Leading Through a Crisis
At Varsity House Gym, there have been three major contributing factors in continuing to stay above water and keep our team engaged in daily progress.
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.
The Need for a Calm Leader in 2020
There are a lot of different leadership qualities that lend themselves to different times and situations. Every leader is different, and there isn’t one perfect personality or leadership type. At this time, however, I think there is one leadership quality that is needed most.
Attitude Reflects Leadership
Anyone who has overseen a staff (especially a large one) has probably run into situations where you’ve faced the frustration of attitudes not being what you want them to be. Our attitudes as leaders play an incredibly important role in the attitudes of our staff.
Constraints: How to Use Them
I challenge you to think of this economic shutdown as a forced deload. Is it something that you want? No. Will it completely crush you? Probably not.
The 7 Pillars of Leadership
It took time and a whole lot of failures for me to learn these core principles of leading others. But they are what helped me grow my business to over 160 members and a team of four others working alongside me… which brings me to these 7 lessons of leadership.
4 Mistakes Fallen Leaders Are Prone To
Wealth, power, and fame. Some might say those are inherently negative characteristics. I, however, believe the way those characteristics are wielded determines whether they are good or bad.
8 Levels of Delegation for Successful Management
Your employees are like your clients in the gym. They want to build their skills and strengths and hopefully, are able to do it on their own. If you’re unable to manage your management, you are doing your employees and yourself a major disservice.
The Leadership Parallels Between the Successful Coach and the Successful...
After eight years of competing in strength sports and seven years of supervising employees, I’ve found that these parts of my life share several similarities when it comes to success. I’ve learned what makes the best coaches and bosses stand out from the rest. These three keys will help you do just that.
Top 5 Lessons I've Learned as a Coach
I’ve been really blessed to be around some great leaders who taught me these lessons. I wouldn’t be the man and coach I am today without them.
Defining the Core Values of Garden Fresh Foods
I began defining the core values of Garden Fresh Foods, the company I run with several fantastic managers and my wife, Christina. The process proved challenging and eye-opening with a multitude of cross-over applications to my bodybuilding career.
Starting Over as a Full-Time Coach
Too often in our industry, before we’ve even seen the athletes, we talk about what programs we’re going to use and how these programs need to be implemented.
How to Teach a Team to Lead Itself
If the majority of leadership has to come from coaches, that’s usually a sign of a rough season ahead. In my experience, I’ve found this to be 100% true.
Championship Nature Series: General George S. Patton and James J. Braddock
Most historical figures aren’t single-faceted, and if your athletes truly connect with them, you can bring other aspects of them to light to aid them in their journeys. General George S. Patton leads by example and James J. Braddock overcomes opponents using visualization.
A New Team
Here I am at my age, in a new town, in a new gym, with new people, starting all over from scratch.
Is Your Competition Outworking You?
I love the ideals of hard work, being hardcore, and oozing intensity, but over the years I have learned there are many ways to perceive these things.
LISTEN: Just Fly Performance Podcast Episode 16 with Guest Mark Watts
Most athletes will forget the win-loss records of their teams, but they won’t forget the way the coach treated them. This podcast episode focuses on the impact coaches can have on young athletes outside of sets and reps.
Consequences of Disrespect: Don't Disregard the Bureaucrat
One of the most important lessons of my 15-year leadership career came from a man capable of responding to disrespect and condescension with calmness and grace.
WATCH: Phil Matusz 2018 elitefts Sports Performance Summit Presentation ...
As Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning for The Ohio State University football team, Matusz knows what it’s like to be in a high-pressure environment. And that’s when your leadership really counts.
The Qualities I Look for in a Strength and Conditioning Intern or Colleague
When I interview someone and consider letting them join my team, these are the things I consider.
The Privilege to Work Hard
Your skills and abilities can get you the job, but your tenacity will get you the results needed to excel at it.
Credibility or Accountability — What Drives Your Organization's Suc...
After 15 years of executive leadership riddled with countless mistakes and faulty approaches, I have come to passionately believe that leadership focused on credibility rather than accountability is the more effective approach to take.
Micromanagement and the Failure of Weak Leaders
If you lack credibility and influence, attempting to reduce variance and error by controlling every process and detail of your business unit will erode the loyalty, urgency, and purpose needed for success.
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.
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.
The Power of the Parable
The parable is one of the oldest tools to teach. If it worked for Aesop and it worked for the ancient Greeks, it will work for your athletes.
A Letter to the Boss
If I were to write a note that would be applicable and truly helpful for leaders of all kinds, what would it say?
5 Lessons from 13 Years in Leadership
When I began this career, I was 26 years old. I’ve learned a lot since then. These are some of my most valuable lessons.
Building A Great Lifting Crew — Advice for Hardcore Lifters
The information in this article is meant for lifters who care about only one thing: building the biggest powerlifting total possible.
Building A Great Lifting Crew — Advice for Normal Lifters
The majority of people that go to the gym want a place where they can have fun, get stronger, and not be stressed in an overly-competitive environment. Here’s how to do it.
Communicating Your Vision
How can you sell your vision when it’s difficult to score your vision? Start with goals!
Leaders and Followers: Understanding The Root of Conflict
Your business or team will only thrive when each member firmly grasps the purpose of the organization and their role contributing to it. Understanding this concept is simple, but applying it is not.
Practice What You Preach — A Behavior Guide for Young Strength Coaches
Your relationship with your athletes is fundamental to helping them improve. It’s also fragile. Don’t risk compromising your role as a leader and your job as a coach.
Culture of the Team: The Hardest Part of Coaching
This problem started to creep up on us several years ago and I only see it getting worse.
Coaching: Sometimes It's All in the Delivery
Learning to connect with and effectively motivate your athletes can go a long way. Choose your words wisely.
A Call to Young Coaches
After a four-year degree and multiple internships, I thought I knew it all. I was wrong. You are too.
Life Lessons of the Iron
Train with me for one day and I will know more about you than I could learn from a year outside the gym. If you spend time with the weights, you’ll learn more about yourself, too.
The Four Steps of Establishing Your Program
The success of your program depends on your ability to balance what your head coach wants to do, what you want to do, and what your team really needs.
Four Ways to Become a Strong(her) Boss
If you’re a woman who holds a supervisory role in a male-dominated field, you’re going to encounter unique challenges. These four principles have helped me improve management processes.
Leadership Lessons from Offensive Lineman
One of the attributes which separates an average leader from a stellar one is how well they are able to understand the impact their decisions have on other people.
Pope Francis Leadership Diseases
These diseases are a danger for every leader and every organization, and they can strike at the individual and the community levels.
Leaders Spit Out the Bones
The ability to dispassionately learn from others is an important step towards emotional maturity
LISTEN: Simon Sinek's Leadership Lessons
The best selling author of ‘Start with Why’ and ‘Leaders Eat Last’, Simon Sinek explains the essential qualities of leadership
Jim Collins gets "Schooled" at West Point
The Re-Education of Jim Collins: The author of "Good to Great" went to West Point to teach leadership. Instead, he was the one who got schooled.
Elitefts Classic: Under the Bar – Attitude
I always felt the “under the bar concept” could carry it own weight. This is because just about every skill needed to be successful in business and life is also needed to be successful “under the bar”
Leadership Style Discovery in Performance Coaching
Someone doesn’t have to hold a prestigious head coaching position at a Division 1 university or be a C-level executive of a company to be a leader.
What Does It Take to Be an Effective Strength Coach?
What are the attributes of an effective strength and conditioning coach? I was recently asked this question, and as I stumbled over myself for a few minutes, I thought it would make a great topic for an article.
