Mike Kozak is the owner of SOAR Fitness. His interest in performance enhancement started back when he was a physical education teacher. He would hold plyometric training sessions to anyone interested on increasing his or her athleticism. Kozak then started reading strength training books, which led to further readings of books and articles, all enhancing his knowledge of performance enhancement training. He said a quote to us interns, “I had no idea what I did not know.” Through his mission statement (below) you can see that Mike Kozak is a committed individual that will help you reach your fitness goals.
“SOAR FITNESS strives to provide the highest level of instruction and effective strength and conditioning methods to athletes and adults of all ages. Whether you are an elite level athlete or beginner level soccer player, weekend warrior or fitness enthusiast, SOAR guarantees that you will achieve your full potential.”
The elitefts™ interns, Codi Casper, Andy Hingsbergen, Andrew Triana, and Hunter Winans interviewed Mike Kozak on July 9th.
Codi Casper: How difficult is it to work in sync with High School and College coaches when programming for an athlete?
Mike Kozak: It can be a daunting task at times when programming for an athlete. If the athlete is in college we typically go off his/her training program sent from the university. I might tweak or add on a few things, but we mostly follow that specific program. High school is different depending on if the athlete is in season or off-season. If athlete is in season I generally don’t see them a lot due to school and practice. During their off-season time I am able to work with them more and am able to program the athlete with more flexibility. I do keep in contact with some of the high school coaches who have sent me athletes before so we are on the same page with their workouts.
Codi Casper: How important is communication with your athletes when it comes to injuries?
Mike Kozak: Communication is always key. For example, I had an athlete battling a hip injury and never told me until I noticed the athlete limping after some change of direction training. I asked the athlete what was wrong, and once he told me I had to change his whole program. If I were aware of the athlete’s injury prior to the workout then I would have him doing mobility work. I have to know if my athletes are injured so I know how to program for them; I also need to know the athletes rehab progress so I know how hard and far to push the athlete.
Andy Hingsbergen: Do you advocate any sort of nutritional guidelines for your athletes?
Mike Kozak: We tell our athletes to eat quality foods. We don’t really mess around with nutrition too much. We do suggest creatine and we sell weight gainer from Universal Nutrition. We also do the Advocare thing, but we are very hands off with it. It’s easy to tell when my athletes aren’t eating enough, so I try to explain to them how critical nutrition is for their performance enhancement.
Andy Hingsbergen: What kind of conditioning work do you utilize with your athletes?
Mike Kozak: We do a lot of prowler pushes. Aerobic capacity is very important, and we do a lot of “recovery aerobic” work as well with our athletes who participate in multiple sports. We generally stay out of the lactic phase until preseason. We avoid anything that could negatively impact our training.
Andy Hingsbergen: Are you comfortable in your current location?
Mike Kozak: Yes, but you can’t see us from the street…so that’s the only complaint I have. This area is very affluent and you must have money to really start to get your business up and going here. That being said we don’t pay for ads, all of our clients have come via word-of-mouth.
Andrew Triana: Who molded your training methods from coming from Physical Education on into Strength and Conditioning?
Mike Kozak: John Blaine was a physical education teacher who made a significant impact on me. He taught at the elementary school level and showed me the importance of individualization and progressions in a program. Mike Boyle also had a heavy influence on my training; mainly showing me that everything in a program should have a reason, and to do things with intent.
Andrew Triana: What are the impacts on kids involved in early specialization?
Mike Kozak: On a sliding scale of movement: baseball is on the low end and basketball is on the higher end. Lacrosse has some serious asymmetrical issues; shoulder and core dysfunction are seen across the board. A commonality that I see is injuries become more prevalent with more specialized athletes.
Hunter Winans: As a Performance Coach in the private sector, do you have a relationship with any of the head coaches of your clients? How does that relationship influence both yours and their training programs?
Mike Kozak: I do have a relationship with many of the head coaches of the athletes that train here. With some, it’s a great relationship and they refer their athletes to me for more extensive training. There is one coach, however, that disagrees with my philosophies. I have had a few conversations with him to further explain what I do and why it is benefitting his athletes, but it’s futile. One of the worse scenarios for an athlete is come here, work extremely hard, benefit from the training sessions, and then go back to their head coach and correct them on their program. The head coach makes the final decision whether the athlete plays or not, so I never want to put my athletes in a bad situation with their head coach.
Hunter Winans: During a training session I observed that you have your athletes shoeless during warmups and while deadlifting, could you explain to me your philosophy on that?
Mike Kozak: I like to analyze the athletes’ foot positioning and integrity during warm ups, some drills, and with a load placement (deadlifts). Feet are extremely important and can gives cues and precursors to probable future injuries. Improper posture in the foot region could cause damage to feet, ankles, lead up to your knees and hips, and worst case lower back. I like to catch any discrepancies and correct them into a more ideal posture position.
Hunter Winans is a rising senior at Denison University. He is a member of the football team and an athletic training major. He is currently interning at elitefts™ to further pursue his interest in the fitness world; and to further develop his knowledge in strength and performance training.
Andy Hingsbergen is an intern at EliteFTS. He's currently finishing up a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology at The Ohio State University. Andy competes in powerlifting and is currently setting his sights on taking the physique stage. He is originally from Springboro, Ohio.
Andrew Triana is a Springfield College student studying Applied Exercise Science. He competes in Strongman.
Codi Casper is from Carrollton, Ohio. He recently graduated from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in Applied Journalism while playing strong safety on RMU's football team. New to the powerlifting circuit, he placed 3rd in his first ever meet this past April. He competes in a full meet this August at Lexen Extreme.