This week we would like to proudly introduce to you the newest member of the Hostile Takeover and a full time card carrying member of the Darkside, James Smith. James is one of the most well read strength and conditioning coaches I have ever come across and will leave your head spinning with his knowledge. He has also had a very interesting life which includes training for the Navy Seals. If you have a question about the science of training, James can probably answer it. I recently got the chance to sit down with James and discuss a wide variety of subjects. Unfortunately, because we both share the same twisted sense of humor, not all of them can be shared here. But, with a few minor edits, here is what he had to say.
Jason: James, first of all I would like to be the first to welcome you aboard as the newest member of our staff.
James: Thanks brother, it is great to have been asked to be part of the hostile take over; even though you stole the name from me.
Jason: Everyone knows you are incredibly well versed in the science of training so before we go any further let's let everyone know that we are not just bringing in some study quoting guru who has never been in the weight room before. Tell us a little bit about your training and where you have competed.
James: I currently utilize various hybrids of the WSB template in which I employ rotating schedules and various methodics. I competed in the APF Central California Bench Press Championship in Fresno 2004 and hit 473 at 242. I then went to 501 but missed it as it flew over my face. 500 will fall in my next meet. This is the only competition I have been in thus far due to a low back injury that I have been dealing with for the past year and a half. Once my back is 100% I will compete in full meets.
Jason: When did you start training and how did you train at the time?
James: I started lifting weights in 1988 when I was 14 and lifted more like a bodybuilder. I only wish I had gotten into Powerlifting at that time. I suppose I had decent strength levels; when I was 18 or 19 I only weighed around 180 and I was squatting 315 for sets of 10 with a belt and knee wraps. I was always intent on squatting to parallel even though I had no concept of Powerlifting.
Jason: When did you first discover Westside style training and what impact has it had on you and the training of your athletes?
James: I discovered EFS and Westside in early 2000 while I was in the military. That was a turning point in the way in which I perceived strength development and training in general.
Jason: What modifications do you make to the "Westside system" when it comes to training athletes?
James: I treat each type of athlete as a unique training problem unto themselves. I always account for preparedness, sporting/activity requirements, individual requirements, and where the athlete is in the yearly cycle. For the strength/power development athletes I tend to utilize a "framework" of the WSB template. It is important to understand the fundamentals of any system if one plans on utilizing the system effectively for any prolonged duration. Accordingly, I utilize the maximal effort, sub maximal effort, dynamic effort, and repeated effort as defined by Zatsiorsky. These methods define loading parameters which yield specific adaptations and can be realized via numerous training means.
I am the strength coach for the football program at West Valley High School in Cottonwood CA. I also just completed a season with the track and field team at West Valley in which I worked with the throwers and the short sprinters. Additionally, I work with athletes privately, one of whom is a 10.52 100m and 25ft LJ who I believe has the potential for a shot at the LJ at the big show in 2008. In most of these scenarios I unify principles of WSB with the Charlie Francis Training System (CFTS). In doing so, I manage the development of various regimes of strength, power, speed, agility, and conditioning.
Readers can learn more about my strategies at my website: www.powerdevelopmentinc.com
Jason: I know you have studied a great deal of Eastern bloc literature and are a strong proponent of Russia's Process of Achieving Sports Mastery. Can you share your thoughts on the training of young athletes and how this needs to be implemented in order to insure long term athletic success and proper development?
James: Yes, the vast majority of my academic and theoretical learning stems from material published by overseas authors (namely from the former USSR). There are only a handful of westerners who I look to for material and insights.
I would encourage those not already familiar with it, to familiarize yourselves with the PASM. The PASM, conceived in the former USSR, exists as an incredibly complex multi-faceted and multi-year system which encompasses every conceivable regime of physiological/psychological/tactical/technical component of sport mastery.
In regards to the development of young athletes, this is likely to be the basis for much of my continued writing for EFS. I could easily turn the answer to this question into a thesis, so I'll save the rest for future publications.
Jason: James, the amazing thing to me about your vast array of knowledge on these subjects is that you are self taught across the board. Can you give us some background information and explain how you got into the strength and conditioning field?
James: Yeah right, like you actually give a shit.
Jason: Well, not really, but it's my job so let's hear it.
