December 2011 Blog Posts (32)

Lesson Nine – It is important to stand up for what you believe in and if you are wrong to admit it. Valuing honesty, respect, integrity and professionalism does not make you a bitter old man, it makes you a wise. In today’s world of quick fixes, fast information and instant Internet experts it is easy to lose sight of substance and strong foundational beliefs. Being an excellent coach is being an excellent person, it is…

Lesson Eight – Those that ignore history are condemned to repeat it. In my experience there is no substitute for a historical context. This is one of the biggest deficiencies I see in today’s “new breed” of coaches. Go to the original sources and study them, don’t depend on interpretations. If you want to understand the “New Interval Training” you must go back and understand the old interval…

Lesson Seven – Progress, change and growth occur through collaboration with others. To continue to grow and learn it is important to also seek out others whose ideas differ.

Lesson Six - Adaptation takes time and different qualities adapt at different rates depending on training age, time of the training year,gender and a myriad of other factors. This is certainly not a new lesson, but one that was continually reinforced in 2011. More often that not the success or failure of a program is the art of the timing of the application of the training stress. When you do…

Make a New Year's Evolution

The difference between evolution and resolution is CHANGE!

2011 is coming to a close, with only 4 more days until 2012. How have you done with those infamous New Year's resolutions this year? If you  are like the vast majority of Americans, probably not too well. In fact, 92% of Americans failed at their resolutions, meaning only 8% achieved what they set out to accomplish for 2011. 80% of those goals were given up on by…

Lesson Five -10,000 hours is only part of a much bigger picture. Just punching a clock accumulating hours, starting to specialize early and put in your time each day is no guarantee for excellence. You do need some talent, a lot of direction, laser focus and a will to succeed in order to make the practice meaningful. Excellence requires a growth mindset a willingness to risk and make mistakes…

Lesson Three – Use technology to supplement, not supplant your coaching. Technology is an aid not a replacement for a good coaching eye and a feel for what is happening. If in doubt rely on intuition and gut feeling over artificially generated numbers. Cultivate and sharpen your ability to look and listen more effectively. Art + Science/Technology = Performance.

Lesson Four – Correlation is not causation. Beware of confirmation bias in…

So, here we are, only 3 day until Christmas. Undoubtedly, some of us are already attending parties, family functions, or scrambling to finsh up that last minute shopping. For most strength and conditioning professional, work outs don't fall by the way side just because Chris Cringle comes knocking. In turn, our athletes may not miss either. But, one crucial thing that can go south is NUTRITION! The Holiday season here in the U.S. has traditionally been a time for overconsumption, both…

Lesson Two – The body is all about connections and linkages, not parts. How the parts and systems of the body connect and interact allow the body to achieve the remarkable feats of skill, power, strength, speed and endurance that we see it achieve. Therefore coach the linkages and connections to help the body more effectively solve movement problems. Get away from the reductionist approach that focuses on the parts, instead look at making the parts connect more efficiently. Ultimately…

i walked on to the crew team at my school, easily the hardest sport ever created. The amount of pain your body goest through in each piece is awful. However, I love the low impact on my knees and shins. Although I now loath the rowing machine, I love the sport. My only problem is that I have developed a bad habit, with 600 meters left in my 2k i take strokes off, I need to push through this pain. This also comes with being a "novice." Another reason is that I tend to fly and die, so my next…

2011 has been an unbelievable learning year. The opportunity to interact with top professionals in many fields made this past year special. Over the next few days I will share with some of the lessons I have learned and earned. I say earned because this is an ongoing accumulation of graduate credits toward my PhD in the school of hard knocks. Some of the lesson over the years and this year have been hard earned.…

If you are reading this then God gave you another day to get better! Whatever it is you do today, do it to the best of your ability. If you do that every day you will be amazing at whatever it is you do. Life is too short to waste a day! Do not waste this day God has given you. "I can't believe God put us on this earth to be ordinary" -Lou Holtz. Have a GREAT day!

It is so easy to get caught in negativity and focusing on what an athlete can’t do as opposed to what they can do. Look where someone can be rather than where they are. Look for what someone can do rather than what they can’t do. Limits are artificial but sometimes as coaches we make them real by constantly verbalizing them. Project into he future and see what can be done. If you are working with developing athletes as I…

I do not believe in entitling or anointing athletes. They must earn their way and pay their dues in all areas of their development. I do believe in athlete empowerment. The athlete needs to be a partner in the process, so that the process is meaningful and contributes to their growth as an athlete and a person. Coaching is not something you do to the athlete; it is something you do with the athlete. A good starting point…

Arizona Athletics reports:

TUCSON, Ariz.--Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez today hired former colleague Chris Allen as the primary football strength coach. He becomes an associate director of athletics for strength and conditioning.

Allen, 35, was director of skill development and…

Perhaps the most simple and effective navigation aid is the compass. As coaches it is imperative that we have a good working compass and a current road map to guide us to our destination. The compass must be oriented to true north, not magnetic north or we will always be two to three degrees off…

Hey everyone! I started to re-do my blog space and just posted a review article that I wrote in grad school. Any and all constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated!! Check it out here:

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Plyometric training is not a stand-alone training method; it is highly compatible and significantly enhanced by strength training. It is also closely related to speed development. Most importantly it is NOT a conditioning tool! Because of the explosive nature of the work it is of high neural demand, therefore it should not be used for conditioning. It is a power development tool. It should almost never be trained in a…

The exercise is the smallest component of the entire training process. Basically a workout is a blend of carefully selected exercises designed to achieve a specific objective. Special consideration must be given not only to the selection of the individual exercise but also to the sequence of the exercises. There is a definite synergistic relationship between exercises. One exercise sets up another exercise. If improperly…

Systematic Athletic Development Principle Five - Train bodyweight before external resistance

Basically this entails is being able to handle bodyweight against gravity. The starting point is traditional…