Those are harsh words so when I was channel surfing last week and heard those words I stopped surfing and listened. One of the ESPN pundits, a former pro football player (so of course he must know everything about football and even more about strength training) was expounding on the recent failure and perceived deficiencies of a pro football team. He identified the fact that even though there had [...]

This video is why we need more strength coaches sharing what to do and less PTs giving us insight on power. This is not real power. Power is measured and what is being shared (single arm exercises with light loads) can't do anything for increasing power with athletes unless they are truly untrained. I can't imagine a running back at a D1 program going through the hole explosively from the traini [...]

The batteries are recharged and my mind is overflowing with ideas. I have spent the last two weeks pursuing the answers to life’s persistent mysteries concerning athletic development. Just kidding. For me recharging the batteries was not to take a vacation and sit on the beach contemplating my navel, it was refocusing spending more time coaching. The Venice Volleyball team starts district p [...]

Obviously I believe coaching matters. I saw two prime examples this past weekend in soccer. First my good friend Juan Osorio is now coach of New York Red Bulls. I watched their game against Dallas last Saturday. With the lineup New York was able to put on the field they should not have been on the same field with Dallas, but because of their technical, tactical and fitness preparation they won the [...]

I believe that we have a lesser pool of true athletes at the very same time the gene pool continues to improve. Through natural selection, better per & post natal health care, etc, we bring healthier, more gifted children into the world but from day 1, poor parental decisions and later on, the individual’s poor choices, are detrimental from an athletic development standpoint. The race to [...]

I was rereading Presentation Zen this weekend, just like any good book it has proved valuable on several levels, first it stimulated me to improve my presentations, second it has proved to be a very good coaching book. After all, what is coaching? It is communicating ideas and concepts. The secret to good coaching is to get the athlete in the proper state of mind, that state is no mind. The athlet [...]

I asked Jack Blatherwick to address his viewpoint on establishing an aerobic base. Jack is with the Washington Capitols and was conditioning coach for six American Olympic Ice Hockey teams including the 1980 “Miracle Team”). The following is his response:Establishing an aerobic baseby Jack Blatherwick, Ph.DThis question comes up often: is it appropriate for young sprinters and athletes [...]

R. A. Dickey a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners does not have an ulnar collateral ligament. There is a story in today’s New York Times sports page about this. “For him to be able to throw at all is pretty phenomenal in itself,” said Rick Griffin, the Mariners’ head athletic trainer. “But he’s doing it in the major leagues. People in sports amaze you physicall [...]

Last night I made the mistake of watching the Super Bowl from start to finish, I had not done that for at least 25 years. Now I know why, somewhere stuck strategically between ads there was a game. If there was ever any doubt about professional sport as entertainment not sport this settled it for me. I will take soccer or rugby any day – nonstop action. One ad did catch me eye though, it wa [...]

This is Kevin McGill’s response to my post on specialization, a little different viewpoint.One of the most famous progressions in track history is the development of Igor Nikulin, from age 6 to 21. His father had been in the Olympics, and of course, taught the little guy the basics with a very light hammer. (It is the same with Koji Murofushi) No one in the US knows exactly what the father [...]