Let me first tell you briefly about myself for those who do not know me.
I’ve been reading the site for a while, but we have our own training studio business, and in the past couple of years, it’s been about a hundred-twenty-five miles an hour, every single day.
Rugby is a fast-paced game that requires athletes to pass, kick, tackle, and run. All 15 players on the field need to be competent in these very different areas.
I’m a lifter just like you. I’m not a trainer nor do I have any connection to the strength and conditioning field outside of elitefts™.
In powerlifting, there are many different paths to achieve our lifting goals.
This week’s EliteFTS Spotlight focuses on powerlifter Al Caslow, the newest EliteFTS sponsored athlete and member of the Q&A staff. Al is currently ranked #1 in the world in the 165 pound class.
This program is based on the concepts outlined in Dr. Vladimir Issurin’s, Block Periodization: A Breakthrough in Sports Training.
This week’s EliteFTS Spotlight interview introduces the readership to powerlifting legend Vincent Dizenzo. If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time, Vincent’s name – as well as his exploits under the bar – should be very familiar to you
In my last article, I outlined the four qualities that must be trained to improve speed—relative body strength, hip stability, elasticity/reactivity, and rate of force development. I quickly touched on the subject of developing strength in a hip hyperextended position. In my opinion, this can unlock the speed potential of any athlete.
Coaches on various levels are trying to find the latest workouts to improve strength and speed in their athletes.
I first started lifting when I was about 11-years-old. I started doing little things before this time, but I entered a weight room when I was about 11-years-old.
One of the first things we learn in the fitness industry—whether you’re a trainer, a gym rat, or that “newbie” who is still wet behind the ears—is that more isn’t always better.
“Heredity only deals the cards; environment and training plays the hand”(1). It’s possible for an athlete to improve in every phase of playing speed, whether it be maximum miles per hour, stopping and starting, feinting, faking and cutting, or multi-directional high speed acceleration with a complete “holistic” speed development plan (1). Genetically gifted athletes may be fast with little work or preparation, but they are nowhere near their genetic limitations with regards to maximum speed.
We believe the initial year in our program is the most critical to an athletes’ over all development. During this period, the strength and conditioning staff must implement the foundation for development.
For every sport, there are certain key lifts that when performed by the athlete will tell you how well he or she will do in the sport. Once a predictor lift is improved, it will correlate with an improvement in performance.
If we all simply followed this one, there’d be better results and more time for real training. Jogging has no place in a football training program. None. Not as a warm up, not as a cool down, and definitely not as punishment
In recent years, strength and conditioning has became more and more popular among the soccer populations. The benefits have been seen in many other sports, and it’s finally showing up in soccer.
Testosterone decreases protein degradation and increases protein synthesis, and most evidence concludes that it has a significant effect upon muscle tissue.
National high school signing day was February 4, 2009. After listening to all the “gurus” discuss recruiting, one thing stood out—speed.
It was not until the early to mid-1900’s that we even NEEDED a “gym” to exercise in. Before then, people were active enough just working in a factory in New York or a corn field in Nebraska.
With astounding strength, brilliant technique, and a champion’s will, Andy Bolton returned to the platform and showed us who he always was. And looking at the speed of the 1008-lb deadlift, he’s not finished.
When you watch the world’s strongest man contests on television, it should be obvious that these athletes are not only aggressive, fast, explosive, athletic, and flexible, but they have a great anaerobic threshold.
“Training is an exact science.” —Mike Mentzer
Learning to squat properly may be one of the hardest tasks you have ever undertaken, but it is well worth the effort.
You see, unless you train at Westside, you don’t know Westside
In my first article on body weight training titled “30 Days Without Weights,” I spoke about the many benefits of using body weight training during a training phase.
Motor units, rate coding, fast-twitch muscle fibers, recruitment capacity—do you have this all down?
Hamstring injuries are common among sprinters. One of the biggest challenges that I face as a strength coach is helping an athlete overcome a hamstring injury and at the same time improving performance.
Hamstring injuries are common among sprinters. One of the biggest challenges that I face as a strength coach is helping an athlete overcome a hamstring injury and at the same time improving performance.
Players need overall lower body strength, single leg strength, upper back and shoulder strength, mobility, and a solid core. The game also subjects players to pounding and stress on the lower body.
The subject of this week’s EliteFTS Spotlight is Q&A staff member Matt Wenning. Matt is one of only a handful of people to total over 2600 pounds in professional competition.
Thud! Snap! Pop, pop! These were the first sounds I heard before I felt the searing pain of two dislocated ribs.
The bench press is a great lift. Whether your goal is to develop a powerful overall physique or a barrel chest or just get brutally strong, the bench press can help you get there.
EliteFTS Spotlight is a new weekly feature here on EliteFTS.com where Q&A member The Angry Coach interviews athletes and strength and sport coaches from various disciplines in order to find out more about what they do, how they train and how they do business.
EliteFTS Spotlight is a weekly feature here on EliteFTS.com where Q&A member The Angry Coach interviews athletes and strength and sport coaches from various disciplines in order to find out more about what they do, how they train and how they do business.
There’s no question that strength is a huge asset in any sport. In “Making the Switch from Powerlifting to Fighting, Part I,” we established the carryover of strength developed specifically for the platform. It can relate to fighting in a big way. Clearly, there are changes that need to be made to harness this strength and make it useful on the mat, in the ring, or in the cage.
There are many elements to strength and conditioning (S&C) training as it relates to mixed martial arts (MMA). Most folks think that it’s all about “strength” or “cardio.”
What are the attributes of an effective strength and conditioning coach? I was recently asked this question, and as I stumbled over myself for a few minutes, I thought it would make a great topic for an article.
This article applies to three different types of lifters. If you’ve never squatted in a monolift, don’t train consistently in a monolift, or do squat in a monolift but don’t feel solid taking weights out of the monolift, keep reading.
I’ve been fighting it for a few weeks, but I’m definitely overtraining again. I don’t do shit anymore, but I keep overtraining. One of my training partners asks me what I expect, because don’t sleep. That’s easy. I’m Chad Aichs, and I expect to train hard every day while still getting stronger.
Same old, same old. Just training. I just did a meet about eight weeks ago, and I’m still feeling like hell.
As coaches, we all know about the myriad problems we’ll encounter in the course of trying to make our athletes better. These problems are generated by everyone our players come into contact with on a daily basis. From their parents, to their friends, to the ubiquitous “guys on message boards,” our kids are bombarded with stuff that’s not coming from us. From where I’m standing, there are two major problems with this: