Gender

Male

Location

Albuquerque, NM

Birthday:

February 22

Relation to the Strength & Conditioning Industry?

High School Coach, Other

Name of School, Team or Business

Rio Grande HS, South Valley Albuquerque, NM.

Job Title

Strength and Conditioning Coach, Structural Engineer

Current Job Description

I train a local high school varsity football team as well as some individual athletes here in Albuquerque, NM. I received my CSCS about ten years ago and gave it up last year. I also had my USAW Club Coach cert for a while and gave that up too. Not knocking those cert's and the education I received obtaining them, but to be honest, how I became the trainer I am today was by reading and trying everything available from Verkhoshansky, Zatsiorsky, Bondarchuk, Yessis, Bosch, Bartonietz, Jay Schroeder, Charlie Francis, Lou Simmons, Dave Tate, and even Janda, Richardson, and McGill (but there are others). I also have a BS and MS in Engineering Mechanics and have worked as a structural engineer for the last 15 years for GE, Rolls-Royce, and Husqvarna. But the science of training is my real passion. With the aforementioned educational background, as well as the practical application of what I learned, here is what I have been formed into believing and practicing: Aside from a basic foundation of strength and conditioning, which every athlete should have year-round anyway, athletes need to be trained only specific to their sporting needs. Bondarchuk referred to this as "special dynamic strength", as opposed to "maximal strength". That said, everything then needs to be done maximally, appropriate to their degree of readiness, always. Also, until the last phase prior to competition season, everything needs to be broken down and trained separately for, or within, a given session, right down to the eccentric, concentric and load-reversal parts of a rep. The phase just prior to competition season is where all parts of a 'rep' come together into the continuous physical action(s) needed in competition. But even within the 'pre-competition' phase the athlete is 'progressed' to the maximal state, ending right at the start of the competition season. Though aspects of an action are trained separately for, or within, a given session, every aspect of the athlete’s sporting demands are always trained within a minicycle. That is to say that while one training session may focus on explosive concentric work followed by over-speed eccentric work, a minicycle lasting a week would ultimately train every need of the athlete. Where every need means conditioning, body position, dynamic flexibility, power, force exertion, force absorption, speed, strength, skill-technique, and recovery. Not one thing is left out of a minicycle.

Past Job Experience

If this is not done, it is my belief that true maximal training cannot be realized w/o a high risk of injury. If this is done, however, true maximal training can be realized with each and every action, whether it's overspeed eccentrics, ballistic concentrics, super high intensity top quarter band-resisted concentric-only lifts, stretch reflex training, etc. Also by doing this, proper body position can be perfected for every single action, whether it be force absorption or exertion or energy reuse. Again, without this fundamental separation this could not be efficiently programmed or perhaps not programmed at all. From the chin to the toes, proper body position is critical for success. A word on 'maximal' training: any training that is not performed maximally and in proper position is a complete waste of time and effort. An athlete doing one single rep correctly and maximally is infinitely better than an athlete doing 100 reps with less than maximal intensity in poor position because only the former would be truly re-performed on a field of play. Therefore, training above all else must be efficient. Efficiency in movement means less injury and a superior & successfully trained athlete. Efficiency requires perfected body position and loads at these body positions which are of maximal intensity. Again, only then will the body be programmed/trained in a permanent way that will transfer to on-field performance.

