Scott Benson (00:03) 
Welcome to Building the Athlete. I'm your host Scott Benson and we are into November 
somehow. I'm happy you're here with me today. We've got a great guest today, Tip Ryman, 
tight end for the Arizona Cardinals. Tip is a six foot, five and a half inch, 272 pound wrecking 
machine on the field. Has run a 4.5 140 yard dash. So normally you don't see people that size 
running that fast. 
We're going to find out how he does it. Before we get into the interview, we're going to take a 
question from a parent. So a parent writes in and asks, have a sophomore son who is a great 
athlete. He plays multiple sports. And we feel like he could potentially go on to the college level 
in a couple of different sports. At this age, what would you have him focusing on in his training? 
The one thing I always talk about with this is speed. Speed separates athletes at every level in 
every sport. So it's one of the things for whatever reason that's, in my opinion, it's the most 
overlooked aspect of training. And I think too often kids get labeled by coaches as either being 
fast or not fast. And that's kind of the end of the story. I highly disagree with that. I think kids 
can be taught. 
to become faster. I think they can be trained to become faster. so I would spend a lot of time 
hiring somebody who's had a lot of success as a speed development coach. It's also important. 
Athletes need to be in the weight room, getting stronger, getting more explosive is a way to 
increase speed. But it all has to be tied together by the right performance coach. So stay tuned. 
The next episode will actually revolve around this topic. We're going to have a professional 
baseball player on who we will be talking speed development the entire time. Again, my name 
is Scott Benson. I own ⁓ Benson Sports Training. It's a sports performance company. I've been 
around for about 16 years, trained thousands of athletes, have trained over 400 professional 
and NCAA athletes. 
And again, our philosophy is training athletes to be faster, more explosive, stronger, and to 
move better. You can find me at bensonsportstraining.com or Benson Sports Training on 
Facebook and Instagram. Please visit, give a like, give a comment. Would love to hear from you. 
All right. So coming up, Tip Ryman, Arizona Cardinals. This is going to be a lot of fun talking to 
Tip. So settle in and let's have a good conversation. 
Scott Benson (02:39) 
All right, welcome to the show. Tip Reiman of the Arizona Cardinals, tight end, six foot five and 
a half, 272 pounds. This guy's run a 4.51 40 yard dash, formerly of University of Illinois and was 
a third round draft pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Tip, welcome to the show. Welcome to building 
the athlete. Excited that you're here and ⁓ excited to get into it with you. 
Tip Reiman (02:42) 
Yeah. 
Thank you. 
Scott Benson (03:06) 
I'd ask that 
Tip Reiman (03:06) 
Thank you. 
Scott Benson (03:06) 
you please introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit about yourself. 
Tip Reiman (03:10) 
Yeah, well, I appreciate it. I'm really excited to be here. And ⁓ yeah, a little bit about myself is 
⁓ I appreciate the intro by you, Scott. So I ground up, grew up in Sturgis, South Dakota, and 
played a little bit of ball over there, played a lot of sports, kind of tried out everything, trying to 
see what fit, you know, gymnastics. 
wasn't my thing to continue with so I ended up veering away from there. I tried a lot of stuff 
like that. My parents were really supportive and the base layering in sports. I figured out what 
strength and conditioning was pretty quickly and just I'm a researcher. I love to research 
everything that I possibly can and look into anything and read everything. 
So anything I could get my hands on when I was young, I did. And so I started reading lots of 
articles and some new papers and I discovered what studies were and stuff at a young age. And 
so I got into kind of the speed and strength and conditioning world and dipped my toe in. 
Obviously I was super a newbie at that time. But since I figured out what things were, I was 
training. And ⁓ as I look back, a lot of it was GPP. ⁓ 
general physical preparedness stuff, lots of flipping tires. I would go to Mr. Tire, get some free 
ones and I would get used fire hoses from the firehouse in Sturgis and just different things. I 
would get those and I would use them as battle ropes. So I would just find different ways of 
training. And that was a really fun thing it got me into. 
strength and conditioning in this whole world. slowly I learned about all the different things 
that I'm sure we'll get into today. ⁓ 
Scott Benson (04:56) 
So what type of 
what what ages are you talking about here. 
Tip Reiman (04:59) 
yeah, good question. So I'm talking about first grade is when I started, you know, I would load a 
four by four up on my back and I would put pails on each side with sand in them and I would 
just lunge until I fell on my face. so like stuff like that, the tires and everything, I just wanted to 
do hard things that I could tell. didn't know the science behind everything, but I knew I was 
doing something hard that was going to make me better and tougher than other people. 
So that's kind of where things began. Then I started playing sports more competitively, a little 
bit less, a little bit less, you know, just like in the fluff, trying to figure stuff out and a little bit 
more like, we're working on this in the off season a little bit and I've got an idea of where I'm 
going. And so that was more middle school. That was where I'm putting in a little bit more 
effort into certain things as I'm refining what I think I'll be good at. 
And to give little details as we go, grew up in Sturgis, started my journey there and then 
transferred over to St. Thomas More. That was in eighth grade when I met you and started 
getting to train with you. And so that really kicked me off, which was a ⁓ really important thing. 
And then ⁓ I was with you for three and a half years and then did a year, year and a half over in 
Sioux Falls. 
