicated extremely open with one another. So it wasn't left to me to translate where I'm at and how I'm doing.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: Right. So a lot of things went into that transition, but at the same time, philosophy's changed. Like now it's time to get back onto the football field. It's time to start moving, it's time to start ramping up this aggressiveness on your rehab. So being able to communicate with all three parties because it went from the Raiders to Zachy from outside of the building. 'cause I was out for two weeks to the Dolphins, those teams coming together and communicating on behalf of me. The athlete was massive.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: But I think that was a huge, huge setback, so to speak in care and treatment in the day-to-day routines that I'd already built, the standard that I had set what I'm eating, when I'm eating the fluids that I'm intaking, it all changed, right? So embracing that change and kind of leaning into it is not my forte. And that was something I was kind of forced into, and might've caused for some struggles early on, it caused for a little bit of hamstringing soft tissue issues later on in that rehab process, But a again, you kind of, I think a big part of that whole rehab process was understanding it's not gonna be perfect. And when those bumps and hurdles show up, we knew it was gonna happen anyways. Now how can we move forward and not make this little strain to hamstringing any bigger than it needs to be, Right?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: We're not gonna blow this thing out of the water and freak out because it wasn't perfect. We knew it wasn't gonna be perfect. Here's the little obstacle that we're gonna have to go through and this is how we're gonna do it. So that approach was big for me.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Nitty gritty. How'd they address that? First of all, what led to some of hamstringing discomfort and how'd you beat it?
Alec Ingold: I think it was just, maybe it was overcompensation. Maybe it was different usage. Maybe it was patterns that I wasn't used to, really working through. And really it just, it came down to shutting down a lot of the explosive ladder movements, the sprints, the things that we were doing right then and there for the ACL. It was time to cool it off a little bit to let the whole body just recalibrate make sure that my hips were adjusted and aligned the right way, and really working from the ground up to make sure when we go back, we're a hundred percent healthy and we're not gonna be trying to push through ACL rehab while your hamstring's bothering you a little bit. That's not gonna help anything. So having to understand, okay, this might take a week or two longer, it might take a month longer, whatever, it's gonna slow you down in the long run. You wanna make sure that you're fully healthy while you're getting back to the field.
Yoni Rosenblatt: What was the biggest difference between the Miami approach versus the Vegas approach?
Alec Ingold: I think the really big one was, I thought that I was out of the woods on the BFR with the Raiders. And then...
Yoni Rosenblatt: You're never out of the woods.
Alec Ingold: No, no. It was right back into the woods with the dolphins. So, no, like I said, once you kind of got out of that 12 week block and you can start ramping up the, you know that things are solid, the biology in your knee is stable at this point, and now we can really start movement is exactly when I transitioned out from the Raiders to the Dolphins. So the philosophies really changed because it was like, all right, we're gonna make sure that your knee is as healthy as possible. Your movement, your range of motion, your balanced, your coordinated, and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, now we're going into this performance aspect. How can you move, how can you bend? How can you be able to utilize different creative ways to make sure that you're being a football player again?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. Did you have any anterior knee pain? Do you have any patellar tendon pain?
Alec Ingold: I think it came and went. I never felt like it was consistent or anything like that. So when it popped up, it was like, all right, we're going to do TKEs. We're gonna make sure that we're not, I didn't get a massage on the patellar tendon every single day, right? You didn't want to really hamstring that. But, at the same time it was soreness that was for me to kind of work through and to understand and find different ways to prep before the workouts and before the rehab so that I'd give myself a chance to continue to make sure that they were efficient sessions.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. Did you get into any knees over toes and trying to load specifically that patellar tendon?
Alec Ingold: Yep. Did a lot of knees over toes. And that was kind of transitioning in that transition period, that 10-14 weeks. And then carrying that through, doing all of the duck walks, doing through the hurdles, over the hurdles, those types of things. So definitely took a little of the knee over toes.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Awesome.
Alec Ingold: I got a YouTube degree out out of knees over toes, so it was good.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I bet. And when's the first time you ran?
Alec Ingold: I probably ran or jogged maybe I was like 8-10 weeks out.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay.
Alec Ingold: So, I was still in that Raiders facility when I remember running in a straight line for the first time.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. And when did you start jumping, when did you do a box jump?
Alec Ingold: That's a good question. I would say probably 10-12 weeks.
Yoni Rosenblatt: After?
Alec Ingold: After, I think, yeah.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. Answer this for me. A box jump is you just moving up to a box, right? It's just a concentric movement. Running is concentric and eccentric, right? It's actually like a higher level movement. So was there any thought like, dude, shouldn't I be doing box jumps before I run?