Education

A few things worth noting: - maximal intensity does not mean maximal mass, but rather maximal force. on the concentric side look for a drop off in velocity and let that be your guide to what mass (or how much assistance) to use. on the eccentric side watch stopping distance/time and let that determine what velocity to use. stopping ability should be of extremely short distance or duration. in a maximally trained athlete this stopping distance/time will not even be obvious to someone not looking specifically for it. Case in point is Wes Welker's, or Heinz Ward's changing direction when running a pass route. velocity is always the main tool to achieving maximal force and ability to deal with force. - proper body position is the most important aspect to any training session or single action within a training session. only with proper body position can an athlete create or absorb maximal force. anything else will simply result in under-performance and potential injury. velocity falls immediately behind efficiency. - slow eccentrics have absolutely no useful purpose for training athletes. - acceleration must be expressed through the entire ROM or a reverse programming takes place which will program an athlete to 'hold back'. use ballistics in place of the traditional slowing down at the end of the concentric side of the rep. - when needing to add muscle mass use low-rep high-number clusters and ample recovery seconds to allow for low energy systems to recover. - maximal top quarter band resisted lifts are a great stimulus for ballistic maximal velocity actions. - eccentric work is harder on the body than concentric work so that should be done at the end of a training minicycle just prior to a short active recovery period. - be concerned more about velocity than %1RM. - bands are great for inducing higher velocities as well as applying higher loads at joint configurations where such loads are leveraged the most effectively. - overcoming a zero velocity of a heavy mass and also isometrics are great for getting an athlete's brain communicating with more muscle fibers. this is particularly effective when done early in training. - overspeed eccentrics onto, and ballistics from, uneven surfaces is an excellent way to train cutting and changing direction at top speed. Agility ladders and 'agility work' is useless. - by decreasing mass and increasing velocity, greater forces can be trained with much less stress on the body in the form of overtraining. with properly organized minicycles, and with perfectly efficient body position, and with "more mass" giving way to "more velocity", 'overtraining' is effectively non-existent. - learn the true needs of an athlete as well as how the human body is designed to move and move loads and design a program around that. - from the front proper body position is straight lines and from the side it's right angles starting from about 5-10 degrees off of horizontal beginning at the metatarsals. lower body is square to target, path, or to oncoming mass whether bilateral or unilateral. low back is hollowed and head/chin is neutral to slightly tilted up. arms are slightly flexed for balance. generally, body is 'pulling' into position with antagonists waiting for cue to fire agonists. note the closer the feet are to being under the hips the more force potential that exists. - sound nutrition principles are important. to close, the days of slow eccentrics, non-ballistic concentrics, giving up speed in favor of mass, as well as some others already noted, are simply over. Training like this will not produce an athlete but rather destroy an athlete. Trainers need to stop going to these 'new-idea' seminars and get down to what athletes really do: absorb force fast and exert force fast. With proper body position this will not only develop quickly for the athlete, but will also create a happy, confident, amazing athlete. this may not get much praise but in my opinion it sure will win championships.

Job Status

I am seeking a new job

School, Team or Business Hiring Status

A few things worth noting: - maximal intensity does not mean maximal mass, but rather maximal force. on the concentric side look for a drop off in velocity and let that be your guide to what mass (or how much assistance) to use. on the eccentric side watch stopping distance/time and let that determine what velocity to use. stopping ability should be of extremely short distance or duration. in a maximally trained athlete this stopping distance/time will not even be obvious to someone not looking specifically for it. Case in point is Wes Welker's, or Heinz Ward's changing direction when running a pass route. velocity is always the main tool to achieving maximal force and ability to deal with force. - proper body position is the most important aspect to any training session or single action within a training session. only with proper body position can an athlete create or absorb maximal force. anything else will simply result in under-performance and potential injury. velocity falls immediately behind efficiency. - slow eccentrics have absolutely no useful purpose for training athletes. - acceleration must be expressed through the entire ROM or a reverse programming takes place which will program an athlete to 'hold back'. use ballistics in place of the traditional slowing down at the end of the concentric side of the rep. - when needing to add muscle mass use low-rep high-number clusters and ample recovery seconds to allow for low energy systems to recover. - maximal top quarter band resisted lifts are a great stimulus for ballistic maximal velocity actions. - eccentric work is harder on the body than concentric work so that should be done at the end of a training minicycle just prior to a short active recovery period. - be concerned more about velocity than %1RM. - bands are great for inducing higher velocities as well as applying higher loads at joint configurations where such loads are leveraged the most effectively. - overcoming a zero velocity of a heavy mass and also isometrics are great for getting an athlete's brain communicating with more muscle fibers. this is particularly effective when done early in training. - overspeed eccentrics onto, and ballistics from, uneven surfaces is an excellent way to train cutting and changing direction at top speed. Agility ladders and 'agility work' is useless. - by decreasing mass and increasing velocity, greater forces can be trained with much less stress on the body in the form of overtraining. with properly organized minicycles, and with perfectly efficient body position, and with "more mass" giving way to "more velocity", 'overtraining' is effectively non-existent. - learn the true needs of an athlete as well as how the human body is designed to move and move loads and design a program around that. - from the front proper body position is straight lines and from the side it's right angles starting from about 5-10 degrees off of horizontal beginning at the metatarsals. lower body is square to target, path, or to oncoming mass whether bilateral or unilateral. low back is hollowed and head/chin is neutral to slightly tilted up. arms are slightly flexed for balance. generally, body is 'pulling' into position with antagonists waiting for cue to fire agonists. note the closer the feet are to being under the hips the more force potential that exists. - sound nutrition principles are important. to close, the days of slow eccentrics, non-ballistic concentrics, giving up speed in favor of mass, as well as some others already noted, are simply over. Training like this will not produce an athlete but rather destroy an athlete. Trainers need to stop going to these 'new-idea' seminars and get down to what athletes really do: absorb force fast and exert force fast. With proper body position this will not only develop quickly for the athlete, but will also create a happy, confident, amazing athlete. this may not get much praise but in my opinion it sure will win championships.