I’m the head Olympic strength and conditioning coach at the University of Minnesota and am currently working with eight sports. These include men’s and women’s hockey, men’s basketball, men’s track and field, men’s swimming, baseball, and men’s and women’s golf.
Todd Hamer is the head strength and conditioning coach at Robert Morris University.
As many times I’ve been made fun of because of my past, I think it’s imperative to outline so some people can see why I am the way I am.
Yosef Johnson is the owner and president of Ultimate Athlete Concepts, a company he founded in Muskegon, Michigan in 2001 with the goal of bringing together the best scientists from a variety of fields and incorporating their knowledge into a comprehensive line of products which were previously unavailable to North American athletics coaches.
Lately, a few of the leaders in our business (Cosgrove, Cressey, and Robertson to name a few) have published articles with this catchy “ah-ha” title. I’m sure they’ve made each one of us sit in front of our computers and say, “Dang, he’s right.”
There are many great gyms in the United States. Ohio has the great Westside Barbell, California has Diablo Barbell, New York has Adirondack Barbell—home of the Metal Militia, and Nebraska has Big Iron.
I wake up at the crack of dawn, put on my sweats, suck down a shake, and I’m out the door. Time to hit the road. It’s early. It’s dark. It’s cold. But I can feel only one thing—my adrenaline pumping as “Eye of the Tiger” pumps through my headphones.
This games didn’t really go as planned. In hindsight, I made some mistakes that really affected my throwing. On the plus side, I won the national caber championship.
A few years after my football career ended, I found myself playing linebacker in a recreational flag football game in Long Island’s Eisenhower Park. This is rarely ever a good idea.
Rob “Spray” MacIntyre is a strength coach for some top level athletes. Rob, tell me a little bit about your background.
We arrived at Metropolis (a night club) at 6:00 p.m. The fights were scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. The time had finally arrived—Ryan Farhat’s mixed martial arts (MMA) debut.
I understand that not every 8-year-old knows exactly what a glute ham is or how to perform the movement. Few adults know.
Last night, I was sitting in my office going through some of my training journals and notes that had accumulated over the years.
Who do you respect? Does that person have the strength to be who they are? As I sit here and type this, I can tell you that over the last year, I truly discovered what it means to have strength.
We’ve all done it. Every last one of us. Been in a tight spot and the first thing we think is who can we blame?
I have had some interesting conversations with Jim Wendler. One in particular struck a chord with me quite heavily. In fact, it has helped mold a process I use at my gym when training new athletes.
If you don’t know anything about lacrosse – if you’ve never actually seen a game – chances are you’ve bought into the almost universal, yet severely mistaken, notion that it’s a leisure class sport populated by rich preppie-types from elite private schools in the Northeast.
One week ago I was offered and accepted an incredible opportunity to co-author a book outlining the physical preparation training of 6-time UFC Champion Randy Couture.
A noted sports columnist in the San Diego area lamented the fact that one of the state universities was unable to field a championship women’s volleyball team (they already dropped the men’s program even though it was the only program to bring in an NCAA championship).
Did you ever take a good look at the shape of the Prowler? How about someone giving you the finger?
How I understand, practice, and implement strength and conditioning programs for myself and my clients has drastically changed over the past four years.
I won’t change much. I plan on running a 12-week cycle of higher volume once I’m cleared to go full speed. I want to gain about 40lbs for November. I’ll need the extra volume to gain some muscle and size.
I have a pet peeve that I need to get off my chest. I can’t stand how every hardcore lifter pisses and moans when they’re forced to train in a commercial gym. Now, hear me out before you say, “Paul Leonard isn’t ‘hardcore.’”
Humans alone are granted the gift or capability of pondering their existence and the meaning of life. Weightlifters sometimes contemplate why they lift in a quest to uncover underlying factors or reasons that may shed light on their lifelong pursuit of power.
“Carryover” is a word often used to describe how equipment improves lifts. What kind of carryover has powerlifting had in other aspects of your life?
Wrestling season is still going strong as of this writing. We have two athletes competing right now at the state tournament, and had several of our guys place at districts and regionals. The team really did well this year and is only losing a few seniors.
As we’ve already alluded to, there are three main components of cardiovascular health that we must improve in order to raise your specific level of cardiovascular fitness—structure, function, and regulation.
As a chick, I must admit it was somewhat intimidating to pull into the parking area of Ocean State Gym alone.
Although there are more than 600 muscles in your body making up almost 40 percent of your total body weight, there is one muscle that stands out as more important than all the rest.
The reality of competing in powerlifting is that at some point in time we all have to make weight. Making weight can make or break your lifting performance.
A slow athlete needs to develop speed-strength. Here is how.
Short, middle, and long-distance runners all need explosiveness.
I am busy as all heck, as always, and I am in the process of getting away from working so much and doing all of this full time.
Mark McLaughlin has spent several years reading and learning Eastern Bloc training methods as well as other alternative types of training, leaving no stone unturned in the preparation of his athletes.
It’s important to recognize that effective programming can be accomplished within realistic timeframes by almost anyone willing to put in the work.
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.
Good talking to you yesterday. I even tried to keep you on the phone longer since I knew you had to hit the “head” to relieve yourself. I have to tell you, I always walk away refreshed after talking to you. It makes me realize that there ARE other nuts out here with a different view and that’s good stuff.
When talking about champions, everyone has an opinion just like the BCS College Football Standings. Are champions built or are they born? Are they a product of their environment or are they loners hungry for a piece of the pie?
Technology is a beautiful thing. I used to work part-time as a DJ, and I remember hauling around hundreds of records and thousands of CDs. Transporting all the equipment and the music felt like powerlifting.
