Another month, another group of random thoughts that are going through my head. Some from working day to day in the weight room, some through listening to others thoughts in podcasts, and some due to what I have been reading. Enjoy!

1. As a strength coach, you what and your how can and probably will change over time, but your why needs to always be constant.
2. If an athlete is so tied and run down that they can’t practice/lift at a decently high level (close to normal), the entire sports performance staff and coaching staff has dropped the ball.
3. Our goal as strength coaches is to make every single kid on a team better, not just the high end players. That being said, I also think the most potential for growth is in the middle of the curve athletes. If we can raise that middle curve we can make a huge impact on the team.
4. I think a lot of injuries are a result of poor programming, whether it be in the weight room, at practice, or the combination of the both. This is obviously something that we will never be able to truly measure but I think there is a strong correlation between well thought out programming and healthy athletes.
5. Weight room performance is typically only looked at in a concentric pattern, yet eccentric and isometric work play a large role in developing a better, more durable athlete.
6. Simple thought: eccentric hamstring strength is a game changer for athletes for numerous reasons. Train it.
7. Can we prevent all ACL injuries? No. Can we have a huge impact on reducing the likelihood of an ACL injury? Absolutely. Instead of continually trying to add horsepower to the athlete we need to spend more time teaching athletes how to decelerate and absorb force. Deceleration, landing mechanics, change of direction, eccentric work, and 1-leg strength are all key in this.
8. Almost every mistake can be avoided with better attention to detail.
9. N = 1 all the time. The answer is always “it depends” when talking about what is right for an athlete. What’s right for one athlete isn’t necessarily what’s right another athlete. It always depends.
10. On the CVASP Podcast Matthew Ibrahim talked about how many athletes have a difficult time keeping their ribs down and not flaring them during a deadlift. His thought: add an anti-extension core movement between sets of deadlifts to help ingrain proper rib/pelvic positioning. Solid idea that’s worth a try.