Happy Monday! Here are a few thoughts bouncing around in my head after a week of reading, podcasts and other continuing ed. Enjoy!

1. Know what’s important and just train it. Figure out what your big rocks are – train your big rocks consistently.
2. Athletes don’t buy into our programs, they buy into the coaching writing those programs. With that in mind, I think we should all coach the way you are wired to coach, focusing on being yourself and not trying to be anything but that.
3. The last thing people need is more negativity in their lives. Be positive with the coaches you work with/for. Be positive with the other members of the strength staff. Be positive with the athletes you work with. Positivity will always win out in the long run.

Another week, another group of podcasts and articles to read and listen to that I have dived into this past week. Like every week, there was a ton of content out there both in written form and through podcasts.

For podcasts, both of the Iron Game Chalk Talk episodes that I listened to this week were great. One was with Aaron Wellman who is the strength coach for the NY Giants while the other was with Noel Durfey who is the strength coach with Duke University football. Good stuff from both coaches.

For articles, Joel Smith knocks one out of the park with his Beyond Barbells articles. Some really good thoughts on where the field may be going in the future.

Enjoy!

Podcasts

Iron Game Chalk Talk with Aaron Wellman

Iron Game Chalk Talk with Noel Durfey

Pacey Performance with Mike Young

Just Fly Performance with Max Schmarzo

Leave Your Mark with Gray Cook

Articles

Learning from those Around You by Todd Hamer

Knee Injuries in Ice Hockey by Tony Farina

Beyond Barbells and Conditioning by Joel Smith

45 Lessons Learned by Pat Rigsby

19 Exercises that Should be in Your Routine by Stack Media

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. The best training philosophy is the one that works well in the situation you find yourself in and works well with the athletes that you work with.
2. We have probably done more jumping, sprinting and throwing of med balls and less olympic lifting this year with teams then ever before as we try to train across the force-velocity curve. Strength is important, but powerful and explosive athletes are tough to beat.
3. The idea of micro-dosing training is really interesting to me and something we have started doing with our women’s basketball team. A small dose of training, almost every day, as opposed to a larger dose 2-3 times per week. People don’t really get sore. They don’t really ever feel run down. It gives them something to focus on quickly then leave. Lots of reasons to like it IMO.
4. Strength coaches needs to start looking at themselves as stress managers in-season. You have to know when to pick and choose when you push and when to take your foot off the gas. At the end of the day a fresh athlete come gameday is of the utmost importance.
5. The biggest KPI for any sport is health.
6. Friendly reminder to strength coaches: our jobs are to keep athletes healthy and improve sport performance, not produce weight room numbers.
7. “If you train patterns you won’t miss muscles, but if you train muscles you will miss patterns.” – Team EXOS
8. Just something bouncing around in my head and something I may try, but I am thinking about dropping down to two sets for knee dominate work in-season. Athletes are running a lot. They are skating a lot. There is a lot of stress on their lower bodies. Is less more?
9. Person first. Athlete second.
10. We have continued to consistently push sleds and continue to like what we are seeing. Horizontal, 1-leg strength. Very little eccentric muscle contraction = very little soreness. Use friendly – hard to not do well. Hard to get hurt performing the movement.

Why the Sled March has become a staple in all my programs…

✅ Horizontal 1-Leg strength much like running or skating
✅ Forces hip extension, which most athletes could use more of, and especially important for long term hip health for 🏒 players who skate in constant hip flexion
✅ Very little eccentric stress, causing very little soreness, making it ideal in-season
✅ User friendly ➡️ it’s really hard to do wrong

Happy Monday! Here are a few thoughts bouncing around in my head after a week of reading, podcasts and other continuing ed. Enjoy!

1. Strength and conditioning is a people business. How we interact with coaches matters. How we interact with athletes matters. You need to be great at your job, but you also need to be someone that other people want to be around.
2.  The best training style is the one that works in your current situation with the teams/athletes you are working with.
3. Derek Hansen said something on Ron McKeefery’s podcast that really stuck with me in regards to always trying to evolve and become better as a coach. “Even when you are doing well, stop and check yourself to make sure you don’t get ahead of yourself.” Well said!

Another week, another group of podcasts and articles to read and listen to that I have dived into this past week. Like every week, there was a ton of content out there both in written form and through podcasts.

There were a handful of good listens this week. Matt Nichol on the Leave Your Mark Podcast…Mike Boyle on the Coach Glass Podcast…Mike Robertson radio where he gives his thoughts on various topics…Derek Hansen on Iron Game Chalk Talk…lots of good stuff.

For articles, Anthony Donskov knocked it out of the park again this week with his research review on training hockey players. So much applicable info – a must read for anyone working with hockey.

Enjoy!

Podcasts

Leave Your Mark with Matt Nichol

MR Radio Show

All Things Strength and Wellness with Charlie Weingroff

Coach Glass Podcast with Mike Boyle

Iron Game Chalk Talk with Derek Hansen

Articles

1/N: A 3 G Approach to Training Hockey Players by Anthony Donskov

The Man in the Arena by Mike Boyle

Random Training Tips by Dean Somerset

5 Random Training Thoughts by Mike Robertson

My Favorite Exercise for Each Movement Pattern by Coach Dos

Do we Olympic lift? Yup – but it’s far from the only way we train to develop power. Just like sport, we try to throw med balls and jump in various planes, with different loads, and do it often.

“If you train patterns you won’t miss muscles, but if you train muscles you will miss patterns.” Exos/Athletes Performance

The point of lifting weights is to stress into movement patterns. Squat and hinge on both 1 and 2 legs. Push things. Pull things. Carry things. Rinse and repeat.

Happy Monday! Here are a few thoughts bouncing around in my head after a week of reading, podcasts and other continuing ed. Enjoy!

1. The worth of an exercise has nothing to do with the amount of weight on the bar. A perfect example of this would be 1-leg squats. A lot of athletes find the exercise extremely difficult using simply bodyweight or a minimal external load – but there are a ton of benefits to being able to perform simple 1-leg squats.
2. Functionally, the muscles of the core are asked to isometrically stabilize, not create movement. Stop with all the crunches. Stop with all the Russian twists. Stop with all the core exercises that create movements…it’s not what the core is responsible for doing.
3. A very general statement, but I think most athletes could benefit from more hip extension. More bridging, more sled marching, more 1-leg RDL’s, more movements that get athletes to use their glutes and hamstrings to create the hip extension that they perform in sport.