Word for word, The Thinker, over the past few years, has in all likelihood answered more Q&A inquiries on this site than anyone else on our staff. This is fine in and of itself, but when you really think about it, anyone – especially all the internet “gurus” and “Yodas” out there – can sit around all day at a computer and spew bullshit answers at anyone uninformed enough to misguidedly approach them for information.

What differentiates The Thinker from those rivaling him in terms of sheer verbiage – and virtually everyone else, for that matter – is the fact that he’s a no-shit, real-life strength and conditioning coach at a Division I university. His obsession with sport, however – and the knowledge he’s gained through years of study and practice – is what truly sets him apart. I’ve interacted with The Thinker in his natural habitat – discussing training and life before and after a game late this season – and can tell you first hand that the man, as his many postings on the Q&A would indicate, lives and breathes this stuff.

Heavily influenced by Eastern Bloc training methods and essentially self-taught through research, trial, and error, The Thinker is a substantial asset for anyone looking to learn more about the physical and mental preparation of athletes. Peruse his library of articles and Q&A archives and let his unique, outside-the-box methodology work for you.

What’s been going on with you lately? We don’t hear much about your personal life, so can you fill us in on any new developments?

Regarding my most recent course of action, this afternoon I rebuilt the carburetor in my ‘85 Jeep CJ7. Otherwise, I am continuing to further myself (in no particular order) as a coach, programmer, consultant, lecturer, lifter, husband, human, etc…

Perhaps worth noting is that I have recently re-assumed the responsibility of writing the training for an Olympic weightlifter who came to live with my wife and I for a while when I was still in California. After training under me for the better part of one year he got the opportunity to train with the great Ivan Abadjiev (former head weightlifting coach for Bulgarian National Team and widely regarded as the greatest weightlifting coach in the history of the sport) at the American Weightlifting academy in northern California.

Having trained under Abadjiev for many months, he was able to convey a great deal of information to me. This was very interesting for me as there is so much speculation as to Abadjiev’s methods.

I should note, however, that my method of planning the training for my weightlifter is only minimally influenced by Abadjiev's written planning and is much more reflective of former Soviet methods as well as my own original ideas. I stated written planning because I am very much a proponent of the psychological lessons that Abadjiev teaches.

Regarding my other activities outside of working with the team, I continue to plan the training for my correspondence clients, which at any given time typically includes working with at least one individual preparing for a military special operations selection course in addition to those interested in raising some aspect of their physical preparation. I will likely terminate this service, however, when the time comes that I assume the responsibility as head coach of physical preparation.

I am also completing a presentation that I am submitting to the NSCA committee regarding my interest in participating in the 2009 National Conference as one of the main speakers. This is likely to be the most advantageous venue for reaching out to a great deal of America's coaches of physical preparation with respect to sharing my minority perspective.

As far as my working with the team goes, most notably, I am furthering my study and practice of the use of block training toward raising the American football player's special physical preparation. In this regard I have had the great fortune of developing a correspondence with Dr. Verkhoshansky and Dr. Issurin this past year.

My own training is going well. Yesterday I bench pressed 350 for a double (just missed the third rep) but was going on less than four hours of sleep so I chalked it up as a success. My current objective is to bench press 360x3 within the next few weeks.

What considerations have been involved in your own personal training of late?

The reason why I haven't pushed my limit strength up in the bench is because I have taken some long layoffs over the past two years because I thought my biceps tendon was damaged. Fortunately, it's not.

If you take a close look at my bench article, I wasn't performing anything close to the Westside split in the bench training unless you consider a heavier day and a lighter day to define the Westside split.

Additionally, I haven't gained any weight, by choice, and due to my high level of trainedness in the bench I would need to gain weight (because I'm choosing to not use drugs) to boost the max strength by a significant margin in the bench. Remember, I'm almost 6'2", with relatively long arms, and my weight stays around 248-253.

I remember when Louie Simmons and Matt Wenning came to visit X here at the university. Matt and I were talking and he looked at me and pointed out how I'm definitely not “built” for a massive bench.

To give you an idea of the efficacy of how I've been training since the 405, I've increased my safety bar squat off a box by over 50lbs, increased my Olympic squat from a 1RM to a 5RM, increased my Olympic squat 1RM by over 50lbs, increased my reps on the dumbbell bench press, benched 330x5, 315x9, 285x14, 265x16, 245x20, and increased my bench reps with 225 in a very short amount of time (regarding the length of the blocks I used) and the bench reps improvement wasn't even a target until I thought of it two weeks or so before I tested.

There’s no doubt that I do a great deal of thinking but you should know that when it comes time to actually plan the training, I consider myself to do a very efficient job as a I remain mindful of a great deal of factors.

It's also worth noting that I experiment on myself first before I integrate anything “new or untried by others” in the training of my athletes.

