Stronger Bodies Yield Brilliant Minds: How to Ignite Your Creativity Through Athletic Strength Training
Aristotle has been recognized as perhaps the greatest thinker in western civilized history. I once heard that all philosophy is just footnotes to Aristotle. When it comes to maximizing our mental capacities and potential, it would be safe to say that any program or advice that a man like Aristotle could deliver would be greatly welcomed.
Gain 31 Pounds Before Football Training Camp (Part 1)
Football season has just ended and you’ve quickly realized that you’re only half the man you were in August. Losing 10–20 lbs during the football season is typical for most high school and small college athletes. But you’re not typical.
Shot Put “Westside” Style
I have employed the conjugate system of training with my throwers’ lifting program for four years with tremendous success. One highlight in the weight room was taking a male thrower with a 385-lb squat freshman year to a 615-lb squat/500-lb front squat as a junior. We also had a thrower make a 60-lb PR in the hang clean after not attempting a single training rep in that lift for six months.
Training Is Only Half the Battle
As I sit here today and reflect on my journey through the crap we call the fitness industry, I can’t help but be thankful for where I am in my life as well as for the great things and people the barbell has brought me.
Old School Weightlifting for In-Season Hockey Training
The new wave in ice hockey strength and conditioning seems to be dominated by “functional” training, which often becomes dysfunctional. Let’s look at our goals for in-season lifting and the factors to consider in professional hockey. I’ll also present my program template for in-season hockey training, which has been used successfully in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Strength Sports, Gear, and Where It’s Going
I consider a strength sport to be any sport where strength plays a major role. This includes sports like powerlifting, weightlifting, highland games, Strongman, shot put, discus, hammer, javelin, and stone lifting. All of the athletes in these sports are very strong, but how much of a role does strength actually play in becoming the best?
30 Days Without Weights for Ultimate Strength, Conditioning, and Fat Loss
Weight training over long periods of time can burn out athletes from all different sports. Whether he or she is a world class MMA fighter or your average Joe who wants to stay in shape, athletes can get bored with not only their current regimen but with lifting weights period. Most will just take some time off from the gym and come back ready to hit it hard again.
Weight Room Efficiency
We all know that you can spend all day lifting, conditioning, and running agility drills. There just isn't enough time in the day whether we’re talking about a student athlete who has NCAA regulations on time spent strength training and conditioning or maybe even a professional athlete who has a hectic travel schedule mixed in with a personal life and family.
Filling in the Holes, Part I
Trends, fads, gimmicks…hell, they’re all part of the strength and conditioning industry.
Intense Running Workouts
When I competed in track in 1988–1992, we did what we were told. I don’t know anything about “block training” or “CNS.” So I can’t give any educated advice on where these workouts fit into a training cycle. All I know is that they killed me, and I can’t imagine one or more of these workouts not being beneficial to a large number of athletes.
Plyometrics—Physiological Mechanisms and Their Validity as a Speed Development Technique
The aim of plyometrics is to increase the explosiveness of the muscle allowing an athlete to run faster, jump further, and generate force at a greater rate.
The Tendo and Its Use for Autoregulation
The Fitrodyne Powerlyzer by Tendo, or Tendo unit as it’s more commonly known, is a piece of equipment used to measure the speed of the bar. This allows the coach to know several things such as whether the athlete is training what he or she is supposed to be training and whether the bar speed has started to drop. Here, I’ll discuss how to use the Tendo unit as a means of autoregulation.
How Harry Selkow Trains the Arizona Sundogs
Good talking to you yesterday. I even tried to keep you on the phone longer since I knew you had to hit the “head” to relieve yourself. I have to tell you, I always walk away refreshed after talking to you. It makes me realize that there ARE other nuts out here with a different view and that’s good stuff.
Importance of Fast Twitch Capacity in Football Training
With the beginning of football season, the long anticipated excitement for the early powerhouse match ups has finally arrived.
Top Ten and a Half Training Tips for Martial Arts
Applying the principles of scientific training, I have come up with ten (and a half) training guidelines for the combat athlete who must be present to ensure competitive success.
The Thinker Discusses Olympic Lifts
Question 1: I’d like to thank you for all of the helpful tips, but this is where we’re going to crash. As an athlete, I’ve been performing the Olympic lifts since middle school. I use them with the athletes I train from day one and haven’t had any problems.
A Day in the Life of a Strongman Contestant: The 10 Things I Learned
Rites of passage that involve impressive feats of strength have been around for thousands of years. They exist in many different forms and many of them originated in Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Tests like the Husafell stone carry, which originated in Iceland, have now become objects of desire for many would-be Strongmen throughout the world.
Westside for Baseball?
I had finally done it! After countless hours of talking about it and planning just how I was going to do it, I opened my own performance enhancement training business. Well sort of…
Top 10 Speed Training Myths Revealed
Every day someone asks me a question about training speed. So here are those questions heard most frequently as well as the answers to them.
Cruel and Unusual Exercises
Did you ever wonder how song writers or comedians come up with their lyrics or material? As a person who loves music as well as a good comedy, I always wondered that very question. When I started my career coaching and training athletes, I researched other coaches to come up with new ideas for old exercises. Then it clicked. The more a person surrounds himself with the subject at hand, the more thoughts come to mind about that subject.
Get Rid of Stubborn Hamstring Injuries!
Hamstring injuries are common but mostly avoidable. Like many other injuries, they aren’t 100 percent preventable, but there are many ways to help reduce the occurrence in your athletes. If hamstring pulls do take place, I’ve added some treatment guidelines at the end. However, this doesn’t mean that your athletes shouldn’t seek medical assistance. A physician should always be consulted first.
Bench and Nothing but the Bench
Russians believe that if you wish to excel at a lift, you can’t beat frequent practice of this lift with a moderately heavy weight and never to failure. Vladimir Volkov, the European bench press champion and master’s world champion in the 220 lb weight class, has proved that point with a 639 lb bench in an IPF competition.
Olympic Lifting for Athletes: Power Clean!
It’s extremely important that athletes perform Olympic lifts correctly. This means teaching lifts through a progression designed to implement proper form. Doing the lifts incorrectly, which is the case with the vast majority of young athletes, reduces the effect of the lift and creates a much higher likelihood of injury.
The Lineman’s Evolution
“The last part of progress is always easier than the next. Determination must be continually manufactured and tested.”