Alec Ingold: I think what came down to was, we were running in the hydro works pool, we're running on the alterG so the movement pattern was already being worked on in making sure that everything was straight, stable. And you're working through that process, now when you're balancing or doing different activities leading up to the box jump. I felt like, how do I put this? I felt like there was such a more natural transition or gradual rise to running in a straight line versus, alright, now we're gonna box, jump.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yep.
Alec Ingold: I felt like it wasn't as sudden of like a movement that I had to learn or trust with my whole body. So I think that's probably the way or a reason why we did what we did.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Any testing that they're doing during this period? Force plates, tin deck, how are they measuring your progress?
Alec Ingold: Yeah, a lot of it was, man, just, I forget the machine that they would put on my leg to make sure that I could use similar force in each leg, wasn't, we didn't have force plate jumps or anything like that, but I do remember right on the patellar tendon or, right below your knee, trying to force as much as you can, straighten your leg out as hard as you can, pulling back hamstring curling it.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yep.
Alec Ingold: And seeing the deficiencies. I remember one of the first times I did it was like literally 33% and I'm like, well, I literally have like 33% of my patellar is gone right now. So it was pretty funny to see that.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, it's like right on the money. So I imagine that's somewhat discouraging. It's easy to look back and smile now. How did you handle the mental health side of this thing?
Alec Ingold: Writing a book was one thing. I knew that...
Yoni Rosenblatt: One way to do it?
Alec Ingold: Yeah. That was one way to do it. I needed to find a purpose in the rehab process and need to determine a goal. So, right from the jump, I decided I want to be a better fullback after this injury than before. So regardless of the results that would happen, and it's hard to take that medicine, right? You feel like you're making so much progress and you get measured and you're like, damn, there's such a big discrepancy in my strength and my balance. You're like, what's going on? And you freak out. But one of the big things that I had learned and heard was controlling your thoughts after the thought. So you get a result. The knee jerk reaction is always gonna be like, self-doubt, self-pity. I feel bad for myself. But controlling that second thought, how are you gonna respond from that situation? How are you gonna take that information and use it for something good? So fighting that mental battle, I think it's like a muscle like it's not, it doesn't get any easier, but the more that you do it, you're able to kind of find silver linings throughout the adverse moments.
Alec Ingold: So getting those bad results, like, should that be expected? Yeah, it probably should be expected. So why am I freaking out about it so much? Why am I wasting so much emotional energy on that? So I found Ryan Holiday's books really helpful. A lot of stoicism fell into a lot of that philosophy, just staying consistent. And that's kind of where, if I was able to zoom out, right, and be in my telescope a little bit more than my daily microscope, I was able to see, okay, we are making progress. There is proof in the pudding. I can't just freak out about this one day and this one rep and this one moment, I can just zoom out and be like, okay, we're building towards something.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Controlling the thought after the thought. I'm assuming you got that from Holiday. That is a stoic principle. Anything else you were diving into at this time to help what's between your ears?
Alec Ingold: I needed a lot of faith. I know I'm a religious guy, I'm a Catholic guy. So faith was a big thing for me. Habits and routines were big, nutrition was massive, so I was getting blood work done. And it wasn't just like, am I healthy or not? What are my biomarkers reading? To be as efficient as possible. And then it was like, yeah, it was a lot of that self-help books. It was a lot of Ryan Holiday. So I had a lot of time getting treatment done. So I'd read. I'd read everything I could. I read anything from Ryan Holiday to shoot, Now I'm going to draw a blank. The Steelers linebacker that was paralyzed from the hit that he took, read his book. There's a number of different books and metaphors and just understanding that I was able to move towards through that injury, for sure.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, that's powerful stuff, Shazier, right?
Alec Ingold: Ryan Shazier. Yep.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, that's great stuff. And I think too often, and I'm guilty of it for sure, because I always used to say, I don't treat above the neck. That's, I didn't go to school for that, but you better believe a good sports PT is treating above the neck constantly. So that's gold. I love that you were into the blood work and understanding nutritional side. I have this conversation, really, it shows up a lot with the prep-school athlete, especially in the female population, where that, they're just not getting enough nutrition to lay down new healthy muscle tissue. You could lift all you want. If you're not getting enough protein, it's not going to help. And so I think there's a tremendous amount of value of, like we always say, control the controllables. There's so much you can control that we just let go by the wayside. When are you cutting? When did you get back to cutting?
