I know many of you are seeking the edge in training. For many years I was doing the same. I was searching for secrets, the latest and the greatest, something special, that one or two percent that would make the difference. The more I searched the more elusive it became. Finally I realized I had the answer right in front of me, I could not see the forest for the trees. I had seen it time and again [...]

With efforts to be like Edward Tufte when sharing data, I am reading a few books on data visualization. No matter how much reading one does or talking to coaches, experience is rate limited to the system you use, repeated over time. The spider graph of improvement comes from some exchanges with a smart "kid" named Carson Boddicker. At a tender age of 20 I am interested to see what he does over t [...]

Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that every time I hear a speaker talk about a tool in the toolbox, I don't see good work from their hands and eyes when I visit. I am not saying the TRX (suspension training) is not a good tool but when I see price tags of $189.99 I am worried about the HS teams and PE departments that don't have such a budget. When I look at old manuals and see minimalist i [...]

I have been a fan of Ian King over the last 15 years and this is sad to see. Would love to hear people's reactions to what is going on here on this link. [...]

Some people will email me what books I am reading. I often respond with what do you have first to see what they are reading. The usual suspects are glorified toilet paper, books written by gurus that cherry pick athletes and try to rewrite history. When I see that I usually send them a list of about 10 books (5 specific and 5 general) and the response is a complaint on price and availability. Curr [...]

Here is a great article from Steve Myrland on gurus. Enjoy. [...]

I am at University of North Carolina doing some beta testing on the TrainTrak system with Men's soccer, working with Greg Gatz, the Head of Olympic Sports Strength and Conditioning here. I have known Greg for over ten years and worked with him on several projects over the years. It is so cool to see a professional like this work. I could not help but think about all the internet gurus and self pr [...]

The latest buzzword is corrective exercise. Is corrective exercise the latest fad like “drawing in “ was a few years ago? What exactly is corrective exercise? I think I know, but it is a misleading concept. What exactly are you correcting? It sounds to me like another reductionist approach to the human body based on pseudo scientific principles and marketing. The exercises that I see labeled a [...]

Many current gurus provide sample speed/power plans that recommend volumes of speed/power elements that I find paltry for the majority of situations. I think a lot of this bias can be traced back to incomplete backgrounds heavily centered toward the force end of the force/velocity curve (weightroom centric strength and conditioning backgrounds, heavily powerlifting based backgrounds, etc..) If [...]

My training center has recently started a golf fitness training program and I've been looking to purchase some equipment for the TPI professional who will be overseeing our program. In doing so, I've stumbled across some videos that I couldn't help but laugh at. These things were like a bus full of burning nuns....you don't want to look but you just can't tear your eyes away from the horrific [...]