Less is More

I have been designing strength and conditioning programs for athletes for 7 years now. Although my coaching style has not changed much through the years, my programming certainly has. I don't think that any of my programs in the past were not good programs, I just started to realize that I was trying to do to much. Athletes that trained 4 days a week with me were doing speed and agility two days per week and high intensity jumping 2 days per week in conjunction with their lifting programs. Over- training was a line that I never wanted to cross and I thought my programs were set up to avoid that. My athletes got stronger and faster - but I was not satisfied. I read and researched what the top strength and conditioning coaches in the world were doing. Some were doing things just as I was doing them, but some coaches who I highly respect were starting to do some things differently. I bought in - and it has paid off tremendously.

Athletes that train 4 times a week with me now perform high intensity jumping and sprinting/agility twice per week on Days 1 and 3. They also do their Olympic Lifting and leg work (squats, lunges, ect.) on those days as well. They do a double leg lift on one of those days and a single leg on the other day. Posterior chain work (hamstring, butt, low back) is done on those days a well. On Days 2 and 4 we only do some light agility ladder footwork and lateral hopping before they do there heavy upper body work. This gives my athletes more time to recover between high intensity leg workouts. For my athletes that train 3 days per week, the program is broken down differently but days 1 and 3 are still the high intensity days. I can honestly say that this is the most satisfied I have ever been with my programs.

Back when I was a student teacher through Ohio State, my mentor teacher John Blaine told me "Never be satisfied that you are doing the best job possible." Those are words that I have lived by and really apply to this situation. I knew I was doing a good job, but I also knew that I could do a better job. The changes really paid off when I saw a number of my high school football clients receiving All - District and All - State honors.

I would like to thank some of the top strength coaches in the world for helping me see the "light". If you would like to learn more about speed and strength for athletes, I would highly recommend searching the following names - Mike Boyle, Lee Taft, Joe DeFranco and Jason Ferruggia. One of the best things you can do is learn the philosophies of different coaches and begin to shape your own.