Reality Check for Aspiring Strength Coaches
You dream of training elite-level athletes? Consider this.
Hoss’s Project Jonah, Part I
Scott Cartwright has taken on an epic challenge: training his son Jonah. And you get to watch it all unfold.
Mastering Pool Tempos and the 300-Meter Run
The Thinker has answers to your training questions…fellow brainiacs to the front of the room.
elitefts™ Classic: Training Log Tips
If you haven’t been reading the training logs, you’ve been missing out on some great “in the trenches” training advice.
The Angry Coach: Camp Crap
And, oh yeah, until you’ve actually been through this shit, try not to talk about football, okay?
Training the Younger Generation of Athletes
Now more than ever, the younger generation of athletes (and their parents) are looking to gain an edge.
The Ladder…Good? Bad? Both.
Ladder drills should be included in the dynamic warm up phase of a complete strength and conditioning program on occasion to change things up and keep it fresh.
How to Develop a High School Football Player, Part 4
We use 2-, 3-, and 4-board presses, different grips, and different bars; we’re always tricking the body.
Ladders to Success
Ladders—get stronger, fitter, and faster, all without touching a treadmill or resting for light years between sets.
How to Develop a High School Football Player, Part 3
We’re looking for great mechanics and the ability to understand different movements.
Load Shift Training
You are only as strong as your weakest link; when that link breaks, the related injury can keep you out of the gym for an extended period of time.
A Very Different View of Training
I prepare an athlete to develop optimum control of his body as he moves, which is why I view core stability a failure as a basic model of athletic training.
How to Develop a High School Football Player, Part 2
I care about results and that’s what we get—results!
How to Use Chains And Bands
Is the use of bands and chains some magical tool that will create supermen?
More About Informational Integrity
I simply don’t like frauds who attempt to practice their fraudulence at my expense.
How to Develop a High School Football Player, Part 1
The three common strengths the athletes displayed were hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.
Training the Female Athlete: Culture, Education, and Motivation
The girl steps into the gym for the first time and is met with the smell of sweat and the sound of metal clanging violently.
Garage Gyms: How to Run Groups Effectively
Your coaching facility should be a place where work is accomplished, goals are met, and pride is instilled.
Individual Strength Makes Teams Strong
Forget team, forget coaches, forget any other irrelevant factor.
By the Coach for the Coach: It Isn't the Strongest of the Species T...
I like to think that, as a profession, we’re much better than we were.
Mental Aspect of Olympic Weightlifting
I was known around my gym and by other area lifters as the guy who hit himself, headbutted objects, and always had plenty of ammonia on hand.
Visualizing a Lift: Part 2, Ritual Reinforcement
This is your only chance; how do you want this set to go down?
RENO HARDCORE: Cliché
When I first decided to pursue powerlifting seriously, I knew I could be good. How good? I didn’t know.
Learn. Apply. Compete.
I’ve heard the saying, “The more I know, the more I realize that I don’t know much.” This saying couldn’t be truer for me.
Prehabilitation for Bigger PRs
If you live a healthy enough lifestyle and perform the correct preventative movements, your body’s ability to heal will be exponentially greater.
Core Curriculum
Strength and conditioning professionals, including seasoned veterans with many years in the trenches, might find themselves hard pressed to provide rationale for core exercises that they’re programming for their athletes.
By the Coach for the Coach: Football Camp
If you’re a coach who works with football or any other fall sport, there are many issues that you must address in early August.
Iron Sport: How to Become a Dominator
The dominator gene is not so much a physical attribute, but an element of will.
Learning to Learn: Becoming the Strength Coach You Were Meant to Be, Part 2
Self-education is probably the most important factor in being successful. I will take you on a journey to all the sources from which I get my information and how to learn from each.
Interns and Impact, Part Two: The Impression You Make on the Athletes
I have seen many interns who don’t understand that each internship is a test and you need to bust your butt to make that internship into a job.
Interns and Impact, Part One: The Impression You Make on the Coaching Staff
When you’re an intern at a big school, it’s like you’re a 20-kilogram plate in a weight room.
Know That You Don’t Know
A great coach knows that he didn’t know and does everything in his power to figure it out.
The ‘Other Bar:’ Hang Time for Strength Athletes, Part 1
I’m sure you’ve heard before that the pull-up is to the upper body what the squat is to the lower body.
By the Coach for the Coach: 10 Things I Learned (or Was Just Reminded of...
Now that we’re into summer, and the spring semester is behind us, I think we must reflect on what we did during the school year.
Applicability of Agility Training
Open skill agility drills that more closely mimic the unpredictable nature of competition are lacking in most programs.
Training the Athlete
Concentrate your efforts on training the dominant energy system (anaerobic alactic, anaerobic lactic, or aerobic) for your sport or activity.
Key Performance Indicators: Measuring Progress Correctly
Key performance indicators are specific, measurable things that tell us whether or not we are making progress toward our goals.
Lift It. Hold It. Lower It.
Strength training is a simple process that has become an over complicated “wishing well” for athletic success.
Interview with Vladimir Issurin
What is the history of the block periodization concept, and how has it evolved into what it is today?
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: What the Strength Athlete Needs to Know
At the literal center of cardiorespiratory health is the heart, a powerful muscle that consists of four distinct chambers—the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium, and the left ventricle.
Isometric Face Pulls
Will I ever cure my kyphosis totally? Probably not, but I can at least work on keeping my shoulders healthy.
Facts Needed to Prevent Hamstring Strains
Once you’ve experienced a hamstring strain, you wish nothing more than for it to never have happened or at least for it to never happen again.
By the Coach for the Coach: The Trip
Each year for the CSCCa conference, my staff and I take a road trip.
The Creatine Facts
One of the longest standing controversies in the world of health, fitness, and athletic performance is whether or not one should take creatine.
The College Athlete: True Pursuit of a Dream
Your mind is locked in though, so while the sweat pouring into your eyes may blur your sight, your vision remains clearer than ever.
The Angry Coach: But He Played Ball
To sum this up, I was told that the bench press has no application for football players, and that it’s more harmful than helpful.
LTT IV: Thursday Youth Coaching Session
Anyone can learn the science, the research, and the X’s and O’s, but a great coach leaves the kids smiling.
The Manifesto of Supervillainy
Whenever people question me about my religion, political policies, moral code, business ethics, training program, or any other topic that seeks to classify me in some way, I always reply, “supervillainy.”
The 10 Commandments of Conditioning
No matter what sport you compete in, you’ll probably agree that conditioning plays a huge factor in how an athlete performs. If athletes aren’t conditioned properly, they’ll never achieve peak performance in their sport.
The Angry Coach: Top Three General Mistakes
Just something to think about when you’re in the middle of the learning process – like we all still are.
All-Star Parenting
Working with youth athletes has been an experience that has taught me several lessons.
Evidence-Based Practice Versus Practice-Based Evidence
I don’t question the importance of delivering a well-researched and subsequently effective program to athletes.
Keck's Column: Strength: Are You Building it, or Just Testing it?
There’s certainly a time and place to test your strength, occasionally in the gym and always on the platform.
The Angry Coach: High School Strength Coaches - Don't Make This Mis...
I learned that it’s pointless to bring a gun to a knife fight, if you will.