James: I am definitely self- taught with respect to strength science. This is corroborated by the fact that I graduated cum laude from Berkeley College of Music with a BA in Music Performance. All I know is a product of my 17+ years of lifting weights, reading overseas authors, and collaborating and discussing with certain individuals here in the west. Since a child I have always been fascinated with strength. My dad originally inspired me to lift weights. He used to take me to this hardcore gym he trained at when I was just in elementary school. My dad still is very dedicated to strength training, he was still benching over 300 in his early fifties. The gym was called 21st Century and it was in Kalamazoo MI. I would just hang out while he trained and I was like a kid at a carnival filled with huge muscled guys. My memories of the gym are somewhat fragmented; dimly lit, huge lifters, heavy iron, chalk, leather medicine balls, etc, just the way a gym should be. To this day I remember one of the really heavily muscled lifters came up to me and bounced his pecs. I remember being half scared and half inspired; it was like some sort of science fiction experience seeing two huge slabs of beef jump around on a man's chest. Does this sound strange?
Jason: Well that and a whole host of other things. Continue.
James: So this planted the seed. Shortly after this time the gym closed down and my dad started going to the YMCA. That gym was also very cool. The free weight room was like some converted boiler room with angled concrete walls that had cracks in them. There were those old York dumbbells that had round steel balls on either end. This is where I started training, just before high school. I then got a membership there after I graduated high school. I started really lifting my freshmen year of high school and never stopped. After high school I trained at the YMCA for a year and then switched to a Powerhouse gym that opened up nearby. The guys who ran the gym, and still do, are great guys. This is where I trained with a few competitive bodybuilders. All through college and the military I continually sought out any training information I could in order to further my understanding of the Iron Game. The gym I trained at in Boston (Universe Gym) was also run by some great guys. Mr. Massachusetts (at the time) trained there and I would occasionally talk training with him. As I stated it was in 2000, while in the military and surfing the internet, when I discovered EFS/WSB and that changed everything. I would train my military buddies and disseminate the material as what ever I read I could easily assimilate. The material just made sense to me. To this day all of the translated Russian material makes a great deal of sense to me. Maybe I am Russian in a parallel universe (laughing). As I neared the end of my enlistment I was unsure as to what I would pursue as a profession. I was unsuccessful at completing the selection course for the SEAL teams. For those of you who are interested, I did complete Hell Week, Pool Week, Draeger Week, and the 3.5 nautical mile swim before I got performance dropped for failing all my 4 mile timed runs. All of my military bros, both in the teams and out, were encouraging me to be a strength coach because of all the positive training effects they were experiencing as a result of my assistance. Additionally, my understanding of the material combined with my ability to practically apply the information, that made all my bros cross eyed, seemed to point to the natural progression of establishing myself in the field. I consider myself more of a student of the PASM. Assigning parameters for the development of strength is only part of what I do for my athletes. I create, to the best of my abilities, awareness and complete physiological/psychological/tactical/technical development.
Jason: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see being made by strength and conditioning coaches?
James: My experience has shown me that far too many coaches let their ego, ignorance, and laziness cloud their abilities. I have personally experienced numerous first hand accounts of this absurdity. Buddy Morris has stated it most accurately in citing the root of so many S&C coach’s shortcomings being a function of academic myopia. Truer words have never been spoken. In a sense the S&C community is somewhat of a joke. It seems as if any stroke with a few meaningless credentials who knows someone who knows someone can be a strength coach. I am amused by how many coaches are quick to attach their names to athletes who were tremendous talents long before the coach ever came into contact with them. The number one directive must always be to safely and effectively raise the athletes’ preparedness so as to facilitate their resistance to injury and heighten their sport skill potential. Athletes, most notably young athletes, are merely a product of their coaching. After high school, however, I feel that it becomes the athletes’ responsibility to do what they can to secure the most optimal route to their development. This means raising their awareness of what exists beyond the misdirected and misinformed state of affairs in western academia. Unfortunately, there is no multi-year developmental system in the US so athletes must assume accountability in the face of this incongruent environment.
Jason: What would be your top three training tips for athletes looking to improve their performance?
James: I am going to have to exceed the three tip parameter. As far as GPP and SSP (special strength preparedness) goes; Read Louie Simmons for strength development, read Charlie Francis for speed development, and question everything (with respect) that a coach ever tells you. If the coach can’t or isn’t willing to explain every single means and method that he/she employs then seek other means for development to the best of your abilities. Any member of the EFS crew is obviously more than willing to help. So I would encourage athletes who don’t have faith in your coach to ask away. If you are really ambitious then read everything by Bosco, Siff, Zatsiorsky, and the translated texts published by the Sportivny Press.
Jason: What are your thoughts on Olympic lifting?
James: I follow it very enthusiastically and it is one of the greatest sports on this earth, and it is also absolutely unnecessary and unwise for most athletes to employ the Olympic lifts in order to develop strength and explosive power.
Jason: Give us a brief outline of how you would schedule the summer training for a football player?
