045: Inside the NFL Offseason – How Pro Athletes Train & Recover with Natalie Kollars

“Sports-specific training isn’t about mimicking skills—it’s about improving physical qualities.”

Natalie Kollars

The NFL Offseason: Training with Intentionality

In this episode of Finding Small Wins, Adam sits down with Natalie Kollars, an elite performance coach with a deep background in training professional athletes. With experience at EXOS and a strong foundation in strength & conditioning, she brings a pragmatic approach to developing durable, high-performing athletes. This conversation dives into what makes effective offseason training, how data can enhance decision-making, and why fueling the body properly is just as important as the work put in the gym.

Whether you’re a coach, therapist, or athlete, this episode offers key insights into performance training principles that transcend sport.

About Natalie Kollars

A former college soccer player, Natalie Collars discovered her passion for sports performance while studying kinesiology. She refined her craft at EXOS, where she spearheaded elite NFL offseason programs. Now, as the founder of Fortis, she coaches professional athletes, provides online training and nutrition coaching, and is launching educational resources for strength coaches and trainers. Her philosophy centers on principle-driven training, data-backed decision-making, and athlete-first coaching.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

1. The Best Performance Training Prepares Athletes for Sport, But Doesn’t Replace Sport Coaching

One of Natalie’s core philosophies is clear: performance training should enhance an athlete’s ability to play their sport, not mimic it. She draws a strong distinction between her role as a performance coach and that of a sport coach. Her focus is on building an athlete’s physical qualities—strength, speed, durability, and movement efficiency—so that they can perform at their best on the field.

The idea of “sport-specific training” is often misunderstood. While training should be tailored to the demands of the sport, that doesn’t mean recreating game-like movements in the gym. Instead, it means targeting athletic attributes that translate directly to performance—like acceleration for a wide receiver or hip mobility for a lineman. Research from Zatsiorsky & Kraemer (Science and Practice of Strength Training) supports this, showing that foundational physical qualities have a greater impact on sports performance than isolated skill replication in training.

2. Offseason Training is About Building Capacity

Adam and Natalie both emphasize the importance of offseason training as a time to build the base of an athlete’s performance pyramid. In-season, athletes are constantly depleting their resources—offseason is the time to restore and enhance them.

In her NFL offseason programming, Natalie follows a principle-based, adaptable structure, rather than rigid block periodization. This allows her to accommodate athletes who enter at different times while ensuring that everyone builds strength, durability, and movement efficiency over the course of their training.

From a physiological standpoint, offseason training should focus on:

• Structural Adaptations: Tissue remodeling and joint integrity
• Neuromuscular Efficiency: Enhancing speed, power, and reaction time
• Energy System Development: Improving work capacity and recovery efficiency

This mirrors Bompa & Buzzichelli’s Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training, where offseason training is recognized as the foundation for long-term athletic success.

3. Sports-Specific Training: More About Physical Qualities, Less About Sport Skills

A key part of the discussion revolves around how sports-specific training is often misinterpreted. While different positions (e.g., an NFL running back vs. a defensive tackle) require unique physical demands, 80% of training will be similar across athletes, with only 20% being individualized based on sport and position.

Natalie highlights that sports-specific training should focus on the athletic qualities needed for the sport—not replicating the sport itself. For example, a defensive lineman doesn’t need to simulate game-day scenarios in the gym, but they do need hip strength, explosive power, and upper-body endurance to excel in their role.

This approach aligns with the force-velocity continuum, where exercises should target the correct balance of force production (strength training) and velocity (speed training) to enhance overall athleticism. Studies by Samozino et al. (2012, Journal of Biomechanics) have shown that force-velocity profiling can improve speed and power output in elite athletes.

4. Technology and Data Should Enhance Coaching, Not Replace It

Natalie takes a strategic approach to sports science, using tools like the NordBord for hamstring strength assessment and Vald technology for force plate testing. However, she emphasizes that data should complement a coach’s eye, not dictate programming.

“I don’t want to just test for the sake of testing,” Natalie explains. “It has to be actionable.”

This is a crucial point: data should validate and refine coaching decisions, not override intuition and experience.Studies in The Sports Gene by David Epstein highlight how elite coaches develop pattern recognition through years of observation—something no technology can replace.

Furthermore, integrating micro-assessments within training sessions (rather than separate “testing days”) creates more consistent and reliable data over time. This approach eliminates performance anxiety and provides a clearer picture of an athlete’s readiness.

5. Nutrition is a Cornerstone of Performance

A major takeaway from this episode is the undeniable role nutrition plays in recovery, muscle growth, and hormonal balance. Natalie points out how unfed training sessions spike cortisol and suppress testosterone, which can hinder both performance and recovery.

She advocates for:

• Strategic fueling: Pre-training meals/snacks to prevent cortisol spikes
• Consistency over extremes: Avoiding fad diets in favor of sustainable, long-term nutrition habits
• Professional guidance: Encouraging elite athletes to hire a chef or dietitian to manage their intake

For general athletes, she recommends starting small—like eating a banana with peanut butter before training—rather than making drastic changes overnight. This aligns with some of her background and exposure to EXOS and the work of Mark Verstegen.

more insights on sports nutrition

Check out this episode with former NBA, MLB, EXOS, & NCAA dietitian Danielle LaFata where we discuss how nutrition can enhance injury rehab.

Listen here

Subscribe & Learn More

If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to subscribe to Finding Small Wins wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow Natalie Collars for more training insights:

• Instagram: @nataliekollars
• Website: www.join-fortis.com

Episode Timestamps

00:00 – Natalie’s background & path to elite sports performance
05:00 – Foundational principles of strength & conditioning
08:00 – Offseason training structure for NFL athletes
19:00 – The role of sports-specific training
29:00 – The impact of technology & data in training
36:00 – Nutrition strategies for elite performance

World Series Wins & Elite Training

Check out this episode with World Series champ Andrew Hauser where he breaks down advanced training & rehab methods centered around respiration, blood oxygenation, and recovery.

Listen here

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