You can learn a lot about yourself in the weight room. Learning to show up early, work hard on every rep, every set, put things back, learning to take coaching (not view it as criticism), helping others, and perhaps the most important, learning how to deal with stress/discomfort. Discomfort is a necessary evil that is…
One of the keys for strength training as it relates to sport performance is MVC (maximum voluntary contraction). When our athletes are training, we stress to them the importance of intent. Especially when the athletes are doing Olympic pull variations and heavy core lifts (squats, deadlifts, pushes, and pulls). For example, if an athlete has…
Do you have goals that you’re working toward personally, professionally, athletically or are you just showing up each day and going through the motions? One of the best ways to set goals is to realize that you need to set a goal and actually have something to work towards in the first place. When we…
One of the biggest mistakes I see in the strength and conditioning field is this; coaches getting married to a certain exercise or system and remaining closed-minded. The main thing for coaches to realize is that there are no magic exercises; it simply comes down to selecting the exercise that is the best for the…
One of the most difficult things to change is a culture. Regardless of the sport, many sport coaches share the same dogmatic, culture views that assumes this; “if a little is good, more must be better”. For example, I was talking with a soccer player earlier today who was describing his conditioning schedule for the…
My oldest daughter Claire is 4 years old and is lucky enough to have her own room. As a result of having older cousins, grandparents who spoil her rotten, and friends who give her presents; her room is messy! I literally could not walk through her room earlier today. The floor was covered with clothes,…
I recorded a boxing match from the other night and finally have some time to watch it while I’m eating breakfast. During the match, I’m listening to the commentators talk about how one fighter has thrown around 100 more punches than the other fighter, so he must be winning the fight, right? Wrong. Another commentator…
Our youngest daughter Leah is 4 months old. We’re beginning to place her on her stomach more frequently so she can begin to build strength in her neck and upper back. This natural progression is part of the process prior to crawling. Leah doesn’t like “tummy time” at all. She typically will tolerate it for…
In the short 4 years that I’ve been a father, I have learned A TON from my daughters. Yesterday was no exception when I was helping my oldest (Claire) get ready for bed. She has a stool that she carries around with her everywhere in the house since she still can’t reach the majority of…
One of the most misunderstood training myths out there is that “more is better”. A lot of folks are under the presumption that if a little of something is good, then more must of course be better. Everything is good….to a degree. There is a point at which more is simply unnecessary and actually has…