I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tom Tellez and asked the questions that most coaches had about the current debates on forums and one of them was on vertical and horizontal forces. Like any master of coaching, Tom at a ripe age of 76 was sharp and created clarity to what was going on. I can't say enough good things about him as for two hours we addressed some very high level concepts and T [...]

"Since the Beijing Olympics, Oliver has changed his start phase, running seven steps to the first hurdle instead of eight. He said he's beginning to master that technique, and that's why he's faster than he was two years ago.""I was always trailing at hurdle three, four, five, and the competition may not even have been that stiff," said Oliver, 28. "Now I'm running these times from a fron [...]

Now that the World Cup is over with, it's time for another Spanish Inquisition. Foam rollers are being enhanced with vibration and what appears to be a off-road tire for some military tank. I do think foam rolling is a good tool, but foam rolling at the beginning of workouts just doesn't make much sense if you stop to think about things in depth. I think people fear some changes because other's [...]

One of the most interesting reads is looking at what process many of the testing programs are doing to evaluate improvement year to year. I think the strength's of years past was that much of the information was based on the combination of physical education and military training from WW2, not just sports medicine. You have x number of weeks to get people you have never met into prepared athletes [...]

To tantalize one particular forum member I decided to include some thoughts on tempo. A splash of prescribed tempo workouts is a great way to keep technique in the weightroom or specific rehab protocols up to par. Too many times a youtube clip of a modern bodybuilder is shown crushing weights with poor form and "slipped tension", while some old school bodybuilders were doing very beautiful form [...]

"Technique has not changed much since the days of Jesse Owens. Where changes have occurred is in knowing how much work should be done - when it should be done - under what conditions it should be done- and how to recover from it." -Coach FrancisOne of the biggest struggles for me is what every coach must deal with. Not to over simplify things in Track and Field but much of what we do is how muc [...]

Getting strong is relatively easy, but preparing to get strong is hard. This is not to demean or disparage anyone's ideas, rather it is reaction to what I have seen throughout my career. It is easy to get someone on a strength training program and load them up and make very significant measurable strength gains on traditional exercises in relatively short periods of time. There is nothing wrong w [...]

"If we accept the model as a realistic representation of the real system, the inevitable conclusion is that the bilateral deficit in jumping is primarily caused by the force-velocity relationship rather than by a reduction of neural drive. This conclusion is different from that drawn by Challis, but his findings were basically the same and he would have come to the same conclusion as we have, had [...]

Just finished reading an outstanding coaching book – Four Champions One Gold Medal: The true story of four swimmers who battled for the same Olympic dream by Chuck Warner. Some real insights into what it takes to compete and win at the highest level. You definitely have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable all the time. Also a clear in depth picture of athlete development. This book has s [...]

The most requested information to be shared was not technique at high speeds, weightlifting periodization, or even supplementation for sprinters, it was about HRV (heart rate variability). The first Premium Mediacast will be on HRV and speed and power athletes, and my experience with myithlete. What I did was was compare an iphone/ipod touch app and found that it was 89% as effective as a research [...]