Alec Ingold: That was definitely while I was at the Dolphins. So I want to say probably four or five months, I was able to actually cut.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Were you terrified?
Alec Ingold: Oh, yeah. It was one of those things, like the first time you go through it, you're kind of like dipping your toe into the water, and then you have that conversation with PT and everybody else, and it's like at some point you have to make that mental jump of trusting yourself before just letting your body just ease into it, right? And once I was able to make that mental switch of like, okay, my knee is good, I'm feeling good. Just go be an athlete and move around and don't think about it. I think that's where we were able to kind of move forward a little bit faster. And it was like a switch flip. It's like, okay, I can do all these things. You're telling me I can do all of these things. Okay, let me trust that and internalize that and then let's go out and do it.
Yoni Rosenblatt: And I think an awesome PT is developing a program to slowly show the athlete, you can do this. You can do this because we did this drill, and sometimes that clicks for the athlete and sometimes you got to explain it to them. Look, we just did this drill. We just did this ladder work. I had you plant that ACL, knee or leg into the turf and develop force this way or that way. You've already done it. Let's just go put it together. Let's go run a route. You've already done it. Sometimes that can help that switch. When are you back playing?
Alec Ingold: I was back playing at like seven and a half, eight months, so I was a little earlier than the nine month deal, but training camp was coming up and I felt like I'd put myself in a position where you're doing all these athletic movements and drills, so you're going to start non-contact. But we all know a fullback is extremely hard to do. I was wearing a red non-contact jersey. I was hitting the crap out of people and everyone's like, what are we doing right now? So, that was a quick return to play, and I was able to start week one that next year, which was pretty exciting.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Hell, yeah. Did you have to sign a waiver on your knee?
Alec Ingold: I did not. No.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Nice. So that's pretty awesome. I've seen that a bunch where players say they're ready and the team's like, that's great, but just sign this thing.
Alec Ingold: Let's put it in writing.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, let's sign this thing so we're not responsible. Okay. So you're all the way back by week one and today. Do you think about that knee?
Alec Ingold: No, not at all. I think when I see other guys coming back from ACLs or anything like that, now that I'm two years out feeling like myself, don't think about it. I think that first year back, this last season, it definitely took me a while. I would say it was a year and a half to really feel like myself again. Towards that middle of the season, it was sore. You had that patella soreness. But a full off-season of work and health and recovery and rejuvenation coming into OTAs in the season this year, I haven't thought twice about it.
Yoni Rosenblatt: What did you keep up with that first year from your rehab or just to keep the knee right?
Alec Ingold: TKEs all the time. A lot of the stabilization and activation exercises, I'm doing every single day, doesn't, and it just becomes a part of the routine, right? So whether it's TKEs, whether it's rear foot elevated squats, different three way squats, when you're doing single leg lunges, all of those things just to activate all of those muscles in my legs, my lower back, my posterior chain, I feel like I'm working on all that stuff on a daily basis now just because it helps me feel better going into any practice or game.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. When you say TKE, what's that look like?
Alec Ingold: It's just that we're throwing a band around a little bar somewhere in the weight room and just making sure I'm extending that knee as best I can and force through that heel so that I'm able to kind that feel that extension and get everything started off that way. I guess.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I think we go to that as PTs. I think we go to that too early. I actually hate TKEs because I feel like athletes just use their freaking glutes, and it's hard to get them to focus on that. But obviously it works for you. You ever use electric-stim still? You ever use BFR?
Alec Ingold: We use BFR a little almost every day. I used it today, actually.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Doing what?
Alec Ingold: I Just unloaded just extensions of my leg, of groin exercises. Just a number of different ways to unload that physiological weight and allow for the body to feel stress in a number of different ways. We're on a bi-week, and it's a good way to not load up a bar and still feel like you're getting good work in. So, yeah, I hit a few exercises, four way ankle, all that stuff. Just touching on a number of different things on that BFR. It's almost like my best friend right now. I don't know.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's awesome. Yeah, your best friend and your enemy, but that's awesome that you kept up with that. You only keep up with that because of ACL or is this part of the Dolphins world?
Alec Ingold: I think both. I think getting in there and being active in your health is really important. So whether you're asking for dry-needling or you're asking for a number of different things in that facility, I think they're really active in allowing guys to, oh, you're injured now you can come get some help. And it's like, no, you got some of the healthiest guys in there getting work. You got fat-arm-Friday and guys got two BFRs on each arm just trying to get the swole. So I think it's a really good culture that they have here and allowing guys to do whatever they need to be at the best version themselves.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That is awesome. Breaking that stigma of being in the training room as only guys who are hurt. Obviously I'm biased, but is monumental also, Dolphins are ahead of the curve. That is not like that in every organization. That's awesome. Any other technology or instruments that you use with the dolphins while you're in the NFL that you think, hey, maybe this probably is not in your standard PT setting?
