You dream of training elite-level athletes? Consider this.
Scott Cartwright has taken on an epic challenge: training his son Jonah. And you get to watch it all unfold.
The Thinker has answers to your training questions…fellow brainiacs to the front of the room.
If you haven’t been reading the training logs, you’ve been missing out on some great “in the trenches” training advice.
And, oh yeah, until you’ve actually been through this shit, try not to talk about football, okay?
Now more than ever, the younger generation of athletes (and their parents) are looking to gain an edge.
Ladder drills should be included in the dynamic warm up phase of a complete strength and conditioning program on occasion to change things up and keep it fresh.
We use 2-, 3-, and 4-board presses, different grips, and different bars; we’re always tricking the body.
Ladders—get stronger, fitter, and faster, all without touching a treadmill or resting for light years between sets.
We’re looking for great mechanics and the ability to understand different movements.
You are only as strong as your weakest link; when that link breaks, the related injury can keep you out of the gym for an extended period of time.
I prepare an athlete to develop optimum control of his body as he moves, which is why I view core stability a failure as a basic model of athletic training.
I care about results and that’s what we get—results!
Is the use of bands and chains some magical tool that will create supermen?
I simply don’t like frauds who attempt to practice their fraudulence at my expense.
The three common strengths the athletes displayed were hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.
The girl steps into the gym for the first time and is met with the smell of sweat and the sound of metal clanging violently.
Your coaching facility should be a place where work is accomplished, goals are met, and pride is instilled.
Forget team, forget coaches, forget any other irrelevant factor.
I like to think that, as a profession, we’re much better than we were.
I was known around my gym and by other area lifters as the guy who hit himself, headbutted objects, and always had plenty of ammonia on hand.
This is your only chance; how do you want this set to go down?
When I first decided to pursue powerlifting seriously, I knew I could be good. How good? I didn’t know.
I’ve heard the saying, “The more I know, the more I realize that I don’t know much.” This saying couldn’t be truer for me.
If you live a healthy enough lifestyle and perform the correct preventative movements, your body’s ability to heal will be exponentially greater.
Strength and conditioning professionals, including seasoned veterans with many years in the trenches, might find themselves hard pressed to provide rationale for core exercises that they’re programming for their athletes.
If you’re a coach who works with football or any other fall sport, there are many issues that you must address in early August.
The dominator gene is not so much a physical attribute, but an element of will.
Self-education is probably the most important factor in being successful. I will take you on a journey to all the sources from which I get my information and how to learn from each.
I have seen many interns who don’t understand that each internship is a test and you need to bust your butt to make that internship into a job.
When you’re an intern at a big school, it’s like you’re a 20-kilogram plate in a weight room.
A great coach knows that he didn’t know and does everything in his power to figure it out.
I’m sure you’ve heard before that the pull-up is to the upper body what the squat is to the lower body.
Now that we’re into summer, and the spring semester is behind us, I think we must reflect on what we did during the school year.
Open skill agility drills that more closely mimic the unpredictable nature of competition are lacking in most programs.
Concentrate your efforts on training the dominant energy system (anaerobic alactic, anaerobic lactic, or aerobic) for your sport or activity.
Key performance indicators are specific, measurable things that tell us whether or not we are making progress toward our goals.
Strength training is a simple process that has become an over complicated “wishing well” for athletic success.
What is the history of the block periodization concept, and how has it evolved into what it is today?
At the literal center of cardiorespiratory health is the heart, a powerful muscle that consists of four distinct chambers—the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium, and the left ventricle.
Will I ever cure my kyphosis totally? Probably not, but I can at least work on keeping my shoulders healthy.
Once you’ve experienced a hamstring strain, you wish nothing more than for it to never have happened or at least for it to never happen again.
Each year for the CSCCa conference, my staff and I take a road trip.
One of the longest standing controversies in the world of health, fitness, and athletic performance is whether or not one should take creatine.
Your mind is locked in though, so while the sweat pouring into your eyes may blur your sight, your vision remains clearer than ever.
To sum this up, I was told that the bench press has no application for football players, and that it’s more harmful than helpful.
Anyone can learn the science, the research, and the X’s and O’s, but a great coach leaves the kids smiling.
Whenever people question me about my religion, political policies, moral code, business ethics, training program, or any other topic that seeks to classify me in some way, I always reply, “supervillainy.”
No matter what sport you compete in, you’ll probably agree that conditioning plays a huge factor in how an athlete performs. If athletes aren’t conditioned properly, they’ll never achieve peak performance in their sport.
Just something to think about when you’re in the middle of the learning process – like we all still are.
Working with youth athletes has been an experience that has taught me several lessons.
I don’t question the importance of delivering a well-researched and subsequently effective program to athletes.
There’s certainly a time and place to test your strength, occasionally in the gym and always on the platform.
I learned that it’s pointless to bring a gun to a knife fight, if you will.