James: If you favor the high/low approach then adhere to the following: Consolidate the following CNS intensive variables to M-W-F or T-TH-Sa: ME, DE, SE, some RE lifts for bigger muscle groups and heavy abdominal lifts Explosive medicine ball throws, High intensity plyometrics >75% speed/agility/conditioning/SPP drills Consolidate the following low intensive variables to the days in between those listed above: RE lifts/abdominals/strength endurance/ medicine ball/ abdominal work <75% tempo/agility/conditioning/SPP drills
Jason: Who has influenced you most in this field and who are the people you learn most from?
James: I have personally met and discussed training with Charlie Francis, Val Nasedkin, Buddy Morris, and Tom Myslinski, and all of these gentlemen have provided tremendous insight to me. Val and Charlie really astound me with their insight and experience. For those not familiar with Val, he was a national level high jumper for the former USSR and competed for club Dynamo in the 1980?s. He then went on to become the Junior National Track and Field coach for the Ukraine. He is now part of the OmegaWaveSport Company which is revolutionizing the industry. Val?s knowledge of training and physiology is extraordinary. Charlie and Val live up in the stratosphere and the rest of the mortals live on earth. Buddy’s knowledge of training and orthopedics is absolutely ridiculous, and Tom is a programming and organizational master mind. As far as who I haven’t met in person but whose material has been largely insightful and influential; Louie Simmons, Dr. Yuri Verkhoshanski, Dr. Vladimir Zatsiorsky, and the late Dr. Mel Siff.
Jason: You and I have discussed this several times in the past and are in full agreement on the subject. Could you give our readers your description of the perfect training environment and how things should be run?
James: As far as a gym/training hall goes; picture the following: A dark warehouse with aluminum walls and a concrete floor covered with black rubber mats. Power racks and wall boards line the walls. Glute ham raises, reverse hyper's, squat stands, and a few other contraptions. Everything is black. Ropes hang from the ceiling. Barbells, dumbbells, bands, chains, and chalk everywhere. A throwers ring in one corner in which the disc, hammer and weight can be thrown into a net and the indoor shot can be thrown. A monstrous stereo system/PA system so we can jam and I can announce over the PA when an athlete is going for a PR. This way we can get the whole gym in a frenzy. (I already do this with my guys except I don't have a PA system) A mondo surface in one end to accommodate warm up, agility, and acceleration work/short sprints. Yes, this is Valhalla and I will make it so.
Jason: Why are you friends with JackAss and what's the deal with that dude?
James: JackAss is a cool dude. We get along well because we are both twisted and like to lift weights. The video of his infant son performing leg presses is one of the funniest and coolest things I have ever seen. We live about two hours from each other so we get to hang out once in a while. You know he's a solid dude if he puts protein powder in his infant son’s formula bottle. (True story)
Jason: Speaking of being twisted, although our readers only know you as a brilliant strength and conditioning mind I know that there is a whole other side to you. Got any good jokes or anything you would like to share to let everyone know what I'm talking about.
James: Jay, now you are really fluffing me, brilliant? I am just hungry to learn.
Jason: Well, I was trying to be nice to the new guy.
James: A guy like Val Nasedkin has forgotten more than I know. In the interest of professionalism I am going to have to reserve the other side of me which only those in my inner circle know about. I will state that my dementia runs very deep and JackAss thinks I am a sick puppy.
I ride a chopped up 93 Harley (was a Heritage soft tail, now highly chopped) and enjoy singing the Hymn of the Soviet Union (from a musical perspective it is an incredibly powerful anthem). I think the Red Army choir's rendition is the most powerful. I can also greet you in Russian, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Polish, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. I can swear so fluently in Spanish that if all I did was weave a tapestry of profanity I could fool a Spaniard into believing I was one of his own.
In the immortal words of Peter Sellers, "I believe everything and I believe nothing, I suspect everyone, and I suspect no one."
I really have to give credit to my hot wife Amber for tolerating her emotionally detached sex crazed obsessed with lifting functional psychopath husband.
Jason: Does she have a sister? Anyway I know you were a music student and are obsessed with music like I am. Care To finish up here would you care to give us a list of some of your favorite songs to train to?
James: Lately I have been training in silence. But if the tunes go in it is going to be Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Exodus, Testament, or Anthrax. I still have all this on tape from my days as a head banger with hair so long I could tuck it in my pants. That's true you know, I could tuck it in the back of my pants.
Jason: You must have gotten tons of chicks with that look going on. Anyway, it's been a pleasure James. Thanks for your time. We look forward to hearing a lot more from you in the future.
James: Thanks Jay.