And at that time, my sports had dwindled from everything when I was little to maybe a couple 
of things to when I met you, was basketball, track, football. And then as we had our time 
together, it kind of got more refined track and football. And then really just a little bit of track 
maybe and powerlifting in the off season. But that gets into what we're talking about. 
today, mainly football. Football was the focus. Track was like, I basically did the practices, you 
know, to be able to continue with that speed and get different stimulus. But that all fell into 
that strength and conditioning world for me. And the whole emphasis was on football being 
really refined there for me. And the whole offseason was dedicated to training. So a little bit of 
about my upbringing there. From there, I walked on at University of Illinois. I had a scholarship 
offer from South Dakota and South Dakota State. Some stuff was going on, recruiting is kind of 
odd, but I had a walk-on opportunity. And so I said, you know, I know I can make it to the top 
level and how can I not be denied, you know, at that top level? Well, if I'm a great tight end in 
the Big Ten, 
over an FCS school, I know I can't be denied, you know, that there's there's no arguing against 
that case if I'm a really good tight end of the big 10. And so that's what I did. Earned scholarship 
in a year. started starting some games in my sophomore year. Started every game from junior 
year on. Did four seasons. Graduated with kinesiology degree in three and a half years. 
And then I got, like you said, drafted in the third round. And, you know, I've been here for about 
two years now in Arizona. So I'm really grateful, but that's a little bit about my story. I 
appreciate the intro. 
Scott Benson (08:05) 
Yeah. So the way you're kind of talking, you're talking about being a walk-on at the University of 
Illinois, but you're also in the same sentence. You're kind of leading on that you knew there was 
more down the road that you had ambitions to play in the NFL, even as a walk-on at Illinois. 
Tip Reiman (08:24) 
Yeah, yeah. mean, shoot, since I was little, I remember friends and moms of friends telling me 
in third grade or something, you know, I think it was third grade. was when I pointed at an 
Adrian Peterson poster in my friend's bedroom. I said, I want to be in the NFL one day. And him 
and his mom were like, no way. There's no shot. You know, you're not going to do that. And so 
since then, I mean, I've I know since I was really little, I've had that desire and I've 
I've played the game and trained for the game with that intent in mind, like knowing, hey, if I'm 
going to get here, there's steps that I have to take that, you know, I feel like that was one of the 
ways, there's a lot of ways that pushed me, but that was one of the ways that was a convicting 
thing. Like I know there's other dudes working out there, working out there that are on the 
same path and I'm going to work harder to get to that same location. 
You know, kind of just having that step-by-step mindset of I'm going to push to the side, things 
that hinder me so I can run full speed at the goal ahead. So yeah, from a young age, it was, that 
was something that was able to kind of transform the way that I trained in thought. And the 
thinking is where everything comes from, right? It's all in the mind. Your body's just going to do 
what your mind allows it to do. 
and pushing those lines in the sand, you will, stretching yourself beyond what you possibly 
think you can do, especially with the help of coaches that can bring it out of you like you did for 
me. I mean, that's everything, because that your trajectory for something much higher than just 
in the moment things. 
Scott Benson (09:58) 
That's awesome. I'm gonna make a comment and then we're gonna take a step back real quick. 
And something that you just said right there, I said this in the intro, I don't think I've ever met 
an athlete who has done all of the right things for a consistent period of time. Throughout your 
career, you've always done the right things. 
And I think you're a testament to what can actually be accomplished. So I always talk about 
your genetic ceiling. And I don't think most athletes, I think most athletes go through their 
career and they maybe get to about 70%. I think you're a guy that has found a way through that 
mental strength to get to as close to that genetic ceiling as you can. I remember back a 
conversation we had when you were a freshman in college. 
Tip Reiman (10:32) 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (10:44) 
And you told me that you were going to graduate in three and a half years and you were going 
into the NFL draft. And this is as a walk on at Illinois. So, you know, I never doubt you, but there 
was, you know, a little voice in my head like, wow, wow, this kid, he either really knows what 
he's doing or, you know, maybe he's a little bit crazy. And I mean, sure enough, you graduated 
in three and a half years. You went into the NFL draft and 
Tip Reiman (10:53) 
Mm. 
Yeah 
Scott Benson (11:11) 
you know, here you are and I just we can get into kind of the mental side of it a little bit more. 
But I want to tell a little bit of story here about kind of the first time that I was introduced to 
you. It's actually my wife and I were skiing and I ran into your dad and we we stopped and we 
went into the the chalet and had a drink and we're just talking and he was telling me about this 
son that he had and 
Tip Reiman (11:27) 
Hehehe. 
Scott Benson (11:35) 
you know, that's kind of what brought us together. And he was, you know, telling me you're a 
pretty good athlete. And, and, you know, I've worked with some dudes along the way. And, you 
know, and I'm not saying this in any type of derogatory way, but you know, when you came into 
the gym as a 13 year old, I think you were a tall, tall, skinny kid with big feet that was a little bit 
clumsy. So you, you were not a guy that I was going to 
Tip Reiman (11:43) 
Okay, yes you have. 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (12:02) 
I immediately thought, this guy's going to play on Sundays, you know, because I've seen those 
guys that have come through the door and that are just, you know, genetically, they're already 
close to that ceiling without ever really doing a whole lot. And you were not that guy. You were 
you were a guy that had to work for it and had to do all those things right. So if you could just 
maybe touch on that for a second. 