I don't discount the validity of the template that is generally recognized as the Westside template. I have certainly benefited from its use in the past. However, I’ve also injured myself in the past while adhering strictly to the 'Westside' template and this is because the performance of maximum/near maximum attempts over too long a time, regardless of whether you change the exercise, is not wise.

As I have stated before, now that I am much more knowledgeable about physiology, I prefer to limit the use of the 'Westside approach' to periods of concentrated loading. In this regard it is very effective and much more well suited.

I should also note that when I benched the 405, the sun, stars, and moon were definitely in alignment. I state this because not only was the training, which I wrote about in the article, very effective, but also, in retrospect, my immune function was in overdrive the day I hit the 405 because starting the next day I came down with the worst case of the flu in my life.

More important than all of this is the fact that, as I stated, I wasn't even adhering to what is recognized as the Westside template when I made my 405 bench. If you recall, the article I wrote illustrated how I wasn't performing dynamic effort pressing, wasn't performing the RE method with barbells or dumbbells, and wasn't taking repetition maximums on my heavy days with any regularity.

The 405 bench was the result of using the methodology that is much closer to what I'm doing now versus what I was doing when I trained according to what is written about in the Westside articles.

Your team finished the 2007 season memorably, and on a very positive note. Has there been any carryover from this as you’ve started your offseason preparation?

For all intents and purposes, no. While it was a huge win, that was 2007 and this is 2008. Our objective will be realized via the efforts that lie ahead; and in this regard, I am working on what I think is new ground in the training of (American) football. I am actually presenting my plan to the entire coaching staff in a couple of days.

Will your team have anyone invited to the NFL Combine? If so, are you training any of them for either the Combine or your school’s Pro Day?

To my knowledge, at least two of our guys will get invited to Indianapolis because they were both invited to the Senior Bowl. We have two others playing in the Hula Bowl and one in the East/West Shrine Bowl.

In total we will have eight of our guys participating in the Pro Day. I am preparing three of them. The rest have been sent to various combine preparation camps by their agents.

You almost exclusively (to my knowledge) trained skill guys this season, while Coach X worked with the linemen. How did that approach work out? Will you be modifying this at all for 2008?

You are correct. This plan worked very well and it will remain the same for ‘08.

I recall talking to you guys about how the physical preparedness of your upperclassmen was severely lacking. How far do you think you can go in remedying this from now until August?

We accomplished a great deal in ’07, yet we have much work to do. Fortunately, due to the foundation that was laid, we will be able to integrate a certain percentage of SPP work into the training along with the other work. This is what I will be addressing in the staff meeting via a miniature presentation.

Are there any specific pieces of equipment that you're budgeting for that you felt were missing from your program last year? If so, what new things are you guys purchasing?

I wouldn’t say that we were missing anything, per se, as very little is required to train an athlete to an extremely high level of preparation. To work around and rehabilitate injuries, however, creates a situation in which it is convenient to have many different types of training apparatus.

We will get new power racks, as we are not satisfied with our current Powerlift racks.

We just got in the first order of our kettlebells. However, their use will be largely limited to certain rehabilitative methods, throws, and the popular swings.

In addition, we would like to get Prowlers for our linemen, although I must note that these will not be used in the same way that they have been popularized by other trainers here on EFS unless we are using them as a means of punishment. The objective is to use them as a general specific means of developing the alactic or oxidative capacity - remaining mindful of the biodynamic and bioenergetic profile of the sport demands (of which the glycolytic mechanism of energy production plays a minimal to non-existent role).

We are also looking into purchasing a heart rate monitoring system that will allow us to observe the working heart rates of up to 30 athletes at once from one mother board.

Any parting words?

I’ll continue to say it until I’m satisfied that the Western sport-training industry is no longer embarrassing itself:

We are a function of what we have learned through study and practice. Unfortunately, here in America, the majority of those in a teaching role are promoting misinformed curriculums and, subsequently, those who study and practice to become coaches, trainers, media, sports administrators and managers, etc lack a sufficient education. As a result, the study and practice of misinformation is proliferated and no one is the wiser save for those of us who were fortunate enough to have different teachers.

The seminar hosted by Ultimate Athlete Concepts that featured Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk and Dr. Vladimir Issurin might have had 30 people in the audience. Two of the greatest minds in the history of sport training, one of which has coached more medalists at international competition than any other coach in the history of the Olympic Games, and barely a classroom full of attendees. There is no better testament to the misdirected state of interests, amongst trainers of sport, here in America.

The less our efforts honor the understanding of sport science as it was pioneered in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc Europe, as well as by Charlie Francis (I make it a point to mention Charlie because I think he has made a more powerful mark on the furthering of sport training than any other westerner), the less chance there is of our athletes realizing the height of their potential.

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