Alec Ingold: I think the dry-needling that we do is definitely like attaching stem to it and being able to really locate some of those deep tissues is something that I didn't see very often. I think the amount of BFR usage, they get creative with that thing now.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Awesome.
Alec Ingold: They're going to use it for strengthening, for mobility. But besides that, go ahead.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Do you use it for recovery at all? Like, are they taking their own flights?
Alec Ingold: Oh, yeah we, I haven't hooked that up on a flight. But I know when we travel and we have our activation circuits and everything like that, it's going to be a part of it. And it's cool when you're playing a night game and you have a strength staff, so in-tune with the training staff to be able to incorporate so many different movements to get your body right instead of sitting down in a hotel room for 18 hours before you're going to go play a game. So the communication between our strengths staff and our training staff, it's pretty impressive.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's freaking awesome. Okay, so that's a lot of ACL talk. Let's talk about Alec Ingold and your path through the NFL. You get to Wisconsin and you're a quarterback. Do you have the best arm of any fullback in the league?
Alec Ingold: I Might, I'll put myself up there, until proven otherwise. I mean, I think I can throw that thing.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Love that.
Alec Ingold: It is a little rusty right now, though. I will not, it's been eight years or so, so it's been a little bit.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Watch out for Mike Burton's arm with the Broncos.
Alec Ingold: Mike Burton is an extreme athlete now.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. So well that's, I love that you said now, 'cause he would say he's always been an extreme athlete. So when I reached out to Mike Burton, I said, dude, I got this guy Alec Ingold. You ever heard of him? He's like, "Yeah, I think he plays my position." I'm like, okay, what should I ask him? Mike Burton's question was, "how is he such a freak?" How would you answer that?
Alec Ingold: How is Mike Burton such a freak?
Yoni Rosenblatt: No, he would answer that easily. How is Alec Ingold such an athletic freak?
Alec Ingold: I would say, first off, I'm not. So second off, I think it's something to do with just, I'll go back to playing football and wrestling. That combination of sports, I think, allows me to understand my body in space pretty well. So I'll say my spatial awareness, my balance is pretty good because of wrestling growing up.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I wish you were going to go to baseball, 'cause I heard you played a little bit of baseball growing up.
Alec Ingold: I did, yeah. I was Little League All Star, man.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, you were.
Alec Ingold: You want me to close down a game? I got you.
[laughter]
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's clear. Okay. You are undrafted. In your pro-day. You bench 225 ow many times?
Alec Ingold: It was like 16, 17 times.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, I think it was less than that. If it, let's say it was less than that. You're one of the best fullbacks in the league. You barely hit 13 reps of 225. So let me ask you this. What would predict success in the NFL if you were putting together a combine?
Alec Ingold: Power Cleans.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Power Cleans. Because...
Alec Ingold: Hang cleans, maybe let's hang clean 225 as many times as we can. Like your ankle, knee, hip, explosion, your upper body flexibility to catch the bar, strength to withstand it. I think that would make a whole heck of a lot more sense.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Hell, yeah. What else? What else would you put in there?
Alec Ingold: Are we saying just strength, or are we saying, like, all of the drills, all of the things that we go through in the combine.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I want to say all of the drills. What is the most predictive of success in the NFL, in your mind, or what's not in there, outside of Hang cleans that you would put in there?
Alec Ingold: I was talking with Colin Thompson about this, actually, the other day.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Love that guy.
Alec Ingold: The Wonderlic score is extremely overrated. I think you need to do language tests. You need to test people on obscure languages and how fast they can recognize it, because I think that's how you communicate a playbook. That's how you learn a playbook. That's how, it's a different language. That's what it is. So I say get rid of the Wonderlic score. Create a fake language every single year that guys have to interpret or translate. I feel like that's going to help. Okay. I remembered my college coach teaching something this way. That's what it means in this new playbook. That's, it's language. It's translation. So that would be my other big one.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's an awesome idea and totally out of the box. That's...
Alec Ingold: It'll never happen, but I think it would be one of the most predictive scores of "football intelligence".
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah. Why do you think you went undrafted?
