Real Life Status — Who's Watching You?
After our recent bowl game, all-time great Denver Bronco and two-time Pro Bowler Rod Smith spoke to my team and shared an important message that got me thinking about my athletes and my personal mission statement.
Why You Should Use the Conjugate Method for Your Athletes
There are many faults in the traditional model of periodization when applied in a sports setting. The conjugate method not only overcomes these faults, but also provides numerous other benefits to your athletes.
Athlete Programming Made Simple
I cannot have rep integrity, movement efficiency, and tempo in the weight room if my athletes are dumbfounded by the extremely complex exercise selection that looks like a NASA test simulator. So let's focus on simplifying things.
Irresponsible Social Media Practices in Strength and Conditioning
Social media can be a very powerful tool to enhance your learning and your network, but you have to use it with some responsibility.
'If You Build It They Will Come' — Remembering My First Championship Team After 20 Years
How do you build your team? How do you take a group of athletes from every aspect of society and get them pulling in the same direction toward a common cause?
A Letter to the Next Me
I've often heard people ask the question, what would you tell a younger you? This is a great question all strength coaches should answer.
The Five Exercise Assignment
You must pick five and only five exercises or drills to train all of the university sports for all of the seasons. What makes your list?
Life Is About Growth, Not Comfort
It’s okay to fail. It's okay to be uncomfortable. Defeat can lead to victory if you learn from it and gain experience along the way.
WATCH: Q&A with Coach Kav — The Biggest Mistake Coaches Make Teaching the 40-Yard Dash
Once you've started with a baseline position, adjustments should first be made based on limb length and secondly based on strength history.
A Weekend of JL Holdsworth — My Introduction to Reflexive Performance Reset
I had the opportunity to take one of the RPR courses this week when JL asked to hold a clinic at my university. Whether you love or hate the idea of Reflexive Performance Reset, it works!
7 Pillars of Leadership
I recently spoke to my university's leadership committee and it got me thinking about some things that are imperative to the success of strength and conditioning coaches.
So You Want to Be a Strength Coach?
I have outlined some things that I believe will serve to help aspiring strength coaches and young strength coaches thrive in this industry.
The Human Element
College athletics may be a giant machine, but the humans run it. We need to understand that the athletes, just like us as coaches, have good days and bad days, and instilling good character should always be number one.
The Do's and Don'ts of Leadership
Since college, I've worked at seven different universities and a few Globo gyms. I've run clinics, I've trained privately, and I've even worked construction. From all this, I've learned from some great leaders and some less than great leaders.
We Better Get It Right — Securing the Future of S&C Before It's Too Late
This is real stuff that is happening right now — not just my opinion, but what is really going on. I am not bitching, but I am calling for change in the right way. This is what needs to happen.
Grading Professionalism in Collegiate Strength and Conditioning
This is a difficult issue to balance because people expect us to be over the top and screaming all the time. I'm asking that we raise the level of professionalism.
A Case for Max Effort Work and How To Introduce It
For the most profound results we need to train the area of the force velocity curve our athletes have spent the least amount of time on.
Changing the System from Within
Our job is to be better than those coaches who let the kids believe football is life. Our job is to make sure these athletes leave us better than when they arrived.
LISTEN: Developing Athletes Through the APRE Protocol for Strength Training
Dr. Mann joins Dr. Lowery and Dr. Nelson to discuss the APRE and how the implementation of this protocol transitioned to velocity-based training.
5 Ways You're Rejecting Self Improvement As A Coach
I recently started going through some old boxes and found an article I printed and saved when I coached at Denison. The information was pertinent for coaches then and it still is now.
Set the Standard
Change 'I' to 'we' and now you really have something: a team, with everyone working toward a common cause.
Seek First to Understand
There is one simple rule to follow to circumvent many of the issues that cause animosity between the sport coach and the strength coach.
The Secret to Success in the Weight Room: Training Hard and Knowing Your Players
You want the short route to constructing the perfect program? Here it is, summed up in two variables.
Bring Your Passion
As a profession, we must look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we're doing what we're asking others to do.