Tip Reiman (12:06) 
Mm-hmm. 
Well, I appreciate that. That means a lot to me. And yeah, I think that's a really good way to put 
it, Scott, is the genetic potential and what goes into maximizing that. yeah, it was tough, you 
know, coming into the gym. There's a lot of dudes that were in the gym and, you know, there's 
posters of lots of all Americans and lots of talent that came through your gym. 
and just, you know, South Dakota in general. And so there's high standards. And seeing all of 
that, knowing where I was, I was a bit of a late bloomer as well. So I felt like extra puny at the 
time, you know? so seeing seeing where I was, I felt like there was just I had this drive. I had 
this dream. I had this conviction that this is going to happen. I had no road map of of 
how exactly it was gonna happen, but I just felt the conviction of like, I need to train this way, I 
need to think this way, I need to have this mentality in order to make this happen because it's 
just going to happen. It's written, you know? And so I felt like it was already written and that I 
was walking in the footsteps that I didn't know where they were leading or where the next one 
was, but I was just trying to be obedient to what I felt like. 
was the very best next option and the very best that I could draw from myself in every one of 
those moments. so like having this big picture view and this mentality of where I'm going and 
understanding that I can't get there unless I look right here and I give my very best in this one 
moment. And so I felt like my mentality has always been that. And now obviously I've had like 
I've had micro evolutions and everything, you know, and I've evolved over the years, but the 
mentality stays the same of I'm going to lay a full brick every single day and I'm building a 
mansion every single day. I'm building a mansion. I'm laying a full brick every single day and I'm 
not skipping out on any on any corners. I'm not laying a brick with a chip in it. 
I'm not skipping out on grout. I'm doing all the things the right way and I want to attack it that 
way. And so when I look back, like you're saying, and I look back and I see the scrawny and 
clumsy me that I wanted so bad to be strong. I wanted so bad to be fast, all these things, but I 
wasn't quite there yet. But I do see every single day my best was on display. 
and that being my best effort, you know, because obviously there's ebbs and flows with 
performance, but my best effort was gonna be on display. And I take that with me continually 
today because obviously I can't stop growing now and there's always someone coming to take 
my job now. But through that growing process, through the realization of what can I do with my 
genetics, how high can I go with this? 
Knowing there's an end goal, but focusing on the now and maximizing every single moment, 
laying that full brick, that foundation, that building to that mansion. I was really focused on 
those moments, those moments and being the best version of myself in every single one of 
those little moments. And I still am obsessed with that today. And that looks like a lot of 
different things and different facets of life, spiritually, physically. 
relationally, anything like that. But it's all about the very best effort that I can possibly put in 
that day, that moment. And then I just, I like to say stack days, you a lot of people say that and I 
really believe that you just stack, you stack and you keep stacking and you just see how high 
you can go. And for me, you everyone's story is different and this isn't a 
recipe to get to the NFL for everybody or professional of whatever sport you play in but this is a 
recipe to maximize yourself and I see it I see that as more valuable because If everyone has the 
same dream then it's it's no longer cool, know, it's no longer it's no longer There's it's just the 
one dream. So in everybody's dream anybody listening to this Everyone is called to something 
different 
Now, how can I maximize my very best effort in every single moment and just stack it and lead 
me to whatever I'm being called to and whatever I'm pursuing? so I hope that answers your 
question. That was my approach. 
Scott Benson (16:53) 
Yeah, 
yeah, you said something very profound there, excuse me 
You know, sports has a lot of great life lessons and what you were saying about how, you know, 
what you're saying and stacking those bricks and getting better, that's not necessarily a formula 
to become an NFL football player. It's a formula to become a successful human being. And 
that's one of my big philosophies is, you know, it's awesome to be able to work with people like 
yourself and other professional athletes. 
But that's such a rare thing. What I'm concerned about is setting people up to be successful in 
life. sports is going to be done. It's a fraction of our time. And we have a lot of life after that. 
And the lessons we learn from sports can really carry us through careers, marriages, all of those 
things, parenting. So that was a I really liked what you said there. 
Tip Reiman (17:24) 
Mm-hmm. 
Scott Benson (17:45) 
Kind of can go different ways on this. Like I said, when you walked into my gym, you weren't a 
guy that I said, ⁓ absolutely going to be playing on Sundays physically. But the way that you're 
describing how you approach everything mentally is it's spot on to the majority of the high end 
athletes that I've ever worked with share that that that just mental approach to everything, not 
cutting corners, doing the right things consistently. 
Tip Reiman (17:50) 
Mm-hmm. 
Scott Benson (18:11) 
from what you've said today, you were kind of just wired that way. You were kind of born that 
way. That's not everybody. And so my goal with the show is to educate parents, coaches, 
athletes on how they can get better. So from a guy that's wired to be successful, and you're 
gonna be successful no matter what you do, because it's just who you are, I see a lot of kids 
these days 
Tip Reiman (18:18) 
Mm-hmm. 
Scott Benson (18:35) 
And I just had this conversation with somebody the other day that, you know, they're on the, 
they're on the JV team and the person that plays their position on the varsity team is only a 
junior. So rather than getting in the gym and doing the right things and earning that spot, they 
just give up. They just quit. ⁓ So number one, 
Tip Reiman (18:51) 
Mm-hmm. 
Scott Benson (18:54) 
Did you ever feel that? Did you ever come to points in your career, as a middle schooler, as a 
young high schooler, where you wanted to give up and you wanted to quit? And if so, can you 
give us some examples of that? And number two, what would you say to one of these kids that 
wants to quit because that starting position's not readily available? 
Tip Reiman (19:15) 
First point, yes. Very much yes. There's been a lot of things that I've wanted to quit in life and in 
sport. one of the biggest kickers for me was just that my dad preached like, Reiman's don't quit. 
know, like we just don't. We run through fire. 
and we don't quit until it's over and the fire's out. You know what I mean? So that was instilled 
in me from a young age. So any parents listening, you gotta be tough. You gotta be a good role 
model and especially the dads. You gotta model that because my dad's a fighter in whatever he 
does. And I got to see that. That's a huge, huge deal. And what a... 
what a platform to spring me forward in life from to be able to see how to be tough and how to 
be resilient. So that's one note I would say on that. But there was a lot of areas, since we're 
relating to sport, would say freshman year football, I was getting wrecked. I was not good by 
any means, especially as I look back now. 
I was very mediocre. I was giving my absolute best effort every day. Conditioning was horrible 
and so hard. And I despised going to practice. I felt like I could do nothing right. And I was just 
getting all negative coaching points. I felt like I wasn't being used for the little bit of skill that I 
thought I did have. I felt all these different emotions. And so... 
I mean, I was barely playing on JV, barely. And you just keep pounding. You just keep pounding. 
And because the mentality is, just don't quit. You cannot break me. This sport cannot break me. 
I just don't quit. I will keep going. I will eat whatever's put on my plate. And I just won't quit. 
You just can't break me. And that's the mindset. 
And so no matter how about I suck at something, it's like I'm gonna keep going and keep 
pounding and keep chopping because there's no other option. To me, when I look back and I 
had these mental conversations with myself and I look back and I think about how badly I 
wanted to quit and that there's just no use. Maybe my dream's over. Maybe there's something 
else for me. I saw it and there's a little... 
There's a little voice in the back of your head saying, you know that's selfish. You want to quit, 
but you know the real reason why. You want to choose comfort over your dream. You want to 
choose comfort over passing that threshold and bettering yourself. it's the comfort crisis. It's 
the war against mediocrity. And that's what... 
we're faced with every day. so what's my, every, everyone has an ultimate goal. If that ultimate 
goal is to be comfortable, they will see everything that happens to them or things that happen 
in life through that filter, through that lens of if something happens where I'm on JV, maybe I 
want to be starting or I think I should be starting, or maybe I have all the talent in the world to 
be starting, but I would have to step out of my comfort zone to get there. 
If your goal is to be comfortable, if your goal is to be safe, then you're gonna use anything that 
comes your way to achieve your ultimate goal. So if it's to be comfortable, you're gonna settle. 
You're gonna settle or you're choose selfish mediocrity over something like that. Now, if your 
goal is to be the best version of yourself in whatever it is, maybe you're gonna be an accountant 
someday, but if you're on the JV football squad, you're there for a reason. And what's your 
mentality? It's to be the best version of what? 
best version of yourself. And so you're gonna view things as that is an opportunity for me to run 
through that brick wall and not stop until it's knocked over. And you're gonna view it as an 
opportunity to get better, to be tougher, to be more fire resistant. so I say everyone has an 
ultimate goal. And I would implore everyone listening to dig deep and to find what that 
ultimate goal is. 
If that ultimate goal is safety or comfort or excuse or attention, I'd say do a deep dive and be 
sure that's the route you want to take with your life because that's going to take you to, like we 
say, mediocre spots. That's not going to lead to the best version of yourself. But if your goal is 
the best version of yourself, the toughest version of yourself, the smartest version of yourself, 
the most loving version of yourself, 
the most gentle and kind and patient version of yourself, the most ambitious version of 
yourself, the version of yourself that your descendants are gonna be proud of, if that's the goal, 
you have this 30,000 foot view. So when something so minuscule has a starting position or 
something goes wrong in my little JV world, then we can zoom out and say, hey, here's the big 
picture, here's my ultimate goal. 
Here the things that I'm caring about and the people I wanna take care of and impress my 
lineage. Like, are they gonna look at me and see a wuss or are they gonna look at me and see a 
warrior? And so, and you have that big picture mindset and you have that filter, the day-to-day 
operations that happen, they're filtered through a completely different lens. So I'd say that's 
the number one thing that. 
⁓ That mindset, that tough, smart, dependable, intentional, consistent mindset, that came into 
play and that kept me from quitting and that kept me from choosing selfish comfort over my 
ultimate best. And so I would say that. it's always better when you don't quit and you just keep 
rocking, you keep pounding. It's always better. 
Perseverance produces character. And that's biblical, that's secular, that's everything. That is a 
truth. 
Scott Benson (25:01) 
Okay, so welcome back to the show. We've got Tip Reiman here of the Arizona Cardinals having 
some great conversation here about really about mindset and one more question related to 
that in the last last segment that you spoke to. I think what you're really referring to is that your 
your wants and your goals they have to be based on intrinsic value and 
This is something that I deal 
Tip Reiman (25:24) 
you 
Scott Benson (25:25) 
with a lot and I'd like to get your opinion on it. I see a lot of athletes that come to me. They 
want to be great. But when I start to ask them about what their goals are and what they're 
really trying to get out of this, it becomes very evident very quickly that maybe it's not their 
goal, that maybe it's the goal of a parent. You know, just your experience around sports. 