Alec Ingold: Well, I went through that entire pre-draft process, and I did not look the best in underwear Olympics. I don't look like a "professional athlete". So, I would say it was just a combination of opportunities missed with probably not being the best pre-draft process. I did the best I could. I set a whole lot of goals out. I accomplished improving in a lot of those areas, but at the end of the day, I don't look like I can just freaking, run over a middle linebacker and bench the house or run a 4-4. I don't have any of that. I just play football. So if the season ended and we had the draft the very next day, I think I would have had a better chance at getting picked. But, yeah, Combine wasn't my forte.
Yoni Rosenblatt: It's crazy that they're not revamping it, and it's crazy that such a massive percentage of the league is undrafted, right? They're obviously testing for the wrong things. I've spoken to Colin about this. I think about it in my professional, on the professional side as how do I test for who's going to be an outstanding sports PT that I can add to what I got going on, and it's like trying to drill that down. It's crazy that they haven't changed, what they ask you in their pre-interview or their interview before the draft.
Alec Ingold: Yeah, a bunch of different draft questions.
Yoni Rosenblatt: What was crazy?
Alec Ingold: I got a lot of wrestling questions. I got a lot of football IQ questions. There was a lot, there was one time I sat down with another fullback that was projected to get drafted. We sat with the entire staff and they asked us both the same question and we had to answer it back-to-back.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's funny because I went...
Alec Ingold: It was unbelievable 'cause it's like...
Yoni Rosenblatt: I went through that in grad school. Yeah. What do you say that guy takes your answer. What do you say?
Alec Ingold: It's like, okay, that was a great answer. Just to add on that, you know what I'm saying? You have all these cliches, but it was this whole, like, do you be too competitive? Do you throw somebody else under the bus? Do you just give your best answer? And it's like this whole mind game that was going on. So safe to say I was not drafted by that team because I didn't get drafted by any team. But no, I felt like any answer that I tried to give throughout the whole pre-draft, I just tried to be myself because I wasn't going to give some BS answer that I knew coaches would like to hear. Like, if I'm going to show up, I'm going to be myself, and if it works, it works. And if it doesn't, I wasn't meant to be there.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, that takes a lot of confidence to do that.
Alec Ingold: It was, it's probably another reason why I didn't get picked was I might have been a little too honest with some of those answers. I remember one of the questions was like, what's your first thing you do after spring ball? If spring ball just ends. What's your first day after? I'm like, bro, I'm probably going to eat some wings, call my dad up, play some golf with the boys. I don't know. It's probably good weather in Madison. And obviously they're looking for the answer of like, oh, I'm going to study the playbook and get ready for fall camp. And it's like, nobody's doing that, man. But that's the answer they want to hear. And that wasn't the answer I gave because honestly, I'm going to be with the guys. I'm going to be, hang out with my boys. And that was something that made football so special for me. That's why I love playing ball. You love spending time with the guys that you play with on and off the field?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so, undrafted, you get into the league, and now you'll see it on your byline for this podcast. You're a captain of the Miami Dolphins. Why are you a captain of the Miami Dolphins?
Alec Ingold: I think it's the little things. I think it's being yourself, I think it's being accountable to the people around you and caring about them. I think all of that adds value. And it might not be an overnight thing, but the more time you play, the more time you spend around other guys, I think they see that and they feel it. So in my playstyle and how I approach things and how I lead is, like, individual conversations. I'm not going to say what's up to you in the hallway and just keep it moving. Like, I'm going to ask how your family is doing and continue conversations from the past. And I think all of those little things just add up to a culture that you're serving the people that you're playing with and leading. And that's how my leadership style is. And I was pretty surprised to get voted as a team captain this year, but, man, it was like the biggest honor ever. It's so cool.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's awesome. It obviously means a ton to you. Okay, let's shoot to our lightning round. I want quick answers. Don't think too much. You're such a thinker Alec. Yeah, yeah clear. Ready?
Alec Ingold: I feel like there's for this one?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Ready. If you could only live in one place for the rest of your life. Is it Vegas or Miami?
Alec Ingold: Miami.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Why?
Alec Ingold: I like the weather down here, man.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay.
Alec Ingold: Especially at wintertime right now. You kidding me. You're asking me in November, bro. Like, it's 80 and just beautiful every single day.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Damn you. I was just down there. And you're not wrong. You're not wrong. Biggest misconception about being in the NFL.
Alec Ingold: I mean, body style. You look at me, I'm the biggest misconception. I look like I should be a coach on the sideline, so I think that's a big one.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Love that. Is the NFL more ballers or is it more office space?
