Yesterday I was sent a link to an article of why cleans may not be the best option for everyone. What was concerning is that many coaches are shying away from the olympic lifts more and more, and now lifting in any form besides single leg options with light loads is the new normal. No exercise is magical, and ten years ago I wrote an article about overzealous coaches demanding that everyone do oly [...]

For years now coaches have been able to track how far a player runs during a game. But by combining that knowledge with biosignatures time-stamped to any point in the game, coaches can understand how hard they are working each player and how the different positions on the field compare with one another. That information has allowed coaches to make changes in training based on the data, Tenney says [...]

Do you coach Track & Field, Football, Basketball or Swimming? Yes you do but more importantly you coach the people who compete in those sports. The human element transcends all. Anyone can learn the techniques and strategies, but to be truly effective as a coach you must coach the person. Know what makes your athletes tick. Take an interest in them as people, they are not machines, they have feeli [...]

The graph above shows the performance chart for one of my athletes over the course of her career (Courtesy of mo.milesplit.us) run 5k in XC. It is easy to see this athlete struggled in the middle of her career. However, that graph shows doesn’t do justice to the story of Kayla Friesen. Kayla showed a lot of promise as a young runner on our cross country team as a freshman. She was putting in a n [...]

While I am happy to see medicine ball use increase over the last decade, I have seen some "bro" knowledge approaches and sloppy use of the system. I have also seen a lot of "cons" with education of people sharing some magic solutions to performance with just 3 x 6 reps of the magic medicine ball. Coming from a classic USATF environment as well as a swimming background, I feel that medicine bal [...]

Effective athletic development is based upon the principle of the development of fundamental movement skill before specific sport skill. In generations past this was something that everyone took for granted because the demands of everyday living took care of fundamental movement. People at all ages were much more active. Children grew up active, free play was a major part of daily activity. It was [...]

"...if we don’t ever put effort into developing models and pushing the technology to greater lengths then I think we miss out on something that could eventually be a great tool. I know Carl that you also know that no one uses this GPS stuff with the belief that they are finding an absolute determinant of body load. Just simply a consistent measurement to develop a model based on the relationshi [...]

Over the years I've been involved in elite level coaching or player development in several sports. I've always had an appreciation for just how amazing are athletes are who make it to the medal stand. With a recent change in sporting focus, I have just increased my appreciation of this fact. Consider these facts:Track and Field is the second most participated sport in the world following soccer. [...]

This is the outline of my presentation to the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association in Orlando. I will be presenting tomorrow afternoon. If you are at the convention I would love to visit and talk about training. I will be there just for the day tomorrow. Foundational StrengthBuilding The Athlete From The Ground UpGoals:Bullet proof the athlete - Eliminate movement deficiencies“ [...]

When looking at the training of endurance sports of biking, distance swimming and distance running strength training is often an afterthought. A sound strength program has tremendous potential to improve performance and to prevent injury. If you think about the demands of endurance sports the goals of strength training are clear: Swimming - To improve an athlete’s ability to streamline and t [...]