Tip Reiman (25:40) 
Mm hmm. 
Scott Benson (25:45) 
And obviously, probably the higher level you get to, there's less of that. But think back to like 
even middle school, high school days. I just I always get a kick out of, you know, we're 
summertime training and I'm dealing with baseball players and I'll ask these kids, hey, you 
know, when's your next game? And, you know, the answer I get is I don't know. I got to check 
with my mom. Are you kidding me? Like when I played Little League Baseball, I had every game. 
Tip Reiman (26:07) 
You 
Scott Benson (26:11) 
wrote down on the schedule. I knew who was probably going to pitch against us. That was my 
life. That was everything at that point. And so to hear kids say, well, I got to check with my 
mom, that tells me that maybe this isn't their goal. And so I just like to get your take on that. 
Tip Reiman (26:13) 
Yeah. 
That's sad how common that is, That's not the way it should be. ⁓ Intrinsic value in an intrinsic 
drive. The goals have to be like you're saying, the goals have to be yours. They have to mean 
something to you. They have to be something where if there's certain circumstances that come 
and parameters that 
are thrown your way that are lesser than perfect. The intrinsic drive within you that is 
unshaken. has to be some goal set inside of you about something inside of you that's not, it 
can't be affected by outside noise, outside 
outside just influences in general. It has to be something that's rooted in you, like you're saying. 
It can't be your mom's goal or your dad's goal or it can't, like even I'll say the extrinsic goals, like 
I would love to be a 100 meter dash champion. That is an awesome goal. Now, 
everything is an F and a failure if that is not achieved. if you get... That's a result. The real goal 
is, and some of this is a little bit intangible, right? And you have to, kind of know it when you 
see it, but the ultimate goal has to be, I am going to, every single day, put my best foot forward. 
Scott Benson (27:41) 
And that's result, it's not a goal. 
Tip Reiman (27:59) 
And what does that look like in your sport or for that individual? My goal is every single day I 
went into the weight room with intent and I did it every single day. I did it consistently. 
Intentionality and consistency. Those are my two big words that I preach all the time. I love 
them. I live by them. And so for me, that's an intrinsic goal that I'm going to be as intentional as 
I can and I'm going to be consistent. 
in all of those intentionalities. I know what that's gonna breed. That's gonna breed what's 
supposed to. And I don't know exactly what that result's gonna be, like you're saying, but that's 
gonna breed something really good. And I know that because I'm doing something that's taken 
care of. It's a process-oriented goal. It's not a result-oriented goal. you know. 
If the result is especially, I want to please my dad, I want him to be proud of my athletic 
prowess or what have you, then we got to reshape our values and maybe that parent, if he's 
listening and he can sense that that's coming from his son or he's pushing that on his son or 
mother therefore, I think that needs to be a wake up call if they're listening to this. 
They're number one, your son or daughter isn't your everything. They're not your path to 
heaven. They're not your path to successful life. And you're just driving them into a hole, 
putting all your value and your worth into their success or their failures. so number one, that's 
that. Number two, for the child or for the young adult, they have to have that intrinsic value 
where they're chasing after something that 
is kind of beyond what we think of as a result-oriented goal. It has to be something that's a 
process-oriented, a purposeful, intentional thing that is near and dear to their heart and it's 
personable to them. It's a goal that maybe you can't measure, but it is a goal that they will 
know it and they can stay consistent with that. 
when they achieve it or don't achieve it. again, it's hard to explain, but that's that intrinsic stuff. 
It has to be something that's fully yours, fully convicted of, and you know that that's a process
oriented thing that's gonna yield great results, but you have to be right here in this moment. 
Scott Benson (30:22) 
Okay. 
Tip Reiman (30:23) 
That's kind of where I take that. I don't know. What do you think? 
Scott Benson (30:26) 
No, I agree with you 100%. If it's not something that you truly care about deep down inside, 
then you're going to find that comfort that you were talking about at some point. It's just it's 
most people's human nature to pick comfort over discomfort. Or, you know, we always talk 
about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. 
That's not for everybody. So it does hurt. And I see it with athletes. They love to get in the gym 
and play basketball or go out and go out to the football field and run routes. People don't like 
to come to me because it's not going to be fun. But that's where that growth happens. And so I 
congratulate you on that mindset and the fact that you always have. 
Tip Reiman (30:55) 
Cause it hurts. ⁓ 
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (31:16) 
pushed beyond what you thought you could do.  
So yeah, I think we've covered the mental side there. We've solved all the problems in the 
world because we're smart, strong, strong mentalities. Let's talk a little bit more about actual 
training. start by telling another little story. I was fortunate enough to come to the 
the 2024 NFL Combine and watch you. You quickly became a fan favorite. If you haven't ever 
been to the NFL Combine, it's not really, especially Friday night, it's not really a fan friendly 
event. You kind of have different groups broken up throughout the stadium and somebody will 
do something, you'll hear some cheers. Then another group will make some cheers for a certain 
person. 