Alec Ingold: More office space.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Dude, that's the biggest misconception, right? Because.
Alec Ingold: Yeah it is.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Especially playing for the Dolphins and Vegas, I'm picturing Alec Ingold at the most amazing clubs in the world with lines out the door just to meet Alec, it's not like that?
Alec Ingold: No, not at all. And if you think it's like that, then that's why you're not going to be in the league very long. You need to...
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's why I'm not in the league. That's why I'm not...
Alec Ingold: To be a veteran for a long time. You got to, it's a job, and you got to treat it as such.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I love that, I was, one of the first NFL guys I ever worked with was a guy named Jeremy Zuttah. He was a center for the Ravens, and I was trying to schedule his next appointment. I said, oh, are you free tomorrow at whatever time? He's like, "No, I got to go to work." I'm like, what? Work. Dude, you're in the NFL. He's like, "Yeah, that's my job." And this dude would literally walk into the facility, like, carrying a briefcase. Like, it's his goddamn job. And that, to me, was massive. We talked about Mike Burton. That guy won't walk into a facility without his shirt tucked in because he's going to work. And I think there's a lot of power there. And I don't think that is the overarching thought. So I think that's a big misconception. Okay, let me ask you this. Where would you rather have a beer? Brats, Lucky's or Double-U? What? I ask everyone that.
Alec Ingold: Brats, Double-U or Lucky's?
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah.
Alec Ingold: Double-U was my spot in college, so I want to go with Double-U.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Is your jersey in there?
Alec Ingold: No. You got to be a campus legend to be honored by that. There's a few up in the college club, but those are mostly hockey guys so.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Yeah, I bet. Okay, Spotted cow or Busch light?
Alec Ingold: Spotted cow. No doubt.
Yoni Rosenblatt: That's the right answer. Let me ask you this. What's the best bakery in Miami?
Alec Ingold: The ladies bakery down the street here is outstanding. But you go to, dude you can go to any Cuban cortado spot. I mean, it's, you can throw a baseball and hit seven amazing bakeries out here. It's just, It is what it is.
Yoni Rosenblatt: It is what it is. Have you been to Zak the Baker?
Alec Ingold: I haven't, no. But I've heard about it, and it's unbelievable like everyone talks about. Like, it walks on water.
Yoni Rosenblatt: It's nuts. That's an amazing description. Because it's kosher. And for a Jewish guy like me to be able to walk into Zak the Baker, it's a goddamn dream. But I love that you went with the Jesus reference. Okay. Chiro or PT?
Alec Ingold: I'll go PT.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Are you just saying that?
Alec Ingold: I'm not just saying that. No, I'm not.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. Do you take creatine?
Alec Ingold: Not in season, no. I can't handle all that sweat loss and all that stuff, so off-season for sure.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. What's in your supplement bag?
Alec Ingold: Beta-alanine, BCAAs, cherry juice. The basics, I think. A lot of caffeine.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Are you a coffee guy?
Alec Ingold: I'm a coffee guy, and I'm a fast twitch guy, so I'm doubling down on the caffeine man.
Yoni Rosenblatt: I love that.
Alec Ingold: Yeah, that's about all I take for sure.
Yoni Rosenblatt: And how are you drinking your coffee?
Alec Ingold: So, victory lattes on Mondays after wins. Love that. And then straight black if we lose. So this, I take it like a man, try and grow some hair in my chest and get tougher. And just, it's the little things, right? It's just coffee, man.
Yoni Rosenblatt: You're such a fullback. It's unbelievable. So much information, so much like, behind the curtain stuff. You make this freaking easy. So tell all of my sports PT listenership how they can become as big of a fan of Alec Ingold as I am. And where can we find you on Instagram. How are we listening to you? You got, like, 17 podcasts. Tell us all about you.
Alec Ingold: Yeah, so I would say the big thing is just go to alecingold.com. That's where I'm trying to create, where everything can live there, social media following along with the football stuff. Got a book called the Seven Crucibles I wrote during my ACL process. If you're looking to connect with athletes in their mind space, that's a good one. It'll be also on the website as well as our little podcast. We got called Forged Ingold. Best play on words I could ever think of.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Did you come up with that?
Alec Ingold: No, no the producer did. Definitely out of my wheelhouse, but no, I think it all lives there at alecingold.com.
Yoni Rosenblatt: Okay. You make it super easy. Thanks for your time, Alec. Thanks for the conversation. I'm looking forward to staying in touch. You're great, man.
Alec Ingold: I love it. Appreciate it.
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