June 2026 in Review: Absolute Sport Science
Reactive strength deficits in Lindor, Griffin, and Nabers—plus how Olin Kreutz sequences a conjugate program.
Welcome to the monthly roundup for Absolute Sport Science! If you’ve been busy programming treatment and training, analyzing Point A → Point B data, or just busy with the pace of life in 2026, this is your one-stop to catch up on everything we covered in June. We’ve got summaries and links to all our Tuesday written posts and Sunday video deep-dives (exclusive to paid subscribers). This is your monthly highlights—straight to your inbox.
Whether you’re a free subscriber or a paid member, these recaps are designed to keep you informed and inspired—to keep you getting better at becoming a programming strategist!
Tuesday Posts: Programming Insights
Tuesdays are all about actionable, evidence-based articles to level up your programming knowledge. June was a reactive strength month—three professional athletes (Lindor, Griffin, Nabers) whose injuries the mainstream read as bad luck, but who actually show the same underlying pattern: a neurology that's outpaced the biology meant to transmit it. Here's what we explored:
June 2, 2026: Francisco Lindor’s Calf Injury Isn’t a Calf Problem
Lindor’s been on the IL since April 22nd with a calf strain—his second in his career, this time on the opposite side. The mainstream read is bad luck. Ours: a bottom-up reactive strength deficit. A high-output explosive athlete with bilateral calf history is a pattern, not randomness—it’s a signal that neurology has outpaced biology.
The fix isn’t more calf raises. The posterior leg has three distinct muscular layers, each with its own fiber orientation and mechanical role. Most return-to-sport protocols train the output and ignore the architecture—which is exactly where Absolute’s tissue-specific, fiber-direction-by-fiber-direction strategy begins.
June 9, 2026: Konnor Griffin’s Flexor Mass Strain: Detailing the Anatomy & Implications
The Pirates’ Konnor Griffin is out longer than expected with a forearm flexor mass strain. We break down all three layers of the flexor mass and why, in a throwing athlete, the Flexor Carpi Ulnaris is the tissue that matters most—it has a direct anatomical connection to the UCL and is a key bottom-up reactive strength stabilizer against valgus stress during arm acceleration.
Our working hypothesis: the injury sits in the FCU specifically, given its load-bearing relationship to the medial elbow in throwing mechanics.
June 16, 2026: Nabers Has Never Been at Reactive Strength Point B Since High School
Malik Nabers’ chronic left turf toe followed him from LSU through two Giants seasons before his right knee gave way—non-contact—on a jump. From a reactive strength paradigm, that’s not bad luck either: it’s a compensation chain that’s been building since high school, as the nervous system shielded around an unresolved bottom-up deficit until the other side finally failed.
We walk Point A—Health History, Treatment & Training History, Level of Competition, Functional Range—through the public record, and use Michael Thomas’s toe dislocation as a reference point for just how much force an elite receiver’s neurology puts through the foot and ankle.
June 23, 2026: The Conjugate Edge #09: Defining a Conjugate Programming Sequence
Concurrent and sequenced aren’t the same thing. Conjugate Edge #08 established that running methods together isconjugation; #09 is about the order those inputs run in—order you can’t know on day one, only discover by iterating with a week of Point A feedback.
Featuring Olin Kreutz’s real-world sequencing logic with NFL linemen: scan film for fragility, overlay it with objective reactive strength and joint function data, resolve the biological limiter first, then scale the neural network of absolute strength. New standing definition: Conjugate Programming Sequence—the specific order in which concurrently-run treatment and training inputs are executed inside a recurring feedback loop, arrived at by iterating that loop until the order itself stops changing.
If these four breakdowns made sense, you're already thinking like a programmer—The Art & Science of Programming is where Point A, Point B, and the reactive strength framework get put into your hands as a system. Enroll now →
Sunday Paid Subscriber Video Posts
Sundays are reserved for our premium video content—in-depth breakdowns, Q&A sessions, and practical demos that bring the art and science to life. June's run built out the full isometric triad—PIMAs, HIMAs, and OIMAs—as the toolkit for diagnosing and resolving reactive strength deficits, then closed with a live spine case. If you're not a paid subscriber yet, these are a great reason to upgrade!
Single-Leg Oscillatory Drops: The Most Powerful Reactive Strength Exercise You’re Not Using June 7, 2026
Dave Scholz’s single-leg drop from a 24” box with ~20 lbs of band tension forces the nervous system to rapidly search for, stiffen, and transmit force through the trunk and posterior hip in real time. We break down the damping effect in action, the top-down/bottom-up bridge it exposes, and progression ideas—shorter bands, bare feet, lumbar oscillation via belt—for ACL resilience and spinal control.
OIMAs: The Missing Middle of Reactive Strength Programming June 14, 2026
Oscillating Isometric Muscle Actions (OIMAs) sit between PIMAs (top-down) and HIMAs (bottom-up) in the reactive strength triad. They don’t build tissue or drive neural adaptation directly—they reveal exactly where damping deficits exist, turning the isometric into a diagnostic feedback loop rather than just another exercise.
OIMAs as a Decision Fork: How to Choose Between HIMAs, PIMAs, and External Load June 21, 2026
Once an OIMA reveals a damping deficit, the next question is why: stress-shielded from the bottom up, or neurologically shielded from the top down? We map both paths—HIMA-based tissue loading through the linear loading progression on one side, high-effort PIMAs scaling into external load on the other—and why effort level is non-negotiable in fast-twitch tissue like the hamstring.
Finding the Open Door: Programming the Spine with Disc Pathology June 28, 2026
Disc pathology doesn’t cookie-cutter. The nervous system—not the disc—is the gatekeeper, and the job is finding the spine position where it lets you back in rather than forcing through a symptomatic range. Includes a live case: an extension-intolerant disc with hamstring/glute involvement, resolved using the Reverse Hyper Program and PIMAs on the handles to lock in thoracic and cervical extension.
Founders Meeting: Adrian Guardado
Adrian Guardado Founders Meeting (Recording) June 26, 2026
This Founders Meeting featured Adrian Guardado, Director of Return to Play at UCLA Football. Adrian’s background is in strength and conditioning, and over the last two years he’s transitioned into hands-on table work—bridging the gap between the weight room and the training room in a way most programs haven’t figured out yet. Full recording is available to our Founding Member subscribers.
Carry This Into July
Two ways to keep building on what June covered: the Reverse Hyper Program for the spine and tissue work behind “Finding the Open Door,” and The Art & Science of Programming for the reactive strength framework running underneath everything else this month.
Next Founders Meeting
We’ll focus on the programming variable of load with a focus on resistance:
We will go over how the Soviets graded out resistance in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting
Show how that graded resistance was utilized by Louie Simmons in his Westside Barbell Conjugate System
Advance the grading out of resistance for today in 2026 and what that means in programming resistance optimally for not just the athlete but also the special strength that is desired for treatment or training
If you have any other topics worth discussing at a Founders Meeting, leave them in the comments below.