Programming Different Physical Qualities
I like to program from a metabolic, strength, or power focus. The three-day-a-week program allows more stimulation for each major area.
General Concepts and Progression of the Omni-Contraction System
After consulting with Ben Prentiss and implementing with my athletes, here’s a BRIEF description of the system. Download the 12-week program!
Integration of Great Ideas into a Manageable Training Program
Westside Barbell, 5/3/1, 5thSet, and Juggernaut Training Systems all play a role in the creation of this program. Let me know how you advance using it.
66 Lessons for Freedom, Happiness, and Physical Excellence
I recently wrote down things I’ve learned that helped me change my life, and I hope this list of those lessons helps you break through whatever you feel is holding you back and achieve optimal health, wellness, strength, success, freedom, and happiness.
4 Mistakes Fallen Leaders Are Prone To
Wealth, power, and fame. Some might say those are inherently negative characteristics. I, however, believe the way those characteristics are wielded determines whether they are good or bad.
These Four Walls
Recording a podcast episode with my mentor (and cousin) John Alvino made me reflect on the pivotal role training has played in my life. Quite frankly, without it, I don’t know where I’d be. Inside these four walls, training has been my therapy, my drug, and my anchor.
The Physical Requirements That Make a Rugby Player Great
In January 2017, Marc Keys and I embarked upon a labor of love to develop a questionnaire investigating what the various groups of people who make up the rugby industry think are the key elements of the physical preparation of the rugby player. Here are the results.
Physics 101 for Performance Enhancement
If you understand the science of physics and how to apply it, you’ll have a better understanding of sports and performance enhancement. You owe it to your athletes to understand the fundamentals. Let’s get started.
Strength, Velocity, Power — How You Can Build Each to Produce Ballistic ...
Essentially, force (strength), velocity and speed-strength (power) are the three main characteristics that are present in ballistic movements, and you can train all of them in the weight room.
The Coach's Guide to Programming and Periodization: Surfing The For...
Understanding this tool for manipulating training intensities is key for athlete programming at every part of pre-season, in-season, post-season and off-season phases.
The Coach's Guide to Programming and Periodization: Basic Principle...
We can’t simply throw random exercises and set and rep schemes on a piece of paper haphazardly and then hope for the best. In this series I will teach you how to write programs, including a coach’s assignment for each article.
Who’s the Greatest?
It’s more than athletic prowess or shredded muscularity that flows with beautiful symmetry and balance.
How to Fix Your Bench Press: The Execution
So far, we haven’t even moved the bar. Keeping in mind what we learned in part one of this series, we are now ready to begin the press.
The CVASP Podcast: Episode #15 with Dr. Bryan Mann
Honest and open sharing for strength and conditioning coaches brought to you by Central Virginia Sport Performance. Listen!
Performance Elements to Build During Wrestling's Off-Season
The off-season is your time to improve your strengths, fix your weaknesses, and come back better next year. Here are the most important things to consider when planning your training.
Narcolepsy Drug Makes People Smarter
A real life Limitless pill? Researchers are getting promising results.
WATCH: Dissecting the Kettlebell Snatch
The Whethams team up on camera again to bring another technical breakdown of a fundamental Kettlebell movement.
Aerobic Threshold Training for Field Sports: The Starting Point for Repe...
To help athletes overcome the limiting factor of human performance, an adequate training program must address an individual’s aerobic metabolism.
Of Levers and Lifting
The human body is a system of levers. When we understand the concepts of these mechanisms, we then increase our force-production capabilities.
Training Energy Systems for Boxing Success
Extended miles of road work may not be the best for developing late-round power. Boost your in-the-ring performance with these energy system tips.
Is it Clueless to be Shoeless?
The article Foot Locker doesn’t want us to release. Stay tuned for our follow-up sock article (if Fruit-of-the-Loom doesn’t get a hold of it first).
Is the Vertical Jump the Best Measure of Power?
There may be better methods to measure explosive strength.
