No Non-Sense Guide to Team Sport Sprint Training
What I’m presenting is what’s worked for my athletes. This 12-week program is based on principles involving anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, psychology, and neurology along with 10 years of experience coaching.
10 Ways to Increase your Longevity in Powerlifting
Do you fall into the category of lifters who don’t move outside of the 1-3 hours spent in the gym? If so, you’re not going to last very long in this game. Here’s how to increase your longevity as a powerlifter.
Should You Load a Stable Joint?
I’m here to present the case that you should load your stable joints; otherwise, how will you increase its stability?
16-Week Beginner Conjugate Program
I’m going to share a program with you that someone asked for my advice and input on. I know very little about this lifter. I got a little bit of information from them through Instagram, but other than that, what I’m writing are my initial thoughts and an improved program based on this information.
A Strength Athlete's Running Journey
I always had an interest in running. I enjoyed it. It always seemed to help me mentally, and honestly, I feel it’s in all of our blood, and we are predisposed to endurance. But I had pain in my right angle and big toe, so I told myself I’d never be able to run. Until now.
The elitefts Internship Guide
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about internships, all in one place.
Death to the Belly Breath
Stop saying “breathe into your belly.” It’s physically impossible for us to breathe into our bellies! We need to rethink this cue and review breathing mechanics before we can go around fixing people’s breathing.
Stirring the Pot, Volume 1
I’ve been told I do a good job of being a heretic of the strength and conditioning coach profession, so I might as well keep it up and stir the pot with some of my hot takes on sumo deadlifts, box squatting, and more.
9 Things I Learned From a Social Media Detox
Quitting social media will help you realize how you’re spending your time and where you’re spending your time. Most of us, myself included, are wasting entirely too much time on stupid stuff. Stop wasting your time there and start putting it where it’s most important.
Physics 101 for Performance Enhancement
If you understand the science of physics and how to apply it, you’ll have a better understanding of sports and performance enhancement. You owe it to your athletes to understand the fundamentals. Let’s get started.
What It Means to "Pass On"
Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of coaches telling other coaches to be careful of people who ask for advice in case they’ll steal their trade secrets. Knock it off. Where did you learn the stuff you know now? That knowledge is not yours alone.
How to Build a Yearly Plan for Powerlifters
Plan, execute, evaluate, readjust, and repeat. Those are the steps I take when developing a program for a client — and coincidentally, the same ones I cover in this article.
3 Things You'll Find in My Mental Health Toolbox
Like any other coach, I love talking about training and programming and being in the weight room while coaching. But like many of you, I’ve neglected the thing between my ears, and I want you to know that it’s all right to feel. If your mental health is a weakness, don’t avoid it.
10 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness in Young Athletes
This article is not a guide to running your kids into the ground because, you know, “mental toughness.” If that’s what you’re looking for, I suggest you find a different career field.
A Different Look at the Dynamic Effort Method for Athletes
Why not do speed work with the movements that your athletes will see in their sport?
3 and Out Method Setup
Based on the previous article, a lot of you were asking how to best set up the program – ask and you shall receive. I will cover one simple way and two in-depth ways to set it up.
3 and Out Method
Wearing 30 hats as a coach? Working long hours? Use this training method to become bigger, faster, and stronger if you’re struggling to find personal gym time.
The Coach's Guide to Programming and Periodization: Residual Effect...
This fourth article helps set us up to be able to put together our macrocycles, mesocycles, and microcycles.
The Coach's Guide to Programming and Periodization: Surfing The For...
Understanding this tool for manipulating training intensities is key for athlete programming at every part of pre-season, in-season, post-season and off-season phases.
The Coach's Guide to Programming and Periodization: Variable Manipu...
In the first article of this series we covered the basic principles of programming and periodization. Now let’s discuss strategies to manipulate volume and intensity, and start examining the training units used to structure training.
The Coach's Guide to Programming and Periodization: Basic Principle...
We can’t simply throw random exercises and set and rep schemes on a piece of paper haphazardly and then hope for the best. In this series I will teach you how to write programs, including a coach’s assignment for each article.
Programming for Athletes — The High School Athlete: Grades 9-12, Ages 15...
During this stage we will teach our athletes, who should be proficient at performing basic skills, to perform those skills under competitive atmospheres in practice.
Programming for Athletes — The Middle School Athlete: Grades 7-8, Ages 1...
These athletes undergo rapid physical development, increased workloads, new mental health challenges, and hormonal changes. As they hit peak height velocity, it’s vital to properly manage their training.
Programming for Athletes — The Youth Athlete: Grades 4-6, Ages 10-12
This is the most important time in an athlete’s career for learning motor patterns, and it’s the age range that can set up athletes for long-term success in their sport.
Programming for Athletes — The Youth Athlete: Grades 1-3, Ages 6-9
Programming for this age must be based on the understanding that most speed and strength gains in young athletes are due to motor learning, improved motor coordination, and nervous system development/adaptation.
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?
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Olympic Lifts Progression
The Olympic lifts will develop strength, speed, and power, but this is dependent on a few things you must do for your athletes.
6 Steps to Landing An Internship
Are you willing to stand out? Are you willing to do what it takes to get where you want to be?
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Deadlift Progression
One of the best movements to build strength but also one of the hardest to teach for many coaches is the deadlift. It’s worth your time to learn correctly.
Coaches of Tomorrow — Building A Better Internship Program
Your internship or coaching development program should be a professional development program, not the result of saying, “I need somebody to do the busy work in the weight room.”
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Overhead Press Progression
A lot of coaches shy away from the overhead press because it’s “dangerous.” But my question to the coaches that say that: “Aren’t most exercises potentially dangerous?”
10 Tips to Make It as a Strength Coach
Want to make it in this field? Want to stand out? Here are ten tips for all you fresh college grads and those of you that are starting your internships.
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Bench Progression
This four-step progression is used to help young athletes develop the proper form, stability, and strength required to use a barbell.
WATCH: The Strength Coach Development Center — Squat Progression
For any exercise, you need to know the proper progressions and regressions. Here is a simple squat progression you can implement with your athletes today.
Q&A with James Smith: Upper Body Training for Volleyball Players
It is time for you to blur the lines between volleyball practice and physical preparation and fuse them into one holistic entity of movement.
WATCH: How Are You Teaching the Squat?
Mark Watts visits JL Holdsworth and his staff at The Spot Athletics to discuss instruction of the squat and how to create proficiency in an untrained population.
A Simple, Quick View of Dynamic Effort Work for Athletes
These non-traditional methods of dynamic effort work will supercharge your athletes without sending them down the road to rehab.
Elitefts Sports Performance Podcast: The Spot Athletics
Interview with JL Holdsworth and Nic Bronkall of The Spot Athletics.