Tip Reiman (31:53) 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (32:04) 
I'll never forget you guys were hitting the sled and guys would hit the sled and kind of pick it up 
and drop it back down. And then you came up and you hit that sled and drove that thing about 
15 yards. Everybody in that stadium cheered and you quickly became a fan favorite. And I think 
they really latched on to the small town boy boy thing and played that up. ⁓ 
Tip Reiman (32:07) 
Thanks. 
You 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (32:29) 
So that was a good time seeing that. But your physicality as a tight end, I number one, your size, 
are you the biggest tight end in the NFL? 
Tip Reiman (32:40) 
No, there's a tight end on the Steelers. He's like an extra tackle. He's like 310 pounds. Yeah. 
Yeah, yeah. I'd say behind him, yeah. 
Scott Benson (32:46) 
Is he really? Wow. Okay. But you are one of the bigger tight ends in the NFL. yeah, 
and knowing what I know about you and how you play, you physical. You love to be in the 
trenches. You love to seek out that D end or that linebacker and hit them as hard as you can. 
Number one, first question in this, guess, not moving on just yet to the training side, but I've 
talked to a lot of guys that 
Tip Reiman (33:03) 
Mm. 
Scott Benson (33:12) 
you know, made it to the NFL in some capacity or the other and kind of, you know, a message 
I've gotten from a lot of them is you got to have that switch. You know, there's a lot of guys and 
I've been around a lot of guys that they're athletic enough to play in the NFL. They didn't have 
that switch. Do you think that's a true statement? 
Tip Reiman (33:31) 
Right. 
Yeah. Yeah. 100 percent. 100 percent. Our team, our team is 
Every year, every year there's thousands of guys at Pro Days. There's thousands of guys trying 
to go to the league. 
very small fraction of them get in and join the people who are already in. The people who are 
already in and those guys in the springtime got about 100 guys, dwindles down about 50 
percent, 53 guys in an active roster. You see, you see the guys that have the switch and that 
don't. And the guys that have the switch, there's some lucky guys that don't have a switch, but 
are just that athletic. 
in that talented, that is a very small number. But you see it, you see it, you know, when you see 
it, when you go against guys on the other side of the ball that have that switch and they have 
that, they are going to try to embarrass you in front of your wife and your kids, you know, and 
that is, that is something that, you know, I want to play alongside and I want, I want to have on 
my team. 
And that's something that I wholeheartedly know that I resemble. And I want to be the kindest 
and most patient and everything. I want all the righteous virtues all the time. And one of the 
righteous virtues is to... And this is not verbatim, but it's maximizing your gifts, right? And one 
of my gifts is... 
violence and and grit and so when when it is time we can laugh in the huddle we can laugh on 
the sideline and then it's it sinks in and it's time to go and you know we're like I'm going to try 
to embarrass that person in front of me in front of his wife and in his kids I'm going to try to 
make him quit I'm going to try to 
I'm going to do everything in my power to make him lose hope that I'm going to see you over 
and over and over and over and over in this game and maybe twice a year, every year. And 
that's my goal. I want to mentally dwindle someone down. And I want them to know that when, 
you know, when 87 is coming, there's no hesitation. He's not going to pitter-patter his feet. 
gonna keep running right through your face. And that's that switch that you're talking about. 
That's, you you get other guys that are just like that and that'll meet you like that and they'll 
meet you in the hole. And it's like, it makes me smile because it's so fun. You know, like when 
you know that you've got that and they've got that and you just met and you did something, 
you did something that you only get to do with a certain type of person a few times in your life 
and you just both do it at a hundred miles an hour. There's nothing better than that. And so. 
Scott Benson (36:08) 
Ha 
Tip Reiman (36:14) 
To answer your question, that's real. And that is definitely one of the defining factors of it is dog 
eat dog. It is my paycheck over your paycheck. It is my family having food over yours because I 
can overcome you in that way. And so it's 100%, 100 % that. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. 
Scott Benson (36:38) 
Awesome. Okay, so let's switch gears here a little bit. Let's talk some training. So I'm going back 
to the NFL Combine. We kind of got off there a little bit. One of the biggest tight ends in the 
NFL, one of the, like you said, grittiest, nastiest, gonna hit somebody, and you love that part of 
it. But what people don't understand, and at the NFL Combine, you ran a 4.64, 
Tip Reiman (36:49) 
Mm. 
Scott Benson (37:06) 
40-yard dash you were disappointed. I knew you were disappointed Everybody else was talking 
about how fast that was for somebody your size and the other thing that I also knew is that you 
had run a four point five one 40-yard dash the week before that preparing Okay, that is that 
doesn't make sense somebody your size running that fast so That doesn't just happen. That is 
something that has to be trained 
Tip Reiman (37:06) 
Thanks 
Yeah. 
Mm-hmm. 
Scott Benson (37:32) 
and through lots and lots of repetition learned. I deal with, you know, I think speed training is 
overlooked massively when we talk about athletic performance. And I don't know why that is 
because it's the thing that separates athletes at every level of every sport. So tell me a little bit 
about 
Tip Reiman (37:53) 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (37:55) 
How did you get to that point? How did you get to be that fast at that size? 
