Exercise Selection: Ask Better Questions and Make Better Choices
Do you ever wonder why certain exercises happen in the order that they do? Or why athletes will work on power and speed before hitting their main lifts? Here's why.
INTERVIEW: Owner of Sports Advantedge Brian Bott
Meet Coach Brian Bott to learn how he uses the conjugate method for his collegiate football players. Need to see the results? They're here!
The Combined Seasonal Training Chart
To expand upon the exercise selection chart discussion from last month, these training options form the basis of my decision-making and conversations with players as to what they need to focus on over the next four to six weeks in their gym sessions.
The Role of a Strength Coach
Let’s look at some of the jobs a strength coach can and should be responsible for.
Why Athletes Should Use Cheat Reps
Because it can be a wonderful tool to increase power, muscle mass, and performance in a given sport. That's why.
Transitional Guide to Tactical Strength and Conditioning
As the tactical sector of strength and conditioning grows, so does the awareness, curiosity, and interest from coaches currently in athletics. Here's a quick breakdown if you're considering making the leap from collegiate to tactical strength and conditioning.
Does Hypertrophy Have a Place in Athletics?
Some of the brightest minds in strength and conditioning present both sides of the argument. Join the conversation.
Programming Two-A-Days for Your Player's Pre-Season and In-season
Poliquin, Thibadeau, and Schoenfeld, among many other writers and researchers, have popularized this method—performing multiple training sessions within a day. Here's how I set this up for my players within a three-day split program.
Coaches and Parents, Pay Attention!
Let's get inside the minds of the high school athletes working towards a collegiate scholarship. I interview five athletes who share their goals, sacrifices, regrets, and suggestions for coaches and parents reading this.
Specialty Bars for Collegiate Baseball and Softball Athletes
These sports require a high degree of mobility and stability through the shoulder, place a great deal of stress on the shoulder and elbow, and require an effective and efficient synchronization of the upper and lower limbs—the perfect storm for a specialty bar to keep you safe and sound.
What Do Athletes Really Need?
Athletes need to be better at their sport. Period. Coaches, fine-tune your needs analysis with precision so you can respectively answer the question above through program design.
A Fresh Perspective for Training Athletes
Unfortunately, so many coaches only focus on performance because that's how they were coached.
The Exercise Selection Chart
Let me walk you through a new weight room and share my processes for creating an exercise selection chart to best meet the needs of your athletes.
The End of the Unilateral Vs. Bilateral Debate
Do you swing more towards one side than the other? I can tell you that I did. So, we decided to try a progression to work both single-leg and double-leg exercises. Here is what the eight weeks looked like for our athletes.
The X Factor
I'm giving more emphasis on "core" than I have ever before. After four weeks of adding in this X work, it's amazing how much better our athletes feel and look while running, doing agilities, and lifting.
Training the Modern-Day Baseball Player
I'm talking about the athletes that play one sport and one sport only year-round. In short, build trust and DON'T be afraid to lift your athletes. Here's what a yearly plan looks like.
A Coach's Guide to General Physical Preparedness
To reach peak performance, you must build a solid foundation dedicating time to GPP. Here's how to widen the base with GPP, when to use it, and how to implement it. Download the GPP Giant Circuit to get started.
The COVID-Proof Waverly Project in Phase II
Our revisited phase 2 will give you good ideas as to how to start your teams back up after an extended layoff. Waverly had one of their best years in school history following this.
How to Make It Big as a Strength Coach: Sacrifice to Advance Your Career
Now, it’s time to expect the unexpected, ask questions, be proactive, continue your own education, take it to the edge, sacrifice, present yourself accordingly, hustle, and seven more to-dos (part three of three)!
How to Make It Big as a Strength Coach: The Application Process
Now, it’s time to get our hands dirty... Let’s start with the internship search. You have to ask yourself what you want. Assuming you want to be a strength and conditioning coach, ask yourself the following questions (part two of three).
How to Make It Big as a Strength Coach: The Foundational Basics
I was very lucky to come from a great undergrad program, which prepared me to handle the demands of big-time strength and conditioning programs. Here's a reference for the college student aspiring to be a strength coach (part one of three).
25 Years of Leadership
In 2021, we as coaches need to find out what makes our athletes tick and then continue to throw logs on that fire. Some guys need a little, and some need a lot. Over the past 25 years in this business regarding leadership, this is the difference between winning and mediocrity.
Compliance is the Science
What’s the point of putting all that work into thinking and planning an in-season program if 90 percent of the people aren’t going to do it?
8 Tips to Become a Better Performance Coach
Here's what to do and what not do as an intern, graduate assistant, and assistant as you try to climb the ranks. I didn't find these tips by reading a manual, but through the first-hand experience as an intern at Florida International University and an assistant for the Division I HBCU North Carolina Central University.