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There are a billion and one different exercises out there*.  Just search through Instagram and you’ll see movements and exercises beyond your wildest dreams.  Some of it of quality and some of epic ridiculousness.  Some requiring various equipment and apparatus, and some none at all.  And finally, some of it is for beginners and some for the more skilled and advanced.  Aside from just doing what they’ve always done, most people and wondering where to even begin?  Or, how does one start filtering all of this potential mumbo jumbo? Continue reading “The Basics of Designing Your Own Training”

Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to training.  Here are 5 different ways to consider it in your situation.

#1 Your Ability to Move:

You know the saying, if you don’t use it, well, eventually you won’t haven’t it anymore. Something like that.  I believe the key to longevity is to maintain the ability to move for years on years. As soon as you stop, the next day, month or year will become harder and in many cases motivation starts to dwindle.  Just don’t stop moving.  Even if it’s minutes a day in the worst case scenario.  If you can squat down or get up off the ground today, you can do it tomorrow and the day after that.  Be consistent for a lifetime.

Continue reading “Consistency”

Many of us have goals in our training.  It may be an athletic goal, it could be to do that first chin up or often it’s simply to feel good and look better naked.  Step 1 towards these goals in my mind is being consistent.  You have to show up.  Day after day.  Step 2 might be tracking something and keeping yourself honest.  This can vary depending on the goal but here are several ways that I have tried myself.

Continue reading “Keeping Yourself Honest”

David Sills V is a wide receiver for West Virginia University.  He’s having a solid season so far.  Basically the story goes (you can read about it here) that David was a exceptionally talented quarterback at the age of 10.  He blew people away with his skills in his early teens.  In the end, it didn’t work out for him as quarterback.   The good news is that now according to him, “I’m having so much fun now. The most fun I’ve ever had playing football.”  It’s a story with a happy ending.  It drew me in and I’m interested to see how his football career goes from here.  But, at the same time I can’t help but ask, how the hell did he get here?  Or perhaps more importantly why?

Continue reading “Another Case Against Early Specialization”

People strength train or “workout” for many different reasons, whether it’s to lose a few pounds and look good naked, build confidence in yourself and run that Spartan Race or simply just to build some sweet abs and a set of incredible biceps.  All of these are fine reasons to train but keep in mind if you are training regularly, and hopefully optimally, it should also: Continue reading “Training For Older Adults”

I try to read various non-fiction books regularly to be a better human being but probably even more so to be the best coach I can be.  One thing about coaching that I learned early on was to steal – perhaps borrow is the more friendly term – from others.  Give credit when due, but see what the best are doing and whenever it makes sense for you, apply it.

One theme that I keep seeing across the board, whether it’s strength coach Dan John, basketball coach John Wooden, football coach Jim Tressel, writer Dani Shapiro or MMA Fighter Ronda Rousey, is that of The Process.  I feel that theme is an important component of how I want coach people.  Here’s a little of what each person mentioned above had to say:

Continue reading “Enjoying The Journey”

Years ago I remember listening to a college strength coach on a podcast (unfortunately I don’t remember who it was) and he offered words of wisdom that I have since lived by when working with my athletes.  Those words were “Slow cook ’em”.  I have applied these words for I don’t know how long, yet I am still sometimes surprised at how well this strategy works.

Continue reading “The #1 Strategy for Working with Young Athletes”

Coach Dan John writes often about the 4 quadrants of training.  Above is my interpretation of what those are.  Recently I read the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.  In it she describes two approaches to parenting, business, school, relationships and life, really. For our purposes we’ll look at how that applies to training as well.  Dweck argues that your mindset can fall under either that of fixed or growth.  In the fixed mindset things tend to be seen as success or failure, others (or yourself) may be seen as either smart or dumb, and with talent, you either have it or you don’t.  The growth mindset is one of more improvement, exploration and practice.  With the growth mindset, regardless of things like your IQ, current athletic ability, or how others perceive you, it can all be changed.  In this mindset people are less likely to blame others in anger when they fail or something goes wrong and more likely to assess the situation, learn from it and make a change to improve it.

Continue reading “Mindset and the 4 Quadrants”