Tip Reiman (38:00) 
Well, appreciate it. And to emphasize your point that all coaches at this level, everyone at this 
level knows that speed kills. And if you're not fast, but you're super strong or something like 
that, doesn't matter. Speed kills. And you're only going to encounter the fastest people in the 
world at this level or at the top levels of anywhere. So to be able to handle whatever body 
weight you are, you don't have to be the biggest at your position or 
or anything, whatever body weight you are, whatever position you are, it's like you better be 
moving. Speed kills. That's just a fact. To answer your question though, mean foundationally 
was working with you. And before that I had done, I did general sprints, I did general training 
and all of that. But then when I came and I got a sophisticated training plan under 
direct care and supervision and coaching from you in the weight room, but also you being my 
track coach for a number of years, getting to have that in season. We did a lot of stuff in season, 
out of season, not just in track season though. We trained like we were in track year round 
because why wouldn't you want to be fast year round? A cheat is not slow for a portion of the 
year. 
It's got to kill all the time. You got to be ready. It's kill or be killed. You don't take breaks from 
being fast. That training with you was really important and that definitely laid the foundation 
because you're getting so many more years of maxing out those anaerobic capacities and 
getting that fast twitch developed as much as I possibly could. 
the speed strength, the strength speed, everything, just the absolute strength too. Like we 
worked it all at your gym. And that propelled me to understanding what the intent behind 
everything when I went to Ogorman, when I went to Illinois and when I went to combine 
training and then when I'm here, you know, like that set me up to know there's a certain intent 
behind 
what we're doing and if I'm not again intentional and consistent with that intentionality of my 
training, then I'm not going to dial in those workouts. I'm not going to up my type two fibers 
like I could, the little percentage that I could have gotten if I didn't have that intention. 
Everybody knows that when you're doing speed work in the weight room against 
accommodating resistance of some kind, if you don't have the intent behind it, it doesn't do 
anything. 
You you have to, it's all about intention and your effort. so having that background and having 
that drilled into our heads of what we're looking for and how we're going to do things and 
doing it a yearly and year in and year out basis, you know, that was really important for me. 
And then as, as we went, as we went further into, into my career, you know, Illinois was 
Illinois was great training. And then after Illinois, I got to kind of come back to that speed first 
mindset and really work on that. that kind of it kind of like unlocked what felt hidden, you 
know, beforehand, which was really cool. 
because I always felt like I had that speed, but it almost felt like I got to refine it a little bit extra 
during those moments where you're really teaching speed at that point because you have all of 
that, but you're unlocking it through the teaching of the technique and the teaching of all the 
things that you were teaching us, starting at a young age through track and through everything 
with technique and everything. So that was really cool as far as unlocking it. 
And I felt like the culmination of everything with the intention of our training, ranging from 
speed training, actually running. I feel like not a lot of people just run now. There's all these silly 
modalities that people use. They don't just like lift heavy and fast and run fast. There's a million 
things that they use. But we did that. so foundationally, 
that set me up for the rest to come. And then there's a genetic potential that's involved too. 
And so my genetic potential said, hey, he could be this fast. And so that was part of it. Maybe 
there's some people out there that they can't be a certain speed because their genetic potential 
is not that. But I will say that's probably one of the last limiting factors. And so people shouldn't 
use that as an excuse. They should use their training. 
and they should use their training and their work ethic to achieve what goals they can. Because 
I think a lot of people try to fall back on their genetics as an excuse nowadays because there's 
just a lot of trendy weird things where people try to blame their genetics for things. 
Scott Benson (42:51) 
Right. All right, great stuff. We're going to take another quick break. 
All right, welcome back to building the athlete. We're here with Tip Reiman, tight end for the 
Arizona Cardinals. Tip, we've been talking a lot about just development. We've been getting 
into the speed conversation. You made a comment about how, you know, when you get to the 
professional level, that it's all about speed and no matter what position you're at, you've got to 
be faster than the other guy. 
One thing I want to make sure that we don't take emphasis off with training is I'm a big speed 
guy, big velocity guy, but I lift my athletes like they're power lifters. So I always kind of refer to 
them as power lifting track athletes. training speed, but you know, our guys get heavy in the 
weight room, love Olympic lifts. You know, there's so much out there. I saw it. 
Tip Reiman (43:29) 
Mm. 
This is... ⁓ 
Scott Benson (43:43) 
I saw Gronk talking the other day about how if he had to go do it all again, he wouldn't have 
lifted so hard because he lost a lot of mobility and he was a real high end ⁓ baseball player and 
that kind of went downhill once he started lifting heavy. Well, that just tells me he was lifting 
heavy the wrong way. ⁓ You know, I'd like you to just touch on that subject because I know, 
yes, speed is such an important thing. 
Tip Reiman (44:02) 
Yeah. 
Scott Benson (44:10) 
but that doesn't give you time off in the weight room or allow you to go easy in the weight 
room. It's still gotta be high intensity, but it does change depending on in season, off season, 
where you're at. So let's talk about that a little bit. 
Tip Reiman (44:27) 
Yeah, there's a of ways you can go with it. But I would say, like you said, there's a misnomer out 
there that lifting hurts you or puts you in a bad position or lifting makes you stiff or what have 
you. If you lift in a terrible range of motion and you lift heavy with bad form in that terrible 
range of motion, you're probably going to get terrible range of motion results. 
