Daniel DeBrocke explains various strategies to gradually increase aerobic capacity while preserving specificity in your strength training.
Let’s boil down program design for the tactical athlete into five main categories: peak sustainability, stress management, [click for more].
Bigger players often suffer from a lack of condition—they need size to execute their skill set yet run the risk of overuse-related injuries.
I cherry-picked the best of the best from twenty-plus years of programming. Here’s how our football players trained this summer.
In this program, you will use strength and conditioning, and all of the gears in between to be an energy-efficient player. Consider this an extension of my sumo deadlift article published in January of 2021.
When it comes to conditioning, we need to consider how fast our systems can produce ATP, how long we can produce it for, and how efficiently your body can utilize the ATP being produced. To do that, here’s what we need to do.
Here’s an excellent example of how to place extra workouts in a weekly off-season football training schedule along with what an extra workout accomplishes (or should).
For those who currently aren’t working and also have limited gym equipment, I wanted to provide a potential gameplan that you can use to bring some routine and mental/physical stability to your day-to-day.
I quizzed Mitch to uncover some of the keys to his transition from a resistance training focus to a largely conditioning focus – from a max bodyweight of 235 to a lean bodyweight of 165.
Loaded carries are so effective that you won’t find one program that we offer that does not include them on the regular.
With everyone constantly pushing the envelope with tons of volume and intensity for extended periods, I felt that it was important to shed some light on this topic to slow down the burnout and chronic fatigue we’re seeing these days.
Stepping away from collegiate strength and conditioning, I’ve had time to reflect. In this article, I’ll delve into programming — the good and the ugly. Program-wise, exactly what are your goals?
Believe it or not, sometimes max effort work is not the best option. Here are a few scenarios where that may be the case as well as what you can do to fill in the gaps where the max effort method would be.
A coach once asked me, “Why do you lift?” My reply: “If aliens landed here and saw a basketball game going on, they wouldn’t have any clue what was happening. But if they saw lifting, they could at least wrap their heads around what they were seeing.”
Parents are understandably worried about their children starting strength training. Ease their minds by selecting appropriate exercises for their kids.
I love and hate programming. When I’m doing research and reading stuff, my brain goes a million miles per hour. Of course, everything I read seems like the greatest idea ever, so I have to dial it down, but I’ve gotten better at it over the years, and it shows.
In the strength industry, we’re putting too much emphasis on the side dishes. We’re combining the main course and the dessert. When’s the last time you smeared your cupcake frosting over your fat juicy steak and mushrooms?!
As with all great articles and ideas, this one was inspired… by a controversial tweet. Rather than rail against the idea that newbies shouldn’t use the French Contrast Method, I argue that this training method actually may be suitable for beginners in some situations.
Strength coaches have a lot of problems to deal with. Some of those problems come from the strength coaches themselves, but don’t even get him started on the sports coaches… too late, though. We got him talking about them.
I am seeing that the specific injuries that are inherent in rugby need a modified program that’s not using traditional training equipment to get results, so here are 7 of my non-traditional tools of the trade.
You’ll learn a lot from your strength and conditioning internship — but there are some things you might glean over. Keep these points in mind, and you’ll get even more out of your internship than you thought possible.
These are just a few of my mistakes, and I’ve made many more than the ones listed here. Remember, mistakes are just lessons, so if you haven’t made any mistakes, you haven’t learned any lessons.
What are the pros and cons of being a strength coach at the collegiate level or in the private sector? The similarities? The differences? Coach Brian Bott, former University of Wisconsin strength coach-turned-founder of Sports AdvantEDGE, tells all in an interview.
A self-made millionaire once told me that we all have great ideas; it’s just that 99% of people don’t act on them. Those words came to mind this summer when I took the largest step I’ve ever taken out of my comfort zone…
When starting a high school strength and conditioning program, be sure to implement rules early on and communicate clearly… and those are only a handful of things to get your program off the ground running.
You know, we hear coaches complain about their athletes’ excuses… but let me tell you, coaches can be just as bad. Case in point: The excuses coaches make for not making their kids do box squats.
I’ve been told I do a good job of being a heretic of the strength and conditioning coach profession, so I might as well keep it up and stir the pot with some of my hot takes on sumo deadlifts, box squatting, and more.
I am currently working as a consultant for a pro rugby team, and I was asked about the type of player I would require moving into a pro team. Fair warning: What I wrote here may be considered heretical in the strength and conditioning world…
Over the last few years, I’ve had more time to visit some major universities and professional teams and talk shop with some very good strength and conditioning coaches, and these are some of the trends we’ve noticed in the weight room and think powerlifters should start implementing.
I quit my personal trainer job to become a strength and conditioning coach. I lived in my car, slept on a couch, and I even had a raccoon living in my apartment wall at one point. But all of these struggles and sacrifices were worth it.
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again to get a different result. That pretty much sums up the strength and conditioning industry, doesn’t it?
Someone once told me when it came to programming, their objective was to be able to get as much bang for your buck as possible. That stuck with me, so I ensure my programs are of good quality and don’t last more than 45 minutes.
Stop killing kids by making them run so much. Stop running them into the ground with running… and in general, stop it. It defeats the purposes of building them up.
These off-season lane options are meant to keep them in the ballpark of being in game shape without beating the crap out of them. They don’t have to be ready all the time; just ready to get ready. If you think they are not sport-specific enough or intense enough, that’s why.
“People I knew got my foot in the door, and I got myself through the door.” Morehead State strength and conditioning coach Matt Rhodes shares his story of how he made his way into the collegiate strength and conditioning world.
If you understand the conjugate method, can devote 4 to 5 hours of training per week, not competing in sports but is trying to look and feel better, boy, have I got the perfect program for you!
Whenever I ask for topics people want to learn about in my column, “how to stay motivated” is always at the top of the list. Motivation is in high demand: you see it all over Instagram in memes, pictures, and captions. Despite the high demand, it sure seems like it’s in short supply….
“If I train strength and conditioning at the same time, will both suffer?” Unless you are taxing your recovery or training in completely disparate ways, you can train both domains. Here are a few ways you can do that.
In The Iron Life Podcast #7, Chris Tutela talks with world-renowned strength and conditioning coach Joe DeFranco about success, programming, things trainers should never do, and more.
Xpress Fitness, located less than 2 miles away from the elitefts S5 Compound, is a product of support from the rural London, Ohio, community at all levels: family, friends, neighbors, and businesses, all built strong from the ground up.
As I start up my new job, I wanted to give younger strength and conditioning coaches some advice: Don’t be afraid to spread your wings and fly out of your comfort zone. Be bold and be brave. It will pay off at some point.
Not sure if you should attend the NSCA Coaches’ Conference or the CSCCa National Conference? Which exam to take? Take a look at some of the pros and cons of each organization and figure out which is best for you.
A few years ago, I attempted to bring 4 strength sports together into a training plan for rugby. This time, I want to delve deeper into the framework that makes up the programming of these sports and how we can program them into a usable athletic development plan.
Hugging a 40-pound bag of salt while doing a rear leg elevated split squat might not sound like hard or heavy work, but this is an exercise that’s helped even some of the world’s best powerlifters reach their full potential.
The suggested strategy to build trust from the sports coach involves a particular approach to the strength and conditioning process. A natural consequence of this approach defines the scope of practice of strength and conditioning.
Cardio can help you cut weight, get shredded for the stage, and increase athletes’ performance. But with so much cardio out there, where do you start? Start here with elitefts team members’ top-3 cardio items, based on their sports or areas of expertise.
Here’s a red pill for you to swallow: The conjugate system is like an XL shirt that fits differently on different people. With a few modifications, that shirt can be made to fit just about anyone. Same goes for the program in this article.
Consider how your clients are responding to stress and the demands of your program and what we need to consider to devise a better plan. That’s how we’ll improve this sport.
Get to know Dr. Bryan Mann, from his humble beginnings to his current position at the University of Miami, and how he became one of the leading experts on Velocity Based Training.
Conjugate. You keep using that word. We do not think it means what you think it means. Why is conjugate training so hard to understand? It’s not! In fact, because it’s so easy to understand, Jim Wendler can explain it in two minutes. Two minutes! It’s that simple.
With all the knowledge we have available to us, you would think that we have gotten past the idea that distance running will get an athlete in shape for any sport. So how should we program for athletes? Sport-specific? Sort of. In order to approach something that is actually sport-specific, we must take into account the actual demands of the sport.
For the record, I’m not writing this article to bash box programming; I’m writing this to present an alternative way of doing things while STILL utilizing the best aspects of box programming. Our strength training model is what we’ve used with nearly 20,000 athletes (in a group setting) worldwide with great success.
Running around and practicing soccer skills while wearing a weighted vest, attaching a band to a hockey stick or a baseball bat, and a myriad of other ridiculous activities in the weight room do not count as sport-specific activities.
It all started about two weeks post-Arnold, when I secured my second win back-to-back. I did what I’d always done—push the limits, take drugs, and eat food.
