Here is another strategy we’ve used this year on our repeat effort/work capacity (Friday) days that I straight up stole from Anthony Donskov ➡️ Post Fatigue Holds.

Really simple concept but extremely challenging and taxing, where we ask the athlete to hold the last rep of the last set for as long as tolerable.

For example, on this day we performed RFESS for 2 sets of 6 reps followed by our third and final set, where we performed 6 reps and held the last rep for as long as tolerable.

Give it a shot!

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

1. As strength coaches, our goal shouldn’t be hitting numbers in the weight room, it should be getting the greatest carryover to sport. This doesn’t mean we aren’t trying to get stronger and more powerful, it means we chase the adaptation and not a specific number on the bar.
2. You cannot learn if you think you already know. Keep and open mind. Learn from various people in various lines of work. Be willing to learn from anyone and everyone – you’ll be better off because of it.
3. I read online the other day that Jeff Bezos (Amazon CEO) started off working at McDonalds, which is a great reminder for younger strength coaches that are chasing a logo and think that the logo on their shirt determines their worth as a coach. Coach where ever you can, do a great job, develop as a coach, and good things will eventually come.
4. “Here is one of the most important lessons that young strength coaches can learn. You don’t need to consistently test strength as long as you are training for it and monitoring progress along the way.” – Eric Cressey

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

Podcasts

Didn’t get a ton of podcast listening in this week but still listened to a few good shows. One, the CVASP with Gary Boros at the University of Denver was really good, just like everything else that Jay DeMayo puts out on his CVASP podcast. Also, first time I have listened to Don Saladino and Derek Hansen’s D&D Fitness Radio and I really liked it. Going to listen to more of their stuff.

CVASP #172 with Robert Ahmun

D&D Fitness Radio with Mike Boyle

Iron Game Chalk Talk with Matt Toohey

CVASP #177 with Gary Boros

Articles

Some really good articles but two that I really want to point out. One, the strength training for runners article, which highlights how important developing some strength and strength training in general in general is for runners. Second, the article that touches on strength training for women, which also highlights how important it is for women to strength train and get a little stronger. Strength can be a gamechanger for a lot of people.

An Open Letter to the Out of Control Sport Parent by John O’Sullivan

Strength Training for Runners: IT’S A MUST by Human Vortex Training

Don’t Waste the Warm Up on a Bike or Treadmill by Movement as Medicine

Tip: The Scientific Reason Women Need to Go Heavy by Chris Shugart

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If your core training consists of crunches, sit ups, Russian twists or anything else along those lines, your doing it wrong. Resist motion, don’t create it.

A post shared by Craig Edwards (@craig__edwards) on Mar 17, 2019 at 9:17am PDT

The Ring/TRX/Strap Row (whatever toy call it) may be my favorite upper body pulling movement but one that may technique flaws are often seen.

Don’t

❌ Sag the hips.

❌ Over extend at the low back.

❌ Poke the head through.

Instead,

✅ Move the scapula through a full range of motion.

✅ Keep the body a straight line.

✅ Keep the head in-line with the body.

Hope that helps ‼️

We perform a lot of band resisted broad jumps to develop horizontal power. Recently we’ve been playing around with adding a little mini bounce to make it more reactive, placing it on days when we may be looking for shorter impulse times.

Give it a try and see how you like it!

Thursday thought 💭— Don’t over-coach med ball work.  

✅ Throw the ball as hard as you can

✅ Make it look athletic 

In an effort to try to get more 1-Leg Bridging variations into the program but also knowing very few people can perform a real 1-Leg Leg Curl,  we’ve turned to doing a few different Slideboard (hockey sock in our case) Leg Curl variations. Currently, the “1 Out 2 In” variation may be my favorite, creating a large eccentric single leg strength challenge but performing the concentric portion on two legs.  

Quick thought 💭➡️ Most athletes could benefit from more training in the frontal plane or just getting out of the sagittal plane. The Lateral Squat/Lunge is one of my favorite and an incredibly simple drill to improve both mobility and stability at the same time. Resist the urge to load too aggressively as it can turn ugly quick…quality over quantity.

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

1. Current thoughts on the ratio of pulling to pressing – 3:1 Pull to Push, 2:1 Horizontal to Vertical. Might be overkill, but way too many shoulder injuries in sports these days.
2. If you want to be successful in this field you need to be willing to learn from anyone and everyone. Whether it is good or bad, we can learn from every other coach that we are exposed to – stay open minded.
3. If your core training consists of crunches, sit ups, Russian twists or anything else along those lines, your doing it wrong. Resist motion, don’t create it.
4. “I love trap bar jumps. They have become an intricate part of our programming. Very low barrier, super easy to teach. We use weight ranging from 55-95lbs.” – Daniel Flahie on Twitter the other day – and I 100% agree with this.

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

Podcasts

Lot of good listens this week. Pat Davidson is super smart and always great to listen to as he always makes you think. The Strength Coach Podcast is always a no-brainer and Jason Spray was great to listen to. Darcy Norman is one of those great coaches that not enough people know about. Best of the week was CVASP with Eric Renaghan – I am a sucker for anything that has anything to do with hockey.

Iron Game Chalk Talk with Dr. Pat Davidson

CVASP with Eric Renaghan

Pacey Performance with Darcy Norman

Strength Coach Podcast #250

Articles

Some good reading material this week. I don’t read a lot of T-Nation these days but Chris Shugart knocked his article out of the park. My favorite of the week was by Eric Cressey though, which wasn’t really an article and more of a video, but it was great. Without a doubt, I am going to be adding that bound into our bounding progression.

Tip: Your Tools Are Not Your Identity by Chris Shugart

Exercise of the Week: Heiden with Medicine Ball by Eric Cressey

Ladder Drills by Movement as Medicine

The 4 Most Common Barbell Hip Thrust Technique Mistakes by Eric Cressey

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I was asked the other day if I could explain our thought process when it comes to conditioning volleyball. – . . ✅ We run once per week. Volleyball athletes jump and land too much as it is, placing a ton of stress on their hip/knee/ankle/low back and adding a lot more via running is probably not a great idea. We typically start with tempo runs for 3-4 weeks then progress into shuttle runs and building up the distance (75 yard ➡️ 150 yard ➡️ 300 yard) over the course of the off-season. – . . ✅ We Slideboard a lot. It’s gets them into the frontal plane which everyone could use more of. It keeps their feet on the ground and adds very little wear and tear to their bodies. It trains the adductors/abductors (groin) in a functional manner. – . . ✅ Assault Bike Work. We do 20:10’s, 10:20’s, 2 Mile Ride for time and other protocols on the bike. Like the Slideboard, the bike adds very little wear and tear to the body — you can condition extremely hard on the bike with very little negatives (besides it being brutally hard). – . . ✅ Sleds. We perform some continuous sled work (2-4 minutes) for a couple sets sometimes for some added aerobic work. Lot harder then it looks. – . . Long story short. We try to keep their feet on the ground as much as possible. We get in the frontal plane. We take advantage of the bikes — they may be our #1 conditioning tool for a jumping athlete like 🏐

A post shared by Craig Edwards (@craig__edwards) on Mar 12, 2019 at 1:10pm PDT