Training for power is usually one of the main goals for any strength & conditioning program. But what does that really mean? In its simplest terms, power = force x velocity (or in other terms, strength x speed). Applied to strength and conditioning, power is the amount of force you can transfer to an object, →
There is only one way to sprint, and that is fast. Training for Power in the weight room follows that analogy. To develop power you have to train fast. This analogy is also about recovery. To train for speed, do fewer reps with full recovery between sets. The same goes for lifting. To train for →
Having sound principles of nutrition can have a large impact on the performance and recovery for your athletes. Typically, we want our athletes to be stronger, faster, and more explosive. A part of this is being properly fueled for athletic performance and having a leaner (more muscle, less fat) physique. Educating our athletes about what →
Whether working with youth, college, and/or elite athletes, the subject of weight room time management for the strength coach or performance enhancement specialist can always be a sensitive topic. In a world where we are in a constant time crunch, the average athlete is no different. With a laundry list of items pulling at the →
When it comes to optimization of your team workouts, organization is key. In this blog, I will cover a few areas in effective and efficient workouts to accommodate large numbers of athletes in your weight room. Facility Setup and Layout The first component is to look at the setup of your facility. This is to →
As fans of sports and coaches of athletes, we tune in daily to see amazing feats of athleticism. However, agility is a major contributor to these “feats”. There are three important agility training components: acceleration, deceleration, and balance. The athlete’s ability to accelerate and decelerate both linearly and laterally is necessary to compete and excel →
Designing group workouts in a facility that caters to personal training, members, and group training takes some careful pre-planning and thought. The program needs to be structured to maximize work time and minimize rest time. This also needs to be done in a way to keep equipment available for members and personal training clients, but →
One of the hot topics in the world of strength & conditioning and sports performance is how to actually train for improving agility. The debate comes down to the definition of agility and how it differs from change of direction, and ultimately what you are actually training. There is one significant difference between the two →
Recently I had the opportunity to work with a freshman team sports physical education class. I don’t remember what our first unit was, but I remember what I did on day one. I started with agility drills. If we were going to be teaching a group of youngsters how to play sports, we had better →
In every sport played on two feet, there is always a need for speed. Some individuals are born fast, with beautiful technique, but most of us can improve our speed with some good coaching. Today we are looking at the role the arm and hands play in speed development. These tips can be used on →