Another month, another post full of random thoughts that have been going through my head. Hope it sparks a little thought in people and you enjoy!

1. Been rethinking some of the things I do with teams. I’ve always liked and programmed Hang Snatch, but I’m beginning to question if its for everyone (I don’t hang snatch volleyball ever). If someone doesn’t have the ability to do a wall slide (which many can’t) I don’t think they have earned the right or have the needed mobility to have a bar over their head. If they don’t have the shoulder mobility they’ll mostly likely compensate by using their lumbar spines – which isn’t good. I am probably leaning towards more DB Snatch (1-arm), Hang Clean, KB Swings and loaded jumps going forward for our loaded power development.
2. The objective of strength and conditioning isn’t to make people tired and sore, its to make them better and more resilient to the demands of their sport.
3. Don’t sacrifice health for the sake of performance in the weight room. There are ways to have both with smart, well thought out programming.
4. In the off-season I have been leaning to doing very little running with basketball teams and volleyball teams. They run/jump way to much as it is even in the off-season. We have been doing more Assault bike work to take some pounding off their joints. We do a lot of slideboard work to get them in the frontal plane and again take wear and tear off their joints. Your training with an athlete is either a negative or a positive – more running/pounding on their joints probably isn’t a positive.
5. I still don’t get why people push back so hard against uni-lateral lower body strength as a method to train max strength. I’m by no means against bilateral lifting, we trap bar deadlift often. We do a lot of power work bilaterally through cleans and loaded jumps. But, the research on the bilateral deficit is real and you can reach some huge numbers on one leg (check out UMass Lowell Men’s hockey RFESS if you don’t believe me). I’ve seen athletes with huge bilateral lift numbers that struggle with split squats at what would be considered light weight compared to their bilateral lifts. Sports are primarily played on one leg and specificity always reigns supreme – so why aren’t we pushing more max effort work on 1-leg?
6. There are so many benefits to loaded carries. It baffles my mind that they aren’t a staple in programs.
7. Absorb as much great information as possible from as many great coaches as you can. Filter and then apply that information in a way that works in the situation that you are currently in.
8. A good coach never stops growing – and there is no reason to stop growing with all the information that is readily available through books and podcasts these days.
9. A lot of times the team that wins is the team that has the most talent available and healthy on game day.
10. The off-season programs I have been implementing this year haven’t been very sophisticated and/or complicated. The focus has been on doing less and doubling down on what we consider important, but doing it better then everyone else.