The Research Meathead: Training to Failure
Train to Failure, or Not Train to Failure? That is the Question!
Olympic Lifting for Athletes: Using Static Holds to Improve Technique
Teaching the Olympic lifts can be difficult. Using isometric holds can benefit both coaches and athletes.
Stop Training for Size, Strength, and Power
Taking some time off from training is more beneficial than you might think.
The Strange Case of Dr. Strength and Mr. Power
Functional training, circuit-style workouts are the latest fashion at gyms today. But what do they really do for an athletes strength and power output?
Using the Force-Velocity Curve to Build Better Athletes
The force-velocity curve is one of the most important concepts to understand when aiming to increase athletic performance.
Because the World Needs More Heroes
With the right drive and determination, you can conquer your goals. You can be an inspiration.
Speed Development
An athlete with more power has greater torque, leading to a quicker athlete with more top end speed.
The Force-Velocity Curve
Periodization is an important topic in the strength and conditioning world.
The Ten Commandments of Athletic Development
Here are the ten commandments of athletic development as I see it, independent of which training system you’ve chosen to follow.
What Do You Do Now That Basketball Season Is Over?
The basketball season is just coming to an end for many high schools, and it won’t be long before many of the players are off to their AAU teams.
Why You Need More Power
Power, as it relates to strength and conditioning, is an often misunderstood concept for everyday lifters.
Strength Training for a UFC Fighter
Techniques can be learned, but it takes exceptional power and strength to perform maneuvers on another of similar size and strength in a competitive setting.
Parallel Bar Dips: Old School Power Builder
A big name in the strength world has written extensively about the importance of increasing triceps strength to improve bench press performance.
Part One: A Basis for Using the “Full Olympic Lifts” in Training
Lately, I’ve been reading many articles and different points of views pertaining to the Olympic lifts and their use in training athletes
Methods for Training Clients with Hardcore Minds, Not Bodies
What happens when you get a potential client who is all about doing the most hard core exercises, who moves mountains and is willing to go the distance to achieve his goals? As I imagine, you’d probably be happy to have a motivated, determined, and disciplined trainee.
Abdominal Training for the Power Athlete
The other day I had to suffer the great indignity of paying for a day pass at a commercial gym. Lifting in a commercial place isn’t all that bad. It can actually be good from time to time to expose you to new equipment or just get a change of scenery.
Strongman Versus Power Cleans for Football, Part 3: (How to Integrate S...
At this point, we’ve discovered how Strongman training can be a viable substitute for Olympic weightlifting to develop brutally strong football players who not only display explosive physical capacities but have explosive attitudes as well. If you’re anything like me, you’ve become excited at the prospect of training your athletes with the fun and highly effective exercises like tractor tire
Developing Explosive Power for MMA
In almost every sport, the ability to be explosive and powerful often goes hand in hand with success, and this is especially true in mixed martial arts (MMA). Being a faster and more explosive fighter gives you the ability to overpower, outwork, and outgun your opponent from start to finish.
Anatomical Fixer Upper
As an athlete, eventually you hit a point where performance stagnates, whether it’s from asymmetries, lack of mobility in certain joints, injuries, or false plateaus. Whatever the specific reason, we have all felt a loss of performance. It’s at this point that you need to go back and check your training, nutrition, and recovery journal. You should be looking to
Functional Power Training for Wrestlers
Over the past eight years, I’ve had the opportunity to train with many different athletes from all over the country. The most common mistake? Everyone wants to train like a bodybuilder.
Bench and Nothing but the Bench
Russians believe that if you wish to excel at a lift, you can’t beat frequent practice of this lift with a moderately heavy weight and never to failure. Vladimir Volkov, the European bench press champion and master’s world champion in the 220 lb weight class, has proved that point with a 639 lb bench in an IPF competition.
The Making of a Road Grater with Racing Speed: The Linemen’s Evolution
“Real deference doesn’t come based on size and intimidation but on monster work capacities and real street toughness.”