Now, if you lift in an extremely awesome range of motion with great form, your tendons and 
ligaments and your joints and all of the bone density, everything is gonna thank you for it and 
you're gonna feel better for it. A lot of guys use massages to get back from games. A lot of guys 
use physical therapy. I lift because lifting makes me recover better. 
It brings my body back. I have a thigh contusion, I could go to the trainer all day and night long 
for weeks and it's not going to get better. But if I get under a heavy bar and I squat and I squat 
deep and it's like I want to cry because of the pain, better. Next day, I'm ready to roll. know 
what I mean? There's just lifting is good for you. So to clear up the misnomer, it is... 
It is so good for you as far as your health goes, as far as your longevity. mean, you know better 
than anybody with, you know, the back things that we've talked about with you and getting 
back into lifting and how it's helped and all of the above. There's plenty of examples to draw 
from. But as far as feeling good goes in that camp, lifting done right with intention and with if 
you're 
not a skilled lifter with direct coaching from someone who actually knows what they're doing is 
a great, great thing. As far as performance goes, you don't have to be a big meathead to lift 
heavy. see my wife in college, she was a diver. She's obviously, I'm married to her. I think she 
has a great figure and she's at 150 pounds in college. 
she was deadlifting 300 and front squatting 245. And she didn't look like a big meathead like I 
do, but you can, that transfer, she was more powerful than all the divers on her team or in the 
Big Ten in my opinion, she was more powerful. Now, that doesn't translate to direct talent on 
your sport or whatever, but that gets you ahead because like for her example, 
She had more time in the air to do what she needed to do because she was more powerful. And 
so for us, no matter what the conversation is, what sport we're talking about, being more 
powerful and being able to produce more force cannot hurt you. What is it? Mark Bell says, 
weakness is never a strength and strength is never a weakness. And so I see that all the time. 
You see that at my level. You see that when I was 
When I was back and I was in middle school and we were training together, high school and we 
were training together. If you are strong and you are strong in the right ways, you are not going 
to be worse off for it. being able to put force into the ground and force into another human 
being are the two, some of the two most important things in sport that we can, that we can 
name, you know? And so lifting heavy and being able to run fast are 
super, super important. And that's why you train the heck out of them when you trained us, 
you know? That's amazing. 
Scott Benson (47:54) 
So answer this question for me. At this point in your career, a lifting as part of your regimen, is 
it more injury prevention or is it more performance based? 
Tip Reiman (47:56) 
Yeah. 
Some people will fall into the injury prevention stuff, but as far as what we do at the Cardinals 
and what I am in the camp of, fully performance-based. It's output is always being measured 
and putting big weights up is a very, very good thing. And putting moderate weights up at a 
very high speed is a very, very good thing. And those outputs are... 
measured and taken into account and constantly managed and overseen. 
Scott Benson (48:34) 
Let me ask that question in a different way, because it's not exactly, I think the way that you 
answered it, maybe you weren't understanding what I was asking, but lifting heavy weights, do 
you think it has a huge impact on injury prevention? Yeah. 
Tip Reiman (48:48) 
yeah, yes, 
yeah. Yes, lifting heavy weights. mean, because if you think about it, like the way we talk about 
it, the Cardinals, Coach Evan Marcus, he's been in the league for I think 30 years now. He and 
Buddy Morris is at our, you know, a legend in the strength and conditioning field. He's there. 
Armor is what we're putting on all the time. And so if you 
aren't strong and if you're not putting up heavy weights, don't have as much armor, period. And 
muscle is armor. The more armor you have, the less likely you are to get hurt. And that's a very 
well-known thing. And also, there's plenty of studies and research now where, like we we 
implement at the Cardinals, a lot of specific isometric 
isometric things, whether it's overcoming or yielding, we do them at specific times for very 
specific things. But that whole world coming into play with the new research and everything, 
that has accelerated our tendon and ligament health and growth and people coming back to 
play, but also retaining them in injury prevention. And that's all what, it's loaded. 
It's in the weight room. It's a physical exertion where there's a lot of effort put into it and you're 
loading your tissues in significant ways and those ways vary, but you're loading them 
significantly. So you're getting your meathead stuff, you're getting your power lifting, but you're 
also getting your very specific intentional things for individual needs. And you're marrying the 
two as well as 
getting on the field and having your speed work and everything. it's a marriage of all of those 
things, but yeah, Lifting heavy and lifting in those intentional ways is very good hip injury 
prevention. 
Scott Benson (50:43) 
Yeah, and I think you made a good point that it's got to be intentional and it's got to be 
programmed the right way and it has to be performed the right way. 
Scott Benson (50:59) 
All right, awesome time today with Tip Ryman. Talked about a lot of different things in the 
strength and conditioning world, life as an NFL football player. We talked about nutrition, we 
talked about recovery, we talked about everything there is to talk about revolving around those 
topics. What a wonderful, mature young man. 
But I think that, you know, in closing, the thing I'd like to talk about the most is just the 
mentality he brings to everything that he does. And I mentioned that in the introduction, you 
know, he just does the right things all the time. And his analogy of laying a brick down every day 
sums it up so well. just he does every little thing he can to make himself the best athlete, the 
best 
the best husband, the best father that he can possibly be. And really enjoyed the time today. 
Again, bensonsportstraining.com, Benson Sports Training on Instagram, Facebook. If you would 
like to reach out to me, talk more about our online coaching programs, would love to speak 
with anybody out there. 
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